Before Midnight ****

Short Take: The third chapter in the lives of Jesse and Celine in the Before Sunrise trilogy.

Reel Take: For those of us of a certain age, the characters of Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julia Delpy) in Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise, epitomized true love. Although the two do not end up together in the 1995 film, we know they’ve found that special someone in each other. In 2004 we watched the two meet again, their lives having taken them in separate directions. When they reconnect, that love is still there, but in order to be together Jesse will have to leave his wife and young son. In a ‘will he or won’t he’ ending, we were left wondering if Jesse would catch his flight home or stay in Paris.

Before Midnight opens nine years later with Jesse seeing his [now teenage] son off at an airport in Greece. As he exits the terminal, we see Celine waiting for him with two little curly haired blond moppets in tow. Obviously, Jesse missed that flight home.

Life has been good to him, but Jesse is struggling with having left his son behind in order to build that life with Celine. This is the catalyst for this chapter in their story. While Jesse contemplates moving the family from Paris to Chicago, Celine has been offered a great job and doesn’t want to leave. Taking place all in one day, during a holiday in Greece, Before Midnight tells the story of another pivotal day in their relationship.

If Before Sunrise and Before Sunset represent the more passionate and idealistic elements of love, Before Midnight is the maturity of that love and its collision with real life. Ergo, Before Midnight is far more melancholy than its predecessors. At times it is terribly hard and even annoying to watch; the dialogue feels so raw and unscripted, especially during heated arguments when rationale is lost and harsh words spoken.

As with its predecessors, Hawk and Delpy share screenwriting credit with Linklater. This collaborative creative effort part of what makes this trilogy of movies special. Each actor owns their character in more than just performance. Celine and Jesse seem so utterly real, as if we are eavesdropping on their lives. This go ‘round both characters are still sharp witted (still engaging in never-ending lively and flirty debate), still likeable (albeit vaguely pretentious and self involved), but each now also possesses a new level of emotional instability and vulnerability.

The gorgeous Greek countryside gives the proceedings a strangely befitting backdrop (in as classical sense) for battle of the sexes to play out. The scenery also gives a much needed respite from the heightening friction between Jesse and Celine. British cinematographer, Walter Lassally (Zorba the Greek), plays a British novelist who is a mentor to Jesse and serves as their host. The other houseguests, including Athina Rachel Tsangari, are all delightful. Personally I wished for more time amidst their host and fellow houseguests, but then it would have been rather more like Enchanted April than Before Midnight.

It should be noted that it is not necessary to have seen the other two films for this one to make sense, but it does give the viewer greater context. If this is the last of these films, Before Midnight is a satisfying conclusion to a beautiful trilogy.

Rated R for sexual content, nudity and language.
Review by Michelle Keenan

The East ****

Short Take: Remarkably well made low budget topical thriller involving a young agent’s attempt to infiltrate an eco-terrorist group and what happens once she is on the inside.

Reel Take: To call The East simply a topical thriller is to sell the film short but it makes it easier to write about it for now I can tell you all the other aspects that the film brings to the table without having to further categorize it. It wears many hats and it wears them all well.

On the surface it’s a thriller about an undercover agent’s successful attempt to infiltrate a small anarchist/eco-terrorist group who intend to payback certain large corporations for their environmental misdeeds. Then there are the corporate misdeeds themselves which makes the film a political statement. Finally it’s a love story of sorts not only of the infiltrator and the group’s leader but of all the group members for themselves.

The film opens with shots of oil drenched seabirds as a result of some ecological disaster. The group, who call themselves “The East”, flood an oil executive’s home with oil gathered from a spill. Up and coming agent Jane Moss (Britt Marling who also co-wrote and co-produced), who works for a private intelligence agency run by a hard-as-nails boss (Patricia Clarkson), is sent to infiltrate the group and report back on what she finds.

The group is very small and deliberately leads an anti-establishment lifestyle. One of the members (Tony Kebbel) is a former physician seriously impaired by a drug he prescribed; another (Ellen Page) harbors a deep hatred against a certain company. Our first look at the group’s leader Benji (Alexander Skarsgard) makes him look a lot like Jesus but that quickly changes.

Although accepted by the group as a girl named Sarah, she continues to report back to her superiors but must then stand by while the group poisons pharmaceutical executives with their own drug at a posh party. Her superior’s retort is simply “they’re not my clients”. This gets Sarah to not only question the group’s actions but those of her company as well. After a second payback results in unintended consequences, the group drifts apart while Sarah still reports on their actions. Having become romantically involved with Benji, she rejoins him for one last act of corporate terrorism.

What makes The East so compelling is that despite the heavy plot outline I’ve described, it’s not hard to follow and works on the simple level of good, old fashioned entertainment keeping us glued to our seats to see what the outcome will be.

The film was shot in Louisiana for 6 million dollars (it certainly doesn’t look it) and features several captivating performances not only from the two leads but also from Ellen Page and Patricia Clarkson.

The East is also well scored and well edited and shows that, like the political thrillers of the 1970s which it closely resembles, it can hit hard and be engaging at the same time. This is the movie Matt Damon’s Promised Land should have been but with no big name stars and a limited release company handling it, the people who need to see it won’t have a chance to. In the long run that may be the biggest crime of all.

Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, violence, sexual content, and partial nudity.
Review by Chip Kaufmann

Man of Steel ***1/2

Short Take: The latest incarnation of Superman, upfitted for a 21st century audience.

Reel Take: Why we endeavor to go where Hollywood has gone many times before, I have no idea. With comic books at record popularity and their legions of fanboys opening their wallets, I guess yet another Superman was inevitable. At least this is what I surmised when I heard that Man of Steel was in the works with Zach Snyder (300) at the helm. But with Superman being as American as apple pie, it was hard to not be curious and even a little excited by the time the film hit theatres in June. (Besides, if Russell Crowe throws his name into the ring, it can’t be all bad, right?)

It’s not all bad, in fact it’s mostly good – some of it really good. The film has been criticized by some as being too dark and serious. It is more serious and melancholy than its predecessors, and I’d say that’s due in large part to its co-writer and co-producer Christopher Nolan (Dark Knight, anyone?). However there is enough heart and levity in the mix that it never takes itself too seriously. Snyder takes the necessary time to reboot the franchise for a 21st century audience while still being reverential to its source material. Unfortunately he spends altogether too much time on the excessive destruction of Smallville and Metropolis, and showcases far too many skyscrapers crumbling in slow motion, but we’ll get to more of that in a bit.

The story starts on Krypton. Due to the depletion of its natural resources, the planet faces imminent self destruction. Krypton’s leading scientist, Jor-El (Russell Crowe), and his wife Lara Lor-Van (Ayelet Zurer) are no sooner overjoyed at the birth of their newborn son Kal-El, the first natural birth on the planet in a millennium, when Jor-El readies a small spaceship to take his child safely to a planet he has specifically selected for his son, with the DNA of their people cleverly stowed with the cargo.

Flash forward 30 years or so; Kal-El is now Clark Kent (Henry Cavill), a handsome, do-gooding, quiet drifter in search of answers. His story, since arriving on Earth, unfolds in a series of well done interspersed flashbacks. Fortunately for the world, he finds out who he is just in time to fight off General Zod (Michael Shannon), Krypton’s highest military commander who has been searching the universe for Kal-El since the destruction of their mother planet. Plucky little Lois Lane (Amy Adams) has also found Clark Kent and wants to keep him a secret no more.

British actor Henry Cavill (best known to Americans from the Showtime series The Tudors) is a fine Clark Kent / Superman/ Kal-El when given half the chance. The glimpses of personality we get are buried between pro-longed action sequences. The last third of the film is one non-stop sequence of mass destruction. However, even here, Snyder manages to dot it with moments of humanity, character development and levity, and for that I was thankful.

Amy Adams as Lois Lane is initially quite annoying, but then again that’s the point; she grows on you as the story progresses. Russell Crowe and Kevin Costner, as Superman’s biological and adoptive fathers respectively, deliver extremely different but equally good performances; Costner’s part is smaller and more reserved, befitting Clark Kent’s father, and Crowe’s performance is powerhouse, befitting the father of Kal-El. Michael Shannon could have done with a little less wild-eyed villainy, and a little more of the introspection that makes his character and his sinister dedication to his cause interesting. The rest of the cast, including Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne and Ayelet Zurer keep perfect step with the proceedings.

Ultimately Man of Steel sets the sequels to pick up with the Clark Kent and Lois Lane antics that we all know and love. I doubt they’ll ever imbue this Man of Steel with the campiness of the Christopher Reeve films, nor should they. This Superman is supposed to symbolize hope, and I’m hopeful for superhero and Superman fans everywhere.

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence, action and destruction and for some language.
Review by Michelle Keenan

Much Ado About Nothing ***1/2

Short Take: While Joss Whedon’s home movie version of Shakespeare’s play is far from an ideal adaptation, it has much to recommend it.

Reel Take: It would be too easy and very unoriginal to say that Much Ado About Nothing lives up to its title. It would also be dead wrong, since this Joss Whedon adaptation of the Shakespeare play was shot in 12 days at Whedon’s Santa Monica home with no big name stars. Hardly “Much Ado” but by today’s standards (think Whedon’s The Avengers), certainly close to nothing.

This minimalist approach is both what works and what doesn’t work in this production. After the glut of CGI blockbusters in recent years, it’s refreshing to see a small movie based on 400 year old material that has stood the test of time. I just wish that I liked it better than I did.

There is a lot to like here. The performances by Amy Acker and Alexis Denisof as Beatrice and Benedick are first rate and would work well in any setting be it classic or contemporary. The black & white photography helps to enhance the low budget, indie feel of the project with a number of memorable images including an evening torchlight parade near the end of the film. The use of some vintage-like fashions added an amusing, retro look to the characters.

However I found a few things to take issue with, starting with the film’s opening scenes. The pacing is slow and the mostly TV actors seem uncomfortable with the Shakespearean dialogue which is, for the most part, spoken word for word. Both the pace and the performances pick up once Beatrice & Benedick arrive on the scene which to be fair is just like the play itself.

The other thing that really bothered me is how flat the lighting is during the indoor scenes. As someone who loves old movies and black & white photography in particular, I just wish that someone knew how to light a set effectively. I had the same complaint with the Oscar winning The Artist, so I’m not just picking on Whedon.

The four lovers and the Duke (after a slow start) give very good performances as do the servants. My biggest problem was with Nathan Fillion as Dogberry, the local constable. I found his portrayal ineffective and unfunny. His malapropisms which should be a source of constant amusement were painful to here. In fact I found the “police” scenes to be the film’s weakest.

In conclusion I offer a tip of the hat to Joss Whedon for banking the tens of millions he made on The Avengers and not spending it here. We desperately need more small films from not just the independent filmmakers, but from the big name producers and directors like Whedon whose industry credentials could get these films made more easily.

By all means see Much Ado About Nothing while it lasts. Even Joss Whedon’s name won’t keep it in movie houses for long and as for Shakespeare’s name… It’s great to have a movie that engenders discussion on its merits as well as its flaws. Too often these days we watch a movie, leave the theater, go home, and that’s that.

Rated PG-13 for some sexuality and brief drug use.
Review by Chip Kaufmann

This is the End ***1/2

Short Take: An apocalyptic comedy and bromance from the creative minds that brought you Superbad.

Reel Take: This is the End is an apocalyptic comedy that is not shy on laughs, mockery and even judgment. Friends since childhood and Superbad collaborators Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg must have had a great time dreaming up the premise of This is the End and had an even better time filming it. Rogen and Goldberg enlisted the help of many celebs, a handful of who are close buddies. All are playing hilariously awful versions of themselves.

The initial plot is quite simple; Jay Baruchel flies to LA to hang with his old pal (and fellow Canadian) Seth Rogen. After a relaxed day of gaming and getting stoned they head to James Franco’s house for a party. Unimpressed with Seth’s Hollywood buddies, especially Franco and the seemingly ever affable Jonah Hill, Jay puts up quite a fuss. The party is raging by the time they get there and Jay continues to be unimpressed; meanwhile the audience howls at some of the celebrity cameos including a cringe worthy, rather out character, coked up Michael Cera.

When a Book of Revelations-style Apocalypse rocks the Hollywood Hills, the party thins out quite quickly, leaving us with the aforementioned Rogen, Baruchel, Franco and Hill as well as Craig Robinson, and Danny McBride. It’s the perfect framework for a situational comedy with Hollywood’s (and Canada’s) edgy, young comedians of the day, ostensibly pitted together, to face the end of days.

Our fearsome heroes immediately begin bickering about food, water, sleeping arrangements and the one pornographic magazine on the premises. They have a lot of fun mocking each others films as well as their public (and private) personas (Franco and Hill good naturedly bearing the brunt of the laughs). They film a video confessional a la 127 Hours and they make a sequel to The Pineapple Express. Eventually giant big horned and generously endowed demons arrive on the scene and its judgment time. The good will be beamed to heaven and the bad, well … they won’t.

This is the End is definitely a crass, self indulgent vanity project. They originally did it as a short film in 2007. Some will say it should have been kept a short. Personally I found it funny and, in spite of its more crass elements, smartly done. Rogen and Goldberg bring bromance back like J.T. brought sexy back. If you don’t what that means, This is the End probably isn’t for you. Its target audience already knows who they are: fans of TV’s Freaks and Geeks, fans of previous Rogen/Goldberg collaborations and fans of Judd Apatow movies will likely enjoy it the most, though I doubt anyone had quite as much fun as the filmmakers themselves.

Rated R for crude and sexual content throughout, brief graphic nudity, pervasive language, drug use and some violence
Review by Michelle Keenan

What Maisie Knew **** ½

Short Take: Near perfect contemporary update of Henry James’ 1894 novel about an acrimonious divorce as seen from a child’s point of view.

Reel Take: Like Much Ado About Nothing, What Maisie Knew is a contemporary adaptation of classic literature. In this instance it’s Henry James’ 1894 novel about an English couple’s acrimonious divorce and the effect it has on their daughter. The James book follows Maisie into her young teenage years but the film stops while she is still a child. Now Shakespeare is adaptable to almost every setting imaginable but modernizing Henry James is a much more difficult task. In What Maisie Knew the filmmakers have more than risen to the challenge.

Unlike Much Ado, Maisie has a greater number of seasoned performers. Julianne Moore’s remarkably unpleasant, self-absorbed mother is one of the more difficult parts she’s played in quite some time. As the wronged husband, Steve Coogan begins as the Steve Coogan we all know and love before revealing a darker and less endearing side. Caught in the middle is their 7 year old daughter Maisie who has to observe the back and forth and then try to process it all.

Add to the mix 2 unlucky partners who are there to provide each spouse with an excuse to be granted child custody. They are winningly portrayed by Joanna Vanderham & Alexander Skarsgard (who also happens to be in The East which is reviewed this month). Both provide the film with the heart and soul we so desperately want it to have.

The movie is well paced and the NYC locations are simply but effectively used. While they provide first class window dressing (the original setting is London), the movie is about self-centered people and how a young child is forced to deal with an unfortunate situation not of her making. Onata Aprile, as the title character, gives a charming, unaffected performance which allows the audience to easily bond with her. Although an updating of the Henry James novel, his observances on human emotions and their ability to console or condemn remains as fresh and pertinent as ever.

Moore is a rock and roll singer, Coogan a well-to-do constantly travelling businessman. It clearly shows the consequences of a relationship once the physical attraction is over and both parents are stuck with a child that they love but don’t really want. Skarsgard & Vanderham portray a bartender and a nanny who wind up being thrown together because of Maisie. While the movie does resort to the old standby of working class poor people being happier and better off than self-centered rich people, here it seems natural and not a cliché.

Finally I really want to congratulate directors Scott McGeehe & David Siegel, and screenwriters Nancy Doyne & Carroll Cartwright for taking disturbing material like this and avoiding the temptation (too often yielded too in films) of wallowing in dysfunctionality through one ugly scene after another. But then this is Henry James and not Eugene O’Neill. Unfortunately the curse of the monthly has struck again and Maisie has already left town. Watch for its upcoming release on DVD and/or streaming availability and be sure to catch up with it. While it’s sometimes painful to watch, Maisie is ultimately a rewarding and uplifting experience.

Rated R for some language
Review by Chip Kaufmann