New Releases

You all know the story of Abraham Lincoln. Born and raised in a log cabin -- shopkeeper, lawyer, U.S. Representative, Senator and finally 16th President of the United States of America. Lincoln's presidency was full of historic events: Prior to his inauguration, the South seceded. Within months of his inauguration, the Civil War begins and Lincoln is tasked with prosecuting a war to keep our young country intact. After winning a second term in a landslide, Lincoln begins the task that will define his presidency and our country's future: the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which states:

"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

Steven Spielberg's newest film Lincoln recreates the tumultuous time when the 13th Amendment was proposed, argued and finally passed by the both houses of Congress. Lincoln takes you to a time you think you know, but probably do not.

The movie does a faithful job of creating the world of mid-19th-century Washington, D.C. -- a crowded and dirty city, highly appropriate for the dirty business that is lawmaking. This is a city with rutted roads, slathered in mud occupied by people comfortable lying (literally and figuratively) in it. An appropriate setting for the passage of one of the most controversial amendments. The atmosphere for this film is a pillar of its success, it is immersive.

The chamber music-themed drama A Late Quartet is the kind of movie that film critics and our culturally elitist friends so want to like. We would love to discuss the film's mastery of metaphor over a few pints of craft-brewed beer, or turn down the volume on All Things Considered while en route to Whole Foods in our Prii (yes, the plural of Prius is Prii) and ask our passengers, "Wasn't Philip Seymour Hoffman's performance astonishing?"

Alas, there can be no such discussions. While the erudite and painfully highbrow A Late Quartet is straight out of Stuff White People Like, it's also mostly a bore.

Which is a pity, because the film has many essential ingredients of an entertaining meditation on music as a reflection of human nature, the sort of high-culture anti-Twilight that excites those of us with discerning (and slightly snobby) taste in film. Aside from Hoffman, the cast includes Catherine Keener! And Christopher Walken playing against type! And Wallace Shawn! And lots of Manhattan locales! And lots of Beethoven! And to keep things from becoming too stuffy, a gratuitous sex scene with gratuitous nudity!

In Silver Linings Playbook, the latest film from David O. Russell, Pat (Bradley Cooper, The Hangover) has met a young woman named Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence, The Hunger Games), the sister of a friend's wife. Only a few small things stand in the way of any romance between them: Tiffany's depression and feelings of guilt about her husband's death, Pat's continuing obsession with his estranged wife, and his recent diagnosis as bipolar and reluctance to take his meds. After Pat's mom Dolores (Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom) brings him home from a Baltimore institution, he does things like frustratedly reading through his teacher wife's high-school English class syllabus and exploding into his parents' bedroom at 4:00 in the morning to complain about the ending of A Farewell to Arms.  

A restraining order has kept Pat from his wife Nikki since he attacked her lover, and Stevie Wonder's "My Cherie Amour" -- their wedding song -- has served as a trigger for him ever since. Tiffany makes a deal with him. She'll pass on a letter to Nikki if Pat promises to train and participate in a couples' dance competition Tiffany wants to enter. There is much more taking place in the movie as well ... I'll just say that it all works together marvelously. Although it's a movie about a couple dealing with mental health issues, Silver Linings Playbook consistently made me laugh while growing to care for Pat and Tiffany, as well as the supporting characters.

Anyone who's intrigued by where old goth rockers who survived the Eighties live out their days will be mildly entertained by Italian writer/director Paolo Sorrentino's darkly humorous film This Must Be the Place. Sorrentino takes quite a bit of creative license in this rambling and often disjointed tale of one fictional musician's struggles as he comes to term with personal tragedies and the lives he's touched through his music.

The multi-dimensional actor Sean Penn stars as Cheyenne, an aging goth rockstar living off his royalties on a vast estate in Dublin. His only companions are his confidante Mary (Eve Hewson), a 16-year-old Goth from a broken family, and his devoted and patient firefighter wife Jane (Frances McDormand). Cheyenne has been estranged from his family, not having spoken to his father in over 30 years. It is not until news of his father's failing health that he travels home to New Jersey and faces the real source of his pain -- the belief that his father never loved him. His father bequeathed his journals to Cheyenne, which include notes about his own obsession of tracking down the Nazi war criminal who humiliated him in a Jewish concentration camp. Cheyenne takes on his father's mission and embarks on a search across America to hunt down his father's tormentor, seeking guidance from Nazi hunter Mordecai Midler (Judd Hirsch) ... but what will he do when he finds him?

Bond: Everyone needs a hobby.
Silva: What's yours?
Bond: Resurrection.

Skyfall is so unlike a typical Bond movie, yet at the same time is the quintessential Bond film. The usual ingredients are all here: despicable antagonist, multiple international locations, disposable female characters, some of the same team at MI6 and many shots of a shirtless Daniel Craig (the last of which I will never complain about). In the hands of director Sam Mendes, however, Skyfall is the most masterfully shot film about James Bond I've seen.

The film starts in media res, chords from the Bond theme playing in the first shot as Craig's Bond quietly walks down a dark hallway. His boss M (the marvelous Dame Judi Dench) has him searching -- along with kickass Eve (Naomie Harris, 28 Days Later...) -- for a stolen hard drive that contains a list of all the NATO agents covertly working in terrorist organizations. M is catching flak from her new government overseer Gareth Mallory (Ralph Fiennes) for her lack of control over the situation.

This coming week offers some special offers for Austin Film Society (AFS) members with discounts to special screenings. AFS Selects series is partnering with the Violet Crown Cinema to present Smashed with a $2 discount on tickets purchased by phone or at the box office during the run of the selection excluding the first show of the day. Find out more about this film later in this article.

To kick off the opening weekend of the inaugural United States Grand Prix in Austin, AFS members can enjoy $5 off the $15 regular ticket price for a sneak peek screening at The Paramount on Thursday, November 15, of a new documentary, 1, featuring interviews with Formula One icons including Mario Andretti, Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton. Using rare archive footage, 1 features the drivers who raced during the dangerous era in the from the 1960s into the 1970s, and fought to improve safety standards for their sport. Expect to see racing celebrities on the red carpet including Sir Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda and Emerson Fittipaldi. 

The Texas Independent Film Network presents a special screening of one of my favorite documentaries of the year, America's Parking Lot, on Tuesday, November 13, 7 pm at Violet Crown, with director Jonny Mars in attendance. Bring a canned food item and receive a free popcorn to enjoy while enjoying an up-close experience with two diehard Dallas Cowboys fans and their tailgating tradition during the last season to take place at the historic Texas Stadium.

Movies We've Seen

The Sessions  -- Inspired by a true story, John Hawkes and Helen Hunt star in this drama about a 36-year-old man in an iron lung who seeks out a professional sex surrogate to help him lose his virginity. Don says in his review, "I can't say enough great things about this terrifically funny and deeply moving film, one of my favorites of the year and a shoo-in for my annual top ten list. Don't miss it." (Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar, Violet Crown, Regal Arbor)

Smashed -- In this story about addiction, a married couple whose bond is built on a mutual love of alcohol must deal with the impact to their relationship when the wife chooses sobriety. Don states, "Smashed shows us nothing we haven't seen before. But the film is as potent as any in its genre, with plenty of cringingly authentic scenes, a completely believable narrative arc and absolutely no melodrama." Read his review for details. (Violet Crown, Arbor)

The Other Dream Team -- This documentary reveals both the brutal history of Lithuania under Stalin's regime as well as the inspiring stories of athletes who helped their country find its own identity. For more on this film, read my review. (Violet Crown)

If John Hawkes's stunning performance in The Sessions doesn't win him an Oscar, what will?

The venerable, versatile actor came close to Oscar glory once before, with a best supporting actor nomination for his harrowing portrayal of meth addict Teardrop in Winter's Bone. If there's any justice in Oscar land -- hope springs eternal, folks -- Hawkes will take home the best actor gold this time for his dead-on turn as a lonely man in an iron lung.

Set in 1988 and based on a true story, The Sessions centers on Mark O'Brien (Hawkes), a 38-year-old journalist and poet confined to an iron lung for all but a few hours a day and determined to lose his virginity. A childhood victim of polio, Mark has lived an expectedly hard life, and one without dating or relationships. So, with help from his therapist, Vera (Moon Bloodgood), and the blessing of his priest, Father Brendan (a dry, wry and hilarious William H. Macy), Mark arranges for the services of professional sex surrogate Cheryl Cohen-Greene (Helen Hunt).

Any American who follows the Olympics will recall that the 1992 US men's Olympic basketball team was known as The Dream Team, but the bronze medal-winning Lithuanian team the Americans defeated is the focus of the documentary The Other Dream Team. Their journey to the Olympics was not an easy one, embroiled with politics and oppression existing for over 50 years, although it helped resolve the America misperception that all Soviets are Russian.

Lithuania was one of three ex-Soviet republics to compete individually in 1992, and their team beat the Unified Team in Barcelona. The significance of their triumph was extensive --at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, four of the five starters for the USSR basketball team were Lithuianian, defeating the US team to win the gold medal. USSR team members Sarunas Marciulionis and Arvydas Sabonis were the poster boys for the Russian sports program, and were threatened should they not stick to the script put forth by the Communist propaganda machine.

Their win symbolized a victory over the oppressors they'd been brutalized by since 1940, and helped establish Lithuania's national identity. The team proudly took the podium in their tie-dye warmups in appreciation of the Grateful Dead, with whom the team had a unique and critical connection.

Thanks to a heavy dose of realism and the fearless performances of its two leads, Smashed is a riveting take on an old story.

The bitter toll that addiction takes on relationships is nothing new in films, and Smashed is only the latest in a very long line of movies about unions torn asunder by the ravages of substance abuse. In this case, the culprit is alcohol; it has enveloped the lives of married twentysomethings Kate (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and Charlie (Aaron Paul), expanding their frequent leisure time binges into more or less nonstop drinking and often-as-not drunkenness.

As the film opens, it is apparent the two have been generally functional alcoholics for a while. Kate holds down a job as an elementary school teacher, drinking a beer during her morning shower and taking a nip from a flask in her car at the start of each school day. Charlie is functional also, if not exactly gainfully employed; his would-be writing career seems to consist of writing an occasional live music review when not partying with his friends. The couple douses any possible worries with alcohol -- not the best way to confront life's challenges, but hey, it works for them.

In the tradition of Pixar films, before Wreck-It Ralph plays a wonderful short that was included in the Fantastic Fest animated shorts program, Paperman. Directed by John Kahrs and produced by John Lasseter, Paperman draws inspiration from the classic film The Red Balloon, and in fact includes a red balloon to drive the point home. However, this is a more adult tale than the 1956 children's fantasy. A chance encounter on a train station platform leads a young man to the girl of his dreams in a whimsical and touching film that encompasses a similar range of emotion to the opening few minutes of Up.

Lasseter is also executive producer on Wreck-It Ralph, opening this weekend. An adventure worthy of the man who brought us Toy Story and a logical successor to that trilogy, Ralph was directed by Rich Moore, who made some of the most-loved episodes of Futurama, The Simpsons, and The Critic. Written by Jennifer Lee and Phil Johnston, Ralph is the story of a videogame villain who after 30 years realizes he needs a change of pace and instead of being a bad guy, he wants to be just one of the guys. Setting out to prove his worth, Ralph sets in motion a chain of events that could wreck the entire videogame world.

This is a banner year for animated features. Brave, Pirates!, Madagascar 3, Frankenweenie, Paranorman and Hotel Transylvania top the list that is still growing and now includes Wreck-It Ralph which, if not the best of them, is certainly the most fun. The comparison to Toy Story is clear: Videogame characters living inside their cabinets move around freely after hours when the arcade is closed. And just as Toy Story featured familiar classics like Slinky and Etch-a-Sketch, Wreck-It Ralph includes characters from Pac-Man, Sonic, Street Fighter, Super Mario, Mortal Kombat, Q*Bert, Frogger, Dig Dug and a slew of others old and new.

In addition to a script that's as smart as it is fun, casting for the vocal talents is flawless. John C. Reilly brings the nine-foot-tall Ralph to life as a likeable and misunderstood character who is also easy for children to connect with. In her 40s, Sarah Silverman simply should not be able to voice a little girl as convincingly and adorably as she does. Rounding out the main cast, Jane Lynch, Jack McBrayer and Alan Tudyk each inhabit their vocal roles as masterfully as they do their onscreen characters. The actors performed much of their voice work as a group, allowing for improvisation, and the result is very natural, organic-feeling dialogue uncommon in animated features.

Visually, Wreck-It Ralph explodes on the screen with a myriad of imagery and distinct styles from each game, as well as the "real-world" environment of the arcade. An interesting feature is that while the characters can move between each others' games, they remain trapped inside the world of their cabinets, able to view and interact with the outside world only through the screen. This is just one of countless examples of the level of detail and thought put into this production, which shares DNA as heavily with Tron as it does with Toy Story. I kept looking for the Pizza Planet truck, but it is not to be found. Though this feels in every way like classic Pixar, including the presence of the short before it, Wreck-It Ralph is actually a Disney Animation film. But with Lasseter's involvement, Disney animation has delivered possibly the best animated film this year.