Magic in the Moonlight - 2 smiles

The cinematography is radiant and the vintage cars and costumes are elegant and that’s the positive for Woody Allen’s latest, “Magic in the Moonlight.” Otherwise, this movie has a miscast Colin Firth and a fluffy script that takes a strange turn in the third act.  This mostly mirthless comedy, with a sparkless romance, begins in a Berlin cabaret, where master illusionist Stanley Crawford (Colin Firth) is doing his act, costumed as the Chinese sleight-of-hand maestro Wei Ling Soo. He saws an assistant in half and makes an elephant disappear. The year is 1928. Backstage, after Stanley has doffed his costume, an old friend and colleague (Simon McBurney) begs him to take an assignment. A dazzling American is offering psychic forecasts in the south of France. Her mystic mumbo jumbo has seduced the wealthy Catledge clan and she needs to be exposed for the fraud she surely is. After all, Stanley is ‘the greatest debunker of fake spiritualists in the world.’ He must visit the Catledges, observe the pretty Sophie Baker (Emma Stone) and expose her trickery. Of course, Stanley himself will be seduced. All Sophie has to do is scrunch her nose, flap her hands and strike a pose.

Stanley and Sophie debate whether it’s better to believe in something that can’t be proven scientifically – even if it’s a scam – than to believe in absolutely nothing. Unfortunately, these musing don’t really fit within the context of a romantic comedy. And Stone seems to have chemistry with everyone, but Firth. Add the 28-year difference between their ages and their ultimate romance just doesn’t work. At another time, the Stanley role would have been played by Allen himself (and he, too, would be miscast). Another misstep in the script, written by Allen, is converting Stanley to a believer and thereby negating his delightfully acerbic quality that characterizes his and Sophie’s early interactions. Firth’s performance is perfect when he’s playing Stanley as an arrogant ass, but less believable when his character is more humble and human. There are a few laughs in “Magic in the Moonlight,” but on the whole, it’s more of an ordeal than an enjoyable afternoon at the movies. 8/1/14

A Most Wanted Man - 3 smiles

Phillip Seymour Hoffman is the star of “A Most Wanted Man,” a movie adaptation of John le Carré’s novel, but the title doesn’t refer to him. Hoffman is Gunther Bachmann, a German spymaster, who, after a fatal screw-up in Beirut, has been demoted to his nation’s Hamburg station. There’s plenty of suspense, but as in most Le Carré stories, the action is more internal than external. As directed by Anton Corgijn, the story unfolds slowly. A bearded young Chechen, Issa Karpov (Grigoriy Dobrygin), is a suspected Islamic militant, and Bachmann needs to track who he meets, where he goes. The al-Qaeda plotters behind 9/11 worked, undetected, in Hamburg more than a decade prior to the attack and Bachmann is determined to see that no new terrorist cell operates on his watch. Bachmann’s team follows Karpov, who eventually leads them to a Turkish woman and her son and to a lawyer, Annabel Richter (Rachel McAdams), who works for a human rights group whose mission is to find safe haven for refugees. Another character Bachmann is watching is Abdullah (Homayoun Ershadi), a Muslim who professes peace and tolerance, but may be funneling some of his charity funds to terrorist groups. It is Abdullah that American ‘consultant’ Martha Sullivan (Robin Wright) is more interested in.

Unfortunately, the movie feels like a superficial update of le Carré’s cold war stories. Russians are replaced by modern-day terrorists, but the story offers no insight into a new enemy. The cat-and-mouse games, while entertaining, feel familiar. And while the supporting cast is stellar, this is Hoffman’s movie, his last major role, and he dominates as, ironically, a man who has lost his dominance. Speaking in delicate, German-tinged English and throwing his weight around, Hoffman is a pleasure to watch. “A Most Wanted Man” tells a complex story that attentive audiences might want to see a second time; the more casual viewers will likely leave the theater in mild befuddlement. 8/3/14

The Hundred-Foot Journey - 3 smiles

“The Hundred-Foot Journey,” directed by Lasse Hallstrom and based on a novel by Richard C. Morais, is a family-friendly movie, focusing more on characters and emotions than on plot. Only toward the end, when the scene shifts to Paris does the movie stumble a bit. Om Puri plays the patriarch of the Kadam family, who have left India and come to France to open a restaurant. He is accompanied by his three adult children: Mukthar (Dillon Mitra), Mahira (Farzana Dua Elahe) and would-be chef Hassan (Manish Dayal), who has great talent in the kitchen. Papa decides that the best place to start this new life is in an abandoned building near the outskirts of a town in the south of France, Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val. To him, it seems to be a great place to open ‘Maison Mumbai,’ but there’s a problem: across the street is a highly respected restaurant of Le Saule Pleureur. The proprietress of this classical French establishment, Madame Mallory (Helen Mirren), is not keen on competition. Not dissuaded, Papa presses on. Meanwhile, Hassan forms a quasi-romantic friendship with Marguerite (Charlotte Le Bon), one of Madame Mallory’s sous chefs. Soon, the two rival establishments are engages in an all-out culinary war.

Although you expect it to happen, part of the pleasure of this movie is watching Mirren’s snooty Madame Mallory thaw and grow into a warm person with a fondness for Hassan. And Manish Dayal, the handsome American-born actor who plays the gifted and curious Hassan, is a charmer.  Montages of exquisite dishes being prepared exquisitely – pigeon with truffles, tandoori chicken – will warm a foodie’s heart. Hallstrom touches on the ugly strain of racism in certain sectors of French society, but not enough to turn feel-good into feel-bad. With “The Hundred-Foot Journey,” everything goes down rather well although I can’t help but wish for a little more. 8/10/14

Alive Inside - 4 smiles

“Alive Inside” is a documentary about activist Dan Cohen’s attempts to get nursing homes to use music as part of their care regimen for those afflicted with dementia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. And it’s not just music in general but music that elicits memories of childhood, family, and friends. The movie opens with a clip of a 94-year old Henry who goes from catatonic to effusive, speaking not just sentences but entire paragraphs when he hears a Cab Calloway song. As one doctor explains, ‘Music is the back door to the mind. Henry has reacquired his identity for a while.’

There are an estimated 5 million Americans currently suffering from dementia with 10 million serving as their caregivers, with both numbers going up. It’s partially about the way music gets wired into our brains that makes it so effective. And the spontaneity of music triggers in the listeners’ emotions tied to memories. Yet regardless of the many examples we see in the film, barriers, largely economic, remain. It’s a lot easier to prescribe thousands of dollars worth of medication than buy a $40 iPod. Nonetheless, there are indications that exposure to music helps individuals delay institutionalization and remain with their families, even if the evidence is anecdotal. And on the positive side, Wisconsin has 100 nursing homes using the personalized music system. They are doing an 18-month study with 1500 residents with dementia and have approved funding for phase two and 150 additional nursing homes. Director Michael Rossato-Bennett’s “Alive Inside” makes a strong argument for music’s therapeutic value on slowly deteriorating minds and this is a movie everyone should see.  7/28/14

Lucy - 3 smiles

“Lucy,” starring Scarlett Johansson, is not  a kick-ass superhero movie, contrary to the previews. The action scenes depicted in the ads are in the movie, but the context differs. And, although Lucy develops superpowers, the most interesting thing about them is how they expand and where the journey ultimately takes her. And, since she’s terminally ill, her mission isn’t killing bad guys but finding a way to pass on the massive amounts of knowledge she has acquired. Although the movie eventually transforms into something odd, it begins in a traditional Luc Besson fashion. Lucy (Johansson) is in the wrong place at the wrong time. She is tricked by her boyfriend into delivering a locked briefcase to a gangster, Mr. Jang (Min-sik Choi), who is not sympathetic to Lucy’s predicament. After forcing her to open the briefcase, which contains a new kind of experimental drug, Mr. Jang takes Lucy prisoner, inserts a bag of the drug into her stomach, and forces her to work as his mule. However, rough treatment at the hands of one of Mr. Jang’s thugs causes the bag to break and the drug leaks into Lucy’s system. There are two consequences: her brain capacity begins to increase and she becomes terminally ill. She seeks out brain expert Prof. Norman (Morgan Freeman), who spends much of the movie in teacher mode (an attempt to understand what’s happening). Meanwhile, Mr. Jang and his men track Lucy with the goal of killing her before she becomes too powerful.

Once Lucy starts to evolve, there’s no sense that she’s in danger. Besson doesn’t take the time to make Mr. Jang very menacing because he seems more interested in Lucy’s journey. He provides no answers although the ending seems to hint at a sequel. “Lucy” is not your typical Luc Besson action-shoot-em-up. Sure, there’s plenty of action, but that’s not the focus. And although the ending is frustrating in many ways, that’s more the fault of the marketers. Think of “Lucy” as being a quirky sci-fi thriller and you’ll be more satisfied with it. 7/30/14

Get on Up - 1 1/2 smiles

See “Get on Up” for Chadwick Boseman’s magnificent performance as James Brown, not for the story, which is scattershot at best. It opens in 1988 and bounces around to 1968 and then 1939. Biopics can be boring if they’re told in strict chronological order. However, director Tate Taylor seems to have thrown pieces down the stairs and then put them together as they landed. The movie hits the same old beats – the rough childhood, the fast rise, the price of fame (just out of order). The script from writers Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth doesn’t reveal much about Brown, a complicated figure whose drug abuse, spouse abuse and legal troubles were considerable. And Taylor barely touches on issues of race and hardly ever shows us Brown’s creative process. To top it off, the film is rated PG-13 … about James Brown?

What “Get on Up” does have going for it is a rousing performance from Boseman, who last year brought Jackie Robinson to life in 42. Boseman is taller and thinner than Brown, but he slips into the role so effectively that he becomes Brown. “Get on Up” has no rhythm and very little soul. 8/1/2014

Guardians of the Galaxy - 4 smiles

“Guardians of the Galaxy,” much like Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and more recently, Galaxy Quest, is an irreverent mix of mismatched characters, heavy-handed baddies, huge battle sequences and sharp one-liners. All this movie wants to do is have fun and invites you to come along for the ride. The narrative centers on Peter Quill (aka Star Lord), played by Chris Pratt, who is handsome enough to pull off the hero thing with the comic chops to handle the humor. When Quill was a little boy on Earth, a spaceship beamed him aboard just after his mother dies.  He has with him his Sony Walkman, which provides the wonderfully out-of-time soundtrack for the movie. Twenty years later, Quill is a space scavenger. When he comes upon the magical silver orb (one that, naturally, everyone wants), he suddenly finds himself the center of a lot of attention, which comes from two scoundrels, the tree-like Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) and his partner Rocket, a machine-gun toting hyper-intelligent raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper). They are soon joined by the green-skinned Gamora (Zoe Saldana), a trained assassin send by the evil Ronan (Lee Pace), to steal the orb. When this group ends up in jail, they meet the hulking Drax (Dave Bautista), who has sworn to kill Ronan, but opts instead to kill Gamora until she explains that she was set to betray Ronan. At which point the gang begins to meld into the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Groot and Rocket Raccoon are the instant attractions, doing a type of Mutt and Jeff routine that manages to be both comical and sincere at the same time. And the CGI makes them fit easily into the story. Everyone talks to a raccoon and a tree-like humanoid, right? Pratt is the surprise, however. He plays a rather chubby character in Parks and Recreation, but with the loss of 40 pounds, he slips easily into an action hero reminiscent of Han Solo or Indiana Jones. One of the reasons this franchise feels so fresh is that the Marvel Comics on which the story is based is not well known and director and co-writer James Gunn strikes a skillful balance between dark humor and action. There’s plenty of heart in “Guardians of the Galaxy” and after seeing it, you’ll want to get in line and see it again. Well, I did. 8/3/2014

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - 3 1/2 smiles

“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” is a solid sci-fi flick as well as the best of the Planet of the Apes movies. This installment moves events closer to a merge point with the 1968 Charlton Heston original. As with the other Apes movies, the story is allegorical, but there’s no heavy-handed preachiness. The movie makes its point about the destructiveness of racial hatred as an integral part of the narrative. Plus the personalities for both people and apes are developed well. The story begins with an unspecified period after the conclusion of its predecessor, Rise of the Planet of the apes. Humankind, ravaged by a virus and the lawlessness that arose in its wake, has lost its position of prominence atop the global food chain. The collapse of civilization has resulted in a fragmented, primitive society with a band in San Francisco under the leadership of two survivors, Dreyfus (Gary Oldman) and Malcolm (Jason Clarke) struggling to regain some of what was lost. Their immediate goal is to restore the power grid; to do that, however, they must venture into Muir Woods where the apes, still led by Caesar (Andy Serkis), have become increasingly advanced and sophisticated. Caesar has learned speech (a skill soon mastered by others). Men and apes clash and, while the moderate elements in each species struggle to broker and agreement to promote mutual cooperation and forestall a war; the more extreme elements seek only to annihilate their opponents.

To his credit, director Matt Reeves has focused his efforts on story rather than mindless explosions and special effects. That being said, the movie has a lot of visual flair from apes riding horses to the eventual battle between man and ape. Plus Andy Serkis does a remarkable job of making Caesar the most compelling character in the movie. In addition to Caesar, key simian players include Maurice the orangutan; Caesar’s grown son, Blue Eyes; and the embittered Koba. The humans are represented by Malcolm and his compatriots: Ellie (Keri Russell), Alexander (Kodi Smit-McPhee) and Carver (Kirk Acevedo).  The script gives each human a scene designed to provide depth and breadth to what could have been a one-dimensional character. “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” takes its time, especially during the first hour, where the focus is on the ape society, and it ends on a satisfying (if downbeat) note that promises a sequel.  7/11/14