A Troubled Brie Larson Takes Care Of Troubled Teens In SHORT TERM 12

SHORT TERM 12 (Dir. Destin Daniel Cretton, 2013)

Brie Larson isn’t a household name yet, but she’s getting closer bit by bit with roles in recent buzzed about films like THE SPECTACULAR NOW and DON JON, in which she plays Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s always texting sister.

Larson’s strong work in Destin Daniel Cretton’s feature length debut as writer/director, SHORT TERM 12, based on his 2008 short film of the same name, definitely deserves recognition as a breakthrough performance on the scale of Elizabeth Olsen’s performance in MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE and Jennifer Lawrence in WINTER’S BONE.

Larson plays Grace, a supervisor at the foster-care facility for at-risk teenagers of the title, who’s in a serious relationship with her co-worker Mason (The Newsroom’s John Gallagher Jr.), but can’t bring herself to open up to him about her troubled history, especially now that she finds out that she’s pregnant.

Between having to chase down runaways, the couple deal with the arrival of Kaitlyn Dever as a jaded 15-year old girl (aptly named Jayden) whose bad attitude is justified by what he learn about her abusive father, and the upcoming departure of Keith Stanfield (the only cast member reprising his role from the short) as a long term resident, and aspiring rapper who’s about to turn 18.

The intimate nature of the acting aided by straight forward thoughtful tone of Cretton’s screenplay drew me into this slice of these people’s lives in that “oh, I’ve known people just like these” kind of way. At various times throughout my younger years, I had both been somebody who was scared of opening up to others, and somebody who was desperately trying to get somebody else to open up. I was genuinely feeling Larson working both ends of this - we see without any heavy handiness that she’s great at her job, but lousy at life.

Dever’s situation affects Larson deeply, both having been labeled “cutters,” and they have a standout scene where they bond over bashing in the windows of Dever’s father’s car with a baseball bat.

Meanwhile Gallagher attempts some closeness with Stanfield before he leaves. Their bond comes in the form of Gallagher plays bongos to Stanfield’s rapping of some original, and very personal, lyrics he jotted in a notebook, the sentiment of which should be appreciated by even non-hip hop fans.

There are a few threads that are tied up a little too neatly – the film is best when it’s about how messy life can be – and the shaky cam may get a bit too shaky, but the overall picture Cretton paints is one of low budget beauty.

Despite winning awards at SXSW, and various other film festivals this year, SHORT TERM 12 has been pretty poorly attended at my local art house theater, the Colony in Raleigh, N.C., where it’s only playing for one week. That’s a shame, because it’s a well worth seeking out indie with what should be a star-making turn by an actress that if you don’t know now, you surely will soon.

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Anti-SeaWorld Doc BLACKFISH Makes A Convincing Case

BLACKFISH

(Dir. Gabriela Cowperthwaite, 2013)

Between Marion Cotillard’s on-the-job accident at a ocean theme amusement park in Jacques Audiard’s 2012 French drama RUST AND BONE, and this new documentary concerning a 12,000 pound Orca whale - still a tourist attraction in Orlando, Florida, to this day despite having killed three people - SeaWorld has been taking quite a beating on the indie art house circuit lately.

BLACKFISH, playing now at the Colony in Raleigh through Tuesday night (the 27th), and at the Carolina Theatre in Durham August 19th-August 28th as as part of Magnolia Pictures’ Summer Documentary Series, focuses primarily on a 32-year old male whale named Tilikum.

Through the testimonies of experts like orca researcher Ken Balcomb, and whale researcher David Duffus, we learn SeaWorld’s controversial history of capturing killer whales such as Tilikum, the circumstances that led to three tragic deaths (the most recent: trainer Dawn Brancheau in 2010), and the corporate spin on the casualties that resulted.

Director Cowperthwaite, who also wrote and edited the film with Eli B. Despres, builds the well paced narrative by way of amateur video, surveillance camera footage, and clips from local and national news coverage.

Some critics have likened it to a thriller, but while it does have chilling (and sometimes disgusting) moments of scariness) it’s more just a particularly dramatic documentary to me. It’s got an emotional resonance strong enough to make Pixar reconsider the ending of their sequel to FINDING NEMO (FINDING DORY, due in 2015). I admit, it had me tearing up at times. Tearing up over a killer whale, that's right.

At a brisk 83 minutes, BLACKFISH is a concise, and intensely watchable film that makes a strong case that killer whales should not be contained in tiny quarters for the purpose of entertaining humans. 

Sure it’s biased, as SeaWorld claims in a written statement criticizing the film, but since no representative of the major amusement park chain agreed to go on camera (an ending disclaimer tells us that SeaWorld officials repeatedly declined to be interviewed”), and all the huge amount of anecdotal evidence from scores of scientists, researchers, former SeaWorld trainers, and noted Orca experts, how could it not be?

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New Releases On Blu Ray & DVD: 4/16/13

Quentin Tarantino’s blaxploitation Western revenge romp DJANGO UNCHAINED, starring Jamie Fox, Christoph Waltz, and Leonardo DiCaprio, heads the pack of new releases this week with a Two-Disc Combo Pack (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet) edition, or a single disc DVD version, if you don’t have a Blu ray player. 



Special Features: A smattering of featurettes: “Reimagining the Spaghetti Western: The Horses & Stunts of DJANGO UNCHAINED,” “Remembering J. Michael Riva: The Production Design of DJANGO UNCHAINED,” “The Costume Designs of Sharen Davis,” “20 Years in the Making: The Tarantino XX Blu-ray™ Collection,” and “DJANGO UNCHAINED Soundtrack Spot.”

Tarantino’s specialty label Rolling Thunder Pictures takes advantage of the home video release date of DJANGO with a Triple Feature Presentation of Ho Meng-Hua’s THE MIGHTY PEKING MAN (a.k.a. GOLIATHAN, 1977), Arthur Mark’s DETROIT 9000 (1973), and Jack Hill’s SWITCHBLADE SISTERS (1975). Each film is presented with scratchy prints, and there is no bonus material, but if you’re a fan of grimy grind-house cinema, it’s a neat DVD-only single disc deal. 



Having seen all three films (SWITCHBLADE SISTERS screened in Raleigh as part of the ongoing Cinema Overdrive series at the Colony Theater in 2010), I can say that there is a fair amount of schlocky fun to be had, but I have more than a feeling that Tarantino is so much more amused by this sleazy stuff than I am. 

The cool retro release of the week has to be the Criterion Collection’s Blu ray Special Edition of Alec Cox’s REPO MAN. The 1984 cult favorite, which I wrote about seeing on the big screen in 2009 (Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of REPO MAN, 3/19/09), has been given a Cox-approved new high-definition digital restoration, commentary featuring Cox and other cast, interviews with Cox, Richardson, and Zamora and more cast, deleted scenes, the complete “cleaned-up” television version of the film (!) prepared by Cox, trailers, and a booklet featuring an essay by critic Sam McPheeters. Nice! Oddly, the DVD edition is a 2-disc set while the Blu ray is a single disc. Usually it's the other way around.

This being an ever lamer Blu ray and DVD release date than last week, there’s not much to report on. Two movies I haven’t seen, the French CGI-animated feature, Bibo Bergeron’s A MONSTER IN PARIS, that got good critical notices but little attention, hits both formats, and Peter Ho-Sun Chan’s 2011 martial arts thriller DRAGON gets a Blu ray release, but beyond that I’d be hard pressed to point out anything very interesting. Check out Amazon’s list of today’s releases and tell me I’m wrong.

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Danny Boyle’s Surreal Thriller TRANCE Is A Flashy Blast

Opening today exclusively in Raleigh at the Colony Theater:

TRANCE (Dir. Danny Boyle, 2013)

Despite its digital trappings, Danny Boyle’s 11th film is a visual feast for the eyes, a stylish thriller that has the drive of his cult classic TRAINSPOTTING as filtered through the cerebral invention of Christopher Nolan’s INCEPTION.

James McAvoy, in a role that I guess Ewan McGregor is too old for, plays an auctioneer who gets mixed up in a heist of a Goya painting worth 27.5 million British pounds. A gripping opening sequence of the robbery has Boyle’s flair for flashy quick cut action firing at all cylinders, neatly timed to U.N.K.L.E.’s “Hold My Hand” (including a sample from David Bowie’s “Be My Wife”). 



Then the problematic yet punchy premise kicks in: McAvoy gets hit in the head by Vincent Cassel as the leader of the gang of thieves, and later after the dust settles, he can’t remember where he hid the painting. Even a icky torture scene can’t bring the memory to surface.

That’s where Rosario Dawson, as a high end hypnotist, comes in. Although Cassel and crew (including Danny Sapani, Matt Cross, and Wahab Sheikh) outfit McAvoy with a wire, and attempt to keep the reason for the therapy hush hush, Dawson figures them out immediately and wants in on a cut of the painting’s profits.

So some sequences of hypnotherapy surreal-ness are in store, as is a love triangle between McAvoy, Cassel, and Dawson. The plot mechanics around the twists and turns of the third act become a bit strained (I agreed with Cassel when he complained about the process to get the information from McAvoy taking too long), but the film retains its clever energy in a way that didn’t piss me off even when it kept faking me out.

The screenplay by Doctor Who writer Joe Ahearne and Boyle collaborator John Hodge (SHALLOW GRAVE, TRAINSPOTTING, THE BEACH) gives us a bunch of cinematic puzzle pieces that keep you guessing about what’s real and what’s a dream, what the character’s real motives are, and most interestingly, who’s the real protagonist here that we should be rooting for?

With her poise, confidence, and stunning presence, Dawson steals the movie every time she’s on camera. It’s quite possibly her finest performance in film to date, one that pleasingly takes on an incredibly implausible character, but that could well be overshadowed by her being as visually stunning as Anthony Dod Mantle’s (another long-time Boyle collaborator) cinematography.



McAvoy brings a convincing stressed out vibe, and Cassel gives it his Euro-trash best, but again, your eyes will most likely always be on Dawson.

As the director/producer Boyle’s recent work goes, TRANCE isn’t as substantial as Boyle’s SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE or 127 HOURS, but it’s a lot of vivid, visceral fun. If one doesn’t scrutinize it too deeply, or take it too seriously, they should be in for a blast.

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Now, This Is Sad: Cary's The Galaxy Cinema Awaiting Demolition

Triangle area film fans should all be aware that the Galaxy Cinema in Cary closed for business last November, but the building still stands and it's a very sad sight:




The weather today made it look even bleaker, but it looked like it's been closed for years not just months. Here's a few more depressing shots (click on the images for bigger pics):

I went to see a lot of movies at the Galaxy over the years, and I remember going there when it was the Imperial Cinemas VI back in the '80s (I saw BEETLEJUICE there!). 

I hear that soon the bulldozers will come and the structure will be razed to make way for, uh, a grocery store? New office buildings? I dunno - I can't find anything recent online about it. If you know anything, please let me know.

Back in the world of still thriving art houses, the Colony Theater has some notable upcoming revival screenings coming up, including tonight's Cinema Overdrive screening of THE PEOPLE NEXT DOOR that I'm checking out. Read more here.

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Countdown to SKYFALL #3: Surveying The Series

Just 2 days left until the 23rd James Bond movie, Sam Mendes’ SKYFALL, comes out so let’s continue on the countdown with another 007-centric post.

Starting in the summer of 2010, the Colony Theater in Raleigh, N.C. started showing 35 mm prints of the bulk of the James Bond series, one a month, in chronological order from DR. NO (1962) to DIE ANOTHER DAY (2002). To cap off the canon, last summer they re-screened the first 3 Connery classics to celebrate the series’ 50th anniversary.

I attended just about every screening (I missed one or two of the Pierce Brosnan ones), many of which I’d only seen on TV before, and covered the run for Examiner.com. Here are the links to those posts, back from when the Examiner would pay more for local content (those were the days). Please check them out (because, you know, every click I get at that content farm helps):

50th anniversary screening of DR. NO at the Colony Thursday night (4/23/12)



James Bond Is Back! At The Colony Theater That Is (7/28/10)

The Colony Theater Has The Midas Touch With GOLDFINGER Thursday Night (8/24/10)

"James Bond Originals" At The Colony Theater Presents THUNDERBALL This Thursday Night (9/29/10)

James Bond Is Back: YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE This Thursday At The Colony Theater (10/27/10)

The Most Debated James Bond Movie Ever Screens This Thurs At The Colony Theater (12/29/10)

Connery As Bond Is Back: DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER This Thurs At The Colony Theater (1/26/11)


Roger Moore’s 007 Debut This Thursday At The Colony Theater (2/23/11)






THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN Takes Aim At 007 This Thursday Night At The Colony (3/29/11)



Roger Moore is THE SPY WHO LOVED ME Thurs Night at the Colony Theater (4/26/11)



The STAR WARS Bond Shows Thursday Night at the Colony Theater (5/25/11)



007 enters the ‘80s at the Colony Theater Thursday (6/28/11)



Roger Moore's 007 meets OCTOPUSSY tonight at the Colony (7/28/11)



Roger Moore's last outing as 007 shows this Thurs night at the Colony Theater (8/24/11)



Timothy Dalton takes over as 007 tonight at the Colony (9/29/11)



007 gets his LICENSE TO KILL revoked Thursday night at the Colony (10/26/11)

Pierce Brosnan takes over as 007 tonight at the Colony (12/29/11)



Pierce Brosnan’s 4th and final film as 007 screens tonight at the Colony (3/28/12)



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Taking A Look Back At The Michael Cera Era

Remember the Michael Cera era? What, you don't?

C’mon, surely you remember that period, just a few years back, when it seemed like there was a new Michael Cera movie out every few months. Cera, who first captured our hearts as George-Michael Bluth on the cult TV show Arrested Development in the early to mid-aughts, was in a steady stream of movies, basically playing the same awkward yet lovable geek again and again.

The era began with the huge high school hit SUPERBAD in 2007, and ran through the audience favorites JUNO and NICK & NORA'S INFINITE PLAYLIST, but started to wane when the caveman comedy YEAR ONE, which teamed Cera with Jack Black, crapped out in the summer of 2009.

Then the era officially ended when Edgar Wright’s action comedy SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD, starring Cera as the title character, released in August of 2010, and flopped despite basking in fanboy praise when it premiered at Comic-Con earlier that summer. Cera hasn’t had a substantial role in a major movie since.

Feels like he just schlepped out of our lives.Around that time, rumors were swirling about a possible Arrested Development movie in the works. All the original cast members were said to be up for it, but Cera, remarked about the project: “I'd possibly play, I'd possibly put the script in my shredder.” Why would he have to go back to being a Bluth, when his movie career was riding so high?

In an episode of the NBC comedy drama Parenthood a season or so back, the rebellious teen Amber (Mae Whitman, also a Cera co-star in “Scott Pilgrim”) is helping her cousin Haddie (Sarah Ramos) with an alibi so she can go on a date unknown to her mother. They rehearse a scenario concerning seeing a Michael Cera movie - Haddie: “Well, I mean, it was okay. But Michael Cera was obviously hilarious.” “Obviously hilarious and cute,” Amber adds.

Even though that was only 2011, that dialogue has really dated. I mean, by then we had all moved on to Jesse Eisenberg. There were no new Cera movies in a multiplex near those girls anymore, right?

Cera himself addressed this when he went on the TBS talk show Conan not long after this, and joked about being constantly mistaken for Eisenberg. Conan O’Brien and Cera laughed about this, then when the next guest, Modern Family’s Julie Bowen, came out she said “Hey, you were great in ‘Social Network’” to Cera. Later O’Brien got a big laugh when he announced that the big guest the next night would be, yep, Jesse Eisenberg, to the comic frustration of Cera.

Tellingly, when Eisenberg visited Conan the following evening, Cera wasn’t brought up at all. Somebody put the kibosh on that. Perhaps Eisenberg, or his agent, beforehand said ‘no Michael Cera jokes, huh?’ If that was the case it sounds like a reasonable request to me.

Apparently Cera decided against the shredder option because he is currently reprising his role as George Michael Bluth in the fourth season of Arrested Development now filming in LA.

Whether or not this new Netflix-produced reunion series (a movie will reportedly follow) will put Cera back in the spotlight it just won’t be the same as his first time around.

I am reminded of a classic episode of The Simpsons, “Bart Gets Famous,” in which Bart Simpson has a burst of fame for saying the same catch phrase over and over. After his fame fades, Marge shows him a box of Bart memorabilia she’s collected (hats, dolls, posters, etc.) and says: “I saved these for you, Bart. You’ll always have them to remind you of the time when you were the whole world's special little guy.”

You can celebrate the Cera era, when he was the whole world’s special little guy, at the Colony Theater in North Raleigh on Wednesday night, August 15th, with a screening of an original 35 mm print of SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD at 7:30 p.m.

SCOTT PILGRIM joins the Colony’s Cool Classics series which means it joins the ranks of such beloved film fare as LABYRINTH, THE PRINCESS BRIDE, EVIL DEAD II, PULP FICTION, and annual showings of THE BIG LEBOWSKI.

So take that Jesse Eisenberg!

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GOD BLESS AMERICA opens exclusively in the Triangle Area today at the Colony Theater

GOD BLESS AMERICA (Dir. Bobcat Goldthwait, 2011)

Although he’s nowhere near as well-known as his brother Bill, Joel Murray has built an impressive career out of solid supporting character work over the last 3 decades.

Especially recently with recurring roles on the shows Shameless, Two and a Half Men, and Mad Men, in which he played Freddy Rumsen, an alcoholic copy-writer who drunkenly peed his pants in one memorable episode.

Murray even popped up in last year’s Best Picture Oscar winner THE ARTIST as the policeman who saves Jean Dujardin from his burning apartment (with the help of Uggie the Dog).

But until now, Murray has never owned a movie as the lead.

Well, he really gets his chance in comedian Bobcat Goldthwait’s 4th film as director, GOD BLESS AMERICA, which opens exclusively in the Triangle at the Colony Theater in North Raleigh today.

Murray plays a man who takes the mantra from NETWORK (“I’m mad as Hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!”) to huge extremes when he picks up a firearm and starts offing people that he believes deserve to die.

That would be offensive reality TV stars, a Bill O’Reilly-type political pundit, people who take up more than one parking space, folks who talk and text during movies, and everybody who’s a fan of or involved in any way with an American Idol-style show called American Superstarz.

Murray can’t help but ask: “Why have a civilization anymore if we no longer are interested in being civilized?”

Back before his killing spree, Murray was diagnosed with a terminal illness, so there’s a nothing left to lose vibe (along with a bit of a Breaking Bad mixed with FALLING DOWN feel).

After taking his first victim - North Carolina native Maddie Hasson as an obnoxious reality show pampered princess -Murray meets a teenage girl (Tara Lynne Barr - annoying at first, but she grew on me) who latches on to him. Barr is just as full of rage about the inundation of crap culture as Murray so they join up as “Platonic spree killers,” as she puts it.

Folks will know in the first 3 minutes if this is a movie for them, as it opens with Murray fantasizing about blowing away the moron neighbor’s screaming baby with a shotgun. A bloody image of the mother shrieking will definitely disturb some folks, but if seen in the right light of satire - it’s a bold gutsy way to start a movie.

At its worst, GOD BLESS AMERICA can resemble last year’s SUPER, which starred Rainn Wilson as a delusional super hero wannabe/vigilante who bonds with Ellen Page (JUNO) who also wants to fight what she thinks is the good fight.

But as Barr says “don't you ever call me fucking 'Juno' again.”

It appears that Goldthwait’s relationship with his daughter, Tasha, is the basis of the duo here. In a recent stand-up special, Goldthwait told a few anecdotes about Tasha that echo in much of the dialogue.

Murray does a great job as the everyman on the edge, handling Godlthwait’s diatribes with heated passion; he indeed owns the film.

Even though it takes aim at easy targets, GOD BLESS AMERICA hits them all hilariously.

It’s a funny fearless film that succeeds in being what Goldthwait calls “a violent movie about kindness,” as it provides an outlet for those who want to live vicariously through these pissed off people.

I mean c’mon! Who wouldn’t want to kill the Kardashians, execute entertainment gossip mongers (I love the parody of TMZ called TMI), and daily eliminate all the a**holes that are cluttering up our culture? If you can forget the concept of consequences and just go with it, then this is the movie for you.

GOD BLESS AMERICA is now playing at the Colony Theater (check their website for show-times), and is available on Demand.

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THE DOUBLE HOUR: The Film Babble Blog Review

This Italian thriller that more than lives up to its tagline ("Nothing is what it seems") is now playing  in Raleigh at the Colony Theater:



THE DOUBLE HOUR (Dir. Giuseppe Capotondi, 2009)

I didn’t know anything about this film going in and for that I'm grateful as I'm sure seeing a trailer or even a cursory look at a plot description would've ruined some of the suspense.



That said, I'll try my best in my summary not to spoil this film's at times confusing yet fascinating twists and turns.



Here goes: Ksenia Rappoport is a hotel maid in Turin who meets former cop turned security guard Filippo Timi at a speed dating event. Romance is in the air, but on a date at the villa he guards, armed masked men assault the couple and tie them up during the theft of tons of priceless paintings.



A scuffle ensues and Rappoport wakes up to find out Filippo was killed.



In a tramatic state she tries to go about her daily routines, but she's haunted by Filippo who she sees on a monitor at work and in the darkness of her apartment.



To say anything more than that would be a crime as THE DOUBLE HOUR (which means the time of day when the hour and minute are the same like 11:11) is full of wonderfully unpredicatable moments.



It's a keep guessing what's what experience, sensitively shot, with ace acting by the two leads, especially Rappoport whose frazzled tormented demeanor carries the film.



In his directorial debut, Capotondi, who's well experienced in the world of music videos, shows that he really knows how to create an effective engrossing mood. I was caught up in this film's aura from start to finish and was very satisfied by the ending, even if I was reminded a bit of the cold cutting conclusion of BODY HEAT.



Wait, was that a spoiler? I so tried not to do that.



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R.I.P. James Bond Theme Composer John Barry (1933-2011)

5-time Oscar winning Composer John Barry died yesterday of a heart attack at the age of 77.

Despite being best known for his soundtrack work on 11 James Bond films as well as writing the incredibly famous and much copied "James Bond Theme", Barry's Academy Award wins were for his scores and songs for BORN FREE (won both Best Score and Best Song), THE LION IN WINTER, OUT OF AFRICA, and DANCES WITH WOLVES.

Over the course of his 50 year career, Barry lent his distinctive touch to tons of movie and television projects, the last being the Dougray Scott/Kate Winslet drama ENIGMA in 2001.

Raleigh News & Observer music critic David Menconi wrote today that Barry "created some of the most iconic scores Hollywood has ever heard, none more so than 1967's 'YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (an orchestral hook later used to good effect on English pop star Robbie Williams' 1998 hit single 'Millennium')."

Many Raleigh residents have been enjoying Barry's 007 scores via the Colony Theater's revival series "James Bond Originals" which has presented 35 millimeter prints of the fan favorites the Thursday of every month since June last summer.

As 1973's LIVE AND LET DIE (showing on February 24th) has Beatles producer George Martin taking on the composing duties, 1974's THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN (March 31st) will be the next in the series to feature a John Barry/James Bond score.

Incidentally as a kid I like many thought that singer/composer Monty Norman had written and arranged the "James Bond Theme" which first appeared in DR. NO (1962). This was because Norman was credited for it on many of the original soundtrack records.

A few lawsuits have occurred over the credit with both composers claiming authorship, but as Barry pointed out he was invited back to score many of the following films and Norman wasn't.

R.I.P. John Barry.

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