October 16th, 2009 12:27pm
by Cinema.Toast
Gil Mansergh’s Cinema Toast
New Releases 10/16/09
Where the Wild Things Are (PG)
Starring: Paul Dano, Forest Whitaker, Michelle Williams, Catherine Keener and the voices of Lauren Ambrose, Catherine O’Hara, Chris Cooper, James Gandolfini
Director: Spike Jonze
I was disappointed when I first saw that the monsters in this film were like the old H.R. Puffinstuff puppets, but in the complete version, I grew to like the wild things and then dislike the script. The first third is remarkable—filled with creativity and wonder, but after Max becomes King, and leads his Things into war, each page in Maurice Sendak’s book gets its own battle scene. The result is repetitious.
3 pieces of not quite a wild rumpus toast
Starring: Paul Dano, Forest Whitaker, Michelle Williams, Catherine Keener and the voices of Lauren Ambrose, Catherine O’Hara, Chris Cooper, James Gandolfini
Director: Spike Jonze
I was disappointed when I first saw that the monsters in this film were like the old H.R. Puffinstuff puppets, but in the complete version, I grew to like the wild things and then dislike the script. The first third is remarkable—filled with creativity and wonder, but after Max becomes King, and leads his Things into war, each page in Maurice Sendak’s book gets its own battle scene. The result is repetitious.
3 pieces of not quite a wild rumpus toast
Opa! (R)
Starring: Matthew Modine, Richard Griffiths, Agni Scott
Director: Udayan Prasad
This romantic travelogue screened last year at the Sonoma Valley Film Festival, and gave me the opportunity to interview Mathew Modine. He plays an American archeologist who travels to Greece looking for ancient ruins, falls in love with a beautiful tavern owner, and then has to tell her that satellite photos show the ruins are directly under her tavern. What makes it work, is the lush Greek scenery and the genuine chemistry between Modine and Scott.
3 pieces of say “opa!” toast
Law Abiding Citizen (R)
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Gerard Butler, Viola Davis, Bruce McGill
Director: F. Gary Gray
I guess the filmmakers assume that if you make torture-porn and then add vigilante “justice” because a corrupt prosecutor makes a plea bargain with the bad guys that it will make the distasteful violence have a moral. Ugh.
1/2 piece of torture-porn toast
Stepfather (PG-13)
Starring: Dylan Walsh, Sela Ward, Penn Badgley, Amber Heard
Director: Nelson McCormick
The press notes say: Michael Harding returns home from military school to find his mother happily in love and living with her new boyfriend, David. As the two men get to know each other, Michael becomes more and more suspicious of the man who is always there with a helpful hand. Could David be hiding a dark side?
Not available for preview
Starring: Dylan Walsh, Sela Ward, Penn Badgley, Amber Heard
Director: Nelson McCormick
The press notes say: Michael Harding returns home from military school to find his mother happily in love and living with her new boyfriend, David. As the two men get to know each other, Michael becomes more and more suspicious of the man who is always there with a helpful hand. Could David be hiding a dark side?
Not available for preview
Paranormal Activity (R)
Starring: Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat
Director: Oren Peli
In the era when a “small film” has a budget of $15 million, there are genuine chills in this $11,000 horror movie. Following Alfred Hitchcock’s dictate that what the audience imagines is more terrifying than anything onscreen, director Peli cleverly uses a static camera shot of a dark bedroom to ratchet up the suspense as we wonder what is happening out of camera range.
3 pieces of Blair Witch type toast
A Serious Man (R)
Starring: Michael Stuhlbarg, Fred Melamed, Richard Kind, Aaron Wolf
Director: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
There are always some in the audience for a Coen Brothers movie who don’t understand the film, and that goes double for this semi-modern day retelling of the Story of Job. It’s set in the Minnesota Suburbs of 1967 and tells the tale of a physics professor who consults three rabbi’s for answers because his life is falling apart. It is also confusing, upsetting, profound and occasionally very, very funny.
3 and 1/2 pieces of Coen Brothers toast
New York, I Love You
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Shia LaBeouf, Natalie Portman, Blake Lively
Director: Fatih Akin, Yvan Attal, Allen Hughes, Shunji Iwai, Jiang Wen, Shekhar Kapur, Joshua Marston, Mira Nair, Natalie Portman, Brett Ratner, Randall Balsmeyer
It’s pretty easy to spot the short pieces directed by actors who want to direct and those made by proven directors in this composite of eleven stories about the Big Apple. The result is like a glossy magazine assembled by star-struck staff when the real editors are on vacation.
2 pieces of only 50% of this works toast
NEW ON DVD
Land of the Lost (PG-13)
Starring: Will Ferrell, Danny McBride, Anna Friel, Jorma Taccone
Director: Brad Silberling
Said to have cost over 100 million dollars, none of the money shows up onscreen. This parody of the cheesy “Land of the Lost” TV series is sleezy, humorless and just plain gosh awful bad (but not bad enough to make it good). Farrell should have worked with Todd Phillips again instead of signing on for this one.
1/2 piece of bassackwards time travel toast
Every Little Step (PG-13)
Director: James D. Stern, Adam Del Deo
Two stories in different times and places are told in this fascinating behind-the-scenes look at “A Chorus Line.” The first part seems like a cable channel version of how the 1974 musical took shape, and it makes the mistake of using clips from Richard Attenborough’s seriously flawed movie version to tell the tale. But the second half, in which the documentary makers got permission to actually film the auditions of the almost 3000 people trying out for the 26 parts inthe 2006 Broadway revival, is marvelous, simply marvelous. The only criticism is that except for a few emotional people, we never really get to know any of the dancers very well—perhaps there were just too many of them.
3 pieces of Broadway hoofers toast
Director: James D. Stern, Adam Del Deo
Two stories in different times and places are told in this fascinating behind-the-scenes look at “A Chorus Line.” The first part seems like a cable channel version of how the 1974 musical took shape, and it makes the mistake of using clips from Richard Attenborough’s seriously flawed movie version to tell the tale. But the second half, in which the documentary makers got permission to actually film the auditions of the almost 3000 people trying out for the 26 parts inthe 2006 Broadway revival, is marvelous, simply marvelous. The only criticism is that except for a few emotional people, we never really get to know any of the dancers very well—perhaps there were just too many of them.
3 pieces of Broadway hoofers toast
