Romeo & Juliet

Posted on October 10, 2013 at 6:00 pm

William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” is the most-filmed play of all time, with dozens of versions and variations from the sublime (the Franco Zeffirelli and Baz Luhrmann versions, “West Side Story” and “Shakespeare in Love”) to the outlandish (the cute Gnomeo and Juliet, the robot short “Runaway Robots! Romie-O and Julie-8”) and the downright ridiculous (Norma Scherer and Leslie Howard were in twice the age of the characters they were playing). The story of the “star-cross’d lovers” has immediate appeal — impetuous teenagers, disapproving parents, missed messages, and swordfights. All it needs to succeed is leads with a lot of chemistry and the ability to adapt to the rhythms of iambic pentameter and the glorious language of the greatest writer in the history of English. This movie fails on all three. The leads have no chemistry with each other or with the glorious poetry of the dialog. And “Downton Abbey’s” Julian Fellowes has mangled the adaptation, changing some of the lines and scenes. It is not a terrible movie, but it is not an especially good one and with so many better alternatives it is an unnecessary one.

It begins with a useless added scene in which the Prince (Stellan Skarsgård) holds a tournament to settle once and for all the dispute between the feuding Montagues and Capulets. It doesn’t work. Soon a fight breaks out between the servants of the two houses that are “alike in dignity” (the play’s first scene) and the Prince is furious. If they cannot keep the peace, there will be trouble. Romeo (Douglas Booth), a Montague, is in love with a Capulet cousin named Rosaline. When he finds out that the Capulets are having a masked party and Rosaline will be there, he and his friends attend the party so Romeo can see her.

But Romeo sees the Capulet daughter, Juliet (“True Grit’s” Hailee Steinfeld), and they are instantly struck by love. In the play, their perfect unity is demonstrated by their first conversation, witty flirtation in the form of an exquisite sonnet. It is one of the best-loved pieces of writing in history. Yet this version mangles it by ramping up the intensity of the attraction right from the beginning so there is no sense of build-up. More important, the utter lack of chemistry between the very pretty but bland Booth and the game but not up to the task Steinfeld makes us long for Bella and Edward or even Bella and Jacob.

There are some strong performances, unfortunately just making the two main characters look worse by comparison. Lesley Manville (“Topsy Turvy”) give the nurse a warmth that is often lost in the usual caricatured portrayals. Natascha McElhone is a sympathetic Lady Capulet and Paul Giamatti is superb as Friar Laurence. The standout, though, is Christian Cooke as Mercurtio, whose energy is much missed once he is out of the picture.

Most appallingly, Fellowes has decided to make the text more “accessible” with some trims and edits to the language. The slight gains in “accessibility” are overwhelmed by the loss of the music in the words and the poetry of the rhythm. I bite my thumb at him.

Parents should know that this movie includes Shakespearean sword-fighting with many characters injured and killed, sexual references and non-explicit situations, and suicides.

Family discussion: Did the novice make the right decision? Why couldn’t Romeo and Juliet tell their parents the truth?

If you like this, try: the other versions by Baz Luhrmann and Franco Zeffirelli and adaptations like “West Side Story” and “Warm Bodies,” a zombie romance where the characters are named R and Julie)

Don Jon

Posted on September 26, 2013 at 6:00 pm

Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt has made a remarkably assured debut as writer/director, putting him in the front ranks of today’s filmmakers. Gordon-Levitt also plays the lead role, Jon, a New Jersey guy with a high and tight haircut and a spare and immaculate apartment decorated in gray and black. He reels off the list of things he cares about: his body (for working out), his car (for driving and looking cool), his boys (friends), his girls (for sex), his church (for confession), his family (for Sunday dinners), and porn (you know what that is for). Those are the parameters of his life, and that seems fine to him because he knows who he is and how things fit together. The title is a reference to the legendary libertine who symbolizes all men who seduce many women without forming any attachments to them.

Jon and his friends like to go to the club and rank the ladies, an endlessly fascinating conversation about various body parts and the optimal shapes and proportions of each. Sex with those ladies is primarily a contest between the men, and Jon is by far the leader. His success with nines and “dimes” (a ten) is about status and competition, and he tells us that he prefers pornography to sex with real girls. One night, Jon sees a solid dime named Barbara (Scarlett Johansson). For the first time, he becomes involved with a woman who is more than a one-night stand and he has to earn her affection. She has her own ideas of what a “dime” equivalent looks like, and he finds himself going to romantic comedy movies and taking a community college class. He even brings her home to meet his family, where she gets a very enthusiastic response from his parents (a wonderful Glenne Headley and Tony Danza).

And then things get more complicated. Gordon-Levitt has crafted a whip-smart, richly cinematic film with some very funny moments and a lot of heart. He makes it clear that Jon is not the only one who is numbing his feelings. His father is more absorbed in watching the football games than in talking to his family and Barbara’s aspirations are almost as based on fantasy as the images Jon connects to online. Watch how the settings help tell the story, and style of the movie changes as Jon goes from the techno-pumping macho world of his friends to the more romantic, orchestral environment of dating. And then it shifts again as other changes happen. Keep an eye on Jon’s sister, played by the superb Brie Larson (“The Spectacular Now,” “Short Term 12”), who appears to be as addicted to her devices as Jon, never saying a word to her family as she stares into her phone, texting back and forth. She will make it clear that she has been more connected to what is going on with the people she loves than anyone else in the film. And Julianne Moore gives an earthy but sensitive performance as a classmate of Jon’s who surprises and disconcerts him with her honesty.

Seeing Jon begin to learn to interact with the world with feelings, not just sensations, is a pleasure. But seeing one of today’s best young actors bloom into one of tomorrow’s best young filmmakers is even greater.

Parents should know that this movie is about a young man who is addicted to pornography. It includes very explicit sexual references and situations, nudity, very strong and crude language, drinking, and drugs.

Family discussion: How did other characters aside from Jon find ways to avoid their feelings? How did Joseph Gordon-Levitt use different film-making styles to show the different moods of his time with his friends, with Barbara, and with Esther?

If you like this, try: “Thanks for Sharing” and some of Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s other films like “Brick” and “Mysterious Skin”

Related Tags:

Comedy Date movie Drama Romance

Thanks for Sharing

Posted on September 19, 2013 at 6:00 pm

B+

Lowest Recommended Age:	Mature High Schooler
MPAA Rating:	Rated R for language and strong sexual content
Profanity:	Very strong and explicit language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drinking and references to substance abuse
Violence/ Scariness:	Tense confrontations, some mild peril
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters:	September 20, 2013
Date Released to DVD:	January 7, 2014
Amazon.com ASIN:	B00FXWAZX2

Imagine that the one thing you cannot trust yourself to be near is around you all the time, wherever you go. As difficult as it is to recover from addiction to drugs or gambling or alcohol, at least those in recovery can wall themselves off from the places and activities that act as their most dangerous triggers. But sex addicts are surrounded by stimuli all the time. “Is all of Manhattan just one big catwalk?” asks one character in this sympathetic portrayal of people who try to find a way out of what one of them calls his very dark places. “It’s like trying to quit crack while the pipe is attached to your body.”

Sex addicts have to endure the ignorance of those who snicker or ask “Isn’t that just something men say when they get caught cheating?” They have to ride in cabs with titillating videos playing in the back seat. Adam (Mark Ruffalo) avoids temptation by not allowing himself to have a television, home access to internet, or a smartphone. And he has walled himself off from another kind of temptation but not having a romantic relationship.

His sponsor, Mike (Tim Robbins), encourages him to try to date. And when he meets Phoebe (Gwyneth Paltrow), he wants very much to get close to her. She is a breast cancer survivor, which may be one reason he feels that she can understand his struggles. But at first he does not tell her the truth about himself. Mike has a son, Danny (Patrick Fugit of “Almost Famous”), who has a history of substance abuse, and who returns home promising that this time is different.

Adam is a sponsor, too. His “sponsee” is Neil, a doctor whose passion for saving others has been a way for him to avoid being honest with himself about his own behavior, which includes inappropriate touching of women he does not know and elaborate mechanisms for “upskirt” photography. Being court-ordered will not be enough to get him to tell the truth; being fired could be a start. As so often happens in 12-step programs, the key for Neil may be the chance to help someone else, someone he understands and who understands and helps him. An outspoken hairdresser named Dede (rock star Alecia “Pink” Moore) who is in both the sexual addiction and “beverage” (alcohol abuse) programs calls him for emergency help and helping her is the first step in helping himself.

Mike, Tom, and Adam are all at different stages of their recovery, and each faces different challenges and hard truths. Sometimes these are framed in the kind of “But that’s okay” support group-speak that Al Franken used to mock on “Saturday Night Live.” “Why did I pick such a tough sponsor?” Adam asks wryly. “I don’t know, maybe you wanted to recover,” Mike answers with a smile. “United we stand, divided we stagger.” “Thanks for bookending this for me.” And you know someone will have to break down and say, “I’m out of control. I’m scared. And I need help.” But, you know what? That’s okay.

Co-writer/director Stuart Blumberg wisely spares us the easy explanations that allow us to feel smugly separate from those who struggle to achieve a sense of control, and he is frank about the dynamic, positive and negative, between those who struggle with addiction and those who maintain relationships with them. The all-star cast delivers with performances of aching sensitivity and heart. And if a brief moment in the film that has People Magazine’s most beautiful person alive Gwyneth Paltrow in sexy lingerie is the image that is being unironically widely used to promote the movie, well, that helps make its point.

Parents should know that this film concerns sexual addiction and there are frank discussions and portrayals of people who struggle with various kinds of obsessive and destructive sexual behavior. It includes very strong and explicit language, some drinking and references to substance abuse, and some mild peril and violence.

Family discussion: How does sexual addiction differ from other kinds of obsessive and compulsive behavior? Why was it easier for these characters to support and understand each other than to their families and romantic partners?

If you like this, try: “Don Jon” and “28 Days”

Charade

Posted on July 8, 2013 at 8:00 am

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	NR
Profanity:	Mild language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drinking, smoking
Violence/ Scariness:	Peril and violence, characters injured and killed
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	1963
Date Released to DVD:	July 8, 2013
Amazon.com ASIN:	B00COHGPNS

I’m delighted that one of the all-time great romantic thrillers is being released for the first time on Blu-Ray this week. Director Stanley Donen out-Hitchcock’s Alfred Hitchcock with this witty, elegant, sophisticated bonbon starring Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant. It has a swoony score by Henry Mancini and a nicely twisty plot. And one of the most delicious last lines in movie history.

Hepburn plays a Parisian woman whose estranged husband is murdered and thrown off a train. She realizes she knew very little about him. And she realizes some very bad people knew a lot about him. When he was in the army, he and some of his friends stole some money. And then he stole it from them. They are after the money, and that means they are after her.

I won’t spoil any surprises by saying more. But I will strongly recommend that after you watch the movie, you watch it again to listen to the commentary from director Stanley Donen and screenwriter Peter Stone, filled with marvelously entertaining anecdotes about the making of the film. I love the story about Cary Grant’s haircut. My favorite part, though, is whenever a close-up of Audrey Hepburn comes on the screen. They just pause. And then one of them says, a little breathlessly, “Isn’t she beautiful?”

Yes, she is.

Trailer: Still Mine

Posted on July 5, 2013 at 3:57 pm

The wonderful James Cromwell (“Babe”) and Genevieve Bujold star in “Still Mine,” a touching love story, opening July 12.