About Flagpole. (Athens, Ga.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 28, 2011)
4 < Some releases may not be showing locally this week. • indicates new review •THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN (PG) Going in, ail I knew of Herge's teenage/young-adult adventurer was his hair and his dog. Thank you. Steven Spielberg, producing partner Peter Jackson and a grand writing team ol "Doctor Who"'s Stephen Moffat. Shaun ol the Deads Edgar Wright and Attack the Blocks Joe Cornish for introducing me to such an exciting little junior Indiana Jones in your big- screen, motion-capture holiday treat, Tintin (Jamie Bell), his doy Snowy and constantly tipsy Captain Haddock (the Mozart of MoCap. Andy Serkis) heaa off in search of the lost treasure of Captain Haddock's ancestor, with evil Mr Sakhanne (Daniel Craig) in hot pursuit. Tintin is the kind of family movie to have/borrow a kid for It's fun for children and adults, like the family affairs of Spielberg's 70s. '80s and early-'90s heyday (with an Indy-like soundtrack from the composer of my childhood. Mr John Williams) Considering Pixar gave us the merely mortal Cars 2 this year, Tintin is far and away my pick for Best Animated Feature of the year, but only in its intri cately impossible action does it seem animated Tintin should rightfully be hailed as the family film of the year ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: CHIPWRECKED(G) Come on. Fox' If you're going to keep releasing new Chipmunks entries each holiday season, the least you can do is make a Christmas-themed movie featuring the furry trio's classic holiday tunes Instead. Alvin, Simon, Theodore, the Chipettes and Dave (poor, paycheck cashing Jason Lee) start out on a cruise ship and wind up on a deserted island Judging by the botfo box office of the previous two features plus the young audience's reaction to the new pic s nailer. Chipwreckedshould pro vide its studio with some holiday cheer ARTHUR CHRISTMAS (PG)l m a sucker for a good, creative, behind-the- holiday-scenes sequence (Wop boasts a good one), and Arthur Christmas opens with a doozy But this charm ing holiday surprise -coming from Aardman Studios—keeps charming as it delightfully recounts the Christmas Eve adventure of Santas younger son After another successful, hi-tech run masterminded like a military operation by Santa's older son, Steve (v Hugh Laurie) Arthur (v James McAvoy) discovers one little girl was missed In a last-minute effort to save Christmas for that little girl. Arthur, his Grandsanta (v Bill Nighy) and elfin wrapping specialist Bryony (v Ashley Jensen, Ricky Gervais's Extras") tire up the old sleigh, hitch up the eight famous rein deer and attempt to fly to England Brits just get Christmas, and the animation gurus at Aardman. best known for Wallace and Gromit, have coniured up a lovely, happy holiday film CARNAGE (R) Roman Polanski directs Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz and John C Reilly in a family dramedy I'm game Two sets of parents (Foster and Reilly, Winslet and Waltz) set up a friendly meeting to discuss their sons' schoolyard tiff I can't wait to see where that discussion goes wrong. Polanski and playwright Yazmina Reza update her one-act play, Godot Carnage, whose popular Broadway incarnation starred James Gandolfini, Marcia Gay Harden, Jeff Daniels and Hope Davis. Polanski's son, Elvis, plays one of the boys. COURAGEOUS (PG-13) First, the nice things The technical skills of director Alex Kendrick and the folks (they are from Albany) behind Sherwood Baptist's latest evangelical epic have vastly improved since their breakthrough hit, Facing the Giants On a completely technical level, you'd never know you were not watching a Hollywood production about four law enforcement officers forced to face themselves as men and lathers after a tragedy I've seen several Hollywood hits that looked worse (direction, cinematography, editing, etc ). Now the bad The talent in front of the camera still reeks of amateurism Awkward reaction shots and line deliveries of stilted homilies and forced proverbs mar the professional Hollywood slick production values DIE HARD (R) 1988 Arguably the greatest action movie and the greatest Christmas movie rolled into one, Die Hard provided the comparative logline for a thousand spec scripts. "It's like Die Hard in a ." John McClane (Bruce Willis) fights baddies led by Alan Rickman's Hans Gruber during the company Christmas party at Nakatomi Plaza. Director John McTiernan established himself as an A-list action helmer Hone of the sequels have been able to recapture the magic of the origi nal, though they keep trying (A Good Day to Die Hard is slated for 2013). DOLPHIN TALE (PG) I am not a sucker for sentimental animal mov ies Were I. then I am sure Dolphin fete would have fit the bill A lonely 12-year-old. Sawyer (Nathan Gamble), rescues a dolphin (real tail-less dol phin. Winter, as herself) caught in a crab trap. With the help ot a marine vet (Harry Conmck Jr), his daughter (Cozi Zuehlsdorff) and a doctor who special izes in prosthetics (Morgan Freeman). Sawyer helps save the dolphin by fashioning a fake appendage \ FOOTLOOSE PG go ahead and dispel any thoughts that the Kevin Bacon starrer is somehow above being remade What Hustle & f/mvfilmmaker Craig Brewer has done in remaking the seminal '80s flick is impressive Brewer relocates the dance banning town of Bomont from Oklahoma to Georgia adding another film to Brewer's resume ot intriguing cinematic stories about the New South. THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (R) Stieg Larsson may have created Lisbelh Salander, but David Fincher and the bold Rooney Mara have made her a big-screen icon. (No offense to Noomi Rapace's Lisbeth. but Mara's movie is loads better.) Fincher dangerously retains Larsson's wicked, violent, European sexuality for Hollywood's adaptation of the first book in the Millennium Trilogy Journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) enlists the help of the titular tattooed (and multiply pierced) girl, a ward ot the state who might be a psychopath but is certainly a genius, to solve a decades old murder Readers of the novel will marvel at how smartly screenwriter Steven Zaillian jettisons the novel's clunky points to streamline the central mystery (who killed Harriet Vanger?) and posit a new one (who is Lisbeth Salander?). Top-notch performances, red slashes of humor and Fincher's masterful control of style (the stunning opening credits imply some twisted mix of Bond and bondage) propel the film with a badass energy, fed by Academy Award winning composers, Trent Reznor and Atticus Rose. THE HELP (PG-13) Every black ser vant is a saint, every white employer a demon. College-educated Eugenia “Skeeter" Phelan (the extremely likable Emma Stonet) comes home to Jackson to save its minority population through bestselling pop fiction She collects the stories of long-serving maids Aibiieen (Viola Davis), Minny (Octavia Spencer) and more into an illegal (in 1960s Mississippi) tome that scandalizes the gentry. HUGO (PG) Oh. to be an orphan liv ing in an early-20th-century dock 1 Despite its near perfection, this 3D family film—Martin Scorsese's first- may be the loveliest wide release to struggle to find its audience this year. Yet its no wonder Scorsese, himself a film historian as well as a film lover, decided to adapt Brian Selznick's The Invention ot Hugo Cabret, whose central mystery revolves around an early cinematic master Parisian orphan Hugo (Asa Butterfield), who lives inside the clocktower ol the train sta tion, seeks the answer to a mysterious automaton, lett unsolved by his late father and clockmaker (Jude Law), with the help ot a loymaker named Georges (Ben Kingsley) arid his charge. Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz) IN TIME (PG-13) G3 director Andrew Niccol tweaks the sci-fi genre again with this take on Logans Bun In a future world, every one is genetically engineered to stop aging at 25 To ward off overcrowding, people are also designed to only live to 26 In this ageless new society, a man accused ot murder (Justin Timberlake) goes on the lam with a pretty hostage (Amanda Seyfried, Mamma Mia!) With Olivia Wilde. Alex Pettyfer. Cillian Murphy. Jonnny Galecki and Vincent Kartheiser (“Mad Men"). LIKE CRAZY (PG-13) The Sundance Fiim Festival Grand Jury Prize winner stars Felicity Jones (winner of mul tiple Best Actress and Breakthrough Performance prizes) and the impres sive Anton Yelchin (last seen in Fright Night) as two young lovers separated by government regulations. She's a British college student: he's an American student. Their love is deported after she overstays her visa and is kicked out of the country. Writer- director Drake Doremus may finally have a minor hit with his fourth feature. With Academy Award nominee Jennifer Lawrence. MARGIN CALL (R) A thriller about the financial crisis, Margin Call follows some key players at an investment banking firm during a 24-hour period near the beginning of the financial meltdown. Whoever J.C. Chandor is, the Golden Berlin Bear-nominated, first-time feature filmmaker corralled a hell of a cast. MELANCHOLIA (R) Apparently, Europe has forgiven renowned film maker/provocateur Lars von Trier for his failed Nazi joke (one hopes), as his masterful new film took top prize at the European Film Awards. It's the end of the world as the Dane knows it, and Justine (Cannes Best Actress Kirsten Dunst in her bravest performance to date), a sometimes blushing, mostly depressed bride, is getting married while a mysterious new planet threat ens to collide with Earth. Starting with the stunning, nearly 10-minute open ing montage, von Trier has composed an extravagant, mature meditation on the apocalypse, both personal and planetary, and it is beautiful to behold The Danish firebrand loves putting his female leads, both actress and charac ter. through the paces, and Melancholia is no different Fortunately. Antichrist acted like a colonic, cleansing von Trier of his worst tendencies and allowing him to produce a product of incompa rable purity. Visually the two pictures are kin. thematically and emotionally, they could not be any more distinct MIDNIGHT IN PARIS (PG-13) Owen Wilson stars as the latest Woody stand-m. Gil. a Hollywood hack trying to finish a novel while on a business trip to Pans with his fiancee's (Rachel McAdams) family On a magical midnight walk. Gil runs into Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald (Tom Hiddleston and Alison Pill), gets writing advice from Papa Hemingway (Corey Stoll) and Gertrude Stein (Kathy Bates) and falls for Picasso's girlfriend, Adriana (Marion Cotillard) MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE—GHOST PROTOCOL (PG-13) Mission: Impossible is that rare franchise that has actually gotten better with each new installment and in inverse propor tion to its megastar's popularity. Tom Cruise had few peers in 1996 when the weak, original M:l opened: now he's more often a punchline, albeit a badass punchline who dues many of his own death-defying stunts, like climbing the outside of the world's tallest building What sets the Mission: Impossible franchise apart from any other exist ing action series is its star-producers knack for finding the best, new behind the camera talent. First-time live-action feature director Brad Bird is known to be an animation auteur (The Iron Giant, The Incredibles), and he apparently doesn’t realize action of the live variety has limitations Now he's the guy who can still make a Tom Cruise stunt spec tacular stand out like it's the late '90s. MONEYBALL (PG-13) Based on Michael Lewis' bestseller, director Bennet Miller's follow-up to the Oscar winning Capote actually makes base ball statistics interesting. Oakland A's General Manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) attempts to build a championship ballclub through On Base and Slugging Percentage rather than traditional scouting. Does it work? Anyone famil iar with Major League Baseball already knows the answer. THE MUPPETS (PG) You can tell cowriter-star Jason Segel loves the Muppets. His reboot of Jim Henson's lovable puppets is built with obvious love and understanding of what made their 1979 film debut so special. Gary (Segel), his puppet brother, Walter, and Gary's longtime girlfriend, Mary (Amy Adams) travel to Los Angeles, where they discover a plot to destroy the Muppet Theater by oil tycoon Tex Richman (Oscar winner Chris Cooper). Together, they help Kermit reunite the old gang—Fozzie, Miss Piggy, Gonzo, et al.—to put on a telethon in order to raise the money needed to buy back the property. MY WEEK WITH MARILYN (R) Michelle Williams stars as the legend ary blonde bombshell in this drama tization of Marilyn and Sir Laurence Olivier's tense relationship while filming The Prince and the Showgirl. The film is based on the accounts of Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne), who was employed by Olivier at the time The rest of the cast sounds fun; Julia Ormond plays Vivien Leigh and Kenneth Branagh is Olivier. However, dnector Simon Curtis has done most of his work oi. the small screen. NEWLYWEDS (NR) So. Edward Burns is still making movies, in case you didn't know that (I wasn't sure). Newlyweds Buzzy (Burns) and Katie (Caitlin Fitzgerald) run into trouble when a visit from his half-sister coin cides with the news of her sister's mari tal woes It will be interesting to see it Burns can get back to his Brothers McMullen origins on a rumored shoe string budget ot $9,000 NEW YEAR'S EVE (PG-13) Almost every actor you could possibly recog nize appears in the second, two-hour holiday party thrown by director Garry Marshall. (Scratch that. No Julia.) At least Valentine's Day had a semblance to what normal people might expect on Feb. 14. The folks preparing to ring in 2012 (dating it could sorely limit this flick's already weak repeat watchability) aren't doing a single thing you or I do, unless you cater swank New York parties while arguing with your music superstar boyfriend (naturally played by Jon Bon Jovi). PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 (R) I cannot think of another horror franchise as chronologically interesting Oren Peli's scary 2007 blockbuster occurred last, ending without the typical survi vor. Then, rather than have demonic 19th Century Drive-Thru Katie terrorize some unsuspecting family, the series' creative minds chose to go backwards. Consider PA3 the origin story, revealing the footage, shot in 1988 by their mother's boyfriend, Dennis, that explains why sisters Katie and Kristy continue to be haunted. PUSS IN BOOTS (PG) Shreks fairy tale may have moved on to happily ever after, but Puss in Boots (v. Antonio Banderas) is still itching for a fight. His spinoff reveals the swordfighting antics that led up to Puss meeting up with Shrek and company. SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS (PG-13) Much tike its 2009 predecessor. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is a perfectly forget table crowdpleaser. Robert Downey. Jr. revisits his hyper-bordering-on-manic. streetfighting master sleuth, this time tasked with defeating his literary arch nemesis. Professor James Moriarty (the appropriate Jared Harris of AMC's “Mad Men"). Assisted as always by Dr. John Watson (Jude Law. again a game companion to Downey), Holmes is also joined by his brother, Mycroft (Stephen Fry), Watson's new wife (Kelly Reilly) and a gypsy fortune teller (Noomi Rapace, best known as the original Lisbeth Salander). Director Guy Ritchie coats everything in his usual super- stylish action sheen. THE SITTER (R) This surprisingly semi-sweet comic confection from director David Gordon Green in his cinematic equivalent to a rubber match (he won big with Pineapple Express, he got blown out by the disappointing Your Highness, The Sitter is the decid ing third comedy) needs a better trailer. Jonah Hill’s Noah Griffith is a lot nicer of a dude than he or the trailer let on, and that likability saves the movie from descending into the Danny McBride- ian depths of comic self-loathing and asshole-ishness. THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN-PART 1 (PG-13) Stephenie Meyer's extremely popular teen-vamp- romance took a surreal turn in the fourth book. Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward (Robert Pattinson) finally marry. On the honeymoon. Bella becomes pregnant with a thing that should not be. Now the Cullens are caught between the Quileute wolves and the ancient Volturi, both of whom are threatened by this unknown new adversary < WAR HORSE (PG-13) Steven Spielberg's second holiday 2011 entry is an adaptation of the Tony Award-winning play, told through life-size puppets, about a young man named Albert's (Jeremy Irvine) journey through World War I to find his beloved horse. Joey, which was sold to the cav alry. The script, credited to Academy Award nominees Lee Hall and Richard Curtis, one of my faves, might intrigue me more than the presence of the erst while Mr. Spielberg WE BOUGHT A ZOO (PG) This movie just generates some odd feelings A movie directed by Cameron Crowe and starring Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson and Thomas Haden Church sounds like a serious winner, but then there's the title A dad (Damon) moves his family to Southern California to renovate a struggling zoo. YOUNG GOETHE IN LOVE (NR) 2010. When Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Alexander Fehling) falters in the legal path chosen for him by his father, the aspiring poet is relegated to a small German town where he falls for Lotte (Miriam Stein), who, as always, is promised to another man. Winner of the German Film Awards Prize in Gold for Best Makeup, Young Goethe was also up for Most Outstanding Film prize and nominated for the Palm Springs Film Festival's Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature. Drew Wheeler 6 FLAGPOLE.COM • DECEMBER 28. 2011 & JANUARY 4, 2012
