Quick Reviews: Gift For Ricki's U.N.C.L.E.

Fun with post titles...

A key plot twist in The Gift was somewhat spoiled in the trailer. This seems to be happening more and more, and I find it a terrible way to sell a movie. The good thing about this movie, at least, was that there were twists following it. Married couple Simon and Robyn (Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall) have relocated to Los Angeles because of his new job. While shopping they run into Gordon (Joel Edgerton, who also wrote and directed it), aka "Gordo," a (barely remembered) former high school classmate of Simon's. Gordo begins dropping by their home unannounced, usually dropping off gifts. Robyn thinks he's just socially awkward while her husband thinks it's creepy. Things begin to deteriorate. As I said, there were a surprising number of twists and turns that kept me entertained to the end. But the reveal in the trailer, that Simon knows more than he lets on, took away some of the thrill. Plus, Simon -- even at the very start -- comes off as kind of a dick anyway. My grade: B-plus.

Then there's Ricki and the Flash -- which is, sadly, not about this guy...

...but about Ricki, an aging rocker (Meryl Streep) who left her family to take a shot at stardom and ends up playing a regular gig with her band, The Flash, at a little bar in California and working checkout at a market. Then she's summoned home to Indianapolis by her ex (Kevin Kline) due to a crisis involving her daughter (Mamie Gummer, Meryl's daughter). This just strikes me as a vanity project so Meryl and her daughter could play mother and daughter, and so Meryl could sing (both classic stuff and modern hits such as "Bad Romance" -- Meryl does Gaga!) It has some good moments but it's pretty predictable fluff that all wraps up in a neat little bow at the end. And if I'm being honest...which I am, so why do I need to say that? I blame Simon Cowell for saying it on "American Idol." I got it from him. Anyway, I'm rambling...the best acting in this film was done NOT by Meryl but by Rick Springfield, as Ricki's bandmate and would-be lover. My grade: C-plus.

As for The Man from U.N.C.L.E., the big-screen adaptation of the TV series which ran for four seasons from 1964-68, my big question is...why? A TV series that hasn't been in prime time in nearly 50 years is made into a movie and fell well short of the rather modest box office predictions. Did the studio really think anyone under, say, 40 (to be generous) would go and see this? It's set in 1963 and features, just like the TV show, a team-up of American (Henry Cavill) and Soviet (Armie Hammer) spies to thwart a nuclear threat from Nazi sympathizers.

Pick your favorite tag line:
a) A Brit playing an American and an American playing a Russian!
b) Superman and the Lone Ranger save the world!

It's not a bad film. It breezes merrily along, the banter is witty, there's some action and some humor and the boys look good and eventually learn to trust each other. I just can't wrap my head around why it was necessary. My grade: B-minus.

Quick Review: The Giver

We interrupt #EverySimpsonsEver for a movie. Okay, I actually saw it on Wednesday, before the Simpsons marathon began, so technically I didn't interrupt it. Anyway, "The Giver" is based on a novel that was published in 1993, which means all of the "Divergent/Hunger Games" young-adult books and their film adaptations followed, but still beat this film to theaters. So much of it seems like it's been done before: futuristic society, manipulated by leaders, a young hero. But "The Giver" is still kind of worth watching.

In this future world, there is sameness. Any differences are quite minor. Everyone seems pleasant enough, but it's very muted and bland. There's no music, no bright colors, no warmth or cold thanks to climate controls. Everything is controlled by the Elders, with the chief Elder portrayed by Meryl Streep. (And far be it from me to criticize Meryl Streep, but she did seem a little out of place in a film like this.) Anyway, at age 16 all children are assigned to the jobs they will hold for the rest of their lives, and one such child, Jonas (Brenton Thwaites) is designated to be the Receiver of Memory, because no one in this society has any memory of the past that led to the Community's current state. Jonas receives those memories -- the wars, pain and death as well as the love and joy (not to mention snow) from the current memory holder, or Giver (Jeff Bridges). During the process of receiving memories Jonas feels that what has happened to the Community isn't right, and...well, it goes from there. By the way, Thwaites, playing a 16-year-old, is actually 25, so feel free to ogle. My grade: B-minus.

Quick Reviews: Hope Springs, Premium Rush

As I sit down to write this, it occurs to me that this might be a good pattern: two movies in one post. That way I won't feel too pressured to get a post done immediately after I see a movie, but at the same time I don't get too far behind. Of course, if I disciplined myself I'd post right away anyway.

"Hope Springs" had a much more serious tone than I expected. Either that or the attempts at humor fell way flat. It was odd to me. A long-married couple, Arnold and Kay (Tommy Lee Jones, Meryl Streep) are so set in their routines that Kay becomes unhappy and, against her husband's wishes and using her own money, books a week-long trip to coastal Maine for intensive couples' counseling with a therapist (Steve Carell). Much of the movie I felt like it was more of a drama (again, maybe I just didn't connect with the jokes or something). I also felt like Arnold was a total jackass and his wife should've just dumped him. But hey, this was meant to be a comedy, or a comedy-drama, and that just wasn't going to happen. I didn't really start laughing until we got to the point where Kay was about to practice oral sex by using a banana, and the real reason I laughed was because, let's face it: MERYL STREEP WAS ABOUT TO GO DOWN ON A BANANA. Still, it was well-acted, and if I ever need couples' counseling I want Steve Carell to be the therapist. My grade: B-minus.

Never feeling serious at all, despite the action and violence, is "Premium Rush," in which the always-awesome Joseph Gordon-Levitt is Wilee, a bike courier racing against the clock in New York City to get a very important envelope delivered, while a corrupt police detective (Michael Shannon) is after him, intent on getting the envelope himself. It was interesting to see the slo-mo technique used to see how Wilee (yes, that's how it's spelled and yes, there are references to Wile E. Coyote, although it's not an apt comparison considering how the bike courier is actually more like the Road Runner) instantly calculates the safest way to zip through crowded intersections. It might be interesting to see someone use this technique and show what's going through the mind of Peyton Manning as he makes his reads before firing a pass. Anyway, this is another example of mindless summer movie that's easy to sit through. My grade: B.

My 10 Best (And 5 Worst) Movies Of 2009...

2/10/10 UPDATE: I've adjusted the list to add "Precious" to the top 10. This bumps the previous number 10 to 11. Sorry, Paranormal Activity!

While I certainly haven't seen every movie released in 2009 (some films I haven't gotten around to seeing, others haven't opened here yet), I've seen enough of them. To be exact, 77 of them. That's about 3 movies every two weeks. On average it ended up being a B-minus year. The movies I loved the most all got A or A-minus grades. The worst ranged from D-plus to D-minus. I somehow managed to avoid an outright F in 2009. Interestingly, the two best and the single worst all have George Clooney in common. It's possible that a 2009 movie I see in 2010 could work its way into the best or worst lists, but for now, here they are...

The Best!

1. Fantastic Mr. Fox - George Clooney and Meryl Streep, animated. Funny and smart.
2. Up In The Air - George Clooney, in the flesh. Ditto.
3. I Love You, Man - Paul Rudd (swoon -- see photo) and Jason Segel and their bromance.
4. Away We Go - One I was rather surprised to enjoy so much. Charming.
5. Bruno - The most hysterical movie of them all, but what kept it from the very top is that it's essentially Borat all over again.
6. (500) Days Of Summer - The most original romantic comedy of the year, if not the last few years.
7. Precious - Strong story, strong acting, and an ending that feels right.
8. Up - Pixar strikes again.
9. Julie & Julia - Meryl Streep again. Delightful.
10. Star Trek - I wasn't sure they could resurrect this franchise but they did it amazingly well.


Honorable mention (among the A-minus movies but not quite in the top 10): Paranormal Activity, Outrage, Humpday, It's Complicated

The Worst!

Dishonorable mention (among the D-plus films but not quite bottom 5): Sherlock Holmes

5. The Hangover - I know everyone loved it and it made zillions of dollars, but it left me cold.
4. Jennifer's Body - Tried so hard to be hip and turned out a mess.
3. All About Steve - Sandra Bullock had a great year -- thanks to The Proposal and The Blind Side, not to this dreck.
2. The Ugly Truth - Katherine Heigl needs better material if she wants to be a movie star.
1. The Men Who Stare At Goats - Only George Clooney saved this from the dreaded F.

All of my 2009 grades are here. If something's not on that list it's because I didn't see it. Agree or disagree with my choices? Is there something from 2009 still in theaters that I should see? And isn't Paul Rudd dreamy?

Quick Reviews: The End-Of-Year Clearance

Last week I went to movies on four consecutive days. I'm pretty sure I've never done that before. I certainly haven't done it during the post-Christmas week, when theaters do major business thanks to people being off work and school.

I started off Monday with It's Complicated. Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin have great chemistry as a divorced couple who, on the occasion of their son's college graduation, find themselves in bed together and begin an affair. Problem: he remarried and she has another man (Steve Martin) who's into her. Particularly charming is "The Office" star John Krasinski as the future husband of Streep and Baldwin's oldest daughter. Much has been made of Baldwin's nude scene. It's not that horrendous, and it's not even him at any rate -- it's a stunt butt. Yes, he's older and gained weight, but Alec Baldwin is still rather irresistible. But let's remember him as he was (at left). My grade: A-minus.

Tuesday, in part because I got to the theater so early I didn't want to wait for what I planned to see, found me at Did You Hear About The Morgans? For a while I was wishing I hadn't heard about them. Unlike Streep and Baldwin, Sarah Jessica Parker and Hugh Grant are not a good match as the titular couple, successful New Yorkers who are separated because he cheated on her. Trying to win her back, he takes her to dinner. They witness a murder, are taken into protective custody and are whisked away to a small town in Wyoming. Oddly enough, I went to the restroom mid-way through and when I returned, for some reason I disliked it less. My grade: C-minus.

On Wednesday it was A Single Man, starring Colin Firth as a college professor, an older gay man mourning the recent death of his longtime lover (Matthew Goode, seen in flashbacks). It's 1962, well before the Stonewall riots set off a major push for gay rights, so things are much more difficult for him. Firth is excellent, as is Julianne Moore as his best friend who wants to be more than just friends. It's directed by fashion designer Tom Ford and, especially at the beginning, it looked too much like a fashion show or a perfume commercial with a lot of slick editing. Ultimately, the film as a whole was a little lacking, and the ending was hinted at much earlier. My grade: B-minus.

Which brings us, finally, to Sherlock Holmes. Guy Ritchie reimagines the legendary creation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as an action hero in a buddy comedy starring Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes and Jude Law as Dr. Watson. The flaws in this movie aren't in the acting but in the plot (about a villain who is executed but manages to come back to life and takes over a secret society with plans to overthrow the British government and eventually restore America to the British Empire) and especially the characterization. Holmes is still a brilliant detective, but he's also often boorish. Holmes and Watson spend most of the film bickering. Rachel McAdams is wasted as Irene Adler, the only person to ever outwit Holmes, here merely a plot device to set up the inevitable sequel. I can understand trying to make Sherlock Holmes more palatable to a modern audience, but Guy Ritchie botches the job. My grade: D-plus.

Quick Review: Fantastic Mr. Fox

The title character in "Fantastic Mr. Fox," the stop-motion animated film based on the book by Roald Dahl, is voiced by George Clooney. It's a brilliant bit of casting. As much as possible with an animated movie, George Clooney was born to play Mr. Fox, who retires from raiding chicken farms at the behest of his pregnant wife -- only to be tempted to go for a big score when, later, the family moves into a tree close to the huge Boggis, Bunce and Bean farms. Meryl Streep plays Mrs. Fox, and she's good in everything, of course. Also in the film are Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman -- not exactly a cast of unknowns. Funny, charming and smart, this is another animated film that kids and adults alike can enjoy. It pretty much lives up to its title. My grade: A.

Another friendly reminder: at this link you'll find the list of grades for all the movies I've seen in 2009 (Good grief, I'll have to start one for the new year soon!)

Quick Review: Julie & Julia

According to Philadelphia Weekly this is the first movie based on a blog. Julie Powell decided to cook each of the 524 recipes in "Mastering The Art Of French Cooking," the first cookbook from Julia Child, in the course of a year and blogged about the process and its effects on her life. The blog became a book, which, along with Child's autobiography, was the basis for "Julie & Julia." So technically, it's not directly based on a blog. No matter. It's lots of fun. The film depicts both post-WWII France -- when Julia Child and her husband Paul, a U.S. diplomat, lived in Paris and Julia learned to cook at famous cooking school Le Cordon Bleu, and began the collaboration that led to that first cookbook -- and 2002 and 2003, when Julie Powell began her project in the tiny Queens apartment she shared with her husband Eric. As the film shifts back and forth, we see how both women's projects develop over time, and how events impact their marriages.

Meryl Streep continues her recent string of performances that are not only fine, but fun, and she and Stanley Tucci, as Julia and Paul, have great chemistry. Amy Adams, as Julie, is also fine, but she seems just a little too nice. At one point, during a rough time with her husband (Chris Messina), she asks her friend, "Am I a bitch?" Julie's friend says yes, and Julie agrees, but the bitchiness isn't really apparent at all. It's a very minor quibble, though. My grade: A-minus.

P.S. Coming soon...well, eventually...to a theater near you: The Joe In Philly Experience: The Movie!