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A quiet week with only two films opening in wide release, and strangely, not a horror film in sight as we approach Halloween. First up is the Bruce Willis old-guys-and-guns vehicle "Red," which is basically a slightly classier version of August's "The Expendables" and about as good. Next up is "Jackass 3D," the latest entry in the venerable franchise, which should take the top spot at the box office this weekend, especially with the inflated 3D ticket prices. The first two films grossed $64.3M and $72.8M respectively, which may shock some, but these films are promoted heavily and certainly have a dedicated fanbase. On the limited front, Clint Eastwood debuts his latest, the "Crash"-like "Hereafter" on a few screens, while Hilary Swank and Sam Rockwell try their best to wet your eyes in the legal drama "Conviction." Foreign nuts should be prepared to spend a lot of time in theaters this weekend as Olivier Assayas' six-hour epic "Carlos" hits the big screen. Or if your bladder's a little on the weak side, Warwick Thornton finally gets a stateside release for his outback drama "Samson & Delilah."
In Wide Release: Based on the cult DC graphic novel by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner, "Red" is the story of a group of aging CIA agents who become targets themselves when the government decides they know too much. The action-comedy stars Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren and John Malkovich as the agents in the film from director Robert Schwentke ("Flightplan," "The Time Traveler's Wife"). We've been excited to see the film after a string of recent summer action disappointments and the trailers were great, but the film itself doesn't quite deliver, even with the talent involved (our review here). RT: 70% Metacritic: 62.
Johnny Knoxville and the "Jackass" gang have been quiet since 2006's "Jackass: Number 2," but they are back in a big way with "Jackass 3D." The TV show hasn't been in production for several years either, so it will be interesting to see whether or not the franchise has retained the loyalty of its fans. You probably know whether "Jackass" is your cup of tea or not, so reviews aren't much of a factor here, but if it helps, we liked it. RT: 43% Metacritic: 54.
In Limited Release: Workaholic director Clint Eastwood opens his latest, "Hereafter" on six screens this weekend with a wide release coming in a couple of weeks. The film meshes three parallel storylines of people -- a blue collar psychic, a French journalist and a London schoolboy -- dealing with grief. Matt Damon plays the psychic and gets most of the attention in the trailers, but his story shares equal screen time with the others, to varying effect. We caught the movie back at the Toronto International Film Festival and found it intimate and interesting, but ultimately let down by a clichéd script. RT: 69% Metacritic: 54.
Also hitting a few screens before a wider release is "Conviction" from director Tony Goldwyn. Awards show-horse Hilary Swank stars in the true story of a woman who dedicates her life to overturning her brother's life sentence for murder, putting herself through law school in the process. Sam Rockwell co-stars as the brother, alongside a cast that includes Minnie Driver, Melissa Leo and Peter Gallagher. RT: 68% Metacritic: 60.
Opening this week are a couple of notable films we've been covering throughout the festival circuit. Olivier Assayas' "Carlos" is the six-hour exploration of cold war terrorist and assassin Carlos The Jackal. The film also hit the Sundance channel earlier this month and may be better suited for the small screen, for which it was originally conceived. We first reviewed the film at Cannes and revisited it at the New York Film Festival; it's definitely worth a look however you manage to take it in. RT: 93% Metacritic: 96. The Camera d'Or winner at 2009 Cannes, "Samson & Delilah," finally scores a stateside release this week. The coming-of-age tale follows two aboriginal teens in the remote Australian outback who try to escape the harsh realities of their lives. The buzz and reviews have been fantastic, so we really can't wait to check this one out. RT: 97% Metacritic: 73.
It’s important to have a fresh perspective on every film. With a number of films being released each week, the insight into why they were made and what they say about our society is invaluable, even if the major studios have done their part to crush the auteur theory. That is no such consolation for us regarding “Conviction,” however, a film with familiar missteps, one that fails to connect in a manner we should all be familiar with. You probably saw a “Conviction” last weekend on Showtime, and your parents will probably make you watch a “Conviction” when you visit them for the holidays.
“Conviction” is an improbable true story about a union between brother and sister. Betty Anne and Kenny Waters grew up as latchkey kids, breaking into homes in their working-class Massachusetts neighborhood and gaining a reputation as troublemakers. Eventually, foster care changed both, as they took divergent paths. Betty became a self-serious family woman, marrying with two children. Kenneth apparently tried to walk the straight and narrow by peppering petty crimes around his daily lifestyle, and as such develops a relationship with local law enforcement.
This relationship proves harmful when Kenneth is taken in for a murder charge. There is limited evidence, but in the years before widespread DNA specialization, it doesn’t look promising that no one can verify Kenneth’s alibi. Two years after the murder, Kenneth is finally prosecuted. People can’t finger him at the crime scene, but they certainly know what he’s not, and with his rap sheet and cavalier demeanor, Kenneth easily goes away for a lifetime sentence. Here, Betty swears to him he’ll get him out. And that involves chasing a box.
The literal-minded film then goes about following Betty clawing her way through college and law school while caring for her two boys. Her husband is played by Loren Dean, the kind of actor who gives away his entire purpose in the film once you see his tight, humorless face in this context. He is immediately against fighting the system from the inside, for reasons we never learn, and the movie quickly sidesteps him twenty minutes in, never to be heard from again. Betty’s plan is crazy, of course, but her motivation remains clear, and it’s a symbol of the bond between the two, which would come across stronger if everyone opposing her decision wasn’t seen as an overt “bad guy” without reasonable doubt.
Once she passes the bar, the box in question is the film’s holy grail. This is the box of evidence in Kenneth’s case, significant to no lawyers in America save for Betty Anne. Unfortunately, the box itself remains shrouded in mystery -- Massachusetts state law orders the disposal of all evidence within a decade of the trial -- so Betty Anne does everything in her power to find such a box. Inflated through the prism of big screen courtroom drama, it’s meant to be a breathless battle for the truth, but it’s hard to ignore the darkly comical idea of the truth lying in a four-by-four box in a darkened room like a mystical weapon.
Does she find it? We’re unsure as to what we should spoil, and so is the movie. There are difficulties within adapting true stories because you realize the audience probably has a good idea how the story resolves itself. “Conviction” throws a curve ball of questionable necessity, refusing to truly exonerate Kenneth for the murder charge. Betty is convinced of his innocence, but the audience never sees him at work, where he was during the murder, and where he left without being seen, his time card somehow vanishing. Combined with the bursts of violence and aggression from the convict, played by a volatile Sam Rockwell, the main source of suspense in the film revolves around the possibility that he’s a murderer. When the scenes without Kenneth have a flat TV feel, with mild performances and mundane administrative challenges, the realization is that this is a cheap tactic necessary to inflate a straightforward story.
Rockwell is of course the highlight of the film, but that’s become consistently true enough that it needs not to be said. His Kenneth is rambunctious and spirited, but not without a darkness. Even when he’s joking or dancing (the latter a foregone conclusion in his films), there is the threat he’s going to behave dangerously. Rockwell’s physical transformation is particularly intriguing, as his muscles become puffy and his hair thins, the last remnants of the old Kenneth in his sunken eyes, the only way he can communicate to Betty weekly that he’s not fit for prison. As Betty, the humorless Hilary Swank is a non-entity when sharing a scene with Rockwell, and without him, the sturm und drang of the story give her only two emotions to play, driven and angry. It’s safe to say that anything in “Conviction” without Rockwell is a slog.
Tony Goldwyn comes across as a filmmaker who unequivocally loves this story. Scenes of Betty Anne and Kenneth are children are bathed in a golden light, while as adults, the two never have anything more than a mild disagreement, so strong is their bond. Furthermore, there are good guys and bad guys in this story. Betty Anne’s DNA research is aided by dashing good guy lawyer Peter Gallagher and his heroic hair, while Betty Anne’s kids have only momentary dispute with what she’s doing, usually helping by making breakfast and coffee and providing moral support when they probably should be going to school or making friends. Opposing them are characters like Melissa Leo’s cartoonishly remorseless cop who takes Kenneth in, all bluster and schoolmarm-ish self-righteousness, while Kenneth’s ex-girlfriends who testify against him end up as catatonic single mothers (Clea Duvall, playing much older) or raving junkies (Juliette Lewis, playing Gollum).
As a result, Goldwyn hasn’t become close to this story as much as he’s gravitated directly towards the justice dealt out. No matter what kind of people Betty Anne Waters and Kenneth were, Goldwyn did them a favor, as the film remains a singleminded, achingly literal tale of one brother and one sister fighting injustice. It’s someone trying to make a movie about humans (complete with a terrible, overbearing score from Paul Cantelon) and instead falling in love with the story of the system, the objectives crossed off a checklist while character and nuance fall by the wayside. It’s TV, in other words. And not even HBO. [C-]
David Gordon Green's upcoming action-comedy "The Sitter," starring Jonah Hill, was already looking like it was going to be a lot of fun. Written by Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka (they're actually writing the "Baywatch" feature too), the script we read earlier this year was an enjoyable blast of comic silliness, probably not far off in tone from Green's "Pineapple Express" in 2008.
Well, it just got that much better. Sam Rockwell is evidently in final negotiations to play one of the two drug dealers in the film that chases Hill's character around town for losing his cocaine in a wild night of danger and adventure. Rockwell already worked on Green's low-key indie drama, "Snow Angels," and the filmmaker has always talked fondly about that collaboration so it doesn't surprise us they decided to work together again. Though the drug dealer role was originally African American. Can you see Sam Rockwell pulling a Gary Oldman a la "True Romance"? One can only hope.
This likely means most of the key casting pieces are complete. Max Records, the lead in "Where The Wild Things Are," essentially has the lead child role (the elder neurotic boy), while Kevin Hernandez, who'll be seen in Mel Gibson vehicle "How I Spent My Summer Vacation,"and Landry Bender play the other two children that Hill's college kid character is forced to babysit at the behest of his mother since he's been expelled from school. J.B. Smoove, the stand-up-turned-actor best known for his role as Leon Black in "Curb Your Enthusiasm," has the other drug dealer role, and Ari Graynor who is perhaps best known for her drunken friend role in "Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist," will play Hill's selfish girlfriend. The aforementioned mom role is basically the last piece of the puzzle, though there is one more small slot for a fun, dumb, jock role.
"The Sitter" is already set for a July 15th, 2011 release and Green's "Your Highness" will hit theaters April 8th, 2011, so that will be two films from the prolific director in one year (and less than three months apart) and three comedies in a row. [The Wrap]
A quiet week with only two films opening in wide release, and strangely, not a horror film in sight as we approach Halloween. First up is the Bruce Willis old-guys-and-guns vehicle "Red," which is basically a slightly classier version of August's "The Expendables" and about as good. Next up is "Jackass 3D," the latest entry in the venerable franchise, which should take the top spot at the box office this weekend, especially with the inflated 3D ticket prices. The first two films grossed $64.3M and $72.8M respectively, which may shock some, but these films are promoted heavily and certainly have a dedicated fanbase. On the limited front, Clint Eastwood debuts his latest, the "Crash"-like "Hereafter" on a few screens, while Hilary Swank and Sam Rockwell try their best to wet your eyes in the legal drama "Conviction." Foreign nuts should be prepared to spend a lot of time in theaters this weekend as Olivier Assayas' six-hour epic "Carlos" hits the big screen. Or if your bladder's a little on the weak side, Warwick Thornton finally gets a stateside release for his outback drama "Samson & Delilah."
Johnny Knoxville and the "Jackass" gang have been quiet since 2006's "Jackass: Number 2," but they are back in a big way with "Jackass 3D." The TV show hasn't been in production for several years either, so it will be interesting to see whether or not the franchise has retained the loyalty of its fans. You probably know whether "Jackass" is your cup of tea or not, so reviews aren't much of a factor here, but if it helps, we liked it. RT: 43% Metacritic: 54.
