The Watercooler: Brothers Smothers
I think analysts are overreacting a tad to The Blind Side coming in #1 at the box office. The fact is it only took in $20 million. Very good for a movie no one was expecting anything from, especially in its third weekend of release, but it’s more significant none of the other new wide releases this weekend (Brothers, Armored, Everybody’s Fine and Transymania) managed to make a mark of any kind.
In limited release, Disney’s The Princess and the Frog cleaned up at its two locations in NY and LA. The inflated $50 ticket price rocketed its average to $372,000 per theater. Meanwhile, with regular ticket prices, George Clooney’s Up in the Air managed a terrific $79,000 per theater from 15 houses.
Aside from Up in the Air (reviewed here), none of the new releases this weekend showed much promise, but I decided to see Brothers anyway. Jim Sheridan (My Left Foot, The Boxer) is normally reliable and the cast of Natalie Portman, Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal was promising. Unfortunately, the trailers were pretty crappy.
In the end, it turns out Brothers is much much better than the trailers suggested, but it’s still a pretty unremarkable drama in every other way. It’s fine. Not bad. Not great. Credible performances all around. Adds nothing to Susanne Bier’s original film.
On DVD, I finally caught up with Food, Inc. The biggest knock I’ve heard against this look at the US food industry is that it doesn’t really offer much new information. Maybe I’m just ignorant but there were a number of excellent points made I hadn’t considered before, plus it’s all stuff that bears repeating. It also has a bigger impact when all the dots are connected and all the threads are tied together.
Last and least, I took another crack at critical darling Silent Light thinking maybe I’d just missed something about it the first time around.
Nope. Still crap. It has a certain hypnotic beauty, but the spiritual crisis of a Mennonite farmer living in Mexico fails to move me and the whole thing comes off like second rate Dreyer.
That’s all from me. How about you?
Filed under: Watercooler
I had gigs this week so I didn’t get to the movie theater. However, I did take advantage of TCM once again and caught Random Harvest, which I’d never seen before. Really good movie. I like Ronald Colman a lot. After that they played Talk of the Town, which is amusing enough and the stars are charming, but not a great movie by any means.
Tonight I caught All of Me again for the first time in years. I forgot just how damn funny Steve Martin was in that movie. And I also forgot that Jason Bernard was in it – I don’t know if people remember him, but he was a wonderful character actor who wasn’t very old when he died. He played Steve Martin’s blind musician friend in this.
Hope the gigs went really well Alison.
I saw a sort of diverse bunch of films, mostly on DVD. Barton Fink (revisited); Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist; The Other Boleyn Girl; 4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days; Food, Inc.; and The Blind Side.
I’d forgotten so much of Barton Fink it was like discovering it again for the first time. Great stuff. I got even more out of it this time. What a great film about writing. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
I thought Nick & Norah’s had a charming freshness and interesting lead characters. I also liked the matter-of-factly gay friends, who were just a lot of fun. The ex-girlfriend was the weak link. Great soundtrack though.
the Boleyn film was pretty forgettable. Pretty to look at, if unimaginatively shot. The biggest problem was not I think the script or the direction, but the casting. On paper, Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman and Eric Bana seem great, but Natalie in particular seemed miscast as Anne. Not that she was bad. She was fine. She just wasn’t right. The others, too. Kristin Scott Thomas did a good job with a tiny role as their mother.
I’d put off watching 4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days until I was in the right mood and frame of mind. When you’re in the mood for a Romanian abortion film it’s good to go ahead and watch it. So I did. It was hard for me to watch, but excellent. A lot of emotional truth in that film.
Oddly, perhaps, I was much more affected by of all things Food, Inc. I’d heard some of the information before, but like Craig said, it’s more potent when it’s all dished onto the same documentary plate. It built case after case after case, and by the time the film presented its final, summary call to action, my anger and feeling of personal empowerment and hope brought me to this emotional crescendo. By the credits, I was literally sobbing. Yeah, it was weird, I think. But these are issues that were once very important to me, and had a deeper personal meaning for me than I think they would for just anyone. Still, I hope lots of people see it and think about it and start changing a few small choices. Ok, damn it all I’m getting weirdly emotional again. Sorry.
Finally, I went to the theater tonight and saw The Blind Side. It was better than I expected, much less heart-string pulling than most of those based-on-a-true-story sports movies are. It was by the numbers, sure, for the most part. But Bullock was good and her unsentimental character grounds the film. I think it also helped that her character is someone I might rush to snap judgments about if I met them on the street–filthy rich ex-cheerleader interior decorator Republican who still works her sex appeal. I make snap judgments about that sort of person all the time. Maybe it’s whitewashed for the movies, but the family life they present in the film, the way people actually seemed to like each other and enjoy being around each other, that was refreshing to see. The movie wasn’t outstanding, but it was solid, and for what it was, very well-written (it veers off a few times, but recovers). I don’t know that it deserves to be in the top 10 films of the year, but if the Oscars are supposed to be representational of all films (I realize they’re not, really), there’s an argument to be made for its inclusion. It isn’t the worst film I’ve seen all year by a long shot, and I don’t think it’s the most overrated, either. I’m not embarrassed to have liked it. Though I didn’t fall hard for it, I can understand why others would.
The two biggest “events” for me this week were the Wednesday evening opera (Janacek’s From the House of the Dead, -based on Dostoyevsky-directed by film and opera luminary Patrice Chereau) at the Met (reviewed on Friday here at WitD) which was a shattering experience, and a magnificent Saturday night showing of Chaplin’s masterpiece, Modern Times, with Lucille and all the kids at the Loews Jersey City movie palace and their gigantic screen and werlitzer organ, which navigated a pre-film Christmas carol session with the movie patrons, many of whom -surprisingly – were teenagers. When my own kids admitted to me that they liked Modern Times, it really warmed my heart, as this, City Lights and The Gold Rush are three of my favorite films of all-time, as is the case with many other film fans. As a number of you will remember our pal Dave Hicks chose the film as his best of 1936 in his completed annual countdown at GoodFellas, and he penned a fabulous essay here: http://goodfellamovies.blogspot.com/2009/06/1936-modern-times-charles-chaplin.html
I saw three new releases in the theatres:
Up in the Air (Reitman) ** Friday night; Union Square Cinemas
Brothers (Sheridan) *** 1/2 Saturday afternoon; Edgewater multiplex
Everybody’s Fine (Jones) **** Sunday afternoon; Edgewater multiplex
UP IN THE AIR is the is the year’s biggest bust, a classic example of a film that is grossly overrated, and seemingly is headed for the Best Picture Oscar, in a decision that will mark it as the worst choice in Academy history. This is a smug, emotionally distancing film that attempts to impart some existential substance on what is a slender and tedious premise, and George Clooney plays George Clooney is a situation that putters out after a half hour, and never segues into that level of melancholy which would give this romantic comedy any level of real significance. It’s passable at best, but the recognition it is receiving is kind of appalling. I see a late post here that the D.C. critics have jumped on the bandwagon, which is saddening, my opinion is only one of millions, even though I must voice it.
BROTHERS, a Jim Sheridan re-make of Suzanne Blier’s superior film from a few years back, is a decent enough effort, a bit better than I expected, though it doesn’t have any resonance beyond it’s narrow focus. Still, it grips on the strength of it’s performances, and competant direction, even if those flashback sequences are rather predictable. It’s worth a look.
EVERYBODY’S FINE. The weekend’s best film is the one that was almost guaranteed to be the worst one. The trailers were abysmal and appeared to make the film look trite and formulaic in the worst sense, yet Kirk Jones has surprisingly fashioned a nuanced, probing and truthful look at a dysfunctional family, that has been compared to ABOUT SCHMIDT, but also with some distant kinship to Ozu’s TOKYO STORY, but with a dash of lies and secrets. As Bob Clark reminded me online today, it’s based on a 1990 Tornatore film I didn’t see, but it’s Robert DeNiro’s unexpected subtlety in a role that could have inspired saccharine overload, that really fueled this deeply-affected dramedy, that is rather a trap for snobs. This film had particular emotional resonance for me in my personal life as of late, as one sub-plot involved a situation I am most familiar with, and continue to mourn.
Sam, it must be a joy to see your children embracing your love of cinema.
The 1990 Tornatore film is well worth catching, and offers a lovely late career performance by Mastroianni.
Jen, you and Craig have me eager to check Food, Inc. out.
Thanks very much sartre. When they laughed their heads off at the famous scene involving the food testing machine and the dance segment late in the film with the roast chicken, it was indeed a special pleasure. They even asked to look at the DVD of it again tonight.
I must check out that Tornatore ASAP! I am with Craig and Jenny on FOOD INC.
And Craig, I must agree with you on SILENT NIGHT. It’s preposterous to recall Dreyer there. I liked the film less on re-viewing.
Thanks very much sartre. When they laughed their heads off at the famous scene involving the food testing machine and the dance segment late in the film with the roast chicken, it was indeed a special pleasure. They even asked to look at the DVD of it again tonight.
I must check out that Tornatore ASAP! I am with Craig and Jenny on FOOD INC.
And Craig, I must agree with you on SILENT NIGHT. It’s preposterous to recall Dreyer there. I liked the film less on re-viewing.
Thanks very much sartre. When they laughed their heads off at the famous scene involving the food testing machine and the dance segment late in the film with the roast chicken, it was indeed a special pleasure. They even asked to look at the DVD of it again tonight.
I must check out that Tornatore ASAP! I am with Craig and Jenny on FOOD INC.
And Craig, I must agree with you on SILENT NIGHT. It’s preposterous to recall Dreyer there. I liked the film less on re-viewing.
Sam, you could knock me over with a feather after that review of Everybody’s Fine. I’ve seen the trailer multiple times and all I took away was saccharine, so I am shocked.
I’m equally surprised by the affection shown a second week in a row to The Blind Side (tempered though it may be). Craig and JB must be on to something.
I guess maybe the mainstream fare can surprise you sometimes. Sadly that did not happen for me Friday night when I reluctantly kicked off my weekend with the worst film I’ve seen this year, Terminator Salvation. I didn’t care much for Star Trek, but even that film at least gave its cast something to do. I hated Wolverine, but at least that film had a pretense of some originality. TS was absolutely abysmal.
Then I watched The 25th Hour (again) and I must say I really like this film quite a bit. Powerfully acted, smart direction, and a strong script.
Today I saw The Messenger and The Maid. The Messenger is a fairly strong film but I found various nuances of the screenplay and characterizations to be contrived. I liked it with reservations. I was taken with The Maid even though I spent most of its running time frustrated by the lead character. I feel like the film may have played some sort of trick on me, setting me up only to wrap me around its finger, but ultimately I enjoyed where it ended up. I’m conflicted by it and I’m not sure the resolution completely worked, but then maybe it did.
I’d also like to add that I liked Food Inc quite a bit but I’ve grown weary of advocacy docs in the last year and so I’ve cheered the smaller, more personal fare in competition against Food Inc for any number of awards. There is surely some good info in this film and it’s well presented, but I wasn’t deeply moved by it.
Joel: Believe me I am more shocked than you! I saw that trailer maybe a dozen times over the last two months and every time I tuned to Lucille and said “Boy what garbage that one is.” The promotion for the film was absolutely terrible, and few could have wanted to see it after getting a dose of that dreck. I went in there wanting to hate the film for all sorts of reasons, and the reviews I saw before th efilm were mostly bad, although I did note the NY newspaper critics surprised me with good notices. But even Ebert dismissed it. As I mentioned on the other thread, Ms. Zacharek was among the supporters, which is nice to know, but in the end I went by my emotional response which was genuine. Mr. Jones and Mr. DeNiro chose to pull back and the results were impressive. It’s no masterpiece, but far better than could be rightfully expected.
I agree with you on THE MAID! A probing study of class and family ties. Some funny moments too like the scene where the ‘helper’ was locked out and was ready to kill.
I haven’t seen THE MESSENGER yet.
I’m relieved to hear TERMINATOR has nabbed that top ‘worst’ spot!
Just the one thank you suffices, Sam :-)
I find the SILENT LIGHT reactions funny here because I figured I’d be the sole detractor, when I actually really liked it (caught it last night). Yeah, it’s sometimes austere to the point of being ridiculous, but there are a number of powerful moments (particularly the wife crying by the road side). It’s not Dreyer, but most isn’t.
Joel, I would not predict The Blind Side as a film you would embrace. I will say that it was much less of a “sports movie” with all the associated tropes and beats and more of a basic story of acting out of love and trust in the goodwill of man. It’s definitely not for everyone. I’m thinking I’d give it 3 1/2 stars. I wouldn’t quibble with anyone who gave it three stars or four. It’s not art, but it’s well above the Lifetime Original Movie status some people want to give it. As for its Best Picture chances, I’d be a lot more confident of those if this were the 1980s.
I will say that the other reason the film works is because of the performance of Quinton Aaron as the gentle giant. It’s a very subtle, winning performance utterly free of hamminess. It’s about as far from Cuba Gooding Jr.’s Radio as you can get.
Also, I know what you mean about advocacy docs. It’s important they don’t drown out those with more narrative true stories. There’s a place for them all. I’ve seen very few new docs this year, though, and of the 15 on Oscar’s shortlist, this is the first I’ve managed to catch.
I like 25th hour a lot, too. Strong writing by Benioff and acting by Norton.
Sam, I could have sworn you were mighty underwhelmed by Food, Inc., but maybe that was someone else. Great that your family took to the Chaplin so well–then again, how could they not?
I’m holding off on seeing Brothers until I’ve seen Susanne Bier’s original. Bier is becoming one of my favorite directors, and this is her most acclaimed film, so it’s sort of shocking I haven’t seen Brødre yet.
Allison, I haven’t seen All of Me in years, either! I remember it as good silly fun.
I’m definitely not running out to The Blind Side or even Everybody’s Fine, Jennybee, but I appreciate the fact that maybe both of these are more than the sum of my cyncisim towards them merits. I liked Craig’s summation that The Blind Side was a good movie to take your Mother to and not feel bad about it. Again, better than average (or poor) mainstream films are nothing to sneeze at.
Jenny, I gave FOOD INC. 3 1/2 stars of 5, which is a reasonably good rating. I had some issues as I recall, but for the most part I thought it was an effective piece.
Alison, my mom was a HUGE fan of Random Harvest and Ronald Coleman…for what it’s worth.
JB, I’m glad you got that Barton Fink Feeling. It’s a personal favorite, though not necessarily the first movie that comes to mind when I’m in the mood to watch the Coens.
I’m with you on Nick & Norah too. Not a lot of fans of that movie around here, but I was charmed by the two leads.
Also glad to have another half-fan of Blind Side. I’m with Armond White: It was better than Precious.
Sam, your hyperbole regarding Up in the Air continues to amuse me. You make it sound like it ran over your dog. Not to take anything away from your genuine feelings about it, I can’t help but think part of it is a reaction to the Oscar hype. I guess I can understand being underwhelmed, but your vitriol feels out of place.
On the bright side, you’ve got me thinking I should’ve seen the De Niro film instead of the Sheridan. I find it hard to believe it’s worth the trouble, but maybe I’ll give it a shot.
Joel…yeah…no, don’t let me or JB convince you to see Blind Side. Unless your mom or a significant other really want to see it, OR you’re a massive Sandra Bullock fan, it’s definitely skippable. That it’s a better than average (if patronizing) example of its is small consolation unless you can leave your cynicism in the parking lot.
Not at all surprised by your reaction to Terminator Salvation. It’s not the worst movie I’ve seen this year, but it’s easily the most disappointing. I had modest hopes and they were dashed.
Chuck, I’ll give you there were a number of powerful moments and there was a hypnotic beauty to it, but in the end it felt completely empty. Since so much time was spent with the husband, I couldn’t look beyond his perspective and I hated him. With a few exceptions, stories of people in a spiritual bind leave me cold.
Craig, despite my general good-will and desire to have everyone get along, when it comes to assessing art of any kind, I tend to be brutally blunt. If I genuinely do not like a film, I will not hedge if I see many like it. I will call it the way I see it. The hyperbole argument has some validity, but it in no way mitigates my disdain for this film. But I will review what you say there, and see if I was a bit much with the spewing of vitrol, which was not my intent. But I really hope you will give the Sheridan a shot. I expected the worst and was pleasantly surprised.
I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree about the film. You’re going to have a miserable awards season though if it plays out like I expect and the way it’s already started.
Just know that I feel your pain.
You’re confusing the Sheridan film with the De Niro. I was unmoved by Brothers. Good performances amounting to very little. I will check out Everybody’s Fine though.
Yes, by putting myself on the outside looking in I agree it won’t be pleasant. I agree that it’s clearly going to be an UitA bonanza.
Alison, it seems that you and I are big fans of TCM!
True, Pierre. It’s a worthwhile cause. :-)
The remake of “Brothers” did add to the original. The performances were stellar. And just the slight change in plot gave the film huge relevance to an American audience. For these reasons, the movie will most likely be a huge oscar contender.