Movie of the Day: "All That Heaven Allows" (1955)

Since fall is officially here this week, it's time to kick off the season with some of my favorite movies set around autumn. We start with this classic from the 1950's, Douglas Sirk's masterpiece exploring the relationship between a widow (Jane Wyman) and the gardener she falls in love with (Rock Hudson). You'd think there would be no problem with two single adults deciding to get married, but Sirk was famous for his subversive critique of 1950's American values, at a time when most people celebrated them. Wyman's friends and family are biased against Hudson for being a gardener (gasp!) and for being younger than her (the horror!). There are subtle jabs at the phony materialism, sexism and class prejudice that engulfed American society at the time, but most of Sirk's films were dumped on by critics of the day for being sappy melodramas (perhaps not so coincidentally, a lot of them were movies that centered around women's lives and the issues that affected them). But they're fascinating to watch today, for being films that were snapshots of the era from which they came and reflected perhaps the truth of the shallowness of the "good old days" when everyone was better off. Yeah, not so much. This movie still holds up both as a great romance and a picture of America brimming under the so-called perfect surface.

Original Trailer:

BOX OFFICE 9/18-9/20: 'Maze Runner 2' Topples 'Black Mass' at the Box Office

The Maze Runner sequel easily won the weekend with 30 million, besting the other new release Black Mass by over 7 million, even if it didn't manage to beat its own predecessor's 32 million opening last year. This seems to be the least popular of the three YA franchises currently coming out every year, after Hunger Games and Divergent, so I wonder how they'll justify turning the final chapter in this middling series into two separate films. Johnny Depp's Black Mass meanwhile, came in with 23 million, on par with other Boston crime dramas The Town and The Departed, but it got just a B Cinemascore, so you have to wonder how it will hold up with other adult dramas flooding the marketplace in the coming weeks.

Universal's Everest opened on 545 IMAX screens only, and earned a stellar 7.6 million from the limited release, potentially boding well for its wide release next Friday, and managing to crack the top five for the weekend. Holdovers The Perfect Guy and The Visit rounded out the chart, coming in with 11 million for The Visit and just under 10 million for The Perfect Guy- not bad holds for either of them, and considering the low budgets, both can be labeled hits.

Top 5:

1. Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials- 30.3 million
2. Black Mass- 23.4 million
3. The Visit- 11.4 million
4. The Perfect Guy- 9.7 million
5. Everest- 7.6 million

In specialty release, Sicario pulled in the best opening PTA of the year, earning 390,000 on just six screens, a 65k per theater average. The Emily Blunt/Benicio del Toro thriller doesn't go wide until Oct. 2nd though, so keep a look out. The Bobby Fischer movie, Pawn Sacrifice, earned 206k from 33 screens, while Grandma expanded to over 1000 theaters, bringing its new total to almost 4 million. Next week it's Hotel Transylvania 2 against the wide release of Everest, so it'll be interesting to see what happens there- see you then everyone!

'Room' Wins the Toronto People's Choice Award

Brie Larsen is all smiles in Toronto for Room

Now this makes things interesting. I haven't done a complete TIFF roundup, mostly because everything that premiered there (as has been the case of late), was either immediately dismissed as inconsequential by the critics (Freeheld, Trumbo, Our Brand is Crisis), or if given a good reception (The Martian), deemed too mainstream and commercial for Oscar consideration, that is unless perhaps the potential box office success can push it to a token Best Picture nomination as an acknowledgment of the the public's choice (hasn't happened lately, but if they want the Oscars to remain relevant they really should take some of the public's preferences into account, along with good reviews- movies are still made for audiences, after all). But the People's Choice Award is still a major Oscar bellwether, as 6 of the last 7 winners all went on to be at least nominated for Best Picture. No one expected Room to pull that off, but alas, the reception at TIFF was so great for this tiny film, that now it must be taken seriously for major awards consideration, and Brie Larsen just became a heavy contender for her first Best Actress nomination. The question remains whether the little studio, A24, can handle this kind of awards campaign, but obviously they have the goods with the movie itself.

Spotlight cast basks in the attention

For what it's worth, Spotlight took second place here, and the reaction from the Toronto crowd was hugely positive for this movie as well, which some are starting to call this year's Argo, a film no one can dislike and the kind that can reach a broad consensus going forward. It may be enough to label it the BP frontrunner already, since most of the late year contenders that premiere after the film festivals tend not to be able to withstand end of the year criticism or even make it to most of the voter's viewing screens by the time voting begins. So keep an eye on Spotlight, everybody. This could be the major winner to come out of the festivals this year.

Special Effects Take Over in Final Trailer for 'The Last Witch Hunter'

I don't know why I keep posting trailers for this. I guess I just like laughing at how ridiculous it looks, since you really couldn't pay me to see it when it comes out in October. I think this is the first time I've noticed Vin Diesel seems to be doing some kind of accent here- he needs to take a page out of Arnold Schwarzenegger's book and wink at the camera sometimes. Something tells me that might be the only way to semi-save this one from epic disaster.

Trailer for 'Hardcore' Tries to Live Up to Its Name

This seems kind of insane- billed as the world's first first-person shooter movie, it looks like exactly that: a shooter game come to life. A Russian production co-financed by the U.S., this actually premiered at Toronto to some interesting reviews that say its smarter and more creative than its premise suggests. Let's hope so, because based on this trailer I'd have to say this is not my cup of tea, but whether they could actually pull this off remains an intriguing question.

Gritty New 'Point Break' Trailer Ups the Action

I still don't know what the purpose of remaking Point Break is, but for those interested, here's the second trailer for the movie coming out at Christmas. I'm not even sure that the stunts could be that much improved from the original- has stuntwork made major advancements since 1991? 

Shailene Woodley is Back in Teaser Trailer for 'Allegiant'

I don't even know if this is the concluding chapter or not, but boy, this is one YA franchise that really ran out of steam quick, didn't it? Something tells me this is the worse of the two upcoming movies that Jeff Daniels is appearing in (in case you didn't catch him in the Steve Jobs trailer below). Well, if anyone cares, this movie is coming out next March.

Michael Fassbender Shines in New 'Steve Jobs' Trailer

I can't wait to see this! I'm a Sorkin devotee even of his bad stuff (I was the person who watched all of The Newsroom and Studio 60), so whatever this turns out to be, and reviews say it's bold, brassy and divisive, I bet it's right up my alley. It's coming out in limited release Oct. 9th and wide Oct. 23rd.

Chris Hemsworth Fights Off CGI Whale in New Trailer for 'In the Heart of the Sea'

I don't like movies where 98 percent of everything you're seeing onscreen looks fake, and this is going to be one of those, I can tell. Ron Howard's Moby Dick story is set to hit theaters in December, but I really couldn't be less interested. How about you guys?

Katniss is a Martyr in Final 'Mockingjay Part 2' Trailer

Okay, the spinning in slow motion version of Katniss in this trailer is bordering on parodyland, and frankly every ad for this movie makes it look more and more overtly ridiculous. God I can't wait 'til this franchise is over. Then in about two years, no one will remember the Hunger Games movies existed.

REVIEW: "Everest" (2015) Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin. Dir. Balthasar Kormakur

The allure of Mother Nature is not for the faint of heart or body. And even for those who aren't, the swallows of the earth will threaten to overwhelm the simple, tiny little man who tries and sometimes succeeds, but rarely, to conquer it. The new mountain climbing drama Everest details the painstaking process of what it takes the ascend the heights of one of Earth's most overwhelming natural forces and the doom it caused to eight climbers in the tragedy of 1996, previously described in books, documentaries and a TV movie.

Now comes the Hollywood version, and surprisingly, it's not what you would think. The ads for the film sell it as an action-packed thrill ride best seen in IMAX 3D, but what it turns out to be instead is a docudrama of the events of the '96 expeditions, a sober and straighforward re-telling of the story as it happened. A big ensemble is used to assemble the key characters but none are focused on in particular, aside from Rob Hall, played by Jason Clarke, who turned the business of climbing Everest into, well, a business, with his company called Adventure Consultants. His business model was to act as a guide for amateur climbers who wanted to make it to the top of Everest, and deal with all the challenges that brought with it. Soon, other businesses sprang forth (one called Mountain Madness is led by Jake Gyllenhaal in the film) and all began competing against each other for the glory and riches and danger of bringing people up the mountain. The film shows us the process of getting ready for the summit, the base camps, the equipment, the practice runs you must endure, the damage the climate and the heights can do to your body, and how only during a certain window of time due to ever varying weather conditions can you even attempt the summit itself.

For those unfamiliar with this process, as I was, the detail that goes into transporting you to the mountain visually is spectacular. Director Balthasar Kormakur employs a "you are there" feel to the climb, and not for one second did I ever disbelieve these people were really on Everest and the mountains surrounding it. At the top of the mountain you feel the altitude along with the climbers and not a single green screen shot is ever visible to the audience, although filming was done in a studio in London, along with occasional mountain location shots surrounding Everest. The feeling of being there during a storm and as the climbers systemically begin to lose their oxygen, is enough to recommend the film for the breathtaking effect it all has, even if emotional impact is rendered fairly mute by the lack of focus on any particular character. Josh Brolin brings the most personality to the group as a swaggering Texas republican, and Jason Clarke is the most sympathetic as the hand-holding paternal guide to his clients who he refuses to leave behind even in fatal situations.

But even though Kormakur is to be admired for bringing the appropriate amount of gravity to this measured account of the tragic events, and never goes for the exploitative action shot at any moment (you really do feel that this is what realistically happened to these ill-fated climbers), the effect is to keep you at a distance from the actual people. The characters are thinly sketched and the most emotional moment comes from the dramatization of the real life final phone calls between Rob Hall and his pregnant wife (played by Keira Knightley) as he lay dying on the mountain. And you can't help but feel that by telling the story in a realistic manner it may rob the audience of feeling the satisfaction and excitement from the conventional action movie payoffs they're meant to expect. This is a downer story with a downer ending, and though it may be respectful of the real life persons involved, it certainly doesn't leave you pumped from the thrill of it all as you leave the theater. But still, the wondrous visuals stay with you. When all is said and done, the mountain itself is the center of the film, and it's left standing to welcome any who dare scale its heights and live to tell the tale. That I wouldn't recommend.

* * *

Blu-Ray Pick of the Week: "007: The Sean Connery Collection"

With Spectre being released soon, I'm recommending this classic Sean Connery collection of the original Bond films, the most iconic and probably the best, since it includes From Russia With Love and Goldfinger, on everyone's list of the greatest Bond films. Besides, Connery was the best- the definitive Bond, the one who molded the character forever in his own image. You could never not see some of what Connery brought to the character attempting to be replicated by every actor who followed him, and for good reason. The cool confidence, the ever so slight wink at the camera, the occasional flash of danger in his eyes- some of the later guys had more of one thing than the other, but he had all the elements at once, and that was because it was all just him, being himself on camera the way all the great screen stars do. Hell, even original 007 author Ian Fleming changed Bond's heritage to make him Scottish, after falling so hard for Sean Connery's portrayal of the man. You can't argue with that, right?

Original Dr. No trailer: