‘To The Wonder’ Review: Where Viewers May Wonder Whether They Can Sit Through It All

Director Terence Malick’s visual poetry reaches new heights in the Ben Affleck-led To The Wonder. The result is a near silent piece of filmmaking that uses images to rattle our emotions, challenging viewers to draw conclusions to a very loosely plotted exercise.

Affleck stars as a man caught between his foreign lover and an American childhood friend. Malick uses imagery and some light voiceover to set most of the story up. Things happen over time so there is not a true plot line that is discernable up front, which forces the viewer to stay incredibly tuned in to the material in order to uncover the meaning.

The stars wonder what they have to do to get fed some lines.

The film is a meandering one, with characters often walking around seemingly aimless and mute. They use their vision and touch to interact or not. This can be a challenging experience for any filmgoer not to mention the actors, including Javier Bardem, Rachel McAdams and Olga Kurylenko. The whole thing is not without its merits, however.

Bardem’s priest struggles with his faith and desires for a female lover. Kurylenko loves Affleck but can’t seem to capture his heart and thus their commitment is tested. The whole thing is interesting but still leaves you wanting some form of traditional storytelling. Even though Malick’s lens gives you some usual visual treats, the sometimes mundane setting of what appears to be a Texas town can’t compare to his last effort Tree of Life.

If that film left you challenged, then this film is not for you. This is a mood film that you must be open minded for. If you simply can’t have enough of The Thin Red Line director, then have a look, but be prepared for a completely unique “movie.”

‘Spring Breakers’ Review: Disney Starlets, James Franco and Gangsterism

“I dreamt that I was hard.” – Dres on “U Mean I’m Not?”

Those are the last words on the first track of the debut album, “A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing,” by Black Sheep, a rap duo making up a part of the Native Tongues Collective alongside A Tribe Called Quest, Jungle Brothers, De La Soul and many others. “U Mean I’m Not?” is your introduction to the group and their music. Dres starts off in a gruff voice waking up in a bad mood. His first task is putting together his AK-47 and grabbing his “Rambo knife off the floor.” He bursts into his sister’s room for using his toothbrush, beats her up and shoots her. He goes downstairs for breakfast to find his mom has screwed it up, breaking his egg yolk. The penance? A bullet to the temple. His dad protests. He shoots him in the groin. He runs into the postman on the way out and slices his throat. All before waiting for the school bus to arrive. As you can see from the last line, this all happened in a dream. Being hard is not at all what Dres is about. And if you stick around for the track immediately following it, “Butt in the Meantime,” the bouncy rhythm is accompanied by the first words, “It’s times like this, that I’ve gotta crack a smile.” Hardly the words of anyone who purports to be hard.

Dres, Black Sheep and the opening song of “A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing” is a joke for what listeners would come to know of them and what they’re about. It’s a comment on the rampant gangsta rap running through hip-hop culture at the time. They were pretending to fall in line as a goof, only to turn an about-face and present themselves for who they really were. Meanwhile, in the actual gangsta rap arena established in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, flaunting your thuggish, gangster-ish qualities like drug dealing and gun clapping was the way to establish your authority. Though I don’t know the etymology of the term “studio gangster” and its first utterance, the earliest moment I’m aware of its use is by Eazy-E, directed toward his one-time N.W.A. groupmate, Dr. Dre, on his “Real Muthaphukkin’ G’s.” The implication was that Dre only purports to have been a gangster when inside a recording studio, but didn’t really live the life. Eazy-E was the genuine and authentic thing. This “more gangster than thou” (as “The Wire” creator, David Simon, once put it) attitude has continued through rap music and permeated pop culture up to now, through how many times 50 Cent had been shot, to Gilbert Arenas bringing guns into an NBA locker room and now to a group of girls on spring break in Harmony Korine’s “Spring Breakers.”

As you might infer from the above paragraphs, I love rap music. I’m also a white suburban kid in his thirties. I’ve never seen a gun in real life, much less had one pointed at me or fired one in the direction of someone. I may have worn a Houston Colt .45s hat while walking my dog this morning, but it was accompanied by a Taylor Swift t-shirt (and in truth, the hat is partly because of the colors, but mainly because I love “Django Unchained,” its soundtrack, and this final song from it: http://youtu.be/AlZeceNfm5U). I’ve also never seen any drugs harder than marijuana or ones that came in a prescription bottle (in some cases, those things were combined). And if given the option to live my life without being witness to any of it, I’d be more than happy. Being hard is not in my nature, but I’d also never purport it to be. The girls in “Spring Breakers” didn’t necessarily purport to being hard-natured either, at least not initially.

Brit (Ashley Benson) and Candy (Vanessa Hudgens) are in college, attending another in the long line of droning lectures being conveyed to them via powerpoint. Their focus isn’t remotely on the task at hand, but on the upcoming week off they’ll be getting in the form of Spring Break. Brit and Candy aren’t what most people would categorize as “good girls.” Brit takes hits from a vodka-loaded squirt gun. Candy takes bong rips of weed. They certainly appear to be tailor-made for the hard-partying debasement into debauchery a Spring Break vacation taken in Florida will afford to them. Unfortunately, “afford” is a key term.

Brit and Candy form together with friends Cotty (Rachel Korine, the director’s wife) and Faith (Selena Gomez) in attempt to pool their money together and just get away from their current lives for bit. For the aptly named, Faith, a church-going Christian warned of hanging out with Brit and Candy by friends at a faith group, getting away is really her only desire. She appears to mostly be a “good girl.” She smokes cigarettes, but so do the aforementioned church group friends. Getting involved with Brit and Candy, girls she’s known since kindergarten, is what can push her into other areas she may not be suited for. However, when adding up all the money between the four friends, they fall far short of a week-long Floridian trip and have to come about enough money by other means.

Money, Drugs, Hoes: Benson, Hudgens, Korine & Franco.

Brit, Candy and Cotty decide to rob a chicken shack. After a night of snorting cocaine, sucking back liquor and repeating mantras to themselves of pretending it’s like a video game and thinking of it like it’s a movie, they make their strike. Korine, the director, shoots the robbery from Cotty, the getaway driver’s, POV as she circles the building awaiting Brit and Candy’s return to the vehicle with squirt gun, hammer and mounds of cash, in tow. Because we as an audience don’t even hear the robbery and only catch glimpses through windows, when they flee the scene in celebration, it doesn’t seem so bad. Girls out for some relatively harmless fun. For us, it is still a movie.

Finally experiencing everything they dreamed in Florida, after a particularly illegal substance/booze-filled/furniture-destroying hotel room party, all attendees are arrested, including our felonious four females. Given the option at their sentencing of staying in jail for an additional 48 hours or paying their way out, their lack of money gives the collective only the former option. Their spring break is set to end behind bars until thye’re rescued by a guardian Alien (James Franco).

Until Franco gets involved in story, “Spring Breakers” is largely pointless. It’s a lot of montages of debauchery, drugging, drinking and driving around in scooters. The film is completely devoid of substance (aside from the literal) and very little characterization. This isn’t something that completely changes with the girls throughout the rest of the film, but Alien and Franco provide a badly needed jolt of narrative drive.

A tatted-up “white-boy” with dreads and a grill, perhaps manufactured by Paul Wall, are how Alien externally displays who he is. He has a rap song on YouTube. Like every good gangster rapper, he proclaims to have “Scarface” looping repeatedly. His bed is littered with bundles of drug money and assorted automatic weapons. It’s clear that he’s achieved his current life through means of his own, but how much remains somewhat unsaid. While Alien is able to scare off Faith, the others don’t go away. At one point, he has two guns stuck in his face and his gangster façade falls away until he resorts to disarming his captors in a way no gangster would dare dream up. Arcing throughout, Alien provides the girls with a sense of danger, idolization, whipping boy, sole mate and martyr. Alien needs the girls as much as they need him.

Franco is borderline brilliant in the role. Without him, the movie doesn’t (or at least, shouldn’t) exist. He gives Alien a vulnerability befitting a character who’s more about creating an exterior persona for fitting into what’s expected of him. He tells Candy and Brit they’re his solemates like a puppy in search of an owner. Though he probably feels he can drop the act with them, instead they force him to go even further with what for him may or may not be part of an act. They even ridicule him at one point, asking if he’s scared. And indeed he probably is.
Alien isn’t necessarily a studio gangster in every sense of the word. He does deal drugs. He does own guns. He does rob people and hurt them. However, there’s a sense that it isn’t completely innate. This is juxtaposed with his former best friend, now rival drug dealer, Archie (Gucci Mane), who certainly has the perma-high eyes and mumbled threatening speech you’d associate with a true thug. Alien, whose real name is Allen, can’t break from his past and now the girls certainly won’t let him do so, especially when Archie threatens Alien’s and their lives unless he backs off from his territory.

While Alien provides the hard exterior, but potentially candy-filled interior inside the film, I believe Selena Gomez is conjuring up the same act in real life. It’s understood why she and former “High School Musical” star, Hudgens, would flock to harder-edged material. It appears to be the sure-fire way of any former Disney star to be viewed by the public in a different light. Anne Hathaway decided to remove her clothes while starring in “Havoc” and “Brokeback Mountain” immediately after wrapping up “Princess Diaries 2” in order to distance herself from Disney wholesomeness. Nobody wants to be typecast. I understand that. For Hudgens, I believe starring in the film to be a less “important” step for her branching out. Now, I’d never seen her in anything (save for the infamous leaked photos a few years ago), so I don’t associate her with much of anything Disney. I believe even the public at large knows she’s not what most people would deem “a good girl,” purely based on the existence of those pictures. It’s not much of a shock to see her in something like “Spring Breakers.”

I believe Gomez had the much bigger hill to climb after just wrapping up “Wizards of Waverly Place” for the Disney channel last year. I agree that it would be shocking to any fans of her TV show to see this movie. But there’s a difference in being shocked by the content of a movie and being shocked by the content of a character. Gomez’ character, Faith, is the good girl. She’s the moral conscience of the film. She’s the one who goes to church. She’s not the one who robs the chicken shack. She’s the one who’s frightened by Alien. And she’s the one who exits the film halfway through its runtime. If she completely wanted to reinvent herself, she’d have played the Brit role or the more-extreme-in-a-way role of hard-partying Cotty. Instead, this feels like a half-measure.

I’m not saying Gomez should have chosen one of the other roles. Sure, it’s acting, but you still are who you are to a certain degree. Nobody hated Tom Hanks in “The Road to Perdition.” He killed people, but he was still the guy you were rooting for. He was absolutely the protagonist, if not the hero. What I’m saying is that I don’t believe being in this film, and having the role she did, will change much for Ms. Gomez. Until otherwise, I still believe her to be a “good girl.” After seeing “Spring Breakers” and it visualizing some of the actions you certainly were aware of taking place during that week-long absence from school, we need good, wholesome people in this world, too.

Some people really are hard. And for some, it’s just a dream.

Nicole Kidman & Matthew Goode Burn Slowly in Chan-wook Park’s ‘Stoker’: A Review

Stoker is a slow-burning Hitchockian-style piece of filmmaking that hits more than it misses. With Stoker, acclaimed Korean director Chan-wook Park, of Oldboy fame, makes his English language debut for American audiences. The film, which was one of the top screenplays in Hollywood yet to be made was originally to have bigger names until budget concerns led to the cast that ultimately came with the film. The film stars Nicole Kidman and Matthew Goode with Mia Wasikowska.

Kidman’s Evelyn plays mother to India (Wasikowska), a troubled teenager who can’t fit in in high school and has never connected with her Mom. Once India’s Dad passes away, this dynamic is forced to come to light as mother and daughter attempt to reconnect with little success. Enter India’s Uncle Charles, who has a disconnected family history at best. What unravels is a trail of murder and intrigue – who did what, who trusts who and who falls for who. It’s interesting stuff.

The oft-fetching Kidman seems less inviting in this ‘Stoker’ pic.

The film takes a while to get moving. It’s a very silent piece of filmmaking with mostly reserved, though solid, performances (particular from Kidman). Sounds go from small to big; footsteps and piano chords carry extra weight. Park takes his time unveiling the story and the evil that may or may not lurk within the characters. Park is a highly stylized director and he uses the color yellow to special effect in the film. Additionally, several shots place the camera in a unique position giving worthy tension to the piece. The film does falter in that it does feel soulless at times. From the performances to the painstaking pacing, particularly early on, this is a cold, didactic work.

Still, the “big” finish is fun stuff and Park shows he can do more than mayhem. He’s obviously drawn to dark characters and this film is no exception. It should please fans of his and Hitchcock in particular. I don’t see the film doing particularly well at the domestic box office though, so it does leave in doubt Park’s standing as a director working in Western cinema. Kind of curious that his first attempt is with a cast of foreigners – stars on some level though they may be – in what amounts to an Independent film. However, in the end, Stoker stokes the fire to Park’s career. He has style and versatility, akin to David Fincher, perhaps. Where it goes from here I don’t know, but I am eagerly on board to follow.

‘Side Effects’ Review: Soderbergh’s Last Film(?) Is Best of 2013 (So Far)

Director Steven Soderbergh has made a career out of telling unique stories with flair and precision on the big screen. From his indie debut Sex, Lies & Videotape to Side Effects, what reportedly may be his final big screen film, he’s never lost his edge and continued to develop and push himself within the medium. Side Effects, a title which hints at the side effects of drugs which play a huge role in the film, is a solid, calculating film that brings more to the table than you would expect.

Rooney Mara (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) and Jude Law star as patient and psychiatrist in the film. Mara’s Emily awaits the return of her husband (Channing Tatum) from prison after four years served for financial fraud (insider trading). Emily though, can’t handle the stress of her life and tries to kill herself by crashing her car. After survival, this leads her to the psychiatric care of Law’s Dr. Banks who begins to prescribe drugs for her to make her healthier and happier.

Dr. Banks (Jude Law) is blindsided in mysterious ”Side Effects’.

What unfolds is a series of situations that result in upping the ante of drugs for Emily and after a tragic event, Dr. Banks and Emily become tied to one another as events unravel. Soderbergh shoots the film with a tight focus on the subjects, which blurs the background, known as a shallow depth of field. The purpose is to have the audience semi-participate in the feeling of being drugged. Of course, beyond what is a clinical study, a thriller unspools on screen, a side effect, which means that there is more than than meets the eye.

Side Effects is not an outstanding film, but it is the best so far of 2013. It tells a story that you think you know and surprises the audience at the same time. It would be a shame if Soderbergh really does not direct for the silver screen any more. The auteur of Out Of Sight, Erin Brockovich, Traffic, Ocean’s 11 and more, has shown consistently that he is one of the better directors going for nearly two decades. Perhaps he moves on to another venture, but a man so skilled would be greatly missed in a medium often becoming more cookie cutter. That would be an undesirable side effect to his departure from directing. Let’s hope he keeps going.

‘Lincoln’ Review: Director Steven Spielberg Mocks Audiences & Filmmaking With Biopic

Steven Spielberg has made hands down one of the years most boring films with his awards contender Lincoln. The film, which chronicles the passing of the 13^th amendment to the constitution, where Lincoln and constituents freed the slaves, has about as much drama as paint drying. This is a shame, particularly considering the multitude of acting talent that is present for the film, including the sterling lead Daniel Day-Lewis. His Lincoln is unfortunately a reserved, understated gentle man whose convictions manifest themselves in one of thousands of diatribes throughout the picture.

Did I say diatribes? Yes, this film is almost entirely made up of scenes of Lincoln talking to those about the slavery issue with requisite arguing back and forth. Scenes go from the white house to the courtroom to the senate and house floor and on and on and on. No fewer than four different people were heard audibly snoring during the film for a reason. The film has a serious tone and one stamped by a continuous score that tells the audience how we should feel during each scene. A stirring speech about why there shouldn’t be slavery is given, set to the appropriate orchestral backdrop, repeat ad nauseum. Goodness.

Lincoln did an amazing thing by freeing the slaves. He did the right thing, the constitutional thing and the difficult thing, particularly given the times and opposition he faced. What the audience unfortunately faces in Spielberg’s picture is one that should have been made for the history channel, not on a large screen in a medium far underused for the purposes of this piece. Virtually no scope is to be found in Spielberg’s direction that made this worthy of being a big screen endeavor. The largeness of the ideas at play are ruined by the smallness of his film. It’s remarkable if not entirely predictable.

Spielberg has done this sort of thing before, with Amistad and Schindler’s List coming immediately to mind. The films don’t allow for the viewer to experience any feeling on their own as the themes and strings hammer home the point for you. Spielberg’s film should not be an Oscar contender in many instances (save for costume or set design and DDL’s performance) and the way he has made it, should not have been made for the silver screen. Viewers are left to shake their heads at this missed opportunity.

‘The Impossible’ Review: Film Based On True Story Packs Emotional Wallop

The Impossible is based on a true story about a family that survives the 2004 tsunami that devastated Thailand. The film is from Spanish director J.A. Bayona, who is known for horror film The Orphanage. Ewen MacGregor and Naomi Watts (particularly strong) star as Henry and Maria Belon, parents of three young children all on Christmas vacation at a Thai beach resort. The devastation that disrupts their paradise sets their incredible story of survival in motion.

The tsunami that levels the resort and just about everything around it is the clear centerpiece of the film. The event is depicted in what appears to be remarkably realistic, horrifying detail. The movie spares little in this event, willing to take you inside the family and their thoughts as the storm rips apart the resort and the fivesome, as it turns out. The storm’s wind, water and special effects are top notch, as is Bayona’s ultra close camera centered on Maria and her teenage son Lucas (Tom Holland) as they fight through the storm and try to reunite with their family.

The Belon duo clings to life on a mattress after a tsunami devastates Thailand.

The film falters in that it merely becomes more of a documentary in a sense after that. Yes, there are emotional moments, heightened by a continually present score that attempts to ring every tear out of you it can muster. After feeling swept up in this endeavor once or twice, the pull became resistible and you can sense the movie’s manipulation at work. Ultimately, the film lingers too long on some potentially emotional scenes and the survival portion of the film is not met with any real challenges. The family simply manages to not give up on their quest to seek each other out.

The Impossible may have been a nearly impossible story in real life, and the film makes you understand that during its devastational set piece. Unfortunately, while well done and emotional overall, the wear and tear of realizing this is simply a family that wants to reunite, without particularly tangible challenges outside of logistics played out on screen, luck becomes more of a factor in the film than anything else. You realize that the story is good, the acting is strong and the situation harrowing, but the film still feels a little over the top when not many twists and turns get in the way of the family’s survival.

‘Django Unchained’ Review: Tarantino’s Latest A Best Picture Contender

Django Unchained, a story about a slave turned bounty hunter, is vintage Quentin Tarantino. The director is known for his bloody shootouts and witty dialogue, both of which are personified in this revenge thriller starring Jamie Foxx as the titular Django. The film manages to satisfy critics and fans alike with inventiveness, originality and more in its 2 hour 45 minute runtime. The results are nothing short of another worthy awards contender from one of Hollywood’s current crop of master filmmakers.

Django is a slave freed by Dr. King Shultz, a German bounty hunter masquerading as a dentist (Inglourious Basterds’ Christoph Waltz). The opening Django salvo is on par with the directors last film, and though it is a story about Foxx’s Django, Waltz’ Schultz really carries the film. Supporting nods from Don Johnson and Samuel L. Jackson also are worthy of recognition. Django is “freed” to identify men who are wanted by Shultz and the comedic scene sets up the film where Django becomes more than a slave. Foxx’s transformation into a bounty hunter is not dissimilar to his portrayal of cabbie turned killer in Michael Mann’s Collateral. Good stuff, despite the role originally being intended for an even bigger star Will Smith. (Though the premise of Smith sounds fun, it’s hard to picture him doing much more with the role than Foxx achieves.)

Leo is riveting and ruthless in the challenging role of plantation owner Calvin Candie.

Django wants to find his wife to win her freedom, thus Shultz and Django form a bond that goes beyond partnership and borders on brotherhood. Shultz is seen as a “n*gger lover”, the word thrown around with reckless abandon, appropriate as it may be for the times, circa 1858. Tarantino writes with his usual humor and Django and Shultz travel the country as Django’s hunting skills grow, before they eventually meet plantation owner, Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). Candie is a bored man, infatuated by the audacity of Shultz and Django nobly riding on a horse on to his property. The setup in place, Shultz tries to buy Django’s wife from Candie and as they say, shit happens.

Unchained is pure Tarantino, the film has a few missteps but nothing that the strong performances, enticing direction and generally cracking dialogue can’t overcome. Tarantino infuses the film with passion, prejudice, humor and action, a difficult balance that few directors could pull off. His ability to get awards level performances from DiCaprio and Waltz should not go unnoticed come Oscar and Golden Globe season (the film having already received 5 GG nominations). You can’t help but admire Tarantino’s unique vision and bravery at tackling such challenging subject matter and succeeding wholeheartedly. Django Unchained is not a film for the masses, but one that can’t be ignored either.

Movie Review: Awards Contender ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ (2012)

Moviegoers should temper their expectations when heading to see Director Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty. The film is receiving significant awards hype, some of it justified, some not, as the story that documents the U.S. attempt to capture and kill al-Queda terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden. It’s a strong film, but not a transcendent one.

Osama is referred to as UBL in the film, which opens in the dark, with sound recordings of the victims of the 9-11 attacks in New York. The eerie tone is thus set and furthered when U.S. agents have captured an informant and routinely torture him to give up information that they feel is vital to their Bin Laden chase. These scenes are real and perhaps will be difficult for some. When Maya (Jessica Chastain) arrives on the scene, fresh and green, she makes it her mission to kill Bin Laden.

Maya (Jessica Chastain) needs to identify the body. The Cobra Kai would be proud.

The film centers around Maya and her growth from “may be too young to be ready” to battle hardened CIA specialist. Her passion and pursuit of her singular goal drive the film. The movie chronicles the inner workings of how some intel is gathered, the politics in Washington, D.C. surrounding their Bin Laden chase, the continued terrorist attacks, like London’s Heathrow, that take place from 2001 to his death and more. The piece plays out as a quasi-documentary, not that dissimilar to the recently released Argo, though different in tone.

Ultimately, when you know what happens at the end of the movie before the movie even starts, the experience of taking in the piece becomes more challenging. Bigelow succeeds in providing the story based on the info available to herself and screenwriter Mark Boal (The Hurt Locker, a 2009 Academy Award Best Picture winner). The moments have intensity, but perhaps not the sharpness that they might if you didn’t know the outcome. It’s a difficult balance to have to strike, presenting something as real and making a film that is interesting and engaging.

Chastain’s performance of Maya carries the film and is worthy of accolades. She sees her friends die, feels the heat and wear of her pursuit but strongly stands by her convictions throughout. Unfortunately, while the film is good, it does lead to more questions, particularly surrounding the actual events, the likelihood of certain occurrences being real and the way the politics are played out on screen. The final pursuit is exciting but lacks the bite it could have had if you were blind coming in. That will ultimately define the film for me, which is recommended but not earth shattering.

David O. Russell Is Perfect Choice For Romantic Dramedy ‘The Silver Linings Playbook’

Sometimes a movie can attack your vulnerability. David O. Russell’s heartfelt The Silver Linings Playbook is just such a movie. It’s a film that packs a stellar cast into a combustible mix of force and funny. The characters have three dimensions with real problems and their situations are such that even a Hollywood ending couldn’t ruin them. But O. Russell (director of Three Kings and I Heart Huckabees) always lives on the fringe of Tinseltown, which makes him the perfect foil to hide a romantic comedy inside an emotional, dysfunctional dramedy. Smart, heady stuff.

Playbook finds Bradley Cooper’s Pat home too soon from a mental institution after beating his wife’s lover into submission upon his catching them in the act. He mistakenly aches for his wife and his insecurity and insufficiency are palpable throughout. When Jennifer Lawrence’s Tiffany, a widow and not so comfortable in her own skin herself, is setup on a date with Pat – through her sister (Julia Stiles) and hurting and hilarious husband (the continuously strong John Ortiz) – the sparks fly, and not in a good way. Their fire is not a stove on simmer but a furnace sitting on heat for a month that’s ready to be exposed to a lit match.

Comedy subtly mixes with drama in O. Russell’s unconventional genre bending “Playbook.”

Pat and Tiffany work through eachother to get what they want; Pat to reconcile with his estranged wife and Tiffany, to be more liked by the world around  her, and secretly, Pat. Robert De Niro is Pat’s Philadelphia Eagles obsessed, gambling and distrusting father. Pat’s looney bin cohort (Chris Tucker) who frequently escapes, provides a welcome balance of comedy to the tension between Pat, Tiffany, his brother, mom, the local cop (a Dash Mihok sighting) and just about anyone else you can think of. O. Russell conveniently lets the boys come to his party, while having a strong female lead handle the emotional core.

When Pat joins Tiffany for her dance off, the real emotions between Pat, his wife, Tiffany, and the entire crew of family and friends is revealed. Playbook allows you laugh at the dysfunction while secretly tugging at your heartstrings. It’s a delicate act of a director at the top of his craft. There are not many false notes in this one, with Pat constantly struggling against himself and his anger. The performances are epic and the film is the welcome surprise of the season thus far.

Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren are Oscar Contenders for Roles in ‘Hitchcock’

Sacha Gervasi’s Hitchcock is an interesting blend of film tones and genres. With Anthony Hopkins settled into Hitch’s fat suit and prosthetics, the film crackles with much more humor than originally anticipated. Balance that against a relationship drama, featuring Oscar bait Helen Mirren as Alma, Hitch’s wife and the juxtaposition is set. Sprinkle in some dream-like scenes stuck in Hitch’s mind and bookend’s in which Hitchcock speaks directly to the audience, Ferris Bueller style, and you have a film that pleases its audience without challenging them. Hitchcock is an entertaining crowd-pleaser for fans, if not much more for audiences looking for something specific.

Hopkins plays the lead with great constraint and humor. While you can see Hopkins embedded into the character, it never becomes distracting, and rather is the opposite, where you can be entertained by and champion his performance. He’ll be heard from come awards season. The film centers around a dry period in the director’s career, where he chooses to risk it all by self-financing Psycho. The movie is based on true events with fictional elements tossed into the fray.

Hitchcock (O.S.) offers ScarJo (Janet Leigh) a Jamba Juice, which she strongly rejects.

Hitch is a boozer and would be womanizer, obsessed with his leading ladies, while Mirren’s Alma struggles to support him and stay true to him. The pressure of making Psycho weighs heavily on their marriage and plays out with intriguing drama. The humor Hitch displays throughout – there are several laughs – shows a man who is twisted even when he isn’t in complete control. Gervasi handles it all with a delicate balance that is slow moving but still interesting.

Supporting turns from Psycho‘s cast in Scarlett Johannson as Janet Leigh (solid) and Jessica Biel as Vera Miles (less utilized) don’t add up to much, simply because they are there as eye candy to enthrall Hitch’s mind. Toni Collette and the Karate Kid himself, Ralph Macchio, also add to the strong cast. The film is not a Best Picture Oscar contender, but acting noms are highly likely for the two leads. Gervasi becomes one to follow, with the great doc The Story of Anvil in his back pocket and a writing credit for Tom Hank’s 2004 film The Terminal at his disposal. Gervasi’s My Dinner With Herve, starring Peter Dinklage as the diminutive “Love Boat” star Herve Villechaize is now notably bookmarked.