Saturday, October 27, 2007 Rant Archive
Beware fans of Steve Carell. If you loved him in THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN or ANCHORMAN, you probably won’t be so excited about seeing DAN IN REAL LIFE. If you loved LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, then go buy your tickets now. Obviously, the two teenage boys sitting in the back of my theatre were of the VIRGIN variety. I’ve never had the urge to throw things at people during a movie, but these kids were about to get a bag of Twizzlers in the face.
Audience members aside, DAN IN REAL LIFE is an excellent example of why Steve Carell--in my opinion--is a bit of a genius. DAN is a great balance of laugh-out-loud hilarity as well as tissue-grabbing honesty, and Carell handles both incredibly well.
Carell stars as Dan Burns, a widower and father to three girls. Jane (Alison Pill), the oldest, is subdued and desperately ready to drive. Cara (Brittany Robertson) is overly dramatic and a bit too involved in the boy she’s know for three weeks. Lilly (Marlene Lawston) is the youngest, the cutest, and possibly the smartest of the three. Dan’s wife has been gone for four years, and his entire family is ready for him to move on. During a traditional weekend spent at his parent’s vacation home, Dan meets Marie (Juliette Binoche), possibly the woman of his dreams, who turns out to be dating his brother Mitch (Dane Cook).
Just as in most romantic comedies, it is glaringly obvious Mitch and Marie make a horrible match. Mitch is an exercise guru who loves fast cars and usually fast women. Marie is a world traveler who’s quiet and extremely intelligent. Dan falls for her in one afternoon over tea and a huge muffin, but they’re both crest-fallen at their predicament. What makes DAN IN REAL LIFE different from most other rom-coms is that the meant-to-be couple knows they are meant to be. They aren't hiding secrets from each other; they're hiding from the rest of the family.
Living and working in the Big Apple can be tough on a guy, but some people thrive on the pressure. Bart Hughes (Peter Weller) is one of those hardy breed. He’s got his life well in hand: a beautiful and loving wife (Shannon Tweed), an adorable son (Leif Anderson), a freshly renovated brownstone and a great high-paying job. Bart has just been handed an assignment that will lead to an executive position, and since his family is on vacation, he’ll have the time to do a massive project that will clinch the job for him. Of course, there’s just one small problem. There always is.
Thus begins OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN, a little-known gem from 1983 that plays the nerves like a madman on the keys. Nothing frightens like the monster in your head, and the scary films that work, like this one, were made by folks that understand this basic truth. Things start slowly: we see a family comfortable in their space, a man respected at his job, the American Dream in full color. But, the promotion Bart’s up for depends on him pulling off a difficult project in a field that’s new to him in very little time, and he feels like he’s being set up to fail.
Occasionally, Bart hears scratching noises or odd little thumps in his home. Usually it comes to nothing, but one night, Bart finds his kitchen floor covered with water. An emergency call to local plumber Clete (Louis Del Grande) reveals a leaky drain hose is the problem. Clete asks if he has a rat, and Bart scoffs, although any place in New York that is missing rats or roaches is probably not a good place to live. Bart says there’s no rat in the house. But, as it turns out, there is. And not just any rat, either. Without his family around, and with the stress of the project weighing on him, Bart’s research into rats and his desire to rid his house of the little bastard morphs into obsession. The rat chews up family pictures, Bart lays out bear traps. Bart throws down poison everywhere, the rat eats his pillows. The rat snarls at him from the toilet bowl in the middle of the night, Bart starts yelling at the ceiling. Soon, Bart’s talking to his gloves while rat-contaminated food rains out of his ruined pantry, while unblinking eyes watch Bart from hiding.
Kevin Costner has an incredible body of work: FIELD OF DREAMS, BULL DURHAM, NO WAY OUT, and, of course, DANCES WITH WOLVES. I’m even a fan of what some call his minor work: THE BODY GUARD, TIN CUP, and FOR LOVE OF THE GAME.
So you understand why I can forgive him the occasional WATERWORLD or THE POSTMAN. Everyone needs a post-apocalyptic disaster in their lives. I have one, though many of you may simply refer to it as a marriage. But I digress. My point simply is that while I will forgive Costner much, I cannot forgive MR. BROOKS.
This silly piece of nonsense is made much worse because everyone involved seems to take it so seriously. It takes a while before you realize that this isn’t a satire.
Earl Brooks is the Portland Chamber of Commerce’s Man of the Year. He runs a successful business, has a wonderful and loving wife (Marg Helgenberger), a daughter, Jane (Danielle Panabaker). But there is another side to him. He’s a psychopathic serial killer who’s been quiet for two years because he’s been attending AA meetings. Who knew that AA could still the urges of vicious killers?
But Brooks has an inner voice named Marshall that urges him to return to his miscreant ways. Actually it’s not so much an inner voice as it is William Hurt, who sits behind Earl in the car and acts as his advisor. Marshall has been doing a relatively good job because Brooks has escaped detection. But Earl’s latest murder is of a couple who enjoyed making love in front of an open window. Earl doesn’t notice the open blinds until it’s too late: his image has been captured by an amateur photographer, who becomes known as Mr. Smith (Dane Cook). Smith doesn’t want to turn Brooks in; he was exhilarated by what he saw and wants to take part in Earl’s next homicide.
Many times, I’ve wondered to myself what could make the 1950s more interesting as a cultural artifact. Sure, there was a lot going on in the fringes and the background, but compared to every decade since, mainstream American culture was resoundingly dull. Well, thankfully, writer/director Andrew Currie provides the answer with FIDO, now out on DVD: zombies.
In this universe, World War II was never fought, because after the Earth passed through a cloud of radioactive dust, the nations of the world had enough trouble with the reanimated dead snacking on everybody. Thanks to the domestication collar developed by one Dr. Geiger, however, zombies went from mindless flesh-eaters to mindless household help. Sure, every town is surrounded by fencing, wild zombies roam the countryside and in-town patrols have to stay alert, but thanks to Zomcon, the Microsoft of this world, things aren’t too shabby for the living.
Timmy Robinson (K’Sun Ray) isn’t so sure. He’s not into mandatory target practice at school, he asks questions in class that nobody seems willing to answer, and he just isn’t buying into the shiny happy love for Zomcon. Of course, he may have inherited this attitude from his clueless dad (Dylan Baker), who is afraid of zombies because he had to whack his dad when he was 11. Things start to look up for Timmy, however, when his mom buys a new zombie (Billy Connolly) who gets christened Fido. When Fido saves Timmy from bullies, Timmy and Fido develop a strange friendship. Unfortunately, Fido runs afoul of the crotchety old neighbor lady, and in the midst of Fido’s undeserved beating, his collar malfunctions. Exit neighbor. Pretty soon, Timmy’s keeping clear of the suspicious head of Zomcon security (Henry Czerny) and making friends with the neighbor (Tim Blake Nelson) who keeps a zombie sex toy at home. Yes, it’s that kind of film.
It’s been 50 years since Sidney Lumet’s directorial debut with 12 ANGRY MEN, which many consider a classic. There have been 43 films since then, including a few more classics, like DOG DAY AFTERNOON, NETWORK, and SERPICO. Almost exactly a half century later, at age 83, Lumet is still in top form. His most recent, BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD, is an exquisitely constructed and suspenseful study of familial disintegration.
Andy (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is an accountant for a large New York real estate firm. His marriage to Gina (Marisa Tomei) is troubled, he’s on drugs and has embezzled funds from his employer to pay for his habit. The company is being audited and his crime will soon be discovered, so he hatches a plan to rob a suburban jewelry store.
The one catch is that the store is owned by his parents. But the plan is foolproof. The robbery takes place on the weekend, when an elderly female employee is alone in the store. His parents will collect the insurance money so everyone comes out at least even. Well, except for the insurance company.
Andy convinces his younger brother Hank (Ethan Hawk) to do the deed. Hank needs money to support his angry ex and their daughter. He’s weak-willed enough to agree to his bullying brother’s plan, but not strong enough to carry it out as planned.
He gets someone else to do it for a cut of the profits, and that’s when things start to go awry. The elderly female employee called in sick. Andy and Hank’s mother, Nanette (Rosemary Harris), is working. The crook of course doesn’t know that, and Hank can’t tell him because he’s in the car quaking. Nanette reaches for a weapon, shots are fired and there are two dead bodies.
How’s the saying go ... "What a tangled web we weave when we set out to deceive?" At any rate, Tommy (Jason Clarke) proves he’s no better than his thug brother and whoring wife this week when he starts schtooping the blonde he met at the bar. Because Tom rides high on his house up there in perfectsville he has to point out to his new other woman that she is the only other woman he’s ever been with outside of his wife. Congratulations Tom, you’re a 14-year-old girl. As he keeps up his visits with her she tells him no more face-to-face sex because she doesn’t want to see the rage in his eyes. Good going genius, let him know all you want is the thunder—there’s a way to improve things.
Mama Caffee (Fionula Flanagan) does her best to put a rift between the brothers during Sunday dinner. Could this woman be any more of a controlling, manipulative bitch? She gets pissed off at Michael (Jason Issacs) for catching him kissing his girlfriend and decides to let Tom sit at the head of the table at dinner, a seat commonly held by Michael, the eldest brother. Good old cousin Colin does nothing to make matters better as he brings up to Michael how Rose was out of line doing that to him. Michael’s passive aggressive side gets the better of him and he dumps the body of a mob hit he does on some of Tom’s land. Doing this screws with the stasis of major financial plans Tom had for the area and moreover, a multi-million dollar investment plan he was in the middle of settling.
I am a sucker for a Halloween episode. I just love seeing what costume departments come up with. And it’s funny to see a bit of supernatural in non-supernatural shows. So when GREY’S ANATOMY started out implying that it would be Halloween themed, I was excited to see what they did with it.
And it got off to a good start! Meredith has a silly dream at the very beginning. But it turns out Meredith’s mother, ensconced in an urn in Meredith’s closet is haunting her. So Meredith decides to tote her mom’s ashes around in a plastic baggy until she can figure out what to do with them. Ok. I’ll go with that. It’s creepy and funny. I was more excited when a guy with a perfectly healthy foot showed up, asking for a surgeon to amputate it. He swore it wasn’t his foot, but belonged to someone else. A classic Halloween mystery! I was even charmed by the precocious earless boy, trick or treating for ears. And when Eva, the reconstructed mom who Karev fell in love with last season, showed up, I thought that I might just be in for a very satisfying episode.
I was pretty wrong. At first I was happy enough. I got tangled up in all the possible outcomes in the first half hour. I almost cheered when Callie announced at rounds to a room full of residents that izzy had slept with George. When Yang left lunch in a judgmental huff, I experienced a sense of anticipation that harkened back to the early days of GREY’S, and for even that I’m grateful. And Karev and Eva still have really good chemistry.