Film review: Cedar Rapids
June 27, 2011
originally published in the Raleigh News & Observer
Well, it’s official. Ed Helms is a movie star. And he can thank his director for that.
The former “Daily Show” correspondent and veteran ensemble player (“The Hangover,” “The Office”) headlines “Cedar Rapids,” the year’s first genuine sleeper comedy hit. As it turns out, “Cedar Rapids” was directed by Miguel Arteta, author of last year’s sleeper comedy hit, the Michael Cera freakout “Youth in Revolt.”
This is particularly relevant, because the success of “Cedar Rapids” comes as much from Arteta’s sure-handed direction as it does with Helms’ leading performance.
It goes like this: Small town insurance agent Tim Lippe (Helms) is recruited to attend the industry’s regional conference in the (relatively) big city of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Tim, who has never left his hometown and is dating his grade school teacher (Sigourney Weaver), is overjoyed but ill-prepared. If naivete were potato chips, Tim would be Frito-Lay.
DVD Picks: Stand By Me, Skyline, Yogi Bear
April 11, 2011
Stand By Me
Adventure-drama; rated R for language, violence, sexuality and some thematic material; Blu-ray only
The Gist: Four Oregon kids (Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman and Jerry O’Connell) venture into the woods to to investigate the rumor of a dead body. Each boy is emotionally damaged in his own way, but their adventure bonds them and points the way forward.
The Lowdown: Among the few successful cinematic Stephen King film adaptations, Director Rob Reiner’s “Stand By Me” has long held its position in the pantheon of great coming-of-age movies.
This 25th anniversary edition repackages the original film with some nice extras, and it’s a good chance to get reacquainted with its eerie, funny and heartfelt rhythms.
Reiner does something special here, getting strong performances out of his young actors, and managing to retain the original story’s dark alchemy of childhood nostalgia and macabre imagination. Grown-ups might assume that kids don’t think about death, but they do – they just think about it in a different, maybe even scarier way.
Especially young Gordie (Wheaton), whose beloved older brother (John Cusack) was recently killed in an accident. Watching this 25 years later, the tragedy of River Phoenix’s death adds another layer of resonance.
“Stand By Me” was rated R in 1986. The rating comes partly from the dark material, but mostly for excessive language, I would guess. But the language is excessive because that’s how young teens and tweens talk when amongst themselves. I wouldn’t worry about it – this is a good movie for mature kids, and there’s nothing here they haven’t heard before.
The Extras: Director’s audio commentary track; a new retrospective featurette with King and Reiner; picture-in-picture commentary with King, Reiner, Wheaton and Feldman.
The Bottom Line: A surprisingly moving trip down the darker alleys off memory lane.
Double Secret Bonus Tip: “Stand By Me” is among three film adaptations made from King’s novella collection “Different Seasons,” along with “Apt Pupil” and “The Shawshank Redemption.”
Inside Job, The Fighter, Sharktopus!
April 11, 2011
Pick of the Week
Inside Job
Documentary; rated PG-13 for some drug and sex-related material; also available on Blu-ray
The Gist: A brilliantly assembled, high-energy crash course in the causes and effects of the recent global financial crisis.
The Lowdown: Enraging and fascinating, “Inside Job” won the 2011 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and is the latest in an unprecedented string of must-see docs over the last couple of years.
Directed by renaissance man Charles Ferguson – author, scholar, tech mogul and filmmaker – “Inside Job” is a smartly executed frontal assault on an insanely complex topic. Deploying all the tricks of the documentary film trade, Ferguson drills into the root causes of the Great Recession with admirable clarity.
His conclusion? The global financial crisis is a direct result of 30 years of gradual deregulation of the financial services industry, which spawned aggressive corruption on Wall Street and pretty much every other adjacent institution. Simply put, the crisis was precipitated by institutional and individual acts of criminal fraud. It was entirely avoidable, too, the film insists. Unfortunately, our government watchdogs were at best negligent, and at worst complicit.
Interviews with dozens of industry insiders and public officials are interspersed with textual and graphical elements that effectively parse all the complex jargon. Narrator Matt Damon keeps it all flowing, and reportedly was actively involved in shaping the film’s narrative structure.
Like all docs, of course, “Inside Job” has a deliberate point of view and a definite agenda. The film regularly indulges in righteous indignation, but that’s an indulgence we’re all entitled to, I think. As Ferguson pointed out in his Oscars acceptance speech, “Three years after our horrific financial crisis caused by financial fraud, not a single financial executive has gone to jail. And that’s wrong,”
The Extras: Commentary track by Ferguson and producer Audrey Marrs; a short making-of doc; some deleted scenes – Blu-ray adds another hour of outtakes
The Bottom Line: “Inside Job” won the documentary Oscar for a reason – this wasn’t the most artful doc of the year, but it was surely the most important.
Double Secret Bonus Tip: Get ready for more great docs – Durham’s Full Frame documentary film festival is coming up April 14-17. Scheduling will be announced next week – check fullframefest.org for details.
Pick of the Week
The Next Three Days
Crime thriller; PG-13 for violence, drug material, language, some sexuality and thematic elements.; also available on Blu-ray
The Gist: When his wife is imprisoned for a crime she didn’t commit (maybe), college professor John Brennan (Russel Crowe) plans and executes a daring prison breakout.
The Lowdown: About halfway through “The Next Three Days,” a superior thriller from stalwart leading man Russell Crowe and director Paul Haggis (“Crash”), I realized why the movie seemed so familiarly effective. Or effectively familiar.
In terms of tone, pacing and plotting, “Three Days” is essentially “The Fugitive” with the story elements slightly shuffled. Instead of a wrongly convicted man trying to avenge his wife’s death and avoid going into prison, it’s the story of a desperate husband trying to overturn an unjust verdict and bust his wrongly convicted wife out of prison.
Instead of Chicago, it’s Pittsburgh. Instead of Dr. Richard Kimble, it’s Professor John Brennan. Instead of a mysterious one-armed man, it’s a mysterious mugger that’s (maybe) the real culprit. There are even several scenes that directly parallel the 1993 Harrison Ford thriller, including a sequence in which our hero escapes the cops by blending into a passing street parade.
In any case, it all works just fine. You’re in capable hands with director Haggis, who knows how to ratchet up the tension and unspool the drama. As Brennan’s wife, Elizabeth Banks shows she has the dramatic chops to match her ace comedic work in other film and TV projects.
The Extras: Deleted and extended scenes; three production featurettes, and a short gag reel.
The Bottom Line: A surprisingly good thriller that kind of flew under the radar upon theatrical release.
Double Secret Bonus Tip: For one of the best journalistic exposes of the year, Google up The New Yorker’s recent chronicle of director Paul Haggis’s battle with the Church of Scientology.
DVD Picks: 127 Hours, Love and Other Drugs, Bambi
March 17, 2011
Pick of the Week
127 Hours
Thriller-drama; rated R for language and some disturbing violent content/bloody images; also available on Blu-ray
The Gist: Trapped by a falling boulder, rock climber Aron Ralston (James Franco) survives for five days – recording his ordeal on a handheld camera and eventually using a dull knife to amputate his own arm.
The Lowdown: The film for which the term “harrowing” was apparently invented, “127 Hours” is hard on the stomach, for obvious reasons. But director Danny Boyle (“Slumdog Millionaire”) works some weird miracles here in terms of filmmaking creativity.
As Aron’s mental and physical condition deteriorates, Boyle departs from the straight narrative with sequences of Aron’s hallucinations and dreams of family and friends. The movie then enters a kind of timeless space, and Franco delivers a performance that seems to tap into some universal life force. “There is no force more powerful than the will to live,” the film’s tagline informs us. Franco – robbed of the Best Actor Oscar last week, IMHO – will make you believe.
The Extras: A must-listen commentary track with director Boyle; deleted scenes; Blu-ray adds two mini-docs on Franco and Boyle’s collaboration and the real-life details of Ralston’s ordeal
The Bottom Line: Most assuredly one of last year’s best films, “127 Hours” is a marvel of storytelling verve.
Double Secret Bonus Tip: Careful with that amputation scene – several audience members feinted straight away during the film’s theatrical release.
