The Company Men - 3 smiles

In “The Company Men,” we see the effects of the recession from the point of view of the people who go to work one day only to discover that their jobs have been eliminated. It’s not a pretty picture and it’s hard to sit through their agony and frustration. But thanks to writer/director John Wells and a cast that includes Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones and Chris Cooper, their story is a compelling one. The characters are not your average middle-income workers, but upper management types used to excess and privilege. Because of the talented cast, especially Affleck who is particularly good, there’s humanity and universality to their situations.

Bobby Walker (Affleck) lives the good life, working for GTX, a conglomerate whose original business was shipbuilding. Bobby has a great house, drives a Porsche and is a member of the local golf club. As a result of downsizing, he suddenly finds himself unemployed along with Phil Woodward (Cooper), who rose from being a welder to the executive ranks and Gene McClary (Jones), the No. 2 man who helped found the company and is not happy with the direction the company has taken. The story follows the three as they try to create new lives for themselves, Bobby in particular, who quickly learns that he and his family are living beyond their means. Although he once scoffed at an offer for work from Jack (Kevin Costner), his brother-in-law, a general contractor, he finds that’s the only work available. Phil has the hardest time adjusting. He’s near 60 and not likely to find another job whereas Gene hangs on at GTX the longest and has the most comfortable nest egg. It’s pretty predictable that losing material wealth will make Bobby a better person, as husband and as father. Afflick is superb. “The Company Men” is worth seeing even if it’s hard to watch in a lot of places. 1/21/11

The Way Back - 3 smiles

“The Way Back,” directed by Peter Weir, does a superb job of putting us in the footsteps of men walking thousands of miles to freedom. Because Weir is more interested in the physical challenges than the mental or emotional ones, we learn little of the main characters other than they are so driven by a desire for freedom that they’re willing to go to great extremes to attain it. His strong cast includes Ed Harris, Jim Sturgess, Colin Farrell and Saoirse Ronan. And we feel every frozen (and later burning) footstep across ice, snow and sand that traces a route from Siberia through the Gobi Desert and the Himalayas to finally India. The source novel is the 1956 bestseller The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz, which was originally published as a memoir but later discredited.

The movie opens with Janusz (Sturgess) being betrayed by his terrified wife, whose own freedom requires that she claim her husband is a spy. Janusz is shipped to Siberia where he joins a veritable United Nations of prisoners and is warned by the guards that the real prison is not the fences, guards and dogs, but the weather. But Janusz believes if he can get to the Mongolian border, he’ll be free. He’s joined by a tattooed Russian who’s gambler and criminal (Farrell), an American prisoner (Harris) and several others. Along the way they’re joined by a young girl (Ronan), who manages to cajole biographical details from her non-communicative traveling companions. The scenes of brute survival, scrounging for food, improvising shelter, making snow masks out of sheets of birch bark, are vivid. Unfortunately, the men are not. Since Weir was aware of the questionable validity of his source material, I find it curious that “The Way Back” still claims to be based on true events. 1/20/11

Barney's Version - 3 smiles

“Barney’s Version” is about the everyday politics of marriage and the film version of Mordecai Richler’s 1997 novel acknowledges the mess of it all. Paul Giamatti (who won a Golden Globe for his work here) is the right man to play Barney, short-tempered and penitent, sarcastic and vicious by turns. He fearlessly dives into Barney’s character although we don’t always understand what makes Barney tick. The problem with adapting a book to film is that the book gets into the head of a complicated man while the film merely observes him. Dustin Hoffman has some choice scenes as Barney’s father, Izzy, a retired Montreal cop with an eye for the ladies. Rosamund Pike shines as the third Mrs. Panofsky, a warm personality that contrasts with the over-the-top caricatures provided by Minnie Driver, as the second, and Rochelle Lefevre, as the suicidal first.

Directed by Richard J. Lewis from a script by Michael Konyves, Barney is one of the big wheels of Montreal television, the producer of a long-running soap opera. He’s devoted to alcohol, cigars and hockey and a believer in a soul mate. The film tells his marital resume via flashbacks, beginning with Barney as a young man in 1974 hanging out in Rome with his friends, then in and out of his first marriage. When he returns to Montreal, he meets the love of his life (Pike) at his wedding to the second (Driver). After spending over two hours with Barney, we never get a clear picture of him and as a result, there’s a total lack of an emotional impact by the end of the film. 1/17/11

I Love You Phillip Morris - 2 1/2 smiles

“I Love You Phillip Morris” is another movie based on real people and in this instance, truth really is stranger than fiction. Jim Carrey plays Steven Russell, a man now serving a 144-year sentence in a Texas prison and it’s easily Carrey’s best role in a long time. However, Ewan McGregor’s Phillip Morris is too low-key. His earnestness doesn’t match well with Carrey’s almost manic energy and there’s very little chemistry between them. Based on the nonfiction book of the same name by former Houston Press reporter Steve McVicker, Russell was a fascinating character and Glenn Ficarra and John Requa’s script and direction tackle Russell’s life with a light hand, perhaps too light. By converting his narrative into one joke after another, they reduce Russell to silliness and all of this good will becomes tiresome after a while. It is humorous to see Russell waltz out of prison not once as a doctor, but a second time wearing women’s clothes and mistaken for a vice officer, but is it that funny to be shown how to fake your own death from AIDS? And Russell is such a skillful con artist that he also deceives Phillip, who believes Russell’s promise to live happily ever after.

The movie opens with Steven Russell (Carrey) apparently on his deathbed. The story is then told via flashbacks, with Steven providing a tongue-in-cheek voiceover narrative. His early adult life is spent as the perfect husband to Debbie (Leslie Mann), devout Christian and small-town cop. A car accident causes Russell to re-evaluate his life and make changes. He admits to being gay, leaves Debbie and takes up the ‘gay lifestyle,’ which, he soon discovers, takes a lot of money. To obtain the necessary funds, Russell becomes a con man. Eventually, he’s caught and sent to prison where he meets Phillip Morris (McGregor), who becomes the love of his life. Once out of prison, however, Russell can’t resist the allure of easy money and resorts to his old ways with his schemes becoming more audacious and lucrative. Ficarra and Requa want us to believe that Russell is an enigma, knowledgeable and wise and they want us to care about Russell’s love affair with Phillip, but the end result is Russell is a jerk and their relationship feels artificial. 1/14/11

According to Entertainment Weekly, the 25 Movies You Need to See Before Oscar Night

Start at the top of this list and work your way down. How many have you seen??

The Social Network (on DVD)

The King’s Speech on DVD)

The Fighter

Toy Story 3 (on DVD)

True Grit

Black Swan

The Kids Are All Right (on DVD)

127 Hours

Winter’s Bone (on DVD)

The Town (on DVD)

Rabbit Hole (goes wide Jan. 14)

Another Year

Get Low (on DVD Feb. 22)

How to Train Your Dragon (on DVD)

Blue Valentine

Biutiful (goes wide Jan. 28)

Animal Kingdom (DVD on Jan. 18)

Waiting for ‘Superman’ (on DVD in Feb.)

Alice in Wonderland (on DVD)

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (on DVD)

Inside Job (goes wide Jan. 28)

The Illusionist (goes wide Feb. 4)

Tangled

Burlesque

All Good Things - 2 smiles

When you see a movie based on a true story, you expect some analysis of motives, especially when the story involves crime. In the case of “All Good Things,” starring Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst, all you’re left with at the end is questions. Was Robert Durst, responsible for his wife’s 1980s disappearance? If so, why did he kill her? Years later, did he really move to Texas and live as a mute woman? Did he manipulate the murder of his old friend Susan Berman, who was killed in 2000 within days of agreeing to an interview about the disappearance? The only crime Durst has been convicted of and done time for is improper disposal of a corpse. You see, Durst (as a female impersonator) developed a friendship with a man and convinced a jury that he killed this man in self-defense.

Director Andrew Jarecki fictionalizes Durst as David Marks (Gosling) and tells his very twisted tale. Unfortunately, Jarecki never delves into why. He hints at the trauma Marks experienced as a child when he witnessed his mother’s suicide. So yes, he’s troubled. But does that explain everything he does as an adult? And sometimes Jarecki goes for melodrama, sometimes suspense, sometimes shock, but he never sustains any of these, leaving his cast’s efforts (and all are very capable), to struggle in an uneven, often flat, context. “All Good Things” would have made a better documentary because as a fictionalized account, it’s unsatisfying. 1/13/11

The Green Hornet - 1 1/2 smiles

The only memorable aspects of “The Green Hornet” are sidekick Kato, Taiwan pop star Jay Chou, and the Black Beauty, a pimped-out 1966 Chrysler Imperial, which is very cool. It’s certainly not Michel Gondry’s directing, Seth Rogan’s script (he co-wrote) or Seth Rogan’s acting and it’s absolutely not the 3D version. Gondry, who directed the quirky “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” doesn’t seem to know what to do with the script. His action sequences have a been-there-seen-that feel and his characters are underdeveloped. Rogan, especially, is miscast; he portrays another man-child and that character doesn’t work in this movie. Nor is everything he says or does funny.

Christoph Waltz, who won an Oscar for his chilling performance as Nazi Col. Hans Landa in Inglorious Basterds, is stuck in the role of Chudnofsky, an insecure bad guy who worries about his attire and whether he’s scary enough. He’s too silly to be an effective villain, but you have to wonder why Waltz chose this role as a follow-up to Landa. Chou is the only person who works, despite being English-challenged. On screen, he comes across as intelligent, competent and cool. Too bad we can’t say the same for “The Green Hornet.” 1/16/11

Season of the Witch - 1 1/2 smiles

Even as a Nicholas Cage fan, I found “Season of the Witch” oddly uninvolving. Cage is subdued, not his usual hammy self. All of the characters are underdeveloped and there’s little suspense. Cage is Behman, a disillusioned 14^th-century knight who, along with his friend and fellow warrior Felson (Ron Perlman), has abandoned the Crusades after 10 years of warfare and slaughter. On their way back to their homeland, they are pressed into a mission by a dying cardinal (Christopher Lee, almost unrecognizable under some nasty makeup). The Black Death has ravaged the land and the masses believe it’s the result of witchcraft. Behman and Felson are to transport the accused witch, Anna (Claire Foy), to a remote monastery for trial. Behman sees this as an opportunity for redemption as he promises to protect the young girl. He and Felson are accompanied by a ragtag bunch of heroes.

Although the plot sounds good on paper, neither the story nor the characters come fully to life. We don’t get to know the heroes very well before they start dying off. And Cage seems to be mailing in his performance although some of his dialogue with Perlman adds much needed energy. Also the early scenes of the Crusades battles are so uniformly bad that they’re unconvincing. The problems with “Season of the Witch” lie with director Dominic Sena, who doesn’t seem to know if this is supposed to be a buddy road movie, an exciting medieval adventure or a thoughtful meditation on faith. Ultimately, it isn’t any of these. 1/10/11

Another Year - 3 1/2 smiles

The love and companionship that Gerri and her husband share is in stark contrast to Mary’s loneliness and desperation. With “Another Year,” writer/director Mike Leigh has crafted a meticulous portrait of ordinary people living ordinary lives yet the result is quite profound and moving. Leigh has a particular filmmaking style: he rehearses for many weeks with his cast to develop their characters, improvise and tweak the script. The finished product results in the characters feeling like real people dealing with life’s problems. And by dividing the film into four seasons, Leigh creates a cyclical metaphor for life.

Jim Broadbent is masterful as Tom, the good-natured geologist happily married to kindly therapist Gerri, played by Ruth Sheen in a low-key, multifaceted performance. They are more tolerant of their self-absorbed, needy friend Mary (a virtuoso performance by Lesley Manville) that most would be. Mary comes over for meals, always late, chattering and monopolizing the conversation and eventually becomes drunk. Leigh’s script and Manville’s performance make her a sympathetic character although it’s easy to see that Mary is Mary’s worst enemy. Ultimately, we envy Tom and Gerri’s ability to approach life with tranquil acceptance and equilibrium. 1/9/11

Country Strong - 2 smiles

I was expecting more than “Country Strong” could deliver. This problem is due more to the disjointed script than anything else. And after such movies as last year’s Crazy Heart and others of that genre, such as Walk the Line and Coal Miners Daughter, you just don’t expect such a downer of an ending, especially with the title ‘Country Strong.’ You expect Gwyneth Paltrow’s Kelly Canter to be the main character and the movie does focus on her. Unfortunately, she’s not the one who’s ‘country strong.’ That happens to be Beau (Garrett Hedlund), the young man Kelly meets in rehab and who goes on tour with her. Did I mention that this movie suffers from a script that lacks coherence?

Gwyneth Paltrow is fairly effective in that she can sing, look depressed and cry, which is pretty much all writer/director Shana Feste wants her to do. She has a few convincing moments, especially when she’s interacting with a young cancer patient, but she’s never totally convincing. Garrett Hedlund proves he can sing and is more engaging than he was in “Tron: Legacy.” And it’s ironic that the only member of the cast who is a singing legend, Tim McGraw, doesn’t sing. “Country Strong” would have been a better movie if Feste had made Kelly Canter a survivor. 1/9/11

Somewhere - 1 1/2 smiles

Obviously, director Sophia Coppola believes, and her movie “Somewhere” is a prime example of, less is more. However, Coppola has crafted a movie that’s just as shallow and meaningless as the city she criticizes. Movie star Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff) is bored to the point of numbness (and so are we by the time this movie ends). He practically sleepwalks though his days living at Los Angeles’ Marmont hotel, staring blankly into space and incessantly chain smoking. Despite his disheveled appearance, female companionship is always available although none make an impact. Johnny has good looks and charm although he rarely exhibits either and long stretches pass with minimal dialogue. What passes for a plot arrives in the form of Johnny’s 11-year old daughter, Cleo (Elle Fanning), a precocious charmer who’s learned not to depend on her absent father. Mom, for unexplained reasons, has left for an indefinite period of time, leaving Cleo with Johnny until summer camp begins. Fanning, is by far, the best thing in this movie.

The previews would have you believe that this is about a man who finds meaning in his life by reconnecting with the daughter he never really knew. For this to be true, the pair would need to have some sort of substantive conversation or conflict that results in the ‘ah ha’ moment. Instead, Johnny and Cleo pretty much exist alongside each other as they take a quickie jaunt to Italy, laze in the pool and play video games before she’s off to summer camp. So what’s with not one but two unsexy routines by a pair of twin pole dancers in Johnny’s hotel room? Unfortunately, Coppola remains focused on the empty shell at the center of her movie. She’s commenting on a meaningless Hollywood life by making a meaningless movie? That’s doesn’t make sense, does it? 1/9/11

Frankie and Alice - 1 smile

The problem with “Frankie and Alice,” starring Halle Barry, is the feeling that we’ve been there and seen that before. This is a tired drama about a case of multiple personality disorder in the tradition of The Three Faces of Eve and Sybil. Frankie is a stripper in 1970s Los Angeles whose blackouts and violent personality shifts lead her to Dr. Oz (Stellan Skarsgard), a white research psychiatrist. It’s just a matter of time before the truth will set Frankie free. It’s unfortunate that Halle Barry the producer chose an almost formulaic, cliché-ridden tale for Halle Barry the actress. And while “Frankie and Alice” is inspired by a true story, it’s too familiar and predictable. 12/17/10

The Illusionist - 1 1/2 smiles

Director Sylvain Chomet (The Triplets of Belleville) adapted an unproduced script by Jacques Tati, a French filmmaker. The title character is a genteel, elderly magician who struggles to keep audiences interested in his old-fashioned sleights of hand. The illusionist’s lonely life brightens when, while performing in a pub in a small Scottish village, he finds an appreciative audience of one in the form of Alice, a chambermaid. She follows him to Edinburgh where he sort of adopts her and they stay in a boardinghouse for worn-out circus people. The illusionist maintains his dignity while what there is of his career crumbles and he’s forced to take on menial jobs in order to buy pretty things for Alice. Meanwhile, Alice grows more attractive and confident.

The movie is almost entirely wordless and what dialogue there is comes in grunts and grumbles. And the humor must be French in sensibility because I either didn’t understand it or missed it completely. And perhaps the low-grade comedy isn’t supposed to be funny, but to establish a sense of melancholy for by-gone times. Using both hand-drawn and computer-generated animation, Chomet pallet is constrained and beautiful, which only partially compensates for a story that’s uninvolving. 1/3/11

Blue Valentine - 2 smiles

“Blue Valentine,” starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, is a bleak movie about a marriage breaking apart. If you’ve seen “Black Swan” and “Rabbit Hole” recently, then you’re probably pretty depressed and in need of a pick-me-up. See “The King’s Speech” because “Blue Valentine” isn’t going to make you feel better. In fact, director Derek Cianfrance is so obvious about the dissolution of this marriage that we want the movie to end long before it does. Where Cianfrance’s script (he’s credited as co-writer) is weak is with motivation. We want to know why Dean and Cindy fall out of love, but Cianfrance prefers to show us flashbacks about how Dean and Cindy met juxtaposed with their current dissatisfaction.

Did Cindy really love Dean in the first place? We get just a brief hint, when Cindy is at a women’s clinic, that Cindy has been searching for love. So she settles for Dean? He’s a working class guy without a high school diploma and she’s a pre-med student. Is this a match destined for longevity? Five years later, Dean is lazy, combative and an alcoholic, while Cindy is frustrated and angry that she gave up on her future. Love might be blind, but that’s not what “Blue Valentine” is about. Fortunately, the performances are solid. Gosling mixes his character’s charm with a credible anger while Williams is powerful as a woman despairing over her life. 1/3/11