Talking Pictures

Rich’s Quickie: Sam Rockwell SHOULD dance again… because he’s in another good one!

Convicted: “Conviction” may have been just another run-of-the-mill legal drama if not for it being based upon a true story AND for the talents of Hilary Swank, Sam Rockwell, and Minnie Driver (to say nothing of the Bailee Madison and Tobias Campbell, the two child actors who played the Young Kenny and Betty Anne Waters). This movie simply is moving and well-crafted storytelling, with Driver providing needed but never silly or obvious comedy relief (and of course, Sam Rockwell dancing – in the buff, no less).

Technicalities: My only complaint is the “twist: of the actual crime seems a bit underdeveloped; but it’s still plausible enough to work.

Movie Grade: A-

Director: Tony Goldwyn
Writers: Pamela Gray

Rated R for language and some violent images.

Rich’s Quickie: “Crash” for VERY troubled colored girls.

For You: If you are a beleaguered woman, you may relate to the supposed powerful females who populate this story (based on a 1975 play), whether you are a colored girl or not (but it probably helps)…

For Who? And maybe I need to be colored to “get” this. Or a girl. Maybe if I were a colored girl that’d be great; or at least not a guy, since nearly every guy in this movie is a sorry example of manhood (but the one who isn’t doesn’t get much of a fair shake from his significant other, either).
Much this movie reeked of simply trying too hard; too pretentious, too dramatic, too MUCH. I noted as I watched that this movie has it all: drug addiction, sex addiction, alcoholism, spousal and child abuse, date rape, teen pregnancy, back-alley abortion, incest, adultery, closeted gays on the down-low, and finally defenestration (no need to look it up; it basically means throwing your kid out a window, and no I’m not kidding).
All of this just comes off as a Please Take Me Seriously from Tyler Perry sans dress, and he even attempts a pseudo “Godfather” sequence to miserable effect. Sadly, the 20 poems in the original play of a similar (but much longer) name find their way into the dialogue, and at the weirdest of times, causing the actors to LURCH into prose right in the middle of modern speech and the worst circumstances. I don’t know if such poetry makes for great movie dialogue, but these monologues did basically give each actress an opportunity to take center stage; but you can almost feel the pressure each must have felt to outdo the other as they chew the scenery.

Movie Grade: D

Director: Tyler Perry

Writers: Tyler Perry (screenplay), Ntozake Shange (play)

Rated R for some disturbing violence including a rape, sexual content and language.

Rich’s Quickie: I liked it better when it was called “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles”…

Let’s Do! YES, Robert Downey Jr. is funny and charming. YES, Zach Galifianakis is pretty good at playing… basically the same character he always plays. YES there are some funny scenes, moments and supporting roles…

But Give Other Movies Their Due: Let’s play Name That Movie!
An overweight, socially awkward guy gets paired on an airplane with a more socially acceptable and successful person, driving him nuts from the get-go. They both get kicked off said plane, but Mr. Successful in unable to rent a car, so he has to pair up with Mr. Awkward and share a trip cross-country, which is crazy `cause they’re total opposites! Road trip shenanigans and hilarity ensues. Eventually, this unlikely pair comes around to tolerate and even like each other.

If you think you’ve seen this before, you have; and John Candy and Steve Martin did it better because the surrounding circumstances were not so unbelievable. Hitchcock often thrust regular people into unusual situations, and the thrill was seeing what they would do being so totally out of their element. But to put Downey’s Peter Highman and Galifianakis’ Ethan Trembly together and then subject them to things that just couldn’t happen? Credulity is strained, and you’ll find your self fighting the film: Highman would so NOT have been allowed on a plane after being accused of smuggling drugs. Their first in a series of car crashes probably should have killed or at least crippled them. You probably couldn’t steal a Mexican Police car and drive it very far across the border and not get tailed. These are just a few of the sequences that pull you out of the movie with a “Yeah right” feel to them.
If the script doesn’t make you resist the film, as funny as Downey’s Highman can be, both he and Galifianakis’ character do things that make you resist THEM. And Highman comes around to being Tremblay’s buddy way too soon, and for no good reason. Add in a nearly unnecessary Jamie Foxx and an underused Juliette Lewis for kicks, and “Due Date” is retreaded mediocre idea with top-drawer talent who unfortunately couldn’t save it.

Movie Grade: D+

Director: Todd Phillips

Writers: Alan R. Cohen (screenplay) & Alan Freedland (screenplay) and Adam Sztykiel (screenplay) & Todd Phillips (screenplay), and Alan R. Cohen (story) & Alan Freedland (story).

Rated R for language, drug use and sexual content.

Rich’s Quickie: Megafun!

Mega! Despite a LOT of stuff you’ve seen before and some sophisticated humor that will probably sail right over the heads of most kids, a wonderful voice-cast and popping animation helps “Megamind” succeed. The script offers many an opportunity for the animation to tell the story, with colorful characters (that characters that are actually different colors!), crazy costumes, comic-book action, and all manner of inventions and robots. Jonah Hill gets a surprising amount of lines (especially considering the rest of the cast), while the comedic talents of David Cross and Tina Fey cannot be quashed by not actually being onscreen. Will Ferell finally has another hit (and no, I don’t count “The Other Guys”), and if this had come out sooner, you’d likely have seen a bunch of kids dressed up as the title character for Halloween.

Micro: But you probably won’t see much of them next Halloween, since – although a good time at the movies – “Megamind” doesn’t seem to rate with the best of them, and probably doesn’t have that kind of staying power. That may be because one of its main stars – Brad Pitt – is regulated to almost a supporting character role (supplemented by Jonah Hill, no less), and even when his character is onscreen, I think his performance falls short of the over-the-top and out-of-this world courageous hero it was supposed to be. That is still surprising; although Pitt has done little by way of strict voice work, his recent, other characters (like Lt. Aldo Raine in “Inglorious Basterds”), were almost ALL voice; the performance hinged on his every inflection. Ferrell I bought; Pitt I didn’t; and since he was the Yin to the yang, that’s half of the movie, even though he was only in maybe a quarter of it.

Movie Grade: B

Director: Tom McGrath

Writers: Alan J. Schoolcraft, Brent Simons

Rated PG for action and some language.

“Due Date” has a few laughs in it but needed to be, well… funnier. The comedy starring Zach Galifianakas and Robert Downey Jr. just doesn’t have enough gas to get through this road trip buddy picture before the audience gets bored with the whole thing. In essence, “Due Date” is a poor imitation of “Planes, Trains and Automobiles.”

“Due Date” gets a C- and is rated R.

Clint Eastwood’s “Hereafter” starring Matt Damon is uneven at best. A slow-paced film that seems to drown in its own excesses.

The film just doesn’t get anywhere with any of its three main plots and winds up just a
forgettable mess.

It gets a D and is rated PG-13

In the new film “Red” a group of retired CIA operatives get back together to find out who’s been killing off other retired agents. In the war between “old” and “young,” will wisdom and experience win out over cool devices and state-of-the-art technology?

The film is based on the cult D.C. Comics graphic novels by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner and humorously explores the question of age and youth and in turn takes the audience for one of the best rides this year, with Bruce Willis firmly planted in the driver’s seat.

“Red” is very much worth the ticket price in. It gets a B and is rated PG-13.

Disney will always do “Disney” better than anyone else. And in the hands of director Randall Wallace, the story of Secretariat is wonderfully told in that delightfully sterile Disney way.

I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. Not at all. I am reminding everyone who ever said “Why don’t they make films like they used to” to actually come to the theater and buy a ticket to this film, or shut up.

Diane Lane takes on the role of Penny Chenery Tweedy, the housewife who saw something extraordinary in the colt she inherited. Lane has always been a gifted actress and adds a breath of frustration to this performance, making it a very human portrayal.

For a bit of comic relief, there’s John Malkovich as Lucien Laurin, the wacky trainer who is in need of a comeback himself.

For anyone (including me) nostalgic for a good live-action family film, this is as good as it gets.

Secretariat gets a B and is rated PG.

Sitting down in the theater I thought about the plot of “Life As We Know it”: A couple of singles inherit a baby and must immediately contend with parenthood.

Ok, yes… we’ve all seen this one before, Diane Keaton did it in “Baby Boom” and there are countless other films like it.

So I wasn’t expecting much.

And maybe that’s the mindset I needed for this film to work. As it turned out it wasn’t really THAT bad. As I said we’ve all seen this one before in many different disguises, but Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel actually had the comic fortitude to pull it off.

As it turns out even a joke that’s old and worn can be funny again if told by the right comedian.

So I’m giving “Life As We Know It” a B- for trying to recycle.

The Social Network is one of the finest films of the year. Great acting combined with a compelling story will add up to a sure-fire Oscar nomination for this film.

It gets an A. See it!