Summer Movie Preview 2013

There are 30 movies worth talking about being released in Summer 2013. Some are certainly more interesting than others.

I’m going to level with you. If you’re working a day job like I have been for the past three months, seeing 30 movies in one season, let alone a year, seems pretty optimistic.

I on the other hand, am crazy, and there are a number of movies that, ultimately see them or not, I at least want to be able to comment on. I managed to limit that list to 30 movies this year. I don’t know if that says more about me or 2013’s crop of movies if I don’t even have a snide comment to give to “The Smurfs 2,” amongst others.

For my convenience, I’ve ordered them in terms of my excitement level, and not the overall din of noise surrounding each one.

This Is The End
This Is The End – Columbia Pictures

Pretty Stoked

Before Midnight – May 24

“Before Midnight” took Sundance by storm this past January, rocketing it to the top of anyone who knows and cares about movies most-anticipated list for the year, not just the summer. Why? Because Director Richard Linklater has returned to his match made in indie heaven, Jesse and Celine (Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy), for the third time. Maintaining the timeline of nine years after where 2004’s “Before Sunset” left off, and 18 years after 1995’s “Before Sunrise,” Linklater has made another daring experimental gem that may be the only Sundance film to get Oscar attention.

This Is the End – June 14

“This is the End” first caught my attention with their hilarious redband trailer on the presumed Doomsday last December. And in a way, the marketing campaign has now been centered around Mindy Kaling’s strange sexual affinity with Michael Cera. For years though, Seth Rogen and company have made movies that embodied their perceived personas and little else, so why not make a movie that embraces them? It may feel like a full length Funny or Die sketch, it may be too focused on ridiculous action scenes, and it may spawn a wave of comedies in which actors play themselves, but it looks absolutely uproarious. Continue reading “Summer Movie Preview 2013”

Rapid Response: In Old Chicago

In Old Chicago, a 1937 Best Picture nominee about the Great Chicago Fire, may have nothing historically accurate about it, but it captures a little of the spirit of the Second City.

Being a Chicago native myself, I’m almost attracted to any movie about the Second City just like a moth is attracted to… THE FLAME? EH?

One of the cute things about “In Old Chicago,” a Best Picture nominee from 1937, is that it’s constantly winking to the camera with jokes about how eventually everything is going to burn. The film documents the myth of the O’Leary family and the Great Chicago Fire, although not a shred of it is accurate to even the fabricated legend.

That’s all fine though, because Henry King’s film plays on Chicago’s legacy, corruption, style, mythology and undeniable allure. Tyrone Power and Don Ameche play two rival O’Leary brothers fighting for power in the city. Power is Dion, a rising star in Chicago’s “Patch,” the rugged, corrupt area of town where he’s opened a saloon right on the new trolley line and made a fortune. His brother Jack is an upstanding lawyer making no money, but his reputation precedes him and he ends up running for mayor against Dion’s business rival. Continue reading “Rapid Response: In Old Chicago”

Ebertfest Review: Escape From Tomorrow

“Escape From Tomorrow” may just be the most talked about movie you’ll never get the chance to see. Is it brilliant, or is it a mess?

Credit should be given where it’s due: “Escape From Tomorrow,” which may just be the most talked about movie you will never get a chance to see, was a near impossible film to make.

Shot on the fly and on the run in both Disneyworld and Disneyland, two places where the use of cameras for commercial use is strictly forbidden, first time Director Randy Moore has made a daring, stylish and damned strange film that ties the Happiest Place on Earth to sexual perversion, fatherly trauma, conglomerate conspiracy and personal psychosis. Moore should be applauded for finding a way against all odds to put Disney’s head on the chopping block.

And yet in another way, Disney is something of an easy target. The legacy left by Walt has such an oddly glowing reputation that they’ve always seemed like they have the farthest to fall. Even institutions like “The Simpsons” have recognized the almost surreal annoyance brought on by “It’s a Small World After All” and “Zip a Dee Do Dah.” If you’re going to make a Lynchian mind-bender, you’d better have immensely strong imagery that can go beyond the Disney gimmick, and you better know exactly what movie you want to make so that people aren’t just amused by the novelty of it. Continue reading “Ebertfest Review: Escape From Tomorrow”

Blancanieves

The fairy tale “Blancanieves” is a silent film with big emotions and style that resembles the way modern silent films should look.

For anyone who had watched “The Artist,” the feeling that silent films could come back in fashion was little more than wishful thinking. The film was intentionally a pastiche, and it accomplished just that.

But if someone were to update silent movies for the 21st Century, the Spanish silent film “Blancanieves” is a perfect example of what this new genre should resemble. The quivery camera, shortened average shot length, overpowering close-ups, low shots and canted angles mixed with classical and Latin musical intensity is stylish and in your face, but also simple and lively.

Here’s a movie with a simple story and big emotions that might be unbearable if it was told another way. To call it a throwback misses the point. And director and writer Pablo Berger has picked no better place to start this revision than with a simultaneously dark, innocent and whimsical retelling of some of our oldest fairy tale legends. Continue reading “Blancanieves”

Kumaré

“Kumaré” is a funny, touching, intellectual documentary of belief and spirituality, even if the film’s methods are questionable.

I had just finished watching “Kumaré” at Ebertfest, this quasi-documentary in which the director, Vikram Gandhi, poses as an Indian guru and dupes a small flock of disciples into believing he’s the real deal.  Surely these people were the butt of the joke for believing him, and surely he must’ve felt pretty good about making this point about phony prophets.

But then Gandhi came out on stage and discussed the film. In his presence, the message of the movie had more weight and intellectual clarity. It wasn’t a mockumentary, and it wasn’t a slam on religion. “Kumaré” was a film about belief, not God, and not even Atheism. Then Gandhi did something curious: he donned his fake Indian accent that transformed him to Kumaré, and he led the audience of 1500 people in his fake chant and meditation ritual.

Having just seen the movie and met the man, I knew it was fake, the audience knew it was fake, and yet in that moment with all those people, I had a miniature moment of spiritual enlightenment. It felt real and meaningful enough to me, and that’s the whole point. Continue reading “Kumaré”

The Place Beyond the Pines

Derek Cianfrance’s “The Place Beyond the Pines” is a moving, surprising and sprawling epic of choices, fate, family and fathers.

Three motorcycles are stunt driving in a spherical cage at a circus. It’s a sight to see, but your nose is nearly grazing the walls, and the three fly by in a powerful blur, all seemingly connected in this daredevil harmony. This little visual metaphor is a wonderful summation for the near narrative perfection found in Derek Cianfrance’s “The Place Beyond the Pines.” It’s a moving, surprising and sprawling epic of choices, fate, family and fathers.

One of those daredevils is Handsome Luke Glanton, played with a menacing blankness by Ryan Gosling. We meet Luke donning a red leather jacket and striding through a colorful carnival, the camera bobbing as it carefully follows the back of Luke’s head. We’re the thought that’s nagging in the back of his skull, the responsibility that won’t escape him.

At one of his shows, he meets Romina (Eva Mendes), who he had a fling with a year earlier. They’re about to part ways, but Luke learns that Romina’s one-year old son is his and makes a commitment to stay and care for the boy, even if he doesn’t really have a place in the family. Continue reading “The Place Beyond the Pines”

Rapid Response: The Thing From Another World

“The Thing From Another World” is an above-average B-Horror Movie that has so much more substance than the two remakes that followed it.

Oh, how far horror movies have come. “The Thing From Another World” may be campy and not all that scary, but it’s a movie of more wit and intelligence than John Carpenter’s remake “The Thing” in the ’80s and more entertainment value and meaning than the remake of Carpenter’s version from 2011.

Here is a movie that is actually about something. It sidesteps most of the sci-fi and horror movie cliches of the ’50s laden with not-so-subtle allegories about the Cold War and remains a genuinely exciting horror thriller about the conflict between authority and science, logic and brute strength.

But beyond that, “The Thing From Another World” is a largely talky movie that cherishes its scary bits. It’s not 30 percent character and 70 percent violence the way so many horror movies are today. Producer and unbilled director Howard Hawks devotes precious time to subtle traces of sexism from army officers and their fixation on pin-up girls, dialogue that is a little snide but also a little empty, desolate and uncertain, and suspense building set pieces more memorable than millions of dollars of CGI wizardry. Continue reading “Rapid Response: The Thing From Another World”

42

The Jackie Robinson biopic “42” deserves better than to be another “magical black man” movie with a cheesy script.

 

“42” isn’t yet again trying to prove to white people that racism is alive and well; it’s merely trying to depict the racial struggles of Jackie Robinson, an undisputed American hero. But it’s 2013, and we deserve better than another magical black man movie, and we definitely deserve a better, smarter film than Director and Screenwriter Brian Helgeland’s (“L.A. Confidential“) cheesy, Old Hollywood inspired script.

Robinson was one of baseball’s greatest legends. He won Rookie of the Year in his inaugural 1947 season, the pennant for the Dodgers and later in his career the World Series. But “42” paints Robinson (Chadwick Boseman) as a miracle man long before credit is due.

The movie starts with a newsreel history lesson and says that America was just waiting for someone like Robinson to come along. Then a grizzly GM played by Harrison Ford in a bad haircut looks his bumbling assistants in the eye and boldly claims he’s going to put the first black man in baseball! “Uh wahhh? You can’t! But I can!” Then he flips through a few manila folders and finds a resume with Jackie Robinson’s picture and says something close to, “Look at this guy! He’s going to be a star!”

“If it was a white baseball player, you’d say he has spirit” is what Ford actually says when his assistant claims he has a bad temper. But Robinson’s bad temper amounts to him being a little less tolerant of racism directed at him than others. His goal to be accepted is to focus on winning, not the hate, which makes for the first sports movie in which strictly focusing on being the best is the moral lesson. Continue reading “42”

Evil Dead (2013)

“Evil Dead” is a high budget remake of Sam Raimi’s classic, but it’s a dumb, gruesome blood fest without a hint of irony.

The general consensus about “Evil Dead” is that Fede Alvarez’s film is mightily gory but hardly the corny schlock fest that was Sam Raimi’s cult original “The Evil Dead.” Well sadly, I haven’t seen “The Evil Dead” quite yet (I know, hate on me in the comments), but that’s all the best because I’d rather judge “Evil Dead” on what’s actually to be found here, a dumb, gruesome, blood fest without a hint of irony.

I guess it’s clear Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard had the original in mind when they made “The Cabin in the Woods,” as “Evil Dead” follows that set up to a tea. The five soon-to-be victims are all conveniently under lock and key thanks to Mia’s (Jane Levy) cocaine addiction. The foursome will do anything to keep her from leaving and falling back off the wagon, even when she starts projectile vomiting blood on her housemates. Continue reading “Evil Dead (2013)”

RIP Roger Ebert (1942 – 2013): Another Critic in the Room

RIP Roger Ebert. As a critic and a personal mentor, he tapped into the universal idea that the movies are for everyone.

I met Roger Ebert just once. I was invited beyond all good reason to Ebertfest in 2009 by his Chicago Sun Times print editor Laura Emerick. In between films, she asked, “Would you like to meet Roger?” Somehow I didn’t think it was an option. He had been battling cancer for several years at that point, but his appearance at the festival, to sit through 10 films in less than five days, was an enormous act of strength for someone who had just so recently attained stability with his health.

Those who have attended Ebertfest know where he sits. It’s the furthest back seat in Champaign’s Virginia Theater, right on the aisle and by the door on a slightly elevated platform. Chaz sits directly to his left.

Ms. Emerick walked me into the aisle as a flock of people gathered by the exit and by Ebert to say hello. He wore a bright white sweater that only seemed to amplify his then dangling chin, a newly defining feature that was impossible to forget, but somehow most everyone managed to ignore. Even for being a television star, Ebert was about his words, not his mug shot.

I was introduced and muttered something about how much I admired him and enjoyed reading his work, but because I was not about to have a stimulating conversation with him given his condition, the part I remember more vividly and painfully is walking away.

I said my piece, he smiled, or seemed to, and that was all. The more fulfilling memories of that weekend were talking with Michael Phillips, Richard Roeper and a handful of other critics and filmmakers. Ebert was just another critic in the room.

Some years later, I got the chance to attend a press screening of the movie “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” with RedEye film critic Matt Pais. Those who have been in that room, albeit a much smaller number, know where Ebert sits: the furthest back seat, right by the aisle and the door. Chaz was there that day too.

I didn’t make a scene or even try to say hello, because I definitely had no right being there this time. I don’t recall seeing him at the end either. He gave it three and a half stars. I gave it two, and I wondered which movie he had seen. I had more fun hashing out my thoughts with Pais. But regardless, I was content in knowing that I got to share this movie moment with Ebert, even if again he was just another critic in the darkened room. Continue reading “RIP Roger Ebert (1942 – 2013): Another Critic in the Room”