‘71 **** ½
Short Take: A historic action thriller about a young British soldier, separated from the rest of his unit, during ‘the troubles’ in 1971.
REEL TAKE: ’71 marks a powerful debut feature film for director Yann Demange. ’71 is a historical, fact-based action film that takes place over the course of a single night. A young British solider (Unbroken’s Jack O’Connell) is accidentally separated from his unit following a riot on the streets of Belfast during ‘the troubles’ in 1971.
Unable to tell friend from foe or which side is which, Hook tries to get back to his barracks but is thwarted at every turn. Whether it’s the Protestants, the Catholics, or members of his own squadron, everyone thinks they are doing what’s right, even when it’s playing both sides of the fence. The result is distrust, utter confusion and wasted life. We feel Hook’s confusion right along with him, thanks to Demange’s boots-on-the-ground, realistic approach. There are moments when the camera work makes Katherine Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker look like it was filmed with a steady cam. The film is dark and gritty. This also enhances the confusion, tension and suspense to great effect.
We don’t get to know the characters, but you get an intuitive sense of each characters moral fiber. Jack O’Connell delivers a strong performance. (Although after this and Unbroken, I do hope he chooses something lighter for his next project.) Supporting cast members, including Richard Dormer, David Wilmot, Sean Harris and Velene Kane, all turn in strong performances. You can’t be in a project like this and turn in anything less.
The script by Scottish playwright Gregory Burke is stark but strikingly effective and bursting with humanity. Demange and Burke have managed to take a highly polarizing and political subject and strip it of all politics, ergo creating an incredibly powerful story and statement. There are no sides. It’s one of the most thought provoking darkly raw films I’ve seen in a while.
’71 is incredibly worthwhile but certainly not for everyone. It is confusing. It’s brutal and it’s profoundly sad on a number of levels.’71 is playing at the Fine Arts Theatre. I don’t imagine it will last for long, so if it’s of interest see it while you can.
Rated R for strong violence, disturbing images, and language throughout.
Review by Michelle Keenan
Cinderella ***½
Short Take: Disney’s live-action version of its animated classic, directed by Kenneth Brannagh.
REEL TAKE: Did we need a new live-action version from Disney of its beloved animated classic tale of Cinderella? I think not. But with Kenneth Brannagh at the helm, Cate Blanchett as the wicked stepmother, Helena Bonham Carter as the fairy godmother, and Downton Abbey’s Lily James as the titular character, it held promise. That is, it did until I got to the theatre.
Navigating a cinemuck-coated theatre, brimming with sticky, squirming, chatty children, I began having second thoughts about the whole thing. However, being armed with an adult beverage and a small bag of popcorn, I decided to settle into my seat and hope for the best. When the lights dimmed and a rash-inducing Frozen short played before the main feature, said small, sticky children tittered with glee and I gave thanks for adult beverages. I tell you all of this because, with that prologue, this review was in jeopardy of being cruelly biased. However, sometimes you just have to ‘let it go’ and enjoy the show.
Brannagh has created a Cinderella that is faithful to the 1950 animated classic (thankfully sans the singing) and given it new life. It’s a lively, colorful and enjoyable, albeit slightly forgettable affair. Our ‘once upon a time’ tale begins with Cinderella’s back story – a happy young couple, blissfully in love and their cherished daughter. Their story book existence is torn apart when the mother takes ill, but when she leaves her daughter with parting words, “Always have courage and be kind,” she sets the tone for the rest of the film. The story then shifts into entirely familiar territory and varies little from that well worn path.
Brannagh wisely enlisted the talents of production designer Dante Ferretti and costume designer Sandy Powell to make that path as visually appealing as possible and the results are sumptuous. The film is well cast, including Ben Chaplin as Ella’s heartbroken father and Derek Jacobi as the King. Lily James is the perfect embodiment of the fair Cinderella and she has a good chemistry with Kit (aka Prince Charming), played by Richard Madden. Personally, I wish they’d given Cate Blanchett just a little more to chew on, though the addition of a scheming Duke (Stellan Skarsgard) is a nice balance for our wicked stepmother. Helena Bonham Carter’s narrative voice is pitch perfect for the telling of a fairy tale, but in her big scene as the fairy godmother she almost steals the show.
There was quite a brouhaha when the film was released over the size of Lily James’ waist. Detractors claimed it was sending a bad message to young girls. Get a grip, people. She’s a slim young woman, her waist-line corseted and given the illusion of being even smaller by the voluminous blue dress she wears. If only people would spend as much time focused on the moral of the story – have courage and be kind. Brannagh touchingly reinforces that message throughout.
Cinderella is a delightful trifle for the romantic and gentle at heart. Cynics and curmudgeons need not see it, nor ruin it for the rest of us.
Rated PG for mild thematic elements.
Review by Michelle Keenan
Leviathan **½
Short Take: Painfully long and drawn out Russian take on local politics and corruption with more than a few biblical references thrown in for good measure.
REEL TAKE: From its Koyaanisqatsi like opening through its parade of dismal characters to its ironically sanctimonious ending, Leviathan was, for me, an incredibly dreary experience. It would appear that I am in the distinct minority as it currently holds a 99% critical rating and an 82% audience approval on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s on occasions like this that I ask myself “Did they see the same movie I did?”
Kolya (Aleksei Serebryakov) lives in a coastal town with his wife Lillia (Elena Lyadova) and his son (Sergey Pokhodaev) from a previous marriage. The local mayor Vadim (Roman Madyanov) desires Kolya’s property and tries to obtain it through devious legal means. Kolya enlists his old Army buddy Dmitri (Vladimir Vdovichenkov) now a successful Moscow lawyer to help him.
In the beginning things go well but then Dmitri has an affair with Kolya’s wife and the Mayor brings in some local thugs to threaten Dmitri’s life. Kolya finds out about the affair but forgives his wife who is overcome with guilt. The mayor continues his manipulations with the aid of the local church and Kolya is sent to prison. The mayor and the church get the property, tear down Kolya’s house, and erect a small cathedral in its place.
Take this grim scenario which has several Biblical overtones (most notably the Book of Job), add a healthy dose of contemporary cynicism then direct it at a snail’s pace and apparently you have a critical winner. It has also scored well at numerous international film festivals. The movie was nominated for Best Foreign Film at this year’s Oscar but fortunately lost out to the Polish film Ida.
The director Andrey Zvyagintsev (The Return) has said that the film is based on an incident that took place in Colorado in 2004 when a mechanic named Marvin Heemeyer, enraged over a local zoning ordinance, built a modified bulldozer and then went on a rampage wrecking 13 buildings in his small city before committing suicide.
Leviathan is not without merit. It is well acted and beautifully and simply photographed but what should be a powerful 100 minute film is dragged out to 141 minutes blunting much of its effectiveness as far as I was concerned. I couldn’t wait for it to be over. I’m reminded of what Ernest Hemingway reportedly said about Thomas Wolfe, “Why use 10 words when 100 will do?” Think of that in cinematic terms and you have Leviathan.
I won’t be seeing it again anytime soon but you may feel differently especially if you appreciate the Russian literature of such 19th century writers as Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy. I admire those writers but you can take a break from Crime & Punishment or War & Peace anytime you want and then pick it back up again. Not so here. Incidentally the title comes from the skeleton of a whale found on the beach.
Rated R for language, sexuality, and graphic nudity.
Review by Chip Kaufmann
McFarland USA ****
Short Take: Sports drama based on a true story about an unlikely cross country team and coach in need of a second chance.
REEL TAKE: McFarland USA may be finding its way to the second-run theatres by the time this issue comes out. It was overshadowed by bigger releases and received little praise from some of the other local critics. Because it’s an inspirational, family-friendly, underdog sports drama one could, understandably, have reservations. Because it’s also a Disney production and Kevin Costner is the lead actor, the film is automatic fodder for some critics.
I was curious and in need of a feel-good movie the night I went to see it, but still didn’t think it was going to be anything special. I was pleasantly surprised on both counts. Even more surprising was the audience applause at the end of the film.
McFarland USA tells the true story about Jim White, a hot tempered coach in 1987 who, after losing a cushy job in Idaho, finds himself teaching life science and PE in one of the poorest towns in America. McFarland, California is largely Hispanic, agrarian town. He doesn’t want to be there. His family doesn’t want to be there and no one else seems to want him there either. While assigning laps around the track to mouthy students, White begins to notice something. Some of these kids are fast. Really fast.
White decides to form a cross country team, a sport far more likely to be found in more affluent school districts and prep schools. Kids who work in the fields before school and after school are not exactly the target demographic for cross country. White is met with resistance from the kids and from some of their family members too, but he persists. While the overall plot is fairly predictable, what evolves is not the conventional teacher-inspires-the-students story. Here White and the kids are on pretty equal footing. Say what you want about Costner, but he turns in a fine performance as do his young co-stars.
A wonderful sub-story involving White’s wife (Maria Bello), daughters and various townspeople evolves perfectly in direct relationship to the main story. Director Nicki Caro (best known for Whale Rider) pulls the whole thing together organically and with such earnest warmth, it’s hard not to be moved. The honest humanity of the story is its greatest strength and it’s what gives the story staying power. While I very soon forgot about Cinderella or The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, this one stayed with me.
McFarland USA is the kind of movie you root for. This is the kind of movie where the audience applauds at the end. (Speaking of the end, be sure to stay for the epilogue when they show the real Coach White and the real members of McFarland’s 1987 cross country team.)
Rated PG for thematic material, some violence and language.
Review by Michelle Keenan
Run All Night ***½
Short Take: Despite some unnecessarily flashy camerawork, Run All Night is a solid crime thriller in the manner of The Drop with two strong performances from Liam Neeson and Ed Harris.
REEL TAKE: For the present, Liam Neeson seems perfectly content to play the aging action star following in the tradition of Clint Eastwood, Sly Stallone or even John Wayne. While the Taken franchise (which is apparently over) racks up impressive worldwide box office totals, it is the other films like A Walk Among the Tombstones and this one that give him a chance to flex some acting muscle.
Jimmy Conlon (Neeson) is a broken down wreck who was once a top hit man but now survives only on the charity of his boss and former childhood friend Shawn Maguire (Harris). He has no friends and is especially despised by his son Michael (Joel Kinnaman) for abandoning the family years ago. When unexpected circumstances force him to kill Shawn’s son Danny (Boyd Holbrook) in order to save his son’s life, Shawn turns on Jimmy with a vengeance and orders Michael killed at any cost.
Shawn hires a ruthless hit man (rap star Common) to take Michael down. Complicating matters is the police think Michael killed Danny and Conlon’s long time nemesis Detective Harding (Vincent D’Onofrio) is determined to get them both. As a result Jimmy and Michael have less than 12 hours to stay alive and sort things out. The movie is told in flashback so you know how it turns out but, as is often the case in this genre, it’s how it gets there that keeps it interesting.
Spanish director Jaume Collet-Sera (Orphan) had worked with Neeson once before on Unknown (2011) so the two knew what to expect from each other. Run All Night’s story is more traditional but the powerhouse performances of Neeson & Harris as well as D’Onofrio keep you engaged despite the familiarity of the material. Rapper Common has been criticized in most reviews for his performance but I thought he was actually quite good.
What I didn’t enjoy and what took me out of the movie on several occasions was the use of what I can only describe as a Google Earth approach of zooming in on a specific location from far away. Anything that cinematically interrupts the flow of the storytelling, earns a demerit in my book.
Another critical observation concerns something which didn’t bother me and comes with the aging action star territory but there is no way any normal man much less one of Neeson’s age could take the kind of physical punishment he receives and still keep going.
If A Walk Among the Tombstones was too dark for you then you’ll find Run All Night a lot easier to take. It’s worth seeing for one scene alone where Ed Harris confronts Liam Neeson in their old childhood restaurant. No action, no violence, just two old pros reminding us that in the end, acting is what it’s all about.
Rated R for strong violence, strong language, and drug use.
Review by Chip Kaufmann
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel ***½
Short Take: The aptly titled, entirely unnecessary but ultimately affable, next chapter in the lives of our favorite British ex-pat pensioners.
REEL TAKE: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was the surprise hit of 2012. It was utterly charming and perfectly self-contained. To my knowledge there is not a sequel to its source material These Foolish Things. There was absolutely no need for a sequel. If the stellar, late-career ensemble of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was willing to come back for round two, then by gum, it must be really good. Critically, it’s – meh – at best. The storylines aren’t nearly as poignant as in the first film. Its mediocrity is made tolerable by the merits of its actors. That said, it’s certainly pleasant enough, and the sea of grey haired fans at the showing I attended certainly enjoyed it.
In the aptly titled Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, we find our pensioners a few months down the road from where we last saw them. Sonny (Dev Patel) is seeking investors in order to expand his retiree-hotel concept with the help of Muriel (Maggie Smith). But while on a business trip to the United States with Muriel, Sonny becomes convinced that one of his best friends is trying to steal Sunaina from him. This internal personal crisis turns him into an even crazier, hotter mess than he already is. In the meanwhile our pensioners are each having their own internal crises. All of this, combined with a farcical case of mistaken identity, serves as the foundation for The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.
Ol Parker’s script is ok, but uneven. Our who’s who of British pension-aged actors do their best with the material, but even Bill Nighy, who can do uncomfortable like nobody’s business, looks strained at times. Director John Madden is clearly relying on the talents of his players and likeability of their characters to carry the story, and by and large they do. Richard Gere is a good addition to the cast. David Strathairn, as the potential investor, is under utilized. The film is still very much an ensemble piece, but in this chapter of their journey it’s ultimately Maggie Smith’s show.
Madden smartly embellishes the film with some distractions, including a terrific Bollywood-style dance number. The vibrancy of India’s streets and its rich culture are on full display. The colors and production values make The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel a wonderful feast for the eyes.
In the final analysis, sequels have been made for much lesser films. It’s refreshing that a little film starring an ensemble of 60 and 70-something year old actors was beguiling enough to make a second. It’s certainly a pleasant enough way to spend a couple of hours.
Rated PG for some language and suggestive comments.
Review by Michelle Keenan
Wild Tales ****
Short Take: Argentine-Spanish anthology film runs out of steam before the end but is still wildly creative, with one sequence that has to be seen t be believed.
Reel Take: I have always loved anthology films, from classics like Tales of Manhattan (1942) and The Yellow Rolls Royce (1964), to more recent offerings like New York Stories (1989) and Paris je t’aime (2006). I also enjoy old school horror anthologies like Tales from the Crypt (1972) and From Beyond the Grave (1974).
Wild Tales is an Argentine-Spanish co-production of six stories that borrow from both of the above genres. The stories are essentially comic in tone (albeit black comedy) although there are some horrific overtones. It features an ensemble cast of international actors (but no big names) and a host of producers including one internationally recognized name.
The first story, which serves as a prologue, involves an airplane flight where the passengers discover that they all knew a particular individual who just happens to be flying the plane. The next one takes place in a diner and focuses on a roundabout form of revenge. The third story showcases the most unusual case of road rage you will ever see, taking the concept of Steven Spielberg’s Duel (1971) to unheard of levels.
The last three stories aren’t up to the level of the first three but they are still more than able to keep your interest. The fourth story involves a workaholic engineer who ignores his family. He becomes obsessed with justice when his car is mistakenly towed and enacts an appropriate revenge. The penultimate tale involves a rich man trying to persuade a poor neighbor to take the blame for his son’s hit-and-run accident.
The final segment is the longest of the set or at least it seemed that way. It is also the most conventional, as it deals with a couple at their wedding party, the secrets that are revealed, and the consequences that ensue. It is also a modern domestic variation on the old Laurel & Hardy formula of “tit for tat,” where things start small and then escalate out-of-control.
Two of the many producers on this film are Pedro Almodovar and his younger brother Augustin. Due to how some of the stories play out, it’s hard not to believe that they didn’t have more than just financial input into the film, which has already become Argentina’s most successful movie export.
The cinematography by Javier Julia is very creative, which can be a drawback in some films (it was for me in Birdman), but here it perfectly complements the material. The musical score by Gustavo Santaolalla is also a winner as it highlights each segment and keeps the viewer interested.
If you’re looking for something off the beaten track then Wild Tales certainly qualifies. At two hours it paces itself well and gives you your money’s worth, unlike the other foreign film reviewed here. If you don’t like one story then another one immediately follows. This is one film that I will definitely be revisiting especially for the third story.
Rated R for violence, language, and brief sexuality.
Review by Chip Kaufmann