RED RIDING HOOD 2.5***
This movie is interesting and fun in how it takes the classic fairy tale and turns it into a somewhat suspenseful mystery. And instead of a wolf there is a werewolf ( maybe because the Director, Catherine Hardwick, directed the first 2 “Twilight” films). “Red Riding Hood” ( RRH) reminded me of 'The Village' in that they have similar premises. In both, the villages are being terrorized by some sort of being and all the villagers are scared yet in RRH most of the villagers also could be the werewolf… lots of suspects. And it is a better film than “The Village”.
The best thing about this movie is the mystery about who the werewolf is. My guesses kept changing throughout the film because there are so many “red” herrings and, as it turns out, the werewolf isn't who you think it is ! I was surprised by the ending and did no expect the conclusion. That makes for a fun film.
In this version, Red Riding Hood is not a little girl. But, instead, she is a beautiful young woman who is portrayed by a beautiful young actress, Amanda Seyried, with the blond hair and bewitching “doe” eyes. Others in the cast include Julie Christie ( Grandmother), Virginia Madsen ( the Mother) and Gary Oldman (father Soloman who is summoned to be the werewolf slayer)
The problem with RRH is that it tries to be too many things but in the process tip toes around too much so as not to offend the targeted audiences. The suspense is muted and lacking of danger, anguish or horror because they are fearful of being too violent for the teen audience. The romance does not deliver very well because they don’t want to drive away the horror fans. The result is that the film misses the mark in both respects.
Clark
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Friday, May 6, 2011
THE CONSPIRATOR 3.0****
You may think you know the story about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln but probably not… I didn’t. ! You almost certainly don't know the story of one of the so called conspirators Mary Surratt who ran the boarding house where John Wilkes Booth met with his friends The story starts off focusing on Frederick Aiken (James McAvoy) a young Union officer wounded on the battlefield during the Civil War. It turns out that he is a lawyer in civilian life and shortly after he leaves the military he is being pressured by his senior law associate to defend Mary Surratt (Robin Wright). The trial is being conducted by a military court ( think Guantanamo) with judge and jury being Union soldiers and an ace prosecutor Joseph Holt with Secretary of War Edwin Stanton (Kevin Kline) calling the shots from behind the scenes. Besides being a fascinating piece of little known history, the film is beautifully photographed, with near perfect period costumes but yet it draws the viewer in and makes you feel that you are watching a very real life high stakes drama. Of course this is also a thinking person's movie and you have to come away appreciating how the strength of our constitution gets tested from time to time and you wonder if it passed the test after Lincoln got shot as we sometimes wonder how it is doing today.
The entire cast was excellent especially Robin Wright as the owner of the boarding house where the plot was born, and James McIvoy as her defense attorney. Her case and possible involvement were the crux of the fine story. With exactly the right touch and control, special praise goes to director Redford. His sparse direction kept the story moving without those often used overlong, anguished and soulful scenes played mainly to evoke viewer pity. Redford told this story without gross sentiment, but factually and straightforward, with excellent historical accuracy in personal mannerisms, grooming, speech patterns, costumes and scene staging.
A truly excellent Civil War drama that showed that nothing ever changes in the ambitions of the power driven human political animal, as that ambition always comes first no matter the immorality, cruelty and inhumanity used to achieve it. And, as always, we who are not that way are all the worse due to those who are. Another example of the fact that we never seem to learn much from our many mistakes and inhumanities committed through the years.
Clark
You may think you know the story about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln but probably not… I didn’t. ! You almost certainly don't know the story of one of the so called conspirators Mary Surratt who ran the boarding house where John Wilkes Booth met with his friends The story starts off focusing on Frederick Aiken (James McAvoy) a young Union officer wounded on the battlefield during the Civil War. It turns out that he is a lawyer in civilian life and shortly after he leaves the military he is being pressured by his senior law associate to defend Mary Surratt (Robin Wright). The trial is being conducted by a military court ( think Guantanamo) with judge and jury being Union soldiers and an ace prosecutor Joseph Holt with Secretary of War Edwin Stanton (Kevin Kline) calling the shots from behind the scenes. Besides being a fascinating piece of little known history, the film is beautifully photographed, with near perfect period costumes but yet it draws the viewer in and makes you feel that you are watching a very real life high stakes drama. Of course this is also a thinking person's movie and you have to come away appreciating how the strength of our constitution gets tested from time to time and you wonder if it passed the test after Lincoln got shot as we sometimes wonder how it is doing today.
The entire cast was excellent especially Robin Wright as the owner of the boarding house where the plot was born, and James McIvoy as her defense attorney. Her case and possible involvement were the crux of the fine story. With exactly the right touch and control, special praise goes to director Redford. His sparse direction kept the story moving without those often used overlong, anguished and soulful scenes played mainly to evoke viewer pity. Redford told this story without gross sentiment, but factually and straightforward, with excellent historical accuracy in personal mannerisms, grooming, speech patterns, costumes and scene staging.
A truly excellent Civil War drama that showed that nothing ever changes in the ambitions of the power driven human political animal, as that ambition always comes first no matter the immorality, cruelty and inhumanity used to achieve it. And, as always, we who are not that way are all the worse due to those who are. Another example of the fact that we never seem to learn much from our many mistakes and inhumanities committed through the years.
Clark
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
WIN WIN 3.5***
Director Tom McCarthy has put together a fine third film in “Win Win” (other 2 films: “The Station Agent” and “The Visitor”). It features a normal suburban family with normal suburban problems. Paul Giamatti is "Mike Flaherty" an attorney with a small practice who's also a high school wrestling coach. He's not perfect, but he's doing the best he can. He and his wife "Jackie" (the always wonderful Amy Ryan) are busy raising two kids and leading their quiet life. But when Mike gives into temptation to become the guardian of one his elderly clients (for the $1,500 a month commission) things get to be a little more complicated. The client's grandson, a troubled 16-year-old kid named "Kyle" (Alex Shaffer) comes to stay with his grandfather while his mother goes through her drug treatment. Since his grandfather is living in a retirement home, Kyle ends up staying with Mike and Jackie, who feel compelled to help the kid out .Kyle also turns out to be an exceptional wrestler and enrolls in high school and becomes the star wrestler.
The film is funny and sweet and paints a really true-to-life portrait of its characters. No one is purely good or purely bad, they're all just human. They make mistakes, whether large or small, and they try to make up for them.
Paul Giamatti is great in this, giving a much lower key performance than some of his previous works like “American Splendor” and “Sideways”. " He falls into the suburban dad character very well and wears the character's skin rather nicely. Amy Ryan is always a joy to see on-screen. Bobby Cannavale and Jeffrey Tambor are fun to watch as well, but serve generally to provide comedic relief. Alex Shaffer, as Kyle, was in real life all state wrestling champion and in his very first acting role, holds his own among some heavyweight actors. His sort of deadpan, monotone delivery works very well for the character of Kyle. And of course he displays remarkable skills as a wrestler.
“Win Win” is an amazing, near perfect indie sleeper. The whole movie can be summed up in one word: authentic. The characters do not overact, the plot is fun and believable, and the whole thing fells so real. It is a great example of what a family drama/comedy should be: fun, believable, and relatable. This movie was excellent from beginning to end.
Clark
Director Tom McCarthy has put together a fine third film in “Win Win” (other 2 films: “The Station Agent” and “The Visitor”). It features a normal suburban family with normal suburban problems. Paul Giamatti is "Mike Flaherty" an attorney with a small practice who's also a high school wrestling coach. He's not perfect, but he's doing the best he can. He and his wife "Jackie" (the always wonderful Amy Ryan) are busy raising two kids and leading their quiet life. But when Mike gives into temptation to become the guardian of one his elderly clients (for the $1,500 a month commission) things get to be a little more complicated. The client's grandson, a troubled 16-year-old kid named "Kyle" (Alex Shaffer) comes to stay with his grandfather while his mother goes through her drug treatment. Since his grandfather is living in a retirement home, Kyle ends up staying with Mike and Jackie, who feel compelled to help the kid out .Kyle also turns out to be an exceptional wrestler and enrolls in high school and becomes the star wrestler.
The film is funny and sweet and paints a really true-to-life portrait of its characters. No one is purely good or purely bad, they're all just human. They make mistakes, whether large or small, and they try to make up for them.
Paul Giamatti is great in this, giving a much lower key performance than some of his previous works like “American Splendor” and “Sideways”. " He falls into the suburban dad character very well and wears the character's skin rather nicely. Amy Ryan is always a joy to see on-screen. Bobby Cannavale and Jeffrey Tambor are fun to watch as well, but serve generally to provide comedic relief. Alex Shaffer, as Kyle, was in real life all state wrestling champion and in his very first acting role, holds his own among some heavyweight actors. His sort of deadpan, monotone delivery works very well for the character of Kyle. And of course he displays remarkable skills as a wrestler.
“Win Win” is an amazing, near perfect indie sleeper. The whole movie can be summed up in one word: authentic. The characters do not overact, the plot is fun and believable, and the whole thing fells so real. It is a great example of what a family drama/comedy should be: fun, believable, and relatable. This movie was excellent from beginning to end.
Clark
Monday, May 2, 2011
HANNA 3.5****
Hanna (Saorise Roman… she was the young girl in “Atonement” and the lead in “Lovely Bones”) is a sixteen-year-old girl living out in the Finnish wilderness with her father, Erik (Eric Bana). Her father aggressively trains Hanna from when she was a young girl to be a lethal and stealthy killer armed with an amazing intelligence that includes speaking multiple languages. The ultimate goal of the training is for Hanna to find and to kill Marissa Wiegler, played by Cate Blanchet, a handler for the CIA. The motive behind why they want her dead is part of an interesting storyline I won’t give away. We are led on a journey with Hanna, uncovering truths about her past and seeing what it's like in the real world being a teenage girl with remarkable skills ( along the lines of Bourne) all the while being hunted by very skilled killers.
Joe Wright, the Director ( he directed “Atonement” and “Pride & Prejudice”) takes an action movie and mixes it with fairy tale themes and beautiful masterful shots and creates a movie that is unlike any CIA spy movie you’ve ever seen before. On top of that, his action scenes are excellent. They're not loud or explosive, but instead the camera focuses on the character’s face while in hand to hand combat, and on occasion I’ll be done t all in one shot making it that much more impressive and real.
The cast is excellent and is strongly led by Saoirse Ronan, who is and will be a huge talent in the next few years. She plays Hanna extremely well showing her vulnerable and innocent side while also being this bad ass teenage girl. Eric Bana plays an integral part as the father. Finally, we have Cate Blanchet who is always going to be great and she especially shines in this role. Marissa Wiegler is pretty much seen as a wicked witch but with a strong sadistic, almost psychotic personality, making her a really interesting character.
To me Hanna is the first quiet sleeper hit of the year. The fine performances and amazing fight sequences are all complemented by one of the best soundtracks lately. The music is done by The Chemical Brothers and they make every scene that much more fun to watch, and especially so during the action scenes. Director Wright has turned a basic CIA story with a few mysteries into something that is fun, intriguing and different than other spy/assassin films.
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some sexual material and language. But it’s almost tame compared to other action films.
Clark
.
Hanna (Saorise Roman… she was the young girl in “Atonement” and the lead in “Lovely Bones”) is a sixteen-year-old girl living out in the Finnish wilderness with her father, Erik (Eric Bana). Her father aggressively trains Hanna from when she was a young girl to be a lethal and stealthy killer armed with an amazing intelligence that includes speaking multiple languages. The ultimate goal of the training is for Hanna to find and to kill Marissa Wiegler, played by Cate Blanchet, a handler for the CIA. The motive behind why they want her dead is part of an interesting storyline I won’t give away. We are led on a journey with Hanna, uncovering truths about her past and seeing what it's like in the real world being a teenage girl with remarkable skills ( along the lines of Bourne) all the while being hunted by very skilled killers.
Joe Wright, the Director ( he directed “Atonement” and “Pride & Prejudice”) takes an action movie and mixes it with fairy tale themes and beautiful masterful shots and creates a movie that is unlike any CIA spy movie you’ve ever seen before. On top of that, his action scenes are excellent. They're not loud or explosive, but instead the camera focuses on the character’s face while in hand to hand combat, and on occasion I’ll be done t all in one shot making it that much more impressive and real.
The cast is excellent and is strongly led by Saoirse Ronan, who is and will be a huge talent in the next few years. She plays Hanna extremely well showing her vulnerable and innocent side while also being this bad ass teenage girl. Eric Bana plays an integral part as the father. Finally, we have Cate Blanchet who is always going to be great and she especially shines in this role. Marissa Wiegler is pretty much seen as a wicked witch but with a strong sadistic, almost psychotic personality, making her a really interesting character.
To me Hanna is the first quiet sleeper hit of the year. The fine performances and amazing fight sequences are all complemented by one of the best soundtracks lately. The music is done by The Chemical Brothers and they make every scene that much more fun to watch, and especially so during the action scenes. Director Wright has turned a basic CIA story with a few mysteries into something that is fun, intriguing and different than other spy/assassin films.
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some sexual material and language. But it’s almost tame compared to other action films.
Clark
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