To the Wonder

— “To the Wonder”, Terrance Malick’s latest film, really is a very odd, amazing, and beautiful film. After the superb “Tree of Life,” I eagerly awaited the arrival of “To the Wonder” in Columbia and today was the day. This isn’t a film for the weak or timid viewer. I could try to describe the experience, but Jon Baskin has already described done a better job than I could—“to those of us who remain convinced by his art, Malick is working at a level so far beyond us that our aesthetic estimations can only seem petty in comparison to his vision…Did you think a film needed dialogue, a plot, particularized conflicts, identifiable characters? Malick’s films will compel you either to enforce your criteria, or to abandon them. It is as if, as with so many modern artworks, what is being asked of the viewer is not only appreciation but conversion.”

If you aren’t one of those who hated “Tree of Life” then prepare yourself for something equally ambitious but more intimate and less expansive, and operating even more beneath the surface.

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[2012. 112 min. Directed by Terrence Malick. Starring Ben Affleck, Olga Kurylenko, Javier Bardem, and Rachel McAdams.]
http://lareviewofbooks.org/article.php?id=1659&fulltext=1

The Great Gatsby

— I finally saw Baz Luhrmann’s “The Great Gatsby”, a retelling of Fitzgerald’s novel on cocaine. That’s not to say it’s without redemption. DiCaprio’s really very good and the costumes and sets are a wonder. Carey Mulligan passes as Daisy and Toby Maguire is a fairly decent Nick Carraway. The story’s there too, but you are constantly aware of Luhermann’s hand in it all, and it’s not a very subtle hand. I tried to cope with the music, with Jay-Z and Q-Tip and will.i.am in the flapper age, but really! It’s worth seeing, but there are several other films worth seeing first. Thank god I didn’t go to the 3-D version—there’s excess and then there’s just plain excessive!

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[2013. 143 min. Directed by Baz Luhrmann. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Macguire, Carey Mulligan, and Joel Edgerton.]
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/cinema/2013/05/13/130513crci_cinema_denby

Mud

— I’m a sucker for coming-of-age films and “Mud” doesn’t disappoint. The film ambles along at an easy, pace mirroring life in the film’s Mississippi River town. When two boys stumble across Mud, a down-on-his-luck guy holed up on an abandoned island, the stage is set. Mud is avoiding bounty hunters and the two boys help him get a boat up and running so he can meet up with his girlfriend and the two of them can escape into the sunset. There’s plenty of great dialogue and good direction, along with decent acting. Matthew McConaughey is outstanding—he really can act! The film may be a little long, but it does raise questions about life and love that are worth thinking about at any age.

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[2012. 130 min. Directed by Jeff Nichols. Starring Matthew McConaughey, Tye Sheridan, Reese Witherspoon, Jacob Lofland, and Sam Shepard.]
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2013/05/life-on-the-mississippi.html

Iron Man 3

— “Iron Man 3” wasn’t as good as I’d like. Oddly slow getting started and references to “The Avengers” were just too much verbal product placement. Luckily, there’s some clever banter and Robert Downey, Jr.’s timing and likeability keep everything going. To be fair, Gwyneth Paltrow’s Pepper Potts helps too. The first two installments in the franchise worked a little better and I suspect changing directors for the third installment wasn’t a good idea. Just the same, it didn’t take itself too seriously and it was fast moving fun. What more could I want?

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[2013. 130 min. Directed by Shane Black. Starring Robert Downey Jr., Guy Pearce, Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, and Ben Kingsley.]
http://www.nola.com/movies/index.ssf/2013/05/iron_man_3_review.html

John Dies in the End

— I watched the weirdest movie of the weekend – “John Dies in the End” (DVD) – and I’m still not sure if it was worth seeing or not, but it was an unusual mix of genres. Kind of “Buffy”, “MIB”, and “Ghostbusters” meet in parallel universes directed by a young Quentin Tarantino with an eye toward becoming an instant cult classic, and originally written with Cheech and Chong in mind for the lead roles. Just very weird. (I also saw Michael Bay’s “Pain and Gain” and it was mostly pain and not worth anyone’s time unless they just want to test their tolerance and endurance.)

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[2012. 99 min. Directed by Don Coscarelli. Starring Chase Williamson, Rob Mayes, and Paul Giamatti.]
http://movies.nytimes.com/2013/02/01/movies/john-dies-at-the-end-directed-by-don-coscarelli.html?_r=0&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1367853214-%2FD+oXXiJDMG68by0GGXkxQ

The Company You Keep

— “The Company You Keep” kept me wondering what someone who did not live through the SDS and Weathermen would think of it. Mind you, the film does have a generational tug to it with most of the cast able to collect social security but still more liberal and more focused on change than they perceive is the case with younger generations. As one member of the Weather Underground is arrested after living for 30 years as a suburban housewife, more and more people’s lives are affected. The story unfolds, and it unfolds with a steady, slow ease that may be unfamiliar to a viewer accustomed to multitasking and sensory overload. One thing’s for sure, the mostly AARP-eligible cast is a thing of wonder and they all can act with a subtlety that is a joy to see (Robert Redford, Julie Christie, Susan Sarandon, Nick Nolte, Chris Cooper, Stanley Tucci, Brendan Gleeson, Richard Jenkins, Sam Elliott). Oh, and Shia LaBeouf manages to hold his own as a young, amoral reporter representing a generation with less anger and social commitment than existed in the sixties. I liked this film, but these are my contemporaries dealing with morality, so it makes sense to me.

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[2012. 125 min. Directed by Robert Redford. Starring Robert Redford, Shia LaBeouf, Julie Christie, Susan Sarandon, Nick Nolte, Chris Cooper, Terrence Howard, and Stanley Tucci.]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/movies/the-company-you-keep,1244298.html