Movie Review

  • The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

    The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Netflix Streaming, April 2015) I’m not sure why I’ve waited fifteen years before seeing The Talented Mr. Ripley.  I’m not fond of stories in which the protagonist is a serial murderer, but there’s a bit more to this film than simply rooting for an anti-hero.  Part of the attraction now, of course, is seeing five actors at the beginning of their career, from Jude Law’s magnetic presence to Matt Damon’s versatile lead performance, to Cate Blanchett and Gwyneth Paltrow in young ingénue roles, to an early good turn by Philip Seymour Hoffman.  The other big asset of the film, of course, is the period detail.  An impersonation thriller taking place amongst Americans living in late-1950s Italy, The Talented Mr. Ripley can be, at its best, an immersion in a romanticized time and place.  It only becomes darker and more thrilling after a (too) leisurely prologue, then drags on a touch too long as it places its protagonist in ever-more desperate circumstances, all the way to a heartbreaking final act of violence.  Slickly directed by Anthony Minghella from a now-classic novel by Patricia Highsmith, it’s a thriller that plays with questions of identity, aspirations, repression and the nature of affection.  It’s lovely and ugly, with good tension and complex plot engines.  The Talented Mr. Ripley has aged gracefully, and remains just as good today as it must have been sixteen years ago.

  • Maid in Manhattan (2002)

    Maid in Manhattan (2002)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, April 2015)  I’m usually a good audience for romantic comedies and/or anything featuring Jennifer Lopez, so imagine my disappointment at my disappointment for this film.  A fairy-tale recast in modern setting (i.e.; a Manhattan maid in disguise as a wealthy guest catches the eye of an up-and-coming politician, leading to romantic complications), Maid in Manhattan seems intent on self-destructing before it ends.  It is, of course, about class issues… but doesn’t offer much in terms of criticism beyond a pat “work hard and you too can become part of (or marry into) the upper class.”  It never properly convinces audience of the perfect match between the two leads.  It doesn’t offer much to do for Jennifer Lopez, who seems to have been cast almost solely on the basis of finding an attractive Latina with name recognition.  It meanders through a series of obligatory scenes whose point is painfully obvious even when they begin.  Poor Ralph Fiennes seems to wander in the film, lost and confused as to what he’s doing there, never credible as a rising political star.  Even Stanley Tucci is stuck in a caricature and can’t escape the irritating mediocrity of the result.  By the time the stock ending is assembled out of the obvious plot-pieces, it feels more like a relief that the entire film is over more than any heartfelt affection for the reunited characters.  Maid in Manhattan classifies as a comedy on the basis that it’s not much of a drama and certainly not a tragedy –but you’d be hard-pressed to find laughs here.  Neither will you find anything else worth remembering.

  • Last Knights (2015)

    Last Knights (2015)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Video on Demand, April 2015)  For a film that disappeared without traces from North American theaters, Last Knights has pretty good production values, and is almost interesting enough to stand on its own as something more than another take on the “47 Ronin” legend.  There’s a bit of a spark in the premise, which posits (I think) a future-medieval society that avoids historical precedent while allowing for an appealing multi-racial cast and new iconography.  Unfortunately, they don’t do anything with that idea other than justify the pseudo-medieval setting (no ancient artifacts, no mixture of technologies and customs, no bearings on the plot).  There are a few twists and turns in the first act, at least until the 47 Ronin parallels become obvious.  After that, it’s an assault-the-fortress caper film with a too-long coda.  Clive Owen is instantly credible as the protagonist, while Morgan Freeman has a decent turn as his commander.  Less happily, the film struggles to become more than just another generic fantasy vehicle: the action is shot blandly and with far too many quick cuts, whereas the color palette of the cinematography is often limited to the point of dullness.  There isn’t much here to excite or astonish, and so while Last Knights avoid the worst pitfalls of what could have been a Direct-to-Video effort, there isn’t much here to make it memorable.

  • The Interview (2014)

    The Interview (2014)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Netflix Streaming, April 2015)  The Interview is no mere movie.  It’s the one that earned the ire of North Korea, (allegedly) got Sony Studios hacked, got pulled from North American chain theatres, became a reference for the President of the United States of America and ended up released digitally as a hail-Mary attempt to recoup some of its production costs, eventually ending up as one of the top-grossing VOD release of all times (so far).  What a strange fate for Yet Another Rogen/Franco Stoner Comedy taking vulgar pot-shots at respectable subjects.  After Pineapple Express (crime thriller stoner comedy), Your Highness (Epic Fantasy stoner comedy) and This is the End (Post-Rapture stoner comedy), the results are familiar.  Silliness meets the sublime as a Very Serious Topic (ie; the assassination of foreign dictators by the US government) is demolished through an endless parade of lurid, stupid, dumb and crude jokes.  And yet… The Interview is surprisingly entertaining.  The friction between our hapless entertainment-TV host (James Franco, for once playing the goofball compared to Seth Rogen’s more serious news producer) and the important geopolitical assignment he receives is at the root of quite a few laughs, but the good-natured stupidity of the characters (“The tiger is wearing night-vision goggles?!?”) is enough to carry the film.  Franco is surprisingly droll (making the most out of his persona’s sexual ambiguity), while Randall Park manages a surprisingly nuanced portrayal of “President Kim” and Diana Bang makes for a spirited regime representative / love interest.  The Interview is directed with energy, featuring a terrific soundtrack and an ambitious cinematography for a dumb comedy.  It’s not a great movie, what with its occasional lulls, needlessly graphic violence and lowest-common denominator crude humor.  But it’s surprisingly funny, and at times provocative in how it mixes low-brow humor with geopolitical issues.  The Interview ends with fireworks, and stands on its own as a film that meets its intentions.

  • What Happens in Vegas (2008)

    What Happens in Vegas (2008)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, April 2015) A surprisingly common failing of romantic comedies is the way they can twist and turn a fresh premise into nothing more than an ultra-conventional third act.  So it is that the best thing about What Happens in Vegas –two mismatched characters forced into matrimony due to a series of laughable contrivances, and then trying to break out of it- is almost completely undone by a third act that could have been appended to just any other romantic comedy ever filmed.  (This misdirection also applies to the setting as, despite the title, most of What Happens in Vegas actually happens in New York.)  Still, it’s hard to be entirely ill-willed toward a film that does have a number of laughs, energetic performances and pleasantly absurd situations.  Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher are pleasant enough as the lead couple (neither of them stepping away from their usual persona), whereas Lake Bell and Rob Corddry both do the best they can with the ingrate task of playing the friends (and expositionary appendages) of the protagonists.  What Happens in Vegas itself isn’t much more than a mainstream time-waster (it’s easy to imagine a much edgier film based more or less on the same premise), but it’s innocuous and watchable without too much effort, which isn’t a bad thing as far as romantic comedies are concerned.  Even the ones with interchangeable third acts.

  • Rio 2 (2014)

    Rio 2 (2014)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, April 2015) I liked the original Rio well enough, but wasn’t exactly asking for a sequel.  But at a time where high-profile animated films usually beget sequels, here comes Rio 2 not trying too hard to justify its existence.  The story gets predictably bigger (our rare songbird couple from the original film, now with kids, discovers an entire colony of their species in the Amazon) and leaves Rio entirely to go deep in nature, kicking up issues of rainforest deforestation.  Add to that a bit of protagonist emasculation, a nemesis from the first film, musical antics from famous signers reprising their roles and you’ve got the makings of a serviceable sequel, although one that doesn’t exactly bring transcendence to the proceedings.  It is colorful, music-filled and upbeat (the musical numbers are usually the highlight of the film), but to what end?  Simply more of the same, loosely reprised… albeit surprisingly busy at times.  Rio 2 is likely to be a hit with anyone who liked the first film (and I may pull the “mood” card here, saying that I wasn’t in the mood for more of the same.) but it’s not going to go beyond imitation.  Not bad, but the time at which even a passable animated sequel was an event is now past.

  • Anger Management (2003)

    Anger Management (2003)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Netflix Streaming, April 2015)  At the time of Anger Management’s release, there was something a bit clever in casting Adam Sandler in the role of a meek man who is led by circumstances into assuming his innate aggression: Early-career Sandler exemplified a violent man-child comic persona, so much of Anger Management is spent waiting for the inevitable explosions.  (After 2002’s Mr. Deeds, his persona would be softened to a gentler good-guy one.)  To see him paired off with Jack Nicholson (who has spent much of his late career perfecting abrasive characters) is a further wonder.  And, at times, Anger Management works: there are funny set-pieces, many showcase moments for Nicholson’s ability to be both unpleasant and compelling and Sandler navigates a fine edge between his early aggressive persona and his latter-day amiable everyday-man.  Marisa Tomei is likable in a somewhat generic role, with fun performance in smaller roles from Luis Guzman, John Turturro, Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly.  (There are also more than a few celebrity cameos, as is often the case in Happy Madison-produced movies.)  Where Anger Management gets in a bit of a mess, however, is in its messy collage of absurd contrivances, late-revealed conspiracy, attempts to link back to a childhood prologue and ultimate claim to be about something else than simple anger management.  The last few minutes are a series of “Really?  Really??” that don’t add much to the film, especially when its reason for existing is simply seeing Sandler face off with Nicholson –if the film’s poster could get that right, then why didn’t the script?  Of course, Adam Sandler films aren’t exactly known for tight scripts and focused scenes – sometimes, it’s best to just enjoy the comic set-pieces and ignore the attempts at making it all mean something at the end.

  • Puss in Boots (2011)

    Puss in Boots (2011)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, April 2015)  Given the success of “Puss” in the Shrek films, this spin-off prequel was as inevitable as it was likely to be disappointing.  Not all supporting comic characters have enough presence to sustain a full-length movie, and so Puss in Boots is largely forgettable despite Antonio Banderas’ vocals and the efforts of the Dreamworks Animation team.  Part of the familiarity is the once-again approach in poaching modern storylines from fairy-tales: Here, there’s not much Puss in Boots and a lot of Humpty-Dumpty and Jack and the Beanstalk as the protagonist gets embroiled in a heist plot.  (Thankfully, the links to the Shrek movies are very, very thin –not even the settings match.)  It works sporadically, just well enough to earn continued attention throughout.  Much of the rest is straight from the contemporary animated-movie framework: escalating action sequences, recognizable voice cast, spirited gags and conventional storytelling.  Plus a big helping of cat-related jokes.  But then again, originality doesn’t really pay in developing family-friendly animated films, especially if they don’t aspire (like Pixar often does) to thematic greatness.  Thankfully, Puss in Boots is light on pop-culture references, stands up on its own as a non-Shrek movie and pairing off Banderas once again with Selma Hayek, even if only vocally, seems like the right thing to do.  There may not be much to love in Puss in Boots, but there is enough to like.

  • The Calling (2014)

    The Calling (2014)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, April 2015)  One wouldn’t expect a low-budget Canadian films starring a small-town police chief investigating a gruesome murder to evolve into a national crime mystery weighting important issues of faith and redemption.  But thanks to some clever storytelling (and a solid source novel), that’s exactly what The Calling ends up doing out of not much more than a very low budget.  Susan Sarandon anchors what is otherwise a recognizably Canadian cast (Donald Sutherland bonus!) as a burnt-out police chief grappling with a baffling murder.  As clues accumulate, it becomes obvious that she’s after something more than a random killer, and even more than a simple serial killer.  The film cleverly pretends to take place in three provinces and involve a national scope despite shooting in small-city Ontario.  Drab, slow and Canadian winter-cold, The Calling nonetheless earns a bit of attention throughout, and manages to do a little bit more than expected with the standard clichés of serial killer low-budget cinema.  The ending isn’t as strong as it should have been, but by the standards of low-budget Canadian films (and you know it’s going to play endlessly on Canadian TV due to the CanCon requirements…), it’s actually better than average.

  • Love & Other Drugs (2010)

    Love & Other Drugs (2010)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Netflix Streaming, April 2015) Consider me pleasantly surprised: I wasn’t expecting much from this romantic comedy, but Love & Other Drugs has more than enough bright moments to earn a marginal recommendation despite an unsatisfying conclusion.  The two best things about the film, obviously, are the performances by Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway, both of whom manage to elevate potentially reprehensible characters into likable romantic leads.  The third best asset of the film is the first half of co-writer/director Edward Zwick’s script, which manages to deliver a witty introduction to the world of pharmaceutical product selling, along with a mature love story that seemingly holds little back.  Yes, this means plenty of nudity.  But more importantly, it also means two protagonists who delight in making their coupling as difficult as can be, negging each other relentlessly and desperately clinging to an unrealistic ideal of non-attachment.  The dialogue is biting, the love scenes have a bit of heat to them, Hathaway looks spectacular (on-par for Hollywood’s idea of terminally-ill young women) and Gyllenhaal plays up his motor-mouth hustler character in a way that’s actually charming rather than infuriating.  But Love & Other Drugs goes awry somewhere past its midpoint, as it struggles with the realization that it has introduced a romance with no possible satisfactory conclusion.  From sharp-tongued comedy, it becomes both a weepy drama about an incurable disease then a routine romantic film with an expected ending.  The credits roll on happy characters, but we viewers suspect a much darker aftermath.  The last-act blend of romantic idealism clashes with the grim advice received by the protagonists and the cynical spirit of its initial scenes.  As much as I enjoyed the first half of the film, it does set up expectations that are impossible to fulfill.  There may have been a better film lurking in the basic premise, one with a more biting denunciation of Big Pharma and fewer emotional dead-ends.  In the meantime, you can always be riveted by the first half of the film, and let your attention wander during the rest. 

  • Fun with Dick and Jane (2005)

    Fun with Dick and Jane (2005)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Netflix Streaming, April 2015)  Watching this film from 2015’s viewpoint, I’m actually surprised that it dates from 2005 and not from, say, 2010.  As a comic take on suburban desperation after a severe economic catastrophe, Fun with Dick and Jane may have been inspired by early-2000s Enron, but it feels designed for the late-2000s Great Recession.  While it’s nominally a remake of a 1977 film, Fun with Dick and Jane is conceived as yet another excuse for Jim Carrey to goof off, as his executive-level protagonist turns to a life of crime after losing a high-flying job and seeing his comfortable upper-middle-class threatened with foreclosure.  Carrey gets play up his clean-cut goofiness, banter back and forth with a game Tea Leoni and generally cut loose.  Not every gag in the film works (there’s a subplot, arguably an entire character, designed to culminate in a series of immigration jokes) and the denunciation of corporate malfeasance is more caricatured than effective, but Fun With Dick and Jane at least delivers another fair classic-Carrey performance, and a few decent chuckles along the way.  It does feel like a film out of time, though, far more appropriate five years later (alongside The Other Guys or Tower Heist) than for 2005.

  • The Other Woman (2014)

    The Other Woman (2014)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, April 2015)  Revenge fantasies may not be good for the soul, but they can certainly drive a comic film.  Here, two (and then three) women are united when they discover that they’re being cheated upon by the same man, who also turns out to be a con artist in other ways.  Cameron Diaz is dependably amusing as the lead, whereas Leslie Mann becomes a delightful foil as the most mercurial of them—she has the shrieking madwoman thing down to a science.  Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, in another striking big-screen role, does have the requisite mixture of charm and sliminess as a philandering fraudster.  Other additions to the cast aren’t as memorable: Despite prominent billing, Kate Upton is a bit bland as the Third Woman, whereas I remain unimpressed by Nicki Minaj’s performance in her short scenes (and this despite unexplainably liking Minaj as a musical performer).  It’s a cheap and fast comedy without much sophistication, but it does get the chuckles it’s aiming for.  There are a few false notes along the way (the ending is a bit more bloodily cruel than I had expected) and the script doesn’t embarrass itself with unpredictable plotting, but The Other Woman pretty much hits its target and delivers unchallenging entertainment for a solid 90 minutes. 

  • Man of Tai Chi (2013)

    Man of Tai Chi (2013)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, April 2015) I can’t help but see in Man of Tai Chi an echo (and only an echo) of the kind of Hong-Kong martial arts movies I consumed so frequently in my twenties.  It’s all about fights, fights and more fights, loosely coupled with a plot about a young man being seduced into a world of underground fighting.  Surprisingly enough, the plot is a bit more interesting than the action sequences, especially in seeing how the protagonist (Tiger Hu Chen, sympathetic enough) eventually goes against a cold and mysterious business man (Keanu Reeves, making the most out of a relatively cold screen persona) while a policewoman (Karen Mok, surprisingly credible as a driven cop) tries to take down the lethal fighting organization.  It’s more noteworthy to point out that this is Keanu Reeves’s first film as a director, and that he does pretty well in his freshman outing: his action sequences (choreographed by the legendary Yuen Woo Ping) are fluid, he makes good use of lengthier shots and keeps the plot moving effectively.  Man of Tai Chi also has the advantage of explicitly taking place in modern metropolis China, providing an interesting look at an area of the planet that is often ignored on American big screens.  While this may not be more than comfort food for martial-arts enthusiasts, it’s well-made enough to be interesting even in-between the action sequences.  As an homage to martial-arts film shot by a westerner, Man of Tai Chi would make an interesting double-bill with the more visually sumptuous The Man with the Iron Fists.

  • Inherent Vice (2014)

    Inherent Vice (2014)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Video on Demand, April 2015)  “Chinatown meets The Big Lebowski” is an imperfect and unfair way of describing Inherent Vice, but it’s better than most.  As a thriller set in the drug-addled subcultures of 1970s Los Angeles, featuring a protagonist not overly concerned with the trappings of the Private Investigator lifestyle, this is an investigation that doesn’t necessarily go to expected places, each elliptical scene not entirely connected to the previous one.  It can be heartbreaking, hilarious, confusing and fascinating in rapid succession, floating above its own plot in a haze of altered perceptions.  If, from this summary, you’re getting the idea that this is a challenging film that doesn’t really want to be seen conventionally, you’re right.  But it is, after all, a Paul Thomas Anderson film, and so it’s best approached as an experience than a story.  Fortunately, there are a few fantastic moments: Martin Short has a hilarious small role as a drugged-up dentist, there is a raw long single-shot love scene that’s a thing of wonder, and the recreation of 1970s Los Angeles is credible.  But the film does annoy as much as it rewards: there are more than a few lengths, the scenes aren’t necessarily accessible, the plot gets overly complex (the way it flouts genre conventions doesn’t help) and the use of a few actors rings falsely at time (Owen Wilson in a dramatic role, as unfair as it sounds, is a bit of a stretch)  Inherent Vice may not be to everyone’s liking, but there are enough great moments here and there to warrant a viewing even for those who may not be entirely enthusiastic about Anderson’s films.

  • Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014)

    Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Netflix Streaming, April 2015)  It’s been nine years since the original Sin City, and that’s frankly too long in-between installments.  I’m older, wiser and less likely to tolerate the kind of juvenile attitude in which overdone noir can indulge.  It really doesn’t help that A Dame to Kill For seems delighted in showcasing brutes and corrupting whatever innocence had escaped the first film intact: Despite toned-down violence (well, ignoring the mid-movie thirty-second marathon of decapitations accompanied by grotesque audible sploshes), it feels like an even more pointless film than the original.  It’s not all bad, especially if you can get yourself in a mood receptive to noir style and overdone dialogue: the special effects are well done (albeit inconsistently used), the quasi-parodic script is good for a few laughs and anyone wanting a little bit more of that first film’s style is likely to enjoy it.  Director Robert Rodriguez may be repeating himself (it’s about time he directs a film that’s not part of a series), but he’s doing so stylishly.  Mickey Rourke seems to have fun playing the brute once again, while Joseph Gordon-Lewitt and Eva Green (in a typical performance, as seductive as she seems insane) are welcome addition to the cast.  Plenty of smaller roles are given to big-name actors, leading to a sustained game of spot-the-celebrity.  Still, what curdles A Dame to Kill For is the ugly script, which not only has pacing issues but (unlike the original) forgoes the protection of innocence in favor of revenge, revenge and some more revenge: Jessica Alba’s character is corrupted to the point of destruction, more than one sympathetic characters are killed to set up the never-ending avenging and the effect is far more nihilistic than healthy, even for a noir film. (And that’s not even mentioning the troubling glorification of Rourke’s character as an invulnerable killer.) For all of the polish of the film’s style, it doesn’t work if its ideals and plot points leave a sour taste.  It’s not a good sign that of the film’s interlocked stories, the worst two are the ones especially written for the sequel.  I would still watch A Dame to Kill For again (someday, not any time soon) just to enjoy the visuals and the atmosphere, but I would be wary of recommending it to anyone else, and I sure wish the script had been more upbeat and less self-satisfied by its own pointlessness.