RIP: Karl Malden and Harve Presnell

By Eric Robinette | Thursday, July 2, 2009, 09:48 AM

And the tribute montage gets longer and sadder, now that both Harve Presnell and Karl Malden have left us.

I rather sheepishly admit I cannot write in depth about either man - my best memory of Presnell is his role as the irascible father-in-law in the Coen brothers’ Fargo. I most remember Malden for his roles in Elia Kazan’s A Streetcar Named Desire and On the Waterfront - NOT for his American Express commercials, I hasten to add.

Still, if you’re going to be remembered for something, it might as well be those three movies. And if you’re remembered for movies like those, I’d say you’ve done pretty well.

For more on these actors, I direct you to Joe Leydon’s evocative tribute to Presnell and to Glenn Kenny’s brief but punchy summation of Malden.

Both will be missed. TCM will pay tribute to Malden July 10.

In case you’re wondering where my weekly review is, that’s for Public Enemies.

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‘Public Enemies’ fires a near-bulls-eye

By Eric Robinette | Wednesday, July 1, 2009, 07:43 AM

With Public Enemies, director Michael Mann has delivered the best live-action movie of the summer.

So why do I have this funny feeling that I’m going to be among the few who really loves this film with Johnny Depp playing legendary gangster John Dillinger?

Maybe it’s the somewhat muted reaction I’ve read in other reviews so far. The consensus seems to be, “Well, it’s good, but it’s just not the classic it should have been.”

I will agree that Public Enemies does not deserve the label “classic,” but I think some have burdened the movie with overly high expectations. That’s not hard to do, given the talent involved. Anything less than a home run will seem like a disappointment to some - but any disappointment I felt with this movie was relatively minor. Mann is a master of the crime drama, and his portrait of the last days of Dillinger pulses with energy.

For some people, the movie may seem too cerebral, too studied, even though there are more than a few action scenes. Nobody shoots a gun battle like Mann does, but for me, the best parts of the film happened between the shoot-outs.

Mann, who also made Heat and Collateral, is legendary among filmmakers for his attention to even the minutest detail. He approaches his movies like a scientist, a historian, a psychologist and a sniper all rolled up into one. He particularly excels at getting inside the minds of his characters to show why they do what they do. With Dillinger, however, the key may be more why he doesn’t do things.

As played by Johnny Depp in an outstanding performance, Dillinger is someone who very much lives in the now. He doesn’t know how to do much of anything other than rob banks, but he has an effortless charisma that charms his enemies and his friends, especially a girl named Billie Frechette (an excellent Marion Cotillard, who won an Oscar for La Vie en Rose).

(For local history buffs, Dillinger’s Dayton arrest is referenced via a mug shot, but that event is not depicted in the film).

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Another deluxe edition of What Are You Watching

By Eric Robinette | Tuesday, June 30, 2009, 01:17 PM

For the second week running, movies come out on a Wednesday, so I hereby re-present this Deluxe What Are You Watching, covering today’s DVDs, tomorrow’s openings, and movies I’ve watched but not reviewed here.

DVDs

12 Rounds: You know, it’s funny. There WAS a time once when I thought Renny Harlin directing a movie was a good thing. Kind of a long fall from Die Hard 2 to a John Cena movie, isn’t it?

Do the Right Thing: One of the best films of the 1980s, Spike Lee’s chronicle of a particularly hot day in New York comes out in a new deluxe edition for its 20th (!) anniversary, although many of the extras are ported over from a Criterion laserdisc. (Remember those?)

The Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience: Featuring 1D music!

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li: Yawn. At least 12 Rounds looks like it might be entertainingly bad.

Two Lovers: This James Gray-directed drama got some good reviews, but for better or worse, will probably be best remembered now as Joaquin Phoenix’s “last” film.

In theaters

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs: I thought the first Ice Age was decent, but though the second one was actually rather bad. The reviews so far haven’t convinced me this third movie is a must-see. I’m still waiting for a film focusing solely on Scrat, the best part of any of these movies.

Public Enemies: Michael Mann’s take on the legendary gangster John Dillinger starring Johnny Depp and Christian Bale has been getting some lukewarm reviews. I think that temperature is too low. Review posts Wednesday.

Whatever Works: Neon opens up Woody Allen’s latest movie, with Larry David acting as the Woody figure. Evan Rachel Wood and Patricia Clarkson co-star. I don’t care if the reviews have been middling, I’m always in for whatever Allen makes.

Also, Easy Virtue transfers from the Neon to Little Art this weekend.

What I’ve Been Watching

Away We Go: John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph play an expecting couple who travel around the country to find the right home, only to realize everyone else is crazier than they are. The movie gets a little too self-consciously kooky at times, but the strong performances of the two leads keeps the movie grounded. Directed by Sam Mendes, the film makes a fascinating companion piece to his much bleaker (and underrated and misunderstood) relationship movie, Revolutionary Road. GRADE: B+

The Champ: Classic Hollywood weepie featuring an Oscar-winning performance from Wallace Beery as a washed-up fighter trying to make a comeback for his young son, played by an equally excellent Jackie Cooper. It’s sentimental and obvious, but it does a number on the tear ducts. GRADE: A

A Child is Waiting: Like many Stanley Kramer-produced message movies, this one about caring for developmentally delayed children comes across as heavy-handed and preachy at times. And I really wish the character played by Judy Garland wasn’t written to be such a mouse. To its great credit, however, the movie goes to great lengths to put a human face on the children, something that was very badly needed in 1963 - and still is now, truth be told. GRADE: B+

A Place in the Sun: This George Stevens melodrama about a sullen young man (Montgomery Clift) who contemplates killing Shelly Winters so he can be with Elizabeth Taylor is regarded as one of the all-time classics by many - but not by me. The ending in particular is heavy-handed and tries too hard to underline The Message We Must All Understand. It’s like George Stevens was an early Oliver Stone. Regardless, the movie still packs a punch when Stevens keeps a lid on the moralizing, allowing the outstanding performances to shine. Taylor never looked better than she did here. GRADE: B+

What have you seen lately?

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It’s almost time for the summer classic film series

By Eric Robinette | Monday, June 29, 2009, 11:37 AM

This weekend brings us the Fourth of July, but my favorite attraction won’t be the fireworks.

No, it will be the Victoria Theatre’s Ultra Cool Films series, which brings classic movies to downtown Dayton every year between July and August. I see well over 100 movies a year in the theater, but without a doubt, Victoria is where I have the most fun. There’s simply nothing like seeing a classic on the big screen with a big crowd.

And as I have mentioned before in this space, the Victoria holds a special place in my heart, because that’s the first movie theater I can clearly remember going to, back when it was called the Victory and it played a little movie called Yellow Submarine, kick-starting my self-defining interests in both the Beatles and movies.

The films play at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays. Passbooks containing 10 tickets are $24, and individual tickets are $4.75. Here are the offerings for this year, and my takes on the choices.

The Seven Year Itch, July 3-5: It’s not one of Billy Wilder’s greatest movies; the director himself thought it was something of a botch, since he didn’t get the lead he really wanted: a then-unknown actor named Walter Matthau. It’s rather dated, but there’s this girl named Marilyn in it, and there’s this one scene where she’s standing over a subway grate - and that alone is worth the price of admission.

White Christmas, July 10-12: OK, I get it, Christmas in July. That’s cute. But this is the one film in the roster that disappoints me a little. I know I’m in the minority, but I’ve always thought this film was overrated in the popular imagination. I would much rather have Victoria book the first version of the same story, the infinitely superior Holiday Inn. That’s where the song “White Christmas” really came from, and let’s face it. Danny Kaye was a lot of fun, but he simply wasn’t Fred Astaire.

The Sting, July 17-19: This makes for a nice tribute to the late, great Paul Newman. I saw this for the first time recently, and while it’s not as good as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, it’s still quite fun.

The following weekend has a different Jimmy Stewart film playing each day.

Vertigo - July 24: I already saw this film in a theater once this year when a megaplex in Columbus played it. Think that’s going to stop me from going again? Heck, no. It’s only my favorite film of all time.

The Philadelphia Story - July 25: Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn and Jimmy Stewart. Has there ever been a better trio of leads than that? No, there hasn’t.

Harvey - July 26: “Well, I’ve wrestled with reality for 35 years, Doctor, and I’m happy to state I finally won out over it.” Awesome. Just goes to show crazy people don’t know they’re crazy.

More after the jump …

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Michael Jackson - a sad but reluctant tribute

By Eric Robinette | Thursday, June 25, 2009, 10:07 PM

I shouldn’t be writing any tribute to Michael Jackson. I admit it.

For one thing, this is a movie blog, and Jackson didn’t make much of an impact on the movies. The best thing that can be said about his minimal contributions to cinema was that he was far and away the highlight of The Wiz, delightfully playing the Scarecrow in that bloated movie adaptation.

And for another thing, to be honest, I couldn’t properly call myself a fan. Oh sure, I liked him a lot in the Off the Wall/Thriller days, but I must be one of 12 people who have never owned a copy of Thriller. I liked most of the songs, but almost every track on that record was released as a single. Why buy the album when most of it was on the radio 24/7 in 1983?

Do you know how many Michael Jackson songs I have in my CD collection? Two - “Say Say Say” and “The Man,” the songs he wrote with Paul McCartney on McCartney’s album, Pipes of Peace. And as a Beatlemaniac, I always deeply resented Jackson for undercutting McCartney and snatching away the rights to the Beatles’ songs. It was at that point I started to lose interest.

And that King of Pop label? Paul McCartney fits that description better than Michael Jackson ever did. Michael Jackson stopped being the King of Pop the day he started calling himself that.

I believed those molestation accusations were true. Consequently, with the sole exception of “Billie Jean,” I couldn’t listen to anything from Thriller onward without cringing.

I hate to sound unkind so soon after his death, but I had to get those feelings out and burst a few of the bubbles that were already oversized. However, I would be lying if I said I didn’t feel a great sense of sadness at what we’ve lost.

I would never deny that Michael Jackson was a phenomenal talent. Anyone who says otherwise is a fool. I will forever remember that night in 1983 when he performed “Billie Jean” during the Motown 25: Yesterday, Today and Forever TV show.

Even though he was performing to a backing track, Jackson was absolutely rocking the room with that song. Then he did that … that THING with his feet that we later learned was called the Moonwalk. That moment took millions of breaths away - including mine.

Even amid all the controversies and all the mechanical music that marked his later years, there was still a part of me that wanted him to succeed. When news of his comeback concerts broke, the cynic in me scoffed. But that 12-year-old who was absolutely blown away by that “Billie Jean” performance was curious. Could he wow us again?

The saddest thing about his passing is that now we will never know. Michael Jackson may have died Thursday, June 25, 2009, but the Michael Jackson I loved watching had already been gone for a very long time.

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The Oscars go to 10 Best Picture nominees

By Eric Robinette | Thursday, June 25, 2009, 11:23 AM

Wednesday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that starting next year there will be 10 nominees for Best Picture.

I can’t quite decide if this is good news or bad news. Maybe it’s both. But I can tell you this much: I’m quite sure this is a direct response to a certain movie not getting nominated last year. it was called The Dark Knight.

The theory lately goes that the Oscars have been losing ratings and relevance because they don’t nominate popular hits enough. People complain the nominated pictures are too stuffy, pretentious or otherwise inaccessible/unseen to Joe and Jane Average, so viewership of the show has been declining.

That argument was always bunk anyway. People have increasingly short memories and forget the fact that Ghost and Four Weddings and a Funeral were both Best Picture nomineees. Neither of those is exactly “arty,” but still, there sat Ghost alongside Goodfellas and there sat Four Weddings alongside Forrest Gump and Pulp Fiction.

And it’s more than a little disingenuous of the Academy to suggest this hearkens back to the 1930s and 40s when there were 10 nominees, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Stagecoach, The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind were all nominated in the same year. Give me a break. 2009 isn’t 1939, and this ain’t no golden age for movies.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying popular movies shouldn’t be nominated. The Dark Knight absolutely should have made the cut. So should have WALL-E. Had there been 10 nominees last year, the field might have looked like this:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

The Dark Knight
Doubt
Gran Torino
WALL-E
The Wrestler

The good news is that deserving films that wouldn’t have made the cut will now. Pixar’s Up now has a real shot at the Best Picture prize, rather than having to settle for Best Animated Feature. Heck, even Star Trek has a chance now. The general consensus is that it is one of the most flat-out entertaining films of the year. It will deserve a nomination.

At the same time, it’s going to be a stretch sometimes to fill those 10 slots. And in so doing, I think Oscar will end up cheapening itself. Now that it’s that much easier to make the cut, maybe it’s not such an honor to be nominated after all.

What do you think of having 10 nominees? If this means movies like The Dark Knight get nominated, will you be more likely to watch the Oscars?

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Transformers ROTF: More is less

By Eric Robinette | Wednesday, June 24, 2009, 07:18 AM

Memo to: Michael Bay, director and sensory overloader

From: Eric Robinette, frazzled film reviewer, AKA Sir Critic

CC: Blog readers

I have to admit, Mike, I owe you my congratulations. I didn’t think you would do it, but you sure proved me wrong.

With Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, you have made your worst film since the atrocity known as Bad Boys II. Compared to this sequel, the first Transformers soars like the original The Day the Earth Stood Still.

Now, I can practically hear people’s eyes rolling. “Here comes the stuffy critic who can’t appreciate robots beating each other up.” Not so. Terminator 2: Judgment Day - I rest my case. But when a Transformers movie can’t even get the robot fighting right, it fails on the most basic level.

Speaking of leveling, I’ll be honest with you Mike. I went into your movie with a chip on my shoulder. I had a really bad day long before I saw the film. But that doesn’t mean I wasn’t willing to give your sequel a chance. I was hoping at the very least the movie would match the original: tolerable, but still mediocre. Heck, I thought it was vaguely possible you might surprise me and direct a movie I actually liked. You did it once with The Rock.

For the first hour or so, I thought the sequel might not be so bad. The action scenes often didn’t make sense, but that’s normal for you. At the very least, your editing wasn’t too frenzied, Shia LaBeouf was engaging, and a couple of ideas were actually kinda fun, particularly the one robot who could transform into something besides a machine. I’ll be nice and not spoil it for the other people reading this.

But then the movie kept going on …

And on …

And on …

And on ..

And on …

And on until finally 2.5 hours seemed like 2.5 years. I know you’re the master of excess, Mike, but I think you really should sell this movie to dental offices. By the time it was finally over, it made me totally numb.

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