Reviews

In Jake Kasdan's latest comedy, Bad Teacher, Elizabeth Halsey (Cameron Diaz) ends one school year assuming that she will never have to teach again, only to have her opera-loving fiance -- and his mom -- dump her. Instead of living off her rich almost-hubby, she ends up rooming with someone she found on Craigslist (Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family) and goes back to teaching at John Adams Middle School. She befriends an older teacher (Phyliis Smith, The Office), is annoyed by Ms. Squirrel (Lucy Punch) across the hall, and starts saving up for a boob job. Oh, and there's also a new slightly spacey substitute teacher (a geeky-looking Justin Timberlake), and a phys-ed teacher (a schlumpy Jason Segel) who assures her that her breasts are fine the way they are.

Diaz portrays the despicable -- yet still a tad likeable -- Ms. Halsey with aplomb. She stumbles into class high and/or drunk in scuffed-up Louboutin heels, pops in a school-related movie and is stunned when her students admit to never seeing Stand and Deliver before. Throughout the first half of the film, I don't recall a mention of what subject she is supposed to be teaching (it's English). Compare that to Halsey's nemesis for the film, Ms. Squirrel, who kicks off the start of the year with apples for each of her students, wearing a captain's hat as she welcomes the kids to her class. I joked to my middle-school teacher friend that I was sure she did the same with her students.

In 2006, Pixar released a film that uniquely celebrated America's automotive culture and the small communities that were displaced by the interstate freeway system. Not only did Cars shine a light on a dying piece of Americana, it also had a dramatically unique visual presentation where everything in the world, including insects, was an automobile.

Five years later, after giving us Ratatouille, WALL-E, Up and Toy Story 3, Pixar returns with Cars 2, only their second film to get a sequel. It's not a surprise given the popularity of Cars, especially the rustbucket tow-truck character Tow Mater (voiced by comedian Larry the Cable Guy), that it would be chosen for the sequel treatment with "Mater" at the center of the story. I would be willing to bet the merchandise sales for Cars double that of any other Pixar movie. If that means this is a Pixar cash grab, I'm willing to accept it given the money will go into creating more original works like Up.

The entire cast of Cars returns with the exception of two greats. It's sad that in the last five years we've lost not only George Carlin, who was replaced in the role of Fillmore by Lloyd Sherr, but also Paul Newman, whose Doc Hudson receives a poignant memorial in the beginning of Cars 2 (indeed, Cars was Newman's last feature film appearance). New to the cast are the fantastic talents of Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer, Eddie Izzard, John Turturro and Bruce Campbell, as well as a great number of celebrity cameos.

While Cars was a classic story full of nostalgia that resonated with an older audience even as it entertained the kids, Cars 2 is an enjoyable spy spoof that may appeal more to a younger crowd. The story follows Mater as he stumbles into the clandestine world of espionage due to a case of mistaken identity, leaving very little time spent with his fellow residents of Radiator Springs. Worse, depending on your viewpoint, the world is not populated just with cars, but also now with boats and planes, a change in style that is necessary for the places the film goes in a bigger world, but counter to the autos-only spirit of Cars.

According to the laws of coherent filmmaking, Beginners shouldn't work at all. The movie combines disparate elements unlikely to work together -- two love stories, a coming-out comedy, a withering statement about bigotry, a tragic death, a commentary about art versus commerce and even an oh-so-cute dog. And while juggling all these moving parts, the story constantly jumps from now to then and here to there and back again, taking us from modern-day Los Angeles to 1930s Germany to a half-dozen worlds in between.

But Beginners works well, smashingly well, so well that it's among my favorite films of this year. Much of the credit goes to Christopher Plummer, who blesses Beginners with one of the finest performances of his career.

Beginners is told from the point of view of Oliver (Ewan McGregor), a young artist whose father, Hal (Plummer), has recently died of cancer. When Oliver's mother,Georgia (Mary Page Keller) died a few years earlier, Hal announced he was gay, having been not quite totally closeted through more than 40 years of marriage. In funny and sympathetic flashbacks, we see that Hal's coming out was both awkward and profoundly liberating. Freed from the bonds of a pointless marriage and in a new relationship with a much younger man, Andy (Goran Visnjic), Hal never was happier.

"A lot of times, rather than helping people with horse problems," says Buck Brannaman, "I'm helping horses with people problems."

The subject of the documentary Buck, horse trainer Brannaman travels America teaching horse owners positive ways to communicate with their animals. He is the gentlest of gentle souls, a skilled cowboy whose believes the best way to train a horse is through leadership and sensitivity, not brutality and punishment. Buck is as gentle as its subject, a finely made, ever thoughtful film that shows us how Brannaman's approach applies not only to horses, but to people as well. The movie opens Friday in Austin.

Brannaman's skill with horses is amazing. As he transforms a frightened, unruly horse into a calm, obedient one in a matter of minutes, it's as if he has unique insight into the equine mind. But Brannaman would be the first to say that while he has many well honed skills, he has no special relationship with horses. He merely understands that the best way to work with a horse -- or a human -- is to instill trust, not fear.

I didn't review True Grit when it opened in theaters late last year because I did something film critics should never, ever do: I watched the movie and then I read the book before writing my review. Details from the book jumbled with the movie and I couldn't always remember which was which. Fortunately, Mike was happy to write a review for Slackerwood instead.

So I'm pleased to have the chance to see True Grit again, now on DVD and Blu-ray, and start over with a clean slate. Filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen have brought us an excellent movie that plays very well on home video, although the visuals aren't quite as breathtaking as they might be on a theater screen. It's a movie I not only like but could watch with a mature adolescent or with my parents, and how often can you say that?

I enjoyed the Charles Portis novel more than the film adaptation (the narrator is a hoot), but this doesn't detract from my enjoyment of the movie, primarily due to the admirable performances. Newcomer Hailee Steinfeld is able to hold her own as Mattie Ross up against Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn and Matt Damon's Redford-esque turn as LeBoeuf. The Coens focus their movie of True Grit on Steinfeld's character (despite what the DVD cover implies), as in the novel and as opposed to the 1969 movie, which was more of a vehicle for John Wayne.

For those of you who don't know the story from the novel or the earlier movie, Mattie Ross is a headstrong teenage girl who wants to hire a U.S. marshal to help her track down Tom Chaney, to bring him to trial for killing her father. She sets her sights on Cogburn, a hard-drinking U.S. Marshal with a determination she finds appropriate for the job. However, Texas Ranger LeBoeuf also wants to track down Chaney and bring him to Texas for a significant reward. The men might be amenable to working together but neither wants a 14-year-old girl on his hands. They find out quickly that Mattie Ross is one of the stubbornest characters ever to grace the page or screen, and she insists on having things her way.

In a summer of blockbuster comic-book movies, maybe we've grown spoiled. The overwhelming audience reaction to Green Lantern when I saw the film was, well, patently underwhelmed.

Directed by Martin Campbell (Casino Royale, The Legend of Zorro), Green Lantern was perhaps the most anticipated film of the summer for legions of fans of the comic book. When I saw it was scripted by Greg Berlanti (Broken Hearts Club), I should have heard warning bells ringing in my head.

Berlanti, writer and producer for screens big and small, is responsible for some of the most original (and most short-lived) series on television: Dawson's Creek, Brothers & Sisters, Eli Stone -- all highly acclaimed but brief. Does he have experience with comic book-style superheroes? You need look no further than his latest failure on ABC. No Ordinary Family failed for exactly the reasons Green Lantern is so weak. Endless excessive mopey dialogue before we get to see any action and characters that act against not only their type, but against rational judgement. This works in a Sunday night drama soap opera like Brothers & Sisters, but it murders a $150,000,000 action film.

If you're a serious Ryan Reynolds fan who can't wait to see him in his titey whities, go see Green Lantern. Plenty of abs are on display, and it's obvious he's been working out harder than ever. And if you're a big Green Lantern comic-book fan, you should enjoy a very faithful adaptation of the comic to the big screen, once 45 minutes of exposition and poorly-executed love story get out of the animators' way. Campbell is no stranger to action directing, and those are the parts that work. Everything that takes place away from Earth is visually exciting, even stunning.

Back on our home planet, however, Reynolds' character dwindles into a cutout cardboard puppet flipping between the actor's limited repertoire of two expressions: mischieviously giddy and sad puppy dog. Reynolds was never my preference to portray Hal Jordan (they should've gone with Nathan Fillion), but at least whenever he dons the mask, the animators expand the character's range by two or three more expressions. Co-star Blake Lively likewise is either frustrated and upset or exuding doe-eyed passion. Peter Sarsgaard, as tortured villain Hector Hammond, is the only actor on Earth who does anything remotely interesting. Even Tim Robbins phones in his role as Hammond's scheming Senator father.

Free yourself from the trappings of time and imagine a very young Bud Cort in a coming-of-age movie written by Bill Forsyth (Gregory's Girl) and directed by Bob Byington (Harmony and Me), transport the scenario to Wales, and you have an idea of what you're getting into with Submarine, which opens in Austin this week.

Submarine is one of those movies I feel I really shouldn't like. Too precious. Quirkiness for its own sake. Voiceover narration, and you know how I feel about that unless Billy Wilder is involved. And it's yet another coming-of-age movie, a period piece even, and isn't that done to death?

But somehow, like its main character, Submarine is weirdly likeable. Maybe even lovable in spots. The sense of humor is off-kilter and the movie reminds me quite strongly of my own high-school days, but doesn't resort to nostalgia or anything the least bit sappy. I want to give the movie and all its characters a hug … or perhaps, like one of the female characters does to her boyfriends, burn its leg hair. It's an impressive feature directorial debut for actor Richard Ayoade, whose last name I hope someday to be able to pronounce correctly.

While watching Super 8, the Steven Spielberg-produced movie written and directed by J.J. Abrams (Star Trek, Lost), I may have been the only person in the audience thinking about author Robertson Davies. Specifically, this passage from his novel The Lyre of Orpheus, in which characters discuss the difficulty of putting together a libretto for an unfinished opera score:

"If you had to prepare this libretto, who would you rob? A poet, of course, but not a very well-known poet. And he would have to be a poet contemporaenous with Hoffman, and a fellow-spirit, or the work would ring false. And amid the work of that poet you would have to interpose a lot of stuff in the same spirit, because nobody wrote a libretto about King Arthur that is lying around, waiting for such an occasion. And the result would be --"

"Pastiche!"

"Yes, and the craft of the thing would be sewing up the joints, so that nobody would notice and denounce the whole thing as --"

"Pistache! Oh, you are a clever one!"

I've always disclaimed being a fan of Woody Allen -- not just because of his neurotic portrayals, but also his writing in Annie Hall and Manhattan. I couldn't relate and felt alienated from the New Yorker culture and mentality. In all fairness I'll admit I thoroughly enjoyed several of his period pieces including Radio Days, The Purple Rose of Cairo and Bullets Over Broadway.

With an impending long-awaited vacation to Europe looming at the end of the month, I was intrigued to get a preview via Allen of "The City of Light" in his latest movie, Midnight in Paris, which was the opening-night film at Cannes this year. Ironically, Allen's ability to capture a subculture that not everyone can relate to is what I adore about this film -- only instead the group is the "Lost Generation" of writers, painters and musicians who flocked to Paris in the 1920s for inspiration. Allen addresses his love letter to Paris with an extended opening sequence of Parisian monuments and locations including the River Seine, Cathedral of Notre Dame, Les Champs Elysees and the obligatory Eiffel Tower aglow at night.

Midnight in Paris centers around Gil (Owen Wilson), a successful Hollywood screenwriter who wants to move to Paris and write his great novel, inspired by his literary hero, Ernest Hemingway. Gil's over-privileged fiance, Inez (Rachel McAdams), has different plans that include a house in Malibu, not a relocation to France.  While on vacation in Paris with Inez's parents John (Kurt Fuller) and Helen (Mimi Kennedy), the couple bicker over Gil's romanticism. Inez's snobbish academic friend Paul (Michael Sheen) pontificates, "Nostalgia is a denial of a painful present."

If you’re reading this, you should have seen X-Men: First Class by now. If not, stop immediately, get to a theater ASAP, and watch it!

That's my way of saying everything you're about to read is overwhelmingly positive. Director Matthew Vaughn has a proven track record with the incredible genre films Layer Cake, Stardust and Kick-Ass. X-Men: First Class is in a class of its own above all those. With only 11 months to work, Vaughn has managed to perform the unthinkable: Reboot the franchise within a prequel that faithfully and seamlessly builds the universe seen in the previous X-Men movies.

These days with Mad Men dominating cable and network TV prepping copycat retro shows like Pan Am, this X-Men movie, set in the 1960s and dealing with the Cuban Missile Crisis, is coming to screens at the perfect time. Comic fans will be thrilled with the presentation of the characters in the Hellfire Club, a glaring omission from the third film, X-Men: The Last Stand. Yet, newcomers to the series will have no problem following the story as all the characters are introduced and their powers explained.