28 Nov 2007

Out of 'Toon: "Enchanted" and "The Mist"

By Mike Schulz

Amy Adams in EnchantedENCHANTED

Disney's Enchanted is a diverting, reasonably clever movie, but boy, does lead actress Amy Adams deserve a better one. Playing a relentlessly cheerful animated heroine who finds herself transported to modern-day Manhattan, Adams assumes a character that could be a one-joke conceit and delivers a stunningly vibrant and committed tour-de-force performance; you could call her a three-dimensional presence in a two-dimensional role if the actress didn't give the impression of playing far more dimensions than that. Adams is heavenly. The film itself is decidedly more earthbound.

28 Nov 2007

The Sound of Silence: "No Country for Old Men"

By Mike Schulz

Javier Bardem in No Country for Old MenNO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

Two days after viewing Joel and Ethan Coen's crime thriller No Country for Old Men, I did something unusual for me: I went to see the movie again. Or rather, I went to listen to it again.

21 Nov 2007

Anima Shun: "Beowulf," "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium," and "Love in the Time of Cholera"

By Mike Schulz

the CGI likeness of Ray Winstone in BeowulfBEOWULF

In 1977's Annie Hall, there's a scene between Woody Allen's Alvy Singer and Diane Keaton's Annie in which the title character mulls over her adult-education options:

 

ANNIE: Does this sound like a good course - "Modern American Poetry"? Or, let's see now ... maybe I should take "Introduction to the Novel."

ALVY: Just don't take any course where they make you read Beowulf.

 

Thirty years later, I'm not sure I'd want to take a course where they make you see it, either.

14 Nov 2007

Neither Naughty Nor Nice: "Fred Claus" and "Lions for Lambs"

By Mike Schulz

Paul Giamatti and Vince Vaughn in Fred ClausFRED CLAUS

As crass, demeaning, insufferable holiday-themed comedies go, Fred Claus is a little bit better than The Santa Clause 3, Deck the Halls, Surviving Christmas, and Christmas with the Kranks. (This faint praise might also extend to examples released before 2004, but I've succeeded in blocking those titles from memory.) It's also a little bit worse than 80 percent of the movies I've seen this year.

07 Nov 2007

Human/Nature: "Into the Wild" and "American Gangster"

By Mike Schulz

Emile Hirsch in Into the WildINTO THE WILD

As a director, Sean Penn has proven more than proficient, but he hasn't exactly demonstrated a lightness of spirit; within his The Indian Runner, The Crossing Guard, and The Pledge, you can pretty much count the number of smiles generated on one hand. I love the gravity that Penn brings to his directing/writing projects, his readiness to explore anguished and vengeful depths, but his seriousness as a filmmaker has its downside, too. Penn's works have been so dour and laden with portent that, as their narratives progress, they begin to feel oppressive and one-dimensional. Like a joke now and again would kill him?

07 Nov 2007

Insect Asides: "Bee Movie"

By Mike Schulz

Bee MovieBEE MOVIE

During its first 15 minutes or so, Dreamworks' computer-animated Bee Movie is a visual delight but not much of an aural one.

31 Oct 2007

Horrors!: "Dan in Real Life," "Saw IV," and "30 Days of Night"

By Mike Schulz

Steve Carell and Juliette Binoche in Dan in Real LifeDAN IN REAL LIFE

There are movies you enjoy and movies you don't, and then there are movies that you detest so thoroughly that you watch them more actively than most films you love; your anger keeps you alert.

31 Oct 2007

India Jones: "The Darjeeling Limited"

By Mike Schulz

Jason Schwartzman, Adrien Brody, and Owen Wilson in The Darjeeling LimitedTHE DARJEELING LIMITED

Regarding Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited, let's acknowledge the elephant in the room right away: Watching Owen Wilson play a damaged, bandaged dreamer who recently survived a suicide attempt and masks his sadness with optimism and good cheer is almost painfully poignant, and at times, more than a little tough to watch. Happily, though, you can easily imagine being just as moved by him without awareness of the actor's off-screen troubles.

23 Oct 2007

Oct.-tet: "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," "Gone Baby Gone," "Rendition," "The Comebacks," "Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married?", "Things We Lost in the Fire," "We Own the Night," and "Elizabeth: The Golden Age"

By Mike Schulz

Brad Pitt in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert FordIn order of recommendation:

 

17 Oct 2007

The Toxic Avenger: "Michael Clayton" and "Across the Universe"

By Mike Schulz

George Clooney and Sydney Pollack in Michael ClaytonMICHAEL CLAYTON

There's a spirit of fatalism and dread that hangs over nearly every scene in Tony Gilroy's legal thriller Michael Clayton, and the miracle of the movie is that its grimness doesn't equal torpor; for a work drenched in both literal and figurative darkness, it's exquisitely, robustly entertaining. Like the films in the Bourne franchise (all of which Gilroy scripted), Michael Clayton is a smart, knotty diversion that keeps your senses, at all times, alert, and happily, the movie's ecologically minded plotline - involving an agricultural chemical company being sued for poisoning communities - doesn't have sanctimonious intent. The movie isn't designed to be Good for Us; it's just designed to be good. And it's very, very good.

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