Magic in the Moonlight

— I like Woody Allen. Sure, not every film of his is a winner, and lately it seems like every other film isn’t, but even his less stellar films can still be fun. “Magic in the Moonlight” is definitely not up to the caliber of “Blue Jasmine” or “Midnight in Paris”, but it’s still entertaining. Maybe a little slow. Maybe more stage play than film. Maybe dialog that is a little off and a script that's not up to Woody’s cleverness. Maybe a little light on theme and on believability, but people in the audience were guffawing and I was one of them. I wanted to like it more than I did. The best part was Colin Firth and the rest of the cast, all of whom were more than able if only they’d had a bit more to work with.

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[2014. 97 min. Directed by Woody Allen. Starring Colin Firth, Emma Stone, Marcia Gay Harden, Jacki Weaver, Eileen Adkins, Hamish Linklater, and Simon McBurney.]
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jul/25/magic-in-the-moonlight-woody-allens-film-is-as-airy-as-they-come-first-look-review

Guardians of the Galaxy

— I had no idea who the“Guardians of the Galaxy” were since these guys are not among my limited universe of superheroes. Most of the time—spaceships, planets and odd species aside—I almost forget I was watching “superheroes”. The quintet was more like a ragtag group of bickering outlaws operating behind a decidedly unhip but catchy soundtrack of '60s and '70s pop hits. Oh, and they were genuinely funny, or at least quirky. I liked it a lot, but I’ve liked almost all the Marvel movies in the past 4-5 years. Too bad Guardians 2 isn’t slated for release until 2017. Meanwhile, I may pick up the soundtrack of oldies everyone knows, which reached number 1 (Billboard 200) the second week of its release.

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[2014. 121 min. Directed by James Gunn. Starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel (voice), and Bradley Cooper (voice).]
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/08/11/one-2

Get On Up

— I’d probably like “Get On Up” for the music alone, but I was happy that Chadwick Boseman was able to give us an unforgettable James Brown, even if Brown’s ego is depicted to be as big as his talent. The script is a little irritating at times (I’ve grown tired of actors turning to talk to the audience) and it feels a little tame and over-directed, but I still enjoyed it.

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[2014. 138 min. Directed by Tate Taylor. Starring Chadwick Boseman, Nelson Ellis, Dan Aykroyd, and Viola Davis.]
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/08/11/one-2

A Most Wanted Man

— Philip Seymour Hoffman is the reason to see this film. He stands out in this adaptation of the John le Carré novel. I didn’t read the novel but the script is fairly linear which doesn’t exactly jive with my view of le Carré’s usual style. There are quite a few characters and the director sometimes loses track of the reasons behind the espionage so he can deal with personalities and power plays. It still holds up even if it isn’t among the best thrillers, because Hoffman is among the best actors.

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[2014. 122 min. Directed by Anton Corbiun. Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Grigoriy Dobrygin, and Homayoun Ershadi.]
http://variety.com/2014/film/reviews/sundance-film-review-a-most-wanted-man-1201064200/

Boyhood

— I missed “Boyhood” at the True/False Festival in February 2014 but I’m happy I finally got to see it! The film chronicles a Texas boy’s adolescence while his mother cycles through a few unsuitable husbands and his father takes a long time to become a responsible adult. The remarkable thing is that it was filmed over twelve years, using the same cast. We watch everyone grow, moving in and out of each other’s lives, and it’s a remarkable evolution, filled with lots of questions, with sadness and happiness, and with a sense of real time unfolding, sometimes too slowly and sometime too fast. It really is unlike anything I’ve seen before and it’s well worth seeing. I’ve always liked both Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette and they’re perfect as the boy’s parents. It’s hard to imagine how director Richard Linklater picked a 5-year-old boy who’d be up the 12-year task, but Ellar Coltrane certainly was.

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[2014. 165 min. Directed by Richard Linklater. Starring Ellar Coltrane, Patricia Arquette, and Ethan Hawke.]
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/11/movies/movie-review-linklaters-boyhood-is-a-model-of-cinematic-realism.html?_r=0

Begin Again

— I tend to like Mark Ruffalo since he’s always playing a likeable, fuzzy guy, who’s pretty enlightened. He’s in that character again in “Begin Again”, this time paired with Keira Knightley also very capable, even if her career is not quite as consistent. This is a mostly fun film with pleasant enough people singing in New York and overcoming life’s obstacles. A couple of times I felt like there wasn’t quite enough script or that transition scenes relied too heavily on iPod playlists. I liked the film and I liked the characters, but writer/director John Carney should have kept his focus on surviving within and outside of relationships, instead of also trying to make a statement about greed in the music business.

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[2013. 104 min. Directed by John Carney. Starring Keira Knightley, Mark Ruffalo, Adam Levine, Hailee Steinfeld, James Corden, and Catherine Keener.]
http://www.vanityfair.com/vf-hollywood/begin-again-review

The Immigrant

— Marion Cotillard helps almost any film and this one’s pretty good anyway. The film has a feeling that it’s from another era, with its noble but down on her luck leading lady who must lose a part herself to survive and the man responsible for both her downfall and her salvation. It’s a carefully crafted film that develops more like a novel than a film and ends with as much a sense of resignation as of hope. I’m not really familiar with James Gray, the director, but this is his fifth film and it’s good enough to make me ready to check out one or more of the others.

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[2013. 120 min. Directed by James Gray. Starring Marion Cotillard, Joaquin Phoenix, and Jeremy Renner.]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/the-immigrant-movie-review/2014/05/21/347920e4-df65-11e3-9743-bb9b59cde7b9_story.html

Jodorowsky’s Dune

— I had 9:00 p.m. tickets for “Jodorowsky’s Dune” (DVD) at the True/False Film Fest last March but, being tired from having watched three films already that day and knowing bad weather was on it way, I skipped out. I must just not have realized how interesting a film it actually is. Somehow I’d let the stench from David Lynch’s “Dune” affect me. Instead, this is a interesting look at the “Dune” that was never filmed but came oh so close. With a remarkable group of people signed on to the project (Salvador Dali, Mick Jagger, Orson Welles, Jean Giraud, Dan O’Bannon, Giger, and others) charismatic cult film director Alejandro Jodorowsky created an adaption of Frank Herbert’s book that was visionary, artistic, and doomed. Even so, the case is made that its storyboard rippled throughout Hollywood, ultimately affecting science fictions films like “Star Wars”, “Alien”, “Contact”, “Blade Runner”, “The Matrix”, “Terminator”, and more. Also of interest is Jodorowsky’s steadfast belief in his vision remaining unaffected by the business of Hollywood which ultimately resulted in his vision never being realized.

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[2013. 90 min. Directed by Frank Pavich. Featuring Alejandro Jodorosky, Michel Seydoux, H.R. Giger, Chris Foss, Brontis Jodorowsky, and Richard Stanley.]
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/21/movies/jodorowskys-dune-from-frank-pavich.html?_r=0