Here's something you might be interested in.
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New releases opening this week: 12 Years a Slave, Ender's Game, and more
Ender's Game: Oh man, remember Laser Tag?
Movie
Ender's Game **
Brilliant young tactician Ender Wiggin is called upon to defend earth from nasty foreign invaders — and you know what they say about what makes the the best defense. Not for nothing does space commander Harrison Ford say that "What we need is a Julius Caesar, a Napoleon." But while Asa Butterfield conveys Wiggin's complicated, chilly interior with a brave disdain for mere likability, Ford stumbles as his equally complicated and possibly chillier mentor/advocate/father-figure. All growls and glares and gravel, he's more general than god. Still, the film makes a fine transition from the classroom to the battlefield — interestingly, it's the classroom that involves actual bodies in motion, while the battlefield is all holodecks and drones. And except for a sloppy climactic confrontation, it manages to manifest its concerns with clarity and force. Director Gavin Hood has an eye for a battle scene, and keeps the action clean and clear no matter what the scale of the conflict. With Hailee Steinfeld, Abigail Breslin.
Everybody loves 12 Years a Slave. Well, almost everybody. Look, I know what you're thinking. "Oh, Marks is just a contrarian from the School of Armond White. Of course he's not going to like a masterpiece like this. He'd much rather muck about with derivative crap like Last Vegas."
And of course, you're right about that. But there ought to be some interest, I think, in dissenting voices — you know, as long as those voices are not just trolling for lulz. And Scott Marks does not troll for lulz. Scott Marks, film critic, did not especially love 12 Years a Slave. Why not? And despite his heartbreak over the fact that De Niro's reputation is now more battered than Jake LaMotta's mug after a prizefight, he really did find some things to enjoy about Last Vegas. Why? Go thou and read.
Movie
Let the Fire Burn ***
There is very little to feel good about in this documentary on the disastrous attempt by the City of Philadelphia to forcibly evict members of the black liberation organization MOVE from their row house on Osage avenue in May of 1985. Except maybe this: director Jason Osder’s organizing principle for his astonishing patchwork of found footage – previous docs, local news reports, back-in-the-day interviews, etc. – is a community forum. A gathering of interested parties from all sides, discussing a terrible tragedy and seeking to gain some understanding. It’s something close to the way a civil society ought to work, as opposed to The System against which MOVE moved. Most of the time, Osder’s hand is steady; he’s not about to do your thinking for you. And the disciplined refusal to stray from the documented history provides the story with gripping immediacy. Painful, frightening, sobering, but maybe not quite despairing.
My vote for racially charged drama this week goes to Let the Fire Burn, which provides a master class in documenting recent history as well as presenting complicated moral issues in a way that gives the viewer room to think even as he is gripped and horrified.
And you could do a whole lot worse on the big-budget special-effects extravaganza end of the spectrum than to go and see Ender's Game. All the action manages to serve the story, instead of the other way 'round. You might even find something to talk about afterwards.
Other openings:
If you enjoyed talking to your children about the morality of killing animals after Bambi, you're really gonna love Free Birds, a film about turkeys who try to get their species dissociated from the ritual slaughter and consumption visited upon them by us at Thanksgiving.
And if you enjoyed the do-it-over-until-you-do-it-right motif in Groundhog Day but wished it involved more loveyness and Rachel McAdams, then by all means, go see About Time. Maybe you'll see Scott there, taking notes and grumbling about high-concept rom-coms.
And if you enjoyed The Diary of Anne Frank but wished it involved more loveyness and barns instead of family and attics, maybe check out The Pin.
Here's something you might be interested in.
New releases opening this week: 12 Years a Slave, Ender's Game, and more
New releases opening this week: 12 Years a Slave, Ender's Game, and more
Ender's Game: Oh man, remember Laser Tag?
Movie
Ender's Game **
Brilliant young tactician Ender Wiggin is called upon to defend earth from nasty foreign invaders — and you know what they say about what makes the the best defense. Not for nothing does space commander Harrison Ford say that "What we need is a Julius Caesar, a Napoleon." But while Asa Butterfield conveys Wiggin's complicated, chilly interior with a brave disdain for mere likability, Ford stumbles as his equally complicated and possibly chillier mentor/advocate/father-figure. All growls and glares and gravel, he's more general than god. Still, the film makes a fine transition from the classroom to the battlefield — interestingly, it's the classroom that involves actual bodies in motion, while the battlefield is all holodecks and drones. And except for a sloppy climactic confrontation, it manages to manifest its concerns with clarity and force. Director Gavin Hood has an eye for a battle scene, and keeps the action clean and clear no matter what the scale of the conflict. With Hailee Steinfeld, Abigail Breslin.
Everybody loves 12 Years a Slave. Well, almost everybody. Look, I know what you're thinking. "Oh, Marks is just a contrarian from the School of Armond White. Of course he's not going to like a masterpiece like this. He'd much rather muck about with derivative crap like Last Vegas."
And of course, you're right about that. But there ought to be some interest, I think, in dissenting voices — you know, as long as those voices are not just trolling for lulz. And Scott Marks does not troll for lulz. Scott Marks, film critic, did not especially love 12 Years a Slave. Why not? And despite his heartbreak over the fact that De Niro's reputation is now more battered than Jake LaMotta's mug after a prizefight, he really did find some things to enjoy about Last Vegas. Why? Go thou and read.
Movie
Let the Fire Burn ***
There is very little to feel good about in this documentary on the disastrous attempt by the City of Philadelphia to forcibly evict members of the black liberation organization MOVE from their row house on Osage avenue in May of 1985. Except maybe this: director Jason Osder’s organizing principle for his astonishing patchwork of found footage – previous docs, local news reports, back-in-the-day interviews, etc. – is a community forum. A gathering of interested parties from all sides, discussing a terrible tragedy and seeking to gain some understanding. It’s something close to the way a civil society ought to work, as opposed to The System against which MOVE moved. Most of the time, Osder’s hand is steady; he’s not about to do your thinking for you. And the disciplined refusal to stray from the documented history provides the story with gripping immediacy. Painful, frightening, sobering, but maybe not quite despairing.
My vote for racially charged drama this week goes to Let the Fire Burn, which provides a master class in documenting recent history as well as presenting complicated moral issues in a way that gives the viewer room to think even as he is gripped and horrified.
And you could do a whole lot worse on the big-budget special-effects extravaganza end of the spectrum than to go and see Ender's Game. All the action manages to serve the story, instead of the other way 'round. You might even find something to talk about afterwards.
Other openings:
If you enjoyed talking to your children about the morality of killing animals after Bambi, you're really gonna love Free Birds, a film about turkeys who try to get their species dissociated from the ritual slaughter and consumption visited upon them by us at Thanksgiving.
And if you enjoyed the do-it-over-until-you-do-it-right motif in Groundhog Day but wished it involved more loveyness and Rachel McAdams, then by all means, go see About Time. Maybe you'll see Scott there, taking notes and grumbling about high-concept rom-coms.
And if you enjoyed The Diary of Anne Frank but wished it involved more loveyness and barns instead of family and attics, maybe check out The Pin.
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