Married to the Movies

Burton's 'Alice' offering splits reviewers

2010-03-11T14:01:12Z

THE FIRST HALF -- At least two critics I read after seeing Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" asked the question, Where's the wonder?

Lynn asks, Where's the emotional connection?

I ask: With a bandersnatch and jabberwocky and evaporating Cheshire cat, who wouldn't grow curiouser and curiouser?

Fact is, I feel completely at home in Burton's various worlds, magical places that bloom and slither apart from the boredom and falseness of the real world.

In "Alice," I was held by wonder and joy the entire time. I connected with the nonsensical sadness of the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp), the weary wisdom of Absalom the caterpillar (voiced by Alan Rickman), and the lonely wickedness of the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter).

Burton and screenwriter Linda Woolverton mix and match Lewis Carroll's works, and update Alice (Mia Wasikowska) to a 19-year-old about to be married to the snootiest lord ever to grace Britain's bloodlines. No wonder she chases a rabbit only she can see.


And what a trip it becomes, down the rabbit hole into Jefferson Airplane land. Wonderland is now Underland, no longer the fantasy of youth but a paradise lost to the Red Queen's lust for power, absent any love.

The whimsical remains, but a gloom casts a pall over the land as well, and the march hare, hatter, cat and mouse are discombobulated and bedraggled.

Can Alice restore her dream world? Anything beats that red-haired dweeb who just proposed to her in the real world. Four-and-a-half Hearts.

THE BETTER HALF -- I didn't find "Alice in Wonderland" quite as wonderful as The First Half. I'll admit the film is visually stunning, but to me it's lacking an important element in a fairy tale, which is heart.

Although I was never bored and completely interested in seeing where director Tim Burton would take us in his kaleidoscopic story of colors and frenzy, I was also rather disconnected.

It was as if my emotions were never fully utilized. Sure, I felt the usual Burton fright, but I laughed a little and never once came close to getting a lump in my throat.

What's a 19-year-old girl to do when a drippy aristocrat wants your hand in marriage and everyone is pressuring you to grow up and conform? If you're Alice (Mia Wasikowska), follow a white rabbit into the woods and fall down a hole for a little away time.

Underland, as it's called here, is quite the "Calgon, take me away" place. Alice encounters talking dogs, cats and flowers, a guru-like blue caterpillar and potions and cakes that can either make you shrink to fit into a teapot or grow 10 feet tall.

Alice also must deal with a strange group of misfits that either think she is their savior -- like the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) and the White Queen (Anne Hathaway) -- or want her beheaded -- like the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter).

If you're seeking a little acid-like tale that's action and sensory-filled, "Alice in Wonderland" is for you. But if you're after more warmth and message, see "The Wizard of Oz" or "Up" again. Three Hearts.

Until next time, keep walking down the aisle ... Married to the Movies.

New releases serve up life lessons

2010-03-03T14:58:06Z

Wild and wonderful, this week at the video store ...

THE FIRST HALF -- The meaning is less important than the journey in "Where The Wild Things Are," co-writer/director Spike Jonze's dark and magical adaptation of Maurice Sendak's classic book.

This strange tale of a land of huge beasts and their newly-arrived child king is interpreted by many as the child's fantasy of his many sides and the people around him. That's perfectly valid, but I simply fell into the world's mesmerizing oddness, and its characters' close resemblance to grown-ups in the real world.

This is not a happy place, full of anger and doubts and depression, but there is also room for great joy and tenderness and dreams. They need a king to give them purpose, and the young boy Max (Max Records) needs a place where he can control all the things that are wrong, like a mother who has a new boyfriend and a sister who's growing up and leaving him behind.


But in this imagined land where Max is king, things still go wrong, and kings before him have been eaten. If there is a message here, it is that life is never perfect and not always fun, and we try the best we can to be happy and forgiving and loving and strong.

The beasts are remarkable physically and emotionally, thanks to the skills of the creators and a cast that includes James Gandolfini, Lauren Ambrose, Forest Whitaker, Chris Cooper and Catherine O'Hara.

Director Jonze brought complicated weirdness to the screen in previous films, including "Being John Malkovich" and "Adaptation." Here he brings simplicity and wonder and truth. Four-and-a-half Hearts.

THE BETTER HALF -- Some reviewers judged "Everybody's Fine" way too harshly when it came to theaters in December. Read my lips, Entertainment Weekly: There's no way this movie deserves a D.

"Everybody's Fine," written and directed by Kirk Jones ("Waking Ned Devine"), is a well-made drama with terrific performances by the entire cast (Kate Beckinsale, Sam Rockwell, Drew Barrymore and of course, Robert De Niro).

Quiet, ordinary people are often the hardest to portray, and it takes extraordinary, pure acting to pull it off honestly and effectively. Think Duvall in "Tender Mercies" or Nicholson in "About Schmidt." Add De Niro to the list. He gives a low-key, seamless performance that never hits a false note.


"Everybody's Fine" focuses on a universal theme that many can relate to, where parents, especially fathers, see their kids as the children they once were instead of the adults they have become. Recently retired and widowed Frank Goode (De Niro) is one of those dads whose late wife was the glue that held the family together.

She shielded him from anything wrong or bad about their four children and only shared the good. The sad result is a dad who loves but doesn't really know his own kids.

When all four come up with lame excuses for not visiting, Frank sets out to pay a surprise visit to each one of them. As he crisscrosses from New York to Chicago to Denver to Vegas, he gradually realizes that by only knowing their success and not their failures, he's being left out.

Perhaps it's his own loneliness and sadness that finally makes him ask the simple yet oh-so-complex question: Are you happy?

The message of "Everybody's Fine" is one that's near and dear to me, that honesty is the only way for a family to be close. Perhaps that's why I found it to be tender and touching. Four Hearts.

Until next time, keep veggin' out in front of the DVD ... Married to the Movies.

Latest from Scorsese lacks director's bite

2010-02-24T16:03:33Z

THE FIRST HALF -- My two favorite Martin Scorsese films are "Goodfellas" and "The Age of Innocence," because they overturned biases I held.

I've never cared for movies about the mob -- not even the "Godfather" films -- because I don't like spending time with ignorant thugs. Likewise, I yawn with frustration -- ditch the manners, tell the truth -- at the Prissy Brit school of social dishonesty.

But Scorsese showed me the heart and soul of both groups, the honesty behind the facade, from city streets where gangsters were heroes to turn-of-the-century Manhattan parlors where refined blue bloods revealed themselves.

The point is this: Whether he is getting inside the head of a psychopath (Robert De Niro in "Taxi Driver" and "The King of Comedy") or inside another world ("Gangs of New York"), Scorsese engages truth as deeply as perhaps any other director.

That's why his more mainstream efforts -- a cop movie, a thriller -- are often less memorable, as Scorsese reaches for deeper meaning in plots that don't demand it. Such was the case with "The Departed," a Best Picture winner (for past oversights, I guess), and with "Shutter Island," a psychological thriller that holds you but does not move you.

Scorsese favorite Leonardo DiCaprio plays Teddy Daniels, a U.S. marshal in 1954 investigating an escape from a hospital for the criminally insane on a spooky Boston Harbor island. Things are eerie and gothic from the start, as questions go unanswered and doctors (Ben Kingsley, Max Von Sydow) throw up well-mannered walls at every turn.

Is Teddy, carrying demons of his own in his wife's tragic death and his experiences liberating Dachau in the war, caught up in a conspiracy of secrecy that will make him question his own sanity? That question propels you. A deeper truth does not. Three-and-a-half Hearts.

THE BETTER HALF -- My first inkling there might be some problems with "Shutter Island" was when the studio moved its release date from the coveted November holiday period to the dead zone of February, when pictures are all but forgotten by next year's Oscar time.

Perhaps they were trying to spare famed director Martin Scorsese some embarassment, because "Shutter Island," his first film since the Oscar-winning "The Departed," will not be getting many accolades.

In a word, the mental asylum mystery is a long, jumbled, artsy mess, from its overbearing, foreboding score of impending doom to Scorsese's strange homage to Hitchcock. There's a "Vertigo" staircase scene, a "North by Northwest" cliff-hanging scene, to name a few that come off almost as spoofs rather than film noir-ish.

Federal marshals Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) have come by ferry to the isolated Shutter Island, where 66 patients are housed in a prison hospital for the criminally insane.

They're there to investigate the escape of child murderer Rachel Soldano, who has somehow gone missing without a trace. Teddy also wants to secretly investigate his suspicions that patients are being experimented on by the hospital's head doctors (Ben Kingsley and Max Von Sydow).

But first he'll have to battle a hurricane that's pounding the island and his own migraines and haunting flashbacks of World War II and his personal tragedies that seem to be overtaking him.

To the movie's credit, it does finally tie together in the end, and the last third is pretty engaging. It's just the deep sighing and shuddering over the overblown scenes that it takes to get there that wears you out. Two-and-a-half Hearts.

Until next time, keep walking down the aisle ... Married to the Movies.

Cohen brothers, Rock top DVD releases

2010-02-17T17:18:25Z

THE FIRST HALF -- Not a good sign: I kept drifting off trying to watch the Coen brothers' Best Picture-nominated film, "A Serious Man."

So I decided to try again the next night. Ethan and Joel Coen, the most original filmmakers of the last 20 years, deserve my full attention.

Struggled again. Downed some caffeine and managed to get through it.

Here's the weird part: I'm going to give "A Serious Man" a pretty good review. Here's why: Two days later, I'm still thinking about this movie that put me to sleep.


It started odd, to be expected from the Coens, with an episode from past peasant life. A man and wife, speaking in Yiddish, encounter a village friend who may or may not be a dybbuk, a wandering soul in another's body. The wife uses an ice pick to find out for sure. End of fable.

So far, so weird. Then, after opening to the strains of Jefferson Airplane, our story becomes achingly slow-moving, as dull, apparently, as Jewish suburban life in Minnesota circa 1967, which it depicts through the eyes of physics professor Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg).

Larry moves through days whipped by life's winds, as a tenure vote, his stoned son's bar mitzvah, his wife's request for a ritual divorce and other ills pound him quietly.

"A Serious Man" takes effort, even for a diehard Coen fan. But drink some coffee, endure the sloth-like pace and be rewarded with a story much more intriguing than it looks at first glance, exploring faith in a world where Jefferson Airplane may be wiser than men of God. Three-and-a-half Hearts.

THE BETTER HALF -- When "Good Hair" opened in theaters several months ago, I saw Chris Rock numerous times on TV discussing his new documentary, which he co-wrote and narrates.

I remember on Oprah, some of the black women were already on Rock's case without even seeing the film. They were afraid they were being negatively portrayed about the lengths they go to in altering their natural hair texture.

I'm paraphrasing here, but Rock basically said not to worry. He set out to make an entertaining movie infused with facts but not to humiliate or further divide anyone. I'd say he succeeded.

"Good Hair" runs the gamut from funny and enlightening -- like no swimming or touching a black woman's hair -- to the very serious, like purchasing $1,000 and up weaves over basic necessities. Rock is not too harsh or judgmental.

As he criss-crosses from L.A. to Atlanta to India and back, and interviews celebrities Nia Long, Ice-T, Salt N' Pepa, Maya Angelou and Al Sharpton to name a few, we learn just what a big business trying to achieve so-called good hair is.


While showing everything from harsh relaxers that will eat through metal to expensive weaves, Rock explores some of the sociological and psychological reasons behind women and their quest for perfect locks.

As someone who lost her hair for several years to chemo in her early 20s, I certainly know the importance hair can hold. But as Rock surmises, it would be nice if we could all concentrate a little more on what's in our head instead of what's on it. Four Hearts.

Until next time, keep veggin' out in front of the DVD player ... Married to the Movies.

'Crazy Heart' delivers gritty slice-of-life performance

2010-02-10T17:02:13Z

THE FIRST HALF -- "Crazy Heart" is not a happy story. You'll smile a little and you could call it life-affirming, but only in a minor key.

I say this because we movie critics take heat sometimes for giving high ratings to movies that others would call depressing. So know this going in: The character Jeff Bridges plays is a serious drunk, a washed-up cussin' Waylon Jennings type who lights his cigarettes with the butt of the one he just smoked and vomits in back alley trash cans.

He's also one of the most memorable film portraits from 2009, and Bridges -- that rare blend of leading man and character actor -- deserves to win a long-overdue Oscar for the role.

He plays Bad Blake, a traditional country-rocker who's been pushed to the back roads by Keith Urban-ized crossover stars like Tommy Sweet (Colin Farrell), his one-time protégé who now makes millions singing songs Bad wrote.

Bad still has a booze-soaked pride, and his relationship with Tommy is fueled by bitterness and fallen friendship. His relationship with single mom Jean (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is altogether different, a chance at redemption for a broken man.

Writer-director Scott Cooper doesn't do anything fancy here, which is the perfect tone. "Crazy Heart" flows like a sad country song with some kick to it. Songwriters T Bone Burnett ("O Brother Where Art Thou?") and the late Stephen Bruton back up the director with songs that sound like hits 20 years ago. Four-and-a-half Hearts.

THE BETTER HALF -- I've been a fan of Jeff Bridges' acting (The First Half might say his looks) for more than 30 years. So if I'd been at the recent Golden Globes, I too would have joined in giving him a standing ovation when he won Best Dramatic Actor for "Crazy Heart."

After seeing the film, in which Bridges inhabits the role of a down-and-out country singer so thoroughly you can almost smell the stale cigarettes and whisky oozing from his pores, I'd say he deserves all the accolades he's been receiving.

More surprising to me, though, was that the small independent film by first-time writer-director Scott Cooper is also quite captivating.

Although the movies are very different, it reminded me of several years back when everyone was hailing Philip Seymour Hoffman for his performance in "Capote." His work was flawless, but the movie also was very deserving.

Bad Blake (Bridges) used to have a successful career in the country music arena, until his No. 1 friend -- whisky -- threw it a curveball, along with ruining four marriages, many friendships, his health and just about everything in his life. Now Bad still performs, but in bowling alleys and crummy bars. Surprisingly, Bad still has fans and even a few women groupies, and he can be personable and a decent musician when he's not wasted. But those times are few and far between.

In Santa Fe, a young 30-ish divorced reporter (Maggie Gyllenhaal) and her 4-year-old son enter Bad's life, and he tries to clean up his act some. But sadly, even though he would never mean to intentionally hurt them, his No. 1 friend has other ideas.

It's the crisis Bad needs to realize that at 57 years old, he's never really been present for most of them. Moviegoers should be glad to be present at "Crazy Heart" if they're looking for a low-key, gritty, slice-of-life film with superb acting. Four Hearts.

Until next time, keep walking down the aisle ... Married to the Movies.

Gibson's acting shines through in 'Darkness'

2010-02-03T17:39:06Z

THE FIRST HALF -- "The Edge of Darkness" can be considered a comeback for Mel Gibson after his anti-Semitic shenanigans on the streets of Southern California and foray into revisionist Mayan history on the big screen.

Here's the comeback verdict: He's still good ol' Mel as an actor, which means a thinking man's butt-kicker, with motivations that run deep and fists that fly with righteous fury.

He's also an action star who can blend quirky humor into the mix without tarnishing the serious-minded stuff, but you won't find that here. In "Darkness," the only moments approaching comedy come with the suddenness of his violence.

You are on his side every step of the way. He plays Boston detective Tom Craven, welcoming his daughter Emma (Bojana Novakovic) home after a long absence, only to see her assassinated by a drive-by shooter on his front porch.

The rest of the movie is investigation and revenge, as a stoic and saddened Craven works alone pursuing a tangled cover-up at the company where Emma worked. His police colleagues head down a different path, thinking the shooter meant to kill Craven.

There is too much formula here, with sinister executives and slimy politicians, but "Darkness" is based on a BBC mini-series and it shows. The same director, Martin Campbell, is at the helm, and the story is propelled more by gritty realism and interesting characters than the style-over-substance of so many American suspense thrillers.

It even brings along a character straight out of BBC: Ray Winstone as a cockney-accented sophisticate who "fixes" problems for power brokers. Winstone, like Gibson, finds deeper, more intriguing levels beneath the character's surface. Four Hearts.


THE BETTER HALF -- While I may not always agree with the way Mel Gibson acts in his personal life, the fact remains that on screen, he's a fine actor.

"The Edge of Darkness" is the first time in eight years that Gibson has been in front of the camera, and his performance here -- as in "Gallipoli" and "The Man with Two Faces" -- reminds us that Gibson is truly more than a pretty face.

Even more so now that his chiseled good looks are more crinkled, and he looks every bit his 54 years. To the filmmakers' credit, they had enough confidence in the older Gibson not to pair him with a younger sidekick or a love interest, like studios do so often with aging stars. So refreshing to see.

When Boston police detective Thomas Craven's (Gibson) 24-year-old visiting daughter Emma (Bojana Novakovic) is brutally gunned down on his front porch, everyone assumes it was someone out for revenge on the detective.

Everyone but Craven, who starts to wonder just why Emma was so sick right before her murder, and exactly what her job was at Northmoor, a private nuclear energy company.

As Craven digs deeper, he uncovers corporate and political conspiracies and evils. But "The Edge of Darkness" momentum and power doesn't so much lie in what's uncovered, which is rather cliched, but rather the conflicted fury of a grieving father pursuing justice. Three-and-a-half Hearts.

Until next time, keep walking down the aisle ... Married to the Movies.

Sci-fi, comedy titles make way to stores

2010-01-27T17:53:46Z

By CAL & LYNN MASSEY
NEWS-TRIBUNE MOVIE CRITICS

Good try awards at the video store this week ...

THE FIRST HALF -- Your life is a facade, a mask of happiness. The real you is a sedentary lump, closed off from reality and living a virtual fantasy of perfection.

Yes, "The Matrix" was on TV recently, but I'm referring instead to "Surrogates," a fairly noble retread that has its heart in the right place -- the Internet world deadens flesh-and-blood life -- but offers nothing original or profound.

There's something borrowed from a long line of movies offering variations on a conformist, controlled-culture theme, from "The Stepford Wives" to "Invasion of the Body Snatchers."

But where those films warned against a male-dominated society and the communist threat, "Surrogates" worries about the hours you spend connected to a pale little screen.

Here, the screen has evolved into a little helmet of desire that sends a robot out into the world in your stead, while you become little more than a bathrobed agoraphobe tied to wires.

So Bruce Willis now has blond hair and perfect skin, as surrogate detective Greer, and his wife (Rosamund Pike) has the same. Everyone, in fact, has some version of their ideal.

But there are real human beings out there, too, led by The Prophet (Ving Rhames), still living with their imperfections on reservations within the cities. When one of them is linked to the destruction of surrogates with a weapon that also kills the operators, Greer and his partner (Radha Mitchell) must venture into the truth, a scary place.

"Surrogates" sends a message we need to hear, but it isn't a movie you'll remember for long. Maybe the message will stick. Three Hearts.

THE BETTER HALF -- I like the dry wit of actor-comedian Ricky Gervais, who co-wrote and co-directed "The Invention of Lying," so I'd like to say it's one of the best comedies I've seen. But I'd be lying, because actually this black comedy was only so-so for me.

The premise starts off original and funny: Lo and behold, telling a lie is foreign to people. In this world of truth-tellers, where everyone calls it like they see it, the result is a pessimistic place where insults and gloom prevail over hope and happiness.

Mark Bellison (Gervais) is a soon-to-be-fired screenwriter who can't make the plague years interesting enough. He's infatuated with a gorgeous woman named Anna (Jennifer Garner) who tells him every chance she gets that she's out of his league.

Meanwhile, his ailing mother is near death in a nursing home that's called "A Sad Place for Hopeless Old People" in this non-sugar-coated world.

What's a chubby little loser (which is pretty much what everyone calls Mark) to do? How about learn to fib big-time? Being the only one who knows how to stretch the truth soon has Mark becoming a modern-day prophet, which brings on its own set of problems.

My main beef with "The Invention of Lying" is that it contradicts its own parable that there is more to us than meets the eye. Mark only has eyes for Anna because of her outer beauty. Three Hearts.

Until next time, keep veggin' out in front of the DVD ... Married to the Movies.

PHOTO CREDIT: AP Photo/Touchstone Pictures-Disney, Stephen Vaughan

'Bones' severs story flow too often

2010-01-20T19:47:01Z

By CAL & LYNN MASSEY
NEWS-TRIBUNE MOVIE CRITICS

THE FIRST HALF -- "The Lovely Bones," a story that could have produced an extraordinary film, instead contains the most jolting interruption I have ever seen in doing this review for more than 20 years.

In the midst of a story about a murdered teenage girl who narrates the aftermath of her tragedy from a heaven's gate limbo, director Peter Jackson throws in a sequence from "Cheaper by the Dozen."

Susan Sarandon, playing a reckless boozy grandma, takes over housekeeping duties and proceeds to burn dinner, pour suds all over the laundry room and engage in other zany antics.

I just stared at the screen with an astounded "Huh?" The movie's tone and undercurrent had been flipped as casually as a burger, as if Jackson said "Time to have a little fun with this dark, mysterious, fascinating story."

It's one of several bad choices Jackson made, all the more disappointing because he triumphed elsewhere. A peripheral relationship the teenage Suzie (Saoirse Ronan) has with a living girl who is an outsider and can sense her presence leads to the film's most inspiring moment, a last act before passage to Heaven.

He also succeeds in bits and pieces in moving the story to the heavenly place where Suzie resides after death. When her father (Mark Wahlberg) shatters a collection of treasured ships-in-a-bottle, Suzie stands on a dream-like shoreline watching huge ships in bottles crash on the rocks. It was a powerful merging of heaven and Earth.

But most of the fantasy sequences aren't so vividly connected, and Jackson stays there far too long, upsetting the tone to compound the error of those astonishingly-wrong Sarandon scenes. I wish he'd stayed true to the story's dark and determined heart. Three Hearts.

THE BETTER HALF -- "The Lovely Bones" would be a good movie for a discussion in a film class.

Unfortunately, there would be just about as much discussion on what doesn't work as what does.

"The Lovely Bones" could become a textbook case of how computer-generated special effects can diminish and derail a film that had the potential to build toward Oscar-caliber power.

The first 30 minutes, which are old-fashioned character-driven scenes, are mesmerizing and full of raw emotion, from the joy of a teenage girl's first crush to the gut-wrenching fear and nausea of a serial killer stalking his prey.

But suddenly, it's as if director Peter Jackson decides things are too intense, too serious. So he takes us to a place resembling "Alice in Wonderland," where there are golden fields, laughter and bouncing balls.

Actually, he takes us to his vision of the place between Earth and Heaven, where 14-year-old Suzie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan), who was murdered on her way home from school, is stuck in limbo.

Suzie narrates the film, and through her eyes we see life going on without her, from her struggling family (Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Rose McIver) to her killer (Stanley Tucci), who still resides undetected in the neighborhood.

The film continues its back and forth narrative between Earth and beyond, and each time, I was jarred from truly connecting intimately with "The Lovely Bones." Three Hearts.

Until next time, keep walking down the aisle ... Married to the Movies.

'Nine' hits high notes with cast performance, plot

2010-01-06T18:21:49Z

CAL & LYNN MASSEY
NEWS-TRIBUNE MOVIE CRITICS

THE FIRST HALF -- Tried to write this review but was completely blocked. Nothing. Nada. Neurons null and void.

So I decided to write a review about not being able to write a review. This, substituting "film" for "review," is essentially the plot of "Nine."

Now, writers writing about writing -- similar though it may be to medieval torture -- can produce whiny snoozers, of interest only to the similarly afflicted. Just ask Lynn, (pa-dum).

But when the writer is brilliant, his struggles can be captivating, because through the childlike insecurity, the crumbling but intact ego and the need to be alone and adored at the same time, he will find a way to create something more meaningful than navel-gazing.

That's what Fellini did in "8 ½" and that's what Italian filmmaker Guido Contini (Daniel Day-Lewis, once again Oscar-worthy), does in "Nine," the adaptation by "Chicago" director Rob Marshall of the stage musical based on the Fellini film.

Guido finds his way through the deep, frantic funk of writer's block -- his film starts shooting in 10 days and he has no script and no ideas -- by engaging the women in his life in harsh reality and musical fantasy: cherished mother (Sophia Loren), cheated-upon wife (Marion Cotillard), mistress (Penelope Cruz), muse (Nicole Kidman) and reporter/groupie (Kate Hudson).


Also: Judi Dench is his mother figure/costume designer, and Fergie is a hot Italian exotic from childhood. This all-star mix of women drawn to a man who is despicable but irresistible produces a dark, lusty, lively musical with, believe it or not, a pretty good plot. Four Hearts.

THE BETTER HALF -- There's an ad for the musical "Nine" that states: If you liked "Chicago," you'll love "Nine."

That should probably be switched around: If you loved "Chicago," you'll like "Nine."

Both films are skillfully directed and choreographed by Rob Marshall, and both boast fine performances and musical numbers. But "Chicago" is the standout dazzler of the two.

The biggest difference and probably the reason "Chicago" shines brighter is the story itself. While "Chicago" was a rousing tale of fame seekers, murder and mayhem in the flapper era, "Nine" is about a self-indulgent 1960s Italian film director with writer's block.

Guido Contini (Daniel Day-Lewis) is about to make his ninth film and he hasn't a single word written for the script. Panicked and about to have a breakdown, Guido flees the studio in Rome and heads to a seaside village where he meets his mistress (Penelope Cruz).

Hoping for inspiration, instead he's discovered by the paparazzi including a fashion reporter (Kate Hudson), his wife (Marion Cotillard), his longtime costume designer (Judi Dench) and other crew members.

Visions of his departed mom (Sophia Loren), fantasies about his leading lady (Nicole Kidman), and memories of boyhood lust for a village vixen (Fergie) don't help.

Instead, the pressure mounts and things come to a head as Guido the charmer runs out of charm.

Day-Lewis is magnificent as usual, showing his versatility once again. All the ladies are engaging to watch, but as I thought might be the case, Cotillard steals the show. Four Hearts.

Until next time, keep walking down the aisle ... Married to the Movies.

Clooney's presence helps 'Air' glide along

2009-12-30T06:17:35Z

THE FIRST HALF -- George Clooney is among actors past and present -- Cary Grant, John Wayne, Jack Nicholson, Clint Eastwood -- whose persona is part of the performance.

Clooney's is closer to Cary Grant's, debonair to the point of winking at the camera, but like Grant, he's also capable of powerful work that pushes the persona to the background.

I wish he'd do more of that. "Oceans Eleven" was fun, but Clooney is best when he's not the clever charmer: "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" "Syriana," "Good Night, Good Luck."

In "Up in the Air," Clooney offers a little of both. As Ryan Bingham, a traveling hatchet man who fires people for other companies, he's a committed bachelor with no attachments.


His home is the airport, many airports, and he revels in his kingdom of insider privilege and status. His apartment back in Omaha is a barren place to sleep and nothing more.

Ryan embraces the lifestyle until it is upended by the arrival of two women: a young, zipped up hotshot (Anna Kendrick) who wants to end road firings in favor of video, and a frequent flier soulmate (Vera Farmiga) for whom a platinum card is a turn-on. Both bring an emotional connection on some level, and Ryan's world gains baggage he may or may not desire.

Clooney strikes a fine balance, never falling into the sentimentality of regretting his chosen life, and director Jason Reitman strikes a fine tone in creating both a sterile and comforting world.

This is a movie that glides along smoothly, never shaking you up or drawing you in deeply. But Clooney's subtle sadness, (his persona feeling bummed), brings a quiet power. Three-and-a-half Hearts.

THE BETTER HALF -- Perhaps some critics inhaled too much helium, and that's why they've overblown their praise of "Up in the Air."

I'm not sure why this dramedy about corporate downsizing has become the critical darling it has, because frankly, it's good but not superb.

To the average moviegoer, "Up in the Air" is certainly not going to go down in history as the decade-defining film some critics would have you think it is.

Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) has a job most people would hate, but that he actually likes: firing strangers for a living. Corporations hire him to do their dirty work, and he flies from city to city handing out pink slips and well-scripted bull to devastated people he'll never lay eyes on again.

Ryan loves the travel and upgraded perks he gets at VIP lounges, car rental agencies and hotels. His ultimate goal is to reach the almost-unheard-of frequent flyer mark of 10 million miles.

But when Natalie (Anna Kendrick), a young newbie efficiency expert, comes up with a plan to fire people by computer link from the home office, Ryan is thrown off track, to say the least. He sets out to show Natalie that the old-fashioned way is better by taking her on the road.


Along the way, we see how sad and disconnected the glib Ryan's life is, and how technology has made young people like Natalie clueless to the realities of face-to-face life.

But overall, while "Up in the Air" is engaging, it's not insightful or heartfelt enough to really soar. Three-and-a-half Hearts.

Until next time, keep walking down the aisle ... Married to the Movies.

Two of year's best hit stores

2009-12-23T06:42:51Z

THE FIRST HALF -- The best science fiction always goes deeper than a good yarn, delving into the atrocities and betrayals and big questions of humankind.

But 29-year-old South African-born Neill Blomkamp, who co-wrote and directed the like-nothing-you've-seen-before "District 9," knows better than to wear his political outrage on his sleeve. It's simply the undercurrent of a sci-fi thriller.


You could say -- with its hand-held cameras, newscasts, interviews and lighting that looks like life, not the movies -- that "District 9" borrows from "Cloverfield" and "The Blair Witch Project." But Blomkamp -- with the hands-off creative support of producer Peter Jackson -- takes the style to a much higher level.

It's a tale of apartheid in Johannesburg, only the ones segregated into a slum are alien beings stranded 20 years ago, their huge disabled ship still floating above the city.

The residents just want them gone, and a multinational corporation is tabbed to relocate more than a million of the so-called prawns to a tent city miles away. The man in charge of the operation is Wikus (Sharlto Copley), a nerdy bureaucrat whose father-in-law runs the company.

He is an unlikely leader who goes through corporate and prawn hell to become an unlikely hero.

Copley, a friend of Blomkamp's since childhood who has never acted, anchors the story with an odd bumbling grace.

"District 9," a tale of nightmarish inhumanity, ultimately becomes a humane tale of faint hope. And all the while, a gripping good yarn. Four-and-a-half Hearts.

THE BETTER HALF -- In a nutshell, if you were a fan of "Pulp Fiction," I think you'll like writer-director Quentin Tarantino's latest, "Inglourious Basterds."

Although the stories are very different, the Tarantino originality and spark is ever-present. He's one of the few directors who, when he's on his game, can take violence, beauty, seriousness and silliness and roll them into a mesmerizing experience that combines stunning visuals and unique dialogue.


Such is the case with the opening scene in "Inglourious Basterds," which will have you on edge as you watch simple things such as the drinking of a glass of milk and the smoking of pipes as a French farmer and a Nazi colonel nicknamed The Jew Hunter (Christoph Waltz) converse. Purists need not apply. As we all know, the kid-like Tarantino loves to turn movie genres on their heads, as he did with kung-fu in the two "Kill Bill" movies. He does so again in "Basterds," changing WWII history to his liking.

The film has different chapters, a Tarantino trademark, that end up fitting together cohesively as various conspirators plot to take down Hitler and his men.

One group, the Basterds, led by Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt), are out to kill -- and scalp -- as many Nazis as they can. Another seeking revenge is Shosanna (Melanie Laurent), a Paris cinema owner whose entire family was brutally murdered simply because they were Jewish.

Everything converges on one wild final chapter at a German movie premiere, and Tarantino unleashes all his film trickery, some of it over-the-top. But somehow, it magically works.

You should see Waltz's name mentioned come Oscar time, and you may see the film and Tarantino on the list, too. Four Hearts.

Until next time, keep veggin' out in front of the DVD ... Married to the Movies.

Country's struggles play out in 'Invictus'

2009-12-16T19:11:01Z

THE FIRST HALF -- Two problems with "Invictus," and both of them may be my fault: rugby and sainthood.

The film centers around a brilliant political strategy devised by newly-elected South African president Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) in 1994: To unite an angry and fearful nation, he embraces the national rugby team, a high-profile reminder of apartheid.

But rugby ain't Rocky, and if you don't know the game, the big climax in the World Cup final -- well-filmed though it may be -- isn't as stirring as it should be. Completely my fault as a moviegoer.

The other problem, maybe less so. Except for a couple of moments when his guard drops, Mandela speaks almost exclusively in sage soundbites. Virtually every conversation drips with significance. He's the wise, larger-than-life world figure we've all seen on TV, but there must be a different Mandela in private life.

Now and again we see hints of his damaged family life and his political maneuvering, but the overall tone from Morgan and the script is saintliness, which tends to slow things down even more from a filmmaker -- Clint Eastwood -- who prefers a novelistic pace already.

Matt Damon plays the rugby team captain who becomes Mandela's ally and admirer, and the strategy unfolding produces some of the film's best moments: Under orders from Mandela, the rugby team conducts clinics in the all-black townships, and their reluctance quickly turns to joy.

"Invictus" sells its story a little too hard for my tastes, but it remains a remarkable story, indeed. Two-and-a-half Hearts.

THE BETTER HALF -- There's no denying Clint Eastwood is one of the finest directors working today. In the past decade alone, he has brought several masterpieces to the screen - "Mystic River," "Gran Torino" -- and many others that are certainly a cut above the rest -- "Million Dollar Baby," "The Changeling."

In other words, even when Eastwood is not at the tip-top of his game, his films are still worth seeing. "Invictus" falls into that category: not great, but a good satisfying time at the movies.

The film is a sports and political drama rolled into one. It focuses on newly-elected Nelson Mandela's (Morgan Freeman) attempt to unify his country after the dark days of apartheid.

Many, including his top advisors, want Mandela to do away with the almost all-white national rugby team, the Springboks. They wear the gold and green colors of the old regime and the apartheid flag.

But Mandela has the wise vision to do the unexpected: He will not eliminate the team that white Afrikaners dearly love and the black majority hate and cheer against. Instead, he will try to get all South Africans behind the team and strive to win the world cup as a rainbow nation.

To achieve his goal, he enlists the help of team captain Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon), and as the mutual respect grows between the two, it gradually becomes infectious throughout South Africa.

Eastwood is a bit heavy-handed, a rarity for him, in some of the black-white unity symbolism. But overall, "Invictus" is quietly inspiring. Three-and-a-half Hearts.

Until next time, keep walking down the aisle ... Married to the Movies.

De Niro lends tender touch to 'Fine'

2009-12-09T06:55:28Z

THE FIRST HALF -- In "Everybody's Fine," everybody is not fine.

But Frank (Robert De Niro), a retired factory worker whose wife died eight months ago, doesn't know any of the problems of his four adult children because they always confided in their mother, not him.

The film traces his journey -- nothing earth-shattering, sometimes movie-ish, but quiet and valuable in the end -- from a stern, loving breadwinner to an older father who sees his children as complicated adults open to his love if he'll accept them.

The physical journey is a bus and train trip to the cities where they lead their busy lives: David (Austin Lysy), an artist missing in New York; Amy (Kate Beckinsale), an ad agency exec in Chicago; Robert (Sam Rockwell), a percussionist in Denver; and Rosie (Drew Barrymore), an aspiring dancer in Vegas.

Each encounter brings the usual -- the distance of "I'm fine" -- and the unusual -- secrets kept hidden, bad news concealed. But instead of an epiphany with the grown children, Frank discovers their truth in an innovative sequence recreating a long-ago picnic.

Writer-director Kirk Jones surprises in other ways, too. "Everybody's Fine" is more subtle and sad than previews lead you to expect.

One thing comes as no surprise: De Niro is the reason to go see this movie. He's adapting to older age with newfound versatility. Three-and-a-half Hearts.

THE BETTER HALF -- I was disappointed after seeing "Everybody's Fine," not with the film which I really liked, but with some fellow reviewers who have judged it way too harshly.

Read my lips, Entertainment Weekly: There's no way this movie deserves a D.

"Everybody's Fine," written and directed by Kirk Jones ("Waking Ned Devine"), is a well-made drama with terrific performances by the entire cast (Kate Beckinsale, Sam Rockwell, Drew Barrymore and of course, Robert De Niro).

Quiet, ordinary people are often the hardest to portray, and it takes extraordinary, pure acting to pull it off honestly and effectively. Think Duvall in "Tender Mercies" or Nicholson in "About Schmidt." Add De Niro to the list. He gives a low-key, seamless performance that never hits a false note.

"Everybody's Fine" focuses on a universal theme that many can relate to, where parents, especially fathers, see their kids as the children they once were instead of the adults they have become. Recently retired and widowed Frank Goode (De Niro) is one of those dads whose late wife was the glue that held the family together.

She shielded him from anything wrong or bad about their four children and only shared the good. The sad result is a dad who loves but doesn't really know his own kids.


When all four come up with lame excuses for not visiting, Frank sets out to pay a surprise visit to each one of them. As he crisscrosses from New York to Chicago to Denver to Vegas, he gradually realizes that by only knowing their success and not their failures, he's being left out.

Perhaps it's his own loneliness and sadness that finally makes him ask the simple yet oh-so-complex question: Are you happy?

The message of "Everybody's Fine" is one that's near and dear to me, that honesty is the only way for a family to be close. Perhaps that's why I found it to be a tender, touching fine time at the movies. Four Hearts.

Until next time, keep walking down the aisle ... Married to the Movies.

Peer into life of gangsters, religious thriller with DVDs

2009-12-02T19:42:53Z

By CAL & LYNN MASSEY
NEWS-TRIBUNE MOVIE CRITICS

THE FIRST HALF -- You don't really know a movie gangster until you've seen his weaknesses and his extremes.

With Clyde Barrow, we watch his reckless swagger fall away as he asks Bonnie if he did OK as a lover. With Al Capone, we know brute force, not intellect, is the source of his power, and a G-man armed with a tax accountant can bring him down.

Both of those classics are far better than "Public Enemies," coming out Dec. 8 on DVD. It's not necessarily because Beattie and Dunaway and DeNiro and Costner are that much better than Johnny Depp and Christian Bale and Marion Cotillard.

Rather, it's because their characters are far richer, and the actors make the most of scripts that live and breathe, working with directors who feel the story's pulse. We cared about the leads and the supporting players, from Michael J. Pollard in "Bonnie & Clyde" to Oscar-winning Sean Connery in "The Untouchables."

Director Michael Mann, a talented filmmaker who co-wrote the script for "Public Enemies," fashions a fairly compelling period piece here, but his lead characters won't be remembered next month. Cotillard, as the girlfriend who's ready to escape her life, and Billy Crudup, as FBI boss J. Edgar Hoover, are the most intriguing personalities.

But Depp as John Dillinger is all charisma, and Bale as agent Melvin Purvis is all stoicism. We learn in the credits that Purvis quit the FBI a year later and ended up committing suicide. It would have been nice to have seen some of the anguish that led to that. Two-and-a-half Hearts.

THE BETTER HALF -- Unlike The First Half, who liked "The Da Vinci Code" much better than its sequel, I found it to be a religious conspiracy snoozer.

So I was pleasantly surprised that "Angels & Demons," also based on a Dan Brown novel and directed by Ron Howard, was much quicker paced and lively without sacrificing too much intelligent content.

"Angels," which once again stars Tom Hanks but without the weird long hair, plays out more like a true mystery suspense thriller. It just happens to be set in Vatican City, and its religious statues and symbols and art history play an important role in solving the case.

Setting past grudges aside, Professor Robert Langdon (Hanks) is asked to come back to the Vatican and help with a crisis. Following the recent pope's death, four of the most promising candidates to replace him have been kidnapped and threatened with death.


The scientific group claiming responsibility is called the Illuminati, and they want revenge for hundreds of years of church persecution. Making the situation even more dire, they've stolen an anti-matter capsule that could explode and destroy much of Rome.

Together, Langdon and an Italian scientist (Ayelet Zurer) must decipher clues and find both the cardinals and the bomb with time running out and police and church interference growing.

"Angels & Demons," now available on DVD, will definitely not make my list of favorite Ron Howard films, but I found it fairly entertaining. Three-and-a-half Hearts.

Until next time, keep veggin' out in front of the DVD ... Married to the Movies.

Adventures of different sorts come to DVD

2009-11-17T18:58:58Z

Two of the year's best at video stores this week ...

THE FIRST HALF -- I think the ship's number is 1701, but I'm not sure. I don't remember Bones' real first name. I do, however, vividly recall the short skirts worn by Uhura.

In other words, I was never a Trekkie, but instead a 13-year-old suburban kid who watched the original "Star Trek" TV series every week and remembers it fondly and hormonally.

J.J. Abrams clearly remembers it fondly, too, and he has created the near-impossible: a re-imagining of a classic's origins -- starting with James T. Kirk's birth -- that does not seem like boring blasphemy but rather a loving and pitch-perfect tribute.

The casting director deserves an Oscar. Every character in their younger days -- from Chris Pine as Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock to Simon Pegg as Scotty and Zoe Saldana as Uhura -- is absolutely convincing without being lamely imitative.

The story carries Kirk from his heck-raising boyhood days in Iowa and Spock from his conflicted half-human childhood on Vulcan to their head-butting at the academy and aboard the Enterprise. Their eventual mission: to save Earth from a vengeful Romulan (Eric Bana) out of the future.

The story is compelling, but Abrams' pop culture genius here is to assemble the famous crew from scratch and introduce us to their friendships and loyalties and conflicts with intimacy and fun. You can enjoy this if you've never seen "Trek," but if you grew up with it, "enjoy" becomes pure joy. Four-and-a-half Hearts.

THE BETTER HALF -- The animated rich tapestry, "Up," is not only a colorful visual treat but also a sweet uplifting story for the entire family to enjoy.

It has plenty of adventure that will bring squeals of delight from the younger set. But it also has a beautiful opening montage showing a decades-long love story between the now widowed Carl and his true love Ellie that will bring tears to just about everyone's eyes.

Carl (Ed Asner), a 70-ish retired balloon salesman, is lonely without his beloved muse Ellie, who was a big dreamer always ready for adventure.


He fills his days caring for the house they shared for a lifetime, determined not to let a developer demolish it. Close to losing the battle, Carl decides to take his precious house airborne with the help of thousands of balloons. His plan is to head to the Brazilian rainforest to a magical waterfall Ellie always wanted to see.

But to his dismay, Carl soon learns he has a stowaway on board in the form of a pudgy young boy named Russell (Jordan Nagai), who's trying to get a Wilderness Explorer badge for helping the elderly.

The very odd pair -- old curmudgeon and young clumsy do-gooder -- encounter a rare, colorful South American bird and battle weather, talking dogs and an evil explorer (Christopher Plummer) on their journey.

But most importantly, they both learn some new and some forgotten lessons about friendship and love. Four Hearts.

Until next time, keep veggin' out in front of the DVD ... Married to the Movies.