Reviews

Something Borrowed is based on Emily Giffin's 2005 bestselling novel about old friends, romance, and betrayal. I likely wasn't the only one in the theatre for the screening who had read the book a few years back and forgotten it soon afterwards (although during the film, I did keep thinking about the book's sequel).

Rachel (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Darcy (a lively Kate Hudson) have been best pals since childhood. They love each other because they always have. We as viewers aren't exactly clear on why they are still friends, since they have little in common except love for Darcy's fiance, Dex (Colin Egglesfield, All My Children), but we'll come back to that. In Rachel's law office, a sampler hangs on the wall with the "Make new friends, but keep the old..." saying on it. She can't give up old friends, even if they are inconsiderate, selfish and slightly obtuse. She is just that big of a person.

I remember first hearing Marvel was planning a series of films leading up to The Avengers some time around April 2008, just before the first Iron Man. I thought to myself "Huh, that's interesting," but had little other reaction. Iron Man proved an astounding success, taking what was to my mind one of the less-spectacular of Marvel's titles and giving it the star treatment. Robert Downey Jr. brought Tony Stark to life in a way that made his time outside the suit almost, if not more, interesting than his time in it.

Then later that year I refused to watch Hulk, because I thought it looked like a rehash of the 2003 Ang Lee version. (And finally after watching it this weekend, I'm convinced I was right. Hulk fights another Hulk at the end of both films.) Until Iron Man 2 was released last year, I didn't give much thought to The Avengers. Then, just a glimpse of Captain America's shield, and the teaser with Thor's hammer at the end, my imagination was captured, and I began to believe they would manage to pull it all together and create something great.

Now I have seen Thor, and I am completely enthusiastic about The Avengers and the rest of the films leading up to it. Kenneth Branagh has directed a show worthy of sitting on the shelf next to both of the Iron Man films and the rest of your favorite superhero titles. It may well prove to be his most popular movie.

Despite the pun-magnet title, The Beaver is an unexpectedly dramatic film that succeeds in part because of -- and at times despite of -- its star.

When Walter Black (Mel Gibson) has a midlife crisis, he implodes more spectacularly than the average person. But Walter isn't an average person; he has a beautiful house, a beautiful wife Meredith (Jodie Foster), two children (Anton Yelchin, Riley Thomas Stewart) and a big family business that many would envy. Yet he cannot manage any of it and it slips away out of his unclenched grasp.

Instead of finding his inner child when he finally rallies, Walter creates the distance he desperately needs as well as the momentum to start moving forward through an alter-ego in the form of a old beaver hand puppet. Those around him seem to control their misgivings to different degrees, with his teenage son (Yelchin) clearly resenting it, his wife somewhat appalled but desperate to get her husband back, and the younger son who embraces it with the resiliency most kids show.

The Oregon most of us picture -- a place of lush forests and rugged coastline -- is not the Oregon of Meek's Cutoff. The film's setting is the scrubby and inhospitable desert in the state's southeast corner, which has more in common with neighboring Nevada than with green and rainy Portland.

But the unexpectedly arid and empty Oregonian vistas in Meek's Cutoff are totally appropriate, for the movie itself -- with its glacial pacing and thoroughly indie sensibilities -- is not what most moviegoers expect in a period Western. The latest movie from Kelly Reichardt (Old Joy) undoubtedly will try the patience of anyone looking for traditional horse opera shoot-'em-up action and moral clarity  ... or, for that matter, anyone seeking an actual plot. But in its own rarely seen universe -- the lonely universe of meditative, character-driven Westerns -- Meek's Cutoff is greatly provocative and rewarding.

Meek's Cutoff is morally complex but structurally simple, following a small group of weary settlers crossing Oregon in 1843. From the film's onset, it's apparent that the group is hopelessly lost. Thanks to their guide, the ill-tempered and unlikeable Stephen Meek (Bruce Greenwood), they've taken an unmapped detour from the usual settlers' route. After travelling for several days with no idea how to reach their destination (an ambiguous locale somewhere west of wherever they are), their most immediate problem is their rapidly dwindling water supply.

Fantastic Fest 2010 selection Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen (Jing wu feng yun: Chen Zhen) is back in Austin on Friday night at Alamo Drafthouse Village. The movie brings together history with amazing action sequences and stunning sets of Japanese-occupied Shanghai during the First World War to re-invent the tale of a cultural hero, played by action star Donnie Yen (Ip Man). Director Andrew Lau (Infernal Affairs) attempts to serve up more than the usual martial arts action porn with a complex storyline featuring nationalism, brotherhood, espionage, romance and superheroes.

Yen portrays the legendary Chen Zhen, a character created by Bruce Lee in Fist of Fury and later portrayed by Jet Li in Gordon Chan's acclaimed 1994 remake Fist of Legend. Yen himself has played the character in a 1995 TV series. For Legend of the Fist, Yen teamed with writer/producer Gordon Chan and director Lau to continue the story of Chen Zhen as a World War I veteran, resistance fighter and masked superhero.

Zhen's heroism precedes the war, when as a member of the Jing Wu Athletic Association he defeated a formidable Japanese opponent at the Hongkou Dojo. In France in 1917, he and his fellow laborers carry ammunition to French soldiers in trenches, and during a climactic retreat, Zhen rescues both his fellow patriots and French soldiers as well. When a comrade is killed, he assumes his identity in order to gain anonymity.

If today's political activists are seeking inspiration from history, they should look no further than the 16th-century Spanish historian, social reformer and Dominican friar Bartolomé de las Casas. As one of the early Spanish settlers in the West Indies, Las Casas participated in many of the atrocities -- slavery, torture and murder -- the settlers committed against the indigenous peoples. But Las Casas later saw the error of his ways, gave up his slaves, and devoted his life to fighting for the rights of the Indians, whom his fellow colonists considered less than human. Through his writings and activism, Las Casas is considered one of the first advocates for universal human rights.

Sadly, Las Casas probably would be very disillusioned by the state of today's world, where oppressed peoples continue to suffer in so many ways. But he also might find hope, for his modern-day activist brethren are still raging against their oppressors. The fight goes on.

This perpetual struggle for human rights is the backdrop for the stellar movie Even the Rain (También la lluvia), in which Las Casas is both a character and an inspiration. Spain's official Oscar entry for Best Foreign Language Film, Even the Rain is a brutal, beautiful and emotionally wrenching examination of how today's struggle for social and economic justice has deep roots in history.

Twenty-five years ago, four guys organized what they expected to be a small gathering for local musicians to perform and get some exposure. Running it from the offices of the Austin Chronicle, the four -- Louis Black, Louis Meyers, Roland Swenson and Nick Barbaro -- didn’t expect that 700 people would show up for that first fest. Since then, South By Southwest has grown into the largest annual event in Austin and one of the largest and most recognized of such festivals in the world.

In Outside Industry: The Story of SXSW, producer/director Alan Berg chronicles the rise and history of SXSW through photographs, old footage and interviews not only with the founders, but also writers Michael Corcoran and Joe Nick Patoski, Creative Director Brent Grulke, entertainer Mojo Nixon and many others.

Set to a rocking soundtrack, the movie begins with a nostalgic look back at shows at Liberty Lunch and the birth of the Austin Chronicle and credits Louis Meyers with being the driving force behind the creation of the festival. It covers the explosive debut and growth of SXSW, the launch of wristbands, the theme of industry vs. consumers and how that led to the arson of the festival offices. A sizable portion of time is spent detailing influence of major record labels on SXSW as they sponsor events and push their latest acts as well as how free events and parties outside the official festival have sprung up in protest.

As someone who has only ever experienced SXSW through the film festival, I was disappointed that Film and Interactive, which have grown to equal the music festival in prestige (and in the case of film, exceed it in length by three days), were barely a footnote. Still, this was an interesting and educational documentary and enough fun that I watched it twice. The older footage provides a haunting glimpse of Austin-that-was, which brought a flood of memories of my first years here. This is a must-watch for anyone who has spent two decades or more in this city as well as anyone who enjoys the live music scene.

Visit the Outside Industry website for more information about upcoming screenings, etc.

My sister once made me a low-fat chocolate pie from a Weight Watchers recipe. It looked mouth-wateringly delicious, but when I took a bite, I was taken aback by the lack of any taste whatsoever. It wasn't bad, it was simply the most flavorless food I'd ever put in my mouth. It was an illusion of pie, and I stopped after a second bite and decided that pie time is a time when calories should not be considered.

I felt the same way watching Arthur, the remake of the 1981 frothy romantic comedy, which opened Friday in wide release. Even as a remake, it looks so promising, especially if you have a guilty fondness for Russell Brand (like I do) or Helen Mirren. The casting is fabulous, the New York setting is lovely, the rich-boy premise means potential scenes of cinematic decadence ... and yet its humor and romance have no flavor whatsoever. Arthur has little to savor or enjoy, and it borders on the puzzling, since wit contains no calories or fat. (Or perhaps it secretly does. This would explain a lot about the loss of my girlish figure, instead of blaming pie.)

Growing up in the 80s, I was a fan of many popular films and franchises of the time such as Ghostbusters, Star Trek, The Goonies and of course Star Wars. But the films that most captured my imagination were always swashbuckling "sword and sandal" films that set cold steel against fiery magic. Legend, Beastmaster, Clash of the Titans, Dragonslayer and Krull were some of my favorites, watched on endless repeat ... meaning of course we'd stop the videotape, rewind and play it again.

Writers Danny McBride and Ben Best and director David Gordon Green have brought back a glimpse of that silver age this week with Your Highness, a comedic romp through fantasy that sells itself as a stoner comedy but is surprisingly (and refreshingly) solid.

Prince Thadeous (McBride) is dealing with a serious case of second-child syndrome, yearning for the approval and pride his father heaps on older brother Fabious (James Franco). Seemingly unable to do anything right and unwililng to do anything as expected, Thadeous is ordered to accompany Fabious on a quest to rescue his fiancee Belladonna (Zooey Deschanel) from the clutches of evil wizard Leezar (Justin Theroux) and hopefully become a man in the process. They find help along the way from Isabel (Natalie Portman), who is on a quest of her own.

It would be easy to dismiss this movie for the lowbrow toilet and sexual humor, but all of the above-mentioned films include a smattering of comic relief. Even Shakespeare's plays were written with a bawdy humor that appealed to the masses of the time that when read literally may appear subtle but when performed would become painfully obvious. While some of the jokes in Your Highness are of the least-common-denominator variety, they are mostly hilarious, and unlike some of the more family-friendly comedies (Shrek comes to mind) the humor doesn't rely on current events and references that will soon become dated.

While growing up in the late Sixties to early Seventies, one of the favorite television shows in our house was Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom with host Marlin Perkins. We loved watching wild animals in their natural habitat along with the challenges faced by Perkins and his field correspondents Jim Fowler and Peter Gros. Similar in nature was the classic film Born Free (1966), which told the story of female lion cub Elsa raised to maturity by a Kenyan game warden. Elsa is re-educated so that she can be released back into the wild. Both Wild Kingdom and Born Free left out the violence experienced in the wild, a pattern followed by IMAX documentary Born to Be Wild.

Directed by David Lickley and narrated by Morgan Freeman, Born to Be Wild focuses on two inspirational women, primatologist Birute Galdikas and elephant expert Daphne Sheldrick, who both work with orphaned animals to re-educate and release them into the wild. Galdikas works with orangutans in the rainforests of Borneo who have been orphaned as a result of clear-cutting, while Sheldrick rescues young elephants in Kenya whose mothers are killed by poachers. In both situations, staff help to fill the maternal and family void that help the orphans survive. Their shared mission is to rescue, rehabilitate and return these animals safely back to the wild. The scenes of young orangutans playing and a young elephant sleeping with his keeper are heartwarming.