Beasts of the Southern Wild

What is this sad, hopeful and totally wonderful world director Behn Zeitlin has created in Beasts of the Southern Wild?  A young girl named Hushpuppy (an astounding and preternaturally gifted young actress Quvenzhané Wallis) lives with her ailing father Wink (an affecting Dwight Henry) in separate mobile homes in a backwash region of a low-lying coastal city that is threatened by winds, water and wild boar. To say this film is surprising is such an understatement that I'm a bit embarraassed to use it. But it is such a refreshing cinematic experience, totally devoid of cliche and sentiment but absorbing, heartbreaking and uplifting. It's a revelation that walks the line between stark reality and magical realism. See it at once.

Lawless

 

Lawless is the second John Hillcoat / Nick Cave feature film collaboration --  the first being the horribly overlooked but masterful The Proposition from 2005. I've enjoyed both immensely. Director Hillcoat has an impressive eye for detail (not unlike his countryman Peter Weir's period work -- Picnic at Hanging Rock, Gallipoli) and an implacable taste for violence. Cave, a fellow Aussie who is better known for his work with the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, weaves a compelling tale that doesn't rely too heavily on narrative conventions but when it does the film is weakened a bit.
Lawless is the 'true" story of the Bondurant brothers of Franklin County, Virginia, who during Prohibition ran a large bootlegging business in the backwoods that drew the attention of conniving, greedy and sadistic lawmen. Led by the stalwart and seemingly invincible Forrest (Tom Hardy), the brothers try to grow their enterprise while takiing on an effete and heartless enforcer out of Chicago named Rakes (another Aussie Guy Pearce), which leads to a bloody shootout at a covered bridge in the final reel.

The youngest of the Bondruant brood, Jack (Shia LaBeouf, a personal favorite of mine), is itching to get a piece of both the bootlegging action and the local Mennonite preacher's daughter (Mia Wasikowska). Despite warnings from Forrest and eldest brother Howard (Jason Clarke, yet another Aussie), Jack disastrously tumbles into both, assisted by the gimpy young moonshiner Cricket (Dane Dehaan of Chronicle). The cast, which also includes Gary Oldman and Jessica Chastain, is first rate and their dedication to the film and Hillcoat's vision is undeniable and all over the screen.

Lawless is weakened a bit by conventional cinematic devices -- innocence must be sacrificed, carnality damned and evil must come with dyed hair and French cuffs -- but these are not fatal flaws. Bloody, terrifically violent but enjoyable.

Bird 4: He Ain't Heavy ...

Bird 3

Premium Rush

 

David Koepp has made his name, and no doubt most of his money, as a screenwriter of many successful though unchallenging films -- Panic Room, Carlito's Way, The Paper, Death Becomes Her, Spider-Man. The films he's directed have been mainly good and interesting thrillers -- Secret Window, Stir of Echoes -- but nothing remarkable. So it is not a surprise to me that Premium Rush, written and directed by Koepp, is a generally entertaining but unremarkable movie. It stars the ever-reliable Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a New York bicycle messenger who is carting a mysterious ticket given to him by a young Asian woman with a big secret.The ticket is coveted by a maniacal cop with the cartoonish name of Bobby Monday, played by one of my favorite little know actors, Boardwalk Empire's Michael Shannon (rent Bug tonight!). Gordon-Levitt's Wilee (pronounced like the Coyote) sets off from Columbia University Law School to deliver the ticket to Chinatown while chased by Monday, another cop on a bike, his spunky and fairly clueless girlfriend (Dania Ramirez) and his boastful rival (Wole Parks). The film contains some thrilling footage of bike vs. vehicle maneuvering and a few scary spills but in the main is harmless.

Bird 2

Bird 1

Once Upon a Time

I've been watching the first season of this show at the recommendation of  my friend Bertram Rantin (thanks) and find it endlessly fascinating. It's difficult to choose one reason why I'm so enthralled (it has many, many intriguing elements and characters and enormous charm) but I do know for certain its exploration of family and kinship (a golden thread woven through each of the episodes) is some of the smartest (cleverest?) writing I've encountered in quite some time. Even though it's based on Grimm fairy tales and has a young boy as one of the central players, this is a decidedly adult affair.

The Wire Season 4 Episode 8: Corner Boys

The Wire Season 4 Episode 8: Corner Boys   Det. Herc Hauk (Dominick Lombardozzi) is a Baltimore Police Department survivor. Even though he routinely displays unbelievably bad judgment in policing the modern urban crime environment (he actually has the murderous Chris and Snoop stopped with incriminating evidence in tow and, unwittingly, lets them go), he always seems to land on his feet. Herc's not a bad guy or sorry po-leese; his heart, as folks say, is in the right place and when paired with Ellis Carver (Seth Gilliam) the streets of Baltimore are actually a bit safer for the working man. The worst that can be said about him is he's a fairly amoral opportunist. And the Simon and Company appear to be suggesting that feline slickness, when you lack true talent, is what's needed to survive.

The Bourne Legacy

 

Before The Bourne Legacy, Tony Gilroy directed Michael Clayton, which I loved, and Duplicity, which I didn't. Legacy, which stars Jeremy Renner and Rachel Weisz, is as humorlessly briliant as the Bourne Ultimatum, a study in cagey, outlandish subterfuge and velocity that was directed by Peter Greengrass. Renner is an amped-up version of the super agent Jason Bourne (played by Matt Damon), and Weisz is a brainy biochemist caught in a mysterious "downsizing" operation that sends both of them scurrying from pillar to post to escape detection and elimination. Gilroy was one of the writers on Ultimatum so this latest entry in the franchise, based on the Robert Ludlum series, weaves in prime elements from Ultimatum into this story and moves the tale sideways more than forward, but still at a ferocious pace. The key high-octane set pieces (including the mandatory vehicular finale, this time through the crowded streets of Manila) are expertly and purposefully disorienting, creating a film that's a wondeful carnival ride of dread and delusion. Warning: The ending, which leaves the door wide open for new adventures, might leave some fans a bit deflated.

Prometheus

Ridley Scott's Prometheus is not a badly constructed film by any means, but as many have said it is disappointing and confusing. However, my main problem is that this supposed prequel to Scott's masterful Alien from 1979 is a dishonest motion picture. This story of an early corporate-sponsored space expedition manned by vain scientists and surly, cynical crew members includes a duplicitous artificial person (Michael Fassbender), a spunky female  (Noomi Rapace), and an oily corporate sleazebag (Charlize Theron), versions of whom appeared in either Alien or Aliens. To suggest that central characters from the first two films in the Alien series had spiritual predecessors is not just intellectually and creatively dishonest, it's lazy. The premise that titans came to the earth and populated the planet with lesser varieties of themselves is at first intriguing but ultimately annoying because the horrifically gruesome path to discover why these bald giants did so leads nowhere.

Moonrise Kingdom

 

Wes Anderson's beautifully captivating Moonrise Kingdom is the most accessible of the enigmatic auteur's recent films. I have found Anderson's movies unquestionably imaginative but disconcertingly clever, as well. That is to say, they are almost too rich -- to be admired rather than enjoyed. Moonrise is marvelously crafted, and Anderson's genius for tableaux is on full display. He composes scenes like paintings -- portraits, landscapes and still-lifes. Sumptuous. Into those frames he has placed two disaffected and damaged 12-year-old pen pals in New England in the 1960's -- Sam (Jared Gilman) and Suzy (Kara Hayward) -- who fall in love and take off together on a wilderness expedition with camping gear, portable record player, overdue library books and pet kitty in tow. Parents (Bill Murray and Frances McDormand) police (Bruce Willis) and khaki scouts (Edward Norton) set off in pursuit. The ensemble of Hollywood A-listers is marvelous but the two young actors Gilman and Hayward are a dream, their faces (which often fill the screen) are stoney, as if drained of feeling, but still, oddly, expressive -- maybe therein lies their magnetism. These are children in search of a life that's free of pain, both the kind they suffer and the kind they inflict. I can't remember the last time a film has so brilliantly transformed the familiar and invested it with new meaning. I'll not hear "I'm on you side" the same way ever again. Moonrise Kingdom is not an especially tender film but it is loving.

The Dark Knight Rises

Christopher Nolan's brilliant final episode in his Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises, is absolutely dreadful in that the film sends fear swirling about the viewer's head like the ominous creatures that inspired the legendary hooded hero. Bruce Wayne / The Batman (Christian Bale) was left bent and battered at the end of 2008's The Dark Knight in which he battled the maniacal Joker (Heath Ledger) and Scarecrow (Ciillian Murphy). The arrival in Gotham of a vengeful, masked terrorist named Bane (Tom Hardy), like Bruce a member of the secret order League of Shadows, draws Wayne out of his self-imposed seclusion to defend his beloved city but not without making even greater and more painful personal sacrifices. The movie has an abundance of  Nolan's signature complex action sequences but also a generous number of tender moments. Bale, Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon, Morgan Freeman as Bruce Wayne's trusted adviser Fox and Michael Caine as Wayne's devoted Alfred give wonderful performances but Joseph Gordon-Levitt as rookie cop Blake and Oscar-winner Marion Cotillard as wealthy and mysterious Miranda were impeccable. Nolan's final chapter in this series is dark, yes, but also enormously intelligent and inspiring. It's terrific.

The Amazing Spider-Man

Marc Webb's energizing The Amazing Spider-Man is not a complete reimagining of the familiar tale of the orphaned loner who is transformed into a human arachnid but it is a niftily imaginative comic book venture nonetheless with more mature undertones. Webb and The Social Network's Andrew Garfield, as amiable a young actor as any currently on the screen, imbue Peter Parker with a kind of woundedness that moves the character into a different realm, one more commonly explored in D.C. comics, IMO. In this film version, Parker / Spider-Man is not just a costumed avenger in search of the petty robber who gunned down his beloved Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen). He's a young man in search of a meaningful paternal connection to replace the one he lost when his father (Campbell Scott) and mother (Embeth Davidtz) left mysteriously when he was 5 and lost again when his uncle was killed. The 17-year-old boy in the red and blue unitard is on the verge of becoming a man but he's not really sure how to do that. He needs and wants help but the father-figures in his life keep dying or mutating into slithering lizard men (Rhys Ifans). The reliable Emma Stone is Parker's love interest as the oddly asynchronous Gwen Stacy, whose father (Dennis Leary) is a police commander on the hunt for the masked vigilante. One of the most winning scenes in the film is a dinner table verbal battle between Gwen's new boyfriend and her abrasive but loving father. It's nicely done. Still, Webb, known mainly for his music video, stages a half-dozen spectacular fight scenes and his aerial work is far superior to anything in the previous Spidey outings. They are truly Amazing. Enjoy.

Ted

Seth MacFarlane's first feature film Ted is smart and observant in the same way that his Family Guy and American Dad have been. Of course, Ted is much more vulgar than either of those cartoon series and packs a heavier dose of cultural cynicism -- if you can imagine that. This tale of a 30-something emotionally under-developed, pothead rental car dealer (Mark Wahlberg) and his wishfulfillment talking/cursing/farting/sexing stuffed bear (voiced by MacFarlane) doesn't have a whit of subtlety or nuance though its pop culture references and cameo appearance (Sam Jones, Norah Jones, Tom Skerrit) add a shimmer of sophistication to the raucous proceedings. The movie is funnier than not and Mila Kunis gets lovelier by the minute (IMO). If I were to boil the movie's formula down it would be Talking Bear + Hootie and the Blowfish Karaoke = Laugh Riot.

Headhunters (2011)

The Norwegian thriller Headhunters tells the bloody tale of Roger Brown (not pronounced as it is spelled), a diminutive hiring consultant and art thief (Aksel Hennie) who compensates for his lack of vertical reach by stealing paintings out of his clients' homes and lavishing his statuesque art-dealer wife, Diana, (Synnove Macody Lund) with gifts he can little afford. His latest mark is Clas Greve, a former mercenary (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau of Game of Thrones) who appears to be everything the Brown isn't -- tall, handsome and imbued with otherworldly charm.  While burglarizing  Greve's home, Brown makes a discovery that sets off a cat and mouse chase that, quite literally, is the "sh*t." Director Morten Tyldum appears to have studied at the Paul Verhoeven school of visceral / visual excess. And as with much of Verhoeven's catalog (Robocop, Starship Trooper), the blood and viscera create artful patterns on the screen that enhance the smart and cagey story. Recommended.

Dr. Strangelove

And speaking of Stanley Kubrick, I remember riding with my foster father one night to pick up my foster mother from a showing of this film at the college where they both taught. After she got into the car, he said, "How was the movie?" I vividly recall her saying, "... they blew up the world." That's a pretty frightening notion for an anxious, displaced 10-year-old, and it's not exactly Howdy Doody for a 50-year-old either. Still, it's a satirical icon loaded with outrageous performances.

A Boy and His Dog

Battleship

Peter Berg's enjoyable motion picture Battleship is a high-concept military orgy of heroic implausibility that is expertly crafted to get the audience rooting for our side -- which in this case is the human race. In doing so, the film trades the heavy chauvinism found in similar films for more universal concepts of brawny honor and the triumphalism of intellect over weaponry. Perhaps as a nod to some who said we got what was coming to us on Sept. 11, 2001, the humanoid space invaders are simply answering what they perceive as a hositle intergalactic message that naive academics have been targetting at an Earthlike orb in another solar system. The signal, which is beamed from Hawaii, draws a fleet of alien craft to the scene of the attack on Pearl Harbor, which invites the audience to make all manner of comparisons and knowing historical references. It's a neat and nifty conceit in a film that is packed with dizzying special effects that, in the end, still make room for some pretty successful human interactions, most of them between the men and one woman (pop singer Rihanna) on the ships poised to defend the planet from destruction or conquest or both. Pretty boy Taylor Kitsch (best known for his work as a pretty boy on Friday Night Lights) is the storied screw-up looking for personal redemption for a host of bad choices, perhaps his most egregious is dating the daughter (Brooklyn Decker) of the admiral (Liam Neeson) of the fleet stationed in Oahu. Berg keeps the narrative and direction wonderfully tight and his action sequences match or surpass what I've seen lately from Michael Bay (Pearl Harbor) or Roland Emmerich (Independence Day). Battleship, based on the Hasbro game, is mind candy for those who enjoy watching stuff blow up real good but who also want to celebrate the bravery and sacrifice needed to keep us safe. Note to Hollywood: Why are black folks in movies so often saddled with the profanity and the voicing threats of bodily harm? Let's move on.

The Wire Season 4 Episode 7: Unto Others

The Wire Season 4 Episode 7: Unto Others.  In creating the character of Omar Little, Simon and company had to decide early on what the narraive arc would be for the gay Robin Hood of inner city Baltimore's drugland, who though loaded with charm and a certain nobility held to a fairly cynical moral code. The character is pursued relentlessly by city drug dealers throughout the run of the series and he makes it almost through practically unscathed. When the west side's new drug king pin, Marlo Stanfield, frames Omar for the murder of a "citizen" in Episode 6, viewers had to consider if this indeed was curtains for the beloved gunman. It was not but Omar's arrest and the subsequent attempted assassination moved this chessman closer to the inevitable face-off with the king. Put in a cage along with dozens of his rip-n-run victims, Omar was looking death squarely in the eye. Some quick action from his surrogate father, Blind Butchie, and the collection of an outstanding debt from the city solicitor saved Omar from doom. Cleverly, the writers had foreshadowed Omar's fate -- retribution would eventually come for the king ... and it wouldn't miss.

The Wire Season 4 Episode 6: Margin of Error

The Wire Season 4 Episode 6: Margin of Error  Maryland State Senator Clay Davis (Isiah Whitlock Jr.)  is one of the more colorful featured characters on the series, and Simon and company have great fun mining the depths of the oily politician's greed and mendacity. It was in Season 1 that Davis' driver was pulled by members of the major crimes unit while, apparently, collecting payment from the Barksdale drug operation. Incredibly, BPD commanders ordered the officers to give the money back and keep their hands out of Davis' pocket. This action sent the message to the team -- and, of course, to the viewer -- that Davis was a major player with a really filthy mouth.  Detective Lester Freamon would fix his sights on bringing the cagey senator down. Davis's trademark expletive -- the elongated "shhhiiiiiiiiitttt" -- was wearing out its welcome by Season 5, for me, but the character would continued to entertain,  even as he stood trial on charges of financial chicanery.

Game of Thrones

So, I'm done with Season 1 of Game of Thrones and the lesson I'm taking away from this sumptuous sadomasochistic parade is it does not pay to get attached to any of these characters. I think it's more than a little depraved that the first episode ended with royal incest (fittingly doggy style) and defenestration of a 10-year-old. And the season only got worse. After watching this season, I feel like the kid in Spank the Monkey who had to scrub his skin with powdered cleanser to remove the stain of his mother's inappropirate ministrations. Eeeeewwww.

Daylillies

Gotterdammerung

Caught the encore performance at Sandhill's of the Met's Gotterdammerung, starring Deborah Voigt as Brunnhilde and Jay Hunter Morris as Siegfried. Setting aside the tremendous beauty of the music -- it is Wagner, after all -- the post-modern staging of the opera was intriguing. The stage comprised about 20 vertically pivoting panels that could be raised and lowered and upon which were projected images. The singers were also able to walk on the inclined panels, which improved sight lines and diminished the need for raised platforms. It was genius. I don't get to see much opera and Wagner is an acquired taste but this performance was quite the treat.

The Wire Season 4 Episode 5: Alliances

The Wire Season 4 Episode 5: Alliances   Simon and company have dealt with racial politics in Baltimore since the beginning but more fully explores its complexity with the show's signature skepticism this season. The principal players in this narrative are the incumbent mayor Clarence Royce (Glynn Turman) and his opponent Tommy Carcetti (Aiden Gillen).  Royce, who is black, is entrenched and connected; Carcetti is white, idealistic and ambitious in equal portions, and the presumptive loser in the mayoral race of a majority black city. Carcetti, somewhat reluctantly, exploits the city's escalating murder rate to argue that a new direction is needed and he's the man to lead B-more into that New Day. The "alliances" referred to in the title of this episode describes those being forged by the respective political camps and those partnerships that are guiding the New Day drug co-op headed by Proposition Joe (a consisently wonderful Robert Chew). The most vicious of the Baltimore drug dealers, Marlo Stanfield (Jamie Hector), has told the co-op he has no interest in joining the group -- he doesn't need their product nor their protection. Prop Joe approaches young Marlo repeatedly, trying to change his mind or, perhaps to discover chinks in the arrogrant kid's armor. The latter move will most assuredly not end well for the cagiest and most endearing of the show's primary characters.