A Very Long Engagement (Un long dimanche de fiançailles)

Grade: A-

I do so generally despise weepy melodrama. This form of heightened storytelling must be rather magnificent for me to feel gloriously enraptured rather than thoroughly and irritatingly manipulated.

This is magnificent melodrama.

Audrey Tautou literally glows onscreen unlike any actress since Katherine Hepburn. Here, she is simply gorgeous as a young woman who refuses to relinquish hope that her childhood comrade turned lover/fiance was not, in fact, killed while serving his country during the first World War. As we watch flashbacks of the first seeds of their friendship, their first sexual experience together, their farewell as he heads off to war, her belief that he will return to her is at once poignant, awe inspiring, and heartbreaking. Gaspard Ulliel fairly reeks of innocent sexuality, and they are magical onscreen both separately and together.

The cinematography is easily the most breathtaking of the year, grand in scope and sumptuous in style and texture, without ever feeling ostantatious or innapropriate to the storytelling. Not since “Saving Private Ryan” has a movie so captured the utter brutality of war, with moments that will sear themselves into memory if the inclination to avert one’s eyes is avoided. Not for the squeemish at heart, the overwhelming sense of dread, futility and unavoidable death is juxtaposed against some of the most lush and stunning visuals captured on film.

Not for short concentration spans, the film expects its audience to pay close attention. No passing detail is unimportant, no moment unintentional. As the mystery of her lover’s fate unfolds, it is a tale of multiple lives intertwining, the consequences of seemingly inconsequential actions, fleeting memories and tangential storylines. It is the tale of multiple comrades in arms and the many left behind. One may not come late, and would be ill advised to step outside the theater however briefly.

What at first glance is simply a beautiful epic melodrama, in the final reel proves its true metal as an adult, thoughtful, sophisticated and complex experience. Charming and humorous at times, filled to the brim with pathos and horror at others, moviegoers are advised to stay away if all they want is a four hanky catharsis before the credits roll. This one will haunt and provoke all who see it.

First the transporting “Amélie” and now this equally fine masterwork. I shall never miss a film by Jean-Pierre Jeunet again.

More Movie Info: http://imdb.com/title/tt0344510/

National Treasure

Grade: F

There’s nothing quite so entertaining as the adrenaline rush of a well executed action adventure, where the suspension of disbelief is complete and the implausible somehow makes all the sense in the world. Conversely, there is nothing quite so depressing as the tryptophan rush of a dreadful action adventure, where the implausible becomes the laughable and the only belief one suspends is how the movie studio gave the green light on the thing in the first place.

A history aficionado discovers that the key to an inestimable treasure is hidden at the Louvre Museum in the vicinity of the Mona Lisa. As he brilliantly uses his expertise to uncover and decipher clue after critical clue left behind by a secret sect of the Freemasons, he meets an incredibly intelligent and appealing woman (replete with sexy foreign accent) who, though initially on the side of his accusers, slowly comes to respect, support and even fall for this man and his unorthodox endeavor.

Oh, wait, that’s “The DaVinci Code,” a bestselling book soon to be made into a motion picture coming to a theater near you. Sorry for the confusion.

A history aficionado discovers that the key to an inestimable treasure is hidden at the National Archives in the vicinity of the Declaration of Independence. As he brilliantly uses his expertise to uncover and decipher clue after critical clue left behind by a secret sect of the Freemasons, he meets an incredibly intelligent and appealing woman (replete with sexy foreign accent) who, though initially on the side of his accusers, slowly comes to respect, support and even fall for this man and his unorthodox endeavor.

If “DaVinci” author Dan Brown wants to sue – which he should – I suspect there are thousands of people all across the country who paid money to see this piece of crap opening weekend who will be happy to testify at any hearings on his behalf.

It is time for Nicholas Cage to be put out of our national misery. Too odd to work as a romantic lead, too creepy to work as an action hero, here he is excruciating as he tries and fails to play it suave, intense, earnest and lighthearted all at the same time. The screenplay is a muddled and confusing mass of meaningless clues instantly solved, first by the good guys and gal and moments later by the badduns constantly nipping at their heels; unbelievable situations that alternately make one yawn, cringe and laugh out loud; dreadful “ain’t we just so witty” dialogue that makes one want to slap everything within hand’s reach; and virtually every cliché the genre has ever seen in good and bad films of the same ilk alike.

Happily, a screaming baby (I know just how the kid felt) terrible parents and an unresponsive staff led to some free passes to a future movie. Anyone else considering going to this thing ain’t likely to be so lucky – you won’t get your money back.

More Movie Info: http://imdb.com/title/tt0368891/

Bad Education (Mala educación, La )

Grade: B+

How over the moon one is likely to feel about this stylish film noir is somewhat related to how one generally feels about its writer/director. Personally, I find Pedro Almodóvar eminently and simultaneously feverish, quirky, daring, maddening, flamboyant, ecstatic, uneven, fearless, choppy, pretentious and thrilling. He is always walking a tightrope, rarely with a balancing pole and never with a net. Everything about Almodóvar is audacious, from the avant-garde stories he chooses to tell, to the overt and often ambiguous sexuality of his characters, to his adventurous, creative, intense filmmaking style.

Here, Almodóvar has a vaguely semi-autobiographical alter ego in the form of an in-vogue youthful filmmaker, whose life is suddenly jarred by the apparent appearance of a former classmate, his first great love. The tale that follows is part whodoneit, part melodramatic potboiler, part internalized psychodrama. Our cast of characters includes predator priests, druggie transsexuals, lip-synching drag queens and sexual opportunists. Our plot includes lost loves, broken hearts, stolen identities, revisionist memoirs, and both sexual and emotional betrayals. Almodóvar happily mindf#?ks us with manipulations of time and reality – what’s really happened according to whose fantasies, memories or perspectives is constantly in question and mindbending transition.

While the many disparate threads never completely merge into a fully satisfying conclusion that makes the whole even greater than the sum, the parts are themselves a whirling dervish of intrigue, humor, confusion, pathos and intense sexuality. Although “Talk to Her” remains, for me, the only Almodóvar film that completely captured and captivated my heart, one can’t help but admire the cojónes and chutzpah of this bravura director. Off the beaten path. Filled with pasión. Pedro Almodóvar.

More Movie Info: http://imdb.com/title/tt0275491/

Kinsey

Grade: B+

I’m a Kinsey 6. Wow, I really feel so much better now that we’ve had this little talk.

Intelligent yet rather removed, provocative yet oddly sanitized, sexually explicit yet emotionally somewhat distant. Liam Neeson is perfectly cast as the quirky (downright odd at times) scientist who launched the first major study into people’s sex lives, forever changing our understanding of the sexual spectrum and therefore the moral compass of an entire culture. A man of massive contradiction – raised by a twistedly wounded puritanical father (John Lithgow in a terrific performance) only to become the guru of sexual fulfillment, sexually ambivalent himself, clinical and nonjudgmental in his approach to sex yet harsh and demanding in his approach to life and relationships, forgiving all for their sexual proclivities and none for their emotional needs or moral differences. There is great kindness as well as great isolation in Neeson’s portrayal, and the paradox touches and fascinates.

The ever glowing Laura Linney anchors the film in what otherwise would have been a one dimensional role of the long suffering wife, Peter Sarsgaard is quite daring as Kinsey’s “free love” assistant, and Lynn Redgrave proves yet again why she is one of the best there is in an all too brief, yet very moving cameo. Alas, all of these roles are severely underwritten (as are Kinsey’s other assistants, played interchangeably by Timothy Hutton and Chris O’Donnell), and this clearly complicated man is sometimes given the glossy Hollywood treatment replete with melodramatic hoarse-voiced outbursts, collapsing to the floor fainting spells, and increasing questions about his mental stability as the film builds.

Still, Writer/Director Bill Condon also provides quiet subtlety and depth, illuminating, titillating and occasionally mortifying his audience while simultaneously forcing us to contend with our own discomfort over the subject matter – a man so sociologically obsessed with sex that he bends societal and scientific mores to the breaking point.

More Movie Info: http://imdb.com/title/tt0362269/

Finding Neverland

Grade: C

Thinking all the lovely, wonderful thoughts in the world, combined with a couple of wonderful tyke performances, some very sporadic flights of fancy, and a brush with pixie dust can’t help this wooden, mannered, clichéd and deadly dull experience take flight.

Johnny Depp gives great accent in a nicely understated if uninspired performance as the man who wrote “Peter Pan.” Yet some gentle “magic of inspiration” moments are drowned under the weight of a labored and predictable screenplay, replete with a sparkless, jealous marriage, a widowed mother who begins a painfully tired Camille bit (cough cough) early on that sinks everything it its undertow, and a judgmental, unpleasant grandmother who suddenly finds her inner child thanks to Tinkerbell. A young Freddy Highmore (I suspect he’ll become simply Fred when he tries to make the leap into more adult roles) and the only slightly older Nick Roud give two very fine and authentic performances as James Barrie’s inspirations for the legendary tale of the boy who would never grow up, and there are some gentle moments as we watch the whimsical translations at play in Barrie’s mind. Yet the entire piece is so staid and somber that there just ain’t no way Peter Pan would actually hang out with any of these people.

Clichéd lines about finding neverland in one’s heart can’t take the place of a well-meaning but joyless screenplay.

More Movie Info: http://imdb.com/title/tt0308644/

The Polar Express

Grade: B+

It’s 11:15am on a weekday morning. You attend a showing at the single largest movie theater in New York City. There is no one in front of you, no one behind you, and yet the ticket taker still bellows out, “All Aboard for the Polar Express!!!”

You know you’re in for one hell of a unique movie-going experience.

A young boy reaches that pivotal age when, while not quite sure what he believes, he begins having serious doubts about the existence of Santa Claus. As one might expect from the title, a train headed for the North Pole – conducted by none other than Tom Hanks (one of several winning characters he portrays) – stops in front of the lad’s house. This enchanting ride is a tad short on the story side (it’s based on a 32 page children’s book for gosh sake), and has far too many roller coaster rides for its own good (look out, the train has skipped the track and is skidding onto a frozen lake, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Look out, we’ve just reached the steepest train track incline in the history of train travel, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Look out, we’re out of control on a whirling dervish of a conveyor belt, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh). But there is so much visual magic up on the screen that any shortcomings barely matter. Robert Zemeckis and company have developed a breakthrough in movie animation, and it is heartstoppingly thrilling to see.

Through a process called “performance capture,” the actors are permitted to give full out performances before a level of animation is added. While the final result is somewhat ghoulishly surreal in texture, the mixture of reality and computer generated lends itself well to the funhouse mirror effect of the overall experience. Visually, the film is exhilarating and enchanting, with a sweet and simple message packaged in a mystical bow for the holidays.

After the prepackaged and processed Hollywood X-mas fare like “The Grinch” from the recent past, whimsy has returned to your holiday movie theater. Get your golden ticket (via “Willy Wonka”) and climb aboard.

More Movie Info: http://imdb.com/title/tt0338348/

The Incredibles

Grade: B-

Those goofy gals and guys at Pixar have done what they do best yet again, and imbued their unique style of animation with real human foibles and cultural observations, only with a bit less originality and somewhat diminishing returns than earlier fare.

Craig T. Nelson and Holly Hunter lead a fun cast of voices as superheroes forced into early retirement by a planet awash in malpractice lawsuits. Brought back to the work force by a former idolizer turned super villain, their all too brief witness protection period is far more amusing and imaginative than their subsequent forays into superhumanland. Occasionally brilliant, often quite funny, this one is also way too long (at two full hours) and depends far too heavily on a C-rate James Bondesque storyline that quickly becomes tiring and uninspired.

Still, there are a few laughs and many smiles, especially from a diva designer who specializes in superhero wear, a couple of feuding siblings who don’t quite know their own power, and other situations arising from a superhuman family trying to conform to the humdrum world.

Fun but unincredible.

More Movie Info: http://imdb.com/title/tt0317705/