KPBS Film Club reviews 5 new movies!

September 18th, 2008 by Scott Marks

Not the most inspired crop of movies this time around, but we did our best to keep it lively. And, uhhh…thanks for visiting emotioncompulsion.org. That’s what I get for lacing Tom’s coffee with psylicyben…

To listen to the show, click here.

Take it away, Tom!

Tom Fudge: We’ll talk about the following movies on this edition of Film Club of the Air:

Burn After Reading: We start with a new movie by Joel and Ethan Coen. The Coen brothers had a big year last year, winning Academy Awards for Best Picture AND Best Director for their film, based on the Cormac McCarthy novel, No Country for Old Men. Their new movie is called Burn After Reading. This movie takes place in Washington D.C.. In the beginning, we meet a CIA man who loses his job and decides to write a memoir. He loses a CD copy of his memoir, which is found by two people who work at a gym, and think they’ve stumbled across some top secret material. Meanwhile, the CIA man’s wife is having an affair with a U.S. Marshall. The people who work at the gym try to extort money from the CIA guy, then they try to sell his memoir to the Russians. This story soon becomes a great thicket of love affairs, mistaken identities, and foiled plots. Burn After Reading stars John Malcovich as the CIA man, George Clooney as the U.S. Marshall, and Frances McDormand and Brad Pitt as the people who work at the gym.

Burn After Reading is currently playing in area theaters.

The next movie on our list is Righteous Kill, directed by Jon Avnet. This movie stars two of the most prominent film actors alive today, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. Righteous Kill is a cop movie in which our two stars play two homicide detectives. At one point, they start investigating the work of a serial killer who murders people that have been accused or convicted of heinous crimes. Police begin to suspect that the serial killer is a police officer. In fact, we see bits of a video tape in which Turk, De Niro’s character, appears to be confessing to the crimes. The mystery and the investigation plays out. In the end, we see the confrontation between the main characters as it becomes clear what’s been going on. Righteous Kill also stars Carla Gugino and John Leguizamo.

Righteous Kill is currently playing in area theaters.

In Search of a Midnight Kiss is a movie by writer-director Alex Holdridge. Its main character is a slacker named Wilson who’s trying, though not trying very hard, to make a go of it as a screenwriter in Los Angeles. Wilson doesn’t have much going on in his life, and his roommate encourages him to get out of the apartment and make some friends. So he goes onto Craig’s List to tell the world he’s in search of a companion. His internet ad says “misanthrope seeks misanthrope.” As a result, Wilson meets Vivian, who is as surly as Wilson is lonely and depressed. Together, they set out to explore Los Angeles by foot (something I wasn’t sure you could actualy do). The film stars Scoot McNairy and Sara Simmonds.

In Search of a Midnight Kiss is playing at Landmark’s Ken Cinema through September 18th.

Our next movie is called Choke, directed and co-written by Clark Gregg. In this movie the main character is Victor, a sex addict who works at a historical theme park. He dresses up in period costume and gives tours to tourists. The title Choke refers to Victor’s habit of going to restaurants and pretending to choke on food, hoping some rich person will save his life, bond with him, and give him money. The money is meant to help Victor pay for his mother’s residence in a high-priced mental health hospital. Victor joins a sex addict support group while he’s also falling for his mother’s nurse. Meanwhile, he’s obsessed with finding out who his real father was, before his mother dies. Choke is based on a novel by Chuck Palahniuk, who’s best known for the book Fight Club, which was also made into a movie.

Choke opens in area theaters on September 26th.

Sukiyaki Western Django: This spoof of spaghetti westerns was made by veteran Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike and stars Quentin Tarantino.

Sukiyaki Western Django opens in area theaters on October 10th.

Tags: beth accamondo, BURN AFTER READING, choke, Film Review, Film Reviews, in search of a midnight kiss, KPBS Film Club, Movie Review, Movie reviews, RIGHTEOUS KILL, Scott Marks, Sukiyaki Western Django, Tom Fudge

Filed Under KPBS Radio Shows, Reviews, Theatrical

Review: RIGHTEOUS KILL / Jon Avnet (2008)

September 11th, 2008 by Scott Marks

Look how they make him look. Like a bum! Like a Mama Luke!

Righteous Kill (2008)
Directed by Jon Avnet
Written by: Russell Gewirtz
Starring: Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, Carla Gugino, John Leguizamo, Donnie Wahlberg, Brian Dennehy and Curtis Jackson
Running Time: 100 min.
Aspect Ratio:

Rating:

So much meat and so little sizzle. As a thriller, it’s not competent enough to turn heads and as an unintentional comedy, it’s not bad enough to be good. What’s truly amazing is how few sparks fly when the two stars finally get to spend quality time together in the same film.

The sixty-plus actors play a pair of brotherly homicide cops in their fifties and the glaring cinematography easily adds a couple of decades. When a serial killer turns out to be DeNiro, it’s up to Al to defend his buddy and do whatever he can to prove his innocence. A serial killer on the force forms a terrific premise for a film (ask Larry Cohen), yet in the unskilled hands of Jon “Fried Green Hack” Avnet it becomes a sub-average crime thriller. The only reason this earned one star is due to a twist ending that came as a complete surprise.

The killer on the loose has a habit of leaving short poems at the scene of each crime. While DeNiro can fight, he’d much rather recite his videotaped confession (it functions as the film’s narration) in a monotone that makes Travis Bickle’s diary entries sound like an auctioneer. With the exception of a few rousing exchanges peppered with “f–ks,” they never come to life, particularly Pacino. I’m surprised that Al agreed to work with Avnet after their lethal collaboration on 88 Minutes, one of the worst films of 2008.

Who knew that Brian DePalma would have such an everlasting impact on Al’s countenance? That leather jacket that he wore in Carlito’s Way has come to mean as much to Pacino as the cowboy hat Jimmy Stewart wore in the Anthony Mann’s westerns. And talking about hair-wear, what’s that schmate perched atop Al’s noggin? His inferiority complex would be better served by a pair of lifts rather than a height-enhancing swatch of broadloom.

DeNiro delivers the same crumpled expressions he’s been serving up for well over a decade. (Has “America’s Finest Actor” turned in a decent performance in a watchable movie since Jackie Brown? If any of you suggest Stardust, I’ll personally beat youse with my f–king shinebox.) How much higher a tax bracket does he aspire to? After all the unmitigated garbage he’s insulted us with over the past too many years, he should be refused payment on his next five features. Give the money to Marty’s Film Foundation and that’s that.

Continue reading Review: RIGHTEOUS KILL / Jon Avnet (2008)

Tags: Al Pacino, Film Review, jon avnet, Movie Review, RIGHTEOUS KILL, Robert DeNiro

Filed Under Reviews, Theatrical

First Look: Robert DeNiro & Al Pacino Together Again in RIGHTEOUS KILL

November 29th, 2007 by Scott Marks

The good news is that Bob & Al are reunited for the first time since Heat and it appears that we won’t have to wait over two hours to see them together in the same frame. The bad news (other than Al’s Tony Curtis fright wig) is that it’s “directed” by Jon ‘Fried Green Tomatoes’ Avnet. No American release date has been announced, but you lucky stiffs in the Netherlands get to see it in October of 2008.