In a city as vast and populated as New York, the new film Jack Goes Boating is a small story centered around four locals. Adapted from a play of the same name, the film stars Philip Seymour Hoffman as the titular Jack, a single man who keeps to himself in the basement of his Uncle’s house.  It’s apparent that Jack struggles to connect with people (a potential social disorder of some sort?), but he maintains one close friendship with his co-worker Clyde.

Jack and Clyde are limousine drivers mired in the routine of their work for years. While Jack comforts himself with the positive vibes of reggae music, Clyde is the self-medicating type who has a wife to go home to.

The story begins with Clyde and his wife attempting to set-up their respective co-workers Jack and Connie on a blind date. Both potential date partners seem ambivalent but acquiesce just the same.  There are hints at likely trauma in both Connie and Jack’s pasts, and they carry that forth into their odd but endearing interactions with one another.  Still, their relationship is only half the story.

Clyde’s burgeoning friendship with Jack is approached with a mentor and pupil mentality of sorts with Clyde leading Jack in an adult version of the birds and bees. This is emphasized while Clyde is attempting to hold together a tenuous marriage at home.  What unfolds is an interesting story about friendship, a tender love story, betrayal, and even strength where you sometimes least expect it. This also shows the growth of a man when he is encouraged to engage.

Hate to disappoint you, but 'Jack Goes Boating' not "motor-boating."

There are several laughs throughout, but the brilliance of Hoffman’s directorial debut is that the laughs are often in the awkward pauses between the characters rather than in the bizarre things that they sometimes say or the peculiar ways they express themselves.  Sometimes you suppose that Jack and Connie simply are afraid to say what they feel, and then one (usually Connie) will say something that floors you.  Good stuff.  The only drawback here is that you can see the story unfolding with the inevitable ending developing from a mile away.

The mini-dreadlocked Jack is the lead character but really equal time is devoted to the four main actors who carry virtually every frame of film. TV veteran John Ortiz’s Clyde makes an impression as a charismatic man with issues that are hidden beneath a harder, jovial exterior. Hoffman and Ortiz are co-founders of the LAByrinth Theater in New York and their easy real-life friendship leads to an uncommon chemistry on the big screen. I anticipate Ortiz’s work will steadily increase from such valued screen time in this role.

Amy Ryan continues to show she deserves more work by tackling the challenging role of Connie and convincing us that she exists on every level.  Part paranoid and tortured, the other part gentle and loving; you waste no time believing that Connie and Jack couldn’t share a relationship despite their obvious deficiencies.

This is a mature work that is definitely not mainstream but completely worthy of an audience, particularly for fans of independent cinema or quirky relationship comedies.  While the drama of how it all turns out is rarely in doubt, its still an enjoyable journey to get there, and that is what matters most here.

The Rock is in the building!  Dwayne Johnson is set to take over where Brendan Fraser left off by starring in the Journey to the Center of the Earth movie sequel.  The surprise 2008 hit has earned a sequel titled Journey 2: The Mysterious Island which will be shot in 3-D.

Fraser will not be returning due to scheduling conflicts (a little strange to me, since he doesn’t seem to be that busy these days), so DJ steps in.  Brad Peyton is on board to direct and Josh Hutcherson will still star as explorer on the cusp, Sean Anderson.  Heat Vision has more:

Johnson will play the boyfriend of Hutcherson’s mom, who Hutcherson is forced to bring on a trip to a mythical and monstrous island to find his missing grandfather. The script is loosely based on Jules Verne’s “The Mysterious Island.”

Three other characters will be introduced in the movie and cast during the next few weeks. Production is eyeing a late October start in North Carolina and Hawaii.

I’m thinking the quote from HV has the name of Hutcherson wrong, and it should be Anderson but not sure.  I never saw the ‘08 film (or the 1959 original for that matter), which grossed almost $250 million worldwide.  I’m a little surprised that they would go forward without Fraser, but The Rock has similar experience in his repertoire these days and I like Johnson enough that he would appear a reasonable alternative.  If you saw the original, let me know what you think of the new casting.

Louis Letterier, who helmed both Hulk and Clash of the Titans has been replaced for the sequel to the April blockbuster.  Clash of the Titans 2 is to be directed by Jonathan Liebesman of the yet to be released Battle: Los Angeles.  While Titans semi-disappointed stateside, due to its reported $125 million budget, it still has grossed almost $500 million worldwide, making it an undeniable success, so word of a sequel is now less surprising.  Heat Vision says:

Liebesman, repped by CAA and Principato-Young, nabbed the gig from the strong footage execs saw of “Battle: Los Angeles,” the director’s upcoming “Black Hawk Down”-style alien invasion movie from Columbia, which showed he could handle large-scale action and intense visual effects. The footage also impressed at Comic-Con, where is stood out from forthcoming wave of alien invasion flicks.

The original remake of the 1981 film, whose stars were Sam Worthington (Avatar) and Gemma Arterton, are among some of the actors who are expected to return for the sequel.

Liebesman is a minor surprise as a choice because his film has yet to be released, but Warners could see a coup in nabbing him early as well.  Additionally, those who saw the first film will be glad to know it will be shot entirely in 3-D, as opposed to the semi-generic process of adding in 3D after the film was shot on regular stock.  It remains to be seen how this project will shape out, we’ll let you know more as it does.

Fresh off his third straight Emmy victory last night for Best Actor in a Dramatic TV Series for “Breaking Bad,” Bryan Cranston is set to tackle a role on the larger screen.  He and “Southland” star Michael Cudlitz are joining the cast of The Grief Tourist for Vision Entertainment Group.  About the new movie, from Variety:

Story centers on a troubled soul who retraces the footsteps of serial killers who fascinate him as his hobby. His dark obsession with past killers soon becomes his reality and leads viewers on a menacing and horrific journey inside his twisted mind.

I’ll be honest, I don’t watch much TV outside of sports, so I have never seen Cranston’s work in Breaking Bad, but it is obviously regularly lauded, and those close to me, hold it in incredibly high esteem.  I’d probably watch if I was planning on watching something on the tele, so that’s high enough praise for me.  While the story for The Grief Tourist doesn’t specify, it is assumed (wrong or right) that Cranston is the “troubled soul” in the clip above.  (It might be Cudlitz, so if you clarify, let me know).

Anyway, it actually sounds potentially intriguing and Cranston’s popularity power position seems ripe for the ubiquitous jump to the big screen that TV stars have traditionally taken.  This role seems to suit him (from what I’ve heard).  Let me know what you think.

It’s Friday again, so whether you are looking for that one special movie poster, the best in movie posters from around the web, that movie one sheet or character poster that will eventually become your favorite piece of movie memorabilia, or simply the coolest film posters around, I have all the latest right here for your head start in our Original Movie Poster Round-Up. This ought to kick start your movie weekend just right.

A lot of posters to get to this week, so here’s the line-up. In order, the posters are: Like Dandelion Dust, Gerrymandering, Unstoppable, Stone, A Little Death, Never Let Me Go (3 character posters if you will), The Man In The Maze, Machete and The American International posters, The Freebie, Tangled, and Fair Game.  Thanks as always to IMP Awards for the drops.

I left one movie off my previous post from 2007, which was my Part One list of Twelve Movies From The Last Five Years That I Wanted To Like But Didn’t.  Remaining are the movies from 2008 and 2009 that made (or didn’t make, if you look at it that way) the cut.

2007 continued

American Gangster

Common = Gangster in RIdley Scott's American Gangster.

This movie was built up to be pretty big in the minds of those that love a gangster film.  You have Denzel, Russell Crowe, Ridley Scott directing, a Jay-Z-laden soundtrack, and comparisons to the classic film Scarface, then…ehhh.  The movie was just okay. It wasn’t along the same lines of the Pacino/DePalma classic, it didn’t really move me, nothing about it was very memorable, even though it was a solid film.  It was just another movie and that was disappointing. I still haven’t seen it since.

2008 – Be Kind, Rewind & Blindness

Be Kind, Rewind

Be Kind featured Mos Def and Jack Black, an odd and intriguing pairing, mixed with the directing talents of Michel Gondry, and the result was one of the weakest movies of the year.  Mos was almost impossible to watch (to listen to him), the lo-fi film recreation storyline should have been a lot more fun, and it really amounted to a schlocky, underwhelming piece, that made me further question the talents of those involved, and have highly soured me on Gondry as a director. He has to earn back the good will that he built with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and I don’t know that he is up to the task.

Blindness

This turned out to be the biggest rip-off ending in a film that I have seen in years.  With Fernando Meirelles helming one of my favorite films of the past decade and a high-ranking personal favorite of all-time in the amazing City of God, this was an opportunity to see him take the next huge step as a director and reap the rewards that fans of City of God wanted for him. (Fernando, feel free to mix in a Lil’ Dice cameo).  Instead, he didn’t take advantage.  The movie kept your attention (though not easily) for the duration and then yanked the rug out from beneath your feet in a horrendous ending.  I don’t know that I will ever forgive him.  BTW, Fernando, call me – because in truth I don’t remember the ending, I just know I absolutely hated it.

2009 – Bronson, Watchmen, The Hangover & Public Enemies

Bronson

Tom Hardy was Bronson, pre-Inception.

Nicolas Winding Refn’s film built up as A Clockwork Orange type of film, but was nothing more than a weird, sordid tale about a guy, told in an odd, and rather uninspiring way.  I was very high for the film before I saw it only to be incredibly let down. It was actually hard to make it through. I know it was based on a true story, but it didn’t redeem it at all for me. I hoped for a lot more.

Watchmen

This was a film that had a great trailer. Normally I wouldn’t have had much interest in a film like this, but it was built up to be perhaps one of the biggest movies ever, and landed with a rather resounding thud.  This wasn’t a horrible work, but if you counter it with a movie like The Dark Knight which more than matched the hype, it only exaggerated the difference of what this film might have been.  I think Zack Snyder may be able to become an interesting director, but he also might be the next Michael Bay. At this point, the meter is swinging in the “Bay” direction. Not good.

The Hangover

I don’t like comedies. Rarely, do they ever live up to my expectations, which are, I don’t know, how do I say this, to….laugh during the movie.  Is that too much to ask?  Absolutely. I chuckled two to three times during the film.  That does not a good movie make, nor is it worthy of being the biggest comedy of all-time.  This movie exemplifies how different the tastes of mainstream America and mine are.  I envy you, mainstream audiences.  To derive enjoyment from such average work must be nice. I wish I was as easily entertained, but alas, I am not. I’d rather be hung over, than watch The Hangover.  It was not believable, nor very fun.

Public Enemies

I have to include this movie on the list, because we did a dedication week to Michael Mann here on The Film Nest, and I (essentially) had breakfast with the man a few months ago. I was hoping for another movie along the lines of his previous actioners such as Heat and Collateral.  This did not match that.  I don’t think that this is a bad movie by any means, it just wasn’t great, and I thought it had the potential to be that.

Casting Johnny Depp (a feminine man in a masculine role) was the starting point of this heading down the wrong path.  The action was ordinary and you didn’t care enough about the characters to engage in the story.  It was a movie you simply watched but didn’t interact with. For that, it makes the disappointing list.  And Michael, next time we are at breakfast, easy with the staring at me brother, I’m just trying to eat and mind my own business.  Don’t use me for your script inspiration – unless of course, you really, really needed it.

I hope all movies I see are entertaining, but the odds are stacked wildly against me.  In the next five years, if I lower my expectations, perhaps there won’t be a need to compile such a list. I’m counting on you Hollywood, to bail me out.  If not, my pen (or keyboard in this case) is ready. Good luck.