Divergent ***1/2
Short Take: Overlong Hunger Games knockoff has its good points including a nice turn from Kate Winslet as the principal villainess.
Reel Take: Yet another installment in the Young Adult book trilogy to film version saga has a few things going for it. It’s clearly designed as a clone of The Hunger Games series although it’s not as good. It is however several notches above what the Twilight quartet has to offer.
I should mention up front that I haven’t read the source material (which is only 2/3 finished) which, more often than not, is a good thing for no matter how hard Hollywood tries, a film is not a book and a book is not a film. If you like one you generally don’t like the other depending on which you encounter first.
For those of you who haven’t read Veronica Roth’s novel, it’s another one of those “not too distant future” settings where everything has been destroyed by war except for the city of Chicago which is surrounded by a massive, impenetrable fence. The society there is divided into 5 factions representing 1) the selfless, 2) the peaceful, 3) the honest, 4) the brave, and 5) the intelligentsia. Those who don’t fall into any faction become homeless.
All 16 year olds must take a test to determine which faction they are best suited for (shades of Harry Potter) but then you can choose outside the test results. Once you choose though there’s no going back. Beatrice Prior is born to the selfless class but she wants to be a warrior (shades of Brave). Her test results place her in three factions which classify her as “divergent” and therefore dangerous so she must keep this knowledge hidden.
After choosing to be a warrior and going through some brutal training (shades of Hunger Games), she is allowed to join. Shortly after that she and her instructor uncover a conspiracy by the intelligentsia to eliminate the selfless class because they threaten the perfect societal order (shades of Nazi ideology). This they plan to accomplish by turning the warriors into mindless drones. Can Beatrice and her friend stop the “final solution” before it occurs?
Director Neil Burger who had previously directed one of my favorite films The Illusionist, handles all this derivative material in pretty solid fashion but at 143 minutes, it’s just too long. I don’t know if the book had all the endless exposition (which would work better in print) but a lot of it could have been trimmed and the rest of the film tightened up. There’s a really good 100 minute movie here if properly edited. Perhaps it could be called Derivative.
On the plus side the film is well cast and that helps to keep things interesting for the most part. Shailene Woodley and Theo James are good as the romantic leads, Jai Courtney is an intense “drill sergeant” while Ashley Judd personifies the strong “mother” figure. However I went to see the movie for Kate Winslet’s villainess and she does not disappoint.
If you’re a fan of the novel, I don’t know what to tell you. You might like Divergent and you might not. As for others not familiar with the source material, there’s enough Harry Potter, Hunger Games, and Mein Kampf here to satisfy just about everybody except for fans of huge pyrotechnics and they won’t have to wait very long until the next Marvel installment.
Rated PG-13 for intense violence and action, thematic elements, and sensuality.
Review by Chip Kaufmann
The Grand Budapest Hotel *****
Short Take: Quite possibly Wes Anderson’s best film yet.
REEL TAKE: After watching The Grand Budapest Hotel, I didn’t want to leave, I wanted to check in for an extended stay. Inspired by the writings of Stefan Zweig, Wes Anderson’s latest film is a fanciful mash up of 30’s style caper comedy, whodunit and Anderson’s own brand of fractured fairy tale. The Grand Budapest Hotel may just be Anderson’s best film yet, or at the very least his most evolved film to date.
The movie is narrated first by Tom Wilkinson, a novelist beloved by the people of the fictitious nation of Zubrowka. He looks back to the 1960’s when he first became familiar with The Grand Budapest Hotel. At this point the narrative is passed to Jude Law who plays a younger version of the writer. The Grand Budapest Hotel is a shadow of its former self, now inhabited by a handful of exotic hermits. One night our narrator meets the most intriguing of the occupants, one Mr. Mustapha (F. Murray Abraham). Mustapha is the aging proprietor. As he regales our narrator with the tale of how he came to own the hotel, we travel back to the 1930’s when the Grand Budapest was a posh mountain retreat for Europe’s wealthy.
At that time Mr. Mustafa was a mere lobby boy, complete with penciled moustache. Known as ‘Zero,’ (Tony Revolori) he was quickly taken under the tutelage of Monsieur Gustave H. (Ralph Fiennes), the hotel’s renowned concierge, a meticulously fussy and over perfumed perfectionist with zeal for service and servicing his clientele. When Madame D (Tilda Swinton), one of Gustave’s most devoted and aged patrons dies suddenly shortly after leaving the hotel, Gustave and Zero head to her funeral. When it is revealed that Gustave is to inherit a priceless painting, all hell breaks loose and Gustave is pinned for her murder. So begins a game of cat and mouse, filled with hilarious antics and outlandish characters.
The film is peppered with Anderson’s usual stock players, including Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Bob Balaban, Owen Wilson, and Edward Norton, all of whom are delightful. Adrian Brody is sinister as the head of Madame D’s money grubbing children and Willem Dafoe is dastardly as Brody’s henchman. There are too many in the ensemble to mention them each, but it is clear everyone is having a good time and the Andersonesque ensemble seems to be elevated to a new level.
Yet make no mistake, it is Ralph Fiennes and Revolori who truly shine. Their chemistry is terrific and it’s terrific fun to watch. Fiennes is a complete delight as Gustave and moves brilliantly within the character. He possesses an almost light footed finesse, whether sporting his colorful hotel uniform or donning stripes and making friends in prison. It’s wonderful to see Fiennes in a lighter yet still weighty role. His dramatic prowess certainly compliments the part.
As always, Anderson’s setting is an integral part of the story. Anderson’s aesthetics and typical affectations are all on full display. It’s wonderfully whimsical, a confection of sorts. The story, while wonderfully funny, is laced with a sorrowful or mournful tone of sorts. For me, much of this comes from the fact that it takes place in the time between two world wars, the rise of fascism and the fall of certain aristocratic lifestyles; these characters are living on the fringes of a soon to be bygone era. To be a fly on that fanciful wall in that bygone day, if only for a brief 99 minutes, was a sheer pleasure.
Rated R for language, some sexual content and violence.
Review by Michelle Keenan
Veronica Mars ****
Short Take: This film version of the cult TV series about a young female private eye comes across as a combination of Mean Girls and The Maltese Falcon and that’s a good thing.
REEL TAKE: I was looking forward to seeing Veronica Mars even though I was completely unfamiliar with the TV series and I must say that it’s the best movie version of a TV show that I never saw that I have ever seen. Creator-writer-director Rob Thomas has made a film that combines elements of Mean Girls with The Maltese Falcon and it works beautifully.
On the TV show which aired from 2004-07, Veronica was a high school sleuth in the fictional town of Neptune, California. Her father ran his own detective agency so Veronica knew all about being a private investigator and how to use the tricks of the trade. The show primarily consisted of her helping out her high school friends who had gotten into trouble. Like Star Trek, the series developed a cult following but was cancelled after 3 seasons.
The movie takes place on the eve of Veronica’s high school’s 10th anniversary reunion. Veronica is now living in New York and hoping to join a prestigious law firm. Right after her final interview she’s contacted by an old boyfriend who’s been accused of murdering his current girlfriend. She goes back to California to offer legal advice but finds herself getting caught up in an ever expanding series of events.
This is where the movie enters true film noir territory. We already have the first person narrative ala Raymond Chandler and Veronica has had as many ups and downs as Sam Spade or Phillip Marlowe so she’s a “seasoned veteran”. The more she investigates the more she uncovers but just can’t put it all together. Finally, after being forced to go to her high school reunion (the Mean Girls part), she comes face to face with her past (the other characters from the TV show) and finds the clues she needs to solve the case but at what cost?
Kristen Bell gives a wonderful performance as Veronica, tough and caustic yet still vulnerable. Life has kicked her ass on more than one occasion but then she’s the one who put the “kick me” sign on her back. Yet underneath she’s still a romantic for without those feelings she couldn’t be a true noir detective. We want a figure that we can root for and Bell not only is able to make us root for her but to feel for her as well.
Rob Thomas’s script has all the necessary noir complications and false leads but it also has a lot of snappy dialogue and that’s something noir fans expect as well. The performances by the rest of the old TV regulars are spot on as they should be but then I’ve never seen the TV show and I still found them interesting and totally believable. Veronica Mars is exactly the kind of throw away movie that I long to see these days. It’s the right length, it has no aspirations other than to entertain, yet it manages to stay with me afterwards.
A fascinating back story to Veronica Mars is that its initial funding came from a Kickstarter campaign by director Rob Thomas and fans of the show. There was enough to get the movie started and then Warner Brothers kicked in the rest. It has already done quite well in limited showings and is available for downloading or disc purchasing right now. Like all movies though it should be seen on the big screen first. If you enjoy film noir as a genre, then Veronica Mars is right up your (dark) alley.
Rated PG-13 for sexuality, drug content, violence, and strong language.
Review by Chip Kaufmann
