But of course: Jean Cocteau and Ella Fitzgerald (via strangewood)
Category: film (Page 44 of 45)
Posters for Federico Fellini’s “Variety Lights”
International posters for Federico Fellini’s “I Clowns”
A new online system allows film lovers and local communities to bring special film events to theaters near them.
from "One Day on Earth"Heaven knows the modern multiplex experience -- a torture of in-theater advertising, unrepentant texting and telephoning, noisy snacking, and various other indicators of impending cultural collapse -- isn’t like that any more. And that’s without even factoring in the quality and monotony of the films that you can choose from, which, as we all know, are rarely as good as the best of what’s on TV on a given night.
But now there may be another way to go to the movies, to see films with a like-spirited community, to select what you’d like to see and when you’d like to see it, and to be joined in the screening by others, known to you or not, who share a similar passion for the same sort of thing, no matter how unusual or specialized it may be.
That’s part of the idea behind TUGG, a new service that combines crowd-funding, like Kickstarter, with the build-your-own-entertainment model of video-on-demand -- but in a movie theater. With relationships with movie theaters all across the country and a library of more than 400 feature-length films, including new independent films, classic Hollywood and foreign movies, dramas, documentaries, and genre pictures, Tugg allows film lovers or people with a common interest in a particular subject matter to create a screening at a local theater at a time and date of their choosing.
The system was developed over the past two years in Austin, Texas, and it has been out in the world in beta format since the South by Southwest festival in March.
In mere months, Tugg has been used across the US to spread new independent films outside of the traditional channels of distribution, to showcase small films that can’t necessarily sustain an weeklong run at a theater in certain communities, and to combine social issue campaigns with nights out at the movies. In April, an Earth Day screening of the documentary "One Day on Earth" resulted in 1800 tickets being sold through TUGG to screenings in 11 different cities; one Los Angeles theater alone had 400 attendees.
It’s a truly simple system: You create an account on Tugg and connect it to your social networks (Facebook, Google+, or Twitter), select a movie from Tugg’s library, choose a date and time, and select from among the theaters in your area that work with Tugg (the list includes many Regal and Cinemark theaters as well as local houses such as Portland’s Living Room Theaters). An invitation goes out to the people on your network, who can then reserve a seat for the event with a credit card. When a minimum percentage of the seats has been reserved, the screening is guaranteed as a go and credit cards are charged for the tickets. And then you and your friends (and friends of your friends) attend just as you would any ordinary movie screening -- with the novelty that everyone in the theater is connected by the fibers of social networks as well as by the desire to see this film at this particular time with this particular group.
from "#ReGeneration"“We heard about Tugg through our distributors,” Baker explains, “and we decided it was a great way to promote our project.” In Portland, Baker and company had a triple-threat of promotional tools: a strong interest in the subject matter of the film, a community which is already very supportive of independent movies, and Baker’s own web of personal connections. “Being born and raised in Portland,” he says, “I reached out to several people within the community to help spread the word. And of course I had some family and friends take part in the screening.”
“#ReGENRATION” is coming back for another bite of the apple in Portland, on June 6 (details). But another screening, of the documentary “El Bulli,” about the famed chef Ferran Adrià, was due to be held at the Living Room but failed to garner enough ticket reservations in time for the film to be shown.
Tugg co-founder Nicolas Gonda explains that, so far, the system works just as well for classic or narrative films as for new and issue-driven movies. “The films we’ve shown have really run the gamut, from classics like ‘Dr. Strangelove’ and ‘The Good, The Bad & The Ugly,’ to recent releases like ‘The Tree of Life’ and cult films like ‘The FP.’”
According to Gonda, “It may not make sense for a theater to program a weeklong run of a small independent film with no marketing budget attached. But in almost every community there is potential for like-minded individuals or organizations to facilitate a one-off screening through Tugg.”
The films are principally shown in the digital DCP format, but Tugg can also work with 35mm film prints and other formats. Currently, Tugg is in negotiations with major distributors to get even more films -- both back-catalogue and current releases -- into its system, and is seeking more theatrical venues in more communities as potential host sites.
“People nationwide are using Tugg to bring their communities together,” says Gonda. “We’ve received feedback from Tugg users who say it’s particularly rewarding to share a film with a theater packed full of your friends, family and fellow film fans.”
New releases in Portland-area theaters not reviewed in this week's A&E.
"Bill Cunningham: New York"“Daughters of the Dust” Director Julie Dash will be present for a screening of her 1992 feature about life in the Gullah regions of Georgia and South Carolina. (Northwest Film Center, Monday only)
“H. P. Lovecraft double feature” The silent short feature “The Call of Cthulhu” and the full-length “The Whisperer in Darkness” help keep Portland’s love of the cult writer alive. (Clinton Street Theater, Friday to Sunday only)
“The Killing” Stanley Kubrick’s great, tense, doomy 1956 heist movie. A perfect film noir. (Laurelhurst Theater)
“NW Animation Festival” A selection of short films from around the world. (Hollywood Theatre, Friday to Sunday only)
“Payback” Documentary, based on a Margaret Atwood book, about the culture of debt and bankruptcy. (Living Room Theaters)
“The Perfect Family” Kathleen Turner in a dark comedy about a mom trying to reshape her family into an ideal. (Living Room Theaters)
“Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview” Feature-length chat with the computer guru from the days when he was running the doomed company NeXT. (Hollywood Theatre)
“Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” Before the internet meme featuring a sarcastic Gene Wilder, before Johnny Depp and Tim Burton, um, revisited it, the original 1971 adaptation of Roald Dahl’s book became a classic for good reason. Presented in a sing-along version. (Hollywood Theatre, Saturday only)
“Zombie Dawn” Low-budget zombie movie from Chile. And if that isn’t intriguing enough, you get a free comic book with your ticket. (Kiggins Theatre)
The five films playing in Portland-area theaters that I'd soonest see again.
"Jiro Dreams of Sushi"2) “The Raid: Redemption” An ultra-violent, wildly kinetic martial arts film that virtually strips itself of the narrative conventions of plot, theme and characterization to create a white-knuckle thrill ride. Writer-director Gareth Evans, a Welshman living in Indonesia, takes the simplest story -- a squad of cops attacks a Jakarta apartment house where a crime lord is ensconced -- and uses it to string together wild action sequences that leave the viewer as exhausted as if he or she had fought them. His stars -- Iko Uwais as a baby-faced cop and Yayan Ruhian (who also choreographed) as a stringy-haired bad guy -- are dazzling. The whole thing is pure cinema: the human body rendered as a machine capable of mayhem, daring, and, yes, grace. Academy, Laurelhurst
3) “The Portland Queer Documentary Festival” Now marking its sixth year, QDocs, as it’s known, continues on as the only festival in the hemisphere dedicated to non-fictional films dealing with LGBT issues (there’s also one in Australia, which is rather a schlep...). This year’s crop is predictably diverse, with several films on contemporary political issues such as marriage rights (“Question One”) and gay clergy (“Love Free or Die”) and a number of portraits of artists who have carved out space in fields not immediately associated with gay and lesbian performers such as country music (“Chely Wright: Wish Me Away”) and comic books (“King of Comics”). A particular highlight is “Vito,” a compelling, smart and moving portrait of the late film historian and activist Vito Russo. Many of the films will be presented by their directors or subjects; all screenings will be held at McMenamins Kennedy School. Full ticket and schedule information
4) “Bernie” It’s a term of deep praise to note that writer-director Richard Linklater (deepbreath: “Slacker,” “Dazed and Confused,” “Before Sunrise,” “Before Sunset,” “Waking Life,” “School of Rock”) is capable more than any contemporary American filmmaker of making terrific movies about nearly nothing. Here, working with a based-on-truth story, he gives us life in the small East Texas town of Carthage, where a beneficent funeral director (Jack Black) and a mean, wealthy widow (Shirley MacLaine) become unlikely chums and companions...under she mysteriously goes missing. Linklater weaves the dramatized version of the story with dry and deft interviews of actual Carthaginians (is that what they’re called?) and even several musical numbers in a perfect frappe of a black comedy. Fox Tower
5) “Jiro Dreams of Sushi” Jiro Ono is the owner of a Tokyo sushi bar with 10 seats and 3 Michelin stars, and David Gelb’s gorgeous and intimate documentary about the man and his obsession gives you an idea of how that can not only be so but be fitting. Jiro and his two sons (bound to the chef’s apron strings, almost literally) devote untold hours of work and thought to the perfection of sushi-making, turning a sometimes makework form of cookery into indisputably high art. At 85, the old master still works virtually every day, and the fruit of his focus is in servings of raw fish and warm rice photographed so lusciously that you can almost taste them. A mouthwatering film: literally. Laurelhurst, Living Room Theaters
The unlikely comic trio of Shirley MacLaine, Jack Black and Matthew McConaughey brings a sordid little tale to sparkling life.
Shirley MacLaine and Jack Black in "Bernie"The film tells the story of Bernie Tiede, an East Texas mortician beloved in his community for his charitable works, his cheerful spirit and his attentiveness to widows. After the death of one of the town’s richest men, Bernie befriended the fellow’s irascible -- nay, mean -- wife, Marjorie, and became her unlikely best friend, to the point that the suspicious and sharp old gal gave him control of her fortune. It was eyebrow-raising stuff, and then Marjorie stopped being seen around town and some folks got more suspicious than ever.
Working from a script he co-wrote with Skip Hollandsworth, who chronicled the story in a magazine article, Linklater intermixes the recollections of actual denizens of Carthage, Texas, where it all took place, with the dramatic telling of the story as acted by Jack Black as Bernie, Shirley MacLaine as Marjorie and Matthew McConaughey as a district attorney.
The three are marvelous. Black espouses a mincy fussiness, uses his powerful singing voice beautifully, and stretches more than he ever has, even in Linklater’s “School of Rock.” MacLaine, 57 years into a movie career that began when she was 21, plays her wicked role with just the right blend of comedy and villainy. And McConaughey (whom Linklater discovered, recall) manages subtly to expose the dumb core of his prima donna prosecutor.
“Bernie” is slight but terrific. The intertwining of the sharply tuned actors and the guileless (and often hilarious) townspeople is seamless, the tale is sometimes despairing but never heavy, and the blend of drama, comedy and music is brisk and fresh. Linklater has many estimable qualities, but with this film he reminds us that he can craft a cinematic soufflé better than just about any director in America.
(104 min., PG-13, Fox Tower) Grade: A-minus
A diversity of film events turn up at once, making for a rich and hectic week.
Vito Russo from "Vito" at QDocsTwo festivals of note and a barnstorming film tour highlight a truly eclectic crop of movie choices, and we’ve got the skinny on all three.
QDoc
(by Grant Butler)
Portland’s Queer Documentary Film Festival, kicked off at McMenamins Kennedy School on Thursday night with “Wish Me Away,” about country singer Chely Wright, followed by a big party at downtown’s new restaurant Corazon. But the festival kicks into high gear today, with screenings of 11 additional films being held Friday through Sunday. Here are five of the standouts:
“King of Comics” German cartoonist Ralf König has been shocking and entertaining readers since the 1980s with his graphic and often hilarious comic books “Gay Comix.” His drawing style is reminiscent of R. Crumb, with a touch of delicious crude humor. This portrait of the artist shows him giving a hilarious reading of some of his best stories, intermixed with a melancholy look at his life, which has involved broken relationships and loneliness, showing there can be tears behind the laughter. This is a 21-and-over screening. (9 p.m. Friday; 80 minutes; Germany) B+
“Question One” President Obama’s endorsement of same-sex marriage earlier this month is just the latest chapter in the ongoing debate over marriage equality, and this documentary offers an even-handed look at the emotions on both sides of the issue. In 2009, Maine’s state legislature approved same-sex marriage, prompting a constitutional ballot battle that ended with voters overturning the right to marry by a significant margin. Filmmakers Joe Fox and James Nubile follow both gay activists fighting the ballot measure, as well as Christian supporters and ministers who believe that marriage can only be defined as between a man and a woman. The film captures the complex thoughts and concerns of people on both sides of the referendum — no easy task. The filmmakers and one of their subjects, Darlene Huntress, will be in attendance. (6 p.m. Saturday; 113 minutes; United States) A
“This Is What Love In Action Looks Like” Gay-conversion therapy is one of the most-controversial practices by some churches today. It prompted a national firestorm in 2005 when a Tennessee program called Love In Action became the focal-point of protests after a 16-year-old gay boy was forced into the program by his parents against his wishes. Memphis bloggers and activists began protesting outside the treatment facility, eventually getting the attention of national TV news, leading to the eventual dissolution of the program. This film asks questions about the intersection of Christian faith and free will, and whether any gay-conversion programs have any merit — not just those directed at teens. Director Morgan Jon Fox will be in attendance. (11:30 a.m. Sunday; 70 minutes; United States) B+
“Love Free or Die” Gene Robinson made international news when he was made a bishop of the Episcopal Church in New Hampshire in 2003, prompting the Anglican Church to ban him from its 10-year conference of bishops five years later. But Robinson went to England anyway, shadowing the conference with speeches at a handful of churches that dared to invite him to preach. The portrait shows how Robinson’s efforts to get the Episcopal Church to recognize same-sex marriage and the role that gays and lesbians have in the clergy is fleshed out with snapshots of his homelife, including his own marriage to his longtime partner when it became legal in New Hampshire. Director Macky Alston will be in attendance. (4 p.m. Sunday; 82 minutes; United States) A-
“Vito” Gay film historian Vito Russo helped show the dismal way that Hollywood has treated gays and lesbians on film with his landmark book “The Celluloid Closet” and his live presentations in the 1980s that showed hundreds of examples of homophobia on film. But Russo was more than a scholar, becoming an outspoken activist in the early years of the AIDS crisis, before the disease cut his own life short. Interviews with family, friends, and archival interviews with Russo create a full portrait of someone who loved cinema, and wanted to see gays and lesbians depicted fairly in the medium. Director Jeffrey Schwarz will be in attendance. (7 p.m. Sunday; 93 minutes; United States) A
Full ticket and program information
The Great Northwest Film Tour
(by Shawn Levy)
The Oscar-nominated cartoonist Bill Plympton is, of course, a native son of Oregon, so it’s only right and proper that he bring a film about his life and art to his home state. And by that you can take it to mean the whole state -- or as much of it as hosts a McMenamins brewpub movie theater.
“Adventures in Plymptoons,” directed by Alexia Anastasio and featuring interviews with a great many of Plympton’s peers and chums, both local and national, will play at no fewer eight of the McMenamin brothers’ theaters in a span of nine days. And Plympton and Anastasio will be on hand throughout the event to discuss their project.
The tour, which has been mounted by the Oregon Media Production Association trade group, begins on Saturday at the Mission Theater in Portland, followed by screenings at the Old St. Francis School in Bend (Sunday), the Kennedy School in Portland (Tuesday), the Grand Lodge in Forest Grove (Wednesday), the Olympic Club in Centralia, Washington (Thursday), the Edgefield Powerstation in Troutdale (Friday, May 25), the Bagdad Theater in Portland (Saturday, May 26) and the St. Johns Theater in Portland (Sunday, May 27).
Saturday’s event is being billed as an “Industry Premiere,” with many of Portland’s famed animators and filmmakers expected to attend. And the next-to-last show, on May 26, is a gala fundraiser for the OMPA, with musical performer Weird Al Yankovic adding to the festivities.
Full ticket and schedule information
Experimental Film Festival Portland
(by Shawn Levy)
It’s been a few years since Peripheral Produce has held one of its seminal PDX Film Fests, and that hasn’t been because there’s been a lack of new experimental film projects created in this most creative of towns. Rather, PDX Fest honcho Matt McCormick has been working busily films of his own and simply hasn’t been up to the heavy task.
With the thought that it would take a whole collective of people to replace McCormick and his team, the filmmakers in the group called Grand Detour have combined their talents to mount a new festival dedicated to film on the margins. Experimental Film Festival Portland (or, cheekily, EFF Portland) will run from Tuesday, May 22 through Sunday, May 27, with premieres of new works from, among many others, Portlanders Vanessa Renwick, Pam Minty, and Karl Lind.
The several programs, comprising dozens of films in all, bear names like “Eruption,” “Mycology” and “Magma Flow” and screen at various locations around town. It all climaxes on May 27 with the Dill Pickle Club history group hosting a symposium on experimental film at the Clinton Street Theater,featuring new work from McCormick, Brooke Jacobson and Jim Blashfield, and, later in the day, the premiere of Renwick’s new film, “Charismatic Megafauna,” presented at the Hollywood Theatre with live musical score.
Full ticket and schedule information
Robert Mitchum does Cannes, 1954
The director of "Super Size Me" takes a look at men (like himself) who take care with their appearance.
Jason Bateman (l.) and Morgan Spurlock in "Mansome"Spurlock, who risked his health with a fast-food diet in “Super Size Me” and sports a signature handlebar moustache, reveals the stories of a champion beardsman whose life is built around healthy beard growth, a New York businessman who obsessively tweaks his appearance with cosmetic treatments, a professional wrestler who shaves his impressively hairy body every working day, and the manufacturer of a deodorant designed for men to wear in, um, their pants. These are peppered with cameos by a clutch of famous faces, ranging from Paul Rudd and John Waters, who raise sharp points, to Zach Galifianakis, who adds randomness, to Adam Carolla, whose patter any 12-year-old could predict and write without seeing the film at all.
As I say, there’s not a lot of meat on the bones of “Mansome” -- certainly not compared to, say, the steroid expose “Bigger, Stronger, Faster*.” Nor is there the sort of zest that infused Spurlock’s last film, “Comic-con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope” (which appeared in April, bless his busy heart). But there are a few chuckles, a few head-scratches and, thankfully, very few missteps. It charms.
(82 min., PG-13, Fox Tower) Grade: B
The director of "Super Size Me" takes a look at men (like himself) who take care with their appearance.
Jason Bateman (l.) and Morgan Spurlock in "Mansome"Spurlock, who risked his health with a fast-food diet in “Super Size Me” and sports a signature handlebar moustache, reveals the stories of a champion beardsman whose life is built around healthy beard growth, a New York businessman who obsessively tweaks his appearance with cosmetic treatments, a professional wrestler who shaves his impressively hairy body every working day, and the manufacturer of a deodorant designed for men to wear in, um, their pants. These are peppered with cameos by a clutch of famous faces, ranging from Paul Rudd and John Waters, who raise sharp points, to Zach Galifianakis, who adds randomness, to Adam Carolla, whose patter any 12-year-old could predict and write without seeing the film at all.
As I say, there’s not a lot of meat on the bones of “Mansome” -- certainly not compared to, say, the steroid expose “Bigger, Stronger, Faster*.” Nor is there the sort of zest that infused Spurlock’s last film, “Comic-con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope” (which appeared in April, bless his busy heart). But there are a few chuckles, a few head-scratches and, thankfully, very few missteps. It charms.
(82 min., PG-13, Fox Tower) Grade: B
A screed against the worst aspects of the culture goes off the rails, but not without raising some real issues.
Joel Murry and Tara Lynne Barr in "God Bless America"Writer-director Bobcat Goldthwait (the squealing, gnarly-haired comedian and, by now, auteur of a handful of cult films) vents his frustration with contemporary American culture, values and mores in the story of Frank, a middle-aged schlub who, divorced, friendless, jobless and diagnosed with cancer, goes on a spree to kill reality TV stars, parking space hoggers, movie theater talkers, and others who violate his code of simple human decency. In the process, Frank accrues a co-conspirator, Roxy, a high school girl with just as many peeves and maybe even more anger at the world.
The pair are played by Joel Murray (Freddy Rumson from TV’s “Mad Men”) and relative newcomer Tara Lynne Barr. Murray isn’t exactly a deep performer, but he fits the role well, and Barr is quite game. As the film progresses, though, their characters come to seem less like people than like mere vehicles for Goldthwait’s personal outrage. And in that context, their anger (not to mention the murders they commit) seems disproportionate and contrived. “God Bless America” offers a few laughs and a moment or two of drama, but it’s finally more of a conceit -- and a familiar one -- than a film.
(100 min., R, Hollywood Theatre) Grade: B-minus
Catch 'em while you can!
from "Bully"
One shot: George Lazenby, the only Australian James Bond
He's still crude and sometimes quite funny, but there's little electricity in the make-believe compared to his real-world exploits, and the result is Sandler-esque.
Sacha Baron Cohen in "The Dictator"It was frequently sophomoric and often quite hilarious, but it was also a finite enterprise: as the career of Michael Moore demonstrates, a fellow can only catch other folks by surprise for so long before the echo of his own fame precedes him and his access to unguarded sources dries up.
And so Cohen and his team -- director Larry Charles and a cohort of writers who worked on “Seinfeld” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” -- have invented a new character who shares some attributes with the comedian’s other false faces but who lives inside a fictional world, which rather blunts the satire. “The Dictator,” the lumpy comedy in which this new fellow appears, feels not so much like a sibling of Cohen’s brilliant TV work or the stupefying “Borat” and “Bruno” movies as it does a cousin with only some of the genetic gifts its relatives enjoys.
Cohen plays Supreme Leader Aladeen, president-for-life of the fictional North African nation of Wadiya, which he rules with callous brutality. When Aladeen addresses the United Nations on the subject of Wadiya’s nuclear weapons program, he is kidnapped and stripped of power by a scheming underling (Ben Kingsley) who plans to democratize the nation in order to exploit its oil reserves. Aladeen survives the coup but is left to the mercies of modern New York, which is filled with the sorts of people whom he has mercilessly despised and belittled throughout his life.
He’s taken in by Zoe (Anna Faris), the over-eager operator of a politically correct grocery, and has a chance encounter with Nuclear Nadal (Jason Mantzoukas), a Wadiyan scientist whom Aladeen had ordered to be executed years earlier (all of his victims, learns, actually had their lives spared by an executioner disloyal to the regime). Together, the two exiles plan to scuttle the plans for regime change in Wadiya, restore Aladeen’s despotic monarchy, and get back to building nukes.
All of this is an excuse for one outrageous, grotesque, gratuitous joke after another. Like Cohen’s other personae, Aladeen is a seething mass of biases and bigotries, and he continually hates on and debases women, minorities, celebrities, children, old folks, ordinary Americans, and, really, anyone who wanders through into his gaze. Some of it is funny, and much of it is shocking, but little of it has the satiric impact or sense of danger that accompanied the antics of Cohen’s previous characters, who risked the chance of having political or cultural figures explode at them or ordinary folks -- often mobs of them -- beat them up. Here, in a purely fictional context, it’s all make-believe, and the sparks that occasionally result from the cheek and the crudeness aren’t nearly so bright. (And Charles, needless to remind anyone, is no one’s idea of a master comic filmmaker.)
For all its boundary-pushing, “The Dictator” only once makes you feel truly uncomfortable, very near the end, when Aladeen lists the qualities that make a nation a dictatorship and virtually anatomizes the contemporary American political, economic, journalistic and cultural milieu. But that moment, a weird inversion of Charlie Chaplin’s famous paean to human rights at the end of “The Great Dictator,” doesn’t resonate amid the caustic frivolity of the rest. “The Dictator” has a few laughs along its bumpy path, but not enough of them to indicate that Cohen has found a means to escape the shadows of his early career and forge a second act for himself.
(82 min., R, multiple locations) Grade: C-plus
“….all I see now is blonde, brunette, redhead….”
New releases in Portland-area theaters not reviewed in this week's A&E.
Johnny Depp in "Dark Shadows"New releases in Portland-area theaters not reviewed in this week's A&E.
John Wayne in "The Searchers" (1956)“HDFEST” A selection of new films from around the world made for and projected in high-definition formats. (Living Room Theaters, Tuesday through Thursday only)
“Inter-Action: Animated Shorts” A collection of recent animated films by SEAT (the Seattle Experimental Animation Team), presented by Seattle animator Tess Martin. (Northwest Film Center, Thursday only)
“The Invisible War” Documentarian Kirby Dick (“This Film Is Not Yet Rated,” “Derrida”) looks into the under-reported phenomenon of sexual assault in the American military. (Hollywood Theatre, Thursday only)
“Jesus Henry Christ” A boy conceived in a laboratory seeks his biological father; stars include Toni Collette and Michael Sheen. (Living Room Theaters)
“Pacific University Senior Theses Films” A presentation of the work of soon-to-be graduates of Pacific University’s Media Arts Department. (CLinton Street Theater, Thursday only)
“Sprout Film Festival” A collection of films about the lives and accomplishments of people with learning disabilities. (McMenamins Kennedy School, Saturday only)
“The Searchers” John Wayne stars as the brutal, dogged, racist Ethan Edwards, who spends years seeking a neice who has been kidnapped by Native Americans, in John Ford’s 1956 classic. (Laurelhurst Theater)
All the summer movie news you need for only-in-Portland film events, big global blockbusters and everything in between.
Christian Bale as Batman in "The Dark Knight Rises"As my small gesture toward decluttering your heads, I've (trendy verb alert) aggregated the whole shebang here.
To wit:
Mini-essay on Summer Movies 2012
May releases
June releases
July releases
August releases
Films with undetermined release dates
Photo slide show of dozens of images from the summer's releases and events
It's a lot, yes. How nice of somebody (and I only take partial credit here) to break it all down and map it out.
The five films playing in Portland-area theaters that I'd soonest see again.
Rachel Weisz and Tom Hiddleston in "The Deep Blue Sea"2) “The Raid: Redemption” An ultra-violent, wildly kinetic martial arts film that virtually strips itself of the narrative conventions of plot, theme and characterization to create a white-knuckle thrill ride. Writer-director Gareth Evans, a Welshman living in Indonesia, takes the simplest story -- a squad of cops attacks a Jakarta apartment house where a crime lord is ensconced -- and uses it to string together wild action sequences that leave the viewer as exhausted as if he or she had fought them. His stars -- Iko Uwais as a baby-faced cop and Yayan Ruhian (who also choreographed) as a stringy-haired bad guy -- are dazzling. The whole thing is pure cinema: the human body rendered as a machine capable of mayhem, daring, and, yes, grace. Academy, Laurelhurst
3) “Bully” An emotionally overwhelming documentary about threads of violence in our social fabric. Focusing on five or children who’ve been tormented and abused by schoolmates, two so relentlessly that they took their own lives, documentarian Lee Hirsch advocates without the use of any talking heads, statistics or editorial posturing. Rather, his film actually depicts everyday acts of bullying and -- worse -- the ineffective and even hurtful responses of school authorities. At times, the pity, outrage and empathy the evokes threaten to drown you. But there’s a hint of light, too. At moments you might feel slightly manipulated. But when you look into the eyes of two fathers whose sons killed themselves rather than continue to be bullied, quibbles about journalist practice vanish from your mind. Fox Tower
4) “Jiro Dreams of Sushi” Jiro Ono is the owner of a Tokyo sushi bar with 10 seats and 3 Michelin stars, and David Gelb’s gorgeous and intimate documentary about the man and his obsession gives you an idea of how that can not only be so but be fitting. Jiro and his two sons (bound to the chef’s apron strings, almost literally) devote untold hours of work and thought to the perfection of sushi-making, turning a sometimes makework form of cookery into indisputably high art. At 85, the old master still works virtually every day, and the fruit of his focus is in servings of raw fish and warm rice photographed so lusciously that you can almost taste them. A mouthwatering film: literally. Laurelhurst, Living Room Theaters
5) "The Cabin in the Woods"
A slasher movie inside a horror movie of another sort inside yet
another narrative, one which looks out and the audience and asks why
they (that is, we) keep lining up to watch other people get
slaughtered. A group of college students head to the titular location
for a weekend’s bacchanal, only to be preyed upon and killed in grisly
fashion, as per the familiar genre rules. At the same time, a group of
bureaucrats/scientists in a control room manipulate the victims and
their killers in the service of...something. Director Drew Goddard and
his co-writer Joss Whedon have fun in the vein of “Scream” and in
the vein of “The Truman Show” -- and they come up with an intriguing
theory to explain the allure of horror films as well as a (literal) hell
of a climax. Bloody, funny, clever. multiple locations
An agreeable Norwegian comic thriller with touches of the Coen brothers.
Aksel Hennie in "Headhunters"Aksel Hennie stars as Roger Brown, an obnoxious corporate headhunter who’s self-conscious about being married to a gorgeous (and taller) woman. Feeling he must keep his missus happy, he augments his already sizeable income -- by stealing works of art from his business clients and replacing them with near-replicas. In the process what ought to be the biggest score of this second ‘career,’ Roger discovers a secret which shatters him and then must flee for his life from a bloodthirsty mercenary (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau).
Director Morten Tyldum (“Fallen Angels”), working from a novel by Jo Nesbø, nicely balances slickness, terror, comedy and the grotesque, and Hennie is almost too perfect in the lead, particularly in his insufferable early stages.
It’s a light entertainment -- provided you can be entertained by watching Roger suffer and quake as he does. And, almost inevitably, it’s been identified for a potential Hollywood remake. Do yourself a favor and see this one before some Yank director gets it all wrong.
(100 min., R, Cinema 21) Grade: B-plus
The eighth collaboration of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp is their most lifeless and least necessary yet.
Johnny Depp in "Dark Shadows"Their new film “Dark Shadows” marks their eighth collaboration in 22 years and fifth since 2005. In all those films, Depp has only once played an ordinary human being in non-fantasy costume...and that was as the cross-dressing schlockmeister hero of the terrific “Ed Wood.”
In all of their other work together -- “Edward Scissorhands,” “Sleepy Hollow,” “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “Corpse Bride,” “Sweeney Todd,” and “Alice in Wonderland” -- Depp has played deeply outré characters in flamboyant outfits, wigs and makeup, sometimes finding human emotion beneath the grotesquerie but more often, and more commonly as time has passed, wandering off into self-amusement and obscurity.
This can be fun, I grant you. Nobody in movies has ever quite had Depp’s gift for disappearing into so many variations on the comic and the bizarre, and Burton is almost always audacious in mounting spectacles born of youthful fantasies and nightmares. But the two have returned so often to a single brand of inspiration that they no longer spark a frisson -- in the audience or, one suspects, in each other. There’s a dulling sameness to the characters, the themes, the tenor. Oh, sometimes the comedy is in the depravity and sometimes vice versa, but it’s all been cut from the same cloth, and after all this time the cloth has worn so thin that it’s become transparent.
And so “Dark Shadows,” in which the pair attempt to sprinkle their fairy dust on the gothic daytime soap opera that became a national sensation in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, making an unlikely pop hero of the vampire Barnabas Collins whose family manor, Collinwood, was the setting for the show. (Collins was played by Jonathan Frid, who died in April and has a blink-and-you’ll-miss-him cameo as a party guest in this film.)
In the hands of Burton and at least three writers, much of the original tale remains in place: after two centuries of entombment, Barnabas is awoken to find that the year is 1972, the Collins family’s fortunes have crumbled, his old-time nemesis, the witch Angelique, runs the town of Collinsport, and his long-dead love, Josette, has been reincarnated, or seems to have been, as the governess Victoria Winters.
But, really, it’s more set-up than story: the film grinds through a number of subplots that don’t resonate with one another and don’t add up to a narrative with any momentum or tension. There’s some gore and some CGI tomfoolery, but mainly Burton plays it for laughs, making it all the more depressing that so little of it is funny: Depp’s delivery and arcane argot can amuse, the conventions of soap opera craft are drily mocked, and there are one or two cheeky bits about Barnabas’ encounters with modernity, but that’s it. For hours. It’s a slog.
Depp, as I say, almost can’t help but hold your interest, but watching him work yet another variation on this mock-morbid trope most certainly neither surprises nor excites. Chloë Grace Moretz charms a mite as a rebellious young Collins, and Helena Bonham Carter has some fun as a drunken psychiatrist. But Eva Green as Barnabas’s foe, Bella Heathcote as his love interest, and Michelle Pfeiffer as the modern head of the Collins family are bloodless, no matter the energies they expend.
Indeed, ‘bloodless’ is the word for the whole enterprise. Lord knows that Burton is an inventive fellow, and he’s capable of bringing all sorts of esoteric to pulsing life. But it’s been a long time since he’s made a start-to-finish satisfying film -- and, perhaps coincidentally, nine years since he’s made one without Depp. That walk in the fresh air that I suggested the two of them need? I should add that it would be best if they took it in opposite directions....
(111 min., PG-13, multiple locations) Grade: C
The Oregon-born cartoonist's barnstorming tour of the region will end with a proclamation.
Bill Plympton will get his day -- officially.
Bill Foster, who's been director of the NFC for 31 years, reflects on some highlights of his tenure and of Portland's growth as a film town.
Bill Foster has been director of the Northwest Film Center for 31 of its 40 years.A fortieth birthday is a fairly big deal in any lifetime, but for a not-for-profit arts institution, it’s practically miraculous.
And yet that’s just where the Northwest Film Center finds itself: at the dawn of a fifth decade and, in many ways, bigger and more robust than ever.
In February, the NFC’s Portland International Film Festival drew more than 37,000 ticket-holders to nearly 140 films at locations throughout the city and as far afield as Lake Oswego. The NFC’s tentpole exhibition programs (including the Northwest Filmmaker’s Festival, the Portland Jewish Film Festival, and the Reel Music and Top Down film series) roll on heartily, some of them decades into their lives, and one-off events, such as Ernest Borgnine’s recent visit to town, can be electric. The NFC continues to offer a full slate of classes for young people and college-aged (and older) filmmakers, to support independent filmmakers on their projects, and to form a nexus for filmmakers from throughout the Northwest, from Montana through British Columbia to Alaska.
It’s a whirling dervish of an institution even in years that aren’t marked by nice round numbers. But throughout this milestone 40th-anniversary year, the NFC has been pausing from its busy routine to celebrate itself, and there’s no bigger celebration in store than “Lights! Camera! Action!,” a gala party being held on Saturday, May 12, in celebration of the big birthday and raising money that will help fund the NFC’s various activities.
On tap is a full-fledged evening of celebration and celebrity (well, Portland-scale celebrity). The evening’s honorary chair is Cannes-winning and Oscar-nominated director Gus Van Sant, who was first heard from as a young filmmaker honing his chops in NFC programs. The evening’s entertainment will be provided by singer China Forbes and a big band orchestra, and there will be live and silent auctions, some special film programming, and other surprises to keep the evening buzzy. (For information about attending the event or donating to it, visit the web page for the event.)
Prior to the big night, Bill Foster, who has been director of the NFC since 1981, spoke with The Oregonian about some of the milestones and mainstays of the organization’s four decades. His comments have been edited for brevity and clarity.
The Northwest Filmmaker’s Festival
(The NFC’s longest-running annual event, having just completed its thirty-eighth year (when it was redubbed after being known as the Northwest Film and Video Festival), it brings together new works from filmmakers throughout a massive geographical region for evaluation by an outside juror.)
Foster: “That was the event I actually started on: the first thing I actually did. It was supposed to be a three-month project. I’d worked for the museum (the Portland Art Museum, which operates the NFC) as a curatorial assistant and assistant registrar. I didn’t know anything about the Film Center, which wasn’t connected to the museum. I got involved by accident. The Film Center’s director, Bob Sitton, had come from California and didn’t know many people in town. I had left the museum and he called me up and asked if I’d be willing to help him with this project. The previous year, they had put on an Oregon filmmakers festival, so the local filmmaking community knew about the Film Center. There were about 60 or 70 entries, compared to about 450 nowadays, and we showed probably 15 or 20. The Film Center was never intended to be a film society, though it does serve that function. It was meant to be a community catalyst, a means of creating a viable media community in Portland. And this has become the flagship event that says to the filmmaking community and the larger community, ‘There are filmmakers in the Northwest, and movies don’t just come from Hollywood or France, and we should celebrate those voices.’”
The Portland International Film Festival
(Since 1977, the NFC’s most visible and popular annual event, with a gala opening night, scores of local and regional premieres, visiting filmmakers, and a chain of downtown -- and, in recent years, outer-lying -- theaters choked with film buffs trying to take in dozens of movies in less than three weeks time.)
Foster: “When PIFF started, we were already showing lots of classic and foreign films, and this was the era when film festivals were really becoming a phenomenon in lots of cities around the country and the world. Seven Gables, who were based in Seattle, was the premiere art film exhibitor in the region, and they operated the Movie House theater here. We struck a partnership with them on a film festival, with Seven Gables using the Movie House the more commercial films, the ones that were likely to return for regular runs, and the Film Center showing the more recondite films. We collaborated on a balanced program. We had maybe 40 movies and maybe 8,000 people showed up. That was a big success. And then after a couple of years, Seven Gables contracted its operations and moved out of Portland, and we’ve been running it ever since.”
View full sizeGus Van SantGus Van Sant
(No single filmmaker has been more associated with the NFC over the decades than the man who will serve as honorary chair for Saturday’s gala. The first public screenings of Van Sant’s films were held at the NFC, he has held local premieres of several of his best-known films as benefits for the NFC, and he continues to support the institution in a number of ways, some splashy and some quiet.)
Foster: “He’s been involved at every level you can think of, from making movies to teaching to making PSAs to starring in trailers for PIFF to letting us show his work to loaning us his equipment to serving as a juror for the Northwest Filmmaker’s Festival. He’s been a steady inspiration and force since the mid-‘70s. And he isn’t only supportive of the NFC but of the whole community. He’s accessible and willing and serves on committees and comes to screenings. He’s fascinating to watch. I really can’t say what he’ll do next. He can synthesize so many types of film and art; he’s really unique. He could go off in the world of commerce, but he doesn’t. And he certainly doesn’t flaunt his success. For one thing, he’s stayed here. Portland is a place that attracts people who want to shape their own lives, and if you’re in the film business in New York or Los Angeles, there are forces that shape you, no matter how big you are. Your career takes on a life of its own, and you can’t veer off and make little films or take months of and sit on Sauvie Island and do watercolors, like Gus has done.”
Visiting Filmmakers
(Gus Van Sant is a big name, yes, but the NFC has attracted some pretty remarkable folks to its programs.)
Foster: “We’ve had more than 3000 visiting filmmakers over the years -- maybe 60 or more every year. And, sure, they’re not all Ernie Borgnine, but we did have (legendary directors) Frank Capra and King Vidor. Werner Herzog has been here a few times, and that’s always memorable. And Oliver Stone was pretty wild to host, and Michael Moore in his heyday. One of the most palpably exciting events was when Pauline Kael was here: you can’t imagine such electricity being generated by a critic today. In PIFFs over the years, we’ve had people like Steven Soderbergh and M. Night Shyamalan. Those sorts of visits are the value-added that get people excited about the festival.”
"Coraline"“Coraline” and Portland animation
(One of the ongoing themes of Portland film history has been the strength of the local animation community, with such pioneers as Will Vinton, Jim Blashfield and Joan Gratz paving the way for the big-budget work being done at Laika Entertainment, which held the world premiere of its acclaimed feature “Coraline” on opening night of the 2009 Portland International Film Festival.)
Foster: “Since day one the Film Center has taught animation, and we’ve had animators on our faculty like Joanna Priestley, Chel White, Jim Blashfield and Will Vinton. Portland has always had an amazing indigenous animation community. And Vinton built a substantial infrastructure that’s still thriving in the shape of Laika. That year, we had the perfect storm of “Coraline”’s premiere and the start of PIFF, and that was a huge event. It all gets back to the community idea and the idea of celebrating what goes on in Portland. Laika has an amazing talent base and resources. But like a lot of things in Portland, it takes being recognized outside of town for people here to acknowledge it. That’s one of the reasons it was so nice to be able to premiere that film here.”
The Portland arts and filmmaking scene today
(Several of the strains of contemporary Portland culture have their roots in the works of filmmakers whom the NFC has nurtured and supported over the years -- the likes of Aaron Katz (“Quiet City,” “Cold Weather”), Matt McCormick (“Some Days Are Better Than Others”) and James Westby (“The Auteur,” “Rid of Me”). Even in an era when there are more films being made in Portland than ever, the NFC remains a hub.)
Foster: “You used to feel like you knew everything that was going on in Portland. It was the biggest a town could be without being a truly metropolitan city. Now there are people from all over whom you’ve never heard of making all kinds of exciting things. People are living all over town, relatively stably and comfortably, finding their creative spaces and voices. It’s very fertile. You get people like Gus and (fellow directors) Todd Haynes and Lance Bangs, who live here and work all over. Artists can be out in the world but they continue to live here and stay infused with the Portland ambience and not lose their bearings or become overwhelmed with the struggle to survive. And all the time new people are popping up and doing premieres and I think, ‘I didn’t even know they existed.’ And that’s exactly what you hope for: nurturing a community that does its own creative thing. As an arts organization, we want to help people thrive. And it’s satisfying even if we didn’t have a part in it. People emerge here, and they stay here as part of the community, and they almost always want to give back and help the community thrive.”
IF YOU GO
WHAT: “Lights! Camera! Action! 40th Anniversary Gala and Fundraiser”
WHEN: Saturday, May 12, with red carpet starting at 6 p.m.
WHERE: Portland Art Museum, 1119 SW Park Ave.
TICKETS: starting at $150
For more information, visit the Northwest Film Center's web site.
And yet that’s just where the Northwest Film Center finds itself: at the dawn of a fifth decade and, in many ways, bigger and more robust than ever.
In February, the NFC’s Portland International Film Festival drew more than 37,000 ticket-holders to nearly 140 films at locations throughout the city and as far afield as Lake Oswego. The NFC’s tentpole exhibition programs (including the Northwest Filmmaker’s Festival, the Portland Jewish Film Festival, and the Reel Music and Top Down film series) roll on heartily, some of them decades into their lives, and one-off events, such as Ernest Borgnine’s recent visit to town, can be electric. The NFC continues to offer a full slate of classes for young people and college-aged (and older) filmmakers, to support independent filmmakers on their projects, and to form a nexus for filmmakers from throughout the Northwest, from Montana through British Columbia to Alaska.
It’s a whirling dervish of an institution even in years that aren’t marked by nice round numbers. But throughout this milestone 40th-anniversary year, the NFC has been pausing from its busy routine to celebrate itself, and there’s no bigger celebration in store than “Lights! Camera! Action!,” a gala party being held on Saturday, May 12, in celebration of the big birthday and raising money that will help fund the NFC’s various activities.
On tap is a full-fledged evening of celebration and celebrity (well, Portland-scale celebrity). The evening’s honorary chair is Cannes-winning and Oscar-nominated director Gus Van Sant, who was first heard from as a young filmmaker honing his chops in NFC programs. The evening’s entertainment will be provided by singer China Forbes and a big band orchestra, and there will be live and silent auctions, some special film programming, and other surprises to keep the evening buzzy. (For information about attending the event or donating to it, visit the web page for the event.)
Prior to the big night, Bill Foster, who has been director of the NFC since 1981, spoke with The Oregonian about some of the milestones and mainstays of the organization’s four decades. His comments have been edited for brevity and clarity.
The Northwest Filmmaker’s Festival
(The NFC’s longest-running annual event, having just completed its thirty-eighth year (when it was redubbed after being known as the Northwest Film and Video Festival), it brings together new works from filmmakers throughout a massive geographical region for evaluation by an outside juror.)
Foster: “That was the event I actually started on: the first thing I actually did. It was supposed to be a three-month project. I’d worked for the museum (the Portland Art Museum, which operates the NFC) as a curatorial assistant and assistant registrar. I didn’t know anything about the Film Center, which wasn’t connected to the museum. I got involved by accident. The Film Center’s director, Bob Sitton, had come from California and didn’t know many people in town. I had left the museum and he called me up and asked if I’d be willing to help him with this project. The previous year, they had put on an Oregon filmmakers festival, so the local filmmaking community knew about the Film Center. There were about 60 or 70 entries, compared to about 450 nowadays, and we showed probably 15 or 20. The Film Center was never intended to be a film society, though it does serve that function. It was meant to be a community catalyst, a means of creating a viable media community in Portland. And this has become the flagship event that says to the filmmaking community and the larger community, ‘There are filmmakers in the Northwest, and movies don’t just come from Hollywood or France, and we should celebrate those voices.’”
(Since 1977, the NFC’s most visible and popular annual event, with a gala opening night, scores of local and regional premieres, visiting filmmakers, and a chain of downtown -- and, in recent years, outer-lying -- theaters choked with film buffs trying to take in dozens of movies in less than three weeks time.)
Foster: “When PIFF started, we were already showing lots of classic and foreign films, and this was the era when film festivals were really becoming a phenomenon in lots of cities around the country and the world. Seven Gables, who were based in Seattle, was the premiere art film exhibitor in the region, and they operated the Movie House theater here. We struck a partnership with them on a film festival, with Seven Gables using the Movie House the more commercial films, the ones that were likely to return for regular runs, and the Film Center showing the more recondite films. We collaborated on a balanced program. We had maybe 40 movies and maybe 8,000 people showed up. That was a big success. And then after a couple of years, Seven Gables contracted its operations and moved out of Portland, and we’ve been running it ever since.”
View full sizeGus Van Sant
(No single filmmaker has been more associated with the NFC over the decades than the man who will serve as honorary chair for Saturday’s gala. The first public screenings of Van Sant’s films were held at the NFC, he has held local premieres of several of his best-known films as benefits for the NFC, and he continues to support the institution in a number of ways, some splashy and some quiet.)
Foster: “He’s been involved at every level you can think of, from making movies to teaching to making PSAs to starring in trailers for PIFF to letting us show his work to loaning us his equipment to serving as a juror for the Northwest Filmmaker’s Festival. He’s been a steady inspiration and force since the mid-‘70s. And he isn’t only supportive of the NFC but of the whole community. He’s accessible and willing and serves on committees and comes to screenings. He’s fascinating to watch. I really can’t say what he’ll do next. He can synthesize so many types of film and art; he’s really unique. He could go off in the world of commerce, but he doesn’t. And he certainly doesn’t flaunt his success. For one thing, he’s stayed here. Portland is a place that attracts people who want to shape their own lives, and if you’re in the film business in New York or Los Angeles, there are forces that shape you, no matter how big you are. Your career takes on a life of its own, and you can’t veer off and make little films or take months of and sit on Sauvie Island and do watercolors, like Gus has done.”
Visiting Filmmakers
(Gus Van Sant is a big name, yes, but the NFC has attracted some pretty remarkable folks to its programs.)
Foster: “We’ve had more than 3000 visiting filmmakers over the years -- maybe 60 or more every year. And, sure, they’re not all Ernie Borgnine, but we did have (legendary directors) Frank Capra and King Vidor. Werner Herzog has been here a few times, and that’s always memorable. And Oliver Stone was pretty wild to host, and Michael Moore in his heyday. One of the most palpably exciting events was when Pauline Kael was here: you can’t imagine such electricity being generated by a critic today. In PIFFs over the years, we’ve had people like Steven Soderbergh and M. Night Shyamalan. Those sorts of visits are the value-added that get people excited about the festival.”
"Coraline"(One of the ongoing themes of Portland film history has been the strength of the local animation community, with such pioneers as Will Vinton, Jim Blashfield and Joan Gratz paving the way for the big-budget work being done at Laika Entertainment, which held the world premiere of its acclaimed feature “Coraline” on opening night of the 2009 Portland International Film Festival.)
Foster: “Since day one the Film Center has taught animation, and we’ve had animators on our faculty like Joanna Priestley, Chel White, Jim Blashfield and Will Vinton. Portland has always had an amazing indigenous animation community. And Vinton built a substantial infrastructure that’s still thriving in the shape of Laika. That year, we had the perfect storm of “Coraline”’s premiere and the start of PIFF, and that was a huge event. It all gets back to the community idea and the idea of celebrating what goes on in Portland. Laika has an amazing talent base and resources. But like a lot of things in Portland, it takes being recognized outside of town for people here to acknowledge it. That’s one of the reasons it was so nice to be able to premiere that film here.”
The Portland arts and filmmaking scene today
(Several of the strains of contemporary Portland culture have their roots in the works of filmmakers whom the NFC has nurtured and supported over the years -- the likes of Aaron Katz (“Quiet City,” “Cold Weather”), Matt McCormick (“Some Days Are Better Than Others”) and James Westby (“The Auteur,” “Rid of Me”). Even in an era when there are more films being made in Portland than ever, the NFC remains a hub.)
Foster: “You used to feel like you knew everything that was going on in Portland. It was the biggest a town could be without being a truly metropolitan city. Now there are people from all over whom you’ve never heard of making all kinds of exciting things. People are living all over town, relatively stably and comfortably, finding their creative spaces and voices. It’s very fertile. You get people like Gus and (fellow directors) Todd Haynes and Lance Bangs, who live here and work all over. Artists can be out in the world but they continue to live here and stay infused with the Portland ambience and not lose their bearings or become overwhelmed with the struggle to survive. And all the time new people are popping up and doing premieres and I think, ‘I didn’t even know they existed.’ And that’s exactly what you hope for: nurturing a community that does its own creative thing. As an arts organization, we want to help people thrive. And it’s satisfying even if we didn’t have a part in it. People emerge here, and they stay here as part of the community, and they almost always want to give back and help the community thrive.”
WHAT: “Lights! Camera! Action! 40th Anniversary Gala and Fundraiser”
WHEN: Saturday, May 12, with red carpet starting at 6 p.m.
WHERE: Portland Art Museum, 1119 SW Park Ave.
TICKETS: starting at $150
For more information, visit the Northwest Film Center's web site.
Reviews of this week's new releases from today's A&E.
Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Captain America (Chris Evans) in "The Avengers"The one big deal movie out there this weekend is, of course, "The Avengers," and I've got a review and a brief introduction to the characters. Other movies were mostly scared away from opening opposite such a blockbuster, but we review the Italian comedy "We Have a Pope" and a new retrospective of films from Japan's Studio Ghibli. And -- but you knew it, didn't you -- there's "Also Opening," "Indy/Arthouse," and "Levy's High Five."
New releases in Portland-area theaters not reviewed in this week's A&E.
from "The Devil's Carnival"“Invincible Shaolin” Classic 1978 martial arts film, in the only 35mm print known to exist. (Hollywood Theatre programmer Dan Halsted will also give a presentation on his museum-quality collection of martial arts films.) (Hollywood Theatre, Tuesday only)
“Kelley Baker” Portland’s one-and-only Angry Filmmaker, Baker will speak, show clips from his career, and sign copies of his new book, “The Angry Filmmaker Survival Guide Part Two: Sound Conversations with (un)Sound People.” (Northwest Film Center, Wednesday only)
“Manhunter” Michael Mann’s 1986 drama, the first film to bring the immortal Hannibal Lecter to the big screen, presented in conjunction with the Portland State University film studies program. (Hollywood Theatre, Wednesday only)
The five films playing in Portland-area theaters that I'd soonest see again.
Tom Hiddleston and Rachel Weisz in "The Deep Blue Sea"2) “The Raid: Redemption” An ultra-violent, wildly kinetic martial arts film that virtually strips itself of the narrative conventions of plot, theme and characterization to create a white-knuckle thrill ride. Writer-director Gareth Evans, a Welshman living in Indonesia, takes the simplest story -- a squad of cops attacks a Jakarta apartment house where a crime lord is ensconced -- and uses it to string together wild action sequences that leave the viewer as exhausted as if he or she had fought them. His stars -- Iko Uwais as a baby-faced cop and Yayan Ruhian (who also choreographed) as a stringy-haired bad guy -- are dazzling. The whole thing is pure cinema: the human body rendered as a machine capable of mayhem, daring, and, yes, grace. Academy, Laurelhurst
3) “Bully” An emotionally overwhelming documentary about threads of violence in our social fabric. Focusing on five or children who’ve been tormented and abused by schoolmates, two so relentlessly that they took their own lives, documentarian Lee Hirsch advocates without the use of any talking heads, statistics or editorial posturing. Rather, his film actually depicts everyday acts of bullying and -- worse -- the ineffective and even hurtful responses of school authorities. At times, the pity, outrage and empathy the evokes threaten to drown you. But there’s a hint of light, too. At moments you might feel slightly manipulated. But when you look into the eyes of two fathers whose sons killed themselves rather than continue to be bullied, quibbles about journalist practice vanish from your mind. Fox Tower
4) “Jiro Dreams of Sushi” Jiro Ono is the owner of a Tokyo sushi bar with 10 seats and 3 Michelin stars, and David Gelb’s gorgeous and intimate documentary about the man and his obsession gives you an idea of how that can not only be so but be fitting. Jiro and his two sons (bound to the chef’s apron strings, almost literally) devote untold hours of work and thought to the perfection of sushi-making, turning a sometimes makework form of cookery into indisputably high art. At 85, the old master still works virtually every day, and the fruit of his focus is in servings of raw fish and warm rice photographed so lusciously that you can almost taste them. A mouthwatering film: literally. Hollywood Theatre, Living Room Theaters
5) "The Cabin in the Woods"
A slasher movie inside a horror movie of another sort inside yet
another narrative, one which looks out and the audience and asks why
they (that is, we) keep lining up to watch other people get
slaughtered. A group of college students head to the titular location
for a weekend’s bacchanal, only to be preyed upon and killed in grisly
fashion, as per the familiar genre rules. At the same time, a group of
bureaucrats/scientists in a control room manipulate the victims and
their killers in the service of...something. Director Drew Goddard and
his co-writer Joss Whedon have fun in the vein of “Scream” and in
the vein of “The Truman Show” -- and they come up with an intriguing
theory to explain the allure of horror films as well as a (literal) hell
of a climax. Bloody, funny, clever. multiple locations
Joss Whedon's film manages the hard part of building a team of superheroes but is a bit puzzled trying to figure out what to do with them
View full sizeAvengers assembled: Thor, Iron Man and Captain America (from l.)
Certain characters, plots, phrases, even props must be handled just so or the director risks losing the good will of those who know a thing or two about it all. Yes, there must be enough in the final product to appeal to non-initiates. But if the core audience is lost -- as it was, say, with “Hulk” (2003) and “The Incredible Hulk” (2008), to pick two loaded examples -- then the filmmakers might as well have stayed home with their comic collections, because they’ll find little love from outside the target crowd.
The happy news, then, about “The Avengers” is that the screenwriters (director Joss Whedon and Zak Penn), have done a splendid job of bringing an entire universe of characters together and to life with fidelity to the letter and the spirit of the source material. Gathering threads from a string of franchise-type films featuring Captain America, Iron Man and Thor, resurrecting the Hulk convincingly after two botched films in less than a decade, adding new characters and an overarching plot that intertwines it all, “The Avengers” pretty much offers up anything a fanboy (or -girl) would want from such a film.
And neutrals are likely to go for it as well, I reckon, for its wit, its pace, and its bang, even if it does expend itself on a third act that doesn’t add much to the drama. Save for that showy finale -- which endures quite a while, although not without some highlights and pizzazz -- it’s a pip.
The fulcrum of “The Avengers” is Nick Fury, the eyepatch-sporting spymaster who has been played by Samuel L. Jackson in a number of teasers leading up to this film. Fury and his organization, S. H. I. E. L. D., serve as a liaison between military-slash-political powers and various superheroes scattered around the world. In the course of his work, Fury has thawed Captain America from decades of icy sleep, worked with Tony Stark (aka Iron Man) on developing weapons, served as a contact with the Norse god Thor during his time on Earth, and employed the assassins Black Widow and Hawkeye in various shadowy missions.
When “The Avengers” starts, Fury is in possession of the tesseract, a mysterious and powerful cube which Captain America prised away from the Nazis long ago. Fury’s scientists are attempting to turn the mysterious whatsits into a source of clean, cheap energy -- among other things -- when it’s stolen from them by Loki, Thor’s evil brother, who wishes to rule mankind as a tyrant. Loki plans to use the tesseract to open a gateway through space and facilitate an alien invasion of Earth, and Fury must roundup all his superhero buddies to stop him.
And so, as in “Seven Samurai” and “Mystery Men” and other films about gaggles of do-gooders, a team is gathered. Captain America (Chris Evans) is, of course, on board from the get-go, as is Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), who is in mid-mission when she’s summoned. Stark/Iron Man is recruited with relative ease, but it takes real delicacy to bring in Bruce Banner (aka the Hulk, played as a man by Mark Ruffalo and as a CGI beast with the voice of TV’s Hulk, Lou Ferrigno). Thor (Chris Hemsworth) appears out of thin air, ready to help, but Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), has been brainwashed into badness by Loki (Tom Hiddleston), and must regain his senses to round out the classic Avengers lineup.
This portion of the film -- the assembling of the team -- is the best part of “The Avengers.” There’s real humor in the byplay of altruistic Captain America and cynical Iron Man, and real wit, mystery and tension as Banner tries to control his inner behemoth. (If nothing else, this is easily the best Hulk on film: Ruffalo’s slightly twitchy chagrin is a perfect vessel for such a Jekyll-and-Hyde personality.) Johansson brings a pleasant heft to her role; Hemsworth, achieving the impossible, makes Thor both human and funny; and Hiddleston relishes the chance to play a classic upper-crust English-accented villain with a sneer worthy of Alan Rickman.
Once they’re all in place, though, the film falters -- although, to be fair, it never exactly stalls or gets dull. There’s a long sequence of plot exposition and fighting aboard Fury’s impressive flying fortress, followed by a long sequence of plot exposition and fighting in midtown Manhattan. Some of this is spectacular and some of it is funny (two sight gags involving the Hulk and the Norse gods are priceless). But it isn’t exactly novel or inspired. And there’s a lot of it.
For the most part, Whedon has made a light and spry film out of humongous, cumbersome parts, and that’s to be lauded. But he’s not a natural director of action sequences, and perhaps this is why he builds them bigger than they need to be -- as if to compensate for their lack of sharpness. Writer Whedon is clever enough to add moments of levity even to the gigantic action sequences, but director Whedon is sufficiently pedestrian to require them, and the latter fellow’s sensibility too often blunts that of the other, brighter fellow.
Perhaps this is too much attention to the film’s weaknesses, because even with the flaws of the final half, “The Avengers” is grand, brisk fun. It comes tantalizingly close to reaching the level of the very best comic book films of the current generation: Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies, Sam Raimi’s first two “Spider-Man” films, and the debuts of Iron Man and Captain America. That “The Avengers” is as good as it is should be celebrated, by fans and noobs alike. But that it might have been better can’t be denied, even by zealots.
(140 min., PG-13, multiple locations) Grade: B
Overwhelmed by the thought of his new position, a would-be-Pope flees the Vatican -- and silliness ensues
Michel Piccoli in "We Have a Pope"At the start, a Pope has died, and the College of Cardinals is united in the Vatican to elect a successor. After a few days of balloting, a dark horse is chosen, Cardinal Melville (Michel Piccoli), and just as he is to be presented to the waiting world he suffers a crisis of nerve, bellowing “I can’t do it!” and fleeing into the privacy of the papal apartments.
His colleagues can’t budge the new Pope into service, so a psychiatrist (Moretti) is called in to help, which becomes impossible with so many prying eyes at the Vatican. A lay official (Jerzy Stuhr) has the idea to take the Pope out to see a therapist who doesn’t know his true identity, but the slippery pontiff escapes his handlers and vanishes into greater Rome.
The premise is truly inspired, the settings are handsome, and the 86-year-old Piccoli is superb in the role of a reluctant Vicar of Christ, his doubts and hopes and fears playing across his face like clouds (and recalling his role in Manoel de Oliveira’s 2001 film “I’m Going Home”).
But Moretti fritters away his star’s fine performance amid side plots about a theatrical troupe among whom the Pope hides and a volleyball tournament which the psychiatrist organizes for the cardinals, and the human and religious drama is lost in grating frivolity. “We Have a Pope” didn’t need to be a stone-serious film, but little is served by turning it into a farce.
(105 min., unrated, probably PG, Living Room Theaters) Grade: B-minus
A new service lets you and your friends book a film in a local theater -- kind of like Kickstarter meets movies-on-demand, but on the big screen.
from "#ReGeneration"That may or may not be newsy, depending on your interest in the film or the subject matter. What is newsy, though, is the means through which the screening was arranged. By using a new service called Tugg, Portlanders who wanted to see "#ReGeneration" paid for their tickets in advance, in a Kickstarter-style model, and guaranteed sufficient interest to get the theater to promise to book the film.
Tugg allows you, your friends, and people who share your interests to pick a movie, pick a theater, pick a date and time, and watch a movie together, on the big screen. Currently, there's a campaign in progress on Tugg to bring the film "El Bulli," a documentary about the revolutionary Spanish restaurant, to Living Room Theaters on May 17.
Have a look at that screening -- or at the Tugg model in general -- and share your thoughts about whether it sounds like something you can imagine pursuing.
Being a brief introduction to the key characters in the mega-superhero movie
Scarlett Johansson plays Black Widow in "The Avengers"Alter-ego of: Natasha Romanoff (aka Natasha Rushman)
Played by: Scarlett Johansson
First appeared in comics: as an enemy of Iron Man in "Tales of Suspense," April, 1964
First appeared on TV: “The Marvel Super Heroes” animated show, 1966
First appeared in movies: supporting role in “Iron Man 2” (2010)
Who and what: One of a series of women, all using the same code name, who were trained from childhood in Soviet-era Russia as assassins with expertise in weapons, martial arts and the techniques of spycraft. She has been an enemy of various of the Avengers over the years, but in the incarnation presented in this film she’s on the side of good. She is romantically linked with Hawkeye, who has also been (or been perceived to be) on both sides of the law.
Matt Salinger in "Captain America" (1990)CAPTAIN AMERICA
Alter ego of: Steve Rogers
Played by: Chris Evans
First appeared in comics: “Captain America Comics,” March, 1941
First appeared on TV: “The Marvel Super Heroes”
First appeared in movies: chapter serial (1944); two made-for-TV films (both 1979); “Captain America” (played by Matt Salinger, son of J. D. Salinger); “Captain America: The First Avenger” (2011)
Who and what: A decent, patriotic fellow who was deemed too scrawny for military service but was then transformed into a super-soldier in a scientific experiment. He battled the Nazis but was presumed dead in a plane crash during the war, only to be discovered frozen but still alive and then thawed in the modern era. A stalwart, brave and true fellow with impressive abilities to fling a shield and take a punch, his most recent big-screen incarnation was a rousing success, both critically and commercially, and helped make “The Avengers” an event to anticipate.
David Hasselhoff as Nick Fury (1998)Alter ego of: um, Nick Fury
Played by: Samuel L. Jackson
First appeared in comics: “Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos,” May, 1963
First appeared on TV: bit parts and supporting roles in various Marvel Comics-inspired animated series from 1994 onward
First appeared in movies: made-for-TV feature (played by David Hasselhoff!) (1998); cameos and supporting roles in “Iron Man” (2008), “Iron Man 2,” “Thor” (2011) and “Captain America: The First Avenger”
Who and what: A World War II hero recruited after the end of the war into the CIA and then into S.H.I.E.L.D. (currently an acronym for Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division), which he runs as a super-secret espionage and paramilitary organization with special ties to the superhero community. He has barely aged over the decades, thanks to some special use of pharmacology, and he sports an eye patch related to an old war wound. As head of S.H.I.E.L.D., he answers to a committee of superiors from around the world, but they seem to have no practical influence over him.
Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye in "The Avengers"Alter ego of: Clint Barton
Played by: Jeremy Renner
First appeared in comics: “Tales of Suspense,” September, 1964
First appeared on TV: “The Marvel Super Heroes”
First appeared in movies: cameo in “Thor”
Who and what: A master marksman (bow-and-arrow division) and martial artist who chose to emulate Iron Man as a superhero but was taken, at first, as a bad guy, a reputation that was enhanced when he fell under the spell of Black Widow in her pre-good guy phase. Now on the side of the right and the true, he still has a moody aspect and can seem a bit wobbly in his allegiances.
Lou Ferrigno as The HulkAlter ego of: Dr. Bruce Banner
Played by: Mark Ruffalo (with the voice of Lou Ferrigno)
First appeared in comics: “The Incredible Hulk,” May, 1962
First appeared on TV: “The Marvel Super Heroes”; and, more memorably, in “The Incredible Hulk” live-action series (played by Bruce Bixby and Ferrigno) from 1977 to 1982
First appeared in movies: three made-for-TV movies starring Bixby and Ferrigno (1988, 1989, 1990); “Hulk” (played by Eric Bana), (2003); “The Incredible Hulk” (played by Edward Norton, with Ferrigno’s voice), (2008)
Who and what: While attempting to weaponize gamma rays, Banner was dosed by radiation, causing a Jekyll-and-Hyde-like condition which transforms him, whenever his anger or sense of self-preservation rises, from a mild-mannered scientist into a super-powered, raging, incoherent green behemoth. The Hulk possesses none of Banner’s intelligence or rationality and is a serious danger even to those friendly to him. In that light, it’s rather ironic that two big-budget efforts to build a movie franchise around him have been unsatisfying critical and commercial disasters, necessitating a third incarnation in nine years. The good news for Hulk-heads is that they’ve got the character right -- perhaps because he’s not the lead -- this time around.
Iron Man from "The Marvel Super Heroes" (1966)Alter ego of: Tony Stark
Played by: Robert Downey Jr.
First appeared in comics: “Tales of Suspense,” March, 1963
First appeared on TV: “The Marvel Super Heroes”
First appeared in movies: “Iron Man” and a cameo in “The Incredible Hulk” in 2008; then “Iron Man 2”
Who and what: A feckless but brilliant billionaire playboy whose father, Howard Stark, was a Howard Hughes-style inventor with ties to the military, espionage and superhero communities. The younger Stark is cursed with a weak heart, but has the technological genius to have crafted a source of power that not only keeps him alive but fuels a suit of armor that gives him stupendous abilities. The success of director Jon Favreau’s 2008 “Iron Man,” with a tremendously witty performance by Downey, was surely a key in encouraging Marvel and its movie partners to go ahead with “The Avengers,” meaning that Stark’s influence is pervasive not only in the fictional universe of the film but in the behind-the-scenes story of how it was made, as well.
The classic Marvel Comics ThorAlter ego of: on Earth, the Norse god Thor sometimes uses the identity Dr. Donald Blake
Played by: Chris Hemsworth
First appeared in comics: “Journey into Mystery,” August, 1962
First appeared on TV: “The Marvel Super Heroes”
First appeared in movies: “Thor”
Who and what: Son of Odin, the ruler of Asgard, and brother of the malicious Loki, with whom he perpetually struggles for the favor of their father and for domain over the Earth. Powered by a supernatural hammer (named Mjolnir), the thoughtful and honest (and, in this film, surprisingly quippy) Thor defends the Earth, which he has come to love, from the machinations of Loki (played here, as last year, by Tom Hiddleston in classic English upper-class villain mode). A god would be tough to best in any fight, of course, but Hulk does pretty good against Thor in a tussle, and Asgard and other off-planet locales have some impressive muscle of their own to throw at him. So despite immortality and divinity, he does, sometimes, have his hands full.
A documentary about the cartoonist's life and work will tour McMenamins Theaters for a barnstorming trip in May.
The great, affable cartoonist Bill Plympton has spent the bulk of his career in New York, but he's a native of Oregon, as he proudly boasts, and he gets back to his home state whenever his film work gives him the chance.
And he's got a heck of a good chance coming up. "Adventures in Plymptoons," a documentary about the life and work of the twice-Oscar-nominated animator, has been playing film festivals around the world since last summer (including a stop at last fall's BendFilm). But now, in a unique program, entitled the Great Northwest Film Tour, Plympton will present the film in Portland and then tour with it around the state and, indeed, the region, for a series of one-night only events.
In a special tour organized by the collected efforts of the Oregon Media Professionals Association (OMPA), the Northwest Animation Festival and McMenamins' Theaters, "Adventures in Plymptoons" will play at eight of McMenamin's brewpub theaters. Opening night, May 19, will take place at the Mission Theater in Portland, followed by screenings at the Old St. Francis School in Bend (May 20), the Kennedy School in Portland (May 22), the Grand Lodge in Forest Grove (May 23), the Olympic Club in Centralia, Washington (May 24), the Edgefield Powerstation in Troutdale (May 25), the Bagdad Theater in Portland (May 26) and the St. Johns Theater in Portland (May 27).
Plympton will be in attendance at all of the shows, as will the film's director, Alexia Anastasio, and producer, Steve Tenhonen. And they are planning a number of special guests and events around the screenings on the two Saturdays -- the 19th and 26th.
As will surprise no one who's familiar with the full breadth of Plympton's work, all shows of "Adventures in Plymptoons" are for ages 21 and over. Full details about the series will soon be available at the OMPA and McMenamins web sites.
And he's got a heck of a good chance coming up. "Adventures in Plymptoons," a documentary about the life and work of the twice-Oscar-nominated animator, has been playing film festivals around the world since last summer (including a stop at last fall's BendFilm). But now, in a unique program, entitled the Great Northwest Film Tour, Plympton will present the film in Portland and then tour with it around the state and, indeed, the region, for a series of one-night only events.
In a special tour organized by the collected efforts of the Oregon Media Professionals Association (OMPA), the Northwest Animation Festival and McMenamins' Theaters, "Adventures in Plymptoons" will play at eight of McMenamin's brewpub theaters. Opening night, May 19, will take place at the Mission Theater in Portland, followed by screenings at the Old St. Francis School in Bend (May 20), the Kennedy School in Portland (May 22), the Grand Lodge in Forest Grove (May 23), the Olympic Club in Centralia, Washington (May 24), the Edgefield Powerstation in Troutdale (May 25), the Bagdad Theater in Portland (May 26) and the St. Johns Theater in Portland (May 27).
Plympton will be in attendance at all of the shows, as will the film's director, Alexia Anastasio, and producer, Steve Tenhonen. And they are planning a number of special guests and events around the screenings on the two Saturdays -- the 19th and 26th.
As will surprise no one who's familiar with the full breadth of Plympton's work, all shows of "Adventures in Plymptoons" are for ages 21 and over. Full details about the series will soon be available at the OMPA and McMenamins web sites.
Three of Portland's best animators offer insights into what makes our town a haven for handmade movies.
Reviews of this week's new releases from today's A&E.
Tom Hiddleston and Rachel Weisz in "The Deep Blue Sea"New releases in Portland-area theaters not reviewed in this week's A&E.
“The Hunter” Willem Dafoe and Sam Neill in a thriller about a tiger hunt. (Living Room Theaters)
“It Came from Detroit” Documentary about the Motor City rock scene before the rise of the White Stripes. (Hollywood Theatre, Friday only)
“Mongol” The rise of the warrior chieftain Genghis Khan. (5th Avenue Cinema, Friday through Sunday only)
“Relation” Rare dramatic feature from Nepal, with some scenes shot in Portland. (Hollywood Theatre, Saturday only)
“The Thief of Bagdad” The 1924 Douglas Fairbanks film reimagined with a score by the Electric Light Orchestra, presented by Shadoe Stevens. (Hollywood Theatre, Saturday only)
“TRAXX” 1988 shoot-em-up featuring radio dj Shadoe Stevens in an action role. (Hollywood Theatre, Saturday only)
“Yeti Bootleg: Howling Like a Wounded Bearcat” A compilation of footage featuring Appalachian music acts Hazel Dickens, Hasil Adkins and Hamper McBee. (Hollywood Theatre, Monday only)
“YOUthFILM Project ” Presentation of the sixth-annual contest featuring student films dealing with civic issues. (Hollywood Theatre, Thursday only)
The five films playing in Portland-area theaters that I'd soonest see again.
Rachel Weisz and Tom Hiddleston in "The Deep Blue Sea"2) “Bully” An emotionally overwhelming documentary about threads of violence in our social fabric. Focusing on five or children who’ve been tormented and abused by schoolmates, two so relentlessly that they took their own lives, documentarian Lee Hirsch advocates without the use of any talking heads, statistics or editorial posturing. Rather, his film actually depicts everyday acts of bullying and -- worse -- the ineffective and even hurtful responses of school authorities. At times, the pity, outrage and empathy the evokes threaten to drown you. But there’s a hint of light, too. At moments you might feel slightly manipulated. But when you look into the eyes of two fathers whose sons killed themselves rather than continue to be bullied, quibbles about journalist practice vanish from your mind. Fox Tower
3) “Jiro Dreams of Sushi” Jiro Ono is the owner of a Tokyo sushi bar with 10 seats and 3 Michelin stars, and David Gelb’s gorgeous and intimate documentary about the man and his obsession gives you an idea of how that can not only be so but be fitting. Jiro and his two sons (bound to the chef’s apron strings, almost literally) devote untold hours of work and thought to the perfection of sushi-making, turning a sometimes makework form of cookery into indisputably high art. At 85, the old master still works virtually every day, and the fruit of his focus is in servings of raw fish and warm rice photographed so lusciously that you can almost taste them. A mouthwatering film: literally. Hollywood Theatre, Living Room Theaters
4) "The Cabin in the Woods"
A slasher movie inside a horror movie of another sort inside yet
another narrative, one which looks out and the audience and asks why
they (that is, we) keep lining up to watch other people get
slaughtered. A group of college students head to the titular location
for a weekend’s bacchanal, only to be preyed upon and killed in grisly
fashion, as per the familiar genre rules. At the same time, a group of
bureaucrats/scientists in a control room manipulate the victims and
their killers in the service of...something. Director Drew Goddard and
his co-writer Joss Whedon have fun in the vein of “Scream” and in
the vein of “The Truman Show” -- and they come up with an intriguing
theory to explain the allure of horror films as well as a (literal) hell
of a climax. Bloody, funny, clever. multiple locations
5) “Goon” In the spirit of the immortal “Slap Shot,” in which that nice old Paul Newman put on ice skates and got all potty-mouthed, Seann William Scott, of all people, absolutely kills as a sweet knucklehead who finds his niche in life punching out people as a minor league hockey player. Director Michael Dowse, working from a script co-written by actor Jay Baruchel, who has a key supporting role, dives with real relish into bawdy humor and truly unsportsmanlike conduct. It’s often hilarious, even if it doesn’t really amount to much. And Liev Schreiber is dry, flinty fun as a grizzled hockey enforcer. Hollywood Theatre
Fine performances and overwhelming film craft tell the story of a woman who leaves a secure home for a passionate affair.
Tom Hiddleston and Rachel Weisz in "The Deep Blue Sea"In his best, most personal works -- which, in my view, are the coming-of-age films “Distant Voices, Still Lives” (1988) and “The Long Day Closes” (1992) -- Davies crafts small, cramped worlds and stifled, frustrated emotions through the use of a dark, foggy lens, long, fluent camera moves, gently muddled time lines, and, most memorably, scenes of communal singing: working class Britons of the pre-TV age (Davies was born in 1945) rousing their spirits -- amorous, religious, patriotic, festive -- by filling pubs and sitting rooms with the melodious words of Robert Burns or Johnny Mercer, expressing feelings as a group that they’re otherwise unable to as individuals.
There are two such scenes in “The Deep Blue Sea,” Davies’ first dramatic feature in more than a decade and a relatively accessible movie that could pull him out of the shadows of the arthouse. Which is ironic, considering that, like much of Davies’ work, it is a shadowy film, laced with mournfulness, rue and pain, albeit with a vigorous strain of frequently breathtaking beauty running through it.
The film is an adaptation of Terence Rattigan’s 1952 play (filmed previously in 1955) about Hester Collyer, a London woman who has left her stodgy older husband to live with a fiery younger man. Hester has forsaken privilege and security (her husband is a judge and a Lord) for passion and risk (her beau is a World War II flying ace with no job prospects). Lost in love and in the labyrinth of her choices, left alone in a dreary flat on her birthday, Hester undertakes a suicide attempt, which starts the movie and sparks a weekend of confrontations, revelations and resolutions.
Filling the roles, almost ideally, are Rachel Weisz, sensual and knowing as Hester, Tom Hiddleston, rakish but self-doubting as her lover, and Simon Russell Beale, stuffy and mother-cowed as her husband. (Barbara Jefford has a marvelously acrid turn as that mother, by the way.) It’s no insult to Davies or the film to suggest that these players are so deft as to make you think they’d honed their roles during a long stage run; not a note in any of their performances is excessive or misplaced. They maintain the decorousness befitting the post-war setting while conveying earthy human impulses -- lust or anger or righteousness or pity or regret -- with modern vigor. It’s a tiny ensemble, but it’s splendid.
And splendid, too, is Davies’ direction. We slip in and out of time, now in bed with the lovers entwined as in classical statuary, now in a choked, polite confrontation between estranged spouses, now in a station of the Underground waiting out a Nazi bombardment with an unsteady chorus of “Molly Malone,” now watching outside a phone box as Hester offers the whole of her heart in exchange for next-to-nothing. From the opening frames, in which children play in the bombed-out wreckage of a London home, we are in a master’s hands. “The Deep Blue Sea” isn’t a big or bold or conventionally ambitious film. It’s only a superb one -- which, I fear, may not be enough to garner it the attention it deserves. Feel free to prove me wrong.
(98 min., R, Cinema 21) Grade: A-minus
Whit Stillman, gone from movies for 13 years, brings his familiar dry tone to a tale of college students with crackpot ideas.
Greta Gerwig (l.) and Analeigh Tipton in "Damsels in Distress"Set at the fictional Seven Oaks College (itself played by a historic sailor’s retreat on New York’s Staten Island), the film centers on the romantic and social aspirations of a presumptuous, daft upperclassman Violet (mumblecore It Girl Greta Gerwig) and a willowy, thoughtful transfer student named Lily (Analeigh Tipton of “Crazy Stupid Love”).
At the start of the school year, Violet takes Lily under her wing, introducing her to a little knot of vaguely priggish, stiff-mannered girls who run a suicide prevention center, make a project of ennobling dimwitted frat boys with their companionship, and aspire to change the world with a new dance craze. They’re not snobs or mean girls, not nearly. But they are disconnected from modern reality in a way that’s at once comical and creepy. And the men in their lives -- a pair of idiotic frat boys (hilariously played by Ryan Metcalf and Billy Magnussen) and a pair of, as one girl terms them, “operator” types -- are simultaneously disconcerted and magnetized by them, though neither stops them from acting like cads or worse.
The plot is hardly the thing in a Whit Stillman film, but “Damsels” (which adapts its title, a song and a minor character from a 1937 Fred Astaire film), is choppier than its predecessors, comprised, really, of a string of incidents and even gags that are more connected by tone and setting than logic. Some of it is dazzling in its drollery and quiet cheek. But more than a bit of it underwhelms, and some is appallingly flat.
And yet Stillman and his actors do things that you just don’t see and that you wish the movies had more of. Gerwig is a charming vessel for the director’s pithy depiction of an entitled mind gone slightly off track, there are cleverly built bits involving soap and dancing and half-hearted suicide attempts, and there is wonderful, quirky, keenly honed talk all throughout. Whitman might require a few more films to get the storytelling and staging aspects of his art back to full muscularity, but his ability to capture a certain strain of the American vernacular and the American mind hasn’t deserted him in his hiatus. And it’s delightful to behold it anew.
(99 min., PG-13, Fox Tower) Grade: B
A profane and bloody lark...on ice.
Seann William Scott in "Goon"Profane, bloody, and sophomoric, it’s a comic adrenaline rush with a surprisingly sweet heart.
Director Michael Dowse, following George Roy Hill’s classic “Slap Shot,” delves into the world of minor league hockey to find a boatload of misfits, neurotics, bullies, freaks and, in one case, a truly nice guy -- albeit one who’s only on the team to fight.
That would be Doug Glatt, a small-town nobody who rises to local fame when he knocks out a player who comes into the stands to fight fans. Glatt can’t play hockey or even skate. But his hammer-like fists get him hired as a goon, someone sent onto the ice to distribute justice or take out the other team’s star., and his effectiveness in the role leads to promotion to a higher minor league team, romance with a not-so-nice girl, and a showdown with a legendary goon whom he has always admired.
Selling all of this is a game and well-tuned cast. Seann William Scott, of all people, plays the polite, doofy, rage-prone Glatt. Jay Baruchel, who co-wrote the script, is his foul-mouthed buddy. Marc-André Grondin convinces as a one-time hot prospect who’s fallen into debauchery. And Liev Schreiber is terrifically dry as the old goon watching a young guy rise to his title. Combined, they give a human heart to this deeply vulgar -- and deeply funny -- film.
(92 min., R, Hollywood Theatre) Grade: B-plus
Edgar Allan Poe is imagined as an action hero in a shrill, bloody mystery.
John Cusack in "The Raven"John Cusack, who, goateed, bares a passing resemblance to the real Poe, plays the great, neglected, alcoholic writer in his final days, when Baltimore is plagued by a madman who kills people in imitation of Poe’s stories. When the fiend kidnaps Poe’s beloved (Alice Eve), the writer joins forces with the police to rescue her.
Director James McTeigue showed real flair in his debut, “V for Vendetta,” but this film is based on much weaker source material, and his visual embellishments feel perfunctory. The script is filled with expository dialogue, and you can’t tell from the actors’ approaches either what century they think they’re in or what tone it’s all meant to bear. Cusack is especially guilty, throwing energies around willy-nilly as if unsure whether to play for laughs, terror or dry irony. It doesn’t finally matter, as there’s so little in the film worth taking any attitude toward whatsoever.
(110 min., R, multiple locations) Grade: C-minus
Jason Segel and Emily Blunt can't quite seal the deal...and neither can this dull, overlong rom-com.
Jason Segel and Emily Blunt in "The Five-Year Engagement"“The Five-Year Engagement” is neither.
Oh, there are some titters in the tale of the long-gestating romance of a San Francisco chef (Jason Segel) and his psychology student fiancée (Emily Blunt) who keep putting off their big day. But they are fairly few and very far between in this lumpy, meandering, overlong and relentlessly phony film. All the goodwill that the lead actors bring to the table can’t overcome the sheer ordeal of watching this wan story play itself out.
Nicholas Stoller directs his cowriter Segel, as he did on “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” (the pair also wrote “The Muppets”). They aim for that Apatow-verse sweet spot of raunch and sentiment, but the vulgar bits are more naughty than shocking and the sentiment -- like virtually all of the acting and film craft -- reeks of artifice. At two-plus hours, it makes for a dispiritingly long courtship for which no honeymoon can compensate.
(124 min., R, multiple theaters) Grade: C
Shawn Levy's books include the best-sellers The Castle on Sunset, Rat Pack Confidential, Paul Newman: A Life, King of Comedy: The Life and Art of Jerry Lewis, and Dolce Vita Confidential.
He also wrote and narrated the podcast Glitter & Might. The former film critic of The Oregonian and KGW-TV, he has written for Sight and Sound, Film Comment, American Film, Interview, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, The Hollywood Reporter, and The Black Rock Beacon. He jumps and claps and sings for victory in Portland, Oregon.
