Carly at the Movies: Show me the money(ball)
Arise, Computer Geeks! Your movie is here! After years of gradually replacing second bananas with Chubby Little Nerds, you’ve finally lured Brad Pitt to the cool side. From now on, the sky’s the limit in the new movie “Moneyball,” currently playing in neighborhood stadiums everywhere.
Considering how many times baseball has come to bat in Hollywood, there are really only a few solid hits in the genre. The Pitt-produced “Moneyball” is surely going to rank among the top five or six, right up there with “Pride of the Yankees” and “Bull Durham.”
Although the film is sometimes as long as a real baseball game (i.e. seemingly endless), the power and charm of Brad and his buddy fighting the powers-that-be carries the day. Jonah Hill, that “Superbad” guy, are the unlikely heroes in this movie based on the real story of the 2002 Oakland Athletics unlikely season.
Brad plays real-life Billy Beane in a Robert Redford Lite performance, with Philip Seymour Hoffman as real-life grumpola manager Art Howe.
The fascinating story – as penned for the screen by heavyweights Steven Zaillian (“Schindler’s List”) and Aaron Sorkin (“The West Wing”) – concerns how the Oakland General Manager, Beane, changed baseball thinking by putting together a bargain basement ballclub through relying on statistics instead of the judgement of his scouts. He hired a Harvard economics grad (in the movie Jonah Hill says he went to Yale) and they used statistical data to pick their players. In a peanut shell, that’s it.
It’s basically the Bad News Bears. Except it really happened. And the stories of their various cut-rate players are sprinkled throughout the movie, always moving it forward. Beane had 40 million dollars to spend on the salaries for his team. The Yankees, by contrast, had 126 million, and could afford the “best” players.
Baseball fans will undoubtedly remember what happened. Not being one myself, I didn’t. But both groups will enjoy this film, including the brief cameos by 13-year-old Kerris Dorsey, playing Beane’s daughter, who virtually stole the off-the-field goings-on.
Computer Geeks, Statistic-Keepers and Numerical Nerds have been waiting for this movie to come along since the invention of the Abacus met the founding of baseball. Surprisingly enough, it’s interesting and charming and uplifting – basically everything you’d want in a movie about real life.
Brad Pitt should probably stick to roles like this, based on actual down-to-earth characters. He’s quite likeable, and a long ways from his “Troy” fiasco.
I’d hate to call this film “cerebral,” a tag that usually dooms a movie to oblivion, but it is so well written and directed and acted that you’ll find yourself siding with the brainiacs who, at least in this happy instance, turn out to be right.
Carly at the Movies column by Carl Larsen
Carl Larsen: ‘One Day’
“Let’s go see the new Hugh Grant movie!” chirped Poppy, my movie buddy. It was a mistake. The film, “One Day,” had neither Hugh Grant or much of anything else to recommend it unless, like me, you just enjoy looking at Anne Hathaway.
Poppy had been told by one of her myopic friends that “oh, you know, that charming British guy” starred with Anne Hathaway in this love story based on David Nicholls 2009 novel. He wrote the screenplay too, so blame him.
It’s an interesting idea. You take two friends with (and sometimes without) benefits, show what their lives are like on the same day each year for 20 years. It was set on St. Swithin’s Day (July 15th) and proceeded from their first encounter to their last.
The problem is, the guy (uncharmingly played by Jim Sturgess) had no charisma, and there was a total lack of chemistry for Anne Hathaway to work with. I found I didn’t much care what happened to either of them. So we watched them for (what seemed like) 20 years. Neither of them changed much. She had different hair styles. He shaved. Big whoop.
Sturgess is supposed to be this privileged playboy who disappoints his parents – the mom is wonderful Patricia Clarkson –- who drifts from girl to girl and glitzy job to glitzy job on his way down, while Anne works as a waitress then teacher then author.
She’s always been in love with him (for reasons I could never figure out) and he’s always been in love with him, too. So dewy-eyed Anne carries the torch for ages, and things end up – well, not like you’d expect. Suffice to say the ending is not exactly the kind of feel-goody junk you usually get at the end of a chick flick.
At least one of them isn’t chasing the other one through an airport.
What I think happened was, it wasn’t the kind of a novel that makes a peppy screenplay. You follow these two people around from Scotland to England to France and over the long haul the book comes to some conclusions about Life and Stuff. Not exactly popcorn fare, y’know?
The film is directed by Lone Scherrig, the New Zealand director responsible for “An Education,” that fabulous movie from 2009.
Well, there is always something good to be found even in the worst movies, and it was a treat for us Anne Hathawatchers, with her wide Julia-esque smile, and big lanky little girl beauty. And Rafe Spall added a little comic relief playing an unfunny stand-up comic. Plus drifting through the landscapes of Europe is a much better way to spend a hot afternoon in Pittsburgh. If you add popcorn, anyway.
Film review by Carl Larsen
Carly at the Movies: Crazy, Stupid, Love
Remember the last time you left a theater so hopped up that you wanted to urge all your friends to see a particular movie instantly, but still not wanting to spill the beans about the plot because it was so rewarding? Like the first time you saw “Little Miss Sunshine” in 2007 or “Juno” in 2008? Well I’ve got a new one you: “Crazy, Stupid, Love.”
At first it seems like just another middle-aged-couple-bored-with-each-other-and-going-through-a-divorce movie. Gee, we’ve seen a zillion of those in the past few years. They usually star a few slightly older actors who can still draw a decent crowd, like Jack Nicholson or Jessica Lange or Harrison Ford.
But unlike those creaky old formula romances, this bright new film suddenly it takes off, following what seems like several different story lines about several different generations of people, each one as charming and courageously goofy as the last. And as the intricate tale tightens, the surprises begin to happen left and right, and the climax is simply brilliant, full of tenderness and recognition.
This romantic comedy drama has an ensemble cast that seems to have been put together in Casting Heaven. The leads are adorably cuckolded Steve Carell, smokey cuckolder Julianne Moore, and suave wingman Ryan Gosling, but everyone – absolutely everyone – adds depth to the story and delight to the beholder.
Three semi-newcomers stand out: old beyond his young years Jonah Bobo, starry-eyed teenager Analeigh Tipton, and healthy hottie Emma Stone. Toss in a pinch of Marisa Tomei (her funniest bit since “My Cousin Vinnie”), some watery-eyed Kevin Bacon, and stir with that naughty “Bad Santa” directing team of Glenn Ficarra and John Requa and you’ve got something to stew about.
The script was written (by Dan Fogelman) with real people wit instead of bathroom humor, and comes together so beautifully that you leave the theater with that glow of satisfaction you used to feel before most movies became nothing but dumbed-down vehicles for special effects.
This peachy hunk of cinema works on several levels, like the old Ron Howard classic “Parenthood” back in 1989. Young love and nearly-young love are explored hilariously, in a way I’ve never seen before. Middle-aged love with all its aches and pains is only heightened by Carell’s guy-next-doorness. And even the hip young dating scenes, full of twentysomethings too gorgeous to be alive even has a comic approach showcasing Gosling’s impressive talents. This guy is slicker than snot on a glass doorknob.
It is just so refreshing to see a film that is not about shallow and incredibly beautiful young girls who somehow fall desperately in love with ordinary guys who are either too fat, too stupid, too childish, or too terrified of commitment to merit existence. (Obviously, movies are made nowadays for the exclusive enjoyment of teenage boys, no matter what their age.)
Given that, you can understand why I’m so enthusiastic about “Crazy, Stupid, Love.” Gosh, if all movies were as good as this one, I’d quit working for a living and take up writing movie reviews.
Carly at the Movies column by Carl Larsen
Carly at the Movies: ‘Horrible Bosses’
It’s a shame that Shakespeare never hooked up with the Three Stooges, because together they might have come up with something like “Horrible Bosses,” a snart and funny new comedy that proves the head that wears a crrown sometimes gets bopped with a rolling pin.
Your grandma (well, mine, anyway) will probably tsk-tsk-tsk at all the smarmy, outright raunchy, dialogue. But those of us who can still giggle at the battle of the sexes will enjoy this light comedy. It stars Jason Bateman, Kevin Spacey, and a star-studded supporting cast that’s obviously having a ball, including Jennifer Anniston as a hot and horny dentist.
Bateman, as he did in the TV classic series “Arrested Development,” plays a suck-up stooge for C.E.O. Kevin Spacey in one of his patented Evil Overseer roles. Bateman meets the other two stooges, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis, at a local tavern and finds they are both also suffering Horrible Boss syndrome. It’s an ailment that many of us blue collar guys live with, but theirs are collectively – well, Horrible.
As they stand around guzzling beer and complaining, it isn’t long before you’ll be remembering “Strangers on a Train,” and following our friends in search of a hit man at a sleazy joint downtown. Enter Jamie Foxx as a cool combo con man and “murder consultant.”
Meanwhile, the other two horrid bosses, Colin Farrell and Ms. Anniston. are busy being bad – Colin attempting to destroy his old man’s company and sex-starved Jennifer contriving to deprive mild-mannered, squeaky-voiced Charlie Day of his pantaloons.
Donald Sutherland appears briefly as Farrell’s dad, and later in the film we find Julie Bowen and in a late cameo, the great Bob Newhart. Everyone is having a great time as the time-worn plot careens along its merry way. Despite the nagging sense of familiarity, you are dragged happily along by Seth Gordon’s smooth direction and a script that often becomes hilarious.
Bateman, Day, and Sudeikis (from SNL) share a frenetic sense of timing, spewing out funny lines hither and yon (as Shakespeare might say). This dark black comedy gives Kevin Spacey one of the funniest brief scenes in recent film history:
His reaction is triggered when he learns that Bateman’s grandmother has passed away.
That’s why he’s such a horrible boss.
Movie review by Carl Larsen
Carly at the Movies: ‘Bad Teacher’
Galileo lied. The old geezer claimed that the sun was the center of our solar system.
Well, he was obviously wrong. Our solar system is obviously boobacentric. Otherwise, why would a perfectly hot chick like Cameron Diaz go to so much trouble to raise ten thousand bucks for a boob job?
That’s the gnarly premise in the second Disgruntled Icon movie of the young summer. First there was Julia (Sigh!) Roberts teaching Speech Class in “Larry Crowne,” and now comes along Cameron Diaz, teaching Unacceptable Behavior in “Bad Teacher.” The title is honest, and the film is a heck of a lot funnier than was anticipated.
Cameron stars as an out-and-out gold digger, dumped by a rich dude, who decides to continue her teaching career in search of a rich high school instructor. (I’m sure there are millions of them around.)
In fact there is one, played by Justin Timberlake. (Note: I do not travel in the circle of people who are familiar with just it is that Justin Timberlake does, so I can only comment on his acting herein.) Justin Timberlake is adequate.
This is one of those films that reviewers always cop out on by saying, “it’s not for everyone.” Well, it’s not. But if you glggled, like I did, at the audacity and sassy, smirky black humor of “Bad Santa,” this film is a slam dunk.
Light-heartedly directed by Jake Kazdan, Miss Diaz proves once again that she is one of the best practditioners of screwball comedy in the whole knocked-up, knocker-loving universe known as Hollywood.
The secret to the success of bad teaching? Assemble a great supporting cast. Just look who’s in this film:
Jason Segel is that huge guy from “I Love You, Man” who was so blatantly humorous, and in this one he spends his time hitting on the hottie and half-heartedly teaching gym to the cowering students. Other sparkling professori at this Middle School include Phyllis Smith (of “The Office” fame), Molly Shannon, and a Just-Doesn’t-Get-It headmaster played by John Michael Higgins, one of my faves.
The star of the supporting cast, however, is Lucy Punch, playing one of those constantly upbeat, sugary sweet, phony baloney teachers we all know and hate. In the film she’s known as “Amy Squirrel” and is perfectdly named, as she tries to wiggle Justin out of Cameron’s grasp.
A note about Ms. Punch. She was picked by Variety Magazine as one of the ten newcomers to watch just last year, and is proving it. I’ve seen her in the wonderful British Sitcom “Doc Martin” (available on Netflix, and I’ve been waiting for a chance to recommend it to you) and she all but steals this movie from the top-liners.
What makes this film so funny? Cameron is everything we dreamed about as Middle School boys. We dared only to hope that someday we’d have a teacher who was a foul-mouthed, brazen, long-legged hottie who never game homework assignments and did nothing in class except show movies.
Perhaps you are wondering, by this time, if “Bad Teacher” is maybe without any visible social values. Well, there is a bit of a message there, tucked in amongst the irony of the endcing. But I left the theater wishing I had been gutsy enough, as a teacher, to acknowledge some of the hypocricy of the educational establishment.
But of course, that would have made me a bad teacher.
Carly at the Movies column by Carl Larsen
Carly at the Movies: ‘Crowne’-ing achievement
With the holiday theaters generating nothing but broken Transformers, Bad Teachers and pop-up Penguins, a hunk of fluff like “Larry Crowne” becomes a summery cinematic lifeboat for us adults.
Although it was savagely attacked by a phalanx of sophisticated film critics as being too corny and lacking chemistry, what could be more entertaining than an afternoon ride around the valley on a motor scooter driven by Tom Hanks, with Julia (Sigh!) Roberts clinging to his back?
Maybe the popcorn was just extra-tasty, or the air conditioned theater extra-comfy, but this romantic comedy about grown-ups dealing with adjusting to a post-recession world will leave you downright upbeat. It’s casually quite funny.
No one is very believable, of course, but everyone is happy and cheerful.
Cedric the Entertainer runs a front yard sale that’s about the size of Wal-Mart. And a gang of unusually pleasant scooter-riding college students are led by Araji P. Henson and Wilmer Valderrama playing against type. And there’s a speech class full of loveable misfits who learn (painlessly, yet) the art of public speaking.
George Takai is a gleeful Economics teacher in a dry-as-dust subject, and Julia? Sigh. For the first part of the film, she’s stuck with the only noticeable villain in sight, (a writer, naturally, who spends his days at his computer, guzzling booze and surfing porn sites – don’t they all?). He’s played alcoholically perfect by Bryan Cranston.
Once the villain (and the minor discount store baddies who fire poor Tom Hanks for being a great but uneducated employee) have been dispatched, the various joys of attending a speech class taught by Ms. Roberts ensue.
True, she and Tom do not have the sexually charged chemistry that, say, one finds in the recent rash of popular/moronic Teenage Vampire films. But Julia and Tom have both been around the block a couple times. They’re frankly refreshing, and able to actually communicate a healthy and mutual physical interest without thrusting their tongues down one anothers throat. Well, at least at first.
Mr. Hanks knew what he was doing to start with. After all, he directed the film, and co-wrote the script with Nia Vardalos (of Greek Wedding fame). He plays a nice guy, a Geezer-in-Training who’s put 20 years in the Navy as a cook, and then happily worked at U-Mart until being downsized.
One rather suspects that those film critics who blasted “Larry Crowne,” after enduring a summer of uninspiring sequals, noisy comic book heros dredged up from the 1940′s and action films offering naught but staggering stupidity, will look back on this mild little feel-good chick flick with something akin to nostalgia.
Film review by Carl Larsen
Carly at the Movies: The Ides of March
Posted by afp on October 11, 2011 · 1 Comment
This film is so much fun that it’s almost a must-see for us Yellow Dog Democrats and a skip-it for those dastdardly Republicans, portrayed herein as the Essence of Evil. But like the best of political movies, this one simply reminds us that Washington, regardless of party affiliation, is filled with the Bad, the Worst, and the Handsome.
Besides Clooney himself, playing an Ohio senator aspiring for the Democratic presidential candidacy, it stars Ryan Gosling as his idealistic press secretary and Philip Seymour Hoffman as his campaign manager. Wily Paul Giametti is the Other Guy’s version of Hoffman, Marisa Tomei as a newspaper columnist, and Evan Rachel Wood as an intern. (Every Washington movie’s gotta have one of them, ever since you-know-who stuck a presidential you-know-what down her you-know-where.)
Fabulous cast, really fine acting, good script (by Clooney and pals, based on a play) and a calmly-paced film just as juicy as you could imagine. I loved it, and would rank it amongst the top ten polotical films of all time – wedged in there somewhere with the whole TV series “The West Wing,” the classic Redford “The Candidate” and Altman’s masterpiece “Tanner ’88.”
The movie begins just before the Ohio primary, with Clooney and The Other Guy running neck and neck. It looks like whichever way Ohio goes, so goes the nation. Everyone runs around talking politically, being savvy, and plastering themselves with that blanket of good old American cynicism that politics has become.
Gosling is just way too idealistic, so it’s obvious he’s in for a disappointment. Every idol has clay feet, if you close enough to smell its socks. And as the double-dealings unfold. You and I are along for the ride, smug in our cozy little voting booth while thrilled to watch the machinations of the masters.
Enter Evan Rachael Wood, almost unrecognizable if you just remember her from her roles in “The Wrestler” (2008) or “Thirteen” (2003). She’s all grown up and gorgeous, in a kinda slick and political way. And she sets about to steal the movie from this galaxy of fine acting talents. She nearly succeeds.
Unfortunately, and as good as it is, “The Ides of March” opened this weekend along with a rock ‘em sock ‘em robot action flick, so you can just imagine which one got the box office. Nonetheless, Us Smart Folks will turn out for this addition to Clooney’s steadily expanding group of movies for grown-ups. You won’t be disappointed. This one’s a winner.
Carly at the Movies column by Carl Larsen
Filed under Blogs · Tagged with carl larsen, george clooney, Government/Politics, the ides of march