Reviews

David Lowery has constructed a beautiful, atmospheric, little indie film with this 1970's Texas crime melodrama. At every point where Lowery could have added Hollywood flourishes and gimmicks to make the film more commercial he refuses to do so. The result is a thin crime & punishment type plot that functions as a canvas for this tone poem about passion and tragedy. I don't know if I could say there's anything ultimately redemptive about these sad, doomed characters but perhaps it's enough to say that they possess a degree of humanity that makes us pity them for the choices they've made. This is another triumph for Rooney Mara who is excellent as a strong, young woman who desires a better life and a man who can't get it for her. There's great irony in the way events turn out for her and it's all totally believable. I was also impressed with Casey Affleck's performance as her lover and small time criminal. In supporting roles there's Nate Parker as a friend of Affleck; Ben Foster's sympathetic police officer and Keith Carradine soaring as a town elder and father figure to Rooney and Affleck. "Ain't Them Bodies Saints" is a great looking picture and Bradford Young deserves all the praise he has earned for his cinematography.

Post World War II America: GI's are coming home to the factories and the GI Bill while women are leaving the workforce that supported the war effort and returning to the home and raising families. Somewhere in the midst of that were a group of rebels who rejected those prospects and opted instead to hit the road and explore living without boundaries. Known as the Beat Generation they loved living spontaneously, Jazz, embraced promiscuity, experimented with drugs and were forerunners of the counterculture movements of the late 50's and 60's.

One of the most famous literary works of that era, Jack Kerouac's "On The Road" has been adapted for the screen by director Walter Salles & Screenwriter Jose Rivera and for 2 hours I was thoroughly engrossed in it. The performances are first rate especially that of Garrett Hedlund who shines as the charismatic, hedonistic Dean Moriarty. Every movement needs a muse and for the Beats Moriarty is that flame that burns bright like a force of nature. Sal Paradise is an aspiring young writer who chronicles Moriarty's activities with almost religious fervor. Sam Riley is Sal and he envies Dean's free-spirited adventurousness while Dean envies Sal's talent as a writer. Together they are a team driving the blacktop towards the next destination tethered to nothing but their dreams. As has been noted this is a man's world and women don't fare very well. Kristen Stewart is terrific as Moriarty's first wife while Kirsten Dunst is the woman he leaves her for. There's an excellent supporting cast that provide some wonderful vignettes by Viggo Mortensen, Steve Buscemi,Elisabeth Moss, Tom Sturridge and Amy Adams. Salles direction captures the rambling, frenetic energy of those days and Rivera's script nobly endeavors to achieve a kind of cinematic stream of consciousness as the characters meander their way across the landscape. This is a great looking film thanks to the cinematography of Eric Gautier. "On The Road" is a fine effort to recreate the sights and sounds, pluses and minuses, dreams and grunge of a bygone age that still reverberates with us today.

Hitchcock's classic study of evil invading small town America "Shadow Of A Doubt" revolved around a character named Uncle Charlie who comes to visit his sister's idyllic California family and his idealistic young niece. In Park Chan-wook's "Stoker" another Uncle Charlie (Matthew Goode) comes to live with his recently deceased brother's widow and young daughter. The daughter, India Stoker (Mia Wasikowska) was very attached to her late father with whom she shared hunting trips. The stuffed animals in her room are trophies to those bygone days. Her relationship with her mother, Evelyn (Nicole Kidman) is strained although we sense that it was never really that close. While Evelyn instantly warms up to Uncle Charlie India casts a suspicious eye and yet there is something about this secretive man with a knowing grin that attracts her.

"Stoker" is a chilling look at a world of hidden desires, predator and prey and things that go bump in the night. In this world evil doesn't simply co-exist in some aberrational sense but rather it's woven into the very fabric of the natural world. We cannot simply dismiss it as a Hitchcockian nightmare that we awaken from and go about our lives. Park Chan-wook's fluid direction adds to the feeling of uneasiness that pervades the film. There's excellent camera-work by Chung-hoon Chung. Matthew Goode certainly gave me the creeps and Mia Wasikowska of "Jane Eyre" and "Albert Nobbs" is excellent as the strong-willed adolescent whose world suddenly turns upside down.

People in a rural French village believe a mysterious drifter possesses healing powers and one troubled young girl in particular has embraced the stranger as a deliverer to ease her sufferings. The stranger spends most of his time walking and meditating like some Old Testament prophet in the desert. When he does speak it is only in terms of banalities. As we watch Bruno Dumont's "Outside Satan" we are drawn to this mystical figure. Is he an ascetic on retreat from the world? Is he a cult leader seeking gullible apprentices? Does he possess powers that transcend this world and if so what is the source of that power: good or evil? His behavior defies easy classification. I've never seen anything quite like this film and there will inevitably be numerous interpretations. David Dewaele is mesmerizing as the enigmatic protagonist. Alexandra Lematre is the sensitive young girl who travels from Goth rebelliousness to faithful acolyte. "Outside Satan" moves at a slow tempo punctuated with some jarring moments resembling the natural course of life and this is enhanced by the purely naturalistic soundtrack completely devoid of any musical accompaniment. This is avant-garde cinema and won't appeal to all tastes but if you're looking for something unique this certainly qualifies. It's been said that the notion of a devil provides religions with the means to reconcile the existence of evil with a world governed by a benevolent God. Perhaps it is this idea that Dumont is probing in "Outside Satan". What if there were no opposing forces and instead there was just one mysterious all-encompassing creation that offered no easy answers?

As the hunt for Osama bin Laden wore on President George W Bush was prompted in frustration to say that he didn't know where bin Laden was and he didn't give him much thought anymore. Far from Washington press conferences CIA agents were still thinking about the al Qaeda leader and engaged in the day to day drudgery that dominates intelligence work. ZERO DARK THIRTY is the story of one such agent, Maya (Jessica Chastain)a woman of dogged determination who's prone to butt heads with higher-ups inclined to weigh the politics of every decision. When we first see Maya she is functioning within an interrogation unit trying to extract information from suspected terrorists. These scenes shot in Jordanian prisons are intensely realistic and the source of most of the criticism the film has received. Director Kathryn Bigelow is not an advocate for torture. She is simply painting the picture as it occurred. Her approach is documentarian and she and screenwriter Mark Boal meticulously and clinically depict the events of one of history's greatest manhunts. Chastain exhibits great strength and vulnerability in her role. She is a warrior on the front lines in this 21st century war. Political and ethical questions are for another day, her task is clear. I love the way ZERO DARK THIRTY doesn't' try to be Rambo, in fact it's the anti-Rambo which may be disturbing to moviegoers who want to see some heroic national crusade portrayed gloriously with all flags flying. There's a sadness here, a sense that we have made a trade-off one which diminishes us all. As a movie Bigelow, Boal and Chastain have created an unceasingly suspenseful film as historical document which held me in its grip.

Quentin Tarantino blowtorches his way through racism in the Pre-Civil War South in DJANGO UNCHAINED a stunning reinvention of the spaghetti western. Jamie Foxx is a force of nature as Django a slave turned bounty hunter when he teams up with Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) a dentist who prefers collecting bounties to extracting teeth. Leonardo DiCaprio is amazing as a slave owning plantation aristocrat who likes booking brutal slave fights when he's not primping himself and spewing racist dogma for the amusement of dinner guests. Kerry Washington is Broomhilda, Django's beautiful wife torn away at a slave auction. Samuel L Jackson is DiCaprio's head slave and a formidable presence in every scene. It's a remarkable performance.

DJANGO UNCHAINED possesses Tarantino's legendary style and panache and is beautifully photographed by Robert Richardson. One of the best films of 2012. I still have trouble believing the film is 165 minutes long. Tarantino just grabs hold of you and fastens you in for a cinematic ride you'll long remember.

Looking back at 1980 East Germany director Christian Petzold conjures up a dreary Orwellian world of suppressed emotions, police state invasiveness and a simmering yearning for something better. The work of Cinematographer Hans Fromm creates an atmosphere of almost perpetual colorless twilight and Petzold's laconic scenes and long takes create a subtle but omnipresent feeling of oppression and paranoia.

In a beautifully understated performance Nina Hoss (Barbara) is a doctor whose desire to leave East Germany results in her being punished through relocation to a rural village clinic where she encounters clinic chief Ronald Zehrfeld (Dr. Reiser). Reiser appears to be sympathetic but she is reluctant to trust him. Jasna Fritzi Bauer is Stella a young girl who constantly escapes juvenile work camps seeking refuge at the clinic. Mark Waschke is Jorg a well-to-do foreigner who loves Barbara and offers to help her escape to Denmark where they can be together. Rainer Bock is a Stasi officer who periodically subjects Barbara to strip searches in an attempt to harass and prevent her from fleeing.

"Barbara" is a quiet character piece. It's a subtle, tense, humanistic drama not ideally suited for audiences of plot-driven pictures. Nina Hoss deserves serious consideration from the Academy as hers is one of the best performances by an actress this year.

I don't get all the negativity directed at this film. I thought it was charming and witty. History is rarely so much fun.

The story is simple enough. On the eve of World War II King George VI and his wife journey to the US to see President Roosevelt at his family's Hyde Park retreat hoping to secure American support against Nazi Germany. The FDR we see here isn't the Great Depression/war leader he's a weary man battling polio and trying to find solace in relationships with a distant cousin among others.

Bill Murray gives an amazing performance humanizing the 32nd president an avid stamp collector who during this period when another European war appeared inevitable was more likely to find himself seeking peaceful coexistence between his dominating mother and estranged wife, Eleanor. Laura Linney is Margaret Suckley an unassuming, humble cousin who becomes a regular visitor to the retreat at the time of the royal visit. Samuel West and Olivia Colman are a convincing King and Queen making the first visit in history to the US by a British monarch. I found "Hyde Park On the Hudson" a delightful little film and the 95 minutes flew by leaving me wishing for more.

Silver Linings Playbook is a wonderful modern romantic comedy from director/screenwriter David O. Russell. The cast is excellent especially Jennifer Lawrence whose work here could earn her an Academy Award nomination. Bradley Cooper is a former teacher recently released from a mental institution after being sentenced for a violent outburst. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder he is determined to pick up his life where he left off and that includes reuniting with his wife. He isn't at all prepared for Lawrence a mentally conflicted widow living in her parents' garage. Robert DeNiro and Jacki Weaver are Cooper's football addicted dad and June Cleaver-like mom eager to help their son get his life on track. I found the characters totally believable with a nice blend of comedy and drama ultimately leading to a thrilling climax. Chris Tucker is terrific in a small role as Cooper's friend from the institution.

The poet John Godfrey Saxe wrote a few years after the Civil War, "Laws, like sausages, cease to inspire respect in proportion as we know how they are made." This comparison between laws and sausages is no more evident than in Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" an ambitious film about the principal problem facing the president, i.e., what would be the fate of the millions of slaves in the reconstructed Union. Spielberg succeeds in turning the art of negotiating into an entertaining motion picture. Lincoln the master politician and therefore a master in the art of the possible is magnificently recreated by Daniel Day Lewis whose brilliance is once again confirmed in a performance that should receive Oscar consideration. There's an outstanding supporting cast including Sally Field as Mrs. Lincoln, David Strathairn as Secretary Seward, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Robert Lincoln, Hal Holbrook as an influential Republican whose support Lincoln needs and Tommy Lee Jones as Radical Republican Thaddeus Stevens. Tony Kushner's adapted screenplay is a masterful imagining of Lincoln the country lawyer who possessed political genius that few understood at the time. It is beautifully photographed by Janusz Kaminski, edited by Michael Kahn and scored by John Williams. A first class production all the way and one that will certainly dispose of any comfortable notions people may have that past generations possessed some great wisdom and courage that far supersedes anything we see in Washington today. As it says in Ecclesiastes, "there is nothing new under the sun".

So how much do you wish to know about Alfred Hitchcock and the making of one of the seminal horror movies of all time? This film based on a book by Stephen Rebello, "Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho",approaches the subject both personally and professionally. In 1960 Hitchcock was 60 years old and eager to escape the sophisticated, romantic thrillers that had become his trademark. When he hits on the true story of mass murderer Ed Gein he believes he has found his next project despite the negative reaction coming from Hollywood still locked in the grips of conservatism and needing to appease censorship bureaus. Anthony Hopkins does a very good Hitchcock impersonation and manages to make us feel the human being behind the rigid, portly exterior. His wife Alma Reville is played by Helen Mirren and she's so good that as some have suggested she almost steals the picture. Alma is a talented writer and devoted wife to a complicated man with a well-known tendency to fantasize about his leading ladies. Sometimes the weight of sharing Hitchcock with his screen goddesses is too much to bear so she isn't immune to a little flirtation that comes her way. The rest of the cast is quite good at recreating the actors who worked on "Psycho". Scarlett Johansson nails it as Janet Leigh in voice and expression. James D'Arcy is a timid Anthony Perkins uneasy about breaking with typecasting and looking toward Hitchcock for stewardship. The impressive cast also includes Danny Huston, Toni Colette and Jessica Biel. I enjoyed "Hitchcock" an entertaining look back to the making of movie classic. It makes a nice companion film to "Psycho" as Clint Eastwood's "White Hunter Black Heart" does for "The African Queen".

"A Royal Affair" is a Danish/Swedish/Czech production about the reign of 18th century King Christian VII of Denmark, his Welsh wife and a German physician whose progressive ideas shake Denmark's conservative ruling class to its foundations. As best I can discern the film tries to keep true to actual history with some embellishments added concerning the role of the Queen in the political machinations along with some reasonable speculation about a possible menage a trois. The screenplay by Nikolaj Arcel and Rasmus Heisterberg does a nice job of capturing the unusual atmosphere of life at a court governed by a mentally unstable monarch who's little more than a nuisance puppet of the nobility and the church. In the middle of all that is the young English Queen trapped in a loveless marriage. She is also disturbed by the unwillingness of her adopted country to accept the ideas of the Enlightenment then circulating around Europe. Under the direction of Nikolaj Arcel "A Royal Affair" is an effective recreation of a bygone age yet one in which we can see our contemporary quagmire between those who advocate change and those condemning it. Mikkel Folsgaard is excellent as the King. He never descends to caricature and is both powerful and pitiable. Mads Mikkelsen is compelling as Dr. Johann Struensee a noble but flawed man given a rare opportunity to improve the lot of the lower classes who are suspicious of him as a foreigner usurping the state. Alicia Vikander is Caroline Mathilde a Welsh princess sent to Denmark in an arranged marriage of noble households with no idea of what's in store for her. This is very good intelligent costume drama that should please fans of the genre. Well worth seeing.