Trailer Watch: Barney's Version

I'm the kind of movie nut that gets more excited about good casts, as opposed to interesting plot lines or maestro filmmakers. It goes hand in hand with my theory that the most important part of film production is casting (the famous Robert Altman quote: "By the time a film is cast, about 85% of my creative work is finished"). So in that regard, Barney's Version is already one of the finest films of 2010. Not that there are any big movie stars in this one, but because of the quality of the actors. There's Paul Giamatti and Dustin Hoffman, who are truly the epitome of consistency and professionalism in screen acting--and judging by this teaser trailer, they work very well off each other. But I'm probably even more excited with the re-emergence of Minnie Driver, whose career has been a rash of disappointing inconsistency since her Oscar nomination for Good Will Hunting. She seems to be doing some serious scene-chewing here, and I can't wait for it. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the film looks hysterical and personal, which is a winning combination if your effort is to get me to enjoy your film. After all, that's all contemporary filmmakers are concerned about these days, right?

Let The New American Version In

Sorry if I'm late to the party on this one, but it wasn't until recently that I was finally able to see the trailer for Let Me In. This is, of course, an American remake of the rather brilliant Swedish film Let The Right One In. The original film, by Tomas Alfredson, was unlike any monster movie I've seen: blending the blood and gore of the horror genre with a tale of two misunderstood children trying to get by in their drab, otfen depressing lives. The trailer for the American version (directed by Cloverfield filmmaker, Matt Reeves), looks all kinds of faithful to its predecessor, but I wonder if that's a good thing.



I'm glad they didn't go the usual Hollywood route of casting teenagers (which would have been such an easy decision given the Twilight and True Blood craze) in the lead roles. Most of the charm in the original was that it was the most innocent creatures in the world who were wrecking such havoc. I do wonder, though, if the film could get swallowed by tweens who are used to more shallow, commercial vampire stories. Either way, there aren't any other child actors whom I would recommend for these parts over Moretz and Smit-McPhee, since both have shown wisdom and sincerity beyond their years (certain people are so talented they disgust me). Oh, and having the lovely Richard Jenkins to play Moretz's loyal, but tormented caretaker is certainly an excellent decision. I doubt this will capture the power of the original--particularly since it looks like such a closely-followed remake. But I'd like to see what the Edward Cullen fans would think of a more intellectually stimulating film like this.

The Kids Are All Right (****)

THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT
Directed by Lisa Cholodenko

****

In a time when the multiplexes are filling with the complex, cyber-technology that leads to films like Inception, it's almost refreshing to approach a movie like The Kids Are All Right. Very seldom can a film so succinctly and accurately be about people. Sure, there are many people who will watch the trailer and swear the film's sole purpose is to push a strong liberal agenda, betraying the fabric of normal (conservative) family values. But what is perhaps the greatest quality about Lisa Cholodenko's latest film is that it refuses to take a convenient political stance or kowtow toward any demographic to gain sympathy. It is, simply stated, about people.

Nic (Annette Bening) and Jules (Julianne Moore) are a long-time married lesbian couple with two children: Joni (Mia Wasikowska) and Laser (Josh Hutcherson). They each conceived one of the children using the same sperm doner. Eighteen years later, Joni is about to go to college with a National Merit Scholarship and Laser is excelling in various team sports in high school. Nic is a successfully practicing doctor, while Jules career path (even at her age) still seems unfocused, though she seems to have a sudden interest in landscaping. With the exception of a few valleys here and there, they've been able to create a fully-functioning family, despite their unorthodox make-up.

One summer, Joni and Laser decide that they're curious enough to try and get in touch with their biological father. Who they meet is Paul (Mark Ruffalo), a restaurant owner and farmer of organic foods. Paul is initially timid with the concept of meeting his "children", but when he finally is able to have a sit down and speak with them, the idea of becoming acquainted with his own offspring becomes suddenly appealing. He actively wants to spend more time with them, and Joni and Laser feel the same way. This budding relationship does not totally sit well with Nic and Jules. After all, sperm donors are supposed to be absent, invisible beings, not practicing parents.

It doesn't help that Paul's laid back, easy-come-easy-go personality instantly clashes with Nic's stern perfectionism. Things become further complicated when Paul hires Jules to do landscaping work on his backyard, and before long, they begin having an affair. What follows is a series of actions and reactions that pick at the fabric of family and the complexities of human relationships and sexuality. Nic is threatened by Paul's forceful entrance into her family, and rightfully so. His nonchalance seems to highlight the ugliest parts of her formal need to keep things (and people) in control.

I think it's too easy to dismiss The Kids Are All Right as pushing a lesbian agenda (and many, including The New York Post's Andrea Peyser have made such a close-minded claim). When you read that the co-writer/director Lisa Cholodenko is a lesbian herself, it becomes like shooting fish in a barrel. "That crazy lesbian is trying to work around American morality!" Quite frankly, the conflicts that arise within the film literally could not happen to a straight couple and I think it's only logical to assume that Cholodenko would fall back on her experiences as a gay woman when she helped pen the screenplay. After all, we rarely criticize other Hollywood filmmakers as they produce hundreds of film each year supporting a straight agenda.

Not only is that mindset dismissive, but it unfortunately limits your ability to appreciate Cholodenko's fabulous film. She does not go through an effort to lionize the accomplishments of Nic and Jules. If anything, she excels in exposing their shortcomings. It's incredibly hard to craft this kind of screenplay; one in which five very different characters are given complete introspection without disrupting the forward movement of the plot. You can make a case that either Nic or Jules or Joni or Paul or Laser are the main protagonist of the film at various moments, but how they work together makes The Kids Are All Right a real treat.

Bening and Moore are both exceptional, as is to be expected. Bening is stunning in her ability to express subtext so effortlessly (in a lot of ways, she's able to come off seeming like a 'conservative lesbian'), and Moore fills the flighty Jules with a lot more heart than I assume appeared on the page. The film simply would not function if they were not able to mold the unconventional marriage so vividly. As for Ruffalo, this is probably his best performance since 2000's You Can Count On Me. His version of Paul (cool, scruffy hipster; but five years away from becoming creepy, old hipster) is both endearing and disarming. Ruffalo continues his tradition of being able to make ne'er-do-wells charming. Though it should be said that the work of Wasikowska (Alice In Wonderland) is just as good as all three of them, perfectly reflecting the overachieving, emotionally-confused first child. We should be hearing a lot from this talented, young actress in the future.

Films about family and marriage are a dime a dozen. It's become so easy--and lazy--to recycle the same plot points over and over again (hello, Woody Allen!) to express a simple point: marriage is hard and it's not supposed to come easy. This sentiment is expressed beautifully and simply by Jules at the end of this film, and I don't think I've heard it stated any more accurately than the way it's stated then. The Kids Are All Right is winning glowing reviews from everyone, and it deserves them. It's funny and engaging, but most of all it is honest. Mostly honest about this simple truth: you don't need a penis to know how hard raising a family can be.

Greatest Movie Mustache

I nominate Patrick Bergin's illustrious lip sweater in Sleeping With The Enemy for Greatest Movie Mustache of all time.

I know, this seems like blasphemy, since Sleeping With The Enemy is such a god awful film. But that works in my reasoning. Of all the terrible things that go on in this putrid film (Julia Roberts' stiff acting, the horrible screenplay, Kevin Anderson's hilarious, almost date rape-y hairstyle), it is Bergin's picture-perfect face caterpillar that keeps you watching. I say this because I literally turned on the film on HBO, and watched it the entire way through just for that glorious mustache.

Any other movie mustaches that you would put above this one? I dare you to try. Warning: you will lose.

Oscar Predictions That Are Too Early To Be Taken Seriously

BEST ACTOR
Javier Bardem, BIUTIFUL
Johnny Depp, RUM DIARY
Robert Duvall, GET LOW
Colin Firth, THE KING'S SPEECH
Mark Wahlberg, THE FIGHTER

BEST ACTRESS
Annette Bening, THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT
Anne Hathaway, LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS
Natalie Portman, BLACK SWAN
Hilary Swank, CONVICTION
Michelle Williams, BLUE VALENTINE

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christian Bale, THE FIGHTER
Colin Farrell, THE WAY BACK
Bill Murray, GET LOW
Mark Ruffalo, THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT
Geoffrey Rush, THE KING'S SPEECH

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Keira Knightley, NEVER LET ME GO
Lesley Manville, ANOTHER YEAR
Andrea Riseborough, BRIGHTON ROCK
Kristen Scott-Thomas, NOWHERE BOY
Dianne Wiest, RABBIT HOLE

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumber, THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT
Keith Dorington, Eric Johnson & Paul Tamasi with David O. Russell, THE FIGHTER
Andres Heinz & Mark Heyman, BLACK SWAN
Mike Leigh, ANOTHER YEAR
Christopher Nolan, INCEPTION

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Michael Arndt, TOY STORY 3
Marshall Herskovitz, Charles Randolph, & Edward Zwick, LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS
David Lindsay-Abaire, RABBIT HOLE
Aaron Sorkin, THE SOCIAL NETWORK
Peter Weir, THE WAY BACK

BEST DIRECTOR
Darren Aronofsky, BLACK SWAN
Mike Leigh, ANOTHER YEAR
Christopher Nolan, INCEPTION
David O. Russell, THE FIGHTER
Peter Weir, THE WAY BACK

BEST PICTURE
Another Year
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
Love and Other Drugs
Never Let Me Go
Rabbit Hole
Toy Story 3
The Way Back

Menage a trois de Trailer Watch

Hey, oh! It is now July, which means that we have somewhat of a clearer pictures of what movies we're going to be getting excited about later in the year (I'm looking at you, Black Swan). Alas, we still do have a ways to go till the fall movie schedule takes its true shape, so we'll have to make with what it is we have: trailers. Here are three trailers for, what I consider, three exciting end of the year films:

BIUTIFUL



The word from Cannes was that Inarritu made a film that was almost pornographic in its display of suffering, but then again, they gave Javier Bardem their Best Actor prize, so they must not have disliked it too much. This seems to be something a little different for Inarritu, whose previous three films were all exercises on multiple parallel narratives. This film seems to follow one character, Uxbal (Bardem), and while the actual details of the film's plot are still in the shadows, it becomes very apparent just by watching this trailer that whatever he's going through isn't very good. Well, harsh or not, Inarritu has built up enough good will in my book for me to get excited about this film--and let's not forget, this is his first collaboration with Bardem. Can these two masters make magic together?

THE SOCIAL NETWORK



So, in his latest film, David Fincher decides to tackle Facebook and the legal battle that followed site creator Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg). After Benjamin Button, I considered turning my back on Fincher, figuring he had descended into bigtime Hollywood filmmaking narcissism. Then I gave Zodiac another watch and realized that nobody who could make a film that good is bound to make two clunkers in a row (well, Button did get about a thousand Oscar nominations, so to call it a clunker may be a stretch--actually, it's not. CLUNKER!). By the very nature of its plot, the film seems incredibly modern and topical, and who better to make a film about the now then Fincher? This appeal to the young is also evident in the casting, as the film stars two budding stars in Eisenberg, Rashida Jones, and--holy but fuck, is that Justin Timberlake?!

SOMEWHERE



To finish off my trio of autuers, there is the latest film from Sofia Coppola. Lost In Translation was supposed to make her one of the top filmmakers in the business, and may predicted that she would be the first woman to win the Best Director Oscar. Well, Kathryn Bigelow has beaten her to that, so that's no longer a burden she has to carry. When the disastrous Marie Antoinette happened, we decided to give her a pass. But where has she been since then? Somewhere is her latest film, and it seems to be a return toward what made films like Lost In Translation so successful. A dissection of personality and family dynamic. Focus on the mundane, to help us realize that those are usually the more magical moments in life. This may be my most anticipated film of the fall. Too bad I have to wait till after Christmas to see it.

Inception (****)

INCEPTION
Written and Directed by Christopher Nolan

****

When Avatar was setting box office records and racking up Oscar nominations, a million people were asking the same question: "Doesn't anybody realize that the screenplay is terrible?" Now, imagine if the visual innovation of a film like Avatar was matched by a screenplay that was equally ambitious in its themes and character profiles. This is the status in which Chris Nolan's new film, Inception, lies. This is a film that is so intriguing and so beautifully told, that it may be something that is totally unlike all American summer-release movies: original.

What is 'inception'? I've watched the film only once, so I still don't have a complete grasp on the concept. At its simplest: breaching the subconscious of someone by entering into their dreams and planting ideas. Why would anybody want to do that? In the world of Nolan's film, not only are their crack teams trained to penetrate someone's dream state, but there are actually entire enterprises founded on defending the mind against such crack teams. Why would you want to enter someone's mind? Some of the most inspiring ideas of some of the most powerful people lie within the subconscious of their dreams, and grabbing hold of these ideas can give you a lot of leverage.

One of the best dream-breakers in the world is Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio). Cobb is now doing second-hand jobs, hoping one day he can make his way back home to his children--he is denied any chance of returning to them since he is being hunted, by what seems like the entire world, for a crime (we don't find out till much later what this crime is or whether or not he is guilty or innocent). The film opens on a riveting sequence, where Cobb and his partner Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), try to extract info from shrewd business man Saito (Ken Watanabe) by placing him in a "dream within a dream". Yeah, it's pretty confusing off the bat.

When Cobb and Arthur's job goes all kinds of wrong, Saito makes an incredible offer: do a job for him, and Cobb can go home and spend time with his children. The job? Inception. In other words, enter someone's dream, and instead of extracting information, you implant a contagious idea. The special someone? Robert Fisher (Cillian Murphy), a young, prodigious businessman and Saito's main competitor. So, Cobb collects people for his crack gang of dream-breakers, including Arthur as the "point man", a suave Englishman named Eames (Tom Hardy) as their "forger", a serviceable chemist named Yusuf (Dileep Rao), and lastly, a college psychology student who is tapped to be the crew's architect, named Ariadne (Ellen Page).

Sure, Ariadne has a very prominent purpose throughout the film: as Cobb explains all the complexities and dangers of entering the dreams of others, he is also explaining it to the audience. Not very often are vehicle characters, such as Ariadne, so watchable and interesting, continuing to reveal things about the characters until late in the film. Like, for instance, Cobb's torment when dealing with his late wife Mal (Marion Cotillard), whose spectre continues to show up and disrupt jobs, haunting Cobb's subconscious. Arthur, as well, seems limited to a character that is mostly an information dump, but it's a testament to Nolan's screenplay and the performances of Gordon-Levitt and Page that they never really seem that way.

Which brings me to the film's finest point: the screenplay. Not the loaded cast, not the beautiful locales, not the mind-bending special effects; but the screenplay. What Nolan crafts here is really unlike anything we've seen since 1999's The Matrix, but even that film had characters with limited motivations. Inception is a film that sees no boundaries, visually or thematically, refusing to let its high-profile summer-release make it shallow and obtuse. Yeah, there are plenty of high-octane chase sequences, but those moments become a lot more interesting when you actually care about those being chased. What is written here is a process that is so complex and difficult to understand (particularly on first viewing), but Nolan somehow manages to undermine all that by reflecting those complexities and those difficulties onto the characters.

Nobody does more reflecting then Cobb, so that makes DiCaprio's lead performance that much more important. Leo's character here is not unlike his character in Shutter Island, trapped in a world where reality is hard to decipher and tormented by a dead wife. Both performances work for the same reason: DiCaprio fills that well of grief with raw emotion, as opposed to histrionics. We never doubt Cobb's love for Mal (much like we never doubt Teddy's love for Delores in Island), but there is always that hint of uncertainty, that small drop of doubt that keeps that character in limbo. DiCaprio has become a master of walking that tight rope between sincere and devious, and even though we always know he's sincere, he gives us just enough to make it interesting.

Of course, when you direct the third-highest grossing film of all time (The Dark Knight) two years ago, it helps you get any kind of budget you want and any kind of cast you want. There are no unknowns in this cast (though a bloated Tom Berringer could probably pass for one), and I could only imagine what the effects budget was. Usually, these kind of details will set off prejudices for me, but it didn't here. Here is a film that dared to be commercial and daring when so often those words appear to be antonyms. There are many things I wish could have been stronger (mostly character-wise), but there are no visual cues that could have been better executed. With this film, Nolan takes a step away from the mindless spectacle of The Prestige and Batman Begins (and in many ways, I fear, The Dark Knight) and another step toward the mindful spectacle of his earlier films like Memento. It takes balls to have a budget this big and make a film so intellectually stimulating. I hope this starts a trend.

Toy Story 3 (****)

TOY STORY 3
Directed by Lee Unkrich

****

There's something poignant about the end of an era. For anyone born after 1985, the Toy Story films certainly feel like an era, cataloging times in our lives like snapshots. The first two, released in 1995 and 2000, respectively, were dazzling exhibitions in visual wonder and heartfelt characters. So, I guess it seems obvious that the sequel to two films that meant so much to me when I was a child would cause me to enter with some fearful trepidation. How could they possibly make a film that was on equal with the other two? Isn't one good sequel a miracle in itself? So, why try again? I'm glad they did.

All of the usual crew of toys are back: the hapless hero Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), the cantankerous Mr. Potato Head (Don Rickles) & his wife Mrs. Potato Head (Estelle Harris), the wrongheaded, but witty piggy-bank Hamm (Jon Ratzenberger), the vapidly adorable Barbie (Jodi Benson), the emotionally-insecure dino Rex (Wallace Shawn), the loyal, Southern-drawled Slinky Dog (Blake Clark), the foolhardy cowgirl Jessie (Joan Cusack), and of course, the even-keeled leader (and Andy's favorite toy), cowboy Woody (Tom Hanks). Yeah, everybody's back, but their loyal owner Andy is getting ready to move off to college and the toys' lives seem to be in limbo. As Andy's mother coldly states, there are only three options: stored up in the attic, donated to the day care center, or worst of all, thrown out in the trash.

After a miscommunication between Andy and his mother, the toys end up getting shipped off to the day care center, where they are welcomed with open arms by the various toys that are already there. They're greeted by the hug-prone teddy bear Lotso (Ned Beatty), who happens to be the adorned patriarch of the toys there and is always followed by an ominously dim-witted baby doll with a lazy eye. The super-metro Ken (voiced delightfully by Michael Keaton) gives the gang a tour of the place (and falls in love with Barbie in the process), while the gang discover that they'll be staying in the next room--with the toddlers.

Everything seems great at first (finally they'll be played with!), until they realize how rambunctious and messy those young toddlers can be. They're slobbered on, colored on, thrown across the room, and by the end of the day, they realize they've been hoodwinked. In an attempt to be moved to the other room, Lotso less generous side becomes much more apparent, and the gang must find a way to escape and get back to Andy, or else they'll face a life of being miscared for and eventually thrown away. Can they make it out of this perilous prison together?

There's plenty of laughs spread around in this film. Watching Mr. Potato Head fit his body parts into a soft tortilla shell was one of the funniest moments in any of the films. I guess ten years is enough time to make these characters fresh comically. Like seeing Buzz Lightyear's settings get accidentally reset into Spanish; or Woody's tea party with a method-acting stuffed hedgehog named Mr. Pricklepants (voiced by Timothy Dalton). In a screenplay scribed by the Oscar winning Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine), this group of misfit toys has never seemed more charming or endearing.

In the vain of all the Toy Story films, though, it is the seamless blend between the funny and the serious that makes this movie so special. I'm sure this will break all kinds of records in the box office as thousands of kids drag their parents along for the ride, but I'm sure the adults will find a much richer film then expected. After all, this was not a movie created for children. It seems obvious that this is a film made more for former children; those who grew up with Woody and Buzz, now making their way toward adulthood like Andy does in the film. There was such an eerie connection between this film and my own life, and I can't be the only one.

It all leads up to a final fifteen minutes that I'll dare anyone to watch without shedding a tear. I'm never a fan of neat endings, but this film manages to conclude the entire trilogy in a way that's poignant without being sentimental, and satisfying without being contrived. I feel comfortable walking away from this film and knowing that it is the end, and you get a sense that the filmmakers feel the same way. By the end, even if everything wasn't perfect (Lotso's treachery is not completely convincing; and did they have to wear out "The Claw"?), you're glad they've all made it to this point.

It's come to that we expect this kind of excellence from Pixar (The Incredibles, WALL-E, Finding Nemo), but I certainly don't take it for granted. I can say comfortably that this is the greatest "part three" in any film trilogy, which is kind of like being the tallest midget, but I say that because despite my love for everything Toy Story I simply expected it to become watered down, like all sequels that take ten years to make. But this is not. This is excellent storytelling and filmmaking at its most basic levels, and the best film of the year so far.

Get Him To The Greek (***)

GET HIM TO THE GREEK
Written and Directed by Nicholas Stoller

***

The list of exceptional spin-offs is pretty exclusive, but you'd have to etch Get Him To The Greek on that tablet. Borrowing a few characters from 2008's Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Greek is a cheery, sometimes dreary rock & roll comedy that has its even collection of laughs and thrills, while still managing to contain complete, interesting characters. Not bad when one of your lead actors is Puff Daddy.

When Aaron (Jonah Hill) is offered the job of escorting rocker bad boy Aldous Snow (Russell Brand) from England to the Greek Theater in Los Angeles, he doesn't think twice. You see, Aaron has been a fan of Snow and his band Infant Sorrow all his life so the chance to spend time with one of his idols seems like a no-brainer. Aaron is commissioned by his record executive boss Sergio (Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs) to pick Aldous up from England, fly him to New York to perform on the Today Show, and then next to Los Angeles for his show at the Greek.

Unfortunately, Aldous is no longer the show-stopping act he used to be. The last album he recorded, entitled 'African Child', was instantaneously considered the worst album ever made, and the stress from that led him to relapse back into alcoholism and drug addiction after seven years of sobriety. Meanwhile, his ex-wife Jackie Q (Rose Byrne) has hit it big with her recording career. When Aaron arrives in England, he's surprised to learn that Aldous' life consists simply of substance abuse, casual sex, and a few moments of sober melancholy that Aldous quickly tries to escape.

It becomes obvious that it is hard to keep Aldous on any kind of schedule. Airport arrivals are delayed by intense parties and drug rendezvous, and all the while Aaron does his best to wrangle Aldous and keep him happy at the same (all with Sergio breathing erratically down his back). Aaron also has issues with his longtime girlfriend Daphne (Elisabeth Moss), whose domineering attitude and dominating work schedule has started to create a divide between them. On his journey with Aldous, Aaron debates where his life is truly headed when he becomes slightly enticed by rock & roll life that Aldous introduces him to.

Another comedy from the Apatow brand, Greek still has an abundance of true laughs. The screenplay gives new life to the phrase "stroke the wall" (though I'm not totally sure that was a phrase many people were using to begin with). Sure, the comedy is borderline immature, since most of the jokes hinge on sex and drugs. But in a rock & roll movie, the other two have to find their way in somehow. The comedic timing and chemistry between Brand and Hill allow the film to feel elevated while still including sight gags with vomit and dildos.

I could have probably done without the enormous number of celebrity cameos (Lars Ulrich? really?), which was probably the main thing that screamed "I'm capitalizing off of the success of another film!". Greek contains nowhere near the amount of dense emotion or true sincerity that Forgetting Sarah Marshall had, but what it lacks in cleverness, it makes up in learning curves that would seem much more contrived if left in the hands of actors and filmmakers less in control of their screenplay. It helps that Infant Sorrow's songs are well-produced and helpful to the plot, rather than musical hanger-ons.

Russell Brand's Aldous Snow is probably fascinating enough to merit his own movie, but part of me prefers him in the smaller doses of Sarah Marshall. Both Brand and Hill have excellent moments that reveal more to the characters then I would have imagined, and Rose Byrne's supporting turn as the vain rock star's wife adds so much energy and humor in such small doses. Even Diddy has his moments. Get Him To The Greek is probably one of the weaker Apatow films, but that's not exactly the greatest insult you can heap onto a film. In the end, it's a great showcase for Brand and his rollicking brand of comedy.

Trailer Watch: Love Ranch

Is that a Joe Pesci sighting? That alone makes this film intriguing, and it doesn't hurt to have Helen Mirren in the lead role. Some of you may remember that this was slated for release last year, before being bumped to 2010. I don't know if that hurts or helps this. Taylor Hackford (I could probably make numerous "hack" jokes about his last name in relation to his career, but don't the films speak for themselves?) does have a minor gift for bringing something sincere out of what is really just soap, and that seems like what is going on here. Above all, the casting is interesting. Two great actors coming together in what looks like a fun, if melodramatic picture. Could be an Oscar sleeper if the performances are good.

Iron Man 2 (***1/2)

IRON MAN 2
Directed by Jon Favreau

***1/2

I know my film writing has become a lot more "part-time" than I would like, but to be fair, part of that has to do with a real lack of interesting films at the multiplexes. That's right, I'm making excuses...

By the end of the Summer of 2008, I was holding the very, very unpopular opinion that Iron Man--not The Dark Knight--was the best superhero film of the season. And now that I've had over a year to think it over, it was probably my favorite superhero movie ever [NOTE: This is not a grand achievement, since I'm one of the genre's loudest antagonists]. So, even though I despise Hollywood franchise sequels with a passion, I shelled out a hefty $10 to see the latest Iron Man 2. Much to my pleasure, it is one of the few sequels that not only returns the charm and charisma of the first film, but also exceeds the first's sense of style. Everything that was good about the original film is expanded upon, including an excellent performance by Robert Downey Jr.

The first Iron Man ends with Tony Stark (Downey Jr.) defiantly declaring to the media that he is, in fact, the Iron Man. He spends the time between films ushering in the longest standing of world peace we've ever seen by using his super suit to halt all types of international troublemakers. But not everyone is happy with Tony's diplomatic work; many politicians feel that he should surrender the suit to the government so it can be used to its full potential. There is also a fellow arms maker, Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), whose vain need to one-up Stark leads him into dark places to create his own suit.

Another man who is unhappy with Tony's crime-fighting success is Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke). Ivan's father worked with Tony's father, before being deported for espionage. Plagued with the memory's of his destroyed father, Ivan wishes to get his revenge on Tony, for all the success he feels his father deserves. Ivan is also blessed with a knowledge of physics and a gift with the technological aspects of engineering. Alone, in his Russian hovel, he is able to make his own power suit (an incredible job of costuming, equipped with two electric whips extending out of his arms) and he travels to America hoping to find Stark.

But aside from the litany of supervillains out to get him, Tony must also deal with the problems that he presents to himself. His extensive use of the Iron Man suit (and its use of a dangerous element to work) is beginning to kill him slowly, and the only way he can cope with it is with blatant irresponsibility and dormant alcoholism. His assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and close friend James "Rhodie" Rhodes (Don Cheadle) do their best to keep him in check, but promptly, Tony's path to self-destruction comes at the worst possible, as Hammer and Vanko stage a plan to take Iron Man down.

Mickey Rourke in one of the most ridiculous costumes I've ever seen in my life...

It's a little disappointing to find that the Iron Man films seem to be a speed ramp toward 2012's The Avengers, which will also contain aspects of 2008's The Incredible Hulk, as well as various other characters from other upcoming movies. The new addition in Iron Man 2? Scarlott Johansson's Black Widow, who only paces through this film under the name "Natalie Rushman". Natalie, schmatalie. Johansson and Samuel L. Jackson's work as Nick Fury is an obvious attempt to segueway into future projects that will create an unstoppable, super-duper movie franchise. The in-movie promotion is almost enough to make you sick. Almost.

All that aside, Iron Man 2 is still just about the most fun you can have with this gluttonous amount of cinematic excess. It is probably the only franchise that truly does justice to the wonderful characters that Stan Lee is able to create. I say "characters", as aside from the "superheroes" that he creates. So often, these films are awash with black-and-white morality. There is no ambiguity, just good, evil and the gimmicks that the villains and heroes must abide by. But the Iron Man films do not feel so entrenched, and instead these heroes/villains feel like interesting, complex people who just happen to possess some extraordinary abilities. [NOTE #2: This could be because the superhero nicknames are barely used: Vanko is never called 'Whiplash', Rushman is never called 'Black Widow', and Tony Stark only calls himself 'Iron Man' when its absolutely necessary.]

I found myself incredibly drawn to these people. Even Rockwell's Justin Hammer, whose hammy incompetence damns him into limited dimensions, felt intriguing in his charm (sitting down before the start of this film, I had no idea that Sam Rockwell was in it; he was probably my favorite performance). What director Jon Favreau is able to bring out of his actors is impressive, considering how easy it is to fall back into comic book movie convention. Yet, Mickey Rourke seems engulfed by the Russian, controlled anger of his performance and Paltrow finds a perfect balance of humorous and authoritative chemistry with Downey Jr. We've come to expect greatness from Robert Downey Jr.--and we get that here--but Iron Man 2 is truly an exceptional ensemble.

Much like the first Iron Man, the action does not really crescendo until the final act and then it peeters out rather quickly. I'd find this more annoying if what I liked about Iron Man was the action. What it lacks in boisterous explosions, it makes up for in engrossing character examination. We get more Tony, more Pepper, and a bevy of new people to meet and chuckle at. This one felt a little more entertaining to me, and that's saying something since I really enjoyed the first one. This one is a little darker, grungier, and more unafraid to ignore the frivolous sight gags expected from a movie like this. It's seldom that film sequels become more ambitious than the original, but they'd be better off for it.

2010--Bunking the Early-Year Trend?

Is there such a thing as too many good films in the early part of the year? Granted, I have not gone out of my way to see such money-grubbing films like Clash of the Titans or Alice in Wonderland, but I have seen several under-the-radar movies that have all been fantastic. Even the flawed films, like Shutter Island and Greenberg were well-made and interesting, which made them great theater experiences. It feels so peculiar that I'm enjoying myself so often at the movies in the first four months of the year. Isn't this the time for the studios to dump all of their crap?



The answer is yes and no. In terms of the studio films, the early-year, crappy-movie-dumping routine has continued. How else would you explain films like The Spy Next Door or Repo Men getting nationwide releases? It's a shrewd but calculated move that these studio heads make, and for the most part these decisions work. Shutter Island would have probably gotten swallowed in its initial October release, but in February it makes over $125 million (and so far, the fourth highest grossing film of the year). When every movie at the multiplex is a mountain of elephant crap, the elephant crap is bound to sweep up some money.

Scorsese's Oscar chances may have vanished with 'Shutter Island's February release, but it does not make it any less viewable...

So how did I manage to bat a thousand on my movie ventures so far? Determination and research. The biggest misnomer about the early-year slump is that there are no good films to be seen. This is blatantly untrue. Good movies are coming out all year round, but you just have to know how to look for them. People in metropolitan areas have the advantage, obviously, because they have the benefit of the first round of film festivals. Most of the time, at these festivals you're able to see great films before people are even getting the chance to say that they are great (in my case, I was able to see Winter's Bone and Leaves of Grass at Orlando's Florida Film Festival).

But even without the festivals, good films (or perhaps the more appropriate term is "unique films") are sprinkled in and around movie theaters all year. It just takes a lot of effort to go and see them. Greenberg is only playing for a single weekend at your local independent theater? Sometimes it's worth it to shell out the cash for gas to get a chance to see it. The Ghost Writer is taking a while to expand to your area? Be patient, all good films make their way to you. If they don't, perhaps they weren't worth seeing to begin with.

I guess what I'm trying to say is to drop the cynicism that comes with movie-going around this time of the year. There are always unique experiences to be found. You just have to know how to look.

Leaves of Grass (***1/2)

LEAVES OF GRASS
Written and Directed by Tim Blake Nelson

***1/2

A phrase you might hear a lot of when you listen to people talking about Edward Norton's latest film, Leaves of Grass, is "tone issues". This is a film that does not seem to care if events or character actions come out of nowhere. It doesn't put much stock into what the audience may expect to happen in a certain scene, because it goes right ahead and does whatever the hell it wants to do anyway. But there is a method to the madness here, and director Tim Blake Nelson constructs a rather brilliant, offbeat tale of family, philosophy, and good ol' weed.

Billy Kincaid (Edward Norton) is a classical philosophy professor at Brown University. He's got students who love him (some a little too much), a regular space in a magazine where he's able to write extensive columns, and numerous offers from other schools to teach there. He is a prestigious thinker, but he comes from very humble beginnings in Little Dixie, Oklahoma. His father died when he was very young and his mother (Susan Surandon) was such a druggie that she denied Billy any shot at a normal childhood. So, he abandoned Little Dixie at first chance and started a life of his own.

That is, until he gets a phone call telling him that his twin brother Brady (also Edward Norton) has been murdered. Billy flies back to Oklahoma for the first time in over a decade and meets Brady's friend Bolger (Nelson himself). They both go inside a convenient store, Billy is immediately mistaken for his brother, and knocked unconscious. When he awakes, he finds Brady nursing him to health. Obviously flustered, Brady explains that he's getting married and having a baby with his girlfriend Colleen (Melanie Lynskey), and proclaiming his own death was the only way to get Billy to come down to see the event.

In frustration, Billy explains that he's leaving immediately, but Brady convinces him to stay for the weekend. He introduces Billy to his friend Janet (Keri Russell) who seems to be the only person in Little Dixie who shares Billy's intellectual level. After a day, Brady reveals his real scheme. As a major pot dealer and grower, Brady has to travel to Tulsa for a while, and he needs Billy to pretend to be him while he's gone--for alibi reasons. What follows is a series of humorous, often violent encounters with a pious drug kingpin (Richard Dreyfuss), a neurotic Jewish orthodontist (Josh Pais), and more crossbows than I ever thought existed in this country.

It is around these moments in Leaves of Grass that the audience will probably tune out and shout that the movie makes no sense. I'm not exactly sure that I would blame them, since the tone shifts are sudden and violent (literally and figuratively) and leave even the most open-minded viewers scratching their heads. I'll admit that I found my mind swimming upon first viewing, but upon further pondering, I feel that there is something rather brilliant here. The harsh turns that the movie takes seem almost intentional, and I start to think that this was the best way for Nelson to address the themes he was presenting in the film.

As I watched, I began to wonder whether a more seasoned, eccentric filmmaker--like Spike Jonze or the Coen Brothers--would handle this wacky material and make it more fluid. Then I thought again. Addressing the themes of high and low culture, the morality of humanity, and the effect of the drug culture in lower economic areas, Nelson is tapping into a ridiculous universe. So maybe the ridiculous nature in which this film presents itself is actually the perfect tone after all. It's this nice balance between screwball comedy and austere sincerity that makes the film very charming, even when the corpses begin to pile up.

Playing both twin brothers, Norton has probably his best performances since 2002's 25th Hour. He perfectly encapsulates the idiosyncrasies of the two incredibly diverse brothers, and even when he delves into camp with his Oklahoma accent for Brady, it never feels derogatory. Russell, Nelson, and Surandon all lend the film some very effective supporting performances that create a very authentic atmosphere of Hicksville, USA. Certainly not an actor's film, Leaves has the benefit of good performances to buoy the excellent themes.

There is only a very tenuous connection to Walt Whitman's famous book of poetry, but it only really uses that piece of literature to further push the motif high versus low culture. I know Leaves of Grass is going to rub people the wrong way. Maybe I'm just so cynical and contrarion that I find that charming. What's most important, though, is that when you leave the theater you are thinking. You're pondering over everything that Nelson could have possibly wanted to portray in this odd little little film, and that's more interesting then most of the studio dribble that we see in theaters.

Winter's Bone (***)

WINTER'S BONE
Directed by Debra Granik

***

In the world of the Ozark Mountains, there are some pretty sketchy characters to be found. Winter's Bone is a pretty gritty portrayal of the darkest corners of this world. Quickly growing as a festival hit, the film recently won the Dramatic Award at Sundance Film Festival, and Roadside Attractions won the bidding war for distribution. Since then, it's been playing at various festivals growing further and further on word of mouth. When I finally got around to seeing it for myself, I was already holding onto a world of expectation.

Set during a harsh winter, it tells the story of a Meth-raddled town near the Ozark mountains. Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence) is a seventeen-year-old, hard-boiled young woman. With her mother sick and nearly catatonic, and her father a drug cooking and drug dealing runaway, she is forced to look after her two younger siblings. Ree has managed to stay off the junk that has plagued her entire town. Every neighbor and every family member is foiled by serious addiction and malaise, and she does her best to protect her brother and sister from those haunting characters.

Things take an unfortunate turn, though, when Ree is told that her father has disappeared and put their house up for bond. She has a few weeks to find him and turn him in or she, her siblings and her sick mother will be thrown out of their home. She visits the obvious suspects first, including close family and friends of her father. They all offer ominous warnings that she should end her search before she gets herself and her family into serious trouble. These intimidations don't affect Ree's determination.

What follows is a series of encounters that get deeper and deeper into the drug-addled world that she has struggled so hard to avoid her entire life. It isn't too long until she encounters real danger in the form of her father's drug partners, and it becomes obvious that her father has probably been killed. Her search then shifts to finding the body and keeping a roof over her brother and sister's head. The only help she gets comes in the form of her addict uncle Teardrop (John Hawkes), who has trouble containing emotional stability with all of his vices.

What's striking about this new film from Debra Granik (director of 2004's Down To The Bone) is the unrelenting vision of hopelessness of this sketchy society. My ignorance on the conditions of Arkansas mountain towns is glaring, but there is an air of authenticity here. Ree cannot count on anyone being clean, which makes her journey that much more daunting. In our dejected economic times, it seems plausible that an entire town can nosedive into drug addiction, and Winter's Bone does an excellent job of commenting without being blatant.

Following Ree is key to the film's success. She is innocent, but she is not naive. She does not wander into the dark corners without knowledge of what could be awaiting her. She gives a pure view, but we are still lead by someone who knows where they're going. It is a classic case of an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object: Ree does not worry herself over the danger that she could face on her search, because she knows that being stranded without a home in this horrific town is worse than any punishment that can be inflicted on her for snooping.

It helps that the film is headed by a tremendous performance by Jennifer Lawrence (she's done a lot of television work which I'm not familiar with, but she will be in Jodie Foster's upcoming, much-anticipated film, The Beaver). Her role as Ree showcases ultimate resolution and wisdom well beyond her years. In a situation like that, children like Ree are forced to grow up much earlier then they are supposed to, and Lawrence does an excellent job of keeping Ree's precociousness while always maintaining her stone cold resolve.

I'm not sure how Winter's Bone could have possibly lived up to my expectation. With all its great moments and strong writing, there was still something that was missing for me. I found myself not totally ingrained in the narrative at moments, and that may be because of the story's redundant nature (she asks someone where her father is and the response is usually dismissive). All that said, it is a strong film with authentic performances and a unique voice. I'm glad that it has been successful on the festival circuit, I'm just not sure it's the near-masterpiece that most have saying it is.