Review: "Christine"

Director: Antonio Campos
Runtime: 115 minutes

My apologies to Stephen King, but the name 'Christine' belongs to Antonio Campos now. Or at least, it initially belongs to Mr. Campos and screenwriter Craig Shilowich, as they dramatize the downward spiral that led Christine Chubbuck to shoot herself on live television. But move beyond the architecture of Christine, and the same belongs, appropriately, not to Mr. King, Mr. Campos, or any man at all. Instead, it finds note-perfect ownership in British actress Rebecca Hall, who sits at the center of this compelling character study built around her towering performance.

I've been a fan of Hall's work ever since her first breakthrough, as a love interest for Christian Bale in the thriller The Prestige. Amid starry names like Bale, Hugh Jackman, Michael Caine, and Scarlett Johansson, Hall managed to make her mark in what could have been a throwaway role. Since then, she has largely stuck to smaller fare (including the lovely Please Give, in which she's excellent), never quite forcing her way into the conscience of the American movie-going public. Hopefully Christine, arriving 10 years after The Prestige, changes that.

Chubbuck's story is an easy one to mine for cheap tragic theatrics, but Christine makes the wise decision to dramatize the reporter's life, rather than attempt to recreate it. That leaves Campos, Shilowich, and Hall tremendous room to mine what we know of Chubbuck's life for an absorbing look inside a complex woman who is defined by more than her tragic end. Gangly and stilted, Hall's Chubbuck is not the warm, easy-going type. A perfectionist to a fault, she clashes regularly with her station manager (Tracy Letts) at the local Sarasota news station, never letting up even when she should take a hint and back off. When we first see her, she's practicing for an imaginary interview with President Nixon, and asking a co-worker (Maria Dizzia) if she nods her head "too sympathetically."

Amid the shifting landscape of TV news, Chubbuck struggles most with the knotty dilemma of how we present ourselves to each other, and how we feel others perceive us. Though Shilowich's screenplay is sporadically on-the-nose, it largely provides a gripping series of obstacles that push Christine to her breaking point. Such a straight forward march toward death may sound like a grim slog, but Shilowich finds moments of awkward humor that keep the film from drowning in depressive moods. A perky, bubbling score contributes to the flashes of levity as well, without becoming distracting or overbearing.

Yet even if Christine were a tonally one-note exercise in misery, it would still be worth it thanks to Hall. With her rigid posture and grating voice, Chubbuck isn't an easy protagonist to latch onto, but Hall is transfixing throughout. Lesser films and performances would be all about the look and the voice, but Christine pushes right past that, and subtly digs into the underlying mental health issues that eventually took hold. Whether fighting with her hippie mother (J. Cameron Smith) or trying to pitch a news story, Chubbuck is a hard presence to ignore. Hall's unwavering stare, coupled with her unsteady mask of a face, keeps up an icy front while allowing bottled up emotions to flood out. It's immensely subtle, yet still hauntingly expressive.

Only at the story's end do the limitations of the script become apparent, although not to the point of undoing the film's accomplishments. This is a performance vehicle through and through, with the larger issues of mental health, self doubt, and workplace sexism only marginally explored as they suit the story's needs. There's also the matter of the film's final 10 minutes or so, which end Christine on a puzzling note. Rather than conclude with either solemn remembrance or bitter irony, Christine's ending takes a stab at, well, I'm not quite sure. There's a "point" in there somewhere about the role of TV and entertainment and news, but it never really lands. It's a bizarre pivot for a film that seemed to understand its limitations. You had me at Rebecca Hall giving the best performance of career...no need to push for more.

Grade: B

Review: "Iron Man 3"

Director: Shane Black
Runtime: 130 minutes

Last summer kicked off with Joss Whedon's The Avengers, the cumulative effort of merging the Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, and Hulk (sorry, Ed Norton) franchises. After a series of solid, but often unremarkable, standalone films, Whedon's geek-tastic superhero bonanza was seen as a high for Marvel Studios. However, this posed a challenge for the standalone films that would lay the ground for The Avengers 2: would audiences be as invested in just watching one member of the Avengers roster at a time? It's hard to say for all of them. Tony Stark and Iron Man, however, can breathe a sigh of relief. Iron Man 3, this year's kick-off to the summer movie season, blows away all of the previous Avenger films, and establishes its hero as Marvel's single most fun figure.

After the chaos in New York City, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr., back in top form) struggles to cope with his comparatively mundane life (along with some nasty panic attacks). Thor is back in Asgard, the Hulk is likely in hiding, and Captain America is off on his own adventure. However, it doesn't take long for a new threat to arise (this is the Marvel-verse, after all). Enter mysterious international terrorist The Mandarin (an enjoyably hammy Ben Kingsley). Without giving too much away, Tony initially has little interest in tackling The Mandarin, preferring to leave him to the government and Col. Rhodes (Don Cheadle). Yet when the shadowy terrorist's attacks start to hit home, Stark is left with no choice but to rebuild his life and seek revenge. 

Even though Iron Man 3 takes Stark to the darkest emotional territory, it is also the liveliest and funniest film in the series. Co-written by Drew Pearce and director Shane Black, much of the dialogue is sharp and energetic, with any number of delightful back-and-forth exchanges between Stark and a member of the ensemble. Among that ensemble are the aforementioned Kingsley, along with Guy Pierce as smarmy scientist Aldrich Killian, James Badge Dale as Killian's henchman Savin, and Rebecca Hall as researcher Maya Hansen, who has a link to Tony's past. Gwyneth Paltrow returns as well, as Stark's girlfriend and business partner Pepper Potts. 

Where Black and Pearce's screenplay works best is when it puts two or three characters together and lets them bounce off of each other. At times the dialogue can border on overwritten, but the exchanges are largely successful due to Downey Jr.'s presence. Iron Man 3 does for Tony what Iron Man 2 should have done: pushed him completely to the edge, physically and emotionally. In doing so, the film once again makes Stark an engaging and fun protagonist, compared with 2's version of the character, who was often too big of a jerk. Even though some of the set-up for the plot can feel a little dragged-out, the film always has Downey Jr.'s performance propping it up. And once the film properly takes off, it's a largely thrilling endeavor. 

Black keeps Stark separated from his suit for longer than expected, and it pays off. A section of the film set in rural Tennessee gives Downey Jr. more room to build Tony as a character, and experience him outside of either the Iron Man suit or his swanky mansion. Even scenes without Stark present deliver, such as a bit with Pepper and Maya concerning the latter's moral quandary about her research. Likewise, Killian and The Mandarin easily outclass the previous Iron Man villains, albeit in wildly different ways. The only cast member truly lost in the shuffle of it all is Cheadle's Col. Rhodes, who comes into play so late in the game that you almost forget his character is a real presence in the movie. Thankfully, once he starts figuring into the plot directly, Cheadle makes for yet another strong foil for Downey Jr., particularly during the finale.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the film, however, is the success of the action sequences. No previous Iron Man film has ever delivered a truly noteworthy battle, with the climactic fights often proving underwhelming. As such, the bar wasn't set terribly high for Black. Thankfully, he decided to clear it by a considerable margin. Three major fights, all different, in the second hour erase the bad memories of all previous Iron Man action scenes. One is particularly fun for the way it forces Stark to fight using only two pieces of his armor. On the opposite end of the scale are a thrilling sequence involving a damaged Air Force One, and the knockout climax set amid a massive oil rig. It's larger than life stuff, and Black captures it with intensity while never forgetting to inject crowd-pleasing thrills. The near-seamless visual effects only add to the experience. 

But, at the end of the day, it's all about Tony Stark and his metal alter ego. By tapping into the character's fears and insecurities, Black and Downey Jr. create the best portrayal of the character yet. Multiple characters inhabit suits in the film, yet only Tony Stark can ever truly be Iron Man. And while Iron Man 3 doesn't reach the grandiose heights of something like The Dark Knight, it is such an energetic and enjoyable experience that it's difficult for the flaws to really remove one from the experience. Frankly, it's the most purely enjoyable Marvel film since 2003's X2: X-Men United. If I were Thor or Captain America, I'd be nervous right about now. Those two have got their work cut out for them.

Grade: B-

Review: "Everything Must Go"

It happens every so often, with varying degrees of success: the much-talked about funny-man goes dramatic movie. Yet for Will Ferrell, so often seen on screen as an obnoxious, socially obtuse buffoon, this is territory that has been visited before (06's Stranger Than Fiction). And, after seeing Everything Must Go, adapted from a Raymond Carver short story, one wonders why Ferrell doesn't try roles like this more often, because he's actually quite capable with them.

Everything Must Go opens with a rather typical set-up: a guy has an inordinately bad day. Here, that guy is Nick Halsey (Ferrell), who loses his job, his wife, and his house all in one fell swoop. He's now forced to live on his lawn, where his wife has left all of his belongings strewn about while she goes to live in some unknown location. Though he initially struggles with his new "home," Nick gradually befriends a local boy named Kenny (Christopher Jordan Wallace) and his new, pregnant neighbor (Rebecca Hall), both of whom help Nick dig out of his rut.

Dan Rush's adaptation of Carver's story is, appropriately, small. Small in scale, small in emotion, etc. Initially, this can be off-putting, with the opening 20-30 minutes coming off as too low-key to the point of being emotionally tone deaf. It's enough to leave one thinking that all Ferrell will be required to do is wear a vaguely sad mask for 100 minutes. Thankfully, the film finds its way out of this uneasy territory as its three main characters finally begin to interact with greater meaning and purpose. It's a movie of little moments, devoid of melodrama even when the story introduces a twist that could have potentially gone in that direction. The result is a movie that is gentle, but not saccharine, one that allows its emotions to play out naturally. When the film arrives at its two scenes of emotional outburst, they feel earned, and don't stick out from the rest of the story.

For Ferrell, it's the type of film that is stripped down enough to give the actor breathing room. Gone are the typically oafish tendencies of his mainstream roles. Nick is a real character, one worth sympathizing with, despite his share of faults. The screenplay might not necessarily go as deep into said faults as it could, but Ferrell is able to make the character's mix of confusion, desperation, and disappointment feel genuine. Young Mr. Wallace does a nice job as well, and his understated chemistry with Ferrell works, and helps provide the handful of laughs scattered throughout. In a slightly more peripheral role is Rebecca Hall, always a lovely presence. Hers is a role mostly relegated to ordinary conversation, yet when the time comes for her to bring her own conflicts out into the open, she handles them with a beautiful mix of strength and vulnerability. Characters further removed from Ferrell, like Laura Dern's former high school love interest, or Michael Pena's officer/AA sponsor are less successfully drawn (Dern is practically a glorified cameo), however.

But the film ultimately belongs to Ferrell, which is most certainly a good thing. He not only anchors this lightweight dramedy, but also turns in one of the best performances of his career. Like the film around him, his work initially feels modest, perhaps too modest. Yet as it develops over time, a small gem emerges. It's not a major work, but it deserves recognition for delivering a nice mix of drama and comedy, rendered on such an intimate scale.

Grade: B-

"Red Riding: 1974" - REVIEW

While not exactly the happiest way to ring in the new year (cinematically speaking, at least; I've got a glass of champagne with me as I write this), I'm pleased to say that my last official viewing for the 2010 calendar year is a very good one. While I'm sure I could take a moment to speculate as to how watching a film that's the first in a trilogy is somehow thematically relevant to something in movies this year or even in my personal life, I won't because well, that's just cloying. Rather, let's get to the film I watched today to close out 2010:

Based on a series of horrifying true events in England, the Red Riding trilogy's first installment, directed by Julian Jarrold, begins in 1974. A young girl has vanished, the latest in a series of missing child cases. Journalist Eddie Dunford decides to investigate the disappearance, and in doing so unlocks an increasingly dark and sinister web of corruption in Britain's police force. Like 2007's excellent Zodiac, Red Riding is one of those detailed crime dramas that at times threatens to sink under the weight of the details, both known and unknown. But what makes this film different from Fincher's San Francisco-set tale is that we never see anything bad happen, at least, not to the victims. Dunford takes quite a beating in his quest to find the truth, but the film itself doesn't punctuate its main story with horrific side trips. And yet Jarrold's entry in the trilogy (based on David Peace's novel) is a steadily paced, yet engaging way to kick off what is sure to be an increasingly complex narrative.

While the performances are strong - Garfield is quietly sympathetic and Rebecca Hall continues her 2010 winning streak - Red Riding succeeds more in its craftsmanship. While it by no means rushes through the plot, the screenplay and the editing keep the scenes and story moving along at just the right pace to hold interest. We start, like Eddie, aloof and not terribly involved in the case of the disappearing girls, but little by little the film draws you in. Revelations are never sensationalized or turned into moments of high drama. Instead, Jarrold directs the flow of events with a calm, understated hand. His goal here isn't so much to dwell on the "oh the horror!" aspect of the crimes, but rather root us in the position of Dunford, a man slowly coming to terms with the fact that there's more to the vanished girls than a single predator.

This is beautifully echoed in the the film's greatest strength, Rob Hardy's brilliant cinematography. Hardy has a gift with framing, and makes even the most plain and ugly 70s architecture interesting to look at. More important though, is how often he uses limited focal range, sometimes leaving only a small portion of the frame sharp. Sometimes it's simply a stylistic choice, but in other scenes there's a nice complimentary feeling of Dunford's (and our) inability to see the whole picture. In what could have been a rather ordinarily shot film, Hardy's beautifully composed images lend this gritty story a sense of richness, without "softening" the ugliness.

Yet while the screenplay is generally strong, and is well handled by both director and actors, it occasionally throws in one too many details. A vaguely sketched out subplot involving the recent death of Eddie's father and his relationship with his mother don't entirely work, especially in one distracting and bizarrely edited scene that never clearly establishes whether it's a dream, hallucination, or reality. This issue, though, along with the film sometimes keeping us an inch too far out of the loop, seems relatively minor by the film's end. Like the rest of the film, the finale keeps a level head without reducing the impact, and the final sequence is a thing of beauty. And whether or not parts 2 and 3 live up to this first installment, Jarrold and crew can be proud that they've made a film that, while ambiguous at its end, still feels complete and satisfying.

Grade: B+

"The Town" - REVIEW

The sophomore slump. Whether one is talking about music, TV, film, the stage, etc..., it's not a phrase that anyone wants to hear about their early work. When Ben Affleck tried his hand at directing with 2007's Gone Baby Gone, even some who praised the film were careful; did Affleck just get lucky? Was this a fluke? Now, three years later, Affleck returns with another Boston-set tale of crime-drama to prove that he actually might have a knack for this directing thing. Affleck's latest, while not as successful as his directorial debut, is solid proof that 'Baby' was no accident.

Adapted from Chuck Hogan's novel "Prince of Thieves," The Town is the story of Doug McCray (Affleck), a bank robber born and raised in Boston's Charlestown area who, along with right-hand-man Jem (Jeremy Renner) go after banks and trucks, usually on orders from their cryptic boss "the florist" (Pete Postlethwaite). After robbing one bank and taking one of its managers, Claire (Rebecca Hall), hostage (she is promptly released unharmed), they discover that she lives very close nearby. Doug follows Claire and starts to befriend her, which of course, will lead to some tensions later on. Meanwhile, an FBI agent (Jon Hamm) comes in to investigate Claire's kidnapping in an effort to finally pin down McCray and his cohorts. As the third major "one-last-job" movie this year (after Inception and The American), The Town is certainly the most conventional of the trio, but that doesn't stop it from being very well made and enjoyable.

Though the film's first third or so, including the opening heist, doesn't quite register, the film really ramps up the quality starting with a heist involving the gang dressed in the creepiest old-nun masks I've ever seen. Affleck, with help from DP Robert Elswit, proves adept at staging a good-old-fashioned car chase/shoot-out both here and at the end, and its these fire fights that help liven up the routine elements of the story. The direction here is tough, straightforward, and effective. Unfortunately, the same can't be said of Affleck's involvement as an actor or co-writer. There seem to be visible signs in Affleck's scenes that he is somewhat uncomfortable being in front of the camera under his own direction. One scene in particular of him simply sitting in a car waiting looks like it could have been behind-the-scenes footage of Affleck relaxing on set. The rest of the cast fare much better though (save for Postlethwaite), especially Hall (the second time she's been an MVP in an ensemble this year) and Blake Lively as the film's two female characters. Jeremy Renner does solid work as well as Jem, but he brings us to the other big issue with the film. Part of what hinders The Town and keeps it from achieving greater impact, aside from the too-tidy last scenes, is the writing, or rather, lack-thereof. These characters feel like types, and rather empty types for that matter. Jem's past and the 9 years he spent in prison feel more like a casually thrown in detail than a fully explored angle for the character, while poor Jon Hamm is stuck simply being authoritative and angry until he gets to share one of the film's best acting scenes with Lively. This lack of stronger, richer characterization (two men are there simply to be bodies for later on) is what keeps the film from being more compelling until the nun-mask-robbery, and unfortunately this carries over to the end; the film starts to lean towards being inconsequential.

Still, for its faults, The Town remains a compelling, albeit routine, film that is executed well for the most part. It may not be up there with the likes of Heat or The Departed, but it should more than satisfy one's fix for a gritty, well-told crime story.

Grade: B

"The Town" gets off to a good start

For those of you wondering whether Ben Affleck's second stab at directing would either be a disappointment or, worse, prove that Gone Baby Gone was a fluke, TotalFilm's Jamie Graham begs to differ. In his 4 star review, Graham has few negative things to say, to the point where he barely bothers to elaborate on them. He gives particularly strong praise to the cast (without pointing fingers at a weak link), especially Affleck, Renner, Hall, and even Gossip Girl's Blake Lively. The sections of the review that most caught my eye, though, were these:

Gravel-toned, pragmatic, it’s the voice of Doug MacRay (Ben Affleck), the brains of the brawny crew who hit a bank. The commentary won’t appear again until the closing scenes. It doesn’t need to, its job is done: we’re 20 seconds into Affleck’s sophomore directing effort and we already know this is a hardboiled crime drama, a modern-day noir. And while The Town glories in genre tropes it also dumps any overt stylings or clipped, staccato dialogue, instead keeping the action alive and lithe. Keeping it real. The plot is conventional, clichéd even, MacRay trying to find that one last job, get out, “put this whole fuckin’ town in my rear-view mirror.” No one will let him.

Obviously, this is a great first "official" review for the film as both its theatrical and festival premieres approach. Gone Baby Gone received plenty of praise, but only managed a nomination for Amy Ryan, so if this allegedly conventional-yet-really-well-done film takes off, Affleck could have a major Oscar contender on his hands in everything from Picture, Director, and the acting categories, down to sound design. Obviously it's still too early to make hardcore "I'll-bet-my-house-it'll happen" Oscar predictions, but if other critics follow suit, you might want to start bumping The Town up a few notches on your list of contenders.

"Please Give" - REVIEW

Real people are tricky, that's no secret. Putting them on screen in the form of characters? That can be a nightmare. The result is often one that is so desperate to deviate from Hollywood norms, that characters often become uninteresting, unlikeable, and even repulsive, despite being supposedly "real". Such was the case with writer-director Nicole Holofcner's 2006's effort Friends with Money. With apologies to Ms. Holofcner, hearing one wife tell her husband that she can't believe her friend, "hasn't seen [her husband's] asshole," isn't the sort of dialogue that should be thrown out within the first 15 minutes. It's crass, it's irritating, and it's an almost instant turn-off. Thankfully, Ms. Holofcner has more than learned her lesson with her most recent feature, Please Give. Though it has moments of unpleasantness, Holofcner and her cast never go overboard, and whatever meanness may be inflicted verbally from one character to another there may be, it never feels as though it's somehow pointed at the audience. Kate and Alex (Catherine Keener and Oliver Platt) are married a have a daughter, Abby (Sarah Steele). They also run a furniture store, where the merchandise comes mostly from the homes of the recently deceased. On the other end are Rebecca (Rebecca Hall), her sister Mary (Amanda Peet), and their grandmother Andra (Ann Guilbert), who happens to live next door to Kate and Alex. Though the main plot is built on the tensions between the two families (Mary and Rebecca feel that Kate and Alex are like vultures, simply waiting and hoping for Andra to die), Holofcner's film finds its strength in the funny little ways people cross paths and relate to different people differently. Kate, the best example of human contradictions, is a bleeding heart, constantly giving out money to people on the street, to the point where she's almost made it an obligation, doing whatever she can. This puts her at odds with Abby, who is obsessed with getting rid of her acne and longing for a new pair of jeans. Yet while Abby's parents feel slightly uneasy around the rather bitchy Mary, Abby has one or two moments with her...but also has two moments with Rebecca. Then there's Alex, who may or may not have been flirting with Mary over dinner. The ways in which Holofcner's characters bounce off of each other is surprisingly engaging, filled with moments of meanness, kindness, insight, and even great humor. And while indie queen Keener may get top billing and have the most outwardly expressive role, she's equally matched by Rebecca Hall (Vicky in Vicky Cristina Barcelona) as hardworking, reserved Rebecca. Every main character, from the Abby to Andra, is so wonderfully drawn, with flaws that actually feel genuine, to the point where the characters balance each other out, as opposed to Greenberg, in which the entire film was too focused on its protagonist. As a slice-of-life/intersection-of-lives story, it's also devoid of lagging moments, and ends strongly when at times you wonder if it can have a satisfying ending at all. Where other slice-of-life films often get too caught up in trying to create an atmosphere that doesn't fully materialize, Please Give is smart enough to focus wholly on its characters. The result is a strongly acted, well-paced look at the way people interact when put under a microscope, and what it really means to give, both physically and emotionally.

Grade: B+