'Birdman' Opens to Spectacular Reviews in Venice

Alejandro Innarritu's Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) has just made a huge splash at the Venice Film Festival, garnering nearly unanimous praise from critics, and now kicking off the Oscar race with a pretty big bang. Michael Keaton is getting career best notices, and it looks like a for sure Best Actor nomination, which would be his first ever, and the film itself is being described as a buoyant, imaginative black comedy that critiques celebrity culture in modern society. Sounds pretty amazing, and I can't wait to see it when it comes out October 17th. Birdman is going to be showing at the Telluride Film Festival this weekend, which will also screen The Imitation Game, Wild and Jon Stewart's Rosewater as the official kickoff to awards season.

"Innarritu's fifth and best feature provides the delirious coup de grace- a triumph on every level, from casting to execution, that will electrify the industry, captivate arthouse and megaplex crowds alike, send awards pundits into orbit and give fresh wings to Keaton's career." (Variety)

"Intense emotional currents and the jagged feelings of volatile actors are turned loose to raucous dramatic and darkly comedic effect in one of the most sustained examples of visually fluid tour de force cinema anyone's ever seen, all in the service of a story that examines the changing nature of celebrity and the popular regard for fame over creative achievement." (Hollywood Reporter)

"This is, in at least two senses, the role of Keaton's career. He summons up all the manic comic energy of his early work in films like 'Night Shift' and 'Beetlejuice,' but seems half-fried by it, and as the heat increases on all sides, you can almost smell him sizzling." (The Telegraph)

"It's dazzling and rambling, intimate and sprawling, and it's carried along by an infectious, off-the-cuff jazz score. As soon as it ends, you'll be dying to fly with it again." (Time Out London)

TV SPOT: "Gone Girl"

This new ad for Gone Girl premiered during the Emmys last night. I have to say, every new promo I see for this movie makes me more excited for it. It's going to be showing at the New York Film Festival, which starts Sept. 26th, so we'll hear how it is then, but it's also coming out very soon after that, on October 3rd. I can't wait.

Blu-Ray Pick of the Week: "All That Jazz" (1979)

A different kind of musical is out on blu-ray this week, and it's one of the best and most exuberant of the 1970's. Kind of an autobiographical look inside the head of Bob Fosse himself (who directed), that was obviously inspired by Fellini's 8 1/2, but it definitely works on its own too, thanks to the great performances and imaginative musical numbers. Roy Scheider plays Joe Gideon, the film and stage director who can barely handle his work and various personal hangups when not in a drug addled state, while a young Jessica Lange appears as his dark angel of death. The movie's an exhilarating ride that was nominated for 9 Oscars and won five.

Original 1979 Trailer:

REVIEW: "How to Train Your Dragon 2" (2014) Jay Baruchel, Cate Blanchett. Dir. Dean DeBlois

How to Train Your Dragon 2 is the rare sequel that's an improvement on the original, which is a very big compliment because the first was a wonderful movie in its own right. But everything that was great about the first one is expanded upon in this one- it feels bigger in scope, ambition, themes and leaves a stronger emotional impact, along with breathtaking visual and flight sequences that are (like in the first movie) worth the price of admission alone, especially in a theater.

We pick up on the island of Berk five years after the events of the first How to Train Your Dragon, and Hiccup (voiced again by Jay Baruchel) is now a twenty year old young man who his father Stoick (Gerard Butler) wants to anoint as chief of the island. The population all has dragons of their own to contend with, and the villagers spend their time participating in complicated tournaments involving tossing and catching sheep through hoops (don't ask) while riding on the various dragon's backs. Life is now idyllic on the isand and Hiccup is admired for being a kind of dragonmaster after he discovered how to tame them, but he's rebellious and would rather spend his time exploring far off lands with his loyal buddy Toothless, the adorable Night Fury, who goes through his own journey of personal discovery in this movie.

Conflict comes from a dangerous dragon hunter called Drogo (Djimon Hounsou) who has an ominous past with Stoick, and wants to hunt down and capture all the dragons he can find, rather than tame them and learn to cohabit peacefully, as the citizens of Berk have done. The earnest Hiccup thinks he can talk him into their way of life, while Stoick warns him it's a chief's duty to protect his own. The already fairly heavy plot is complicated even more when Hiccup accidentally finds his long lost mother Valka (Cate Blanchett) on one of his journeys and discovers how he inherited his own peace loving and caretaking nature. The movie's moral weight comes from its absolute devotion to the caring of these animals by the humans, and writer-director Dean DeBlois seems to really believe it's our duty to protect and preserve any kind of intelligent animal life. Okay, so these are mythological creatures, but there's an obvious metaphor in here for the protection of endangered species, and the sincere affection for the bond that can develop between human and pet is on full display, as it was in the first film. Valka lives in a shrine built by the ancient alpha dragon, which is home to hundreds of colorful, astonishing beasts of all kinds, and is one of the most visually pleasing environments you'll see on screen all year.

Speaking of the visuals, the great Roger Deakins was once again consultant on the cinematography for this film, and to say it's a feast for the eyes is beyond understatement. It's filled with lush, gorgeous backgrounds and eye-popping colors, and there's genuine exhilaration in the flying sequences, which are accompanied by John Powell's fantastically memorable score once again. These passages alone can make you feel as if you're soaring through the air yourself. Hiccup's gang of dragon-riding pals all return to provide comic relief (there's a subplot involving Ruffnut's attraction to the new guy in the group, Eret, voiced by Game of Thrones's Kit Harington), but it's really Hiccup's journey, as he must learn to accept his adult responsibilities and realize the ever present danger of befriending dangerous animals, all while also attempting to put his broken family back together. There's a real focus on the relationship between he and both of his parents in this movie that isn't often explored in other animated films, and the more serious-minded themes in this film even lead to a Bambi-esque moment in the climax that you might want to prepare the kids for in advance (bring tissues).

There may be some nitpicks to the story along the way- for example, I wasn't entirely convinced by the explanation for Valka's twenty year absence from her child's life, or Hiccup's immediate acceptance of that, although I suppose it was necessary to move the plot along. But when it's clear that this movie actually wants to explore those real human emotions it can bring questions like that up, which I guess is really another way of acknowledging the depth of maturity this film strives for. It actually has something it wants to say, along with being a rollicking entertainment for family audiences. To that end, it succeeds heartily at both, and I can't wait for the conclusion of the trilogy.

* * * 1/2

Richard Attenborough 1923-2014

Another sad passing to report today, as the BBC has confirmed that Lord Richard Attenborough has died at the age of 90. A respected actor, producer and director for decades, who'd appeared in films since the 1940's. His most notable films as an actor include Brighton Rock (1949), The Great Escape (1963), The Sand Pebbles (1966), Doctor Dolittle (1968), Jurassic Park (1993), and Miracle on 34th Street (1994), while his directing credits include Gandhi (1982), which won Best Picture and Best Director, A Chorus Line (1985), Cry Freedom (1987) and Chaplin (1992). He was also a veteran of the Royal Air Force in WWII, was knighted in 1976, and served as president of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) for the last 12 years, but I have to admit that for me personally, he'll always be John Hammond/Kriss Kringle.

Gandhi winning the Oscars for Picture and Director in 1982:

REVIEW: "Maleficent" (2014) Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning. Dir. Robert Stromberg

I generally make it a point to stay away from movies that I suspect might feel as if they stole two hours of my life from me, and I guess I made a critical error when I decided to finally catch up with Maleficent. This movie felt like it stole five hours out of my life, which is an impressive accomplishment (the only one the movie pulls off), considering it only runs about 90 minutes.

I knew I was in trouble with this movie no less than sixty seconds in, when we're introduced to the fairy world, which Maleficent inhabits as a young girl, and she's played by Ella Purnell in a phonetically flat performance, sounding as if she's reading off a teleprompter. The fairy world is poorly animated and all the sets look as if you could stick your hand right through them, which is unfortunate because this film was "directed" as such by a guy named Robert Stromberg, making his feature directorial debut, stepping over from a career as what else, an art director. That seems to be his only interest in this movie as well, because every scene is poorly directed and set up, exhibiting no vision or style whatsoever, which leads to lifeless performances from everyone (we'll get to Angelina in a second) and a deathly boring, slowly laborious mess of a movie.

The screenplay tries to spit out a poorly written "re-imagining" of the Sleeping Beauty story, but the entire premise is completely ridiculous and laughable in its execution. The iconic villain from the 1959 Disney classic is here shown as a young fairy with horns who falls in love with Prince Stefan, who decides to drug Maleficent one night and cut her wings off so he can prove he's got what it takes to be king. So Maleficent is now turned into a victim who becomes a vengeance minded demon as a result of this betrayal (is that a great message to impart to little girls? Scorned women turn evil because of a guy?) and curses the Princess Aurora when she's a baby to get back at Stefan. But soon after that, Maleficent spends the next 16 years stalking Aurora in the woods and decides she'd rather be more of a mother figure to the girl instead. Yes, it does come across as stupid as it sounds. Even worse is that it makes the whole story completely pointless. It certainly has nothing to do with Sleeping Beauty, so in that sense it truly stands apart, but if that's the only compliment I can give it, we've got serious problems.

Which brings me to the starring role. Sigh. Angelina Jolie has made nothing but poor movies for pretty much her entire career, and she once again exhibits terrible taste in projects, I suppose for the sake of being able to place her name above the poster. So does this movie work on the level of a simple showcase for one of the most famous women in the world, making her return to the big screen after four years? It's certainly not directed to be anything else, but the answer is still an emphatic no. Because the fact is she does nothing but stand around in the artificial horns and cheekbones, glowering and occasionally screaming her lines. There's no joy to the performance, only empty mechanics, and frankly this is nothing we haven't seen her do in every other movie she's been in (including bringing back that pathetic faux-British accent she's employed since the Tomb Raider movies). If you like watching her strut around in horns then I guess you'll have that to look forward to, but she's given no good character to play, no interesting characters to interact with, no clever dialogue and her shrill screaming amounts to nothing but mockable gif-moments during scenes that are seemingly intended to be serious.

It's been a long time since I've seen such a lifeless, lackluster, hollow shell of a movie wrapped under a big tent of special effects. There's no sense of magic or wonder for a movie that's based on a fairy tale, and those special effects are so cheap and ugly that they don't even provide background work with which to satisfy a fan of set design. The three good fairies are the most hideously ugly CG creations I've ever seen, rivaling only the new Ninja Turtles for the role of primary source of children's nightmares. The screenplay slogs through one pointless scene after another, giving no one anything interesting to do or say, and I can't even begin to tell you all of things that happen that don't make logical sense (it's never explained why Maleficent can't revoke her own curse or why her all consuming magic powers conveniently come and go whenever she needs to be placed in jeopardy) because by that point you care even less about anything that happens in this movie than the script does. Of the recent big budget family films in this vein that have come out in the last few years (Oz The Great and Powerful, Alice in Wonderland, Snow White and the Hunstman), this is hands down the worst of them, and certainly the worst movie I've seen since last year's Man of Steel. What a completely worthless waste of time.

*

BOX OFFICE 8/22-8/24: 'Guardians' Returns to #1; 'Sin City' Bombs

Guardians of the Galaxy landed on top of the box office again this weekend, after beating out all the new releases, and it's also crossed $252 million domestically, passing Transformers to become the biggest film of the year, and the third biggest worldwide. Another huge success for Marvel, leaving them no excuse not to kickstart a female superhero franchise (clearly they can market any obscure property they want, if that's what they're worried about) but I'm not holding my breath.

Meanwhile, the Chloe Grace Moretz starring teen novel adaptation, If I Stay, grossed $16 million for the third spot, right behind the Ninja Turtles movie, and Sin City 2 turned into one of the biggest bombs of the year, coming in with a really embarrassing $6.4 million, not even cracking the top ten. Wow. Clearly there was almost no interest in a sequel to that ten year old flick- guess it's curtains for any more Sin City's. Let's Be Cops and When the Game Stands Tall (a new release sports movie from Tri-Star- did anyone see any advertizing for that? I've never even heard if it) rounded out the top five.

Top 5:

1. Guardians of the Galaxy- $17.6 million
2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles- $16.8 million
3. If I Stay- $16.4 million
4. Let's Be Cops- $11 million
5. When the Game Stands Tall- $9 million

The only new limited release this weekend was the indie Love is Strange, which did well in five locations, earning over $24k per screen, while Boyhood hit $16 million total and appears to be on its way to $25 million or so. The rest of the summer's going to be pretty quiet- all we have next week is Pierce Brosnan in The November Man, the cheap horror film As Above, So Below, and an animated film called The Congress, from Ari Folman, director of Waltz With Bashir.

REVIEW: "Calvary" (2014) Brendan Gleeson, Chris O'Dowd. Dir. John Michael McDonagh

Calvary is a very ambitious little movie that tries to tackle a lot of weighty issues, and seems to be an exploration of its writer-director John McDonagh's complicated and contradictory feelings towards the Catholic Church. Most of the characters in this movie harbor ill will and hostility in their varying emotional reactions towards the institution itself, as they question what it means to have faith in modern society. There are no easy answers in this film, just the raising of a lot of questions and expressions of anger, exposed through the prism of what's a rather perplexing film at times, structured in such a way that appears mostly allegorical, reveling alternatively in moments of black comedy, philosophical query and morality play.

It occasionally bites off more than it can chew, but the movie is never less than compelling as it moves briskly through these issues. Brendan Gleeson (who also starred in McDonagh's last feature The Guard) is a solid, sympathetic anchor as the good priest of a small town in Ireland, who's immediately faced with a threat of danger in the film's opening scene. Someone we cannot see is speaking to him in confession, telling him he was raped by a priest for five years as a child. The perpetrator is dead, which leaves Gleeson stumped as to what to tell the man, who seeks vengeance. The man then firmly tells the priest that he's going to kill him in one week, leaving him just enough time to get his affairs in order, and the priest agrees to meet him on the set day. Gleeson is rather calm about his impending death, and spends the week going about his duties, seeking to counsel the various townspeople with all of their personal troubles, as well as dealing with the higher-ups in his own parish. He's also paid a visit from his 30-year-old daughter (Kelly Reilly), who's just recovering from a failed suicide attempt over a bad relationship (he became a priest after he was widowed).

The priest is a very human figure, a sympathetic and good man who perhaps represents any affection McDonagh still has, at least for individuals within the Church. Unfortunately, despite not suffering any particular personal crisis of faith, Gleeson finds himself at odds with the changed attitudes toward priests and the church itself. Most of the people he counsels are disillusioned and suspicious of either his intentions or his usefulness. It's this part of the film that feels most allegorical, as even though the priest is human and specific, the various citizens of this village are not, most representing some bigger, weightier theme that's currently pressing on the outside world. These people exist on the level of metaphor, serving simply to have conversations with the priest that illuminate the view from outside- there's the physically abused and casually promiscuous woman, the financial criminal who cares nothing about so-called sins of ownership and takes pride in his escape from justice, the convicted serial killer who experiences no remorse, the immigrant facing prejudice, etc. All of them have personal grievances with the church for one reason or another, and none of them can be helped despite the priest's best attempts. He has success with one devout Frenchwoman when personal tragedy strikes her life, but it's not enough to stop the church from literally burning as the townspeople watch with little concern or regard.

The movie strikes a strange tonal mix as it hits on some very broad humor within these interactions, including some characters that feel so big it's as if they wandered in from another film (I'm thinking of the extremely cartoonish male gigolo who also bears a grudge against the church and takes it out on the priest). Another character who'd seem more at home in a Neil Simon play is the detached and unconcerned fellow priest who shares the parish with Gleeson, although his ignorance about modern day problems plays for genuine laughs. For every scene that doesn't work, there's another that's extremely powerful, such as the moment where we can feel Gleeson's despair when an alarmed parent practically rips his child away from standing on the same street as Gleeson, fearing the collar of the priesthood on sight, when we know there was a time when that would have been a moment of reassurance. There are no people in this world that exist in their own universe, giving it the effect of feeling something like a play, as villagers walk into the frame, say their piece, and leave with various monologues in tow. There are also no answers to McDonagh's grievances about the world, it simply feels like a moment in time that we've all gotten used to, as we try to figure out where to go from here in regards to organized religion. As far as that goes, Calvary is a very timely examination of society's relationship to the church at this current moment, and a fascinating one at that. It's also one of the most different and thought provoking films you'll experience this year, and one of the most relevant.

* * *

TRAILER: "Nightcrawler"

I originally thought this movie looked like a Taxi Driver kind of thing, but now with this new trailer, it's obviously something more like Network (which was coincidentally, another Best Picture nominee from the same year as Taxi Driver). Gyllenhaal is still creepy but you can see he's actually going for something much broader and over the top than the teaser made it look. Nightcrawler's coming out on Halloween.

POSTER: "The Theory of Everything"

This is one odd poster for the Stephen Hawking movie, The Theory of Everything. What's with the angle? Anyone have a clue? The movie is all set to premiere at Toronto in the Gravity slot from last year. I suppose that means they think it's pretty good. Maybe Felicity Jones and Eddie Redmayne can garner some awards attention, although I do wonder if the movie will be hurt by the idea of them romanticizing a relationship that ended in affair and divorce. The trailer makes it look like a fairy tale but that clearly wasn't true.

REVIEW: "Chef" (2014) Jon Favreau, Sofia Vergara. Dir. Jon Favreau

I should confess right away that I'm not particularly subject to the extremely popular genre now known as "food porn," that a lot of people seem to go nuts over. I like food as much as the next person, and sure, lots of shots of food being made and cooked will probably make me hungry right away, but as far as a movie goes, that can't be the only aspect of entertainment involved when you're watching something, and with Jon Favreau's pet project Chef, I suspect that that is entirely the reason that it's proved to have such staying power since it came out back in May. Which frankly, given the fact that at least 70% of what's shown cooking in this movie is fried, greasy food truck product, I have to admit I'm a little grossed out by what that implies. No wonder this country is so obese.

But that was a total digression and has almost nothing to do with the film itself, which is a fluffy, simple, crowd pleasing story of a father-son bonding experience that comes across as completely sincere and from Favreau's heart- even if that heart has way too big a tendency toward fried, fattening foods. Favreau wrote, directed and stars in this small movie that he recruited several of his pals to be in with him (see Scarlett Johansson in a completely pointless role), and he's chef Carl Casper, who's bored by the way his life is going and disappointed that he can't cook his own food at his restaurant, along with being a neglectful dad towards his 10-year-old son, who only wants to spend quality time with him. So, after getting himself fired from his restaurant and blowing up at a food critic who lambasted him online, Carl finally brings himself to stop whining and accept his ex-wife's suggestion that he take up an offer from her other ex (Robert Downey Jr. in a very funny, scene stealing cameo) of a food truck that he will drive across the country and cook his own stuff in.

That leads to a long, family bonding road trip where he brings his kid and the two start up a quickly booming business with Carl's buddy and fellow cook John Leguizamo along for the ride. Despite the heavy focus on all the grease and carbs in these scenes, I actually much preferred watching the road trip part of the movie to the setup of Carl's life crisis at the beginning. As cheesy as the bonding stuff is, I bought it in this case, and to me the father-son aspect of the film was the more honest place that Favreau was coming from. You can see and feel that he really cares about repairing that rift with his kid, although it's a little bit tough to figure out why it's there in the first place, given that he has such a fantastic relationship with his ex-wife (Sofia Vergara). That brings me to the somewhat phony first half of the movie- why on earth are these two people divorced in the first place? We are given no backstory, no cause of separation (even though the split appears to be somewhat recent, less than two years) and Favreau and Vergara get along so well that she spends the whole first hour begging him to let her help him get set up and figure out a new career move- which she can also help him with in any way he could possibly need, because she's apparently so wealthy she has her own cooks, nannies and a publicist whose services she cheerfully hands over to him.

Given that very ideal divorce situation, I think I can be forgiven for thinking that Carl's self-pity is a little out of place (and kind of annoyingly smug actually), especially when the catalyst for his success comes from him finally being humble enough to simply accept her help. Given where it all ends up as far as the "broken family" goes, the only thing standing in Carl's way seemed to be some kind of misplaced pride that we are never privy to the reasons for. But hey, I was probably distracted by this kind of nitpicking because I wasn't as completely drawn in by all the food porn scenes as everyone else will be (there's a LOT, don't worry). I think most people will love this movie for the food closeups and not so much for the kid getting along with his dad, but it's a mostly pleasant, harmless little movie and for the sincerity alone, that makes it worth a look.

* * *

Blu-Ray Pick of the Week: "Y Tu Mama Tambien" (2001)

In perfect timing, our blu ray pick this week happens to be one of our movie recommendations for August as well. Alfonso Cuaron's Y Tu Mama Tambien is now on Criterion Collection and is still a great movie that is often listed as one of the very best films of world cinema you can find. A smart, funny, sexy road trip movie that's a perfect choice for capping off the end of summer. In fact, even after Gravity, I still think this smaller, more personal film from the director is probably his best movie- it'd be interesting to see him try to make something in this vein again.

Original Trailer: