“THE FIRST GRADER” My rating: C
103 minutes | PG-13
“The First Grader” is well-meaning, sincere and a bit dull.
Too bad. It had the makings of a real emotional powerhouse, but somehow all the juice in this fact-based tale dried up on the way to the screen
Oliver Litono as "The First Grader'
Ann Peacock’s screenplay is based on events in the life of Kimani N’gan’ga Maruge, a Kenyan who at the age of 84 decided he wanted to learn to read and write.
His efforts to get an education set off a firestorm of controversy, Continue Reading »
Posted in Art house fare | Tagged Naomie Harris, Oliver Litono | Leave a Comment »
“QUEEN TO PLAY” My rating: B+
97 minutes | No MPAA rating | French with subtitles.
“Queen to Play” is a devastatingly romantic movie about a woman falling in love.
Not with a man. With the game of chess. And with herself.
Sandrine Bonnaire (“Vagabond,” “M. Hire”) is Helene, a working-class wife and mother. Her husband Ange (Francis Renaud) works construction, while Helene is a maid at a small hotel on their spectacularly beautiful island of Corsica. She also cleans houses.
Early in Caroline Bottaro’s debut feature, Continue Reading »
Posted in Art house fare | Tagged Caroline Bottaro, chess, Corsica, Kevin Kline, Sandrine Bonnaire | 1 Comment »
“THE HANGOVER PART II” My rating: B
102 minutes | Rating: R
In comedy funny trumps everything else.
“The Hangover Part II” isn’t smarter than, say, “Bridesmaids.” And it has little of the emotional heft of a truly great comedy like “Local Hero” or “Groundhog Day.”
But it’s still about the funniest thing to hit the screen in a long while — providing you’ve got a high threshold for raunchy outrageousness.
You can’t accuse its makers of messing around too much with a successful format. Despite a change of locale — sinful Bangkok takes the role previously played by sinful Las Vegas — this sequel is a recycling of characters and incidents from the first film. That might be a liability if it wasn’t so damn hilarious.
Continue Reading »
Posted in Popcorn movies | Tagged bangkok, bradley cooper, ed helms, hangover, ken Jeong, thailand, zach galifianakis | 1 Comment »
"Winter in Wartime"
“WINTER IN WARTIME” My rating: B
103 minutes | Rated R | Dutch with subtitles.
A child’s simplified view of right and wrong is shattered in “Winter in Wartime,” a snowbound drama from the Netherlands.
Elsewhere in Europe WWII is still raging, but in the town where young Michiel (Martijn Lakemeier) lives the horrors are far away.
Still, Michiel hates the occupying Germans and is contemptuous of his father Johan (Raymond Thiry), the local mayor who spends much time trying to smooth over prickly relations between the Nazis and resentful residents. Johan wants only to ensure the survival of his people, but Michiel views him as a cowardly collaborator.
Far more worthy of emulation, he believes, is his Uncle Ben Continue Reading »
Posted in Art house fare | Tagged Martijn Lakemeier, netherlands, world war ii | Leave a Comment »
“MEEK’S CUTOFF” My rating: B-
1:44 | Rated PG
In her minimalist features “Old Joy” and “Wendy and Lucy,” filmmaker Kelly Reichardt quietly explored relationships among unremarkable individuals in contemporary America.
In “Meek’s Cutoff” she takes the same lightly-plotted approach with the members of a small wagon train slogging along the Oregon Trail in the 1840s.
“Meek’s,” which might be described as a proto-Western, is a daring change of pace, one that has a big payoff intellectually but less of one emotionally and narratively.
The three married couples that make up the tiny caravan are being led by Meek Continue Reading »
Posted in Art house fare | Tagged bruce greenwood, Kelly Reichardt, Meek's Crossing, michelle williams, paul dano | 2 Comments »
Richard Harris gives his all for love in "A Man Called Horse"
The Duke, Josey Wales, Sean Connery, a dude called Horse and Henry Fonda at his most bad-assedness…screw neckties, now you can get Dad something he’ll really like for Father’s Day.
That’s because the home entertainment industry has unleashed a slew of classic manly movies for the first time on Blu-ray…and some of them are killer.
Let’s start with the least impressive and work our way up.
CBS Home Video has just come out with Blu-rays of the John Wayne’s “Rio Lobo” and the Richard Harris hit “A Man Called Horse,” both from 1970. Continue Reading »
Posted in New on DVD | Tagged charles bronson, claudia cardinale, clint eastwood, henry fonda, jason robards, john huston, john wayne, josey wales, man called horse, michael caine, richard harris, rio lobo, sean connery, sergio leoni | Leave a Comment »
Mel Gibson: good guy beloved of coworkers...or raging sphincter?
There’s a scene in Martin Scorsese’s “Mean Streets” (1973) in which the Italian American protagonist, Charlie (Harvey Keitel), holds his hand over a candle flame, testing whether he’ll be able to endure the fires of damnation that he is sure await him.
Mel Gibson has been doing the same thing — metaphorically speaking — throughout his career.
The actor is a curious case, a man who for years was widely regarded as a swell fellow, bon vivant, clever cutup and God’s gift to women. And yet there’s a darkness beneath his capering that comes through loud and clear in his movies.
Has any other actor so frequently used his films to probe his terror of hell, an eternity of both physical and emotional anguish?
Continue Reading »
Posted in Deep thoughts...maybe | Tagged hutton gibson, Mel Gibson | 4 Comments »
“COST OF A SOUL” My rating: B-
Rated R
In “Cost of a Soul” first-timer pretentiousness battles with terrific performances and a fantastic sense of atmosphere. In the end the good stuff outweighs the sketchy stuff.
Sean Kirkpatrick’s Philly-lensed crime drama (opening May 20 in KC at the Independence 20) is the winner of the first Big Break movie contest sponsored by Rogue Pictures and AMC theaters. It suggests a real talent at work.
Chris Kerson in "Cost of a Soul"
At heart it’s a coming-home story about two Iraq veterans, one black, one white.
DD (Will Blagrove) returns to his inner city home determined to live a straight life. Easier said than done, since his older brother is a biggie on the local drug scene. The best DD can hope for is to keep his impressionable younger brother out of the life.
The more interesting story follows Tommy Continue Reading »
Posted in Art house fare | Tagged Chris Kerson, crime drama, Sean Kirkpatrick | 1 Comment »
“PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES” My rating: C
137 minutes | PG-13
“On Stranger Tides,” the fourth entry in Disney’s phenomenally profitable “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise, is at least an improvement over the last two sequels.
It’s still not a particularly good movie (though it remains hugely impressive from a technical standpoint) but at least it didn’t make me want to pound a handspike into my forehead.
“Pirates” 2 and 3 were runaround movies in which the principal players would first run over here, then run over there without a whole lot of reason. Basically director Gore Verbinski was mounting special effects extravaganzas in which plot and characters were a distant afterthought.
Now helmed by Rob Marshall (who followed up on his smash “Chicago” with the dismal “Memoirs of a Giesha” and “Nine” and badly needs a commercial hit), the franchise has jettisoned Continue Reading »
Posted in Popcorn movies | Tagged fountain of youth, geoffrey rush, johnny depp, mermaid, penelope cruz, pirates | Leave a Comment »
“THE BEAVER” My rating: B-
91 minutes | PG-13
Adore him or abhor him, Mel Gibson is the reason to see Jody Foster’s “The Beaver.”
As Walter Black, a toy company executive sliding into a paralyzing world of depression, Gibson registers a degree of mental anguish that is shocking.
In his eyes there is so much hurt, fear and weary resignation that your first impression is that his recent public humiliations (drunken driving, anti-Semitic remarks, crazy violent telephone rants to the mother of his youngest child) have done a devastating number on the formerly cocky movie heartthrob.
Here’s another explanation: Maybe Gibson is just a really good actor.
Continue Reading »
Posted in Art house fare | Tagged Anton Yelchin, Beaver, Jennifer Lawrence, Jody Foster, Mel Gibson, puppet | 1 Comment »
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