Dope **** ½

Short Take: A precocious trio of misfits from ‘the Bottoms’ inadvertently end up with a backpack full of drugs, a gun and a wild ride.

Reel Take: Dope is a little movie that may or may not still be in local theaters by the time you read this. But, if it is and you have any interest in it after reading this review, see it quickly because it won’t be here long. Brown Sugar director Rick Famuyiwa turns in one of the year’s most pleasant surprises so far. The film is produced and narrated by Forrest Whitaker and opens with the three definitions of dope: drugs, a stupid person, and slang for excellent (a la “cool”).

Dope tells the story of three misfits from ‘the Bottoms’ neighborhood of Inglewood, California who inadvertently end up with a backpack full of drugs and a gun. At the center of our trio is Malcolm (Shameik Moore), a precocious geek with his sights set on Harvard and a penchant for 90s era hip hop. Flanking Malcolm are Jib (Tony Revolori) and Diggy (Kiersey Clemons). Jib is a more self deprecating geek and Diggy is an androgynous lesbian whose family takes her to church to “pray the gay away.” The greatest attribute of our trio is how comfortable each is in their own skin and with each other. What they are not quite as comfortable with are the every day threats in their neighborhood.

It is while running away from some bullies that Malcolm ends up cornered by a local drug dealer (A$ap Rocky) and relaying messages for him to his on-the-rocks girlfriend (Zoe Kravitz). Both the dealer and the girlfriend take a liking to Malcolm and invite him and his friends to a party, but after a raid at a night club, Malcolm inadvertently ends up with a backpack full of ‘Molly’ (an ecstasy-like party drug), a gun, and a great big problem. The rest of the movie’s running time is pretty much spent dealing with said problem and, in doing so, ties in brilliantly with the various sub-stories.

I knew Zoe Kravitz was the daughter of actress Lisa Bonet and singer Lenny Kravitz, but the only actor I readily knew in the film was Tony Revolori, who played Zero in last year’s Grand Budapest Hotel. All three turn in fine performances, but I was particularly taken with Moore and look forward to seeing what he does next.

Dope is an urban coming-of-age comedy-drama. Its style and texture is smart, hip, surprisingly relevant and completely refreshing. There is a profound, but socially appropriate, use of the ‘N’ word. The major plot point involves drugs. And there is a smattering of teenage sexuality. If any of this is an issue for you, this isn’t the movie for you.

There was a reason Dope was an audience favorite at this year’s Sundance Festival. It’s certainly one of the tops on my list this year too.

Rated R for language, drug content, sexuality/nudity, and some violence – all involving teens.

Review by Michelle Keenan

I’ll See You In My Dreams ****

Short Take: With the death of a beloved dog and the arrival of two new men in her life, a 70 year old widow takes stock of what’s important. A wonderful coming-of-old-age story.

Reel Take: One of the few people that I’ve talked to who has actually seen I’ll See You In My Dreams remarked, “It’s such a good movie, but that mambi pambi title is misleading.” And while the title does actually reference a plot point, my friend made a good point. One might expect I’ll See You In My Dreams to be a mainstream, formulaic romantic comedy or a romantic melodrama a la Nicholas Sparks. And while it has tried and true earmarks of the rom-com genre, it is anything but. Instead, director and co-writer Brett Haley has created a remarkably gentle yet refreshingly adult film.

I’ll See You In My Dreams tells the story of Carol (Blythe Danner), a 70-something widow with a very tidy life. She has a beloved old dog, a nice house, a small circle of friends and a seemingly endless supply of Chardonnay. Within the first moments of the film she realizes it’s time to put the dog to sleep. We watch her as she calmly watches her constant companion fade from this world. It’s incredibly moving, especially for anyone who has ever shared that experience, and it all happens before we even know her name.

The loss is a catalyst that shakes her from the aimless routine that’s been passing for life since her husband’s death. Carol finds herself truly alone, perhaps for the very first time, and begins to question if maybe there should be more to life. Cue the rat (uncredited), a pool boy (Martin Starr), and a handsome silver fox (Sam Elliott).

What ensues is a sweet and wonderfully awkward friendship with the pool boy and a touching romance with the fox. Along the way her bridge-playing girlfriends continue their plight to get her to move to the retirement community and her only daughter (Malin Ackerman), a person she doesn’t see very often, comes to visit. Oh, and periodically the rat makes a startling appearance. The story has elements of comedy, occasional snarkiness, vulnerability and heartbreak.

Danner is positively luminous and is perfectly suited to the role. She shines brilliantly throughout, but no moment more so than when she sings Cry Me a River at a karaoke night. The supporting cast is also rather sublime, meeting Danner at her elevated bar. Sam Elliot delivers the single best ever pick-up line from behind that glorious mustachioed face of bravado, and he and Danner have an easy chemistry. But it is Starr that is a bit of a revelation here as the socially awkward, dejected and somewhat aimless pool boy.

You want Carol to spend more time with both of these fellows. The scenes with her daughter are also excellent. The scenes with Carol’s friends, played by Rhea Perlman, June Squib, and Mary Kay Place, are entertaining and add levity, but they are the slightly more contrived trappings of the film.

Although this is a coming-of-old-age film that will resonate with a certain age bracket, one does not need to be in their golden years to enjoy or appreciate the film. It may in fact interest some to know that the writers of this film are in their early 30’s. The film plays out with quietly moving moments infused with incredibly jarring reality. But then that really is life, isn’t it and it’s part of this film’s beauty. The film is not a ground breaker of any kind, but that isn’t a criticism and it’s not meant to diminish it in any way. As I reflected on the film over the course of a few days, it dawned on me that this wonderful little film may just bring more to the table than its simplicity would imply, and that is just plain elegant.

Rated PG-13 for sexual material, drug use and brief strong language.

Review by Michelle Keenan

Inside Out *** ½

Short Take: Pixar studios has its biggest hit yet—not including sequels—exploring the emotions of an 11-year-old girl.

Reel Take: Pixar’s Inside Out focuses on an 11-year-old girl named Riley (voiced by Kaitlyn Dias). Like all of us, Riley is ruled by her emotions — Joy (voiced by Amy Poehler), Sadness (voiced by Phyllis Smith), Fear (voiced by Bill Hader), Anger (voiced by Lewis Black) and Disgust voiced by (Mindy Kaling) live in Headquarters – a control room in Riley’s head. It’s very much like the Captain’s bridge in Star Trek. From this control room, they monitor Riley’s daily interactions and experiences, carefully storing her core memories. It’s an interesting premise and an ingenious way to explore emotions with children, but in some ways it wasn’t really a children’s movie.

All is well in Riley’s happy life until a job transfer uproots her family from the hockey loving frozen lakes of Minnesota to the big city of San Francisco.

Suddenly, Headquarters is on red alert and Joy goes into over drive, trying to steady their girl. Sadness threatens to unwittingly dismantle everything, setting a catastrophic chain of events off inside Riley’s poor head which creates quite the existential 11-year-old crisis in Riley’s life. Joy and Sadness spend the rest of the movie in a race to save Riley and spare her any further emotional turmoil. Doing it will be easier said than done.

Inside Out has been getting rave reviews. I don’t share in the rave. Oh, it’s beautifully animated, the voicing talent is terrific and the overall concept is great. It has some wonderfully brilliant moments too – bringing Riley’s forgotten imaginary friend Bing Bong (voiced by Richard Kind) out of the depths of her memory was a stroke of genius – but unfortunately there were not enough of these moments to sustain it.

I think the weak link is in the writing. Interestingly, co-director Peter Docter was the writer behind Up, Monster’s Inc. and Toy Story, to name a few and he directed Up and Monster’s Inc. His fellow co-director Ronnie del Carmen shared screenwriting duties on Up. I think Inside Out suffers from the lack of either of them being on the screenwriting team. But no matter, all in all it’s likeable, and it’s already Pixar’s biggest film to date, so it’ll be in theaters for a while and there will no doubt be some kind of sequel.

Rated PG for mild thematic elements and some action.

Review by Michelle Keenan

Jurassic World *** ½

Short Take: The long-awaited installment in the Jurassic Park series, timed perfectly to capitalize on the now grown children who loved it 22 years ago. Way to spell ‘b l o c k b u s t e r,’ Mr. Spielberg.

Reel Take: At press time, this brontosaurus-size hit was rampaging its way to breaking all kinds of box office records. So really, my piddly review isn’t going to make a difference to anyone, nor impact whether you will or won’t see it. Still though, as it’s now one of the biggest movies ever, we might as well weigh in on it. The Good Professor Kaufmann has actually never seen any of the Jurassic predecessors, so it was up to me.

I confess to thoroughly enjoying the first Jurassic Park in 1993. Who wouldn’t? But, like most people, I was disappointed with the second and completely forgot there was a third film in 2001. Jurassic World, however, showed promise and by and large it delivers on that promise.

In the original Jurassic Park, Richard Attenborough showed us what could happen when you pay attention in science class and find a little dino-DNA. Fast forward 22 years and the dinosaur theme park, Jurassic World, is a huge success (Disney World would wane in comparison). But with success comes greed – corporate greed to be precise. So what’s the park to do? Why genetically modify dinosaurs, of course!

Of course all of this is unknown to all but the inner-most circle of Jurassic World, including the park’s uptight, nervous Nelly operations manager, Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard), the Dr. Frankenstein of prehistoric DNA, Dr. Wu (B.D. Wong reprising his role from 22 years ago) and the park’s owner, Mr. Masrani (Irfan Kahn). Dr. Wu has created something spectacular for the investors – the Indominus Rex – a dinosaur hybrid that is part T-Rex and part something else (yet to be disclosed).

So of course it’s when Claire’s nephews (Ty Simpkins and Nick Robinson) come to visit that said genetically modified, half-mystery beastie breaks out of her pen and goes on a tourist eating rampage. It seems the only one who can save the day is Owen (Chris Pratt), one of the park’s animal trainers and a dinosaur whisperer of sorts.

But alas, Indominus herself cannot alone thwart Owen’s efforts. Of course, there has to be a villain to make matters even worse, played here with great aplomb by Vincent D’Onofrio as the head of security for the park. He is a right-wing Haliburton type contractor who also wants to use Owen’s velociraptors to fight ISIS.

So yes, it’s all sounding pretty absurd and we haven’t even gotten to Claire’s outfit and high heels, her near constant flirtatious bickering with Owen or Mr. Masrani’s helicopter flying skills. No matter, we don’t want to give away all the fun. What I can say is what Jurassic World has going for it – a good cast, a rather good script and terrific effects. Of the sequels in the franchise it’s definitely the best. At its core it’s a good old fashioned popcorn matinee. Director Colin Trevorrow (Safety Not Guaranteed) seems to know how to make the most out of that element.

It’s exactly what it’s supposed to be — big budget, lively entertainment that doesn’t take itself too seriously. To me it was ridiculously good fun. Unfortunately, for all its effects not once did the filmmakers succeed in pulling off one genuinely thrilling, jump-out-of-your-skin moment. I’d have happily traded some of its anti-GMO, corporate greed messaging for a little more thrill. After all isn’t that what Jurassic World is all about?

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of science-fiction violence and peril)

Review by Michelle Keenan

When Marnie Was There *****

Short Take: Exquisitely animated, this final offering from Studio Ghibli about a lonely young girl’s transformation with the help of a special friend is a must see but you’ll have to wait for the DVD.

Reel Take: By the time you read this, When Marnie Was There will have left the only theater in town that it was playing in. This comes as no surprise; how can a beautifully animated, deeply felt film about loneliness and redemption compete with that dinosaur movie that is playing in several theaters all over town and is on its way to becoming the number one box office attraction of all time.

This is not meant as a criticism of Jurassic World but rather with 1) Carolina Cinemas for not giving Marnie a chance to be seen by dumping it after only one week and 2) the distributor (Disney) for opening the movie against Jurassic World which seems to me a convenient way of just writing it off.

I had the type of emotional experience at this movie that I rarely have in the movies anymore and especially with an animated film. Part of the reason for that has to do with the subject material which is an English ghost story transplanted from Cornwall to the Japanese coast. The basic plot has a universality that transcends location.

A socially awkward, asthmatic girl named Anna is sent from the city to the coast to stay with relatives to improve her health. Her guardian hopes that the change in scenery will also help her to come out of the shell that she has recently withdrawn into. As the film unfolds we discover why this has happened and we watch as she gradually emerges.

The transformation comes about as a result of Anna’s friendship with a young girl, Marnie, who is the same age and lives in a big house across the bay which can only be reached by boat or at low tide. Anna is a budding artist who loves to draw and she first becomes fascinated with Marnie after sketching her.

It becomes obvious to the audience early on that Marnie is an otherworldly spirit but, who she really is and why she is attracted to Anna, is what the film is really about. It’s also about Anna’s return to the real world which she has rejected because of an unpleasant discovery. As she finds out more about Marnie’s background she discovers more about herself.

What makes Marnie so special is the style of animation employed. Unlike the typical Studio Ghibli offering which is usually done in a vividly drawn anime style, this movie is done in soft pastels and is like a delicate watercolor come to life which is in keeping with the art motif of the story.

Another plus that kept me engaged rather than distancing me (as frequently happens with other Studio Ghibli offerings) is the English dubbing. A talented vocal cast headed up by Hailee Steinfeld delivers the dialogue in a natural and unobtrusive way. This is probably because the movie is not really aimed at children even though children are the principal characters.

I long for the days of one movie in one theater, not the same movie in several theaters, which is what we have today. I have nothing against big budget popcorn flicks but I hate to see important little ones like When Marnie Was There get lost in the proliferation. So keep a sharp eye out for streaming possibilities or the DVD, for that is [sadly] the only way you’re going to see it.

Rated PG for thematic elements and smoking.

Review by Chip Kaufmann