The Bourne Legacy ***1/2

Short Take: There was never just one.

Reel Take: The tag line for The Bourne Legacy is “There was never just one.” This is a fitting line to lure Bourne fans (like myself) to the theatre. Written and directed by Bourne architect Tony Gilroy, The Bourne Legacy opens with the silhouetted image of a man floating in the water and the assassination of a prominent British journalist about to blow the whistle on the program that designed super spies such as Bourne. Both are images that tie back to the last film; the references give the viewer both high hopes and an immediate afrenaline rush.

I knew Jason Bourne was not going to be this evolution of the Bourne franchise, but I thought The Bourne Legacy would pick up with the same heart-pumping pace of the original trilogy. This was a short lived hope to be sure. What followed was a two hour long set up to get us to buy in to this new Bourne franchise.

I kept thinking, “We already drank the cool-aid — Bourne, Treadstone, Blackbriar, the whole thing — so don’t explain it to me, just keep it going!” Unfortunately the filmmakers seem to be taking our love for Bourne for granted. More time was taken up explaining the latest guinea pig soldiers covertly engineered by our government, than was ever spent in explaining Bourne. Bourne’s back story was integrated as the story unfolded, which worked far more effectively. Perhaps this new strategy is based on the fact that Gilroy no longer has Ludlum’s source material from which to adapt. Or maybe the producers really thought that this is what the audience needed in order to move forward.

The new soldier gone rogue at the center of this story is Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner). If Jason Bourne was Treadstone 1.0, Cross is version 4.0. He is being chemically programmed and altered to be unbreakable. Unbeknownst to him, facing a leak that could expose far more than just Treadstone (which apparently was only the tip of the iceberg), the latest government heavies in Washington (Edward Norton and Stacy Keach) decide to shut the whole program down. This means eliminating any evidence of it – the soldiers themselves and the doctors reprogramming them.

Believed dead (after a systematic extermination), Cross seeks out the doctor behind his ‘chems’. Coincidentally Dr. Marta Schiering (Rachel Weisz) happens to be the only doctor to survive that extermination process as well. Together they are the run, but before they can really go off the grid, they have to finish the final stage of Cross’ genetic re-programming.

The Bourne Legacy is not a bad movie. It is tedious at times and it doesn’t have the staying power of the original trilogy, but it’s actually quite smart, and the actors rise to the challenge. Renner certainly has the chops and the intensity for the role, and he and Weisz work well together.

Had this film been an independent release from the Bourne franchise none of these trivial complaints would have mattered. On the other hand, with this elebarorate set up out of the way, Gilroy has now successfully paved the way and rebooted the series to hit the ground running with sequels to this one (how about “Bourne Again,” or “Bourne Yesterday,” or “Bourne to be Wild”?).

Sequels to The Bourne Legacy will no doubt return to the heightened pace of its predecessors, and may even be more intense. It’s already clear that certain earlier subplots will come back to the fold. It’s also conceivable that Bourne himself could reappaear. Now that would be something to see.

Rated PG-13 for violence and action sequences.

Review by Michelle Keenan

The Expendables 2 ***1/2

Short Take: This sequel to the 2010 original is way more over the top than its predecessor, but in the end it winds up being completely “expendable”.

Reel Take: I wanted to like Expendables 2. I really did. And I did like most of it, but what I didn’t like ultimately ruined my viewing experience. It’s a shame because this movie had the potential to be The Avengers of R rated action films but IMHO director Simon West (Lara Croft: Tomb Raider) let that potential slip through his fingers.

The intentional humor is already built in with character names such as Hale Caesar (Terry Crewes) and Toll Road (Randy Couture) carried over from the first film but this time we get Billy the Kid (Liam Hemsworth fresh from The Hunger Games) and my personal favorite the bad guy Villain (pronounced Vill-LANE) in a wonderfully nasty turn from Jean-Claude Van Damme.

The plot is simple enough, Sylvester Stallone & Co are recruited by Bruce Willis to retrieve a computer from a plane crash. The computer contains the secret location to a secret stash of plutonium. Once they obtain it, it’s stolen by Van Damme who kills Billy in the process. The others vow to get their revenge on him and the plutonium back as an afterthought.

Before the plot proper gets underway the film opens with a totally outrageous action sequence that has the Expendables rescuing Hatch (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and a hostage from Chinese mercenaries. There are pyrotechnics aplenty and lots of CGI synthespians get wiped out (I lost count after the first couple of hundred).

Once they are on the track of Van Damme they come to a cold war training ground (designed to look like New York) where they encounter Chuck Norris, who saves them deus ex machina style but refuses to join them because “I work alone”. This time they only manage to kill about a hundred bad guys. That’s not counting the ones they maim.

After becoming trapped in an underground mine where the plutonium was stored before being removed by Van Damme, they are once again rescued deus ex machina style. This time it’s by Arnold Schwarzenegger who declares “I’m back.” You get the idea. This leads to the film’s ultimate set piece, a shootout in an airport that deliberately recalls the end of John Woo’s Hard Boiled (1992) except that a few hundred more people die. There is a final martial arts confrontation between Van Damme and Stallone. Guess who wins?

Now we come to the part or parts of the film that considerably lessened my enjoyment. It involves not the number of people killed (easily a thousand) but in the way that they get killed. They are shot up or exploded in video game fashion with blood and guts splattering everywhere. At least it’s not in slow motion. Not only does it totally depersonalize and glamorize the violence but I , for one, resent having to pay big screen money for video game visuals.

In the final analysis, as much as I enjoyed watching the old guys go through their paces and saving the day in time honored fashion, I just couldn’t get past the look of the film. Too much of it is like the video games you find in theater lobbies today not to mention those found at home. One hesitates to draw a parallel between movies like this and what happened in Aurora, Colorado but then if, you think about it, it’s hard not to.

Rated R for strong, bloody violence throughout.

Review by Chip Kaufmann

The Odd Life of Timothy Green ****

Short Take: Charming and fragile fantasy to which the appellation “they don’t make ‘em like that anymore” truly applies.

Reel Take: It just goes to show that no matter what the critics say (me included), you need to see a movie for yourself and make up your own mind. If I had listened to the critics regarding The Odd Life of Timothy Green, I’d have passed on it, and that would have deprived me of one of the more enjoyable film experiences I’ve had in quite a while.

A noted critic for NPR said that if this movie had been made 50 years ago it would be hailed today as a classic but not now. Times have changed and an old fashioned, whimsical fantasy is out of place in the 21st century. I couldn’t disagree more. We could use a lot more films like The Odd Life of Timothy Green especially when they are as well made as this film is but be warned, this film contains the “s” word…sentiment!

Sentiment is decidedly out of fashion these days. Just the thought of it makes some critics and people I know roll their eyes upward and to dismiss whatever contains it (book, movie, or music) out of hand. Today’s world belongs to Buster Keaton and not to Charlie Chaplin. Cleverness and athleticism not beauty and grace are the order of the day. But as Chaplin showed, there’s nothing wrong with sentiment when it’s handled properly as it is here.

Timothy Green is the sort of movie that Frank Capra would have made in his prime. Small town setting, inherently decent people overall, and a charming couple (Jennifer Garner, Joel Edgerton) who dream of something more. That dream comes true in the arrival of Timothy (C.J. Adams) who arrives fully developed from their garden, the perfect embodiment of the child they wish for but can never biologically have.

It doesn’t take long for Timothy to have an impact on the community, whether it’s cheerfully submitting to abuse from the local bullies, to inspiring his parents to create a new kind of pencil in order to save their small town livelihood (a local pencil factory). He also makes a difference in the life of a young tomboy (Odeya Rush), and in the town’s wealthy dowager (Dianne Wiest), who finally gets to see herself as she really is.

Nothing against the films of Tim Burton, but it seems today that unless a fantasy film is truly strange and, for lack of a better word, original, then it gets no respect. Either that or it has to have “meaning” and be heavy in tone like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which the title of this film clearly resembles. That’s either an in joke or a marketing ploy. I’m not sure which, but then this film is based on a story by Ahmet Zappa (son of Frank) so anything is possible.

Maybe it’s just that I’m getting older or my last child is leaving home, but I really had quite a response to this film as did the three other people who were there. Since it’s a Disney offering it’s likely to be around for awhile so try and catch it. The Odd Life of Timothy Green is a delicate, charming fantasy that can transport you to a world which exists only in the movies. It won’t stand up to close scrutiny like most whimsical films (remember Harvey?) but then it’s not meant to.

Rated PG for thematic elements and brief language.

Review by Chip Kaufmann

Ruby Sparks ****

Short Takes: When a young writer manifests the woman of his dreams, it gives new definition to the power of the pen.

Reel Take: The filmmakers (Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris) behind Little Miss Sunshine may not have the sleeper hit with Ruby Sparks that they had with Sunshine, but they definitely have one of this year’s most refreshing efforts to date. Ruby Sparks is a whimsical, off beat romantic comedy that defies contrivance (this alone makes it refreshing) and delves deeper, just when you think it might slip off the tracks. The merits of this film can largely be attributed to writer Zoe Kazan, who also stars as the titular character.

Kazan’s story revolves around a young Salenger-esque writer named Calvin (Paul Dano). Calvin is the timid, self-doubting, bookish type. He had a commercial and critical debut novel when he was 19 and hasn’t been able to write much of anything since. When his therapist (Elliot Gould) gives him a writing assignment, he decides to write about the woman of his dreams (literally). He names the woman Ruby, and this character becomes his muse. With a new found voice and creative juices flowing, Calvin busts through his writer’s block and rapidly begins to crank out the pages of his second novel.

About this time, Calvin starts finding ladies items scattered about his house. Puzzled, he thinks his dog must be bringing them home. He continues writing, inspired by his muse, until one day said muse is standing right in front of him. Calvin thinks he’s suffering from a kind of Harvey-esque delusion until he realizes other people can see her too. For some inexplicable reason (which wonderfully is never explained) Calvin has manifested the woman of his dreams right off the pages of his manuscript, and whatever he writes, Ruby does.

Ruby is Calvin’s ideal woman and, at first, their relationship seems equally idyllic. Ironically however, even with the ability to control and change her every mood and whim, the dream is fraught with reality and reality isn’t such a dream. This is where the film both soars and fumbles, but over all manages to stay its own unique course.

The guts of the story are nothing new; it’s how the story plays out that makes Ruby Sparks interesting. The film could easily have stayed comic and light (albeit slightly quirky) and still have been good, but there is more emotional heft to the story than one initially expects. Fortunately for us, said heft is delivered as organically as the rest of the story. For such a hipster, indie-style film, there is a distinct lack of pretense, and it never falls prey to being too impressed with itself.

Its heartfelt performances keep it engaging for the viewer. Dano lets loose in this role more than in others and it suits him. Kazan wrote herself a lulu of a role and she shines throughout. The fact that Kazan and Dano are a real life couple lends itself well to Calvin and Ruby’s ups and downs. The supporting cast including Chris Messina as Calvin’s upwardly mobile brother, Annette Benning as his new agey mother, Antonio Banderas as his mother’s vivacious, dope-smoking lover, and Steve Coogan as his self aggrandizing literary agent, all turn in fine performances.

Ruby Sparks won’t have mass appeal, but if what you’ve read here sounds at all interesting, you are likely its target audience, and you will likely enjoy it.

Rated R for language, including some sexual references and for some drug use.

Review by Michelle Keenan

Sleepwalk with Me ****

Short Take: This American Life contributor, Mike Birbiglia, takes his semi-autobiographical, one-man show about a struggling comedian with commitment issues and a sleepwalking disorder to the big screen.

Reel Take: Fans of This American Life are likely familiar with Mike Birbiglia. This self-effacing stand-up comic / storyteller has been evoking laughs from public radio audiences for several years. He’s known for telling somewhat embarrassing, slightly peculiar stories culled from his own life experiences, with a believable boy-next-door kind of likeability.

With a successful track record as a stand up comic, radio contributor, and writer, Birbiglia is set to tackle the film industry with his semi-autobiographical, directorial debut Sleepwak with Me. As a comedian-turned-writer/director, one can even imagine Birbiglia becoming a Woody Allen for a new generation.

However, unlike Allen and many other slightly neurotic, self deprecating comedians and writers, Birbiglia’s comedy is not whiny. This may be part of his charm and appeal. In Sleepwalk with Me, he’s a mess, but he’s a likable mess. Birbiglia plays Matt, an aspiring comedian with a fear of commitment and hazardous sleep walking disorder. As with Ruby Sparks, there’s nothing really new at the heart of the story, it’s how the story unfolds like makes it interesting. It’s also worth pointing out that he paints a great picture of what it’s like to be a working comedian.

Birbiglia plays Matt Pandamiglio, an aspiring stand-up comedian with a long-time girlfriend, a fear of commitment, and a hazardous sleepwalking disorder. Matt and his girlfriend Abby (Lauren Ambrose) have been together eight years. Their relationship not contentious, but it has grown stale. Still they’ve been together so long there’s no avoiding the ‘when’s the big day’ question.

As the inquiries mount in regards their marital status, Matt gets antsy, and he begins having bizarre episodes of sleepwalking. While all of this is going on, he is also struggling to find his comic voice. Ironically, when he does, he finds it via his afflictions (the REM disorder and his commitment phobia). Once he puts those out there, he finally connects with audience. As far as the other connections go, you’ll have to wait and see.

Birbiglia, along with Sleepwalk co-writer and producer Ira Glass (creator and host of public radio’s This American Life), has already proven himself a adept writer, ever commenting on and questioning the so-called ‘normal’ hallmarks and expectations of life, while clumsily navigating his own. Now he has also proven himself an adept director and actor in film as well.

Carol Kane and James Rebhorn play his parents, a couple together 40 years, but not exactly the example to the unmarried of ‘I got to get me some of that.’ Several other characters are played by fellow stand up comedians, and Ira Glass has a small cameo as well. The scene stealer however, is Sondra James as his booking agent, Colleen.

Sleepwalk with Me has a built-in audience with fans of This American Life, but Birbiglia’s circle of fans is likely to grow sizably directorial debut. The film opens in Asheville on September 7.

Rated R for language, including some sexual reference and for some drug use.

Review by Michelle Keenan

Take This Waltz ****

Short Take: Director Sarah Polley’s second feature film tells the bittersweet story of what happens when one partner in a marriage falls out of love with the other and the repercussions it has for both.

Reel Take: I have been a fan of Canadian director Sarah Polley for quite some time. I first saw her as a child actress in Terry Gilliam’s The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) and then followed her from the paralyzed victim in Atom Egoyan’s The Sweet Hereafter (1997) to 2005’s Beowulf & Grendel with Gerard Butler. In 2006 she made her directorial debut with the critically acclaimed Away From Her which starred Julie Christie as a woman with Alzheimer’s.

Take This Waltz is her second film as a director and as with her first film, she wrote the screenplay. The title is the name of a Leonard Cohen song which figures in a key montage scene late in the movie. On the surface the story is fairly pat. Married wife has an affair with a neighbor which has consequences for all involved. What takes it to a different level are the in depth look at the characters and how the various aspects of those consequences are examined. It reminded me of a Canadian version of Sex, Lies and Videotape.

Margot (Michelle Williams) and Lou (Seth Rogen) are a happily married suburban Toronto couple of five years. One day Margot meets Daniel (Luke Kirby) and finds herself drawn to him. When it turns out that he lives in the same neighborhood, she slowly but surely becomes even more attracted to him and he to her and, despite loving her husband, she leaves Lou to be with Daniel. After “the bloom is off the rose”, she wonders if she did the right thing but then realizes there is no going back.

Williams gives another one of her earnest independent film performances which is perfect for this material while Luke Kirby is all dark hair, good looks and easy charm making it easy to see why Margot would fall for him. The really pleasant surprise here is Seth Rogen. I’m not a big fan of his so for writer-director Polley to make me not only like his character but actually feel sorry for him is nothing short of a minor miracle. Sarah Silverman also resonates in the role of Rogen’s troubled sister Geraldine.

The characters, the situations, and especially the dialogue seem so honest and true-to-life that it’s hard not to believe that a lot of what happens here is based on actual real life experience. According to imdb.com (the internet movie database) Sarah Polley divorced her first husband although they remain good friends. Hopefully she is happier with her second choice than Michelle Williams seems to be with hers. Polley is also clearly proud of her native Canada and is happy to show off lesser known areas of Toronto, the city where she was born.

Take This Waltz only played Asheville for a week which is positively criminal. I realize a movie about a failed marriage is not going to be a happy one, but lots of downbeat films play here and do fairly well which makes this movie’s reception even more puzzling. This film even had the added attraction of Michelle Williams & Seth Rogan. I think the title had something to do with it, giving people the wrong impression. I was deeply moved by Take This Waltz and when it comes out on DVD, you should give it a try. I think you’ll be moved by it too.

Rated R for language, strong sexual content, and graphic nudity

Review by Chip Kaufmann