Lee Daniels' The Butler

“Lee Daniels’ The Butler” is a “quietly subversive” film with surprising depth and nuance despite its massive cast and ambitions.

There’s a scene in “Lee Daniels’ The Butler” where Martin Luther King Jr. is speaking with Louis Gaines (David Oyelowo), the Freedom Rider son of the film’s eponymous protagonist. Louis is ashamed that his father Cecil (Forest Whitaker) is a servant for a living, but Dr. King corrects him and says that the butler’s hard work ethic and dignity has a long history of slowly breaking down black stereotypes.

They’re “quietly subversive,” he says, which is a perfect label for “The Butler.” This loosely true story about a White House Butler who served through five administrations and 20 years is strongly melodramatic, but it views our nation’s most iconic racial history through a more critical, nuanced lens. Cecil’s complex persona goes against some of the themes depicted in modern race relations films, and it broadens Daniels’ scope to a film that is saccharine, suspenseful and silly.

It’s a fine line for any specifically “black” film to walk. We’ve come a long way from the days when Sidney Poitier was leading the charge in African American cinema, an actor who “The Butler” name drops directly. The Civil Rights era has been tread so many times that the genre itself has evolved to something of a post-racial state, even if the reality we live in hasn’t. Continue reading “Lee Daniels' The Butler”

The Grandmaster

“The Grandmaster” is a tense, dazzling kung fu movie that oozes artistry, culture and style.

On the most recent Sight & Sound Critics Poll in 2012, Wong Kar Wai’s “In the Mood for Love” was voted the 24th best movie of all time, the highest of all films from this century. “In the Mood for Love” is a lush tone poem, bursting with color and passion in moody, emotive style.

In broadening his palette to a period piece martial arts studio film, it would be easy for a stylist such as Wong to fall into the same trap as countless other directors who got messy once allowed to paint on a bigger canvas.

“The Grandmaster” however immediately stands out from the crowd. Wong’s stylization breaks from the modern Hollywood tradition and achieves ethereal tones just seeping with emotion in all its slow motion, camera twirls, hazy filters and silvery gray undertones. Wong’s film is a sly, tense, mysterious and immense work of art that just barely keeps from buckling under its own weight.

“The Grandmaster” is the biopic of the Ip Man (Tony Leung), a true-to-life martial arts master from Southern China who fought during World War II, traveled to Hong Kong in the ‘50s and became a teacher responsible for the training of Bruce Lee. Early portions of the film show him training for a fight with a kung fu rival to the North named Ma Sang (Jin Zhang). He’s the heir to the Gong family lineage of fighting styles, but the rightful heir Gong Er (Ziyi Zhang) seeks retribution and is the only true warrior who rivals Ip Man’s skills. Continue reading “The Grandmaster”

The World's End

“The World’s End” is a wacky fun throwback comedy with a real sense of nostalgia.

Earlier this year, “This is the End” served as something of a finale on the man-child comedies that have defined the last 10 years or so of Hollywood comedies. It did so in such spectacularly silly fashion that it seemed as though no movie again should try and top it.

“The World’s End” too marks a different conclusion. It’s the last in the Cornetto Trilogy, a series of Edgar Wright parody films that started with “Shaun of the Dead,” continued with “Hot Fuzz” and took a break during “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.” Writers and stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost along with Wright branded a completely new approach to the parody film, one that was slick, stylish and action heavy.

But like “This is the End,” the juvenile fun and spastic, hyper kinetic style seems to be behind Wright, Pegg and Frost. The characters in “The World’s End” are more mature, the consequences and emotions are more genuine, and the film seems less like an homage to apocalyptic movies and more like a heartfelt throwback.

Pegg plays Gary King, a wonderfully soliloquizing pack leader trapped in his teenage glory days. In an AA meeting, he reflects upon an epic bar crawl from his last day of high school: 12 pubs, 12 pints, but one he never finished. He now seeks to return home and finish the quest with four of his old mates, all of whom have matured and settled into comfy jobs and families while he’s kept his old car, cassette player and selective memories.

He’s completely glossed over a harrowing accident that almost killed his best friend Andy (Frost), one that’s never shown but only hinted at as the group gets drunker and more candid. Continue reading “The World's End”

Fall Movie Preview 2013

Here’s hoping Fall 2013 is a lot better than the summer.

This summer movie season was so ho-hum that the films that were so hyped mere months ago will fade into oblivion as soon as September gets going. Yes, gems like “Frances Ha” and “The Spectacular Now” may be revived by critics come Top Ten list time, but as a stacked fall continues to impress, movies like “Blue Jasmine,” “Before Midnight” and “Fruitvale Station” seem less certain to make appearances come Oscar night.

As I’ve done in seasons past, I’ve made clever groupings for the huge batch of films coming our way, and since my excitement ranges from pretty solid to thrilled for most of them, they’re now grouped by “type” instead.

Keep in mind that some of these movies will have tentative release dates, some have not yet picked up a date or distribution in America, some will only get extremely limited Oscar qualifying runs at the end of the year, and some might not end up coming out this year at all.

Destined for Awesomeness

Gravity – October 4

Not all films can be described as jaw-droppingly good looking by a trailer alone, but the fascinating POV, 3-D effects in Alfonso Cuaron’s “Gravity” certainly can. Will the narrative be sustaining enough with just Sandra Bullock floating through space? Early reviews say hell yes.

Captain Phillips – October 11

“Green Zone” was too much Bourne in Iraq, so it’s refreshing to see Paul Greengrass take on another real-event inspired story with a new actor. Tom Hanks could earn an Oscar nod for his hybrid action star turn.

12 Years a Slave – October 18

Last year Leo played the Southern slave owner, and this year Michael Fassbender gets that juicy role. Just about anything would be more Oscar friendly than “Shame,” but Steve McQueen should bring some much needed darkness to this story.

The Wolf of Wall Street – November 15

Leonardo Dicaprio Wolf on Wall Street gif

The trailer that produced the most mesmerizing gif of the year looks no less enticing. Scored to Kanye’s “Black Skinheads,” Scorsese’s Leo-led drama with Matthew McConaughey and Jonah Hill looks to be a mad romp set to cap a year full of “have-more” movies.

Inside Llewyn Davis – December 6

Though considered a more modest Coen Brothers film, Oscar Isaac and “Inside Llewyn Davis” took Cannes by storm with its ‘60s folk rock charm. I hope to see it as the closing night film in the Chicago International Film Festival.

American Hustle – December 13

Oscar pundits are saying third time’s a charm for David O. Russell, who is reuniting his casts from “The Fighter” and “Silver Linings Playbook” (and throwing in Louis C.K. for good measure) for a con artist drama. If you thought the hair styles looked silly in “Argo,” wait till you see this.

Her – December 20

Spike Jonze’s return to feature length films since 2009’s “Where the Wild Things Are” features Joaquin Phoenix in a rare sympathetic and vulnerable role in which he’s falling in love with his Siri-esque computer voiced by Scarlett Johansson. It looks lovely.

The Wind Rises – N/A

New Miyazaki movie? Yes please! This story about a Japanese fighter plane designer during World War II reminds of the early Studio Ghibli film “Grave of the Fireflies” and looks to be Miyazaki’s most adult movie yet. Continue reading “Fall Movie Preview 2013”

Drinking Buddies

“Drinking Buddies” is a minimalist romantic comedy made perfect by Olivia Wilde’s charming performance.

If the term “mumblecore” has lost whatever initial meaning it had, it now simply refers to a minimalist style. Joe Swanberg, one of the pioneers of the filmmaking movement, has with his latest film given way to name actors while still trimming the fat of Hollywood rom-coms. “Drinking Buddies” is edited with the crackling urgency of something in the French New Wave while retaining the charm and warmth that will make it a hipster classic.

Olivia Wilde has acquiesced perfectly into the indie scene as Kate, a communications lead at Chicago’s Revolution Brewing. She has a more-than-just-friends relationship with Luke (Jake Johnson), one of the brewers, and they’re perfect together. Yet the practical impasse to their being together is a pair of serious relationships that are healthy, but not nearly as picturesque.

Each of them bring their respective significant others to a cabin in Michigan, and the already obvious attains some added sexual tension. Chris (Ron Livingston) is a bit older and more mature than Kate, and Jill (Anna Kendrick) is dorky and cute, but not always in the cool way, and she doesn’t gel with Luke nearly as well. Continue reading “Drinking Buddies”

Blue Jasmine

Cate Blanchett is stunning in “Blue Jasmine,” Woody Allen’s portrait of the have-more culture.

 

In a year filled with movies about the have-more culture, Woody Allen has laid bare how the upper half lives. Cate Blanchett is magnificent in “Blue Jasmine,” Allen’s dramatic “Streetcar named Desire” inspired portrait of a crumbling woman amidst infidelity, deceit and blissful ignorance.

I wrote recently about “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown” how women in movies tend to keep their composure better than men when faced with a personal crisis, and Jasmine has this down flat. Jasmine is the ever so prim and proper housewife of Hal (Alec Baldwin), an obscenely wealthy businessman and trader who turns out to be a massive crook. She’s been driven out of her home to live with her sister Ginger (Sally Hawkins) after Hal is arrested, and yet that complication doesn’t stop her from carefully micromanaging her life story such that she can stay in her protective bubble of wealth and stature.

Jeanette is Jasmine’s real name, but the floral connotation had a better narrative. She met Hal while “Blue Moon” played, but then even this appears to be a clever fabrication. Now she aspires to be an interior designer with a license she can obtain if she only figures out how to use “computers.” This will be perfect as it allows her to continue to adorn herself in glamour and luxury without having any inherent skills. Heaven forbid she bag groceries like her sister. Continue reading “Blue Jasmine”

The Summer of Too Much Hype

We’re currently operating in a culture where there’s a lot of excitement for movies frankly no one cares about.

When Ben Affleck was cast as Batman in Zack Snyder’s “Man of Steel” sequel this past week, the Internet’s subsequent explosion of jokes and boos and hatred and memes over absolutely nothing summed up the odd state of mainstream movies in 2013.

You’ll recall that the crazed reaction to the announcement of this year’s lineup sounded no different a year ago than it does now. And yet the resounding verdict about Summer 2013 was that it was “The Year of the Flop.”

On sheer numbers alone, this is perhaps misleading. “White House Down,” “Elysium,” “The Lone Ranger” and “Pacific Rim” did in fact flop… big time. The studios responsible for these films will take significant losses financially, despite the fact that they rank amongst the highest grossing films of the year.

Most of the others however have done quite fine. The worldwide box office will salvage poor domestic receipts and Hollywood will continue making movies that speak the universal language of PG-13 explosions. “Pacific Rim” alone made nearly 75 percent of its overall gross overseas.

So for the present, Hollywood may not change a damn thing. The movie industry is doing well enough.

But if you ask me why the summer was such a letdown, and ask anyone, it’s because the biggest movies this summer were all so meh.

None attained the level of pop culture phenomenon even if the dollars said otherwise. “Iron Man 3” was not “The Avengers.” “Man of Steel” was not “The Dark Knight.” “Elysium” was not “District 9.” “The Heat” was not “Bridesmaids.” “Star Trek Into Darkness” was not the original “Star Trek.” “The Hangover Part 3” was not the first or second. “The Wolverine” was not any of the X-Men incarnations.  “Monsters University” was not “Up.” Perhaps only “Despicable Me 2” was as huge as “Despicable Me.”

We’re currently operating in a culture where there’s a lot of excitement for movies frankly no one cares about. Continue reading “The Summer of Too Much Hype”

Jobs

“Jobs” reduces Steve Jobs’s visionary ideas to melodramatic monologues and Apple’s greatest hits.

Steve Jobs was an inventor, innovator and artist, but he was a businessman, and he sold and marketed computers for a living. He was not a filmmaker, painter, sculptor, musician or anything of the sort, and yet people would not bat an eye at calling him the Michelangelo or the Picasso of our day. The biopic “Jobs” is set only on portraying him as that mad genius. It replaces what he stood for with glossy eyed monologues and his backstory with Apple’s greatest hits.

Jobs (Ashton Kutcher) as seen here was a tyrant, a brilliant tyrant who demanded perfection and dreamed up the non-existent but was held back by the investors who didn’t applaud him, the shareholders and board members who ousted him and the team members who didn’t share his lofty ambitions. He hastily fired those who disagreed with him, neglected his friends like Steve Wozniak (Josh Gad) who helped him build Apple in his parents’ basement and infuriated the people like Mike Markkula (Dermot Mulroney) who showed up on his doorstep one day and bankrolled his visionary ideas.

Joshua Michael Stern’s film acknowledges that Jobs was a controversial figure, even an asshole when it came to management, but it never doubts that he was a mastermind. It begins with Jobs introducing the iPod to his staff. Lens flares abound, an orchestra swells, and at the mention of having created a music player, the room bursts into applause. Continue reading “Jobs”

Rapid Response: Au Hasard Balthazar

“Au Hasard Balthazar” achieves an understanding of a complete life with more complexity and understanding than most movies combined… and it’s about a donkey.

In every review of “Au Hasard Balthazar,” it’s clarified that Robert Bresson’s masterpiece is NOT about a donkey. The donkey that shares the film’s name and is followed from birth to death is not a cartoon character, he does not get reaction shots and he does not have thoughts or feelings; he is a donkey. In this fashion, the film is a haunting portrait of life, an often solemn depiction of reality and a religious parable in numerous ways. It is again not a fantasy in the way a movie about a donkey might imply.

And yet Bresson’s film is something of a fantasy. The donkey itself is not merely alive but is baptized at the beginning, presumably bestowing it a soul. One of the main characters Gerard (Francois Lafarge) is hardly a teenager but a sadistic monster. The town drunk Arnold (Jean-Claude Guilbert) happens to come into a large inheritance. And the way in which Balthazar the donkey changes hands and finds its way back to the protagonist Marie (Anne Wiazemsky) time and again bares a resemblance to Steven Spielberg’s “War Horse.”

When looked at in this way, “Au Hasard Balthazar” doesn’t always seem so grim. Its initial set up is something of a paradise for the young animal and the young children, and that along with the use of Schubert in the score makes the whole thing feel ethereal and spiritual, as though life can be dour and rough, but it is still a life. Continue reading “Rapid Response: Au Hasard Balthazar”

Fruitvale Station

Ryan Coogler’s debut drama “Fruitvale Station” depicts the true story murder of Oscar Grant in the Bay Area in 2008.

The Trayvon Martin incident stirred such outrage recently that any film released in its aftermath might be expected to incite a similar amount of anger. “Fruitvale Station,” this year’s Sundance Audience Award winner, depicts a similar incident that occurred in the Bay Area on New Year’s Eve in 2008. Although deeply rooted in racial roots and the plight of America’s working class, Ryan Coogler’s debut film invokes empathy and solemnity over political fervor.

“Fruitvale Station” is pure melodrama, a biopic of a man wrongly murdered at the BART train station after a misunderstanding with the police, some racial profiling and a cop too loose on his trigger finger. In an opening cell phone video of the actual event, we see police berating some not exactly docile black men. One of them stands and is pinned to the ground with the cop appearing to drive his knee into the back of the man’s skull. People on the train shout, “That’s not right man!” and “Let him go!” before a gun shot goes off and the video cuts to black.

One wonders what exactly happened on the day George Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin. And yet something like this shows that there is still some ambiguity.

Coogler’s film taps into that nuance and makes a slice of life profile of a man, 22-year-old Oscar Grant (Michael B. Jordan), who wasn’t quite a saint and might’ve even provoked his killer, but probably didn’t deserve this fate either.

It’s not as though Oscar’s life is riddled with tragedy or a fine example of how racism is alive and well. Coogler depicts little more than the day in the life of this man, and to see how ordinary and unsuspecting “Fruitvale Station” is provides the key to its power. Continue reading “Fruitvale Station”