“West of Memphis” a gripping story of lies and corruption

I knew very little about the West Memphis Three and was only vaguely familiar with the three “Paradise Lost” films that have chronicled their fight for freedom since being convicted for the 1993 murders of three young boys in West Memphis, Ark. Still I was interested in director Amy Berg’s documentary “West of Memphis,” with Peter Jackson serving as one of the producers, intrigued by the subject matter and enticed by the fascinating four minute trailer available online.
While I can not say how “West of Memphis” compares to the “Paradise Lost” series, I can stay this is a film that completely blew me away.
With the plight of the three accused teenagers Damien Echols (who also served as one of the producers), Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelly serving as the backdrop, this is a compelling study of corruption in the judicial system – where the rush to judgement can cause just as much pain and anguish as the original crimes.
“West of Memphis” quickly gives the viewers the basics of the case, allowing those who haven’t seen the film or aren’t as familiar with all the particulars to see a meticulous dissection of the original case against Echols, Baldwin, and Misskelly (deemed a Satanic ritual killing with Echols as the ring leader).
Berg’s film also follows the people who fought to have and are still fighting to have the three young men exonerated – including Eddie Vedder, Natalie Mains, Johnny Depp and Henry Rollins – and find the real killer.
The final act of “West of Memphis” proceeds to build a case against who it perceives is the real killer – Terry Hobbs, stepfather of one of the victims Stevie Branch. The film provides material that raises serious questions and paints a history of abuse by Hobbs, even if the Arkansas judicial system seems to want to turn a blind eye. The most chilling moments are exerts from deposition when Hobbs unsuccessfully tried to sue Natalie Maines for defamation of character. There is also interviews with new witnesses from earlier this month that perhaps paints a stronger case against Hobbs.
And in these moments the film conveys the true tragedy of this case – that justice can indeed be blind.
“West of Memphis” is a film that will stay with me long after I have seen it.

Grade: A

“Extremely Loud” and Incredibly Deplorable

The new film “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” the surprise entry in the Best Picture race at the Academy Awards, desperately wants to be a film that audiences respond to.
And while it did illicit a response from me, I’m certain it’s not what the film makers had in mind. This isn’t a film where I left inspired and uplifted, instead I had anger and disdain – shameful for a film that manages to exploit on every level.
“Extremely Loud” is told from the point of view of a nine-year-old boy named Oskar Schell (Thomas Horn). Oskar is trying to cope with the loss of his best friend and father Thomas (Tom Hanks) who died in the World Trade Center on 9/11.
When Oskar finds a key in an envelope labeled ‘Black,’ he sets out to find out what the key is for – convinced that it holds some kind of message from his father.
There are so many directions I could go in describing how much this film angered me. For starters, I found Oskar to be rather annoying – a major problem since his character is in every scene and narrates the film. The film hints that he may have Asperger’s syndrome or is mildly autistic, but even that can’t compensate for a character that is every annoying kid cliche crammed into one overly dramatic performance from newcomer Horn. I didn’t root for this kid, I wanted him to go away.
Horn gets to work with a lot of talent with a cast that includes Hanks (although he is barely in the film), Sandra Bullock, Viola Davis, and John Goodman. But even a strong supporting cast can’t overcome Horn’s stunningly bad performance.
It probably doesn’t help that he is in a story that feels even more manipulative than his character. I found the use of 9/11 in this film to be unforgivable – nothing more than a cheap gimmick used to illicit even more tears and sadness. Hanks character could have easily died in a car wreck and Oskar’s story arc could have arrived at the same point. I realize this is an argument that can be countered with the fact “Extremely Loud” is based on a novel, but I can’t base my review on that book. I have to base it on the film I saw and that film is one where Stephen Daldry stages one horrible false note after another – a two-hour manipulation that is about as subtle as repeated shots to the head with a sledgehammer.
About the only thing that does work to a certain extent here is Academy Award nominee Max von Sydow, as the mysterious mute neighbor who helps Oskar on his quest, but this subplot also veers into half-baked melodrama with an unsatisfying conclusion.
“Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” isn’t worthy of being among the best pictures at next month’s Academy Awards. It belongs on another list – as one of the worst film experiences from 2011.

Grade: D

“Underworld” and “Red Tails” both underwhelming

A busy weekend at the movies with three wide releases, several expansions, and of course Oscar nominations announced in the morning.

Here is a brief look at the top two films at the box office this weekend.

The box office champ this weekend was “Underworld: Awakening” – the fourth installment of the popular vampire vs. werewolves sci fi series. This is one of the better entries in the series, but still not good enough to play beyond its loyal fan base.
Kate Beckinsale, who did not appear in the last installment, returns as vampire assassin Selene. As the movie begins the government is in the midst of an operation to exterminate all vampires and lycans (that would be the fancy name for werewolves here). Selene is captured, but keep alive frozen in a chamber for 12 years, she awakens to discover that the battle has shifted with the humans now the enemy.
It all speeds by in a brisk 88 minutes, with the plot about as complex as your standard video game.
Beckinsale does look great in black leather and there are a few decent action sequences, but the film gets sillier and sillier with each passing minute. This is the kind of film that will appease its fans and bore everyone else.
Grade: C-

The other big release of the week is the ambitious, but ultimately flawed “Red Tails.” This George Lucas produced drama based on the Tuskegee airmen, the African American fighter pilots who fought in World War II, has plenty of high points, but fails to deliver a movie worthy of these brave soldiers.
“Red Tails” is at its best in the air, with director Anthony Hemingway crafting some dogfights that feel like a raid on the Death Star. The problem is that most of this film takes place on the ground, where these characters are barely given any sort of depth or development.
The cast tries hard but are stuck with roles that are cliches. You can pretty much set your watch by what will happen to these men – which include a hot shot pilot (David Oyelowo) who strikes up a romance with an Italian beauty and the squad leader (Nate Parker) with a drinking problem – with the screenplay based more on predictable war plot points than a historical account of what happened to this group of soldiers.
There are also small roles by Terrence Howard and Cuba Gooding Jr., who basically chews on a pipe and wrinkles his forehead.
“Red Tails” biggest problem is that it never gets too deep into the racial struggles these soldiers had, not with the enemy, but with fellow American soldiers. The film does gloss over it in a couple of scenes, but seems like it wants to play it safe – thereby undermining how significant a part of history this really was.
The Tuskegee Airmen certainly deserve a better film than “Red Tails.”

Grade: C+

Oscar Picks for 2012

So here we are less than 48 hours from the announcement of the 2012 Oscar nominations. It’s been an interesting, yet predictable, season to date as “The Artist” (my pick for the best film of 2011) appears poised to run away from the field and claim best picture.
But who will it face? Perhaps, more importantly with the new voting rules in place, how many will make the final cut? There are questions in other categories as well. Who will make the cut in a loaded best actress field? Which movie will Jessica Chastain get nominated for? And will Steven Spielberg sneak in a best director nomination?
Here is my predictions for Tuesday morning’s nominations.

Best Picture
First of all the big question, how many? The Academy can select anywhere from five to 10 films, depending on the percentage of first place votes. I’m going to be conservative and say seven films get in.

The Artist
The Descendants
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
The Help
Moneyball
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

If it is more than seven, look out for these three films: War Horse, Bridesmaids, and The Tree of Life

Best Actor
This is a category with four locks
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
George Clooney,The Descendants
Brad Pitt, Moneyball
Michael Fassbender, Shame
Gary Oldman, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

I think the fifth spot comes down to Leonardo DiCaprio, J. Edgar or Oldman, but I’m leaning Oldman
because of the BAFTAS nomination.
A possible wildcard though is SAG nominee Demian Bichir for A Better Life

Best Actress
Again it’s a category that has four locks (sadly no room for great work from Elizabeth Olsen in “Martha Marcy May Marlene” or Charlize Theron in “Young Adult”)
The four sure things:

Viola Davis, The Help
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn
Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
Rooney Mara, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Spot No. 5 is between Tilda Swinton for “We Need to Talk About Kevin” and Mara. Swinton has won before and has gotten plenty of buzz for “Kevin.” She probably gets a slight edge, but I’m going to go with my heart here and pick Mara. “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” should be a best picture nominee, and if they like it enough to nominate I believe they will reward Mara as well

Best Supporting Actor
Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Albert Brooks, Drive
Kenneth Branagh, My Week with Marilyn
Jonah Hill, Moneyball
Nick Nolte, Warrior

This is a pretty easy category, as I firmly expect all five to be announced Tuesday morning. If I had to pick spoilers I’d consider Armie Hammer for “J. Edgar,” Max von Sydnow for “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” or Jim Broadbent for “The Iron Lady.”

Best Supporting Actress
Octavia Spencer, The Help
Jessica Chastain, The Help
Shaileen Woodley, The Descendants
Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
Berenice Bejo, The Artist

Three are locked in, with Woodley and McCarthy on shakiest ground. You could see Janet McTeers for “Albert Nobbs” or Carey Mulligan for “Shame” slip in.

Best Director
Martin Scorsese, Hugo
Michel Hanazavicius, The Artist
Alexander Payne,The Descendants
David Fincher, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris

Four appear locked in with spot 5 between Fincher and Spielberg. Fincher got a DGA nod, but Spielberg is beloved. I’m going with my heart again.

“Iron Lady” All Streep and Nothing Else

At this point in her career Meryl Streep could read the phone book onscreen for two hours and it still be mildly interesting. But even another great turn from Streep can’t save the disjointed Margaret Thatcher bio pic “The Iron Lady.” Despite Streep’s best efforts this is a mediocre portrait of Britain’s first female Prime Minister – a film with way too much style and not enough substance.
Streep is very good as Thatcher. She has her mannerisms, her trademark voice, and her look down to perfection. But Streep is forced to work with a bare bones screenplay that never really gets too deep into the life of Thatcher.
The biggest problem is Phllida Lloyd and screenwriter Abi Wilson’s fatal decision to have Streep’s Thatcher spending the bulk of “The Iron Lady” reminiscing with her dead husband (played by the always loveable Jim Broadbent). It’s a gimmick that never quite meshes, despite Streep and Broadbent’s best efforts.
This decision sacrifices the chance to really allow the audience to better understand Thatcher and some of her more controversial moments. Instead we get the bullet point version of her career, with no real substance.
What is “The Iron Lady” trying to tell us about Thatcher? Well, as best I can tell it wants to let us know that she sacrificed her family for her career and wasn’t afraid to go toe to toe with the old boy political system (but really is that something that even the casual historian didn’t know beforehand?).
Streep has garnered a lot of attention and buzz as a possible Best Actress winner for this film. I hope that isn’t the case. Make no mistake Streep is very good here, but like Marion Cotillard in “La Vie En Rose” it’s a good performance trapped in a mediocre movie.
Of course Cotillard was able to parlay that performance into an Oscar. I just hope history doesn’t repeat itself here.

Grade: C

“Contraband” no frills, but kinda fun

For a major January release (usually the big studio dumping ground) “Contraband” is actually pretty solid. This action/drama starring Mark Wahlberg and directed by Baltasar Kormakur doesn’t try to be anything it isn’t, a straight forward diversion that works on its own level.
Wahlberg plays Chris, a former smuggler now legit – with a beautiful wife (Kate Beckinsale) and two kids. When his brother-in-law (Caleb Landry Jones) botches a drug deal for a local dealer (Giovanni Ribisi), Chris is forced back into the business for one more job.
It’s all formula and fairly predictable, but “Contraband” is also fairly likeable. This is a film that knows what its audience came to see and doesn’t deviate from that basic premise. Kormakur keeps the plot moving at a brisk pace. It all goes by so fast that you are willing to overlook that it gets kind of convoluted in the final act.
The cast is also pretty good. Wahlberg is in his comfort zone, while Ben Foster is his usual reliable self as Chris’s best friend. Ribisi’s work borders on camp, but I still liked it. There is also a great small, yet memorable performance J.K. Simmons as a no-nonsense captain of a ship Chris is using for his job.
It all adds up to a fun little flick that is a pleasant surprise in a month usually reserved for the unpleasant.

Grade: B-

“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” the Cold War at its best

There is nothing too flashy about “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” the Cold War thriller based on a novel by John le Carre, but that is what makes it so much fun. This is a throwback thriller, a slow simmer of a potboiler with an outstanding cast headed by Gary Oldman.
He plays George Smiley, a British agent brought out of retirement to help the government find a double agent who is a Russian spy. The suspects are whittle down to four key agents (Toby Jones, David Dencik, Ciaran Hinds and Colin Firth). With the help of a young agent (Peter Guillam), Smiley slowly unravels the mystery – putting both men in jeopardy.
This is a very quiet piece from director Tomas Alfredson, the man behind “Let the Right One in,” with more back room politics than bloodshed and bullets. As the mystery unravels, the tension mounts like a slow turn of a screw. Alfredson is able to make something as simple as a shot of a freight elevator opening up create some major tension.
Oldham fits the material perfectly, a quiet introspective bit of acting that is a far cry from some of his more showy performances.
His performance drives a film that may come off as dull to others, but it left me quite interested.
In an age of special effects, it’s nice to see film that takes a story and is confident enough to allow it to evolve on screen without any bells and whistles.

Grade: B

“Into The Abyss” a tragic, yet compelling tale

Every since I was introduced to Werner Herzog with his documentary ‘Grizzly Man’ I’ve found him to be a fascinating film maker. Herzog has a keen eye and an ability to go deep inside a story, providing different insight and deep retrospective.
He does it again in his latest film, “Into the Abyss: A Tale of Death, A Tale of Life.” This documentary supports a compelling case against the death penalty, while also showing the tragic correlation of poverty and crime.
Herzog’s film centers around Michael Perry and Jason Burkett, two Texas teens who were implicated in the deaths of three people over an automobile. Perry was convicted of triple homicide and interviewed for the film eight days before he was executed. Burkett received a life sentence for his involvement, claiming he had nothing to do with the murders. (Perry on the other hand claims Burkett murdered the three people and he did nothing).
There interviews are compelling enough, but where Herzog’s film really soars is his interviews with police officers, the victims’ families, and Burkett’s father – also serving a life sentence in prison.
It’s those moments where I was really moved. This is a story for the innocent bystanders and how their lives are forever changed by something as trivial as an automobile. The strongest scene in the film involves Burkett’s father – telling how he pleaded for his son’s life to be spared during sentencing. The father talks about his regret, being a career criminal in and out of jail who was never there for his son and how it may have been part of the reason why Jason wound up the way he did.
Burkett’s father also talks about the worst moment of his life, riding to prison handcuffed to his son. It’s these moments that compellingly illustrate the endless cycle of crime and how class structure can contribute to that cycle.
Herzog also makes strong arguments against the death penalty that, even if you don’t agree, will have to thinking long after the movie has ended.

Grade: B+

This “Young Adult” may never grow up

Dark and at times uncomfortable to watch, “Young Adult” is also fascinating.
Directed by Jason Reitman, written by Diablo Cody and starring Charlize Theron – this is the cinematic equilavant of a train wreck that you can’t turn away from. It’s a film that starts in a dark place and never compromises, with Theron delivering one of the best performances of her career.
Theron plays Mavis Gary, a recently divorced writer living in Minneapolis who discovers her high school sweetheart Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson) and his wife are now proud parents. Instead of congratulating Buddy on his new addition, Mavis returns to her small hometown determined to steal him from his family. Mavis is convinced they can rekindle their past relationship, even as another former high school classmate Matt (Patton Oswalt) tries to convince her otherwise.
Anyone expecting Mavis to have some sort of epiphany will be disappointed. Cody, who won an Oscar for writing “Juno,” has created a mess of a character that is for the most part very unlikeable. Mavis is a surly, bitter, lonely alcoholic desperately clinging to this idea of a great life – even when everyone else in her life has moved on.
It’s the kind of film where you know it’s going to end badly and Reitman and Cody never compromise.
Theron is fantastic as Mavis. She deserves a lot of credit for taking this rather ugly character and not shying away. I realize she won an Oscar for “Monster,” but I actually think this is a better performance – one that is more subtle but just as effective.
Oswalt is also very good, a seemingly grounded guy who has nearly as much baggage as Mavis.
I’ll concede that some people might find “Young Adult” to be a little too dark, but for me that was the why it worked so well. Not every movie character has to live happily ever after.

Grade: A-

Noble “War Horse” can’t quite find the finish line

Arriving in theaters with plenty of Oscar hype “War Horse,” the latest from director Steven Spielberg proves to be a mixed bag.
This sprawling World War I epic played well to the audience at the screening I attended. And while I concede that it is a well made film with some strengths, it ultimately falls short of its prerelease buzz.
“War Horse” centers around a young English boy named Albert (newcomer Jeremy Irvine) who develops a bond with a chestnut thoroughbred named Joey. When his family falls on hard times, Albert’s father sells Joey to the cavalry.
The horse is then thrust into the middle of World War I which leads him to encounters with everyone from German soldiers to a young French girl.
“War Horse” is a beautiful looking film, with gorgeous cinematography and art direction. There are also some breathtaking moments, with Spielberg showing his ability to create a moving battle sequence. Spielberg also does a good job of shielding the violence, although there are times where it feels a little sugar-coated.
The biggest problem with the film is the overall lack of a human element. The horse is the star hear, way more interesting than any of the human characters. Albert and his family (which includes Emily Watson) get most of the screen time on the human side, but Irvine’s performance is grating and Watson is criminally underused. The rest of the cast doesn’t get enough time to develop.
I also wasn’t a fan of the final act, which is way too heavy-handed. It’s one thing to establish this horse as a brave specimen, but there is a point where I felt like all he needed was a red cape to complete his Superman persona.
To it’s credit “War Horse” doesn’t completely fall apart, although it comes really close. I do believe it’s a film that will likely appease the masses, but movie goers looking for a little more substance will likely be disappointed.
Grade: C+