"Obvious Child" Movie Review

My review of "Obvious Child" starring Jenny Slate, Jake Lacy, Gaby Hoffmann. 

"Obvious Child"

Published on June 27, 2014 on CWAtlanta.cbslocal.com

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“Obvious Child” (2014)
Donna  (Jenny Slate) is a struggling stand-up comedian that works at a legendary New York City bookstore so that she can continue her dream of making it big doing comedy.  She has supportive parents and a number of close friends, including her best friend, Nellie (Gaby Hoffmann).  But things go downhill fast in Donna’s world.  We first meet Donna she is doing her stand-up set in a small comedy club.  Donna is funny and smart, and the audience is really enjoying her performance.  Unfortunately for Donna, her boyfriend does not enjoy her talking so freely and intimately about their relationship.  It’s very evident that the boyfriend doesn’t appreciate been made fun of and not only breaks up with her in a comedy club bathroom but confesses that he has been seeing one of Donna’s good friends, and they are moving in together.  The bookstore she dearly loves is closing, leaving her without a steady income. The next night after the breakup, Donna proceeds to go on stage and do her stand-up drunk. Let’s just say the audience that night learns much more than they ever wanted to about Donna and her problems.

Forced to go out by one of her friends, she meets Max (Jake Lacy), a cute but seemingly harmless guy.  They hit it off, even bonding over peeing in the street (a time honored tradition of late night revelers in NYC). They end up sleeping together, and Donna makes a well-timed but hasty retreat from his apartment before he wakes up. Donna thinks she has made the perfect getaway until a few weeks later, she discovers that she just might be pregnant. She tells Nellie “I remember seeing a condom; I just don’t remember what it did.” When she takes a pregnancy test and determines she is pregnant, very quickly she decides to get an abortion. It’s not something she takes lightly, but Donna knows that she isn’t ready to have a child. “Obvious Child” is a funny, touching film written and directed by Gillian Robespierre.  The dialogue in this film is some of the best written scenes between characters in the past year. There are some great conversations between Donna and her friends/family, including an excellent scene between Donna and her mother that appears late in the film.  Robespierre has also has a nice, light touch with the stand-up scenes, some of which flow too naturally not to be improvised by the actors.  Robespierre treats Donna with a loving touch but not too sentimental, so that we see Donna for all her neuroses.

Slate shows a real sense of getting everything she can out of a comedic scene without being annoying.  There is a great scene where Donna is staking out her ex-boyfriend’s apartment, trying to decide if she can see him, constantly making deals with herself, trying to leave while attempting to find out what he is up to. Slate has that quality about her presence on screen that while she never totally dominates a scene, you are still drawn to her. We instantly like her even if we want to shake her up a bit to get her to wise up. Slate’s stand-up is wonderfully self-deprecating, and she delivers it with ease.  Even when Donna’s routine is bombing (like when she does her stand-up drunk), it’s hilarious. Slate is supported nicely by a great group of actors, including the always funny Gabby Hoffmann, who plays Nellie, the friend that is always there to pick up the pieces when Donna world collapses…and it happens a lot. Richard Kind and Polly Draper play Donna’s parents, both of which always seem to have helpful advice or a word of encouragement for their daughter.  Kind is wonderful in his low key way, and Draper gives Donna’s mother just the right mix of toughness and understanding. You have to be brave to be a stand-up comic.  It takes real guts to stand in front of people and talk about very personal things like love, sex and abortion. You also have to be brave and maybe a little neurotic to live in New York City.  Robespierre and Slate gives us a character that is brave, but isn’t afraid to let down her defenses to connect to someone else in her life. While abortion is the centerpiece of the film, it’s not about the act. The film is about relationships, both good and bad. It’s about how we deal with them.  There’s a fine line between making a comedy or a drama, and this film perfectly mixes the two into a film that is heartwarming and funny.  My Rating: Full Price

My movie rating system from Best to Worst:  1). I Would Pay to See it Again  2). Full Price  3). Bargain Matinee  4). Cable  5). You Would Have to Pay Me to See it Again

"We Are the Best!" Movie Review

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My review of "We Are the Best!" starring Mira Barkhammar, Mira Grosin, Liv LeMoyne.

"We Are the Best!"

Published on June 27, 2014 on CWAtlanta.cbslocal.com

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“We Are the Best!”  (2013)

The film opens up in a Stockholm apartment in 1982, where a 13 year old girl named Bobo (Mira Barkhammar) is having to endure a party celebrating her mom’s (Anna Rydgren) fortieth birthday.  Clearly bored, Bobo is stuck in the corner being forced to listen to adults talk politics and taxes, all the while seeing her mother get hoisted above the crowd in celebration.  Bobo has to run a gauntlet of drunken adults fawning over her hair and clothes as she makes a hasty retreat to her bedroom where she can escape the party with a cassette deck full of punk music.

Bobo and her best friend, the Mohawk wearing Klara (Mira Grosin) don’t fit in with the rest of their classmates.  Where most of the girls are into bangs, big hair and spandex, the two girls are more into the environment and how big government is ruining the planet. The girls are used to being put down, whether by their fellow classmates or the members of a local teenage rock band.  The girls attempt to find some solace at the local youth center but are assaulted musically by a heavy metal act practicing in the basement music room.  The girls figure out a way to sign up for time in the music room and at that moment they decide to form a punk rock band.

The girls are told they are too late to join the school talent fest but seem happy sitting in the back of the auditorium making fun of the dance team do a routine to a “Missing Persons” song. They are then pleasantly surprised by Hedvig (Liv LeMoyne), a Christian girl with musical talent, who comes onstage and begins beautifully playing a classical piece on the guitar.  When the rest of the student body starts heckling her, Bobo and Klara realize that they have found a fellow outcast to join their band. Now they have their third piece of the puzzle and can make beautiful punk noise together.

Writer / director Lukas Moodysson, who adapted the screenplay from his wife Coco’s graphic novel, gives a spirited look at the lives of three girls using music to deal with their feelings of isolation and rebellion. The film perfectly intersperses Swedish punk music from the 70′s, and 80′s to give us insight into what the girls are thinking and feeling. Moodysson obviously enjoys the rambunctious spirit of the girls, letting the camera follow the girls around as they pinball from scene to scene. He has created three very distinct girls. Bobo is the peacemaker who is determined to keep the “Punk” way of life alive. Klara is ready for just about anything as long as she can have fun and give out opinions right and left. And Hedvig, a shy, reserved girl who quietly rebels against her parents, mostly in small, almost silent steps.  Of the three girls, Hedvig has the most character growth in the film. It’s as if she was waiting for the opportunity to let her true self out,

The interplay between the three girls is marvelous, especially between Bobo and Klara, as Barkhammar and Grosin have perfect chemistry, almost finishing each other sentences. Grosin, as the outspoken Klara, gives a frenetic performance that almost explodes on the screen. LeMoyne, as the more restrained Hedvig, has a real talent for music, displaying both a singing and guitar playing talent, that helps ground the film in a bit of reality. It’s Barkhammar, as the troubled Bobo, that will make the audience want to root for and protect. She gives Bobo vulnerability as she tries to navigate the transition from being a kid to a young adult. There are times that Barkhammar lets Bobo become an adult, giving off the physical appearance of a college senior.  Bobo is also forced to become the adult when she is dealing with her mother’s up and down relationships, taking care of her when they don’t work out.  Other times, it seems as if Bobo is younger than her thirteen years, especially when dealing with the aspects of dating and liking boys.  It’s a performance that wins you over from almost the first frame of the film.

“We Are the Best!” is a fun, joyous film that allows the audience to relive their youth, including the trials and tribulations of those teenage years.  After all, when you are a teenager it’s a blast to make a little noise called music with your friends.   My Take: I Would Pay to See it Again

My movie rating system from Best to Worst:  1). I Would Pay to See it Again  2). Full Price  3). Bargain Matinee  4). Cable  5). You Would Have to Pay Me to See it Again

"Ivory Tower" Movie Review

My review of the documentary "Ivory Tower"

"Ivory Tower"

Published on June, 27, 2014 on CWAtlanta.cbslocal.com

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Photo courtesy of Samuel Goldwyn Films

“Ivory Tower”  (2014)

Tuition at most universities and colleges soared in the past 30 years, making the cost of higher education out of reach for some as the student loan debt passes the 1 trillion mark for Americans. The student loan debt in this country is more than the total credit card debt. This fascinating and sometimes scary documentary explores if the traditional college experience is worth the heavy debt, and are there alternatives to the traditional university system.

The film starts out with the 2016 class at Harvard University moving into their dorms. We meet a young African-American student, David Boone, who is taking the most popular class on campus, an introduction to Computer Science. For David, going to Harvard was a goal that looked impossible to reach. David was homeless during his high school years and lived in one of the roughest neighborhoods in Cleveland. But David has made it to his dream school, now he must survive Harvard’s tough academic standards, and excel in his major field.

One of the premises of the film is that institutions of higher learning are in competition with each other not just for the student body but also in who can build the biggest buildings. While faculty staffing has dropped, staffing for the administration and services portion of the system has exploded. At the same time building on campus has grown, the monetary help from the state and federal governments has gone down, making schools depend more and more on tuition to meet their needs.

A number of schools are highlighted in the film, some in quite a negative light, such as Arizona State University, which has been called one of the nation’s best party schools.  Other schools are shown in a much more positive light, like the historically black, all women’s Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia.  Several students are interviewed about their positive experience going to a small school, which emphasizes the community experience for their students.

Filmmaker Andrew Rossi, who brought us the highly informative 2011 film “Page One: Inside the New York Times,” presents us with a sobering film about the state of higher education in America. One of the saddest tales is the story of New York City’s Cooper Union founded in the 19th Century by philanthropist Peter Cooper. Cooper felt that a free education was the key to developing productive members of society. Because of bad management and building an elaborate student activities center, the college is about to charge tuition for the first time in its history. A student protest takes over the president of the college’s office, and they occupy it for over sixty days, but to no avail, tuition will be charged to incoming students in the next year.

While the film is filled with information, it never drags or slows down. I think one of the strong points of this movie is that it looks at so many topics to explore the problem and the possible solutions. Is online education the wave of the future or does this way of learning work effectively? Are schools that try and break the traditional mode, like the Deep Springs College (a college located on a working ranch), the way to go?  Can schools retool their need for continued expansion or are some universities destined to die under mountains of debt?  Not all these questions are fully answered, but it does leave the audience with a number of topics to talk about and explore after seeing the film.

Colleges and universities are going to have to make some tough choices in the very near future. Are they going to continue to compete with each other to build the biggest and grandest campus or are they going to go back and focus on the student, which is why they were founded in the first place.  “Ivory Tower” is a film that every parent with college bound children must see.  As one father asks a president of a university “Is my daughter going to get a job and not come back home after [college]?”  It’s a film that asks a question that 30 years ago would never have come up; is the cost of a college education worth it?    My Rating: Full Price

My movie rating system from Best to Worst:  1). I Would Pay to See it Again  2). Full Price  3). Bargain Matinee  4). Cable  5). You Would Have to Pay Me to See it Again

The film is playing exclusively at Landmark Midtown Art Cinema

“Ivory Tower” Website

"The Grand Seduction" Movie Review

My review of "The Grand Seduction" starring Taylor Kitsch, Brendan Gleeson, Liane Balaban. 

"The Grand Seduction"

Published on June 20, 2014 on CWAtlanta.cbslocal.com

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Photo courtesy of Entertainment One 

“The Grand Seduction” (2014)

The tiny harbor town of Tickle Cove is on the coast of Canada.  Its main source of income, fishing, died out years ago making almost everyone in town unemployed.  In fact, you could say the whole town is depressed. The only event that the whole town will gather for is when the unemployment checks come into the post office. There is some hope on the horizon for Tickle Cove as an oil company is considering building a recycling plant in the town.  Just one big problem, the oil company requires that a doctor live in the town. It’s a position that has been open for years and Tickle Cove has done everything to recruit a doctor, with no avail. The mayor of the town, so discouraged by the Tickle Cove’s demise, moves his family out of their house in the middle of the night, taking off for a job in the big city.

Murray (Brendan Gleeson) has always loved Tickle Cove, having been born the son of a fisherman.  He is a proud man (though he does steal a dead man’s welfare checks every two weeks) whose wife wants to move to the big city where jobs await.  After the mayor leaves, Murray is determined to save his town, by hook or crook.

The former mayor now has a job working a security job at the airport. In walks, Paul Lewis (Taylor Kitsch), a young doctor fresh off a wild weekend celebrating the end of his residency and a victory in a cricket tournament.  When the former mayor inspects Paul’s bags, he discovers a bit of cocaine hidden in a container.  The doctor, who is a plastic surgeon, pleads with the mayor, offering to do cosmetic work of the mayor or his wife.  When the doctor says that he will do anything, the mayor gets a gleam in his eye.

The next thing we know, the doctor is on his way to Tickle Cove for a 30 day visit. Murray, haven taken over as town’s new mayor, is determined to make Dr. Lewis fall in love with the town and its people. He rally’s the townsfolk, getting them to clean up the area, do a bit of painting and mending of fences. Now it’s up to Murray and his town to woo the doctor into staying. Their first order of business of romancing the doctor, create a cricket pitch and field a team, even though no one in town has even heard of cricket, much less know how to play.

This hilarious movie can be easily described as a mix of “Northern Exposure” and “Doc Hollywood” with a little bit of “Waking Ned Devine” thrown in. To say that the town is full of very odd characters would be an understatement.  Tickle Cove, led by Murray, played by the talented and funny Brendan Gleeson,  does  just about everything it can to make Paul’s time in Tickle Cove a phenomenal experience. Gleeson is pitch-perfect in the role of Murray, a big, burly man who loves his town and his wife (possibly in that order). Gleeson plays off of Gordon Pinsent, who plays Murray’s best friend Simon, with incredible comedic timing, making it a delight to watch the two of them on screen together. Taylor Kitsch, as the fish out of water Dr. Lewis, gives one of his best performances to date, showing us that he can handle comedy quite well. He makes his big city doctor stuck in a tiny town seem believable and gives his character some qualities to where we can see before Dr. Lewis does, that he just might fit in this fishing village.  Liane Balaban, who plays the postal worker with an attitude, has excellent chemistry with Kitsch, allowing us to believe that maybe one day they will end up together.

The film was shot in Newfoundland and cinematographer Douglas Koch does a marvelous job of showing us the beauty of the coastline town.  Director Don McKellar gets everything he can out of his cast, and they respond with some funny and touching performances. While the script by Michael Dowse and Ken Scott is a little too predictable, it’s still a joy to watch and Brendan Gleeson makes it worth buying a ticket.   My Rating:  Full Price

My movie rating system from Best to Worst:  1). I Would Pay to See it Again  2). Full Price  3). Bargain Matinee  4). Cable  5). You Would Have to Pay Me to See it Again   [twitter-follow screen_name=’Lastonetoleave’]

The film is currently playing in Atlanta at the UA Tara Cinemas 4

“The Grand Seduction” Website

"Words and Pictures" Movie Review

My review of "Words and Pictures" starring Clive Owen, Juliette Binoche, Bruce Davison.

"Words and Pictures"

Posted on June 6, 2014 on CWAtlanta.cbslocal.com

Wayback Machine Archive Post

Photo courtesy of Roadside Attractions 

“Words and Pictures”

Jack Marcus (Clive Owen) is an English teacher at a private high school. He is a nationally known writer whose best years are behind him. In fact, Jack hasn’t written an original piece in years and finds his solace in the bottom of a liquor bottle. He spends his teaching days criticizing his students for not making any effort and drinking straight vodka out of a thermos in his car during lunch hour. His only amusement is battling the principal over whether the annual school literary magazine will be published and playing word games with unwilling teachers in the faculty lounge. Often late to his own classes due to being hung over, he misses dinners with his grown son and has been banned from the local restaurant for causing a drunken scene. Jack is told by the administration that if he doesn’t get his act together, he will be looking for a new job by the end of the school year.

Dina Delsanto (Juliette Binoche) is a brash, outspoken artist who has developed a severe case of rheumatoid arthritis. Due to her condition, she is being forced to move from New York to be near her sister, as Delsanto cannot always take care of herself. Delsanto is a fiery individual who isn’t used to depending on help from others. She isn’t happy that she has to teach at the high school to make money, and that she can only paint with the help of braces on her hands and knees. The paintings she now creates are not up to her very high standards, which drives her mad. She is as demanding on herself as she is with her students, insisting that you must always dig deeper to truly do your best.

Jack is immediately attracted to Delsanto, first engaging her in the teachers’ lounge with his word game. He is challenged by her wit and her bold personality, enjoying the fact that she can keep up with his verbal volleys while giving him attitude. They soon get involved over a series of days in a debate on which is more powerful, words or pictures. This debate not only energizes Jack and Delsanto, but also their students, who instantly take sides. The question isn’t if Jack and Delsanto are going to get together, it’s what will Jack do to screw it up?

Owen and Binoche are amazing together in this romantic film directed by Fred Schepisi, especially in the early scenes where their brisk dialogue seems to almost crackle in the air. The chemistry that the two have together, works well, though that chemistry fades a little as their relationship deepens. Owen has fun playing the teacher whose alcohol abuse may bring him down for good. Binoche has the more in-depth role as an artist who is having trouble accepting her fate. The most amazing thing about Binoche’s performance is that all the paintings that her character does in the film are done by the actress herself.  There are a couple of the students in the film stand out from the rest of the cast. Adam DiMarco, who plays a favorite student of Jack’s, does an admirable job of exchanging quips with Owen’s character.  Valerie Tian is outstanding as the art student that Delsanto sees as having the most potential, maybe even seeing a bit of herself in the girl.

The cast is let down by the script written by Gerald Di Pego, which starts out (like the chemistry between Owen and Binoche) so strong but becomes predictable and a little heavy handed. Director Schepisi doesn’t get everything from his actors, and when the emotions in the film get a little heated or raw, the film can’t produce the needed emotional response from the audience. There is one emotional scene near the end of the film between Jack and his estranged son, played by Christian Scheider, that is quite moving, but that only highlights the missing emotional tone that the film sorely lacks in the 2nd half of the movie.

“Words and Pictures” is a film that you so want to love, but because it never meets the potential of its cast, you can only mildly like it. It’s as if the film needed a kick in the pants from Delsanto’s character to do more…give us more fire in the belly and don’t settle for less. Unfortunately for us, the filmmakers didn’t take their own characters advice.   My Rating: Bargain Matinee

My movie rating system from Best to Worst:  1). I Would Pay to See it Again  2). Full Price  3). Bargain Matinee  4). Cable  5). You Would Have to Pay Me to See it Again

The film is currently playing in Atlanta area cinemas.  

“Words and Pictures” Website

"Cold in July" Movie Review

My review of "Cold in July" starring  Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard, Don Johnson.

"Cold in July"

Published on June 6, 2014 on CWAtlanta.cbslocal.com

Wayback Machine Archive Post

Photo courtesy of IFC Films

“Cold in July”

A young wife, Ann (Vinessa Shaw) is awakened at home by a noise.  She wakes her husband (Michael C. Hall), telling him “I think I hear something.” The husband, Richard, very nervously loads a handgun and then proceeds to find an intruder with a flashlight in his den. Richard tells the man to stop, the man moves and Richard shoots him, killing the man with one very unsteady shot.

It turns out the burglar is a known felon who has a long track record of committing crimes. The police determine that Richard will not be charged with anything as he had the right to defend his family from attack. The dead man has only one known relative, his father who has just been released from prison himself. The family tries to get back to normal, getting rid of the blood spattered furniture and cleaning the carpet. They go back to their ordinary life in the small Texas town, Richard with his frame shop, Ann teaching school and their young son in kindergarten.

But things don’t go back to normal. Richard learns that the father of the dead man, Russel (Sam Shepard), might be heading to their small town. Soon after, Richard gets a phone call where the person on the other end doesn’t say anything. Richard, feeling guilty over the killing, goes to the dead man’s funeral and meets the father, who menacingly mentions what a nice young boy Richard has.

Thus begins director Jim Mickle’s suspense filled cat and mouse game of a film that has a significant twist that I didn’t see coming. Writer Nick Damici has brought us a world where Richard from the start of the film is out of his elements. After he has shot the burglar, one of the characters in the film remarks that “he didn’t think he had it in him.” Richard is a family guy, used to dealing with mowing the grass and having to go to PTA meetings, not dealing with ex-cons who threaten his family. Cinematographer Ryan Samul, keeps the suspense going with creating a 1980’s Texas neighborhood that seems to change very quickly from a nice family neighborhood, to one that contains numerous shadows that give criminals a way to get to your backdoor.

The strength of this film is its cast. Michael C. Hall gives an incredible performance as Richard, a man  struggling to keep his family safe.  It’s a multilayered performance that shows Hall’s versatility.  Sam Shepard is perfect as the father who has revenge on his mind. Shepard fills the screen with a man who is wound way too tightly and could explode at any moment. Vinessa Shaw isn’t asked to do much other than play the supporting wife who cares deeply about her family. Easily, my favorite part in this film is the role played by Don Johnson. Johnson plays an outlandish private detective who wears ten gallon hats (white, of course,) and drives around in a country music blaring convertible that’s as big and bright as the western shirts he wears. This is a role that Johnson can run with, and boy does he, delightfully chewing up scenery. His boorish P.I. makes an excellent contrast to the reserve Richard and the quiet, slow talking Russel.

“Cold in July” is a superb suspense film that will keep you guessing till the end, with a cast that will make you want more. It also has an ending that will certainly be talked about in the movie theatre parking lot after the film.     My Rating:  Full Price

My movie rating system from Best to Worst:  1). I Would Pay to See it Again  2). Full Price  3). Bargain Matinee  4). Cable  5). You Would Have to Pay Me to See it Again  [twitter-follow screen_name=’Lastonetoleave’]

“Cold in July” is playing exclusively at Landmark Midtown Art Cinema

“Cold in July” Website