The Grace Card

Posted on February 24, 2011 at 6:00 pm

Lowest Recommended Age:	High School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for violence and thematic elements
Profanity:	Some language, implied racist term
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drinking, including drinking to deal with stress, drug dealers
Violence/ Scariness:	Death of a child in an accident, shooting of a teenager
Diversity Issues:	A theme of the movie
Date Released to Theaters:	February 25, 2011
Date Released to DVD:	June 13, 2011
Amazon.com ASIN:	B005335K9A

Anger seduces us because it fools us into feeling powerful.

Anger absorbs so much energy that it helps us avoid the more complicated and painful emotions of loss, guilt, regret, and fear. And that, as “The Grace Card” shows us, is why it is so hard to forgive.
Mac MacDonald (Michael Joiner) is a cop so bitter and angry after the accidental death of his young son that seventeen years later he is consumed with hatred. He subjects his wife, his teenage son, and his co-workers to constant complaints and insults. The escaping drug dealer who killed his son was black, and Mac has allowed racism to poison his heart as well.

His new partner is Sam (Michael Higgenbottom) a part-time pastor who has had to work as a policeman to make ends meet. He has a naturally cheerful and optimistic nature but he is hurt by Mac’s bigotry and hostility. Guided by the wisdom of his grandfather (Louis Gossett Jr.) and his wife (a warm and gracious performance by Dawntoya Thomason), he is able to play the “grace card,” to find forgiveness in himself and, after a tragic twist, to inspire it in Mac.
This is an unpretentious but sincere film with quiet power, and its final scenes are moving and inspirational.

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It’s Kind of a Funny Story

Posted on February 23, 2011 at 3:57 pm

A stressed-out teenager impetuously checks himself into a mental hospital in this semi-autobiographical tale based on It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini. It is brought to screen by the talented writer-directing team of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, who have demonstrated their understanding of teenagers struggling with difficult situations in the understated “Sugar” and “Half Nelson.” Here, they show a more playful side, with witty and imaginative fantasy sequences that make the unabashed decency and kindness at its heart even more touching.

Keir Gilchrist plays Craig, a 16-year-old student at a Manhattan high school for high-achievers. He is feeling a great deal of pressure to succeed and frightened by thoughts of suicide. He visits the emergency room and when the doctor tells him he can go home, he pleads to be admitted, not understanding that it will mean he must be kept under observation for five days. “I thought you guys could do something quick,” he says. “I have school tomorrow.” Craig also does not realize that the area where the teenagers are treated is being renovated, so he will be staying on the adult ward.

Immediately dubbed “Cool Craig” by a friendly patient named Bobby (Zach Galifanakis of “The Hangover”), Craig discovers a through-the-looking-glass world that challenges the connections and assumptions of his “normal” life. The kind psychiatrist (Viola Davis) immediately recognizes that all Craig needs is some breathing room and reassurance. That gives Craig a chance to look around. He develops confidence when he sees many people far worse off than he is, and when he sees that he can give and accept help. Art and music therapy help him think of what he can express instead of how he will be evaluated. And a pretty fellow patient (Emma Roberts, with her aunt Julia’s lovely smile) is the best medicine of all.

Boden and Fleck, whose previous films had an understated naturalism, make the most of the heightened sensibility of the mental ward setting with sequences that take us inside Craig’s fantasies and memories. In one, we see Craig remembering an incident when he was five, drawing inside a tent in his parents’ living room. The present-day Craig is shown as a five year old, and then in his teen-age persona in the five-year-old’s pajamas. When pushed into being the vocalist in music therapy, Craig swings into a deliriously Bowie-fied version of “Under Pressure.” Boden and Fleck continue to show skill in casting and directing. Gilchrist, Roberts, and Zoe Kravitz as the classmate Craig wishes he could date are all first-rate, and Galifanakis leaves every bit of his stand-up persona behind to give a real performance with subtlety and grace.

It is a relief to see a movie about mental illness that recognizes the real pain but focuses on the real humanity of everyone involved, patients, staff, and Craig’s family. Craig first comes into the emergency room and tells the intake nurse that he wants to kill himself. When she hands him a clipboard and tells him to fill out a form it comes across not as callous but as reassuring. Treating his fear as routine is part of what makes him feel safe there. Boden and Fleck are now among the most reliable and promising film-makers around.

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You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger

Posted on February 16, 2011 at 3:58 pm

Unpleasant people behave selfishly until it stops, rather than ends, in this latest trifle from Woody Allen, who once again manages to persuade A-list talent to help him make a C-list movie.

It’s another romantic roundelay, with a divorced couple and their unhappily married daughter making a dreary series of bad romantic choices. Anthony Hopkins plays Alfie, a wealthy man who leaves his wife of 40 years because she makes him feel old, and marries a prostitute he’s known for two months (Lucy Punch). The ex-wife, Helena (Gemma Jones), comforts herself by consulting with a cheerful psychic (Pauline Collins) and dropping in uninvited on her unhappy daughter, Sally (Naomi Watts), and her unhappier husband, Roy (Josh Brolin). Roy has struggled to fulfill the promise of his first novel. After a series of failures, he is desperately hoping his latest manuscript will be accepted by the publisher. And he is also hoping to find a way to meet the beautiful neighbor (Freda Pinto of “Slumdog Millionaire”) he spies on through her window. Sally is smitten with her boss (Antonio Banderas).

The movie has little energy and less sense of purpose. The story is inert and so are the characters. Every one of them is monumentally self-absorbed and not one of them is meaningfully different at the end of the movie than he or she is at the beginning. Or if they are, we don’t know as we have long since lost interest in anything other than seeing some of the finest actors in the English-speaking world struggle to make something out of these underwritten roles.

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Comedy Drama Romance

Young Mr. Lincoln

Posted on February 12, 2011 at 3:59 pm

Abraham Lincoln was born 201 years ago today. This film, directed by John Ford and starring Henry Fonda, is an appealing look at his early law practice and his tragic romance with Ann Rutledge. Particularly exciting and moving are the scenes in the courtroom as Lincoln defends two brothers charged with murder. Both have refused to talk about what happened, each thinking he is protecting the other, and Lincoln has to find a way to prove their innocence.

The Eagle

Posted on February 10, 2011 at 6:13 pm

“The Eagle” is an epic story, lavishly filmed, but empty at the core. Without a reason to care about the quest, it does not matter how skillfully the battle scenes are filmed.

It is based on The Eagle of the Ninth a classic book for kids by Rosemary Sutcliff, inspired by the real-life mystery of the Lost Legion of the Roman Army, a 5000-man fighting force that disappeared without a trace around 117 A.D. This is the story of Marcus Aquila (Channing Tatum), the son of that division’s leader, who goes on a journey to recapture its standard, the golden eagle of the title. Accompanying him is his slave, Esca (Jamie Bell of “Billy Elliot”), loyal to Marcus Aquila for saving his life, but with divided allegiance because he is a Briton who despises the Romans. When they cross Hadrian’s Wall into Briton territory to retrieve the golden eagle, which side will Esca be on?

Director Kevin Macdonald (“The Last King of Scotland”) lets his enthusiasm for the material show. The settings and the design details show meticulous care and the combat scenes are dynamic and sometimes powerful. The evolving respect and friendship between the two men does not translate well from the page to the screen and the pacing is episodic where it should be epic. While it may be a worn-out cliche to have people in ancient times speaking in modern but formal English with British accents, it is a convention that communicates very effectively on screen. Macdonald’s decision to have the Romans speaking American-style English (even the British Jamie Bell) and have the Britons speak historically inaccurate and for most people indecipherable Gaelic, gives it a sloppy, Cliff’s notes flavor. This is underscored further by Tatum’s very contemporary look and build and the attire of the Britons — covered with clay and wearing a sort of animal skin jegging.

The biggest problem is that we just do not care whether they retrieve the eagle because they never make a compelling case that it stands for honor, either relative or absolute. It is the symbol of a failed invasion that does not represent valor or integrity. The film cannot free itself from the modern sensibility of its makers and its audience and therefore cannot demonize the Britons or otherwise justify the Roman attempt to capture and enslave them. The film tries to portray the warriors as heroes next to the politicians who stay at home fighting with words instead of swords. But it just comes across as another pointless road trip bromance. (more…)