Category: Reviews

  • ‘Liberal Arts’ is a strong sophomore effort from ‘How I Met Your Mother’ star

    ‘Liberal Arts’ is a strong sophomore effort from ‘How I Met Your Mother’ star

    Elizabeth Olsen does well opposite 'Liberal Arts''s star/writer/director, Josh Radnor
    Elizabeth Olsen does well opposite ‘Liberal Arts”s star/writer/director, Josh Radnor

    Liberal Arts – “those subjects or skills that in classical antiquity were considered essential for a free person, in other words, a citizen, to know in order to take an active part in civic life and public debate.”

    “Jesse Fisher” (Josh Radnor) is a graduate of a fine liberal arts college in Ohio. Like many other liberal arts majors, it didn’t really prepare him for a lucrative career.  So he’s working as a college admissions officer in New York City.

    One of Jesse’s favorite professors from his college days, “Peter Hoberg” (Richard Jenkins), has finally decided to retire after 37 years at the school.  He calls Jesse and asks him to attend his retirement dinner, and to say something nice about him.  Interestingly enough, we never do get to see what Jesse said about his mentor.

    Instead we see Jesse recognize and marvel at “Professor Judith Fairfield” (Allison Janney), who he professes (sorry, couldn’t resist) was his favorite professor.  Jesse also meets “Susan” and “David,” the parents of “Zibby” (Elizabeth Olsen), at Peter’s house and the four of them meet up with Zibby to share a meal.  Zibby is a 19-year-old who wants to be a drama major.

    Jesse also encounters “Dean” (John Magaro), who is supposedly the smartest kid on campus, and the two share a strong interest in a particular writer.  Dean is back at school after a mental ‘meltdown’ the previous year and it’s obvious he is struggling.  Jesse ends up giving Dean his number and tells him to call if he ever needs to talk.

    There is a spark between Jesse and Zibby, and they get together at a party that Jesse is steered to by “Nat” (Zac Efron), a strange character he encounters while walking on campus.  Nat doesn’t go to the college but he enjoys hanging out there.  He’s the one who suggests that Zibby and Jesse get together the next day for coffee.  That leads to an exchange of letters between the two.  Not emails, or texts, but letters written on paper with pens.

    They grow closer as they exchange these letters, and soon Zibby is asking Jesse to come back and visit and she wants to hook up.  But he’s hung up on the numbers.  He’s 35, she’s 19, and in his mind they just don’t add up.  He then encounters Professor Fairfield again, and naturally one thing leads to another.

    Writer/director/actor and How I Met Your Mother star Radnor is at home behind the camera and in front of it, delivering a fine performance with his sophomore effort (he’d previously written/directed 2010’s Happythankyoumoreplease). Olsen, the younger sister of Mary-Kate and Ashley, holds her own with him.  Jenkins is always good as is Janney and Radnor lets them all deliver nuanced performances, as well as delivering believable storylines and realistic imagery and dialogue.

    I’m not a fan of the “magical Negro” archetype and that’s pretty much what Nat is (except of course for the Negro part), but it isn’t overdone and doesn’t detract that much from what is otherwise a fine film.

  • Richard Gere is superb in complex ‘Arbitrage’

    Richard Gere is superb in complex ‘Arbitrage’

    Richard Gere shines in 'Arbitrage'
    Richard Gere shines in ‘Arbitrage’

    Arbitrage – the nearly simultaneous purchase and sale of securities or foreign exchange in different markets in order to profit from price discrepancies.

    “Robert Miller” (Gere) runs an investment firm in New York City that is about to be purchased by a bank run by “James Mayfield” (Carter). Except Mayfield isn’t quite ready to close the deal.  But it is unclear why, and that’s what Miller wants his minions to uncover.

    He’s a busy guy, running his empire, doing good works with the foundation he started with his wife, “Ellen” (Sarandon). Oh yes, he also has a mistress “Julie” (Casta), who he keeps happy by paying the rent on her apartment, and investing in her art gallery.

    We also discover that he is extremely desperate to close the sale of his firm because he’s playing games to make the firm look ‘right’ for the sale on paper, even though it has suffered hundreds of millions in losses in a speculative investment that went bad.

    Susan Sarandon and Richard Gere in 'Arbitrage'
    Susan Sarandon and Richard Gere in ‘Arbitrage’

    Miller has just flown back to NYC after Mayfield refused to meet with him or sign the deal and worse yet, it’s his birthday.  So he has to go to the family gathering with his wife, children and grandchildren and then later pretend to go to the office so he can celebrate with Julie the mistress and her gallery opening.

    Except that Mayfield’s people schedule a meeting for that very night to close the deal.  It makes him late for the opening, and Miller gets into a fight with Julie.  This ultimately leads to a fatal accident, sparking a police investigation by “Detective Bryer” (Roth) who is willing to go to any lengths bring Miller down.

    Writer/director Jarecki resolves all of these threads with clever ease, save one very critical issue. He then leaves it up to the audience to decide what happened with one deal.  Would he sign?  Did he try to make a better deal?  Would he call what he perceives as a bluff by the other party in the deal?  The film will leave you pondering that question.

    Eric Roth in 'Arbitrage'
    Eric Roth in ‘Arbitrage’

    Gere is superb.  He usually brings a quality of “anger” to his performances and with Arbitrage he manages to keep that restrained, but very present.  A quick trigger is what one might expect from a man who manages a firm that controls hundreds of millions in other peoples’ money, when he doesn’t get everything he wants, instantly.

    Sarandon is very good as his long-suffering wife who may know a lot more about what her man is doing, but just didn’t care as long as they lived well.  It is also nice to see Margolin given a role where there is something for him to do other than be a comic foil.  Roth is great as the cop who will cross the line to get the suspect he’s convinced did the deed.

    The imagery of New York City fits perfectly in and around the events of this story, and the film has a very realistic ‘feel’ to it.

  • ’10 Years’ is a better than average directorial debut for Jamie Linden

    ’10 Years’ is a better than average directorial debut for Jamie Linden

    Kate Mara and Oscar Isaac in ’10 Years’

    10 Years is just what it sounds like.  It is the ten year reunion of a group of former high school classmates.  Just like any real reunion, the graduates travel from close by and far away to spend a night drinking, reconnecting and sharing what’s gone in their lives over the decade since they graduated.  Some people dread receiving that invitation in the mail, others salivate and wait impatiently for its arrival and the chance to go.

    In that regard, writer/director Jamie Linden isn’t breaking new ground here.  We’ve had formal reunion films (American Reunion) and informal reunion films (The Big Chill).

    One of the things that sets 10 Years apart is that the cast is all from the deepest recesses of the gene pool.  Every one fit, attractive, fairly well-dressed and succeeding in life to boot.

    Channing Tatum is “Jake”, who is at the reunion with his girlfriend of more than three years, “Jess” (his real-life wife Jenna Dewan-Tatum).  He’s been carrying an engagement ring around for over eight months now, but just can’t bring himself to ask her.  This is because he has unresolved issues with his high school girlfriend “Mary” (Rosario Dawson), who he wanted to see at the reunion.

    Max Minghella and Justin Long in ’10 Years’

    “Sam” (Ari Graynor) is married to “Cully” (Chris Pratt) and they have a house, two kids and the guilt he carries around for being a real “douchebag” to a fair number of his former classmates.  He plans to spend the night drinking, which is a departure from the norm in his life, and “working” to apologize to those he tortured.

    “Reeves” (Oscar Isaac) is taking time from his wildly successful career as a singer/songwriter/performer to go to the reunion, and he has an agenda that involves more than just seeing his old friends Jake and Cully.

    “Marty” (Justin Long) and “AJ” (Max Minghella) are good friends who are carpooling to the reunion because AJ’s doctor wife has to work this weekend and can’t be there.  AJ wants to act as Marty’s ‘wingman’ as Marty tries to hook up with any of a number of the unattached women at the reunion.  But his focus ends up on “Anna” (Lynn Collins), who was a serious party girl in high school and who still seems to have the same glow she had back then.

    “Elise” (Kate Mara) is there and experiences trouble finding a single picture of herself among the tons of photos on display showing the graduates during their high school years.

    There’s more, but I think that’s more than enough to give you the flavor of what happens.  And what will continue to happen when the party moves from the hotel ballroom to “Peanuts,” a local bar familiar to all of the graduates.

    Linden’s characters seem a little too good-looking and well-off in a 2012 economy. But it’s the relationships that feel more realistic, and that’s the best part of this film.

  • ‘Hello, I Must Be Going’ is excellent independent filmmaking

    ‘Hello, I Must Be Going’ is excellent independent filmmaking

    Melanie Lynskey in 'Hello, I Must Be Going'
    Melanie Lynskey in ‘Hello, I Must Be Going’

    “Amy” (Melanie Lynskey) is a woman in her mid-thirties who has spent the last three months inside of her parent’s home, not leaving the grounds once. She is in the middle of divorcing her husband, never finished her Master’s degree and basically eats, sleeps and watches old black and white television.

    Her father “Stan Minsky” (John Rubinstein) is a lawyer who wants to retire and thanks to reverses in the economy, needs to land one more big client for the firm before he can. Then he and his wife “Ruth” (Blythe Danner) can sail off into the sunset on a great around-the-world trip that she is salivating over. It’s also a big deal for her brother “David” (Dan Futterman) who is living for the day he will no longer work for his dad.

    So the potential client comes to dinner and brings his wife “Gwen” (Julie White) and his son “Jeremy” (Christopher Abbott).  Jeremy is only 19 but that doesn’t stop him from becoming extremely enamored with Amy. They hook up and begin a romance that’s as interesting and unlikely as is the notion of a woman in her 30s in 2012 spending hours watching Groucho Marx on television (the title Hello, I Must Be Going is taken from a musical number in the film Animal Crackers, not as many think from the title of a Phil Collins album).

    But Amy isn’t as into the relationship aspect of her romance with Jeremy and she is also terrified that if his parents find out they are involved, it will kill her father’s chances of landing his new client and ruin her parent’s lives. Ruth and Stan have mentioned that if he doesn’t close this deal, they may even lose their home.

    Christopher Abbott and Melanie Lynskey in 'Hello, I Must Be Going'
    Christopher Abbott and Melanie Lynskey in ‘Hello, I Must Be Going’

    Amy is living there rent-free and with no source of income because she chose not to take spousal support from her soon to be ex-husband, a wealthy entertainment lawyer in nearby New York City.

    They make a cute couple and the ups and downs they experience together make for engaging moments. He is an actor and has a new play coming up but he’s neglecting to learn his lines and it becomes clear that he doesn’t really want to act any more. He isn’t sure what he wants, but his mother has pushed him into acting all of his life.

    How their relationship is resolved, how the situation involving her parents gets resolved (there’s an interesting twist there) and how she finally finds closure with her soon to be ex-husband are all strong plot points that director Todd Louiso and screenwriter Sarah Koskoff make the most of. Lynskey is attractive, charming and delivers an outstanding portrayal of a woman coming to terms with the realization that life is going to happen, whether you sit in the bedroom and just watch television, or get out there and actually start living. Danner’s performance is a bit uneven, but she has some awesome moments and Rubinstein is perfect as the father who adores his daughter and will move heaven and Earth to make her happy if he can. But he can’t. She has to make herself happy and that’s the lesson of Hello, I Must Be Going.

  • ‘End of Watch’ is highly watchable, action-packed and a wild ride

    ‘End of Watch’ is highly watchable, action-packed and a wild ride

    Michael Pena and Jake Gyllenhaal in 'End of Watch'
    Michael Pena and Jake Gyllenhaal in ‘End of Watch’

    The term “End of Watch” has two distinctive but similar meanings to police officers.  Since they refer to the shifts they work as a ‘watch’, the phrase means that their shift is over.  But if you go into a police station where a cop has been killed, especially in the line of duty, it will say “End of Watch” with the date of their death on it.  That’s when you go End of Watch permanently.

    This makes it a perfect title for writer/director David Ayer’s latest film, which opens Sept. 21.  As the writer behind Training Day, he clearly has a gift for understanding the realities faced by members of the Los Angeles Police Department, as well as the mindset of these cops.

    “Brian Taylor” (Gyllenhaal) and “Mike Zavala” (Peña) are partners at the Newton Street station in the heart of South-Central Los Angeles.  An area once populated almost exclusively by blacks, today they are in the minority and Hispanics/Latinos are the majority.  This has created struggle for control of the streets and the drug trade and makes it a very violent area.

    The film opens with Taylor and Zavala in hot pursuit of several suspects that ends in a shoot-out, and then in a month off (with pay) while the shooting is investigated.  After all, Taylor and Zavala survived, while the two suspects did not.

    When they are welcomed back a month later, Taylor is now busy filming everything they do as part of his required film project for the arts elective he had to take as part of his plan to get through law school.  Much of the film is shown from the POV of Taylor’s camera and the two pocket cameras he outfits himself and Zavala with.

    Anna Kendrick in 'End of Watch'
    Anna Kendrick in ‘End of Watch’

    From the start the filming is problematic, with “Officer Van Houser” (Harbour) objecting and the “Sarge” (Frank Grillo) ordering Taylor to stop.  Of course, he won’t.  Taylor and Zavala are extremely close, and work together like a very well-oiled machine.  They have an “in-your-face” style of policing that requires them to be able to back up the stuff they say.  What they say to each other is often very funny.  What they will say to the members of the public they supposedly serve will often piss that public off.

    They make a traffic stop where a ‘cowboy’ pulls a very expensive looking gun and tries to shoot Zavala, but they arrest him.  Best new line in a film so far this year is how they describe the ornate AK-47 found in the vehicle, but I won’t spoil it.  Not much comes from this bust, which has them wondering what’s going on.  As a result of Taylor’s pushing of this issue, they wander into a situation they shouldn’t have.  Then they gain notoriety by saving children from a burning building, being awarded medals.  When that is followed up by yet another accidental discovery of something a drug cartel working in the area didn’t want discovered, they become targets.  Targets that the cartel’s leader insists get taken out whatever the cost.

    Meanwhile their personal lives are becoming more complicated.  Zavala married his high school sweetheart (Martinez) and she’s pregnant.  Taylor, after many short-term relationships, finally manages to connect with “Janet” (Kendrick) and gets married.  Both the wives aren’t happy that their men rushed into a burning building to save someone else’s children and perhaps they should have been a bit more careful from that point forward.

    If you’ve seen the trailer, then you know they will end up being ambushed by a bunch of cartel gunners and the question becomes will help arrive in time?  Will both, one, or neither survive?

    Ayer’s story, dialogue and direction are strong, awesome, and better than average, respectively.  He elicits powerful performances from Gyllenhaal and Peña.  His use of police jargon, gestures and procedures is right on the money. Clearly he knows the subject or had expert technical advisers.  Or both.  The action is intense, but broken up well by the interludes where the two cops trade friendly insults that might push people who weren’t so entrenched in each other’s lives to trade blows.

    You’ll also see a Ginsu knife used in a way that was never even imagined when the Ginsu commercials were all over television.  It’s a terrific shot.

    One of the best “cop” films to come along in some time.  See it.

  • I have two words for ‘The Words’ – ‘not good’

    I have two words for ‘The Words’ – ‘not good’

    Bradley Cooper and Zoe Saldana in ‘The Words’

    The Words don’t quite form a complete sentence.

    “Rory Jansen” (Bradley Cooper) always wanted to be a writer.  He met the woman of his dreams, “Dora” (Zoe Saldana) and they moved in together and ultimately married.  He pursued his writing with a vengeance and turned out what some called a strong novel.  But it wasn’t “commercial” and one professional in the publishing field told him that he didn’t have any idea how to sell this particular novel.

    So Rory gave up his dream – a little – and took a job working in a literary agency.  Then he married Dora and they went to Paris on their honeymoon.  While shopping in a little store, he noticed a briefcase that was old, worn and yet still looked expensive and serviceable.  So Dora bought it for him and it came home with them.

    There’s a story behind this briefcase and Rory will learn that story later, but first in exploring it, he finds a manuscript.  Oh and what a magical manuscript it is.  It has depth of feeling and expression that his own writing never contained.  He quickly transcribes the manuscript onto his laptop and then Dora happens to read it.  She insists that he show it to someone and reluctantly he does.  One of the agents where he works.

    The agent reads the “new” manuscript and is enthralled.  He is going to represent Rory and he’s going to make a lot of money in the process.   Rory will find fame and fortune in the publication of his first novel to be published and it leads to not just recognition, but awards as well.

    Then, an “Old Man” (Jeremy Irons) approaches him while he’s reading in the park and he tells him a story.  A story about a soldier who was in France during World War II who met a woman and fell in love with her.  He went home to the U.S., but returned to France after the war to be with the woman he loved, and they ultimately married and had a child.  Tragically the child fell ill and died, and they separated.  He started writing his story and ultimately put his manuscript into a briefcase that was ultimately lost at the train station.

    Bradley Cooper and Jeremy Irons in ‘The Words’

    Strangely enough, the Old Man doesn’t want anything from Rory.  He doesn’t want his money, he doesn’t want credit for having been the actual author of this now famous novel.  He just wanted Rory to know, and the guilt is eating at Rory.  He wants to confess but his agent won’t hear of it.  He doesn’t want to disappoint his father (J.K. Simmons) who supported him in the lean years and is now very proud of his son, “the writer”.  He finally confesses to Dora, and that nearly rips their happiness permanently asunder.

    Great story, so far, right?  Well, stop reading if you don’t want to see any spoilers, because they exist in this review from this point forward because I find it nearly impossible to avoid them while telling the entire tale.

    The film opens with “Clay Hammond” (Dennis Quaid) doing a reading of his novel which tells the story of Rory, Dora, the old man, the French woman, the proud father and so on.  The old “story within a story” trick and it’s done in such a way as to make you immediately lose any sympathy for the Old Man, Rory, Dora and the rest.  Since they don’t really exist, how can one feel sympathy or empathy for them?

    But “Daniella” (Olivia Wilde) is at the reading, having talked one of her professors at Columbia, where she’s doing her graduate work, into giving up his ticket.  She wants to meet her hero, Hammond, who she knows everything about.  Including the fact that he’s separated from his wife, and lots of little details about his life.  She convinces him to take her back to his new apartment, which is basically empty, a metaphor on his life at present.

    So is Clay Hammond the one who actually discovered someone else’s manuscript and was he confronted by the author?  Or is this just a story that he brilliantly conceived and wrote himself.  There is nothing to prove either position, you can conclude what you wish.  Daniella makes her own conclusions as well.

    Quaid and Irons are both good in their roles, with Cooper just not up to the task that this emotional roller-coaster character requires.  The story within a story isn’t particularly well done and I’m certain that Ernest Hemmingway is probably rolling over in his grave wondering if he will ever find peace over the real life incident where most of his own early works were lost in a briefcase at a train station.  That real life event may be why a part of this story sounded familiar to students of great writers and their histories.

  • ‘Bachelorette’ isn’t brilliant, but it’s funny

    ‘Bachelorette’ isn’t brilliant, but it’s funny

    Lizzy Caplan, Kirsten Dunst and Isla Fisher in 'Bachelorette'
    Lizzy Caplan, Kirsten Dunst and Isla Fisher in ‘Bachelorette’

    In Bachelorette, “Becky” (Rebel Wilson) and her friend “Regan” (Kirsten Dunst) are having lunch together and while everything in Regan’s life is all about Regan, Becky has news and she finally blurts it out. She’s getting married.

    This is a serious shock to Regan’s worldview. Regan has always known she would be the first among her clique of girlfriends from high school to get married and now that’s not going to happen. She’s worked so hard to get ahead. She went to Princeton. She found a boyfriend who is in med school. She’s pushed herself up by being a total bitch. But now she’s going to be maid of honor at a wedding that ruins her shot of being first to get married.

    Naturally the first thing she does after lunch is call her good friend “Gena” (Lizzy Caplan) who insists on conferencing in their mutual friend “Katie” (Isla Fisher) so they can hear the story. All three were sort of friends with Becky in high school, even though they were among the crowd who referred to her as “pig-face” and Gena and Katie will be bridesmaids at the wedding.

    Both have their own issues. Gena had something happen in her past involving the boy she was involved with in high school and she’s never gotten over it. As a result, she’s a lazy type who spends most of her time scoring pot and cocaine to keep her brain in a narcotic-induced haze. She’s clearly sexually active though, as she will pontificate on the various levels of blow-job she can provide to a man sitting next to her on her flight to get to New York for the wedding.

    Meanwhile Katie is struggling to keep her new job in retail sales and manages to piss off a customer as she’s leaving for her own journey to New York. She has self-confidence issues and issues in general. But she’s cute, well-dressed and has a keen mind for fashion.

    This is a recipe for a train wreck. Three girls who really don’t like the bride, trying to plan a Bachelorette party for a bride who doesn’t want anything seriously raunchy. They managed to totally piss off the bride to the point where she tells them not to show for the wedding unless they can behave properly and then the real trouble begins. Becky is a ‘large’ bride and her wedding dress is big enough for two, and since the three are alone with the dress, two try to get into it and the dress rips. Then it gets dirty. Suddenly, the film is a race against time to get the dress repaired and cleaned and the odds of that happening don’t look good. They get longer after the girls end up at a strip club, and in a hilarious scene, the dress is subjected to more abuse by one of the strippers in the ladies room. I won’t spoil it entirely, but I will say that if the bride knew where that dress had been, even though it was thoroughly dry cleaned, she still would have refused to wear it.

    Kirsten Dunst and Rebel Wilson in 'Bachelorette'
    Kirsten Dunst and Rebel Wilson in ‘Bachelorette’

    So we have one of the bachelors wanting desperately to sleep with Katie. One of the bachelors wanting desperately to sleep with either Katie or Regan, and he really doesn’t care which. He just wants to get laid. Gena’s old boyfriend wants her back and she’s not sure what she wants. All three women want to get the dress to the bride on time. Gena had to give up what was left of her cocaine to bail one of the bachelors out of a situation she’d caused for him by stealing his wallet. And there were a lot of laughs along the way.

    But the real crux of the tale isn’t whether or not the dress will be fixed and cleaned before the ceremony. The question is, will the three bridesmaids learn to stop loathing themselves. Hell, Regan loathes everyone, but she’s at the top of her own list. Gena needs to learn to forgive herself as well as others. Katie needs to learn to develop enough self-esteem so she won’t spread her legs for anyone with a penis between his.

    Kirsten Dunst, who I like, is sadly not good in this lead role. She’s got one note. She’s a bitchy bitch. She bitches at everyone out loud and mentally at herself. It’s a one-dimensional performance that is not enjoyable. Conversely, Libby Caplan shines in every scene she’s in, overcoming some inadequate material to deliver a convincing portrayal of the woman who is coming to terms with something that happened before she was old enough and experience enough to fully grasp the reality. Isla Fisher’s character is wasted most of the film on alcohol or coke and one can say the same for her performance, although it wasn’t substances that made her performance a waste.

    Bachelorette is raunchy fun. It isn’t overly moralistic and it delivers laughs. It’s better than you would expect. Enjoy it.

  • Gina Gershon shines in solid ‘Breathless’

    Gina Gershon shines in solid ‘Breathless’

    To get something out of the way first, no, this is not a remake nor has anything to do with the film of the same title by Jean-Luc Godard. So if you were sweating, you can stop now. While this Breathless now on Blu Ray doesn’t have Godard behind it, it’s still a solid, entertaining piece that deserves a look.

    Somewhere in 1981 Texas, Lorna (Gina Gershon) knocks out her husband Dale (Val Kilmer) and phones over her best friend Tiny (Kelli Giddish). She suspects that Dale has stolen $100,000 from a bank and is hiding it somewhere in their trailer. She asks for Tiny’s help and offers to split the money when they get it; Tiny of course agrees.

    They tie up Dale and at gunpoint try to get him to talk, but he denies it as much as he can. He does slip that he robbed the bank, but he doesn’t reveal what he did with the money. This is as much as they get from him, as Lorna then accidently jerks the gun and shoots him in the head.

    Val Kilmer in 'Breathless'
    Val Kilmer in ‘Breathless’

    Now completely freaked out, the ladies have to figure out not only where the money is, but also how to dispose of the body. A major complication soon arises when Sherriff Cooley (Ray Liotta) comes knocking. He’s looking for Dale and doesn’t buy Lorna’s story that he’s out for a walk. Because Lorna refuses to let him in without a warrant, he decides that until he gets one, he’ll wait in his car with a close eye on the trailer.

    It all feels very much like a stage play, and moves along at a brisk enough pace so that the fact that the whole thing takes place in a single location isn’t all too noticeable. And to continue with that comparison, the segments involving gore, such a blender erupting blood that splashes Lorna and Tiny, give the proceedings a touch of Grand Guignol.

    And also like a stage play, the performances come to the forefront. It’s isn’t common for Gershon to get a leading role, but when she does she impresses. Certainly does here. And Giddish is quite a standout, with a couple great moments of her own.

    Kelli Giddish delivers in 'Breathless'
    Kelli Giddish delivers in ‘Breathless’

    Only real flaw is that it appears to be conceived as comedic, but it’s really not all that funny. It’s humorous in places sure, particularly in the vocabulary of the characters which seems more advanced, but nothing that will bring much laughing out loud. As the movie is, I don’t think it straight thriller would have been best; some lightheartedness is definitely needed. There just should have been more effort in making it funny.

    Extras are a commentary with writer/director Jesse Baget and producer Christine Holden, a 15-minute making of featurette, and a DVD of the movie.

    Breathless may not leave you in such a state (that was really lame, I know), it can give a fun enough time. You won’t be disappointed if you decide to take it in.

  • ‘For a Good Time, Call’ wasn’t the best call they could have made

    ‘For a Good Time, Call’ wasn’t the best call they could have made

    Lauren Miller and Ari Gaynor get cozy in 'For A Good Time, Call'
    Lauren Miller and Ari Gaynor get cozy in ‘For A Good Time, Call’

    For a Good Time, Call is the brainchild of one of its stars, Lauren Miller, and her writing partner, Katie Anne Naylon. In a case of art imitating life, it’s the story of two girls who met in college (as they did), did not get along (they actually did) and then 10 years later wind up sharing an apartment through a combination of coincidence and extreme necessity (this did not actually happen). One ends up helping the other turn her job as a phone sex operator into her own business. Naylon actually worked in the phone sex field while in college.

    “Lauren” (Miller) is the straight arrow, no-nonsense woman whose whole life has been planned since she was a young girl. Right school, right job, right boyfriend, right social commitments, all to make her very involved parents very proud.

    Then her boyfriend picks the absolute worst moment to let her know that not only is he leaving to go to Italy, she needs to move out of his apartment because he wants to re-evaluate their relationship. To top that off, she gets let go from her job, a position she had hoped would lead to her succeeding her boss.

    Now jobless and homeless, her good friend “Jesse” (Justin Long) helps find her a place. It’s with “Katie” (Ari Gaynor).

    Katie lives in her grandmother’s old apartment, which just lost its rent control protection. It’s a great apartment, spacious, with a terrific view of Grammercy Park. But she can’t afford the rent. Jesse puts the two together and insists they get past a very difficult incident in their past (shown hilariously in flashback and you probably saw it in the film’s trailer), suck it up, and just get along. At least for the summer.

    Lauren has an interview for her dream job at a publishing company, but the woman interviewing her (Nia Vardalos) has bad news. It was nepotism or cronyism or some ism, but the position she was there to interview for has been filled and there will be no openings for at least three months.

    A discouraged Lauren overhears Katie engaging in phone sex and gets her to admit that this is how she’s paying the bills. She gets $1.00 per minute of the $4.99 per minute that the guys pay the service that employs her. Lauren suggests Katie let her set up a new phone number, take over her existing customers, and she’ll handle the billing for one-third of the money. The two agree and soon Katie’s regulars are being handled by Lauren.

    Things get complicated when they try to hire an employee, which goes bad. So Lauren decides she wants to be the second girl and Katie has to train her how to handle the phone calls without sounding like the goodie-two-shoes she is. The story gets more complicated when Jesse finds out what they’re doing after Katie chooses to violate one of the cardinal rules of the phone sex industry (never meet your clients), and when Lauren’s parents visit at unexpected times. There will also come a moment when Lauren is asked to return to interview for that dream job again.

    There are laughs to be found here, but not nearly as many as one would like from an out-and-out comedy. There’s a little romance, but not nearly enough to call For a Good Time, Call a rom-com. There are men made to look just a tad silly in their engaging in self-pleasuring with the assistance of a woman’s voice over a phone line, but you knew that going in. The relationship progression is so predictable almost anyone could guess what will happen in the end.

    Miller and Gaynor aren’t bad in their roles, but there just isn’t a whole lot to the characters to require the nuance and range of emotions one looks for in strong acting performances.

    For a Good Time, Call‘s only 86 minutes long, but by the time you’re finished, it seems like it went on a lot longer.

  • ‘Compliance’ is edgy, in your face filmmaking

    Dreama Walker takes a call in 'Compliance'
    Dreama Walker takes a call in ‘Compliance’

    The prank calls to fast food restaurants began in 1992. The callers would claim to be cops, or regional managers, and order the manager on duty to strip-search an employee. The fad picked up steam in the new millennium until an incident in 2004 in Mount Washington, KY. That real-life incident is the basis for the new film Compliance, and while the fast food franchise and the names have been changed, elements of what happen in the film are taken from the real life incident.

    “Sandra” (Ann Dowd) is the manager of the Chick-Wich restaurant in an unnamed city. There is snow on the ground as she readys her store for a busy Friday. A supply truck sits outside because someone left the freezer door ajar the night before, allowing almost $1,500 worth of supplies to spoil. As a result, they will have limited amounts of bacon and no pickles for that day’s food service. After taking some verbal abuse from the driver of the supply truck, Sandra goes into the store to get her day started by holding a meeting with the employees working that day.

    “Marti” (Ashlie Atkinson), the supervisor right below Sandra in the chain of command is there, as is “Becky” (Dreama Walker) a cute 18 year old blonde, “Kevin” (Phillip Ettinger), a good friend of Becky’s and prime suspect in the case of the freezer door being left open, among others. Sandra tries to motivate them to work hard, do well, and includes a variation of that old fast food cliché: “If there’s time to lean, then there is time to clean.”

    The day is going just fine until the phone rings and Sandra finds herself talking to “Officer Daniels” (Pat Healy). He informs Sandra that he’s got a woman there who claims she was the victim of a robbery by Becky, who reached into her purse while she was at Becky’s counter station and that Becky must be in possession of a wad of money she took from the purse. Officer Daniels tells her to bring Becky into the office. And she does so, starting a chain of events that will ultimately spiral out of control.

    First Sandra, on direction from Officer Daniels, has Becky strip off her clothes down to her underwear. Then he has her remove that as well, and orders Sandra to have Becky bend over to see if she may have “hidden” the money. Becky, Sandra and Marti – brought in to observe this process under the belief that “corporate” wants two supervisors present when employees are strip-searched – are both uncomfortable with what’s going on. Daniels, however, manages to keep Sandra convinced she’s doing the right thing and is doing a good job.

    But Marti has to leave to keep the store running and eventually so does Sandra. At first she has Phillip watch Becky, as they wait for police to arrive. But eventually Phillip refuses to comply with the requests of Officer Daniels to perform further examinations of Becky. This results in Sandra making a call to her boyfriend “Van” (Bill Camp) who was out drinking with his friends. When Van comes in to keep an eye on Becky, things seem to return to normal. But what happens next is something no one anticipated.

    There are limits being pushed here. People weren’t fully aware of these hoaxes everywhere, prior to the incident in Mt. Washington, but after what happened there, they were. Writer/director Craig Zobel pushes the very tiniest edge of the envelope with Compliance, and does so by hiding behind the fact that what we’re seeing is based on real events. That makes it no less intense, or easier to watch. There are moments the audience seems to want to collectively yell, “hey, check this guy out, this can’t be real.”

    And that’s true. Anyone who paid any attention at all during their high school civics courses, or ever watched a few episodes of any police procedural drama on television, would know that a cop can’t order someone to perform a strip-search on their behalf over the phone. But Sandra apparently doesn’t grasp this reality, and neither did the real life manager.

    Ann Dowd gives a strong performance as the woman who wants nothing more than to do the right thing, and who was more worried about explaining the lost inventory to her regional manager than dealing with the drama she was handed by a phone call. She felt she was doing the right thing, even in the aftermath when she’s doing an interview about it. Dreama Walker is perfectly cast and delivers as the young woman who is violated by every facet of this process and somehow manages to hang on and survive. Zobel’s direction and writing may make viewers cringe, but they’ll also sit up and take notice of this intense film.

    FYI, the real life victim sued McDonald’s, the actual fast food chain involved in the Mt. Washington incident for $200 million. She was awarded $6.1 million in damages. $1.1 million in actual damages and $5 million in punitive damages. You can bet McDonald’s made sure every one of its locations knows not to let this happen again.