MOVIE REVIEWS
The American
By Joseph McAleer
Catholic News Service
NEW YORK (CNS) -- George Clooney is in a very bad mood in The American
(Focus), playing a hired assassin who has soured on his profession and
contemplates a better life. While this should be a gripping, fast-paced
thriller worthy of the Jason Bourne franchise, the title character's depression
and sheer lethargy keep the film's gears firmly in park, leaving the audience
bewildered and disappointed.
Additionally, although the serious intent of the filmmakers is clear,
scenes of graphic sexuality suggest a very restricted audience, while
the treatment of Christian morality -- via the presence of a far from
exemplary, but nonetheless sympathetic Catholic priest -- is unsatisfying
and insubstantial.
In a much darker role than he usually plays, Clooney is Jack, a loner
who is the consummate professional when it comes to killing people. A
job in Sweden goes terribly wrong, and Jack flees to Italy, where his
employer sets him up in a safe house in a picturesque mountaintop village
in Abruzzo. Here, Jack, the lone Yankee and a fish-out-of-water, begins
to heal, tasting the pleasures of a "normal" life, which (for
him) includes plenty of time at the local brothel.
Predictably, Jack falls for Clara (Violante Placido), a prostitute with
a heart of gold, and he begins to dream of living happily ever after with
her. Not so fast: There's one more job for Jack to carry out, and he reverts
to form, making high-tech rifles on his kitchen table for mysterious lady
agent Mathilde (Thekla Reuten).
There are big decisions to be made, and Jack wanders aimlessly up and
down the cobblestoned streets, brooding about life and destiny. He is
befriended by the local clergyman, Father Benedetto (Paolo Bonacelli),
who senses Jack's torment and offers friendship, advice and lots of vino.
The treatment of Catholicism in The American is respectful but not very
deep. Benedetto pops in and out as the film's moral compass, wagging his
finger, appealing to Jack's conscience (what's left of it). "A man
can be reached if he has God in his heart," Benedetto says.
The priest is revealed to be a flawed man himself, but one who has been
reconciled to God and redeemed -- offering hope even to a professional
killer.
Ultimately, The American isn't very interested in bigger issues such as
salvation. Jack will not come clean, so we never learn the back story
of how this seemingly nice guy fell from grace. He conceals his sins from
everyone, even Clara, who calls him Edward and thinks he is a photographer
who likes butterflies. They make plans to run away, but Jack discovers
it's hard to leave the past behind.
Based on the novel A Very Private
Gentleman by Martin Booth and directed by Anton Corbijn (Control), The
American scores high marks for its cinematography and art-house look.
Multilayered villages are the perfect labyrinths for games of cat and
mouse. Like Francis Ford Coppola in The Godfather, Corbijn juxtaposes
good and evil to dramatic effect, staging a solemn religious procession
through the village streets as the backdrop to the film's final battle.
The film contains bloody violence
including multiple shootings; full-frontal female and partial male nudity;
and explicit scenes of non-marital sex. The Catholic News Service classification
is L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults
would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating
is R -- restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.
- - -
McAleer is a guest reviewer for Catholic News Service. More reviews
are available online at www.usccb.org/movies.
Flipped
By Joseph McAleer
Catholic News Service
NEW YORK (CNS) -- Just when you thought Hollywood couldn't -- or wouldn't
-- make family-oriented films anymore, along comes Flipped (Warner Bros.),
a charming, warm and very funny coming-of-age story with a surprisingly
powerful pro-life message, at least in light of its Tinseltown origins.
Unfortunately, though, a few turns of phrase in the dialogue preclude
endorsement for all.
Directed by Rob Reiner (The Bucket
List, Stand by Me) and based on the eponymous novel by Wendelin Van Draanen,
Flipped is the story of two kids, Juli Baker (Madeline Carroll) and Bryce
Loski (Callan McAuliffe), growing up in late-1950s suburbia. They meet
as second-graders, when Bryce and his family move into the neighbourhood
across the street from Juli.
The film chronicles Juli and
Bryce's friendship over the next six years, with each character telling
the story in voice-over narration. This he said-she said staging technique
is clever and revealing, reminding the viewer that there are two sides
to every story, appearances are often deceiving, and rushed judgments
tend to be wrong.
A precocious seven-year-old,
Juli is instantly smitten by her new neighbour: "The first day I
met Bryce Loski I flipped," she recalls. But Bryce remembers it differently:
"All I ever wanted was for Juli Baker to leave me alone."
He's a typical boy of his age,
naturally embarrassed by the girl's affections, and ragged on by his peers.
Bryce's strenuous efforts to avoid Juli are amusing, as are her determination
and patience in seeing this puppy love through.
As Flipped chronicles the "sturm
und drang" of their friendship, we learn more about the Baker and
Loski families. Bryce's parents, doting Patsy (Rebecca De Mornay) and
boastful bigot Steven (Anthony Edwards), are solidly middle class and
obsessed with propriety.
They are suspicious of the Bakers,
particularly Dad Richard (Aidan Quinn), a bohemian type who prefers to
paint landscapes rather than mow his lawn and fix up his house. The Bakers
raise chickens and supply the neighbourhood with eggs; Mr. Loski bans
these from his home, fearful of salmonella.
Family dramas are not sugarcoated
in Flipped, which lends the film a sense of realism. Here families stick
together and work things out, even when the problems seem insurmountable.
The Bakers, for example, are
struggling to make ends meet, as any spare income goes toward keeping
Richard's brother Daniel (Kevin Weisman), who is mentally disabled, in
a private home rather than a state institution. Flipped displays poignancy
and courage in its defense of Daniel against societal prejudice.
This intensely pro-life sideline
ultimately melts the frost between the Baker and Loski families, a process
aided by the arrival of Bryce's newly widowed grandfather Chet (John Mahoney).
Chet proves the perceptive sage, mindful of his grandson's feelings, yet
impressed with the spirited Juli.
Everything about Flipped feels
right and genuine: the typical kid dialogue, lively school classrooms,
and families who quarrel, make up and sit together around the TV to watch
Bonanza. Reiner's direction is pitch-perfect with a prevailing atmosphere
of innocence and sensitivity reminiscent of Frank Capra -- perhaps not
unexpected, as the legendary director's grandson is one of the film's
producers.
Though the elements listed below
require a fairly restrictive rating, the underlying values of this uplifting
film make it probably acceptable for older teens.
The film contains a handful of profane and crass expressions and scenes of family discord. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG -- parental guidance suggested.
Takers
By Kurt Jensen
Catholic News Service
NEW YORK (CNS) -- There's a moral
centre to Takers (Screen Gems), or so at least its creators would have
you believe. It doesn't quite come off that way, and this crime thriller
is ultimately a tired exercise in gunfire, explosions and insipid dialogue.
Director John Luessenhop, who
co-wrote along with Peter Allen, Gabriel Casseus and Avery Duff, tells
the story of a gang of five skilled thieves. Team leader Gordon (Idris
Elba) is joined by right-hand man John (Paul Walker), explosives expert
A.J. (Hayden Christensen) and brothers Jesse (Chris Brown) and Jake (Michael
Ealy).
After each elaborately planned
job, in which they're always several steps ahead of the authorities, they
seek nothing more than expensive suits, cigars, cognac, overseas bank
accounts and women. But they're still portrayed as somewhat moral -- sophisticated
good-time guys who take care of their relatives -- and are much more appealing
than the other criminals with whom they sometimes collaborate. How these
guys even found each other in the first place, though, is never explained.
Then, Ghost (Tip "T.I."
Harris) -- the only member of the crew who was shot during an earlier
job and imprisoned -- turns up, having served his term. He's embittered,
has connections to Russian mobsters, and has a plan the Russkies devised
for the highly engineered robbery of an armored truck. The rest of the
film hinges on whether the fast-talking Ghost can be trusted, and how
many of the gang members will survive.
Matt Dillon plays grumpy Los
Angeles detective Jack Welles, who is always the requisite pace behind
when the explosions occur, even as he deals with a boatload of his own
torment.
It all adds up to the distressing
formula: Two exciting chase sequences; speaker-rattling gunfire; suits
by Armani; script by International House of Cliche.
The film contains constant stylized
gun violence and an instance of male rear nudity, as well as pervasive
crude and fleeting profane and crass language. The USCCB Office for Film
& Broadcasting classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture
Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned.
Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
- - -
Jensen is a guest reviewer for Catholic News Service. More reviews
are available online at www.usccb.org/movies.
- - -
The Last Exorcism
By John Mulderig
Catholic News Service
NEW YORK (CNS) -- "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
than are dreamt of in your philosophy." So says the haunted Prince
of Denmark in the first act of Shakespeare's Hamlet, and so the main character
discovers in the middling fright fest The Last Exorcism (Lionsgate).
While the gore factor is kept
comparatively low in director Daniel Stamm's Gothic outing, an ambiguous
approach to faith and a dark occult atmosphere make this feature inappropriate
for all but well-grounded and judicious adult viewers.
Preparing to perform the titular
rite, as the film opens, is Baton Rouge-based evangelical minister and
self-confessed charlatan Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian). Alarmed by news
reports of a boy who was injured during an exorcism, Cotton has decided
to abandon the practice, which he regards as nothing more than an opportunity
to fleece over-credulous believers.
To publicize the trickery behind
his supposed confrontations with Satan, Cotton has invited documentary
filmmaker Iris Reisen (Iris Bahr) and her cameraman to tag along for his
swan song as he responds to the anguished summons of fervent farmer Louis
Sweetzer (Louis Herthum). The farmer fears that his 16-year-old daughter,
Nell (Ashley Bell), is possessed.
Armed with elaborate special-effects
gadgetry, including a crucifix that gives off smoke at the press of a
button, Cotton arrives at the predictably spooky Sweetzer homestead and
goes through the motions of liberating Nell's soul. But he gets more than
he bargained for when the girl begins to show signs that she is indeed
in the grip of something, or someone, supernatural.
Though shaky on the details --
as an evangelical, for instance, Cotton would be far more likely to make
use of a plain cross than a crucifix in his staged efforts to send the
devil packing -- the script by Huck Botko and Andrew Gurland does toy
cleverly with the modern presumption that all phenomena can be explained
scientifically.
But the corrosive cynicism Cotton
displays in the buildup to his encounter with Nell, which includes scornful
references to an "exorcism academy" sponsored by the Vatican,
will not sit well with Catholic audiences. And the diabolical doings of
the movie's climax are not for the impressionable.
The film contains a complex treatment
of religion, sacrilegious activity, some gruesome images, at least two
uses of profanity, brief sexual talk and references to incest and homosexuality.
The Catholic News Service classification is L -- limited adult audience,
films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The
Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly
cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
- - -
Mulderig is on the staff of Catholic News Service. More reviews are
available online at www.usccb.org/movies.
The Waiting City
By John Mulderig
Catholic News Service
NEW YORK (CNS) -- A poignant yet challenging drama, Australian writer-director
Claire McCarthy's The Waiting City (Emerging) is a well-crafted exploration
of emotional bonds that probes both the vulnerabilities and the fundamental
value of one married couple's life together. With the rich culture of
India providing a vibrant backdrop, the film also tells a story of spiritual
awakening, though it does so in a way that blurs the line between the
good news of Christianity and the beliefs of the subcontinent's Hindu
majority.
Travelling from their native
Australia to Kolkata -- the teeming city formerly called Calcutta -- to
finalize their adoption of a baby girl, buttoned-up, work-obsessed lawyer
Fiona (Radha Mitchell) and her laid-back husband Ben (Joel Edgerton) find
themselves bogged down by bureaucratic delays. It forces them to remain
in this alien setting for a longer visit than expected.
While Fiona stays cooped up in
their expensive hotel room pursuing her business affairs via the Internet,
ex-rock musician Ben -- guitar in hand -- sets out to see the sites and
meet the locals. Their diametrically opposed reactions to their new environment,
plus the tensions brought on by red tape and the other complications they
eventually confront, combine to reveal the underlying fissures in Ben
and Fiona's marriage.
As the spouses question their
future together, Fiona's purely secular outlook begins to be eroded. This
occurs both by the pervasive Hindu imagery that surrounds her -- ranging
from religiously themed postcards to the life-sized statues of gods carried
in procession through the streets -- and by the patient wisdom displayed
by the Missionaries of Charity who staff the orphanage where her adoptive
daughter has been living.
While these heirs of Mother Teresa
are portrayed in a consistently positive light, little distinction is
made between their faith and the traditions that motivate Fiona to bathe
in the Ganges or, in a later scene, to bow down before a woman she momentarily
mistakes for the patron goddess of maternity. Thus, though McCarthy effectively
pits mundane values against transcendent ones, her script seems to imply
that any given source of non-materialist values is as good as any other.
The maturity needed to sort through
this mixed religious content, and to deal with the movie's basically pro-life,
but emotionally taxing treatment of abortion, mark this as moving fare
for a restricted audience.
The film contains complex religious
issues, brief graphic marital lovemaking, an abortion theme, at least
one use of profanity, a few instances of rough and crude language and
some scatological humour. The Catholic News Service classification is
L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults
would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating
is R -- restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.
Copyright (c) 2010 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops
 |
|