Christ Chester Movie and Book Reviews

Margot at the Wedding ***1/2

2008-01-07T16:44:00.000-07:00

Director: Noah Baumbach
Margot: Nicole Kidman
Paluine: Jennifer Jason Leigh
Malcom: Jack Black
Claude: Zane Paris

Noah Baumbach has yet to create a film that isn’t thoroughly enjoyable, but what he demonstrates with Margot at the Wedding is a range that extends past the sentimental comedy of his earlier films. It continues the course begun with 2005’s The Squid and The Whale moving towards more dramatic issues revolving around the family. This film (and The Squid and the Whalee before) trades in the familiar faces of his first three films (2 if you don't count Highball, from which Baumbach removed his name) for more bankable stars: Nicole Kidman, Jack Black, and Jennifer Jason Leigh instead of Chris Eigeman, Carlos Jacott, and Eric Stoltz. While the actors in this film are wonderful, I still missed seeing old favorites of Kicking and Screaming and Mr. Jealousy.

Kidman and her son fabulously played by newcomer Paris are on the way to watch her sister Leigh marry Black. If Black and Leigh seem like an odd couple to you, you’re not alone. Kidman expresses her doubts about the success of the marriage from the beginning. It’s revealed that Leigh and Kidman haven’t spoken for many years despite referring to each other as their closest friend. Considering that they are sisters, the phrasing hints at a darker something beneath the surface. The tension between the sisters and their past is what drives the story forward. This is a film in which secrets are revealed, and I’ll not spoil any of it for you.

This is another wonderful talkfest from Baumbach, whose dialogue is always a pleasure to hear. His characters talk naturally, but cleverly. When Leigh tells Black that he’s overreacting, he responds that he’s reacting perfectly for the situation. However, this emphasis on dialogue leads to some problems.

Margot at the Wedding cuts too quickly numerous times. Several cuts are made immediately after a line is said, allowing no time for it to sit in. There is a wonderful shot in Kicking and Screaming when the camera lingers after the main characters have left the frame, allowing life to naturally reveal itself and involve the audience. In Margot, however, it appears as if the editor was instructed to move as quickly as possible. Another decision that doesn’t quite work is the natural feel of the lighting. Scenes at night really appear to be at night. Whether inside or outside, darkness overtakes the shot, making the characters hard to see. This was something I got used to―sort of―but I wouldn’t be surprised if many viewers hate it.

But the humanity of his characters, the sympathetic touch Baumbach gives them overcomes any filmmaking flaws. His films aren’t perfect; they’re just emotionally dead-on. A viewer knows they are watching something special.

The Heartbreak Kid **1/2

2007-12-25T13:57:00.000-07:00

Director: Peter and Bobby Farrelly
Eddie Cantrow: Ben Stiller
Miranda: Michelle Monaghan
Lila: Malin Akerman

There was a time back in the early 90s when I watched the premiere of The Ben Stiller Show and thought this guy isn’t funny at all. In fact, he’s so dull that I’ll never watch this show again, let alone finish this episode. I turned the television off.

What was the matter with me?

Ben Stiller has become one of my favorite actors to watch. He’s a funny guy, who is enjoyable even in movies that fail miserably like Envy. But his good movies are phenomenal: Zoolander, Flirting with Disaster, and There’s Something About Mary.

This brings us to The Heartbreak Kid, his second film with the Farrelly Brothers, which ranks in the middle of the Stiller Hierarchy. There were numerous times when I laughed out loud, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself during the film, but there was something lacking: heart. Sure, you enjoy the people, but it doesn’t touch you the way that There’s Something About Mary or Stuck on You do―something that I’ve come to expect from a Farrelly Brothers film as much as the offensive humor.

Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a bad film; it just feels like something is missing. Ben Stiller is enjoyable to watch, and Jerry Stiller (as his dad, oddly enough) steals the movie with quips about his son being a “pussy dick.” (Old guys cussing in movies will never fail to kill me.) To come out and say it: it felt like Cameron Diaz was missing. Akerman appeared to be a replacement for Diaz because the Farrelly brothers couldn’t afford her. Of course, I have no proof that it’s true or even any actual reason to believe that, but that’s how it felt to me. Her funny parts, and there were several, left me thinking Cameron Diaz-light. Akerman has a funny bone, but she lacks that magical itness that Diaz brings to her films. Diaz could have done this better. Maybe she turned down the part because of all the nudity.

Ben Stiller fans should see this movie, and will enjoy it. But they won’t be laughing at the jokes five years from now, like they will with his better films.

ONCE ***1/2

2007-12-22T11:17:00.001-07:00

Director: John Carney
Guy: Glen Hansard
Girl: Marketa Irglova

Every once in a while a movie comes along which makes you feel that you’re falling in love at the same time as the leads do―and you are because you’re falling in love with the characters. Once is one of those films. Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova create music together, literally and figuratively. Both actors do an astonishing job of bringing their characters to life, despite not being full-time actors. On one level, the film is a meditation on how chance encounters can change your life, and, on another, it’s a musical without cheesy dance routines.

Hansard, who you might remember from The Commitments, plays a street musician who also works in a vacuum repair shop owned by his father. One day, Irglova chats him up during a performance. It turns out that she needs her vacuum repaired, and this allows the two to continue talking, becoming romantic-interested friends.

John Carney directs this film with a firm grasp of how to let the emotional attachment between the main characters―and your attachment to them―grow organically. When Hansard tells Irglova about his old girlfriend, he does so with accompanying chords from his ever-present guitar; he sings the story of being cheated on, using his music as a support system, a way to protect himself. The scene is a tender moment in a sweet film.

Once is simple, but elegant. There is a plot―Hansard takes his music in a professional direction, something he is able to accomplish through his friendship with Irglova―but that takes backseat to the feel of the film, the wonderful poetic quality of a David Gordon Green film.

Carney has created a film that will involve you emotionally throughout, but, more importantly, a film that lingers with you afterwards: the sign of any film that can affect your life. This should not be missed.

Coming Soon

2007-12-22T06:19:00.001-07:00

Coming soon:

I will be posting reviews on movies, mostly, and books.

If anyone wondered about the name: it is what a motel clerk mistakenly placed my reservations under. No offense intended to those Christian readers out there.

Enjoy.