At Any Price - 2 smiles

L to R: Zac Efron, Maika Monroe, Heather Graham, Kim
Dickens, Denis Quaid, Ramin Bahrani.

During a Q & A after a Tribeca screening of “At Any Price,” writer-director Ramin Bahrani explained that he wanted to do a movie about the relationship between fathers and sons. And there’s much to admire with its more realistic depiction of the modern agricultural industry full of pressure and stress. And Dennis Quaid’s portrayal of the unlikable, glad-handing Henry Whipple is effective as is Zac Efron’s as Henry’s brooding younger son, Dean. However, the female characters are given short shrift, especially Maika Monroe, who plays Dean’s girlfriend and provides the narrative with its moral center. But the biggest flaw with “At Any Price” is a third-act tonal shift with an event that occurs without substantial consequences for the main characters.

Iowa farmer Henry Whipple (Quaid) is a second-generation corn farmer with a huckster side job of selling genetically altered seeds for Liberty (stand-in for Monsanto, a company many people would like to see stripped of its monopolizing ownership of patented seeds). Henry’s dream of passing the family farm down to his oldest son Grant is tempered by the distance Grant keeps from the family; he’s off climbing a mountain in Argentina. So Henry turns his attentions to Dean (Efron), an amateur stock-car driver with NASCAR ambitions. Dean spends his time with his girlfriend Cadence (Monroe) and stealing from an auto supply store for parts for his car. Henry, ethically challenged from the start as he cheats on his wife (Kim Dickens) and buys up land from bereaved families for pennies-on-the-dollar, is not a satisfying protagonist. All in all, “At Any Price” is too much melodrama and not enough dramatic depth. 4/19/13

42 - 4 smiles

If you’re a baseball fan like me, seeing “42” is a must. If you’re a Dodger fan, seeing “42” will inform and delight. If you believe in the equality of man and the nobility of someone like Jackie Robinson, who endured all the vitriol and hatred that society could hurl at him, “42” will reinforce what a hero Robinson was and still is. Robinson, backed by Brooklyn Dodgers chief Branch Rickey, single-handedly broke the color barrier years before Jim Crow laws were abolished and schools followed suit.  Writer-director Brian Helgeland brings to the screen a concentrated story almost exclusively devoted to Robinson’s first season in the majors. And he doesn’t pull any punches in depicting the ugly racism that Robinson faced on a daily basis, from some of his team members, who drafted a petition saying that they wouldn’t play with him, to the Phillies manager who unleashes a stream of vile racist epithets that go far beyond the N-word. It’s a hard scene to watch. More importantly, at it’s core, “42” is a love story between Jack and his wife Rachel and we get glimpses of the depth of their love and how it balanced Jackie when things got too tough on the ball field.

The relatively little-known and charismatic Chadwick Boseman has a star-making turn as Robinson as does Nicole Beharie as Rachel Robinson. Boseman is perfectly teamed with a nearly unrecognizable Harrison Ford, terrific in his first character role as gruff Brooklyn Dodgers General Manager Branch Rickey. (Ford certainly deserves to be remembered come Academy Award nomination time.) Andre Holland brings ballast to the role of Wendall Smith, the savvy black sportswriter and future legend himself, whom Rickey hires to chronicle Robinson’s arrival to ‘the show.’ Lucas Black gives a satisfying turn as shortstop Pee Wee Reese and Alan Tudyk is chilling as Philadelphia’s foul-mouthed manager Ben Chapman. “42” is more than just a baseball movie. It’s a compelling and uplifting story that captures a pivotal moment in American history through the lens of our national pastime. 4/12/13

The Company You Keep - 2 smiles

“The Company You Keep,” directed by and starring Robert Redford, would be a better movie if there weren’t so many instances that strain credibility. To start, at 76, Redford is at least a decade too old to play a former 1970s radical on the run from the FBI. And the daughter of a retired police chief (Brendan Gleeson), who investigated the original robbery, is much too young. And far from being a dedicated seeker of truth and justice, Shia LeBeouf’s reporter is a smug, arrogant manipulator who exploits his acquaintances to gain privileged information. He’s supposed to represent a bright young journalist, but LeBeouf plays him as an obnoxious unscrupulous troublemaker out for personal glory. Could that be a problem with direction or is that Redford’s opinion about journalists today? And the ending makes no sense given what’s transpired before it.

A former member of the Weather Underground wanted for a Michigan bank robbery, Redford’s Nick Sloan has for decades quietly lived under an assumed name and practiced law in upstate New York. Things start to unravel when a former comrade (Susan Sarandon) is arrested while en route to surrender for the bank robbery, which resulted in a guard’s death. Nick’s cover is blown by a young Albany reporter, Ben Shepard (LeBeouf), who pieces things together while repeatedly engaging in unethical and illogical behavior, including ignoring orders from his boss (Stanley Tucci) and flirting with an FBI agent (an underused Anna Kendrick), who eventually gets removed from the case. Nick constantly eludes an FBI dragnet (how believable is that?) supervised by Agent Cornellius (Terrence Howard), with the help of former radicals played by Nick Nolte and Richard Jenkens (excellent as always). Nick’s goal is to rendezvous with a former girlfriend (Julie Christie), who can testify that he was not part of the robbery. “The Company You Keep” has a stellar cast that give top-notch performances. Too bad the script has so many holes. 4/5/13

Renoir - 1 1/2 smiles

If you’re going to see “Renoir,” go for Mark Ping Bing Lee’s beautiful cinematography, which is like looking at a Renoir painting. Do not go for the story, which moves at a snail’s pace. Director Gilles Bourdos splits screen time between painter Pierre-Auguste (Michel Bouquet), already a legend at age 74 and his middle son Jean (Vincent Rottiers), who was then 21 and hadn’t yet launched his own career as one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. And the story focuses on their relationship with a young woman named Andree Heuschling (Christa Theret), who served as one of Auguste’s models and wound up marrying Jean.

Although Renoir’s paintings are extraordinary works of beauty, a film is not a painting. A movie requires more than two dimensions. And there’s little life in “Renoir.” There are rich summer blossoms, milky smooth shoulders, pink rosebud lips and a strong performance by Michel Bouquet. But that’s not enough. There’s little spark throughout the almost two hour running time. Theret, who is supposed to be playing the muse to two great artists, never seems more than a pretty face. And Rottiers just seems young. Subtitles. 4/4/13

The Host - 1 1/2 smiles

“The Host,” a silly teen romance with a sci-fi setting, is based on a novel by Twilight author Stephenie Meyer. Saoirse Ronan, who is better than the material she’s given, plays a character of two minds. Literally. One belongs to teenage Melanie. The other is that of a 1,000-year-old alien known as Wanderer (nicknamed Wanda) who has taken over Melanie’s body. When Melanie is captured and her body is surgically inserted with Wanda’s luminous, many-tentacled ‘soul,’ Melanie’s powerful determination to reunite with her brother, Jamie (Chandler Canterbury) and boyfriend, Jared (Max Irons), prevents her from relinquishing control of her mind to Wanda. Melanie convinces Wanda to escape and they end up in Melanie’s Uncle Jeb’s (William Hurt) community. Later, Wanda falls for Ian (Jake Abel). Sort of like the triangle Meyer set up in Twilight, isn’t it? Been there, seen that.

Neither the romance nor the fantasy keeps the story from becoming tedious. Director Andrew Niccol, who adapted Meyer’s novel, pulls off some visual magic with the design of Jeb’s caves, but the aliens still use desktop computers. Wouldn’t you think that they could communicate using just their minds?  With a running time just over 2 hours, “The Host” is ridiculous and a waste of time.

GI Joe: Retaliation - 1 1/2 smiles

In the 2009 first installment of the GI Joe franchise, director Stephen Sommers recognized that the plot and dialogue were often silly so he kept a light hand and the movie didn’t take itself too seriously. This time around, the sequel, “GI Joe: Retaliation,” directed by John M. Chu, is the exact opposite. Channing Tatum, who played team leader Duke in the first GI Joe and who has acquired some acting polish, should not have been dispatched in the first twenty minutes. His presence would have helped this movie a lot. Instead we have Dwayne Johnson as Roadblock, Duke’s second in command, taking over the lead role. Now, Johnson is a likable character, but even he can’t save a script that’s pretty much incoherent. It’s impossible to keep track of all of the characters, but there’s lots of non-stop action if you like non-stop action. The most creative sequence is an impressive rappelling chase through the Himalayas; the rest of the action is fairly perfunctory.

US president (Jonathan Pryce) is still a hostage (from the first film), the nefarious Cobra group is plotting something nuclear and the conflicted warrior Storm Shadow (the charismatic Byung-hun Lee) is still brooding about his childhood. Plus Cobra commander (Luke Bracey), who wears a Darth Vader-like mask, is rescued from prison and a new addition to the Joes, Lady Jaye (Adrianne Palicki), gets to show off her moves. And the original General Joe Colton (Bruce Willis) pops in and out.  Unfortunately, “GI Joe: Retaliation” substitutes noise and destruction for story and suspense, more so than most action flicks. It’s a disappointment. 3/30/13

The Place Beyond the Pines - 1 1/2 smiles

You know that most movies have a beginning, middle and end with a main character that moves through each of these narrative parts. Not so with “The Place Beyond the Pines,” which has chapter 1, chapter 2 and chapter 3.  And the character that you think is the main character, Ryan Gosling’s Luke, is not really the main character. There are three interconnected stories and everything is dramatic and everyone is doomed and it takes over two hours to get there. Director Derek Cianfrance, who is also a co-writer of the script, hammers us with a theme that’s not overly creative: You can try to redeem yourself, but the past always catches up.  

Cianfrance aims for an epic sense of Greek tragedy and the movie does have some powerful moments, moments that you’ll talk about when the movie is over. However, the characters are all so underdeveloped that it’s hard to care what happens to them. Gosling, who worked with Cianfrance in the 2010 drama Blue Valentine, is in the strongest narrative. Cooper anchors the second and Cianfrance skips ahead 15 years for part 3. Luke’s son (Dane DeHaan) and Avery’s son (a terribly miscast Emory Cohen) cross paths at high school and there’s a sense of danger whenever they’re together. “The Place Beyond the Pines” wants to be a deep meditation on fathers, sons and the consequences of the decisions they make. But its pacing is way too slow and its story too depressing and it just didn’t work for me. 3/29/13