There is a scene in the semi-raunchy PG-13 comedy Fired Up which had me busting a gut in laughter so badly I could barely take it. The perfect way to get pumped up at a cheerleading camp and competition apparently is not to learn new routines or have the few ‘straight’ guys make out with as many of the 300 some young women as much as possible. Instead, it’s catching an outdoor screening of Bring It On and have all the participants recite the dialog as if it were modern day Shakespeare. Even the catty ‘bad’ girl squad recites Jessica Bendinger’s words from that 2000 cheerleading movie with pride. Fired Up not only loads itself on anti- PC goofy fun, it makes it a mission to submerge in it.
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Clint Eastwood has stated that Gran Torino will be his last film as an actor, and frankly, I think that’s possibly a good thing, as it’s unlikely he could top this understated but brilliant performance as a disgruntled old war veteran. I hope however, it is not also his last effort at directing, as I personally feel he ranks as one of the top directors of all time, and I would love to see him make some more. Gran Torino, along with Changeling, yet another Eastwood film, is one of the best films i’ve seen this year.
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There is a scene late in the film What Goes Up where a young artist is dismayed after her paper mache space shuttle crashes to the high school auditorium due to an a comic moment during a school backed musical number. On the belly of the paper shuttle is an article written by the film’s lead character regarding a woman who he considered to be a hero, who he fell in love with, and chose to make up positive, heroic stories about her after her suicide. It is also the best way to sum up the rest of Jonathan Glatzer’s film, which is uncomfortably set not only in the days leading up to the 1986 space shuttle Challenger tragedy, but also in the same state of Sharon Christa McAuliffe, who, had she lived, would have been the first teacher is space.
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I will give some credit to where credit is due. It is a rare thing these days to have a movie about the ups and downs of a marriage without actually trashing the concept of marriage. Rarer still is how such struggles relate to the church and/or issues of faith. That’s not too much of a coincidence, since the film is inspired by the non-fiction book by T.D. Jakes, who makes a small cameo in the film, though not as himself like on the previous “inspired by” adaptation of one of his non fiction inspirational books, Woman, Thou Art Loosed. Since I am also a person of faith, there are some things I can identify with even though I’ve never been married myself. But, like the previous Jakes inspired film, some characters are defined well, and then do things which not only come out of left field, but aren’t even in the same ballpark.
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There is a lot of wonderful acting performances in Michael Mann’s new film Public Enemies, so much so that there are many other actors who give good performances but who are washed out by the other talent. Since the character of FBI agent Melvin Purvis is overwhelmed by capturing various thieves and thugs in the 1930′s, co-lead Christian Bale suffers the most, having his scenes stolen by the other talent around him. It happens so frequently I was beginning to wonder if Bale should have been cast as Purvis in the first place. Does it really matter? The film is a showcase for Johnny Depp as the “public enemy number one” celebrity bank robber John Dillinger.
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The studio distributors wish to promote The Last Word as a romantic comedy. The actors all have warm, smiling faces on the artwork, on first glance you would think, Winona Ryder (love interest), Wes Bentley (guy she falls for) and Ray Romano (comic sidekick/best buddy). That’s partially correct; the two leads do have a relationship. Abel (Romano) does fill out something of a buddy role. That’s as far as it goes. I didn’t find the movie light or fluffy, but I found it involving and evolving, as the film felt it needed something to really say. It never gets around to it.
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After watching the new Street Fighter movie, I am now convinced of three things. One, it makes the 1994 Jean Claude Van Damme turkey look slightly better than it actually was; two, Kristin Kreuk has a ton of potential outside of Smallville, but this movie isn’t that breakthrough. As for that third item? If cinematographer turned director Andrzej Bartkowiak doesn’t watch out, he may wind up dethroning Uwe Boll in video-game to film adaptations.
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