Films – Page 57 – Spinning Platters

Film Review: Hector and the Search for Happiness

Pegg’s performance is high point of mostly unoriginal travel tale

Hector (Simon Pegg) tries to find happiness in China... will he succeed!? — Hector (Simon Pegg) tries to find happiness in China… will he succeed!?

Hector and the Search for Happiness is a curious movie. Based on the trailer alone, you might think you’re in for a lighthearted, feel-good, seize-the-day picture, wherein the lead character Learns and Grows by ditching his staid life in search of adventure, à la Eat, Pray, Love or last year’s The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. And you wouldn’t be entirely wrong. But the surprising thing about director Peter Chelsom’s film, based on a popular French novel by François Lelord, is that while it certainly contains its fair share of clichés and groan-inducing scenes, it is both darker and more sensitive than you might expect. Continue reading “Film Review: Hector and the Search for Happiness”

Film Review: Tracks

Life is a journey– make sure you have enough camels.

Mia Wasikowska and camels in John Curran's Tracks. — Mia Wasikowska and camels in John Curran’s Tracks.

Tracks is based on the true story and National Geographic article (and subsequent memoir) of Robyn Davidson, the Australian woman who made a nine month journey on foot across the Australian desert in 1977 — a distance of about 1700 miles. Throughout her journey, accompanied only by four load-carrying camels and her dog, but occasionally visited by photographer Rick Smolan and aided by a few indigenous folks and country residents, Robyn wrestles with the pressure to remove herself from civilization while fighting to complete her epic journey. The film is a fantastic re-enactment of Robyn’s story. The acting, editing, stunning cinematography, music, and all other aspects of the film work harmoniously to deliver a remarkable tale of individual strength and determination, and about humankind’s companionship with nature.

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Film Review: This is Where I Leave You

This family puts the fun in ‘dysfunction’

xxxx — Sister and brother Wendy and Judd (Tina Fey and Jason Bateman) take a time-out together.

Director Shawn Levy, whose previous efforts include the funny but lightweight Night at the Museum and the mediocre Google commercial (er, film) The Internship might not seem like an obvious choice to bring Jonathan Tropper’s more literary serio-comic novel This is Where I Leave You to the big screen. But Levy has the good fortune to be working with a screenplay written by Tropper himself, as well as an extraordinary cast of both up and coming and tried and true talent. This collaboration has yielded one of the year’s most highly enjoyable pictures. Continue reading “Film Review: This is Where I Leave You”

Film Review: A Walk Among the Tombstones

(see Liam Neeson threaten more people!)

A Walk Among the Tombstones isn’t the first time I’ve had the chance to observe, critique, and celebrate Liam Neeson’s second life in cinema as an action star (see Non-Stop). It won’t be the last, either (see Taken 3). It doesn’t matter which film the imposing Irish actor stars in these days, it will undoubtedly be compared to, and its box office receipts still depending on, the popularity of 2009’s Taken. Neeson as a bad ass, to any degree, will spark endless amounts of “I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want” and “certain set of skills” quotes around the workplace and dinner tables (maybe a few “Now’s not the time for dick measuring, Stuart!”). But in the new drama thriller, A Walk Among the Tombstones, Neeson is able to add layers to his usual badassery — the character Matthew Scudder is more like Sam Spade than Bryan Mills (from Taken). The film is based on the 1992 novel of the same name by Lawrence Block, and its a callback to the movie detectives of the 1940s and 1950s. It’s a dark film that plods along the crime thriller genre path, invoking many crime thriller cliches and plot turns, but produces just enough menace, style, and disturbing characters to keep our attention.

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Film Review: God Help the Girl

Beautifully executed music videos wrapped inside of a disastrous framing device makes this a good film to watch on fast forward.

Emily Browning, Olly Alexander, and Hannah Murray.

Fans of Belle & Sebastian, such as myself, have been hearing about Stuart Murdoch’s film project, God Help the Girl, for several years. From a giant online competition to find female singers to sing some songs he had written for women to sing, to a well received album of these songs, and finally a full length film musical with the same songs, now sung by the actors who appear on screen. It’s an ambitious project, a long time in the making, and it comes close to being worth the wait.

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Film Review: My Old Lady

Charming Paris apartment for sale: Long-term tenant and family secrets included

Kristin Scott Thomas's Chloe and Kevin Kline's Jim talk and talk and talk and talk some more as they walk the streets of Paris. — Kristin Scott Thomas’s Chloé and Kevin Kline’s Jim talk and talk and talk and talk some more as they walk the streets of Paris.

Playwright and screenwriter Israel Horovitz makes his directorial debut with this feature film adaptation of his 2002 play of the same name, and the results are commendable, particularly since this project marks his first big-screen directorial attempt. The picture retains its theatrical pacing, with much dialogue and limited action, but both the story and the acting are compelling enough to keep you so thoroughly engrossed that you won’t even miss having an intermission. Continue reading “Film Review: My Old Lady”

Spinning Platters Interview: Bill Hader & Kristen Wiig & Craig Johnson, “The Skeleton Twins”

Screen Shot 2014-09-08 at 9.47.23 PM

At the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco, I sit with a group of other writers around a table as the audible antics begin approaching outside the door. SNL veterans Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig, along with director Craig Johnson, are splitting each others’ sides with jokes and voices. They are tired and somewhat giddy from a day of press, supporting their incredible new film, The Skeleton Twins, and they loosely greet us with smiles and how ya dos. Bill chucks a muffin from that morning down the hallway, comically screaming ‘This BETTER BE GOOD!’. Bill and Kristen feed off each other’s energy, a polite and friendly Craig Johnson between them, and they all take a deep breath and search around the table for who’s first to dive in…

———-

Craig, you co-wrote the script with Mark Heyman, and I heard he’d been working on the script for eight years. How did the final cut of the film differentiate from the original script?

Craig Johnson: Well, we actually had a couple versions of it that were unfinished that were all over the place. We had one where Milo was a drag queen. (To Bill) I haven’t even told you about these versions of it. There was a road trip element.

Kristen Wiig: Maggie was a cat. (laughing)

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Film Review: The Trip to Italy

The boys are back out of town.

Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan strike an intellectual pose.

You know when you think that your conversations with your friends are prime material for a movie, television show, or web series? Well, 9 times out of 10, your conversations wouldn’t be very entertaining to others. I’m guilty of this as well. Thankfully we have Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan, two comedians who have now created two hilarious and engaging films mostly consisting of them talking and eating. The Trip (2010) introduced us to the semi-improvised story of Rob and Steve, playing fictionalized versions of themselves, where the latter joined the former on a restaurant tour assignment in Northern England. The Trip to Italy is a direct continuation from the first film, featuring the same bickering, multi-course meal montages, and Michael Caine impersonations that made the first trip so enjoyable…this time with a side of Italy and a pinch of emotional depth.

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Film Review: The November Man

Bond he is not. Bourne he is not. Hunt he is not. Ladies and Gentlemen, The November Man!

Pierce Brosnan attempts a return to the spy game in Roger Donaldson’s spy thriller, The November Man. The film is based on the novel There Are No Spies by Bill Granger. And, wouldn’t you know it, the spies in this film don’t resemble spies at all. They run through public streets with guns blazing, have no issues killing off members of any agency (even their own), and are incredibly oblivious to the most blatant clues and plot twists right in front of them. This is also the first action spy film I’ve ever seen that has no police presence. No matter how destructive and time consuming the shootouts and chases, there are no basic security or police squad personnel to be seen. Not even a siren! Maybe I just missed it and need to rewatch it to notice (I’m not going to rewatch it). Ultimately, The November Man is a scattered mess, trying to tackle too many plot lines whilst relying on nearly every spy film cliché to move the story forward. If it weren’t for Brosnan’s charisma, The November Man would be a complete dud.

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Film Review: Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

Stark, Bloody, and two smoking Marvs

Josh Brolin and Eva Green gets black and white and red all over.

It’s a little bizarre that Sin City: A Dame to Kill For took this long to get made. Creative differences, production and casting issues, and the usual onslaught of headlines and rumors supposedly got in the way of this film getting off the ground. But nearly ten years later, we have A Dame to Kill For, and there are many disappointing elements that the filmmakers, with ten years to play with, should have gotten right. The Sin City film franchise nevertheless continues to showcase some of the most impressive visuals in movies — but has the novelty worn off? The black and white psychedelic neo-noir tone is fun, yet a lacking depth of emotion and a shortage of character variety (compared to 2005’s Sin City) spoils the return to Frank Miller’s dark seedy world.

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