Wichita Eagle: Movies

‘The Vow’ promises to be the perfect Valentine’s Day movie

Rick Bentley — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 07:39 CST

The new romance film “The Vow” suggests love means never having to say you can’t remember your spouse’s name. The film, loosely based on a true story, follows the life of a woman who comes out of a coma with no recollection of her married life.

“The Vow” has three things going for it: likable stars, a director who knows how to stay away from saccharine-sweet sentimentality and a compelling story.

The film’s biggest assets are Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum. McAdams has the type of angelic face and sweet personality that make it easy to fall in love with her. Tatum brings both a rough physicality and surprising vulnerability to his role. They make it easy to root for this couple to stay together.

‘Safe House’ offers thrilling look at spycraft

Roger Moore — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 07:39 CST

He must have joined “The Agency” with an eye toward excitement, exotic locales and danger. But in Cape Town, South Africa, a backwater as far as foreign intrigue goes, agency newcomer Matt Weston is stuck — a one-man show, running a never-used “safe house” in the CIA’s real-estate portfolio.

“I’m staring at four walls all day,” Matt (Ryan Reynolds) complains to his boss.

Until the day he plays host to America’s “most notorious traitor,” a sell-to-the-highest-bidder rogue named Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington). Frost doesn’t want to be a “houseguest.” And a lot of ruthless and violent people want to get their hands on him in the worst way.

‘Journey 2’ an action comedy for preteens

Roger Moore — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 07:39 CST

Cast and crew err on the side of silly in “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island,” the amusingly childish sequel to that unlikely 2008 hit “Journey to the Center of the Earth.” They’ve rendered Jules Verne’s novel into a jokey lark, with broad, corny wisecracks, comic sidekicks and everybody riffing on the ginormous lizards, humungous spiders and the like.

For those who have forgotten the conceit, the idea here is that while “most consider” the stories of 19th-century novelist Verne “works of science fiction, Vernians know otherwise.”

Sean Anderson (Josh Hutcherson) certainly does. He lost his dad on an epic “Journey to the Center of the Earth.” Now, years later, living with his mom (Kristin Davis) and an over-compensating stepdad, Hank (Dwayne Johnson), the rebellious teen gets a coded radio message from his grandpa. Since contractor Hank used to be a Navy code breaker, they quickly realize the message is “The island is real.” That would be Verne’s “Mysterious Island.”

Oscar-nominated director to screen documentary in Wichita

Rod Pocowatchit — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:18 CST

James Spione is ecstatic.

He calls for a phone conversation on Jan. 26. Academy Award nominations were just announced two days earlier — and Spione’s name was on the list. The film he directed, “Incident in New Baghdad,” is nominated for best documentary short subject.

“I can’t quite believe it still,” Spione said, calling from New York City. “It really is incredible.”

Not much to check out in ‘The Innkeepers’

Roger Moore — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:02 CST

Writer-director Ti West goes where many — especially Stephen King — have gone before with “The Innkeepers,” a handsome-looking but utterly flat-footed tale of a haunted hotel.

The Yankee Pedlar, which looks to date from the early 19th century, is a money-losing operation about to close for good. But desk clerk Luke (Pat Healy) wants to find proof of the hotel’s ghost — Madeline O’Malley, a bride who died there — before it closes its doors. And the nerdy, dullish Luke has enlisted Claire, played by Sara Paxton (“Last House on the Left”), to help him.

But they don’t want video of this Corpse Bride. No. They’re only after audio. So no “found footage” “Blair Witch”/ “Paranormal” comparisons here. “Innkeepers” is nothing like those films. (Mainly because it isn’t scary.)

‘Big Miracle’ a whale of a rescue tale

Mick LaSalle — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:29 CST

There are stories that by their very nature force you to confront the possibility that people aren’t entirely horrible. Case in point: In 1988, three whales got themselves trapped in Alaska. They were 5 miles away from the ocean, breathing through a small opening in the ice, but within days, everyone knew that opening would freeze over and the whales would drown … unless a lot of people got together and did something about it — immediately.

The story of that incident is recounted in “Big Miracle,” a title that doesn’t exactly leave much room for suspense. It is the real-life (though Hollywoodized) account of how environmentalists, politicians, soldiers, foreign governments, Alaskan tribesmen and the news media teamed up to save the whales, but that’s not the part that speaks well of humanity. The encouraging — and curious — part of the story is that people were genuinely interested, all over the world. It’s a nice thought that when given the facts and no personal interest in thinking otherwise, people will instinctively take the side of life over death.

“Big Miracle” is about how the rescue attempt was brought about by a confluence of various interests. John Krasinski plays a TV reporter, mired in the frozen backwater of Alaska, who sees the story as his ticket to the lower 48. Ted Danson is a drill-happy oilman who recognizes the publicity advantage of getting out in front of the rescue effort. Various elements in the Reagan administration see this as an opportunity to bolster a fairly weak environmental record, and the local Eskimos figure out that if they choose to eat the whales, rather than help them, they will be perceived as bloody savages.

Let the absurdity fly in ‘Chronicle’

Steve Persall — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:24 CST

You know “Chronicle” is science fiction when high school students name-check Plato and Schopenhauer as if those philosophers are rock stars. Then things get weirder.

“Chronicle” is yet another movie supposedly cobbled from amateur video of extraordinary events. It’s also the smartest example of that conceit I’ve seen since The Blair Witch Project hit the record button, with a practical explanation for each camera angle capturing supernatural actions. I swear as soon as a question of how this could happen popped into my head, the movie had an answer. After a while you just sit back and smile at a gimmick well done.

Beyond the fantasy, Chronicle also keeps the idea of a bullied victim striking back surprisingly grounded. The principle camera belongs to Andrew Detmer (Dane DeHaan), a supremely uncool senior with an abusive alcoholic father, dying mother and classmates pouncing on his every awkward moment. There’s nothing at all special about Andrew then suddenly there is, and his tormentors will pay dearly.

MovieMaker magazine names Wichita No. 10 on best places for independents to film

Carrie Rengers — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:46 CST

WICHITA — Wichita and the Tallgrass Film Festival are getting some great press courtesy of MovieMaker magazine.

The magazine's latest annual ranking of best places for independent filmmakers to shoot puts Wichita at No. 10.

"It's kind of verifying something that we already knew," says Jessy Clonts, Tallgrass' marketing director. "What this proves is that other people feel that way, too, and hopefully it gets the attention of people who want to make films in this area."

Glenn Close performance a valiant turn in ‘Albert Nobbs’

Rod Pocowatchit — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 07:57 CST

The premise of a woman character passing as a man asks for a prerequisite suspension of disbelief.

It’s been done countless times in movies – with actresses sometimes pulling it off (Hilary Swank in “Boys Don’t Cry”) or not (Barbra Streisand in “Yentl”).

As “Albert Nobbs,” Glenn Close plays a woman passing as a man in 19th-century Ireland. Albert works at a posh hotel in Dublin as a waiter, saving his meager earnings for an undisclosed reason.

Oscar nominees now playing in Wichita

Rod Pocowatchit — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 09:33 CST

Academy Award nominees now playing in Wichita

• “Albert Nobbs” – A woman passes for a man in 19th-century Ireland. Three nominations: Best actress (Glenn Close), supporting actress (Janet McTeer), makeup. Warren Theatre (east)

• “The Artist” – A silent film star fears he will fade into oblivion. 10 nominations: Best picture, actor (Jean Dujardin), supporting actress (Berenice Bejo), directing, art direction, cinematography, costume design, film editing, original score, original screenplay. Warren Theatre (east)

‘The Artist’ gets 10 Oscar nominations – and deserves them all

Rod Pocowatchit — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:22 CST

Academy Award nominations were announced on Tuesday, and I correctly predicted 21 out of 25 nominees in acting and directing categories. In best picture, all the films I thought would be nominated were, although I didn’t see “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” and “War Horse” sneaking in.

I’m really glad “The Artist” did so well – it nabbed a stunning 10 nominations, which is nothing less than remarkable. Here are five reasons why:

1. It’s the first silent best picture nominee since, well, there were silent films.

‘The Artist’ is a frothy and engaging tribute to the silent era of cinema

Roger Moore — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 08:06 CST

Riotous laughs, breathless thrills and weeping pathos — film managed all that when the movies were silent, the movies were black and white, and the movies were shot on actual celluloid.

“The Artist” is a light, sweet, pretty much irony-free tribute to the silent era, an homage to the era when pantomime reached its cinematic zenith — that age Gloria Swanson, as Norma Desmond, remembered with a zeal touching on mania in “Sunset Boulevard.”

“We had FACES then!”

‘Haywire’ introduces a new action heroine

Roger Moore — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 08:03 CST

Gina Carano has a face that can hold a Hollywood close-up and a fist that can hold your nose until it comes clean off.

And that’s cool.

Steven Soderbergh cast this mixed martial arts star/model in “Haywire” and surrounded her with experienced actors because he wanted to see an action movie starring a woman who could credibly beat the living daylights out of legions of guys who got in her way. No “Bourne” or “Bond” quick cuts and shaky cameras to hide the speed of the punches, the athleticism of the brawlers.

‘Red Tails’ inspires interest in Tuskegee Airmen

Tish Wells — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 08:03 CST

Despite stunning aerial scenes and good intentions, the George Lucas-produced “Red Tails” is grounded by clumsy dialogue, a meandering plot and the occasional jarring anachronism.

It’s an “inspired by” tale of the Tuskegee Airmen that wanders from wildly entertaining to schoolroom instructive to one-note flatness.

It’s not the fault of the cast. Cuba Gooding Jr. and Terrence Howard may be the best known, but the actors playing the fighter pilots are outstanding. Nate Parker as Captain Marty “Easy” Julian is a restrained trained pilot, while David Oyelowo plays the talented, difficult Joe “Lightning” Little.

‘Extremely Loud’ an engrossing remembrance of 9/11

Roger Moore — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:13 CST

A bright, socially awkward boy tries to make sense of 9/11 and find some closure with the father he lost on what he calls “the worst day” in “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.” The film, based on a Jonathan Safran Foer novel, is a sometimes tearful remembrance of that day and the lives it ended or forever disrupted. And while it flirts with the preciousness that comes with Foer novels (“Everything Is Illuminated”), it is engrossing and emotional in ways no other 9/11 drama has managed.

Oskar (Thomas Horn), our hero and narrator, is a tween who was once tested for Asperger’s Syndrome, but those tests were “inconclusive.” He’s a loner who thinks and thinks and thinks; his sympathetic dad (Tom Hanks) had figured out a way to bring him out of his shell. Dad’s fanciful quests, “reconnaissance expeditions,” send the kid into Central Park in search of New York’s lost “sixth borough,” and the like. Oskar must meet and chat with all sorts of strangers to complete his mission.

But those missions might have come to an end the day his mom (Sandra Bullock) buried “an empty box.” Oskar’s morbid visions of his father tumbling through the air threaten to overwhelm his memories of Dad. Then, he stumbles across a key in an envelope, which he takes as his last expedition, a years-long quest (he can do the math of the search), trying to find that one New Yorker named “Black” who has the lock that key might fit.

Streep brilliant as Thatcher in ‘Iron Lady’

Roger Moore — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:13 CST

From the moment her name and the subject of her next film were announced, you knew Meryl Streep’s performance as/impersonation of Margaret Thatcher had Oscar written all over it. And true to form, the Academy might as well emboss her name on the statuette now.

It’s an uncanny turn by the screen’s greatest actress, an acting job with towering bombast and marvelous subtlety. She nailed the look, the tone, the speech patterns, the little snap of the head of the imperious British prime minister. Bloody brilliant.

What’s stunning about “The Iron Lady,” though, is what a good film surrounds her performance. Phyllida Lloyd, Streep’s “Mamma Mia!” director, cast this to perfection, putting Streep toe to toe with the A-list of British character players, from Jim Broadbent (as Thatcher’s husband, Denis) to Richard E. Grant, Roger Allam and Anthony Head as her political confidantes. Lloyd finesses a deft script of brisk, quick strokes by Abi Morgan (“Brick Lane,” “Shame”) into terrific entertainment, and a film that both celebrates and – to a far lesser degree – criticizes a woman who inspired a generation of conservatives, at home and in America, to refuse to compromise, to turn every debate into a battle over “principles.”

Salina native scores with horror movie

Gary Demuth — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 08:57 CST

Ben Romans has scored a film he’s too afraid to see.

Romans, a 1999 graduate of Salina Central High School and keyboardist for the popular pop/rock group The Click Five, has just completed his first major film score.

As it happens, it’s for a really creepy horror movie.

No secret: ‘Tinker Tailor’ thrills

Kenneth Turan — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 15:21 CST

The question at the heart of “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” is simplicity itself: Is there a Soviet secret agent at the very highest echelons of British intelligence? Getting to the answer, however, couldn’t be more deliciously, thrillingly, brilliantly complex.

Starring a surprising Gary Oldman and masterfully directed by Tomas Alfredson, “Tinker Tailor” comes by that complexity honestly, courtesy of the subtle, allusive 1974 John le Carre novel set in a merciless espionage world where trust is an illusion and nothing is remotely what it seems. This is a film to which very close attention must be paid, but the rewards of doing so are considerable.

That’s because Swedish director Alfredson, who created a stir with his vampire-themed “Let the Right One In,” has come up with a film that is endlessly rich in incident, atmosphere and personality, a film that leaves us hanging on by the barest skin of our teeth as we try to figure out who is doing what to whom and why. The spy trade doesn’t get much more exciting than this.

Year was full of cinematic stinkers

Rick Bentley — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 09:24 CST

So many bad movies, so little space. Here’s the worst of the worst of 2011.

1. “Jack and Jill” – It should have been called “Dreck and Swill.” Adam Sandler nailed down the worst actor award for 2011 with a performance so rancid it couldn’t be contained by one character. Sandler plays a brother and sister who are the most torturous thing since waterboarding was invented.

2. “Green Hornet” – Comic books fans expressed concern when it was announced that Seth Rogen was going to star in the film version of the comic book. Those worries weren’t unfounded. Rogen bungles his way through a script that couldn’t have been more inane had one of the “Jersey Shore” cast written it.

Hold onto your seats during fourth ‘Mission Impossible’

David Germain — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 09:25 CST

Luckily for Tom Cruise, “Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol” is one of his finest action flicks, just what’s needed to potentially restore some of this fallen star’s box-office bankability.

For director Brad Bird, though, the fourth “Mission,” rock solid as it is, ranks only as his second-best action movie, after the animated smash “The Incredibles.”

Cruise may be the star here, but Bird’s the story, a director who’s only making his fourth movie and, remarkably, just his first live-action feature. This is the best of the “M:I” movies, far better than Brian De Palma’s original, No. 2 by John Woo and even the franchise’s previous high with No. 3 by J.J. Abrams, who stuck around as producer on this one.