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Friday, April 4, 2008
‘Leatherheads’ kick is good, but too light
When Leatherheads opened with a vintage Universal Pictures logo (the one with “Universal Pictures” circling a reflective ball), my nerves tingled and I thought, “Nice. This is going to be a fun blast from the past.”
And it was. So why am I having a hard time remembering the movie only a couple of weeks later?
Make no mistake, George Clooney, who directs and leads the cast, has made a fun screwball comedy. I only wish it were a little screwier.
The movie takes place in the 1920s, when professional football wasn’t very professional. The teams and games were decidedly ragtag. College football was where the real action happened - and where the fans went, as Clooney amusingly shows in his opening scenes. The game is so rough and tumble, a new tackle on the team hits the opposing players by punching them out.
Even that spectacle isn’t enough to keep the team going, and everyone goes their separate ways - until the suave team leader Dodge Connelly (Clooney) helps persuade a college hotshot and war hero Carter Rutherford (John Krasinski) to join the team. The wrench in the works comes in the form of sassy reporter Lexie Littleton (Renee Zellweger), who is determined to prove that Carter isn’t all he’s cracked up to be.
Leatherheads looks great, with excellent period detail and golden-age-of -Hollywood sheen, aided by a rollicking Randy Newman score,. The three leads play well together with snappy banter aplenty. Unfortunately, Leatherheads is so light, some of the air goes out of the movie.
Part of the problem is the romance. As was the case with 21, the coupling of the leads feels more obligatory than romantic. The actors have decent chemistry, but there’s no real reason for them to get together other than that unwritten Hollywood rule that states “When members of the opposite sex bicker, they shalt eventually fall into bed.”
Despite the carefree vibe, Leatherheads swings awkwardly from being a zany Howard Hawks-ian farce to a heartfelt Frank Capra comedy to a zingy Preston Sturges social commentary. One mode would have been better than three. If anything, I would have liked the movie better had it been zanier. Football fans should also note that football scenes are not as dominant as advertised.
Perhaps expectations weigh too heavily on my mind. Clooney has had such a strong track record as an actor and a director, I can’t help but expect better than a lark. Then again, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, made by less accomplished filmmakers, captures the screwball style better than Leatherheads.
Irrespective of its flaws, Leatherheads still scores. What should have been a touchdown, however, is more like a fairly impressive field goal. GRADE: B-
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Scorsese shines the IMAX light on the Stones
As a die hard Beatlemaniac, I’ve always felt somewhat cool toward the Rolling Stones. That’s why for me, the attraction of their new concert film Shine a Light was more its director, Martin Scorsese, than Mick and company. The film opens today, exclusively in IMAX at Showcase Cinemas Springdale.
So it pains me a little to report that Scorsese is not in top form. Considering he directed one of the greatest concert films (The Band’s The Last Waltz) and one of the most fascinating music documentaries (No Direction Home, about Bob Dylan), Shine a Light should have been great, not merely very good.
Scorsese and editor David Tedeschi overcut some of the footage, which goes by in such a blur it becomes hard to absorb at the beginning and the end of the concert. Occasionally, when a particular musician is on camera, the otherwise spectacular sound mix overplays the instrument in question, creating a distracting effect.
Most egregiously of all, Scorsese keeps interrupting the concert with archival interviews, all of which mean to say “Wow, isn’t it amazing these guys are still alive and kicking?” One or two of these segments would have sufficed. Instead, we get about four times as many.
Nonetheless, with a director of Scorsese’s caliber, even a slightly off day is still miles better than most good days. Shine a Light is not a great film, but it has more than its fair share of great moments. When Scorsese settles his pacing down, the concert footage, filmed in late 2006 in New York City during the Bigger Bang tour, is absolutely thrilling.
Refreshingly, the set list refrains from being a greatest hits reel. Sure, there are some radio staples here, like “Start Me Up” and the inevitable “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” but there a number of lesser-known tunes as well. Whether the songs are familiar or obscure, all of them sound great, with the Stones seeming virtually tireless. I’m convinced that at some point Jagger replaced his spinal cord with a rubber band.
Among my favorite numbers was a low-key “As Tears Go By” with Keith Richards strumming a 12-string. The guitarist is actually rather charming in this film, and he gets the best line, astutely observing of himself and fellow guitarist Ron Wood: “We’re both pretty lousy, but together we’re better than 10 others.”
Other highlights included a scorching rendition of “Sympathy for the Devil,” with Jagger making a particularly dramatic entrance, and the scintillating “Live with Me,” with a glowing Christina Aguilera more than holding her own with Jagger.
One of the best features of Shine a Light is how great it looks. Just as he did with The Last Waltz, Scorsese worked with a team of ace cinematographers. The ringleader is Robert Richardson, who won an Oscar for Scorsese’s The Aviator. On his crew are Robert Elswit (There Will Be Blood), Emmanuel Lubezki (Children of Men), Ellen Kuras (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), and Andrew Lesnie (The Lord of the Rings), among others. To have any one of these cameramen would be great; to have them all is mind-blowing.
And despite his mis-steps, Scorsese captures most of the action very well. His most ingenious idea was to preface the concert with a making-of segment, casting himself as the harried taskmaster, fielding complaints about his darting cameras, fretting over not knowing the set list, and worrying about burning Jagger alive. A la This is Cinerama, this sequence takes up only part of the screen, allowing the concert to fill the IMAX screen - and our eyes and ears.
That’s all to the good. Prior to seeing the film I wasn’t that interested in seeing the Stones live. Shine a Light changed my mind.
GRADE: B+
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