The Duchess

The Duchess - Dir. Saul Dibb (2008)

I’m not a hater of costume dramas, but I’m not a tremendous fan. There have been some weak efforts lately such as Elizabeth: The Golden Age and The Other Boleyn Girl. The Duchess is a much stronger picture though I wouldn’t expect too many Oscar nominations outside of Best Costume Design.

The Duchess acts as a parable for modern day celebrity with some not-so-subtle allusions to the life of Princess Diana, a descendent of the Duchess. It is a less anachronistic companion to Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette. Georgina is beloved by her subjects, a hit at the parties, and even attracts 18th century paparazzi (in the form of sketch artists). The narrative unfolds just as you’d expect, the kept woman in a loveless marriage, the societal double standards placed on gender.

Saul Dibb does an adequate job in the director’s seat. He’s not as strong visually as Joe Wright who directed Keira Knightley in Pride & Prejudice and Atonement. Speaking of Miss Knightley, she seems to do her best work in these period pieces, Pirates notwithstanding. The true star of this production, however, is the great Ralph Fiennes as Georgina’s boorish lout of a husband. He underplays where others would overplay and lends an odd compassion to someone capable of great cruelty.

Rating: ** 1/2

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist - Dir. Peter Sollett (2008)

Michael Cera and Kat Dennings bum around NYC looking for love and music.

Cera continues to milk his awkward teen in a hoodie gimmick in yet another teen comedy. Not as witty as Juno or outrageous as Superbad, Infinite Playlist is a saccharinely sweet love story that rambles along until a less than satisfying conclusion. The script juggles two major plot lines between Nick, Norah, and their respective exes along with a more entertaining subplot involving Norah’s drunken best friend lost in the city. And it’s all set to a soundtrack that came right out of your standard hipster’s iPod Nano.

Kat Dennings is going to give Ellen Page a run for her money as the young, sardonic it girl while Jay Baruchel makes a 180 turn from his usual gangly dweeb roles for a role as a sleazy dweeb.

Infinite Playlist is Before Sunset for the Juno generation. It tries hard to capture the spirit of the 80’s classics of John Hughes, but I doubt it will be remembered as fondly in twenty years time.

Rating: **

Happy-Go-Lucky

Happy-Go-Lucky - Dir. Mike Leigh (2008)

British auteur Mike Leigh has made a habit of finding the extraordinary in the lives of the ordinary. Leigh gives screen time to the working class Joes that Hollywood only hands out bit parts to (or passes over completely). Sally Hawkins’ Poppy is the type of character that would be relegated to the wacky BFF in any standard rom-com. But, in Happy-Go-Lucky, she takes the spotlight.

There’s no driving plot to be found, just an episodic peek into the life of an unfalteringly optimistic primary school teacher. Poppy dresses in rainbow pastel colors almost as bright as the unwavering smile on her face. She’d almost be annoying if her charming giddiness weren’t so infectious. Even when Poppy is getting her back cracked at the chiropractor, she’s still giggling. Poppy’s cheerfulness is counteracted by her tightly wound driving instructor, Scott, played to a tee by Eddie Marsan ("En-ra-ha! En-ra-ha!"). Where Poppy finds delight in even the most trivial of things, Scott finds fault in them. He’s a burning ball of pent-up rage, the kind of guy the neighbors remember as the quiet type until he shot up a shopping mall.

Something obviously happened to Scott to turn him into such a bitter human being. On the other hand, there was no traumatic event in Poppy’s life that caused her to mask her pain with an empty smile. Nor is she a nattering twit. She’s just a happy, peppy person and there should be a lot more like her.

Happy-Go-Lucky is far more jovial film than what we’re used to from Leigh. Take for example, Secrets and Lies and Vera Drake. That’s not to say Happy-Go-Lucky exists in a Disney wonderland. Dour moments seep in just like they do in real life. There’s an abused child, the obviously disturbed Scott, and a touching scene with a homeless man. Yet, nothing is able to defeat Poppy’s toothy grin.

Hawkins, who was one of the few bright spots in the otherwise dreary Cassandra’s Dream, puts on a star making performance. Hawkins’ free-spirited turn is emboldened by Leigh’s improvisational approach. She’s able to cut loose and truly allow the character to dictate where the film goes.

Rating: *** 1/2

A word...

I would like to welcome everyone back to the not-so-new Film Geek blog.

I put the blog on hiatus for couple months due to more pressing issues, but I'm back and I think better than ever. I originally started this blog as a continuation of the brief blurbs I post over at Twitter.

I'll be posting longer movie reviews from now on. I'll also be posting condensed or rewritten versions of reviews I've done on Livejournal and DVD Town.

BTW, I use a five star scale as my arbitrary rating system. 0 being the worst, 5 (*****) being the best.

That is all,
Will

Choke

Choke - Dir. Clark Gregg (2008)

I’m not a huge Chuck Palahniuk fan. I’ve only ever read Fight Club though some of his other novels are on my to-read list. After viewing the film adaptation of Choke, I can safely guess that the age-old adage, ‘the book was better’ still holds true. Actor/Writer/Director Clark Gregg (who appeared as SHIELD Agent Coulson in Iron Man) spent years developing the script and streamlined the novel into a less than 90 minute runtime. Something was certainly lost in translation.

Choke feels like five different films semi-coherently edited into one movie. Sam Rockwell plays a sex addict who works as a colonial re-enactor, is best friends with a chronic masturbator dating a stripper, visits his sick mother in a mental hospital (where old ladies believe he’s the messiah) while falling for her doctor. He also chokes in restaurants on purpose to scam money from his rescuers. Someone should have told Gregg he needed more than 89 minutes. Flashbacks involving the protagonist’s childhood are awkwardly shoehorned in.

Rockwell has perfected these kinds of sleazy, damaged roles, but he’ll be remembered this year for his performance in Snow Angels rather than this forgettable stab at dark comedy. The always adorable Kelly McDonald brings a small ray of sunshine to an otherwise flat and dreary production.

Rating: **

How to Lose Friends & Alienate People

How to Lose Friends and Alienate People - Dir. Robert Weide (2008)


Loosely based on the eponymous memoirs of Toby Young which recounted his rise and fall at Vanity Fair. A male alternative to the sudden glut of Devil Wears Prada knockoffs, How to Lose Friends tells the tale of an obnoxious jerk and his stint at the trendy (but fictional) Sharps magazine. Ironically, the real-life Young was banned from the set after endlessly annoying the cast and crew.

The film gets off to a fine start. Simon Pegg acting like an uncouth ass and pissing all over the celebrity world he so desperately wants to be a part of? Sure, sounds like good times. Sadly, whatever bite this production might have had is lost when its teeth are pulled in favor of a second half that’s cookie cutter rom-com.

It’s not for lack of trying. Pegg is his usual entertaining self. Gillian Anderson puts Scully out to pasture as a Machiavellian publicist, Thandie Newton has a fun cameo as herself, and Megan Fox is actually wisely cast as a vainglorious starlet. A mock trailer with Fox as Mother Theresa is right up there with Spidey and Iron Man as gay monks in Tropic Thunder.

Their efforts are all for naught when the film can’t make up its mind between no holds barred Hollywood satire and schmaltzy romantic comedy.

Rating: **

Blindness

Blindness - Dir. Fernando Meirellas (2008)

A mysterious epidemic has left humanity blind, except for Julianne Moore.

Blindness is tired allegory. Its symbolism is drummed home with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. Unnamed citizens in an unnamed city (at an unnamed time) are rendered sightless and quarantined to a prison camp by the government. There, they fall prey to a former bartender who declares himself dictator. Just as the Joker predicted, "When the chips are down, these civilized people will eat each other."

The themes of Blindness are far too obvious to be effective. Society crumbles and eventually a few hopeful survivors must pick up the shattered pieces. An unsettling mass rape scene comes off as excessively exploitive. The characters are cardboard stock. There’s the wise, old man who dispenses sage advice and the precocious child the adults have to look after.

What Blindness does have going for it are an A-list cast who give it their all and strong direction from Meirellas. He brings the same visceral, bleached out look that he brought to City of God and The Constant Gardener.

Rating: **

Ghost Town

Ghost Town - Dir. David Koepp (2008)

Ricky Gervais sees dead people. All the time. They annoy him.

Gervais is an unlikely lead for a romantic comedy, but he’ll win you over through sheer force of will, with an impeccable sense of comic timing and a stammering charm. Koepp takes a break from writing mega blockbusters (Spider-Man, War of the Worlds) with this throwback to old school screwball comedies like Topper. Greg Kinnear does his best to step into Cary Grant’s shoes with his yuppie lounge lizard act while SNL’s Kristen Wiig makes a small, but hilarious, appearance.

Much like Run, Fatboy, Run (starring Gervais’ countryman, Simon Pegg), it is only the talented lead that is able to elevate a film that can’t quite escape its own cloying sentimentality. Would the movie have worked as well with anyone else in the lead? Doubtful.

Rating: ** 1/2

Appaloosa

Appaloosa - Dir. Ed Harris (2008)


Ed Harris & Viggo Mortensen as a pair of lawmen cleaning up a small town under the iron fist of a greedy landowner.

Appaloosa isn’t the artsy Western (The Proposition, Seraphim Falls) or the shoot ‘em up Western like last year’s 3:10 to Yuma. It lies somewhere in the middle, focusing on characters and relationships. In the parlance of the time, it’s a film that moseys along at a comfortable pace.

Is there anybody better to play the gruff, taciturn sheriff than Ed Harris? He has great chemistry (and a wealth of one-liners) with co-star Viggo Mortensen as his square-jawed deputy. Jeremy Irons rounds out the main cast with an always welcome turn as the murderous villain. If there is a weak spot to Appaloosa, it lies with Renee Zellweger as a piano playing widow who latches on to Harris’ Vigil Cole (and anyone else she deems the alpha male). Zellweger is usually a competent actress, but struggles whenever she’s cast in these period pieces. She doesn’t fit and I don’t buy for one second that every man in the film wants her.

Appaloosa is old hat, but it’s a well-worn and comfortable hat.

Rating: ***

Eagle Eye

Eagle Eye - Dir. D.J. Caruso (2008)


Shia LeBeouf is pegged as a terrorist and forced to jump through elaborate hoops by a mysterious Big Brother…er…Sister?

Eagle Eye is Hitchcock by way of Michael Bay. It’s a loud, overproduced, and movies a million miles a minute only stopping at brief, preordained moments to let out arbitrary scenes of emotion. A preposterous film that hopes you’ll buy into it with just enough technobabble and political preaching.

You know what? I did buy into it just a little. As a brainless popcorn movie, Eagle Eye works for its first two acts right up until an I, Robot-esque revelation in the villainous mastermind. I picked the Will Smith vehicle because I wouldn’t deign to write Eagle Eye in the same sentence as 2001.

Rating: ** 1/2