P.S. A Column On Things

The Dictator

5 stars out of 5
OK, that rating is overboard, but Sacha Baron Cohen, who co-wrote and stars in this film, committed an act of self-restraint that I wish to publicly reward. Along with director Larry Charles, he has managed to create an 82 minute film. This is actual 9 minutes UNDER the perfect length for a comedy and no a minute too long. For that alone, I award my highest rating. I should mention in passing that the film is racist, sexist, anti-semitic and full of pretty disgusting humor. It is also, alas, despite all its utter political correctness, hysterically funny more often than not. If you are among the habitually offended, it is best you not attend this film. If you loved, for example, Something About Mary, or the sensibility of (if not the drug use of) any Cheech and Chong film, or, for that matter, Cohen's previous films, this is a pleasant way to while away just part of an afternoon. I saw it after school and still had time for dinner before band practice.

Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

4 stars out of 5
A film by adults for adults, with dialog and plot, during which nothing blows up. That right there earns four stars. Add in Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Nighy, Penelope Wilton, Maggie Smith and Ronald Pickup, and you are close to Nirvana. Of course, they wouldn't have known what to do without director John Madden, or what to say without the  Ol Parker screenplay based on a novel by Deborah Moggach. The Indian supporting case is impressive. This is the story of a group of English retirees who move to India to stretch their budgets, and it is fantastic and amazing. Funny and poignant. Breathtaking and stunning. Doesn't make me want to move to India, but it sure makes me feel as though I have visited.

Men in Black 3

4 stars out of 5
Once again, I made the mistake of reading the reviews before I saw the movie. I have learned lately that some reviewers make it a point never to read anyone else's reviews first. Plus, my daughter told me about all the Internet buzz. Well, forget the buzz. Forget the reviews. I laughed hysterically all the way through. Plot? Who cares? Script? Why bother? Will Smith, Josh Brolin, and what amounts to a cameo by Tommy Lee Jones has produced an hysterically funny movie. Too long? You bet. Overblown? As overblown as it is possible to be. I loved it.

Bernie

4 stars out of 5
Jack Black proves he can actually act in this amusing semi-documentary about life and death in Carthage, Texas, behind the Pine Curtain. Director and co-writer Richard Linklatter does an amazing job of combining documentary interviews with actual residents and acting by a half-dozen performers, including Shirley MacLaine and Matthew McConaughey (sometimes interacting with the actual residents). I don't want to give away too much of the plot; I knew too much when I arrived because of other reviews I had read. Suffice it to say that it gets four stars from me, because it is art, offering the option of different opinions after multiple viewings, ambiguity, and big issues. I was amused by the fact that several of the residents looked to me like character actors I had seen before.

The Five-Year Engagement

3 stars out of 5

Nicholas Stoller directer and co-wrote this film with star Jason Segel. Also appearing, Emily Blunt and Chris Pratt. Apparently, they locked themselves up for a weekend and took careful notes while watching the last 100 Romantic Comedies (romcoms) released in the United States, with special attention to the box office results. No cliche' is left unturned in this pleasant outing. After all, we know the destination: it is the journey we have come to enjoy. I will admit, Stoller and Segal almost fooled me; if this film had been a reasonable length, it would have ended with the lovers separated. But then, of course, it wouldn't be American, it would be French. A normal good film gets 3.5 stars from me, but I have to ding this one a half star for excessive length. What is this, the too-long movie season. One day soon, a director is going to turn in an adequate 90 minute film and I am going to give it five stars in sheer gratitude.

The Avengers

4 stars out of 5

Well, the Avengers opened as big, or bigger, than everyone predicted; it's $200 millon weekend take set a U.S. box office record, and it has taken in $640 million so far worldwide. Makes the $250 million they spent making it look paltry. Inflation adjusted, it has a way to go to catch up with Gone with the Winds $1.5 billion, but who knows? (I know, I know, review the movie, not the box office. But still...). The money, of course, is all up there on the screen.

Not a lot of point in reviewing this film; the plot, what there is of it, is a McGuffin to get the group together and fighting both each other and the bad guys. Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man steals the show, with his pithy one-liners, although Mark Ruffalo's Hulk is a close second, with a few bits of physical business that left me in the aisle. That's what made this a great super-hero film; Joss Whedon's sense of humor about the whole enterprise. I take a back seat to no one in the fan boy department; I owned Avengers Issues No. 1 through No. 100 for two decades, from the day they came out until the day I unloaded my Marvel collection (for several thousand dollars) 20 years later. I know all the origin stories by heart. But deep down, I know the serious approach (Dark Knight), just seems pompous when applied to this material. The difference between DC (Batman and Superman) and Marvel (Spider-Man, Iron Man, The Avengers, The X-Men) was always Marvel's sense of humor. Superman was serious as a heart attack, and perfect to boot. It always seemed to be written by a committee. All Marvel characters joked around and had feet of clay, and were filtered through Lee's eccentric sensibility. The Marvel style makes for a great rooting interest; the DC style creates a gallery of statues.

Why four stars and not 5? A couple of reasons. First, to earn five stars from me it has to be art, capable of differing interpretations between people or between viewings. What's to interpret? This film is as literal as spilled popcorn. Secondly, it has to be a reasonable length. Two had a half hours is an hour too long. This is not War and Peace or even Gone with the Wind. How I yearn for the days when studios had enough power to tell directors to knock it off and end the damn film already. As Stan Lee used to say, 'Nuff Said.

A final note: stay through all the (mind-bogglingly) credits for both the bonus scenes. For this first time since Tron (Craig Renolds), someone I know is actually in the credits for a movie: Jason Strykowski, the son of a friend of mine. Cheer if you can spot his credit mid-way through. I know he'll appreciate it.

 

The Kid with a Bike

4 stars out of 5
My wife and I are suckers for a film with good reviews, especially one that won the Jury Prize at Cannes. So we went to see this film. The plot summary from IMDB is succinct and accurate: "Abandoned by his father, a young boy is left in a state-run youth farm. In a random act of kindness, the town hairdresser agrees to foster him on weekends." Unlike most French films, there is some character development. Lessons are learned, and some people change and mature. On the other hand, the ending is the least satisfying (in an American sense) film ending of the year so far. Still, art is art so go see it. It wasn't totally French.

Totally French? As Paul Rudnick put it in a recent humorous article in The New Yorker:
"French culture remains unmatched. Our films include rollicking farces, searing documentaries, and quietly explosive investigations of family life. In these films, to avoid vulgarity, nothing happens, and none of the actors’ faces ever move. French filmmaking has recently reached a peak with the almost entirely silent Oscar-winning movie The Artist. True cinéastes say that the ultimate Fench film will be a still photograph of a dead mime."

A Separation

4 stars out of 5
Well, A Separation got an Oscar bounce in our house; after ignoring it since it came out, we went to the nearby Orinda Theater, where it was consistently selling out the 75-seat theater they reserve for the artsy stuff. It is a powerful and moving film, brilliantly written, directed and acted. It is clearly art, because it is ambiguous and deals with big issues.  It isn't perfect (I don't mind subtitles, maybe you do); it looks pretty inexpensive. The issues surrounding divorce, emigration and Alzheimer s could easily have been three separate movies, but they are woven together here in a thought-provoking if not exactly entertaining way. It certainly won't make you want to move to Iran, regardless of whether you are a man or a woman (but more so if you are a woman).

Neal Vitale's Oscar Picks

Given the momentum and sentiment behind The Artist, I think tomorrow night will hold little excitement and few surprises (though I hope I'm wrong!). Here are what I expect will win:

Best Picture - The Artist [Personal pick would be War Horse]

Director - Michel Hazanavicus (The Artist)

Actor - Jean Dujardin (The Artist)

Actress - Viola Davis (The Help) [Personal pick would be Michelle Williams (My Week With Marilyn)]

Supporting Actor - Christopher Plummer (Beginners)

Supporting Actress - Octavia Spencer (The Help) [Five great performances]

Adapted Screenplay - The Descendants

Original Screenplay (Midnight In Paris)

Animated Feature - Rango

Art Direction - Hugo

Cinematography - The Artist

Costume Design - The Artist

Documentary Feature - Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory

 Documentary Short - Saving Face

Film Editing - The Artist

Foreign-Language Film - A Separation

Makeup - The Artist

Original Score - The Artist

Song - "Man or Muppet"

Animated Short - The Fantastic Flying Books Of Mr. Morris Lessmore

Live-Action Short - Raju

Sound Editing - Hugo

Sound Mixing - Hugo

Visual Effects - Hugo

Academy Award Shorts

Every year, just before the Oscars, the Landmark Theater chain, among a few others, shows compilations of the Academy Award nominated short films, with some other good ones thrown in to fill out the 90 minutes. The showings alternate between animated and live action. All of them, of course, are excellent. Any of them would make great Oscar winners. Most years, I can't make up my mind in either category. But in the animated category, only; The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore made me laugh and cry in equal measure. I was honestly moved. On the Live-Action side, two of the films stood out for me. I like my short amusing, and Pentecost, about a soccer-loving reluctant choir boy, and Tuba Atlantic about a man given six days to live, and the "death angel" who looks after him, were fantastic. Of course, Time Freak, about a man living the same day over and over, was a sentimental favorite because of my feelings about Groundhog Day.