Review – Page 204 – We Are Movie Geeks

BURNT – The Review

By Cate Marquis

With the success of last summer’s surprise hit CHEF, it was inevitable there would be more movies about professional cooking. The nation seems obsessed with chefs right now, and shows about professional cooking and kitchens dominate TV programming. BURNT stars Bradley Cooper as a once successful chef at a top Paris restaurant, who lost it all and is now trying for a comeback, with the help of sous chef Sienna Miller. But while CHEF charmed audiences with a look into how real professional kitchens work, BURNT goes another route – the reality-show version where temper tantrums trump actual cooking. Those who love chef Gordon Ramsay’s screaming antics will be entertained by BURNT’s over-the-top kitchen melodrama. In fact, Ramsey coached Cooper for the film.

Cooper plays Adam Jones, a talented but hot-tempered young chef who ran his own Paris restaurant and earned two coveted Michelin stars before flaming out over alcohol and drug addiction, leaving a swath of broken friendships in his wake. Now sober and drug-free, Jones is in London, trying to stage a comeback to try for a third Michelin star. The question is whether he can find anyone to finance a restaurant for him, or talented staff willing to work for him, given his disastrous reputation. Despite past betrayals, he earns the backing of hotel-owner Tony (Daniel Bruhl) and recruits a team of former restaurant staff, plus a rising young sous chef Helene (Sienna Miller). Meanwhile, Jones has to contend with an old rival Reese (Mathew Rhys), whose restaurant boasts a high-tech approach to cooking verses Jones’ more traditional style. Supporting roles are also played by Emma Thompson, Uma Thurman, Alicia Vikander, Omar Sy, Lily James and Sam Keeley.

The film is being billed as a kind of romantic comedy about second chances. There is very little comedy in this tale, and not that much romance. Adam is such a jerk and has done such awful things to his former co-workers, so it is amazing anyone wants to give him a second chance when he suddenly turns up in London. At most, you would expect a restauranteur to take him on as a cook, or sous chef, in their kitchen until he proved himself reliable again. Instead, someone finances a new restaurant for him. It seems all he has to do is smile and sparkle his blue eyes.

As the wife of a former chef and one-time restaurant owner, this reviewer recognizes that director John Wells gets lots of restaurant world details right. BURNT takes us inside some gorgeous restaurants and tricked-out kitchens, and serves up some wonderful looking dishes, with a view of the hot London restaurant scene. While the film gets little details about presentation and trends in cooking right, it misses the bigger picture of how real restaurants run. Good professional kitchens have the speed and controlled chaos of a busy hospital emergency room – abrupt, brusque, business-like – but with surprisingly few of those emotional meltdowns that play so well on TV. Sometimes, you see that in BURNT – and clearly the cast trained and these scenes also feature some real kitchen staff – but too often it is all about the screaming. The kitchen staff working at full-blast was one of the things CHEF got so right, as well as the camaraderie after the kitchen closes for the night. There is none of that bonding of the workplace here in BURNT’s reality-show kitchen.

Actually, it is not just the kitchen that rings false in BURNT. While this film has a good cast, pretty restaurant locations and plenty of shots of luscious food, it is far more style than substance. The whole enfant terrible star who fell and is staging a comeback is a familiar trope, whether the fallen star is in music, movies, or cooking. Everything about this story is familiar – the ex-friend wooed back, the burned backer who decides to take another chance on the star, the egoism and lessons still to learn, the new romance. The story contrives some heated rivalry between Cooper’s Jones and fellow chef … over style of cooking – “cook my way or else” – while real chefs might just disagree. When Jones garners a good review, his rival destroys his own restaurant in one of those artistic tantrum scenes movies love – and which would never really happen unless the chef wanted to be fired and maybe sued by his backers. But it sure makes a nice mess.

BURNT missed an opportunity for a real-world glimpse inside professional cooking and the ones who are really burned in this film are audience members hoping to taste something fresh and real. BURNT is a dish that should be sent back.

BURNT opens in theaters October 30, 2015.

OVERALL RATING: 2 OUT OF 5 STARS

ROOM – The Review

With ROOM, Director Lenny Abrahamson and screenwriter Emma Donoghue (who adapted her novel) dramatize the impossible situation of a child trapped for years in a room with his mother who’s continually raped there. ROOM is a difficult but often tedious viewing experience, and while the effort is valiant, the movie doesn’t always hit its desired mark.

ROOM is the tale of 24-year-old Joy (Brie Larson), trapped in a soundproof garden shed for seven years after being abducted. The room has a hot plate and a sink, a toilet a television, and one skylight in the ceiling. Her captor (Sean Bridgers), known as ‘Old Nick’, brings her enough food to survive, disciplines her by cutting off the electricity, and tells her she doesn’t appreciate how good she has it. Oh, and he rapes her when he feels like it, which has resulted in a long-haired five-year old son named Jack (Jacob Tremblay) who has lived his entire life in ‘room’.

The first hour of ROOM feels by design claustrophobic, especially when Jack is throwing his screaming fits. I felt trapped in room with the kid and looked forward to getting out. Jack reacts to a world he has never experienced with gooey dialog like “The world’s always changing in hotness and lightness.” This is supposed to convey the insight of an innocent child but a little precious prose goes a long way and probably worked better on the written page. The cathartic escape scene at the halfway point is when the film really comes to life, and it’s a most emotional ten minutes. Jack, wrapped in a carpet to be discarded by Old Nick, who thinks he’s dead, finds himself in the back of a truck – in the real world for the first time – and the sequence is shot with odd angles and bright light to show Jack’s confused point of view. It’s too bad ROOM fails to maintain that level of interest once Joy and Jack are free and settle into her mother’s home where ROOM morphs back into a far less-interesting drama. The second half focuses on Joy and Jack struggling to come to terms with the world beyond the room by introducing bland domestic drama and more tedium. Joy argues with her mom (Joan Allen) while her dad (William H. Macy) won’t even look at young Jack. They bake cookies, there’s a suicide attempt, and some discussion about desire to return to Room. A half-baked television interview sequence with a crass reporter comes off like a spoof of tell-all programming handled better in GONE GIRL.

ROOM is solidly made but some flimsy plot contrivances are distracting. Is Old Nick, cunning enough to pull off this atrocity for seven years, really not going to bother to check whether Jack is still breathing before burying him? Why did Old Nick’s repeated rapes not result in more pregnancies? What happens to Old Nick and how are his crimes resolved? Brie Larson is good as Joy, but seems physically off. Wouldn’t someone trapped in a tiny room for seven years be more emaciated, more catatonic, more damaged? Larson seems sad and annoyed at her plight, but too robust. Young Jacob Tremblay, despite his tantrums and affected narration is mostly believable. ROOM is not a great movie but Emma Donoghue’s novel must have seemed like a challenging basis for a film, and it’s a minor miracle that this adaption works as well as it does.
3 of 5 Stars

ROOM opens in ST. Louis October 30th exclusively at Landmark’s The Tivoli Theater

OUR BRAND IS CRISIS (2015) – The Review

So you’re tired of all the news reports and headlines about those campaigning for the president, in an election that’s still over a year away? Well, why not take in a movie at the multiplex? Here’s Sandra Bullock’s latest all about…a presidential campaign. Ah, but Sandy’s not in the running, although she’s dashing around quite a bit. She’s a campaign strategist who’s working for a candidate all the way south, very south, in Bolivia. So are presidential races there the same as up here, with sound bites, negative ads,and other ways to manipulate the media? You bet your ballot! So what does she come up with, how will her hopeful break away from the ‘pack’? Just one way, as Ms. B explains in the film’s first act, OUR BRAND IS CRISIS.

US Public relations vets Ben (Anthony Mackie) and Nell (Ann Dowd) have been hired by General Castillo (Joaquim de Almieda) to get his old job back. He was the president of Bolivia fifteen years ago, but was voted out when he privatized the local industries. Unfortunately the electorate has a long memory, which may account for him being down 28 points in the polls. But Nell has a plan, and so she and Ben drive up to a desolate cabin in the snow. They hope to lure the legendary strategist “Calamity” Jane Bodine (Bullock) out of a self-imposed retirement. After a stint in rehab, preceded by several unsuccessful gigs, she’s hesitant to get back in the game. But when she hears that the front-runner, Rivera, has hired her old nemesis Pat Candy (Billy Bob Thornton), Jane puts away the clay pots and cups and hops on a Bolivian bound private jet. After meeting the third member of the American crew, the prickly Buckley (Scoot McNairy), and the surly, brusque Castillo, Jane hatches a campaign “scenario”: the country is in dire straights, on the brink of collapse, and the general is the only one who can save the day. Bringing in her top aide, “hit woman” LeBlanc (Zoe Kazan), and enlisting an enthusiastic local Eddie (Reynaldo Pacheco), Jane attempts a career comeback, for the candidate and herself, as old demons from the past return.

In her first live action role since Oscar-nominated turn in GRAVITY, Bullock’s star charisma injects much-needed life in many of the story’s soggy stretches. In the scenes back in her tiny snow-bound cottage she projects a great deal of vulnerability with her hesitant line delivery and haunted “seen it all” stare. Upon her arrival on foreign soil, Bullock goes for laughs as Jane battles the effects of the altitude. This plays often as an appeasement to fans hoping for a reprise of the pratfalls from THE HEAT or the MISS CONGENIALITY flicks. But soon she puts down the ever-present bag a’ chips and gets down to business with a hard-driving, “take no prisoners” zeal that propels the plot forward, which seems to mask her sadness over the times she went too far for victory. Once again Bullock ably balances the tough and tender in an expert performance.

Happily, an accomplished ensemble aides Ms. Bullock. Thornton is an excellent sparring partner as the all “too slick” and smooth Mr. Candy, who knows exactly how to get under her skin, with his smug sarcasm twisting like a knife. Mackie is the questioning moral center of the PR team, standing up to Jane when she crosses the line. Dowd is the hardened vet and co-conspirator in Jane’s wild schemes, an “Ethel” to her “Lucy”. McNairy is very funny as the easily irritated and irritating Buckly, always quick with a lousy idea or crass comment. As the candidate, de Almeida, struts about as if the whole affair were beneath his regal, military bearing with a sinister glint in his eyes. It makes us wonder whether he can really woo the populace, as we question his true motives. The delightful Kazan is underused as Jane’s “ace up my sleeve”, but Pacheco has a great deal of youthful charm and energy as the optimistic Eddie who will eventually face the ugly, dark side of politics.

Although the film’s being marketed as a breezy “culture class” comedy, director David Gordon Green breaks out of the stoner comedy cage (YOUR HIGHNESS) to deliver a tough look at dirty side of campaigning. Unfortunately these two goals never quite gel. The high spirits wackiness of making tacky commercials with llamas and racing campaign buses over treacherous mountain roads slams up against ugly internet lies that inspire suicide and exploitation of the poor. Peter Straughan’s screenplay (inspired by the 2005 same-titled documentary) never really finds a way to balance that tone while keeping the story moving at a brisk pace. And the film’s main character is still something of a mystery by the end scenes. At one point she fully plunges back into her old vices (starting with the interminable chain-smoking), boozing with little ramifications other than waking up hung over in a jail cell. In the film’s final moments the script heads down a dark cynical path that is detoured with a contrived hopeful final shot that’s forced (I smell ‘test-marketing’ at work). It’s great to have Bullock back, but her considerable charisma and talents can’t erase the story and pacing flaws of OUR BRAND IS CRISIS.

3 Out of 5

ROSENWALD – The Review

By Cate Marquis

Julius Rosenwald is not likely to be a name you recognize but this head of Sears, Roebuck was once a man of enormous influence, not just in commerce but in philanthropy. But the most surprising part is the direction Rosenwald’s philanthropy took – funding schools and cultural endeavors for African Americans.

In the documentary ROSENWALD, director Aviva Kempner reveals how this wealthy Jewish American merchant partnered with African Americans to fund good works for African Americans, including help for the Tuskegee Institute, building a chain of rural schools for black children across the South, and providing support for artists such as Marian Anderson, W.E.B. DuBois and Maya Angelou.

As the son of German Jewish immigrants, Rosenwald knew well what it was like to come from a persecuted minority. In the early 20th century, Rosenwald saw the parallels between how Jews were treated in Europe and how African Americans were treated in the U.S., which helped propel him to action.

In the early decades of the 20th century, Rosenwald gave away what would have been a billion dollars in today’s money. That would be an enormous amount in any era but who he gave it to, and how he did it, is a big part of what makes this story so fascinating.

Kempner, whose previous films include “The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg” and “Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg,” has a sure hand in presenting this forgotten story. Starting with Rosenwald’s parents, she builds up a picture of his character through his business career. Rosenwald’s father began as a peddler, eventually moving to Springfield, Il., where he bought a house across from the Lincoln family home. Abraham Lincoln became a lifelong inspiration to young Julius. After going to work as a teenager, Julius Rosenwald flourished in business, first in clothing manufacture, and then buying into the Sears, Roebuck company, which the documentary describes as the Amazon of its day. Under Rosenwald’s watch, Sears became one the country’s most successful companies.

After becoming one of the country’s richest men, Rosenwald began to fund schools for rural African American children in the South during a time when Jim Crow laws were in full effect and lynchings common. “Rosenwald schools,” as they were known, were designed to provide a first-rate education in a well-built building, as good as white children attended. That is amazing enough but the philanthropist did more, by using an innovative challenged grant method. Rosenwald donated one third of the money, then required the white community to provide another third, generally through educational budgets, and asked the black community to provide the last third. Often, this meant in-kind donations, supplying the labor to build the school, organizing fundraisers to fill them with supplies and staff, and volunteers to help out through the whole process. As a result, the community truly felt it was their school, and the building often became a community center as well as a place to educate children.

Kempner tells her story with a combination of archival photos and footage, and interviews with historians, family members, and descendants of those helped by Rosenwald’s generosity, even a few of the now-aged children who attended Rosenwald schools. To add a little touch of humor, and to help paint the picture of the Old West/pioneer world Julius grew up in, Kempner throws in a few Western movie/TV clips, including one from a 1950s TV Western with a young Clint Eastwood trying to pronounce a Yiddish word.

The result is an entertaining, fascinating documentary about a forgotten millionaire philanthropist who deserves to be remembered.

ROSENWALD is now playing at the Plaza Frontenac Cinema.

OVERALL RATING: 4 1/2 OUT OF 5 STARS

STEVE JOBS – The Review

By Cate Marquis

With Danny Boyle’s STEVE JOBS, there will now be three films on the late founder of Apple Computers, the man who put portable computers in eveyone’s hand, as this film notes at one point. A few years back, there was the biopic JOBS starring Ashton Kutcher, who has a striking resemblance to Jobs and this year, an excellent documentary by the Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney, called “Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine.” Steve Jobs is a man whose fans admire him with almost cult-like adoration (and just to be clear, this writer is not among them), yet none of these films have presented him in a very flattering light- least of all Boyle’s film.

Director Boyle’s STEVE JOBS is not a biography, and Aaron Sorkin’s script does not even focus on Job’s two most significant contributions to the world, making computers personal and then putting computer-based devices like the iPod and iPhone in everyone’s pocket. Instead, STEVE JOBS focuses is on his treatment of people, particularly his young daughter Lisa, during a kind of low point in Jobs’ career. Unlike THE SOCIAL NETWORK, Boyle’s film seems to assume that viewers already know a great deal about Jobs and his contributions to the world. If you are interested in getting a fuller picture of who Steve Jobs was, as a public figure, tech game-changer or as a person, Gibney’s documentary is a better choice.

STEVE JOBS covers the years from Apple’s famous 1984 Superbowl ad, which won awards but left viewers unsure what was being advertised, through his firing as the head of the company he founded, his faltering launch of a new company Next, and then his return to Apple and the launch of the iMac. The film ends before the introduction of Apple’s most iconic innovations – the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad. The film covers the least productive part of Job’s career but that it is not the film’s point anyway. The major focus of the film is Job’s treatment – mistreatment, really – of people around him, particularly his daughter Lisa, whose parentage he denied despite a court-ordered blood test, in the years from when she was five until age 19. The film also deals with Job’s treatment of all the people working for him around him generally, particularly Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, the real programming genius behind the company, and whose products Jobs, a marketing and image-making genius, promoted and seemed to take credit for. Jobs’ magical, brilliant marketing captured the public imagination, and made them both wealthy, but Jobs also gave the impression he was the tech genius behind them as well when he was not.

Michael Fassbender plays Jobs, with a bristling energy that radiates off the screen. The film begins at the production launch of the Mac computer, one of three product launches in the film. As Jobs prepares for the debut, the team is frantic because the computer is not actually ready and is balking at doing the one thing Jobs deems critical to his presentation – saying “hello” on cue. Backstage, Jobs’ ex-girlfriend Chrisann Brennan (Katherine Waterston) is there with their five-year-old daughter Lisa (Makenzie Moss), asking for the financial support that the court ordered following a paternity test and also informing him they are now on welfare. Jobs berates her and screams like a madman when she refers to Lisa as his daughter. His treatment of Chrisann is appalling but his treatment of the little girl is worse. When Lisa asks the man she is not allowed to call father if the precursor of the Mac, named Lisa, was named for her, Jobs coldly denies it. Jobs’ nastiness is not just limited to his ex-girlfriend but extends to his confrontation with his longtime friend and co-founder of their company, Steve Wozniak (Seth Rogen) who very modestly asks Jobs to publicly acknowledge the tech team that worked on the Apple II, the computer that had been paying the company bills for years. Jobs stubbornly refuses.

This rest of the film follows this pattern, with the egotistical Jobs ripping through various people around him. As one character points out, being a genius and being a human being are not mutually exclusive, although maybe not if you are Steve Jobs. The acting in this film is outstanding, with a cadre of battered people surrounding this massive ego. Fassbender’s performance is electric and likely to gain hims an Oscar nomination. Kate Winslet plays long-suffering Joanna Hoffman, Jobs’ assistant who has the thankless (literally) job of following him around and trying to keep him on track. Michael Stuhlbarg plays programmer Andy Hertzfeld, whom Jobs threatens in the minutes before the product launch. Lisa is played by different actresses at ages 5, 9 and 19, Moss (age 5), Ripley Sobo (age 9) and Perla Haney-Jardine (age 19), and all do well. Curiously, the only person that Jobs treats with any respect is John Sculley (Jeff Daniels), the CEO who took over Apple after Jobs, although Sculley comes in for some tongue-lashing too.

However, as a piece of cinema, the film is brilliantly made, with striking photography and impressive performances. Shots are beautifully framed and one sequence, where we move back and forth in time in recapping the events between Sculley and Jobs is inspired. Seth Rogen as Wozniak is amazing and delivers one particular speech directed at Jobs that should garner him an Oscar nod on its own. All the acting is strong, and is a major strength of the film. The structure of the film is masterful but throughout, the one question that most likely will pop into one’s head is why – why anyone would tolerate being around this monster. For an answer to that, audience’s can look to Alex Gibney’s insightful documentary – you won’t find the answer in this film.

STEVE JOBS is no SOCIAL NETWORK, despite its polished production and wonderful performances, and does not offer the same kind of insights on this culturally significant person and his work.

STEVE JOBS is playing in theaters now

OVERALL RATING: 3 OUT OF 5 STARS

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE GHOST DIMENSION – The Review

We have come a long way from the subtle noises and slight shifts of the bed sheets and loud creaks on the floorboards that echo through the house at night. As the title would suggest, THE GHOST DIMENSION adds a 3D element to the PARANORMAL ACTIVITY series. Although the 3D is not necessary to invoke the chills audiences have come to expect from the series, the added layer adds an element to the scares until it (unfortunately) wears out it’s welcome by the ending.

Bits of ghostly residue are seen hiding in the corners and permeating the frame at times. The added layer is presented in quite a unique and effervescent way and gives a real world element to the hauntings that are insinuated. But I guess too much of a good thing is indeed a bad thing. By the end of the film, hints of a face morph into hands reaching out through the screen and into the audience, creating a film that’s embracing the gimmick while tarnishing the legacy of what the series became known for.

In PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: GHOST DIMENSION, once again, a family is terrorized by loud noises in the night. Except this time, the noises come from a family who has moved into the same house as the third PARANORMAL ACTIVITY film that took place in 1988. As the dad and his stoner brother dig through the videotapes found in the house, the two realize that there might be a connection with the father’s young daughter, her imaginary friend Toby, and the videotapes found in an old box.

The mythology of the series is an interesting one. One ghost turned into a possessed woman, that turned into a group of witches, which then turned into… well, where we are now. The series evolved quickly from its humbled beginnings. It’s not entirely unsatisfying as a series of, now, six films. But watching it try to avoid the pitfalls of modern horror – which seems to require scares every five minutes – has been a struggle to say the least.

GHOST DIMENSION finally gives into the pressure. Scares are as prominent as the shaky camera-work, which is abundant to say the least. Some come in the form of dripping black CGI goo, that ultimately takes away from the real dread in an underwhelming way, while some come in the form of pure old-fashion creepiness thanks in part to the videos watched by the two main leads. Most of the video footage consists of scenes from the extremely creepy third film in the series, but some new footage is integrated showing the young girls from that film being instructed to worship the devil, or in this case Toby, causing your mind to wander in all the directions that the series could have gone. These scenes lead to some of the creepiest moments in the film, and, surprise, surprise… they don’t include CGI black goo.

GHOST DIMENSION is another satisfying entry in the series but won’t be satisfying enough as a “final chapter” as the trailers have presented. The 3D effects mix relatively well with the subtle scares that the series stems from. Though the GHOST DIMENSION delivers new heightened visuals for your nightmares, it doesn’t entirely give fans of the PARANORMAL ACTIVITY series an expanded mythology. Needless to say, I’m still waiting for a more satisfying conclusion to all the activity.

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: GHOST DIMENSION is now playing in theaters everywhere.

Overall rating: 3 out of 5

ROCK THE KASBAH – The Review

“Long live rock and roll!” Turns out that this is really true. I mean the Rolling Stones are still filling up arenas well past the usual retirement age, as does Paul McCarthy (excuse me, SIR Paul!). Well, some of those rockers do slow down a bit and ease into more pop ballads and standards. We saw that earlier this year with Al Pacino as DANNY COLLINS. Is the same true for their managers and agents? Hey, Christopher Plummer took on that role with Al. This new film’s focus on one such aging music agent, a fellow who will never let go of the beat, the melody. And what actor still embodies rock star cool? How about Mr. Bill Murray. Tossing him into the music scene should guarantee big laughs, but how about stranding him in the volatile Middle East for a fish out of water twist? With the bullets and bombs whizzing by can Mr M still ROCK THE KASBAH?

According to the opening title card, the story takes place in the recent past. Talent agent Richie Lanz (Murray) has seen better days. Operating out of a dingy motel room in Van Nuys CA, the former big-time music agent (the walls are filled with pix of him with various super groups and stars) ekes out a living by bilking aspiring, gullible singers. His only true client Ronnie (Zooey Deschanel) doubles as his secretary. One evening, as she belts out a ballad at a local dive bar, Richie is approached by a hard partyin’ USO rep who wants Ronnie to be part of a touring show of military bases in the Mideast. Within days Richie and Ronnie arrive in Kabul, Afghanistan. She wants to jump on the first plane back to the states, but Richie pleads with her to stick it out. But later, back at their dusty hotel, Ronnie does hop on a transport while Richie showers. Oh, and she took all his cash and his passport. After encounters with a surly career soldier ‘Bombay’ Brian (Bruce Willis) and high-priced hooker Merci (Kate Hudson), Richie is recruited by two fast-talking American hustlers Jake (James Caan) and Nick (Danny McBride) to deliver some weapons to a tiny desert village, which will, in turn, net Richie some quick dough. But his plans are sidetracked when he hears the gorgeous melodies produced by a local teenage girl. She’d be perfect for the national hit TV singing competition show “Afghan Star”. Can Richie convince her staunchly religious father and the show’s producers to give her a chance at stardom?

The early USA-based sequences showcase Murray at his laid-back con man best, recalling his STRIPES and GHOSTBUSTERS roles as he engages in some twisty word games to acquire the “development fee” from a seemingly tone-deaf client. He’s having fun here, and in the travel sequences. But our good will for him can only carry the flick along so far. The extreme culture clash doesn’t prove to be a fertile funny backdrop and soon Murray is reprising his SNL lounge singer bit before a stoic group of locals in a desperate bid to generate some laughs. His dazed, “hang-dog” in a stupor gaze truly wears thin at the one hour mark. Willis squints and glares as he brandishes all manner of firepower. His energy level appears low also, even as he drones on about his dreams of publishing a memoir. The most ludicrous, under-written character may be Hudson’s Merci, a southern-fried take on the hooker with a heart of gold and a business degree, a role better played by Jamie Lee Curtis way back in TRADING PLACES. Her drawl and wacky fashion sense (a top hat…really?) just seem forced. Those fans of TV’s “New Girl” will be most disappointed with the sudden disappearance of Ms. Deschanel, pulling a Janet (PSYCHO) Leigh move after barely a single song and less than ten minutes of screen time (now a flick about her and Murray hitting a bunch of dive bars would be much more fun!). Caan and McBride appear to be riffing on their fast-talking roles from (better) TV shows and films (they could’ve been called the Machina brothers since their only purpose is to get the script’s ‘B’ plot rolling). The singing discovery Salima (Leem Lubany) has a dazzling screen presence, but has little to do besides rebuffing Murray’s plans and lip-syncing Cat Stevens standards.

Can this really be a film directed by Barry Levinson, the man behind such classics as DINER and RAIN MAN (and to be fair, duds like TOYS)? Once the story’s in the sand it just lurches from one increasingly unfunny set piece to the next. The main idea of a low-rent show-biz sleaze just collides with an after-thought short story about a brave, noble young woman defying her repressive culture in song (the end credit dedication seems more than a tad condescending). You can feel the script’s wheels spinning during the endless scenes backstage at the TV show and in Merci’s opulent trailer (the aftermath of her amorous encounters are supposed to be hysterical…um…yeah). After a promising, fairly entertaining opening half hour, the film feels like an endless trek through a vast desert with no oasis of humor or entertainment in sight. Levinson expertly mixed politics and comedy years ago with WAG THE DOG, but movie audiences will feel scorched and parched by ROCK THE KASBAH.

2.5 Out of 5

LABYRINTH OF LIES – The Review

Screenplays have been populated by characters trying to move forward and escape their ugly past since the creation of cinema (Mad Max may be the most recent example to come to mind, even Ant-Man). This week’s new release concerns a whole country rather than a person trying to come to grips with its history. Really not a distant past. That country is Germany, 1958. It’s just a couple of years prior to the event (the erection of the Berlin Wall) portrayed in the still-in-theatres BRIDGE OF SPIES, which itself was set a few years before the spy caper box office dud THE MAN FROM UNCLE. As you may assume from the year, this film concerns the events of the not-so-long-ago World War II. And while the man character aspires to bring buried atrocities to light, he’s up against many powerful forces trying to keep that history a secret from the masses. They are the builders of a LABYRINTH OF LIES.

The journey really begins when a Berlin artist named Simon Kirsch (Joannes Krisch) is shocked to see the malformed left hand of a schoolteacher. The sight triggers horrific memories. Across town, Johann Radmann (Alexander Fehling), an ambitious young prosecutor, yearns for more meaningful assignments, but seems to be stuck in traffic court. One afternoon the dull routine is broken up by the arrival of newspaper man Thomas Gnielka (Andre Szymanski) and the still rattled Simon. Thomas has lodged a complaint from Simon over that teacher, whom the artist recognized as one of the guards who tormented him at the infamous “death camp” Auschwitz. The newsman is furious that nobody from the prosecutor general’s office has followed up. His late father’s lectures on truth and justice still echoing through his brain, Joahnn looks into the case. Once he is called into his boss’s office, co-workers believe that Joann will be fired. But instead Fritz Bauer (Gert Voss) encourages the young man and even assigns him other lawyers and staff to assist. But the job ahead is difficult. The statute of limitations has expired on every crime save murder. Johann and his team must scour through tons of records and files for evidence while locating victims who will be willing to testify (including the now reluctant Simon). All this must be done while facing reluctance and outright hostility (even in the law office) from those wishing to forget the sins of that war and hide those evils from future generations.

Fehling perfectly captures the youthful zeal for justice as the (early on) idealistic young lawyer. It’s not until the film’s mid-point that he reveals the character’s darker side, bourne of frustration and horror, aghast at the cruelty hidden from him and his countrymen. But just as he gives in to despair, an inner strength kicks in, that fire within. One that is stoked by the passionate performance by Szymanski as the inquirer blocked too many times. He pushes Radmann, as the two actors have a great screen rapport, which gives his big third act reveal an extra power. The film’s emotional center may be Krisch who becomes a surrogate for the still-walking wounded, those few survivors. His sad, heavy eyes gives us a window into his haunted existence, dealing with ghosts that will not allow him rest. You see much of that weariness in Voss as Radmann’s boss and encouraging father figure. His belief in the still-green lad prods him toward his quest for the truth. Kudos to actress Friederike Becht for making the hero’s love interest, the seamstress Marlene a complex, conflicted character who helps propel rather than halt the plot’s momentum.

The film does move along at a brisk pace, reminding one of classic conspiracy thrillers, thanks to director Guilio Ricciarelli, who also collaborated on the screenplay with Amelie Syberberg and Elisabeth Bartel. It makes excellent use of period costumes (Marlene’s shop designs) and settings. Particularly impressive is the towering American Embassy building where a reluctantly helpful US major wonders why the interest in ex-Nazis when the real problem is the “commies” (rumors are rumbling about the city being divided). The film’s focus does somewhat veer off in its last half hour into a hunt for two very famous war criminals who were in hiding (one of them becomes a ghostly “Moby Dick”, disappearing every time the heroes get near). This doesn’t take away from the compelling survivor stories and the country’s stern denial (“No one was a ‘party’ member”) and often plain ignorance (the twenty-somethings are blithely unaware of Auschwitz). Then there are the wrinkled faces of the men accused, some defiant, others looking down in shame. LABYRINTH OF LIES is a compelling, powerful story of how a small, determined group helped to open a nation’s eyes and hearts to acknowledge the sins of its past.

4 Out of 5

LABYRINTH OF LIES opens everywhere and screens exclusively in the St. Louis area at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinemas

THE LAST WITCH HUNTER – The Review

Boring and predictable, THE LAST WITCH HUNTER is dreadful fantasy which will probably reach the upper echelons of countless ‘worst of’ lists come the end of the year. THE LAST WITCH HUNTER opens in the middle ages, where squadrons of Viking/warriors are battling witches who have unleashed the Black Death upon mankind. Valiant hero Kaulder (Vin Diesel with cool scraggly beard), defeats the all-powerful big-cheese Witch Queen (Julie Engelbrecht), annihilating her minions in the process. But before she dies, she places the curse of immortality on Kaulder, denying him an afterlife reunion with his dead wife and daughter. Jump ahead to contemporary New York City (played by Boston) where a clean-shaven Kaulder is hunting witches for a secret organization called ‘The Axe and Cross’, getting his orders from ‘Dolan the 36^th’ (Michael Caine). After the 36^th is murdered and replaced by the squirrely 37^th (Elijah Wood), Kaulder teams up with young good-witch-turned-Manhattan-witch-bar-owner Chloe (Rose Leslie ) to battle Queen Witch who has returned for an epic showdown with Kaulder and to destroy mankind (or something like that) in the process.

THE LAST WITCH HUNTER often feels like the kind of film that would work better with even less plot – if they’d simply outlined the story as “we got to stop that witch” and then just rattled through the action sequences as quickly as possible. Director Breck Eisner tries to use special effects to cover up the film’s many weaknesses, but even on that point he fails badly. There’s a flaming tree/bone monster (lots of fire in this movie – Vin’s sword is often on fire!) called ‘The Sentinel’ that drags bad witches into a sort of ‘witch prison’ limbo that wouldn’t scare a 6-year old. There’s a massive swarm of flies to threaten Manhattan in a climax that that ends before it begins, and there’s Vin Deisel wielding that flaming broadsword for several bloodless PG-13 battles.

Not that I expect much range from Mr. Diesel but in THE LAST WITCH HUNTER he lacks the charisma and presence he delivers in the Fast and Furious franchise, standing around looking glum mumbling lines like “I know I’ve killed every one of you. I’ve done the math!” This kind of film needs a good villain to liven up the lame material – someone to vamp and camp it up, but Julie Engelbrecht as the evil queen is simply a bland mix of make-up, CGI and augmented vocals. Michael Caine phones in his extended cameo, while both Elijah Wood and Rose Leslie look like they want to fire their agents. My expectations for THE LAST WITCH HUNTER were pretty low, but not this low. Maybe some over-the-top cheesiness, or deadpan moments, or self-awareness, or fun would have helped but THE LAST WITCHUNTER takes itself way too seriously and the result is dismal. When fantasy film fans gather in generations to come, THE LAST WITCH HUNTER will be remembered as one of the immortal low points of the genre.

1 of 5 Stars

BRIDGE OF SPIES – The Review

By Cate Marquis

The Cold War spy drama BRIDGE OF SPIES is Steven Spielberg’s best film in years. This Oscar-bait film, based on the real events around the American U-2 pilot was shot down and captured over Soviet Russian airspace, features a script co-written by Joel and Ethan Coen, a cast headed by Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance, the renowned British actor some audiences might know from the BBC’s bloody historical drama series “Wolf Hall” that played on PBS, and photography by the Oscar-winning cinematographer Janusz Kaminski, whose past films include “Schindler’s List,” “Saving Private Ryan” and “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.”

All that talent comes together in the perfect blend to create a highly entertaining film. The film is set in the late ’50s-early ’60s Cold War, the period between the Commie-hunting hysteria of the McCarthy era and the Cuba Missile Crisis. BRIDGE OF SPIES dramatizes two interconnected spy cases, the less-remembered “hollow nickel” case in which suspected Soviet spy Rudolf Abel was caught in New York and then tried for espionage. The second case is the famous U-2 spy plane incident, in which American pilot Francis Gary Power was shot down over Russian airspace and was held as a spy. While officially denying Powers was spying, the Americans secretly attempt to arrange a swap before the young pilot breaks and spills secrets – a swap of Gary Powers for Rudolf Abel.

The first half of the film is essentially a courtroom drama set against the public outrage over a Soviet spy caught on American soil, while the second half is more a spy thriller, much of it taking place in Communist East Berlin shortly after the Berlin Wall went up.

Tom Hanks plays James Donovan, a successful insurance lawyer that the U.S. government recruits to serve as Rudolf Abel’s (Mark Rylance) court-appointed defense lawyer, and who later helped broker the prisoner exchange for Powers. Abel is a quiet, balding, bespectacled middle-aged man who spends his days painting while living in a tiny New York apartment. He hardly seems anyone’s idea of a spy yet when the FBI finds evidence that he is smuggling secrets to the Russians, he is arrested. The U.S. government is concerned that the trial appear fair to the international community, so it needs a lawyer to act as his defense attorney – a job sure to make the attorney involved a target of popular hatred. When Donovan’s politically-connected boss (Alan Alda) approaches him about defending Abel, Donovan balks, objecting that he is an insurance lawyer, not a defense attorney. Reluctantly, Donovan agrees to do it, as a service to his country, and because it will put the firm in a good light with the government, joking that at least it will be a quick conviction and all be over soon.

Still, Donovan is a true Greatest Generation type and once he takes the job, he is fully committed. He aims to give Abel his Constitutional right to a good defense, an attitude that sometimes brings Donovan into conflict with the judge or others who only want him to go through the motions. When he meets the accused spy, Donovan is surprised to find a gentle, remarkably calm man with a British accent, who seems more concerned with being able to continue his artwork while jailed than in the charges against him. Intrigued by Abel’s unflappable demeanor, Donovan finally asks “Aren’t you worried?” to which Abel, leaning forward and visibly perking up, replies “Would it help?” as if eager to accommodate the request. The phrase becomes a kind of tag-line as the two men develop a mutual respect and even a kind of unlikely friendship.

Although BRIDGE OF SPIES is basically a spy drama, the script by the Coen brothers interjects a healthy dose of humor, generally of the sly or ironic variety, into the film’s taut, twisty, true Cold War tale, which blends courtroom drama and spy intrigue. The Coen brothers signature sensibility counter balances Spielberg’s tendency to the sentimentality, to create a perfect sweet spot for the film’s tone. Spielberg’s magical touch taps into a classic period style for the film, much as he did for “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” which is paired with Hanks’ James Stewart-style likeability. This already powerful convergence of cinematic forces is further enhanced by Janusz Kaminski’s atmospheric photography which adds a noir-ish feel to the film.

Top-notch acting performances from Tom Hanks, in perhaps one of his best roles, and the scene-stealing Mark Rylance further boost this crowd-pleasing movie. While lead Tom Hanks is excellent in his meaty role, renowned British theater actor Mark Rylance pretty much steals the show as Rudolf Abel, the British-born, East Germany-based KGB spy. Rylance delivers a striking portrayal of a gentle, harmless-seeming man who cleverly evades every effort to pin him down. Rylance’s polite, dryly funny artist Abel seems so non-threatening, it is hard to see him as villain, which gains him some audience sympathy even though he was almost certainly passing secrets.

The story is set at a time of both nationalist hysteria over Communists and nuclear war, and conformist group-think. When people complain that Abel is a “traitor,” Donovan reminds them Abel is not an American, and he is serving his own country, although he is breaking our laws. While the U.S. government wants to produce the appearance of fairness in the trial, everyone from the judge onward is eager to see Abel convicted, as swiftly as possible. Yet Dovovan’s own professional integrity compels him to do his job diligently, something he becomes more stubborn about as the trial unfolds. Donovan’s requests for due-process are met with a certain irritation. Given the rising Cold War tensions, Donovan becomes convinced that an American spy is sure to be captured by the Russians at some point. He uses the argument that Abel might be a valuable bargaining chip should an American be caught as he fights hard to save Abel from execution.

When there is such a spy captured, the CIA comes to Donovan for help with backdoor negotiations for a trade, a kind of farcical but scary secret diplomatic dance in East Germany, just as the Berlin Wall is going up, with a bunch of East German spies posing as Abel’s family and and ever-shifting representatives of the Soviet side. The CIA is only interested in getting pilot Gary Powers (Austin Stowell) back but Donovan is determined to also free an American student Frederick Pryor (Will Rogers) who was caught on the wrong side of the Wall when it went up.

The film captures the period perfect through period details, muted colors and spot-on portrayal of the feel of Cold War America and its paranoia about nuclear war and obsession with conformity. Donovan’s son watches the famous “Duck and Cover” nuclear attack-preparedness government educational film at school, and then comes home to insist that the family keep bathtub filled with water in case of nuclear attack, an incident Spielberg drew from his own childhood. Donovan’s spouse Mary (Amy Ryan) is the perfect housewife, raising their three children in picket-fence suburbia. Period details are perfect as well, down to Donovan’s favorite coffee, Nescafe instant.

With Spielberg directing and the Coens writing, BRIDGE OF SPIES is the best of both. Add in Hanks and Rylance providing strong performances, and this film is an entertainment winner sure to stick in audience’s minds for a while.

BRIDGE OF SPIES releases in Theaters
on Friday, October 16th, 2015

OVERALL RATING: 2 OUT OF 5 STARS

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

OVERALL RATING: 4 1/2 OUT OF 5 STARS

Share this:

OVERALL RATING: 3 OUT OF 5 STARS

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

OVERALL RATING: 4 1/2 OUT OF 5 STARS

Share this: