Oz, the Great and Powerful - The Thin Man? Really???

It is not a terrible movie or a great movie, it is a Disney movie. It is signature Disney with a lot of happiness sprinkled with some evil touches to keep the audience awake. This a prequel to the original Wizard of Oz. The main character Oscar Diggs (aka Oz) is transported to the Land of pre Oz, meets three witches and has a great battle to secure a sequel to the prequel.

Acting in this movie was not a push. If over acting was a currency James Franco would be a millionaire. For the three witches, Mila Kunes, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams, their acting is unremarkable, and almost interchangeable, but they look really good doing it. The battles between good and evil are spectacular and are fun to watch.

Regrettably there was not much humor in this movie. The camaraderie of the Scarecrow, Thin Man and Cowardly Lion is sorely missed. It is difficult to imitate a classic without duplicating it. This Oz does not do it.

See this movie if you are into fantasy or nostalgic for the original Oz. As for the audience this movie is a bit scary (it’s those dam flying monkeys) so kids should be older than twelve years old, except kids from the Bronx older than five is OK.

The Call - It Make Life Interesting

For a B movie The Call is very good. But before I continue, what the hell is with Halle Berry’s hair in this film? It looks like a Chiba Pet is growing out of her head. From here the review gets better.

The genre is familiar. Bad guy kidnaps a young girl, shoves her in the trunk of a car and a police chase ensues.  There are similarities to Silence of the Lambs, but more in tone than a rip off. The unique parts are interesting enough to hold your attention. The movie maintains tension which is essential to a suspense film. Berry is a 911 operator who deals with a cell call from a young girl, Abigail Breslin, who is girl in the trunk. There is some blood and gore, but nothing that would interest Quentin Tarantino.

All three principal actors give serviceable performances. Halle Berry does not over do the nervous operator type. There are some far fetched scenes, but they do not spoil the film. Little Miss Sunshine goes to the dark side, and she seems to like it there. I was skeptical of her performance but her character’s transition is well done.  Michael Eklund plays the creepy kidnapper who has enough film time to give a strong performance. One aspect of his character even bothered me. I like the ending because I did not expect it; the audience liked it also.

For the most part the critics panned this movie. Don’t always listen to the critics, it make life interesting.

The Master - Jim Jones sans Kool Aid

This is not a date flick. The relationships in the movie are volatile and intense. Love and hate exist in the same space. To appreciate the film you have to separate the story from the acting. The story is loosely based on Scientology founded by L. Ron Hubbard. The film offers snap shots of how the cult operates from the domination by the Master to the cult devotion of his followers.

Joaquin Phoenix (and his character, Freddie Sutton) has more issues than National Geographic. Phoenix’s character is a recent World War II veteran whose future is aimless. Phoenix’s transformation into Sutton is stunning. It is evident Phoenix lost weight for this role; his frame is gaunt and his face is a leathery mask. Sutton is tortured by the past and an uncertain present. He is always on the verge of exploding against friends and foes. This guy is so messed up he cannot even belong to a cult. What dark closet did Phoenix pull this character from?

Philip Seymour Hoffman is the Master. He is Jim Jones sans Kool Aid. Hoffman specializes in playing the deceptively soft spoken domineering character, and here he does it well. His cult is young and evolving. Hoffman uses charm and when needed brutality to advance his cause. Sutton is his blunt instrument.

This was not a comfortable movie. Sutton is distressed and is unable to find peace or belonging. For all his guile, Hoffman is basically a charlatan and he knows it. As for his flock, they are sheep. Some lucky sheep will disco dance and fly jets and others will marry tall women.

Oscars Picks - Jessica Chastain's Cojones

Best Motion Picture 
Lincoln This is the whole package; story, acting, directing and great cinema. It is a real feat to make the 13^th Amendment great drama.

Achievement in Directing

David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook Why did I pick this guy? Spielberg and Ang Lee already have Oscars and the Academy likes to spread it around. Anyway it is a complicated and multi-level movie well done.

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln

He is the complete actor. He inhabits his character from his clumpy walk to his unruly hair. Day-Lewsus could have been Honest Abe’s body double. Bummer! 

Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty

This woman had cojones. She played the role hard, as she had to.  

Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

Alan Arkin, Argo

Alan Akin is the shit! This guy is pure New York attitude. He acts with natural force. 

Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

Sally Field, Lincoln

I noticed of her acting right from the start. Not only was her resemblance to Marty Todd Lincoln uncanny she portrayed her as a tortured soul on the verge of insanity.

Original Screenplay Zero Dark Thirty, Mark Boal

Beats out the rest. A complicated story told.

Adapted Screenplay

Lincoln, Tony Kushner
If you can take a history book and make it into a great movie you deserves the Oscar. Enough said.

 Original Song

"Skyfall," Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth; Skyfall Heard it; liked it.

Achievement in Production Direction

Life of Pi
This is a very trippy movie. The scenes are surreal; simple but effective.

Side Effects - I asked for a ticket for Side Ways

It started badly. At the movie theater I asked for a ticket for Side Ways. In a low voice the clerk said the title is Side Effects. Oh, I said, using my advanced age as an excuse for my lapse. The side effects in Side Effect are often heard warnings on TV for anti depressant drugs: causes dry mouth, may cause dizziness, may cause insomnia and increased thoughts of suicide.

This movie is supposed to be a psychological thriller. Not to worry Hitch, you can rest peacefully. The cast is outstanding: Rooney Mara, Channing Tatum, Catharine Zeta-Jones and Jude Law. But with a loopy script and misdirected direction this top shelf cast is wasted. Only Rooney Mara did some acting as if she was zonked out on some powerful drug, not a push for a Hollywood actor. Regrettably for most of the movie Channing Tatum keeps his clothes on (Did I just say that?) Zeta-Jones plays an uptight psychiatrist who wears horrible square glasses and sports a hair bun is so tight it gives her face that yanked Botox look.

The financial sub plot is pedestrian. Hollywood is tapping in to the recent financial malaise to make the movie relevant. The only problem is their money scheme is implausible. As for the medical plot it lacked credibility. As a professional, Jude Law looked the part with his two day old bread and beige sweater vest. However, he made some bad calls which would have landed him in with a malpractice suit. Anti-depression drugs were tossed around like piñata candy. For a movie called side effects it seems that no read the warning label.

There was one redeeming scene between Zeta-Jones and Mara. They were standing close to each other, too close. Mara undid one button of Zeta-Jones’s white silk blouse; hope sprang eternal. It was getting pretty steamy when there was a rude knock at the door and then the scene went nowhere, just like the movie. I should have gone to see Side Ways.

The Impossible

The Impossible

If you have a fear of water, tsunamis or dying on vacation this is not your movie. It’s a true story of unimaginable destruction and the insurmountable will to survive. This family was vacationing at the Thai seacoast for a Christmas holiday. On December 26, 2004 a powerful earthquake set off a killer tsunami. The scene in the movie is terrifying. You sensed the terror of the vacationers as a towering wall of brown water crushed everything in its path. One of the sons was thrown into the pool like a rag doll. Naomi Watts crashes through a glass pane and is caught in an underwater whirlpool.

The story is heroic. The family is swept away and separated. Two boys go with their father, Ewan McGregor, and the other son with Naomi Watts. For the rest of the movie they struggle to reunite. Their ordeals are horrendous. Every parent hopes they would have the courage do the same thing for their family.

Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts are excellent actors. However, I think their roles in this movie are too narrow and lack range for a great performance. This is almost like a Passion play; lots of suffering and lots of love. I do not see how Naomi Watts is nominated for best actress. Her performance cannot compare to Jennifer Lawrence or Jessica Chastain for example. Those roles were rich and complex.

This film is basically a documentary made into a movie. It should have stayed a documentary. The tsunami killed 230,000 people in three countries. Compared to this cataclysm their story is just an ember in a wild fire. There wasn't even a post script at the end of the movie as a testimony to the dead; only a picture of the real family who survived the Impossible. We pray there were others.

joe

Silver Linings Playbook - Yuck, Baltimore

Silver Linings Playbook

What a fabulous movie. After you read my review I recommend you go see it. It has the cinema trifecta: a great script, great directing and great acting. The actors play to each other, their timing is pitched perfect. Nuance makes for great performance. De Niro’s slight down turned lips, tilt of his head and begging eyes define the scene. Bradley Cooper captured the unsettling stare of man with psychological problems. Jennifer Lawrence invades Cooper’s personal space by literally by running into him.

Cooper left his Hangover, A-Team bad boy persona behind to become a head shaven garbage bag jogger and one hell of an actor. His character, Pat, is Bipolar; more manic than depressed. He is released from a psychiatric institute in Baltimore (yuck, Baltimore) to return home. He brings with him a lot of unresolved problems. Mental illness is a contagious disease and his family suffers from it.  Trepidation and sadness molds his mother’s face. Even De Niro cries; just two tears.

De Niro is a bookie who makes an oversized bet to solve his financial problems. Football is his salvation. He wants his son to watch the games with him so they can bond. His sincerity is questionable. Since he is very superstitious he feels his son’s presence with help the Eagles cover the spread. This home situation is not a place of mending.

Jennifer Lawrence uses her physical presence as part of her performance.  In most of the movie she is in Cooper’s face defining the tension between them. Cooper hopes to make up with his estranged wife and Lawrence pretends to help. Lawrence has her own issues. Unintentionally these two emotional cripples help each other find peace and love. This is the engine of the movie.

My one complaint is that Chris Tucker did not have more of role. He was the original manic actor but here he is subdued and understated. He is a psychiatric patient and Cooper’s friend. His limited scenes bring some of the funniest moments of the movie. His humor is better than any medication.

Ok, enough said. Go see this great movie.

joe