“Wow Bob Wow”: Michael J. Anderson (via TalentOnly)
Category: movies (Page 38 of 45)
Reviews of this week's new releases in Portland-area theaters.
Pretty light schedule this week, with a strange coincidence between our two featured reviews. Both "The Watch" and "Extraterrestrial" deal comically (or at least attempt to) with the results of an alien invasion, the first on the denizens of an American suburb, the second on a pair of lovers in Madrid. Other than those two, we have only the stalwarts: "Also Opening," "Indie/Arthouse" and "Levy's High Five." Much, much more next week, we promise....Happy Birthday, Helen Mirren!
The five films playing in Portland-area theaters that I'd soonest see again.
1) "Beasts of the Southern Wild" A dreamy and joyous film about life, death, hope, dreams and wonder on an island in the Mississippi Delta. The miraculous young Quevezhané Wallis stars as Hushpuppy, a wee girl who experiences life in the feral community known as the Bathtub as a stream of wonder and delight, even though her dad (Dwight Henry) is gruff, her mom is absent and a killer storm is bearing down on her home. Writer-director Behn Zeitlin, in his feature debut, combines poetry and audacity in ways that recall Terrence Malick, but with a light and spry touch. Still, all his great work pales in comparison to the stupendous little Wallis, whom you'll never forget. Cinema 21, Kiggins
2) "Moonrise Kingdom"
Wes Anderson films are such a specific taste that I'm a bit hesitant to suggest
that this might be his most approachable (but surely not crowd-pleasing)
work. In the wake of the delightful "The
Fantastic Mr. Fox," Anderson returns to live-action and his familiar tics and
habits in a tale of young (as in 'pre-teen') lovers on the run. Newcomers Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward fill
the lead roles delightfully, and Anderson's muses Bill Murray and Jason
Schwartzman are joined ably by Edward Norton, Bruce Willis and Frances
McDormand, among others. It's a light
and breezy film with a very sweet heart and old-fashioned sturdiness. Even if you were left puzzled by the likes of
"Rushmore" or "The Royal Tenenbaums" (still his best non-animated films, for
me), this is likely to win you over. multiple locations
3) "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. Hollywood Theatre
4) "Your Sister's Sister" Seattle filmmaker Lynn Shelton spins a sweet and sad and true-feeling variation on a Hollywood romcom, with shlubby leading man Mark Duplass caught unexpectedly between two half-sisters, Emily Blunt and Rosemarie DeWitt.
There are machinations that could have been drawn from a higher-gloss
(and less appealing) film. But, as in her not dissimilar "Humpday,"
Shelton finds real grounding for the story in the personalities of her
cast, who improvised some of their scenes within guidelines. The result
feels theatrical and human at once, with three wise, low-key
performances and a credible air of confusion and hope. A sly winner. Fox Tower
5) "Monsieur Lazhar" This delicate, sweet and, surprisingly,
harrowing little drama was nominated for an Oscar as best foreign language
film, and it's a mark of its quality that it's a very good film despite that sometimes dubious
distinction. Mohamed Fellag stars as the
title character, a secretive and formal man who arrives at a Montreal school
out of the blue and volunteers to take the place of a teacher who has left
under horrid circumstances. Gradually
his compassion and wisdom come to heal wounds, just as his own personal pains
are revealed. Writer-director Philippe
Falardeau dances around the clichés inherent in the scenario as if they didn't
exist, eliciting wonderful performances from his cast (especially the kids) and
real emotions from the audience. Laurelhurst, Living Room Theaters
That girl: Adele Astaire (mostly without her brother, Fred)
New releases in Portland-area theaters not reviewed in this week's A&E.
“Big Man Japan” Surreal comic story of an ordinary man who grows into a giant. (5th Avenue Cinema, Friday through Sunday only)“Carnival of Souls” Super-creepy low-budget 1962 horror film. (Clinton Street Theater, Friday only)
“Craft” Brazilian drama about the life and career struggles of an actress. (Northwest Film Center, Sunday only)
“The Deep” The 1977 film of Peter Benchley’s novel of drama and adventure, famous chiefly for Jacqueline Bisset and her wet, white shirt. (Laurelhurst Theater)
“The Ghost and Mr. Chicken” Don Knotts investigates a haunted house. (Northwest Film Center, Thursday only)
“Grindhouse Trailer Spectacular” A collection of trailers and teasers from the golden age of exploitation. (Hollywood Theatre, Tuesday only)
“I’m Not Like Everybody Else” Selected films, videos and ephemera from the garage rock era. (Hollywood Theatre, Monday only)
“In This Together” Premiere of a documentary about PHAME, the Portland arts organizations serving adults with developmental disabilities. (Hollywood Theatre, Wednesday only)
“Inni” Dreamy concert film of Icelandic band Sigur Ros. (Hollywood Theatre, Thursday only)
“The Matchmaker” Drama about an Israeli boy going to work for a matchmaker who survived the Holocaust. (Living Room Theaters)
“OC87” Documentary about a filmmaker confronting his OCD, Asperger’s, depression and other haunting mental syndromes. (Fox Tower)
“Shut Up and Play the Hits” An account of the final days of LCD Soundsystem. (Hollywood Theatre)
“Technicolor Dreams” A journey through the history of psychedelic film courtesy of cinema historian and archivist Christian Divine. (Hollywood Theatre, Thursday only)
“Wet Hot American Summer” Cult comedy set at a summer camp. (Academy Theater)
Catch it while you can!
Not very much turnover at local movie theaters this week. Only one of the films we've recently reviewed is on its way out of town: "Neil Young Journeys," Jonathan Demme's third documentary/concert film featuring the great Canadian rocker on a journey to his Ontario home town and in concert at Toronto's Massey Hall. It's final show is Thursday night.The coming week's menu of revival movies in Portland theaters.
"Big Man Japan" Surreal Japanese film about an ordinary man who turns into a giant. (5th Avenue Cinema, Friday through Sunday only)"Carnival of Souls" Creepy low-budget horror film from 1962. (Clinton Street Theater, Friday only)
"The Deep" The Peter Benchley adaptation that followed "Jaws," chiefly remembered for the ads featuring Jacqueline Bisset in a wet t-shirt. (Laurelhurst Theater, all week)
"The Ghost and Mr. Chicken" Don Knotts as a small-town reporter chasing down a ghost story. (Northwest Film Center, Thursday August 2 only)
"Grindhouse Trailer Spectacular 3" A night of classic trailers and teasers for movies from the golden age of exploitation. (Hollywood Theatre, Tuesday only)
"Wet Hot American Summer" Cult comedy set in a summer camp. (Academy Theater, all week)
Ian Clark of La Grande is named to a prestigious honor.
One of the most exciting thing about the digital age of filmmaking is that the tools are so readily available that new artists can emerge anywhere. Take Ian Clark, a native of La Grande, in Eastern Oregon, and current student at the University of Oregon in Eugene. Last week, Clark, a photographer, experimental filmmaker and film festival organizer, was named to Filmmaker Magazine's presitigious "25 New Faces of Independent Film" list.In the past 15 years, the magazine has selected for recognition such then-fledgling filmmakers as Lena Dunham ("Tiny Furniture," "Girls"), Craig Brewer ("Hustle and Flow," "Black Snake Moan"), Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden ("Half Nelson"), and one-time-Portlander Miranda July ("Me and You and Everyone We Know") and such then-unknown actors as Ryan Gosling, Peter Sarsgaard, Ellen Page and Rooney Mara.
Clark was cited for his two one-hour films "Pool Room" and "Country Story" and for his work with the Eastern Oregon Film Festival, which is held in the spring in his home town. In Eugene, he's at work on an MFA in digital art and has created another short film, "Searching for Yellow." (You can watch all of the films by clicking on the links, btw....)
Bravo to Mr. Clark, and here's hoping this is the first of many times we get to celebrate his work.
The film earns more than $160 million in the wake of the massacre at an early screening in Colorado.
In the aftermath of the deadly attack on a premiere night audience for Christopher Nolan's new Batman movie, "The Dark Knight Rises," there was widespread speculation about what sort of impact the movie's distributors, Warner Bros., would feel at the boxoffice.Very little, as it turns out.
Warner Bros. pulled televised and online advertising for the film, and the studio did not release any public statements about grosses, but strong advance sales and the expected eager turnout by fans of the films resulted in "TDKR" earning an estimated $162 million from Thursday midnight through Sunday evening -- a record sum for a non-3-D movie.
In the minds of moviegoers, at least, there was no connection between the shootings and the film. And while that may seem heartless in some respects, it's equally heartening, it would seem, to see that North American moviegoers saw the Aurora tragedy as the singular act of a single insane person and not a reason to curtail their ordinary lives. That, alas, might be the only positive note to emerge from the entire event.
A mass shooting at a screening of "The Dark Knight Rises" recalls other movie releases affected by acts of violence.
In recent years, several movie studios have been forced to alter the content or premiere dates of a yet-to-be-released films because of violent events that too closely mirrored the plots of the movies.In 1999, in the wake of the shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo. (not far from Aurora, where last night's killings occured), the unreleased film "Killing Mrs. Tingle," about high school students taking revenge on a despised teacher, was retitled "Teaching Mrs. Tingle." Its release was delayed and it showed on fewer screens than initially planned.
After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, the Arnold Schwarzenegger action film "Collateral Damage," about a firefighter seeking revenge after his family is killed by terrorists, was pulled from release and heavily edited, to the point that expensive reshooting was required. When the film debuted the following year, it grossed $40 million, the weakest performance of a Schwarzenegger film in a decade.
The 9/11 attacks also affected the advertising campaign for 2002's "Spider-Man," which originally featured the title character spinning a web between the twin towers of the World Trade Center to catch bad guys. Shots of the World Trade Center spinning in the mind of a drug-addled New York publicist also were removed from the Al Pacino film "People I Know."
More recently, the shooting of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin by neighborhood watch patrolman George Zimmerman has caused problems for 20th Century Fox, which had plans to release a comedy called "Neighborhood Watch" about the misadventures of inept volunteer crimefighters confronted by an invasion of space aliens. When outrage about the Martin case grew nationwide, the studio renamed the film "The Watch." It's due to open next Friday.
There are still plenty of great movies-under-the-stars nights ahead, including the annual "Top Down" festival.
One reason moviegoing is such a popular summer activity is surely....air-conditioning. Among the best ways to beat the heat of the season is to sit still in a chilled, dark space and distract yourself from the experience of having a body that’s subject to the discomforts of weather.But summertime is prime outdoor time, too, and, increasingly, people are finding that another fine way to enjoy the season is to watch a movie under the stars on one of Portland’s perfectly-pitched summer nights. Each year, more and more opportunities to screen films outdoors emerge, turning Portland’s parks -- and a least one parking garage -- into seasonal movie houses.
This week, the Northwest Film Center launches its annual “Top Down: Rooftop Cinema” series, a collection of six feature films shown on the rooftop of the Hotel deLuxe parking structure at SW 15th and Yamhill when the night gets dark enough for proper viewing. The first film in this year’s line up is a treat: “The Palm Beach Story,” Preston Sturges’ delicious 1942 screwball romance starring Joel McCrea and Claudette Colbert as two sets of identical twins on the marital make. It plays on Thursday, July 26, and it’s a joy.
The subsequent weeks of “Top Down” are as diverse and appealing as possible: a Don Knotts comedy (“The Ghost and Mr. Chicken,” August 2), a drag queen musical (“Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” August 9), a wild zombie movie (“Dead Alive,” August 16), a tale of Portland banditry (“Drugstore Cowboy,” August 23), and a time capsule of 1960s rock and soul music (“The T. A. M. I. Show,” August 30).
Doors for all “Top Down” shows open at 7:00 p.m., with live entertainment before the screening and food and drinks available for purchase. You’re encouraged to bring a blanket or low chair to sit on, but no coolers or outside treats are permitted. (Complete information)
There are plenty of other films to see outdoors in what’s left of the summer, and there’s probably one right in your neighborhood, too. Portland Parks and Recreation is in the midst of its annual “Movies in the Park” program, bringing a diverse roster of films to every portion of the city.
Many of the PPR films are, of course, specifically geared to kids, and among the most enticing are “Toy Story 3” (July 28, Wilshire Park), “The Goonies” (July 29, Lents Park), “Akeelah and the Bee” (August 18, Warner Pacific College), the 1971 “Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” (August 31, Dawson Park), “The Adventures of Tintin” (August 31, Mt. Scott Park), and “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure” (September 8, Wallace Park). Two Oscar-winning family-friendly films from 2011 will get multiple screenings: “Hugo” (August 17, Irving Park; August 24, Laurelhurst Park; September 7, Multnomah Arts Center) and “The Muppets” (August 5, Sellwood Park; August 9, Caruthers Park; August 10, St. Johns Park).
But there’s also a wide variety of fare that will appeal to grown-ups who are neither accompanied by children nor channeling their children-within. These include “Pretty in Pink” (July 26, DeWitt Park), “Citizen Kane” (August 3, Laurelhurst Park), “Moneyball” (August 7, Peninsula Park), and “Funny Face” (September 7, Director Park). Amid all these choices, two shows stand out in particular: Ed Wood’s confounding masterwork “Plan 9 from Outer Space” (August 12, Washington Park) and the 1971 Japanese monster movie “Gamera vs. Zigra” (August 25, Sewallcrest Park), both of which will be presented with live musical accompaniment by the Filmusik ensemble.
Admission to all PPR movies is free. The evenings begin at 6:30 p.m. with pre-movie entertainment, and screenings start at dark. (Full list of all “Movies in the Park” titles and additional information)
Another venue for outdoor movies is Portland’s Pioneer Courthouse Square, where free films screen on Friday nights. The 1984 version of “The Karate Kid” launches the series on July 27, followed by “Clueless” (August 3), “A League of Their Own” (August 10) and “E. T.: The Extra-Terrestrial” (August 17). (Complete information)
The movies-under-the-stars fun isn’t limited to Portland. In Lake Oswego, Millennium Park Plaza will host free screenings Thursdays at dusk through August 30. Titles include “Tangled” (August 2) and “How to Train Your Dragon” (August 16). (Complete information)
In Beaverton, Friday is free movie night, Beaverton City Park is the place, and the film menu includes “Up” (August 3), “Grease” (August 10) and “The Goonies” (August 17). (Complete information)
Vancouver, too, offers free Friday night movies. The venue is LeRoy Haagen Memorial Community Park and the features are “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” (July 27) and “E. T.” (August 3). (Complete information)
Did the Colorado shooting actually raise interest in the film?
It might seem that news of an in-theater massacre at a midnight premiere screening of a new movie would deter some people from hurrying to see it for fear of, I don't know, copycat shootings or an appearance of disrespect or simple bad juju.Not necessarily so.
A Warner Bros. studio source speaking to the Deadline.com movie industry analysis blog claims that early ticket sales for "The Dark Knight Rises," the movie which was playing when a Colorado man shot dozens of people last night, are higher than expected.
"East Coast numbers are coming in like nothing ever happened," says the unnamed source. 'We grossed half a million dollars by 10 AM just in Manhattan."
The film, which was budgeted at an estimated $250 million, plus distribution and marketing costs, saw as much as $30 million in ticket pre-sales before the Colorado massacre. Last night's midnight shows -- at 3800-plus locations -- generated $30 million total (some of that figure is included in the pre-sale total).
"The Dark Knight Rises" was originally projected to gross $180-200 million in its opening weekend, and after news of the shootings in Colorado box office analysts began to wonder if that sum might be affected. That seemed a reasonable assumption, but it now appears that Batman fans aren't reasonable in that way....
Screenings of one of the year's most anticipated film releases will carry on as planned, despite the tragedy near Denver.
In the wake of the horrific shooting in Colorado at a midnight screening of "The Dark Knight Rises," no Portland theaters seem to be making changes to their scheduled showings of the film.The epic Batman movie is playing on a record 4,404 screens nationwide, at least 30 of which are in the Portland metropolitan area. Most of those are owned by two chains: Regal Cinemas of Tennessee and Cinemark Theatres of Texas, the latter of which owns the multiplex where the Colorado shooting occurred. Neither of those chains announced that showings of the film would be curtailed. AMC Theaters of Missouri, which doesn't operate in the Portland area, has not cut back on screenings either, but the company announced that it would ban people from entering its theaters wearing costumes or carrying toy weapons, as many comic book movie fans do on big opening weekends. (A scheduled premiere screening of the film in Paris was canceled on news of the shooting.)
We have reached out to the operators of the independently owned Portland-area theaters showing the film -- Cinemagic, Cinetopia, the Lake Twin, the Oak Grove 8, the Roseway and the St. Johns Twin. None of the theater owners who have responded so far have any plans to cancel or postpone screenings or to augment their normal security procedures.
Earlier this afternoon, the Portland Police Bureau announced plans to increase patrols in areas near theaters showing the film.
Reviews of this week's new releases in Portland-area theaters.
The big release of the weekend -- and likely the month and maybe the season or even the year -- is "The Dark Knight Rises," the final installment in Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy. We've also got reviews of Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen in the marital drama "Take This Waltz," the musical documentary "Neil Young Journeys," and "Trishna," a reimagining of Thomas Hardy's "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" in India starring Freida Pinto. All that plus "Also Opening," "Indie/Arthouse" and "Levy's High Five."Sometimes, in fleeting moments, I dream I could be like this, but it vanishes: Gene Kelly (via DefaultSmile)
The five films playing in Portland-area theaters that I'd soonest see again.
1) "Beasts of the Southern Wild" A dreamy and joyous film about life, death, hope, dreams and wonder on an island in the Mississippi Delta. The miraculous young Quevezhané Wallis stars as Hushpuppy, a wee girl who experiences life in the feral community known as the Bathtub as a stream of wonder and delight, even though her dad (Dwight Henry) is gruff, her mom is absent and a killer storm is bearing down on her home. Writer-director Behn Zeitlin, in his feature debut, combines poetry and audacity in ways that recall Terrence Malick, but with a light and spry touch. Still, all his great work pales in comparison to the stupendous little Wallis, whom you'll never forget. Cinema 21, Kiggins
2) "Moonrise Kingdom"
Wes Anderson films are such a specific taste that I'm a bit hesitant to suggest
that this might be his most approachable (but surely not crowd-pleasing)
work. In the wake of the delightful "The
Fantastic Mr. Fox," Anderson returns to live-action and his familiar tics and
habits in a tale of young (as in 'pre-teen') lovers on the run. Newcomers Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward fill
the lead roles delightfully, and Anderson's muses Bill Murray and Jason
Schwartzman are joined ably by Edward Norton, Bruce Willis and Frances
McDormand, among others. It's a light
and breezy film with a very sweet heart and old-fashioned sturdiness. Even if you were left puzzled by the likes of
"Rushmore" or "The Royal Tenenbaums" (still his best non-animated films, for
me), this is likely to win you over. multiple locations
3) "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. Hollywood Theatre
4) "Your Sister's Sister" Seattle filmmaker Lynn Shelton spins a sweet and sad and true-feeling variation on a Hollywood romcom, with shlubby leading man Mark Duplass caught unexpectedly between two half-sisters, Emily Blunt and Rosemarie DeWitt.
There are machinations that could have been drawn from a higher-gloss
(and less appealing) film. But, as in her not dissimilar "Humpday,"
Shelton finds real grounding for the story in the personalities of her
cast, who improvised some of their scenes within guidelines. The result
feels theatrical and human at once, with three wise, low-key
performances and a credible air of confusion and hope. A sly winner. Fox Tower
5) "Monsieur Lazhar" This delicate, sweet and, surprisingly,
harrowing little drama was nominated for an Oscar as best foreign language
film, and it's a mark of its quality that it's a very good film despite that sometimes dubious
distinction. Mohamed Fellag stars as the
title character, a secretive and formal man who arrives at a Montreal school
out of the blue and volunteers to take the place of a teacher who has left
under horrid circumstances. Gradually
his compassion and wisdom come to heal wounds, just as his own personal pains
are revealed. Writer-director Philippe
Falardeau dances around the clichés inherent in the scenario as if they didn't
exist, eliciting wonderful performances from his cast (especially the kids) and
real emotions from the audience. Living Room Theaters
A third pairing of the great director and the great musician is strictly for die hards.
“Neil Young Journeys” is the third documentary/concert film focusing on the great Canadian songwriter that director Jonathan Demme has made since 2006, and it’s the weakest of the three, even as it sporadically charms.The film combines a road trip Young takes through the Ontario towns of his youth with a 2011 solo performance at Toronto’s Massey Hall. The show, which consists of a lot of material from his 2010 album “Le Noise,” will primarily be of interest to fans (although, one song, the lacerating “Ohio,” is expanded grippingly with a glimpse back at the 1970 tragedy at Kent State which inspired it). The tour of Ontario, too, lacks virtually any context for those who don’t already feel an affinity toward the artist.
In a sense, this film finishes a cycle that began with the homey and impressive “Neil Young: Heart of Gold” and continued with the raucous “Neil Young Trunk Show” of 2009. In that regard, it’s almost not even a stand-alone but rather a piece of a triptych. And, as it happens, the creation was far more compelling in its origin than in this final act.
(87 min., PG, Fox Tower) Grade: B-minus
New releases in Portland-area theaters not reviewed in this week's A&E.
“Amelie” The swoony French romance that introduced a thankful world to Audrey Tautou. (Academy Theater)“Cabaret” Bob Fosse’s saucy, Oscar-winning film of the great stage musical, with Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey. (Clackamas Town Center, Wednesday only)
“The Cockettes” The fabulous 2002 documentary about the famed hippy transvestite performance troupe from 1960s San Francisco. (Clinton Street Theater, Saturday only)
“Dirty Dancing” Nobody puts Swayze in the corner. (Hollywood Theatre, Saturday only)
“Ecstasy of Order: The Tetris Masters” Portland documentarian Adam Cornelius celebrates the DVD release of his film about the world Tetris championships with a screening and party. (Hollywood Theatre, Friday only)
“MSG” Selection of short comedies by filmmaker and musician Tim Wenzel. (Clinton Street Theater, Sunday only)
“Once Upon a Time, Beirut” Rarely-screened 1995 film about two Lebanese girls seeking to learn about their city. (outdoors on North Park Blocks at Portland State University, Saturday only)
“The Palm Beach Story” The great 1942 Preston Sturges screwball comedy, under the stars in the kickoff of this summer’s “Top Down: Rooftop Cinema” series. (Northwest Film Center, Thursday only)
“Paul Williams: Still Alive” Documentary about the ups and downs of the singer-songwriter and his battles with substance abuse. (Fox Tower)
“The People vs. the State of Illusion” Documentary about metaphysical investigations into the nature of society and reality. (Clinton Street Theater, select nights, Monday July 23 through Wednesday August 1 only)
“Showgirls” The bawdy Las Vegas stripper story -- “All About Eve” with pasties -- projected in Hecklevision for your mocking pleasure. (Hollywood Theatre, Friday only)
“Sound + Vision” Three days of collaborations between filmmakers and musicians kicks off with “New Skin for the Old Ceremony,” a selection of short films inspired by the works of Leonard Cohen. (Hollywood Theatre, Thursday through Saturday July 28 only)
“Sunset Blvd.” The brutally dark and toxic 1950 film noir about the movie business, with William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim and a monkey. (5th Avenue Cinema, Friday through Sunday only)
“Three Days of the Condor” The paranoid 1975 thriller with Robert Redford as a CIA researcher running for his life. (Laurelhurst)
“Toll Booth” Semi-comic tale of a Turkish man’s woes at work and home. (Northwest Film Center, Wednesday only)
That girl: Sigourney Weaver
The final chapter in an gigantic trilogy is more impressive as spectacle than as story or meditation.
It’s been eight years, in movie time, since the hooded vigilante known as Batman cleared Gotham City of the deranged scourges of the Joker and Harvey Dent and took the blame for what should have been deemed an act of heroism.In that time, Dent has become an emblem of the city’s purity and unity, Batman has vanished, and billionaire Bruce Wayne, the man behind Batman, has become a recluse, hiding his broken body and spirit behind the walls of his mansion, making quixotic business decisions, speaking only to servants, lost to the world.
Thus begins “The Dark Knight Rises,” the final entry in a Batman trilogy by director Christopher Nolan, co-written with his brother, Jonathan. In three films approaching eight total hours in length, the Nolans have drawn from some of the grimmest Batman comics to bring forth a deeply conflicted, eternally mournful, gravely reluctant hero who seeks inner peace by imposing justice -- real moral justice -- on the outer world, no matter the personal cost. Defying terrorists, organized criminals, corrupt politicians, a ravaging media, and a fickle public, sacrificing his body, heart and soul for the greater good, he’s an unnerving enigma, a man with everything who fights as if he had nothing, a shrouded beacon of light, a faceless icon.
The Gotham City of “The Dark Knight Rises” has no need for Batman -- or so it thinks. And then the crimes start. Some are little, such as the body of a homeless teen washing up in a storm drain. And some are massive, such as the invasion of the stock exchange by a masked vigilante known as Bane, a villain so horrifying that his emergence occasions the unthinkable: the reappearance of the Caped Crusader.
But the reborn Batman is no match for the musclebound, determined Bane. Tapping deep, mysterious resources of money, science, and ordnance, possessed of savage ruthlessness and intelligence, Bane is set on crippling Gotham City and, indeed, the very culture and economy at the center of which it stands. And, of course, he’ll happily crush Batman in body and heart in the process.
There’s more to “The Dark Knight Rises” -- much more, actually. The film’s threads include Catwoman, an accomplished jewel thief involved in a come-hither tango with both Wayne and Batman; John Blake, a decent cop who senses something bigger behind the small crimes he’s investigating; a business plot in which Wayne staves off a hostile takeover of his empire and considers a partnership on a clean energy project with a beautiful philanthropist; and a sentimental dance of loyalty and sadness between Wayne and his butler/confidant Alfred.
It’s a lot of movie, but if there’s one thing we know for sure about Christopher Nolan is that he’s capable of telling massive, multilayered stories with agility and verve. “The Dark Knight Rises” is overstuffed, and sometimes its components are drawn out excessively, but Nolan always infuses it with energy and grace. It approaches three hours in length but never feels that long.
But that isn’t to say that all of its part are rewarding or that it always compels. Particularly in its first hour or so, this is a glum and chatty movie, and even when it perks up with action and multiple plot lines it never quite shuts up: you can’t imagine a comic book panel crammed with all the verbiage that portions of this script are forced to bear.
And, too, there’s little to lighten the load. The first film of the trilogy, “Batman Begins,” carried a predominantly leaden, sober tone that the second, “The Dark Knight,” shattered, chiefly through the epic performance of Heath Ledger as the Joker. Bane, though, is humorless, his baroque voice (imagine Sean Connery providing the vocals for a cartoon opera tenor) spewing monotone taunts and insults. And while Catwoman is a droll presence (especially as played by Anne Hathaway, confidently scene-stealing), she’s never around long enough to truly lighten the mood. Not even the ostensibly merry bits of this film exactly shine.
Elsewhere in the cast, Christian Bale once again brings earnest doggedness to the lead, Michael Caine provides genuine pathos as Alfred, Joseph Gordon-Levitt brings an air of street smarts to the Boy Scoutish Blake, and Tom Hardy is mainly a swaggering body as Bane, hidden behind a baroque mask and a fog of insinuating declamations. No one particularly ignites the screen, and you get the feeling that no one is meant to. Like their director, the actors are in the service of a Big Thing, and the emphasis is on streamlining rather than showcasing.
There is tremendous technical ability on display in “The Dark Knight Rises.” Nolan may not have as strong a personal stamp as, say, Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson or Sam Raimi, but he is a gifted filmmaker and, especially, orchestrator. The action sequences are tight and coherent, and the inevitable climactic battle brings new stakes and dimensions to the film (unlike that of “The Avengers,” a more entertaining film with a rather redundant final act). The film is shot, blessedly, in only two dimensions, but never lacks visual immediacy or authority.
It does, though, lack a certain coherence of thought. Bane and company co-opt some of the rhetoric and look of Occupy protestors and unleash a latent fascism when they become ascendant. Wayne is a child of privilege whose Batman persona depends on his colossal wealth, yet he yearns to be free of money and encumbrance. This may sound heavy for a comic book movie, but “The Dark Knight Rises” is not only heavy but heavyhanded on these points. Worse, the points are mud: clichés of left and right mixed willy-nilly until they have no real color, flavor or meaning.
And such musings on wealth and power feel particularly inappropriate when couched inside the $250 million entertainment product of a multinational megacorporation based on a brand that has produced billions of dollars of revue in its 75 years. Nolan is many things as a filmmaker: athlete, visionary, even magician. But deep thinker: not so much. “The Dark Knight Rises” is reasonably accomplished as a gigantic superhero movie; as a meditation on capital and its personal and social discontents, it’s strictly from the funny pages.
(164 min., PG-13, multiple locations) Grade: B
A chance encounter tests a woman's marital resolve.
“Take This Waltz” is a film about a romance that looks hotter than it is. It’s a tale of lust-at-first-sight between a writer (Michelle Williams) and her artist neighbor (Luke Kirby). She’s married, mostly happily, albeit with childish undertones, to a cookbook author (Seth Rogen, born to play cuckolds), and she tries to resist temptation. But it’s summer, and she’s stifled, and that intense fellow across the street keeps popping up with soulful looks and leering innuendoes.“Waltz” is written and directed by Sarah Polley, the actress who made the highly regarded “Away from Her.” Like that film, which starred Julie Christie as a woman disappearing into dementia, the new one is built around a strong leading lady and painted with genuinely brilliant light and color. It’s somewhat less affecting, though, as the heroine here is less formed and her plight less moving. The marriage in which she’s involved is flawed, yes, but the chemistry she’s supposed to feel for the fellow across the street doesn’t quite translate for the viewer. It feels more like mooning than wild passion.
Williams, as ever, fills an ordinary person with credible emotion, but little around her feels equally real (one exception: a remarkable scene in the shower of a women’s locker room at a swimming pool). There’s often real beauty and poetry in the moviemaking, but “Waltz” requires you to be on board with it from the start and doesn’t often enough rouse itself to magnetize you if you’re not.
(116 min., R, Living Room Theaters) Grade: B-minus
Being geniuses together: Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro making “Taxi Driver” (via ThisIsntHappiness)
Catch 'em while you can.
A few noteworthy titles to catch before "The Dark Knight Rises" takes over the area's screens. On their way out of local theaters this week are the deliriously goofy mock-history "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter," the dysfunctional family drama "People Like Us," and the meditation on sectarian war in Lebanon "Where Do We Go Now?"The coming week's menu of revival movies in Portland theaters.
"Amelie" The great, swoony French romance that launched Audrey Tautou. (Academy, all week)"Cabaret" Bob Fosse's Oscar-winning film of the classic musical. (Clackamas Town Center, Wednesday July 25 only)
"The Cockettes" The glorious 2002 documentary about hippy drag queens in the San Francisco '60s. (Clinton Street Theater, Saturday only)
"Dirty Dancing" Swayze and Grey 4EVA! (Hollywood Theatre, Saturday only)
"The Palm Beach Story" The great 1942 screwball comedy about two pairs of identical twins (played by Joel McRae and Claudette Colbert) opens the annual "Top Down: Rooftop Cinema" series. (Northwest Film Center, Thursday only)
"Possession" Original director's cut of Andrzej Zulawski's 1981 psychological marital drama starring Isabel Adjani and Sam Neill. (Hollywood Theatre, Saturday and Sunday only)
"Showgirls" Paul Verhoeven and Joe Eszterhas transformed "All About Eve" to a tale of exotic dancers on the Vegas strip; now you can lampoon it in Hecklevision. (Hollywood Theatre, Friday only)
"Sunset Blvd." The timeless Billy Wilder film about decadence and fame in Hollywood, with William Holden and Gloria Swanson. (5th Avenue Cinemas, Friday through Sunday only)
"Three Days of the Condor" Robert Redford is a CIA clerk uncovering deadly secrets. (Laurelhurst, all week)
"Twilight" The clever rascals of Master Pancake Theater, a comedy troupe from Austin, TX, eviscerates Bella and the boys live. (Cinema 21, Friday and Saturday only)