October 16, 2010That Evening Sun (2009) ***Directed by Scott Teems My tweet:That Evening Sun (2009)- Sentimental melodrama suffocates genuine moments of truth and insight. Good perfs. give it a pass. *** out of 5Other thoughts:85 year-old Hal Holbrook has seen a bit of a career revival after his much deserved Oscar nomination for 2007's Into the Wild. That acclaim presumably got him the leading gig in That Evening Sun, a predictable, syrupy Southern tale that expects the audience to like an old curmudgeon simply because he's feisty...never mind the fact that he's a mean-spirited monster that no one should want to be aroun! d. He gets a dog, which ratchets the manipulation factor up a tick or two. Also take into account the fact that the father of the family that now leases the property is an abusive alcoholic, and the result is a type of sentimentality that I tend to resist. Holbrook plays Abner Meechem, a nursing home resident who breaks out, returns home and squats in the servant house even though there's legally nothing he can do to run out the family living there. His plan is to be such a malcontent that the family will become so miserable that they'll have no choice but to find somewhere else to live. I will give the film credit for forcing Abner to face his own personality flaws, and the acting by a very talented supporting cast including Ray McKinnon, Barry Corbin, Connie Preston and Alice in Wonderland's and The Kids Are All Right's Mia Wasikowska make this truly flawed film worth one's time. Unfortunately, though, I do not think Holbrook succeeds in the lead role. In this late stage ! in his career, he seems to be best when he's sweet and apprehe! nsive. H ere's he's asked to play bitter and resentful, and he chooses to do so in a very straightforward way, not allowing for any nuance whatsoever. A little depth is exactly what that character and performance needs in order to make That Evening Sun something truly insightful and satisfying. Instead, writer/director Scott Teems provides sympathy to Abner by making him nice to a teenage girl and having him take ownership of a barking dog. Nice try.
The Killer Inside Me (2010) ***Directed by Michael WinterbottomMy tweet:The Killer Inside Me (2010)- Way too on the nose to really register, though Casey Affleck's performance is worth seeing. *** out of 5Other thoughts:What do! you get when you have a chillingly effective lead performance in an otherwise useless little psychological crime thriller? Is it a film to recommend or not? The Killer Inside Me, based on an apparently nasty Jim Thompson pulp novel, is a tonal mess, interspersing ironic songs in order to make its ironic character seem even more ironic. All that irony gets quite tiresome after a while. These "Blue Velvet"-esque moments of uncomfortable comedy don't enhance the overall effectiveness or mood of what ought to be described by all accounts as a grim and sobering look at a sociopath deputy sheriff in a small Texas town. This is a character study, and Casey Affleck in the lead role brilliantly brings everything necessary to his complicated, nuanced character of Lou Ford. With a less talented and committed actor, Winterbottom's winking song choices might have been necessary to add layers to an otherwise shall! ow lead performance, but with Affleck doing everything that's needed and then some, Winterbottom insistence that his directorial voice must be heard all too loudly ultimately proves distracting and derivative. Further, the overcrowded supporting cast is bland as can be, which again isn't helped by the fact that Affleck is so damn good. Because of its extreme violence, I hesitate to recommend the film to just anyone, but it is ultimately worth seeing for one of the most fascinating and terrifying characters/performances of the year.
Iron Man 2 (2010) ***1/2Directed by Jon FavreauMy tweet:Iron Man 2 (2010)- Slick, wise-cracking a! ction romp...entertaining enough though overstuffed. Downey Jr's great as always. ***1/2 out of 5Other thoughts:The first Iron Man left me sufficiently satisfied despite its cartoonish final action sequence. Iron Man 2 also left me sufficiently satisfied despite its even sillier and much less effective cartoonish final action sequence. That being said, I enjoyed the two films almost equally. Iron Man 2's script, written by Justin Theroux who wrote Tropic Thunder, is much funnier and crisper than the first film, and Downey Jr. is so terrifically smug and charming this time around. The first hour of Iron Man 2 is better, but the last hour, which heavily involves two disappointingly underwritten characters played by Mickey Rourke and Don Cheadle, doesn't work at all. Rourke, coming off his awe-inspiring performance in The Wrestler, is given absolutely nothing to do, and the last thing Iron Man needs is a sidekick (Cheadle) with no interesting ! qualities whatsoever. Still, the laughs and the charm of every! thing up to the final climax scene are so plentiful that the movie does ultimately succeed. Like the original, Iron Man 2 is far from perfect, but, also like the original, for a bloated popcorn blockbuster, it's a whole lot of fun.
The Town (2010) ***1/2Directed by Ben AffleckMy tweet:The Town (2010)- Affleck's penchant for directing smart though totally predictable mainstream thrillers is fine by me. ***1/2 out of 5Other thoughts:There's absolutely nothing (and I truly mean nothing) in The Town that I haven't seen before in other films. Yet, director and star Ben Affleck takes these familiar (and at times cliched) elements and packages t! hem quite nicely and gives us really excellent actors to go along with his polished presentation. This right here is an example of a smart mainstream crime thriller in the same vein as Gone Baby Gone, another intelligent violent cop flick also directed by Affleck. In Gone Baby Gone, Affleck's direction was at times a bit too busy, as if he was overcompensating for being a tabloid staple actor making his directorial debut trying desperately to be taken seriously in his new role behind the camera. I'm going to predict that with each film, as Affleck is taken more and more seriously, he'll calm down quite a bit. This time around, he's not throwing too many ingredients into the pot, and as such, the movie doesn't come off too overbearing. Affleck is quite good in the lead role, and The Hurt Locker's Jeremy Renner plays an angry little dude who is on the brink of violence with every word he speaks. I'm worried that Renner might just get typecast! ed playing this type of role considering that it's an angrier ! version of his character from The Hurt Locker. That being said, he's very good here as well. The standout performance once again belongs to Rebecca Hall who has yet to give a bad performance. She's the best thing about Starter for 10, Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Please Give. The story focuses on a bank robber who falls in love with a woman who was temporarily his hostage following a robbery. Love gets in the way of brotherhood and a neighborhood code. Bullets fly and blood is shed. Sleazy cops play dirty and make threatening speeches. Again, this is nothing novel, but it's extremely entertaining and satisfying, and thus there's a great deal of credit that belongs to this truly talented up and coming director.
Me and Orson Welles (2009) ***Directed by Richard LinklaterMy tweet:Me and Orson Welles (2009)- Pleasant enough and McKay's outstanding, but Efron's awful and the script lacks depth. *** out of 5Other thoughts:I still have yet to see Before Sunrise and Before Sunset which were both written and directed by Richard Linklater. The only film of his I've seen is Waking Life, which I found pedestrian, though admittedly, having been a philosophy major in college, I have little patience for pseudo-philosophical intellectualizing. Me and Orson Welles was not written by Linklater, and considering the acclaim of both Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, I kind of wish he did lend his voice to this story and these characters. Granted, this backstage theater/coming of age drama is pleasant and interesting enough, but the whole thing feels too stagy, stiff and predictable. Visually, Me and Orson Welles is a lot more interes! ting than the words that come out of these characters' mouths.! Also no t helping its overall effectiveness is a truly awful lead performance by heartthrob Zac Efron who is usually a charismatic and energetic presence on screen. In the High School Musical movies, Efron commands every scene he's in, but when he's placed next to actual grown-up talents like Claire Danes, Christian McKay, Ben Chaplin and Eddie Marsan among others, he seems intimidated and almost looks as if he wants to shrink into the background completely. Granted, Efron's asked to play the straight man while the zany supporting characters are asked to carry the weight, but there's a difference between being a straight man and being what is ostensibly a walking corpse of stiffness. Efron brings down the energy of everyone around him whenever he's on screen, which is just about every scene. Danes is excellent, but the real standout performance is McKay's remarkable turn as Welles who was at once both a genius and a megalomaniac. The film tells the story of his famous Mercury Theate! r production of Hamlet. Had Welles been played by an actor not up to the challenge of matching the man's almost mythic presence and reputation, then this movie would have been unwatchable. Instead, McKay is a wonder on screen, and the fact that he was overlooked for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination baffles my mind. Despite its script and Efron's acting, Me and Orson Welles is a passable movie that will probably be remembered in the future for one truly transcendent supporting performance.
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