Once

I never really thought much of Glen Hansard's band The Frames. I listened to one of their cds (Burn the Maps) to see if I wanted to stay and watch them after Josh Ritter. The disc was awful and I decided that an early retreat from Lawrence was a better idea. About four years later I watch Once which is directed by the former bassist (John Carney - not the former NFL kicker) of The Frames starring their lead singer. The story of Once is very simple and yet it works. A street musician (Hansard) meets a girl (Marketa Irglova) who can play the keyboards. A friendship is forged through music - which is surprisingly great.

Once doesn't go much deeper than the surface. The two leads seem to have a chemistry of great proportions, but the writer/director seems determined to subdue it. Tis a pity a couple of unnecessary f-bombs are thrown, coz nothing else is stopping this from being PG. Hansard comes across as clone of Hugh Laurie (House), while Irglova (who has never acted before) never really gets a third dimension. The script leaves their relationship feeling boxed in.

Clearly the film is a showpiece for some marvelous musical collaborations between the two. The soundtrack is a must buy. The film is ok, but leaves you wanting more out of this little movie.

65/100

The Kingdom

The Kingdom is from actor/director Peter Berg. Berg made a name for himself in directing for his last two efforts: The Rundown and Friday Night Lights. Both turned a little profit allowing him to go nuts here with a big budget political-action film. "The Kingdom" refers to the a section of Saudi Arabia with a lot of westerners live. A series of violent terror strikes kills 70 plus people. One of Foxx's best friends was killed in a blast prompting Foxx to use his connections to go investigate.

His team includes the surly Chris Cooper (Don't placate me like I'm your mother boy!), the out of her element Jennifer Garner, and the cheap comic relief Jason Bateman. When you get down to it, The Kingdom is just another fish out of water story with an overly complicated first 80 minutes culminating in a fantastic climax. Berg clearly knows how to direct an action film. The final sequence is one of the best choreographed action sequences I have ever seen.

All of the actors playing the Saudi's are excellent especially Ashraf Barhom as the liason to the FBI. Cooper is criminally underused here. If I had it my way, Cooper would be in every film along with Michael Rooker, William H. Macy, William Sadler, and Andre Braugher. Foxx is fine as the lead who does a solid job with the action scenes.

I clearly would like to see Berg do some more material. Word is he has some crappy Will Smith/Charlize Theron film coming out later this year. I like both of those actors, but they have a terrible history of picking films. The Kingdom is fairly decent flick that's not very memorable.

60/100

The TV Set

From producer Judd Appatow and writer/director Jake Kasdan, The TV Set is satire on the tv industry. It follows a writer named Mike (David Duchovny) trying to get his script made into a pilot and the horrible influence a network has in that. The network big wig Lenny (Sigourney Weaver) makes her decisions on programming based on the opinions of her 14 y/o daughter.

You go through all the crap with Mike from having to cast an actor you hate to having to changed the basic premise of the show. There are some hilarious stuff with Duchovny trying to get through a simple scene with the less than desirable lead. Judy Greer does excellent work here as Mike's business manager Alice. Alice tries to keep the ball rolling by softening the blows from the network.

This is film for people who know a bit about tv and film. The network seems to be loosely based on the Fox Network and their reputation for bawdiness. (Slut Wars is their top show) Lots of on target criticism makes The TV Set a must watch. Duchovny does his best work since Fox Mulder. I was really happy to see Jake Kasdan rebound to greatness after the box office sell out of Orange County. I look forward to catching Walk Hard soon. On the dvd, you not only get a commentary from Jake and David, you also get one from Jack and Judd! Lots of good talk about Freak and Geeks.

90/100

The Ten

If you are in the mood for a batshit crazy movie then look to The Ten. Written by the fellows who did The State and Stella, The Ten brings together 10 stories veeery loosely based on the The Ten Commandments. And the best part, well they got Paul Rudd to introduce each one. All of the stories have interlocking characters - mostly in unexpected ways.

This is the kind of film where if most of the stories work, then you enjoy it. Not every single one did work, but I like 8 out of the 10. My favorite being when co-writer Ken Marino is sent to prison following a death of one of his patients. Inside Marino's character is quickly claimed as a bitch by Big Buster only to fall in love with The Daily Show's Rob Corddry. I promise you it is hilarious.

Two other stories that were solid included Liev Schreiber (?) as a man trying to one up a neighbor to bizarre proportions and Winona Ryder (who is in two stories) who falls in love with a dummy - the puppet kind. Ryder goes all out and I was disturbed by her decication, but yet oddly turned on since it involved her in very little clothing... hmmm. When did she buy new breasts? Anyone?

Anyway, The Ten is a quick, little movie. If one story bores you, it is quickly over and you move on to the next one. Look for a HILARIOUS cameo from Oliver Platt. I can almost forgive him for the Ice Harvest.

80/100

We Are Marshall

We Are Marshall tells the story of the 1970 plane crash that killed 75 people, including the Marshall football team, and the recovery the town makes over the next year. Already a great story and it is hard to mess that up unless you do a TV movie of Into Thin Air or you let director McG have his way with your story.

McG is a very ambitious filmmaker in terms of his broad shot selection and his bag of camera tricks. This works very well when you are trying to dress up a 2 hour pile of shite like Charlie's Angels, but when you are doing a character study about a very sensitive subject... it doesn't work. In fact, the camera stunts are right out of an asinine episode of CSI Miami. Okay... with that being said, WAM is actually a fine film once you get through idiot camera movements.

The story revolves around 6 main characters. Matthew McConaughey is top billed for his performance as Jack Lengyel, the only man who take over a program that lost almost it's entire staff and players. The real lead is Red Dawson's (Matthew Fox) character. Red was the only coach not on the plane thanks to a recruiting trip he had to do after the final game of the year. Anthony Mackie plays the only returning starter who feels survivor guilt for having missed dying on the plane with his friends thanks than injury that kept him home. Kate Mara plays the young fiance of Ian McShane's son who died in the plane crash. Mara also serves as the narrator... Last but not least, David Strathairn plays the interim President of Marshall U. that is trying to pull everything together so the town can have football again.

All the performances are fine, even if McShane's and Mara's are almost completely unnecesary to the plot. Matthew Fox and McConaughey are adequate here, but hardly revelatory. Mackie and Strathairn shine when given the chance. The best acting of the bunch is the ten minute cameo that Robert Patrick has at the beginning of the film. Now that man can play a football coach! The rest of the plot is simple with the normal "conflicts" thrown in to complicate things now and again.

This most certainly is not a "football" movie. There is three small sections of games that punctuate the acts of the film, but this is more a character story. McG just doesn't have the chops to bring it all together perfectly, but it is enjoyable. After watching it though, you wonder what a Peter Weir or Steve James could've done with this material?

75/100

The Hoax

Clifford Irving (Richard Gere) was just another rejected writer when he decided he had enough. Irving constructed a premise to write a book on recluse Howard Hughes. Everyone wanted to know more about the famous billionare, but he hadn't been seen in public in a decade. Hughes couldn't come forth in court room since there was a pending lawsuit in regards to TWA. With that in mind, Irving decides that is the perfect chance to cash in, especially if Hughes can't sue him. Irving gets his editor (The wonderful Hope Davis) to bite that he and his friend (Alfred Molina) were picked by Hughes to write his autobiography.

What follows is a story of a man, Irving, who wants the spotlight at all cost. His lies get him in deeper with his wife (Marcia Gay Harden) and his publishers. Lots of nice cameos including Eli Wallach, Stanley Tucci, and Julie Delpy (And one of her boobs).

The director Lasse Hallstrom is quite an enigma. Reading his Imdb page is a scattershot of failures and vanity projects since his big screen debut of What's Eating Gilbert Grape? His biggest triumph was the superb Chocolat. I'm very intrigued to see the bomb Casanova with it's late star Heath Ledger. In The Hoax, Hallstrom keeps it simple and moving along. The story is so strong you don't need a stong hand to mess it up. Molina is especially terrific here as Irving's collegue Dick Suskin. Gere is perfectly casted as a showboat that craves attention. Only Harden falters here with her awful generic European accent. Why didn't they call Nadtassja Kinski? The role screams out for her!

It is kind of an odd proposition that The Hoax didn't do better in theatres. It received mostly positive reviews, but seems destined for better days on DVD. This film is wildly entertaining that goes down even better if you don't know anything about the event. This would be a marvelous double feature paired with Scorsese's The Aviator afterwards to really get an idea of Hughes.

85/100

Inland Empire

Ok... the new David Lynch film stars Laura Dern as Sue/Nikki. Nikki is an actress who gets a part in a new production that she learns has been cursed and is based on a Polish folktale. The previous attempt at making the film led to both of the leads dying. So with her director (Jeremy Irons) and costar Devon (Justin Theroux), they begin work on the film. Devon goes to investigate a mysterious sound on the set one day and finds a double of Nikki looking into the studio...As filming begins, Devon and Nikki start having an affair.

Soon, the reality between the characters becomes blurred. Nikki/Sue ends up going into a parallel universe to where the prior production was in Poland. And you also get a homage to Alice in Wonderland... So you end up with the actors reality, the movie reality, the reality of the prior film, and the people outside of the film watching it. All of this nonlinear of course, Lynch seems desperate to make his films almost impossible to follow. At just under three hours, there is a lot of bloat to this film.

I can't really say I enjoyed Inland Empire. I don't mind a film that makes me think long afterwards about really what happened, but the blatant disregard for the audience bugs me. I can't decide whether Lynch is a bitter genius or a drugged out maniac. This, is not a film for the average movie watcher.

50/100