Some sad news late tonight, as it was just reported that James Garner passed away at the age of 86. A television legend who starred in two iconic series, Maverick (1957-62) and The Rockford Files (1974-80), along with a very successful film career that spanned over five decades. Some of Garner's most notable roles included movies like The Great Escape (1963), The Americanization of Emily (1964), Victor/Victoria (1982), Murphy's Romance (1985), for which he received an Oscar nomination, and The Notebook (2004). But he will always be best known and remembered for his iconic character Bret Maverick in the comedy western television series, which he starred on from 1957 to 1960, a role that he reprised in a supporting part in the 1994 film remake. Series creator Roy Huggins even reworked the premise into The Rockford Files in the 1970's, with Garner playing Jim Rockford, essentially Maverick as a modern day private investigator, and finally winning an Emmy for the role in 1977. He was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1990 and received the SAG Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005.
REVIEW: "Under the Skin" (2014) Scarlett Johansson. Dir. Jonathan Glazer
Jonathan Glazer's strange and haunting Under the Skin is a triumph of visual storytelling, like few films since the silent era have been able to accomplish. It's filled with moments of spellbinding wonder, and if you are open-minded enough to let it wash over you and experience the film as a series of images, you will be in for a rare cinematic treat.
This is not a film that bothers to set up a conventional narrative, to go from Point A to Point B, although when it's over, you can think back on it and realize that it actually does tell a story, but it does so with mostly images and sounds (rarely the sounds of dialogue, which is spare). What little setup there is involves Scarlett Johansson, perfectly cast as this literal otherworldly being, who for unexplained reasons has set herself up in the mountainous towns of a very scenic Scotland, where she has taken the place of her predecessor to go about the wearying task of hunting down young single men and leading them back to her apartment. What happens to them then is for you to experience (or try to interpret) for yourself, as those eery moments inside her house are some of the movie's most strikingly memorable. None of this "plot," is really explained however, leaving it up to the viewer to piece together what's going on, and if you're as entranced by the mood and atmosphere of the film as I was, you'll realize that you truly can start to follow the events, just by watching this externally perfect female alien as she goes about her long, not entirely aimless days.
Scarlett Johansson's never been particularly known for her acting talent, her image having been more or less entirely absorbed by her voluptuous looks and sensuality. But here, cast as a surreal creature not of this world or any other, it seems to suit her screen presence like no role she's had since perhaps Lost in Translation. Standing apart from humanity in a body she doesn't understand would of course turn out to be the perfect part for someone who's always seemed a little out of this world anyway. As the predator who preys on men for some vague, arbitrary assignment we're not fully aware of and can never comprehend, I was reminded at times in this movie of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, another science fiction story that had to be experienced rather than simply seen. Glazer creates some lasting moments of awe and visual splendor in this film that I will not soon forget, and as an audience member the pictures wash over you in ways that are more felt than observed. There's the sequence of Johansson dragging a body from the rocks of the ocean's waves while disregarding a crying baby on the shore, or the shocking fates of the various men who meet their doom in Scarlett's apartment that recall the vivd imagination of David Lynch's worst nightmares in Eraserhead (another clear influence on parts of this film).
Finally, just when you've grabbed hold of the concept at play and are wondering how far this premise can sustain itself, the unnamed being undergoes a sudden change of heart, and the story shifts from being one of dreamlike horror to one of self-discovery and lost meaning. We begin to not just observe but question her thoughts and shifting emotions, a feat even more impressive considering the near silent performance that Johansson gives until the movie's unforgettable and startling conclusion. At this point we're so enshrined in her headspace that we are starting to sympathize, if not identify, with her still unknowable predicament. It's a gradual shift, but it happens in strange and serendipitous fashion. Under the Skin is bound to confound a lot of people, but as a piece of visual filmmaking, it's a hypnotic achievement and a must see for serious moviegoers.
* * * 1/2
Movie of the Day: "Dirty Dancing" (1987)
Another summer romance completes our picks for summer movies this week. In this dance movie classic that became a cultural phenomenon in 1987, Jennifer Grey (who was 27 but looked 12) stars as the teenage Baby, who travels to the Catskills with her family in the summer of 1963, and falls in with the crowd of dancers who work as the hired help and occasionally sleep with the stuffy rich guests who spend their vacations there. She meets the sexy, older Johnny, (real life dancer Patrick Swayze), who teaches her how to move...in all kinds of ways. A swoony summer fling ensues (set to a classic '80's soundtrack) and an all time guilty pleasure was born. It's the perfect cap to our week of summer time flicks, so maybe collect all five and do a binge over the weekend, or sometime before the summer's out. It'll be worth it.
Original 1987 Trailer:
Scarlett Johansson as "Lucy"
Here are a couple of red band clips of ScarJo kicking ass as the superhuman Lucy, who makes the most of the myth about human beings only being able to use 10% of their brain. When a journalist asked Luc Besson if he was aware that that "statistic" was actually completely untrue, he just laughed it off and said he knew that, but it'd be cool if it was. That perfectly describes Besson's attitude towards the action movies he makes, which can be way over the top and usually hit and miss (his best are Nikita, The Professional and The Fifth Element), but maybe this one will work, as thanks to the Avengers movies, people are used to seeing Johansson as an action heroine now (it does kind of suit her stoic acting style to have to be so cool and unemotional). Lucy comes out next Friday.
Movie of the Day: "Little Miss Sunshine" (2006)
Time for another wacky family road trip movie, with 2006's Little Miss Sunshine stepping up to the plate as today's summer vacation pick. So popular it became a Best PIcture nominee, with Alan Arkin winning an Oscar for a character he's been playing ever since, and little Abigail Breslin being nodded as well. A cast filled with indie dream actors peppers this movie with humor, charm and chemistry as the dysfunctional family in crisis sets off in a busted up minivan to take little Olive (Breslin) to the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant in California. Heartwarming and crowdpleasing, and topped off with a hilarious climactic dance scene involving Rick James's "Superfreak," for which Breslin got the nomination. A little sentimental maybe, but it's still fun to hang out with this group of misfits, especially Steve Carell as the scene-stealing suicidal uncle.
Original Trailer:
FIRST LOOK: "Avengers: Age of Ultron"
As always, EW.com has the exclusive first stills from the Avengers sequel, coming out next summer. You get a look at the twins Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver (played by Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Johnson, who were married in Godzilla), and several shots of the Avengers themselves, so you can see who's got a new look and who doesn't. Nice to see Don Cheadle hanging out with the gang (below) as Rhodey presumably makes a cameo the way Pepper did in the first one. And I'm not surprised to see Chris Evans front and center with RDJ on the magazine cover, especially after Winter Soldier did so well this spring.
TRAILER: "Mommy"
This Canadian comedy-drama from 25-year-old French filmmaker Xavier Dolan won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and got great reviews from the critics. I would imagine it would be Canada's entry in the Foreign Language Film category at the Oscars next year, but we'll see. And in case you were wondering, yes this movie was filmed in that strange 1:1 aspect ratio you see on the trailer. It's a bit jarring to look at but it didn't seem to deter the critics any, so I guess it works. It's being released in September, but I don't know when we'll see it in the U.S. (maybe not until next year).
Movie of the Day: "Summertime" (1955)
I recommended this film back when we celebrated Katharine Hepburn's birthday, but it's also a perfect entry in our summer movie week, as the title obviously suggests. A middle-aged Kate Hepburn is a single, independent woman who journeys to Venice by herself, and proceeds to fall in love with the city and Rossano Brazzi, the dashing Italian stranger who sweeps her off her feet. David Lean makes Venice look ravishing (as he had a knack for doing wherever he filmed) and it's a gushingly romantic movie that may have defined the term "chick flick," but it's so good that it doesn't matter. Just let it whisk you away on the waves of fleeting summer romance.
Original 1955 Trailer:
TRAILER: "Rio, I Love You"
A sequel of sorts in the continuing series of anthology films based in one city, following 2007's Paris, je t'aime and 2009's New York, I Love You. I don't recognize many of the directors in this one though, other than Paolo Sorrentino (The Great Beauty) and Fernando Mereilles (City of God). It may not amount to much, seeing as Paris je t'aime is still the only celebrated film in this series, and all anthology movies are by nature, hit and miss.
TRAILER: "Laggies"
Another Sundance hit is coming out in October, and this one stars Keira Knightley (as an American!), Chloe Moretz and Sam Rockwell. Directed by Lynn Shelton, the independent filmmaker known for films like Humpday and Your Sister's Sister, but this is supposed to be her most commercial movie yet. As jarring as it is to hear Keira Knightley speak in an American accent (her voice sounds totally different, but it does look like she's improved it since 2005's The Jacket), the movie looks like it could be kind of cute. It comes out Oct 24th.
Movie of the Day: "National Lampoon's Vacation" (1983)
Our next summer vacation classic is National Lampoon's Vacation, from 1983, where the dopey and clueless Clark Griswold hauls his family on a cross-country drive to visit the famed Wally World in California. This is Chevy Chase in peak form, as his earnest and naive all american guy persona gradually shifts to desperate and crazed as the disastrous vacation takes its toll on him. Everything that could go wrong, does go wrong, from dead grandmas to creepy Cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid) and because they didn't have to cater to the bland and destructive PG-13 rating in the 80's, there's no problem shifting tones from slapstick hijinks to subversive black comedy, which makes it even funnier and gives it an edge the later ones didn't have. Like with yesterday's pick Jaws, the sequels destroyed this franchise quickly (although Christmas Vacation has its moments), but the original still cracks me up. It's Chevy Chase at his best (also directed by the late, great Harold Ramis).
Original 1983 Trailer:
Blu-Ray Pick of the Week: "Pickpocket" (1959)
After a couple of sorry weeks with virtually no good options released on blu-ray, our weekly feature is finally back with a great pick from the always reliable guys at Criterion Collection. French director Robert Bresson was the master of minimalism, and he's normally something of an acquired taste. Pickpocket though, is one of his most accessible movies, the slick and quietly moving story of how an expert thief goes about his work. It feels very modern in style and acting (as Bresson's movies usually do) and the crook's redemption at the end is enough to bring a tear to your eye. Definitely seek this one out if you can.
Original 1959 Trailer:
