They were so close.  Ides of March is gripping at times, somber and thought provoking at others but when the core of the film is revealed, it’s hard to find comfort or care in its primary characters.   Ok, I have to exclude Philip Seymour Hoffman from that generalization; his character and performance were the most true to life, which inherently doomed him in the film.  The others, not so much.

Ides of March follows Stephen Myers (Gosling), a charismatic, energetic campaign organizer working to win the Presidential primary for incumbent Governor Mike Morris (Clooney).  Leading such a harried campaign, there’s no time for relationships until Myers, quite surprisingly, strikes up a relationship with a staff intern, Molly Stearns (Evan Rachel Wood).   When Molly seeks Stephen’s help with a sensitive issue from her past it only adds to the enormous pressure of leading the campaign.  Sadly when it rains it pours for Stephen – along with the Primary of the century and Molly’s angst, he’s pursued by a smart and resourceful campaign manager for the opposition, Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti).  Tom is a master of subterfuge and flirts offers of a place on the other side’s administration while feeding seeds of discontent about Stephen’s own staff.    Caught between his loyalty to the Governor, his duty to help Molly and his own idealism about politics, Stephen traverses the rocky waters of the Capital Hill process while learning the true nature of the job and what he has resigned to let his life become.

Gosling (Half Nelson) is the spotlight role here.  I’m making my first Oscar pick of the year by saying that he will get a nod (but not a win).  Clooney (The Peacemaker) does average at best as Governor Morris.  He appears more to be a walking headshot than a believable candidate.  His running platform is filled with naïve public pandering which you have to attribute to the script, not necessarily to him.  Giamatti (Sideways) is ripe and passionate.  Playing a seasoned veteran of the campaign game, you really get a feel for his characters position within the film and its’ portrayal as he manipulates Gosling’s character.  Evan Rachel Wood (Thirteen) gave a strong performance, but I question why she would take a role like this that only perpetuates her limited ability to play teen angst characters (even though here she’s supposedly 20).  Super hot, manipulative like a teen — I expect and want more from such a fresh faced beauty.  Marisa Tomei (Four Rooms) and Jeffrey Wright (Source Code) round out what appears to be a stellar cast on paper; the issue for them, and this film, is that the plot will cause audience rejection.  You’ve got a great string of powerful performances throughout the film, but it’s lost in the idealism within its execution.

When screening audiences are laughing during a funeral sequence that is supposed to broody and heartfelt…you know you went wrong with the characters.  ‘Ides’ gives you one solid performance to the next, but when the true nature and reality of the characters are revealed, you lose any interest in caring what happens to them and even more so about the eventual outcome of the people they play onscreen.  It’s a shame, because some great performances may get lost in the mix on this one.  Let’s hope moviegoers and Oscar voters can see through the subterfuge.

3 Stars Out of 5

The Ides of March is rated R for pervasive language.  Running Time: 101 minutes

Cage plays Will Montgomery, an accomplished career thief who is double-crossed by his longtime partner, Vincent (Josh Lucas), on their last heist together. He’s captured by a determined detective, Fletcher (Mark Valley) and sent to prison for 8 years. Once he’s released, the first thing he decides to do is to visit his estranged daughter to make up for lost time and prove that he is a good man and a good father.

Meanwhile, his old comrades, fellow career criminals and the law enforcement agencies that investigated him and put him away believe that he has the 10 million dollars stolen in the heist that put him in jail, despite the fact that he didn’t get any of the money. To retrieve this cash, Vincent kidnaps Will’s daughter and secrets her away in the soundproof trunk of his yellow taxi cab, ensuring that she can’t be tracked by Montgomery or the police. He then demands ten million dollars from Montgomery and gives him an ultimatum of 12 hours before he murders the child.

Panicking over his missing daughter and his lack of ten million dollars, Montgomery decides to return to what he knows best and pull off another high stakes heist to raise the funds for Riley’s ransom. In order to pull it off he needs the help of his old partner in crime, Riley Simms (Malin Akerman). While they plan and execute the heist, Fletcher is suspicious about Will’s scheming and he attempts to keep up in order to stop the crime and retrieve the kidnapped child. The veteran cop comes to realize that Montgomery is in the right and must decide whether it’s more important to uphold the law or find the child before the deadline is up. Sponsored by Lionsgate Films

Enoch is an odd kid.  If your name is Enoch you probably have to be a loner slack indie hipster.  It’s probably the law.  Enoch traces his outline in chalk, as you’d do for someone who has died.  He hangs out with a ghost that regularly beats him at Battleship.  And Enoch crashes funerals.  One day, during his usual round of funeral-hopping, he meets Annabel, a beautiful little Mia Farrow doppelganger that is almost as quirky as he is.  The two strike up a friendship, Enoch finds out Annabel has terminal brain cancer, and the rest of the film is about the time they spend together.

This ain’t your momma’s “terminally ill pretty thing heading for the light” kinda film.  Annabel isn’t raging against the dying of the light (or if she is we don’t see it), instead she’s trying to enjoy the time she has left by doing whatever she wants.  Mostly that’s dressing like a cross between Audrey Hepburn and Zooey Deschanel — I’d like 15 minutes in the costuming room of this movie, a big bag, and a lack of security — and trying to get Enoch to realize that he’s in love with her.  She succeeds on both counts.

Relative newcomer Henry Hopper plays Enoch, and he does a good job of playing a messed up kid that spends so much time pushing others away he doesn’t even like himself very much.  Pixie-like Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland) plays Annabel, and her not-entirely-here beauty is tailor made for the role.  Ryo Kase (Letters from Iwo Jima) is Hiroshi Takahashi, the ghostly kamikaze pilot that is Enoch’s best friend, and Gus Van Sant (Milk, Good Will Hunting) does an amazing job weaving their stories together to form a cohesive tale that builds toward it’s tragic, but ultimately satisfying conclusion.  Van Sant gets quirky, and lets the story unspool at it’s own pace, something that movies rarely do in today’s crash-bang-boom era.  In a world where viewers are pulled along at warp speed through all sorts of stories, it’s refreshing to have a tale that finds it’s own rhythm and sticks with it.

A lovely, quirky score by Danny “Somebody Give This Dude An Oscar” Elfman, ties scenes together and gives a light touch to the darker aspects of the film.  And have I mentioned how the costuming of Annabel has pulled all the strings on my covetous, baser nature?  All the costuming should be commended for lending a timelessness to the film, instead of going for the easy on-trend pieces that would date this piece by the end of the year.  Yes, there’s an unusual amount of pretty in Annabel’s terminal illness, but there’s a surprising lack of sap that makes Restless head and shoulders better than sobfests like Terms of Endearment and Love Story.

Relax, slow down, and let yourself meet the speed of this curious little film.  You’ll be glad you did.

Okay, so Real Steel isn’t based on the old game you played with and trashed back when you were a kid, it’s actually based on the story “Steel” by the amazing and incredible Richard Matheson (I Am Legend, Hell House, Nightmare at 20,000 Feet).  But the storyline sure quacks like a toy robot: it’s sometime in the not-too-distant future, a time where boxing has ditched humans and amped up the amazeballs factor by using robots.  Big, powerful, amazing robots, that are controlled/worked by human handlers and treated like superstars.  Robotics engineers are the new cool kids on the block, and as with all types of fighting there’s the legal big-leagues, and the shady underground scene.  Cue Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman, looking scruffy but gorgeous; does the man ever look bad?), a poor schmuck whose every decision seems like the wrong one.  After hurting himself in human boxing, he’s a robot boxing promoter, but he’s been reduced to staying one step ahead of the law and his myriad of creditors.  When Charlie finds out that he’s the father of 11-year-old Max, his son from a girlfriend he only barely remembers, having to take care of a kid puts a cramp in his style.  So he makes a deal with his dead girlfriend’s sister Debra; Charlie will watch Max over the summer so Aunt Debra and Uncle Marvin can go away to Europe, then Deb and Marv will take Max off Charlie’s hands for good.  But when Max, a kid who’s already a huge robot boxing fan, gets his first taste of competition, he decides to try his hand at the sport himself, along with a robot he finds in a spare-parts dump.  If you think Charlie and Max don’t bond over this, you obviously don’t get out much.

Jackman is in rare form here, and that’s saying something.  The man could literally act his way out of a paper bag and onto the Globe Stage if he wanted to, thanks to his ability to handle just about any role, from musical lead to a certain sideburned superhero.  He can even make a craptastic movie…well, palatable from time to time.  (I’m looking at you, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan.  Kate and Leopold.)  Evangeline Lily has a small but important role as Bailey Tallet, Charlie’s engineer and former love interest.  She’s not given much to do beyond solder parts and tell Charlie he’s a screwup, but as with Lost, Lily adds an openness and sincerity to her character.  The truly breathtaking performance comes from Dakota Goyo as Max, who holds his own with the A-List  actors he’s working with.  The three leads manage to rise above the Sci-Fi trappings and turn what could have easily been a quick cash-in (*coughTransformerscough*) into a film with real heart underneath all that metal.  It’s the answer to every prayer sent out by someone who has a significant other who won’t go to touchy-feely films.  It’s two treats in one; a feel-good movie with plenty of ass-kicking action.  I wouldn’t be surprised if this becomes the date night of the season.

Ahh action.  It’s here, and in spades.  Director Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum, Date Night) knows how to mix his genres without sacrificing one for the other.  Film editor Dean Zimmerman keeps the pace quick when it needs to be, but slows things down in just the right places.  Legacy Effects handles the robot action, blending special effects with live action so well I couldn’t see an edge or warp anywhere.  Though to be honest the movie’s action sequences are so well done viewers won’t be doing much more than staring at the screen, transfixed.  I’ve gotta say that when I first heard about this movie I had my doubts.  Big, strong, fighting robots-sized doubts.  But Real Steel put those doubts to rest.  Real Steel is the movie Transformers: Dark of the Moon wishes it could have been.  That’s because Real Steel takes the time to deliver a touching father-son story along with it’s whizbang effects.  The result is a movie well worth your hard earned rivets.

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Synopsis:

Writer/Director Craig Brewer (“Hustle & Flow,” “Black Snake Moan”) delivers a new take of the beloved 1984 classic film, “Footloose.” Ren MacCormack (played by newcomer Kenny Wormald) is transplanted from Boston to the small southern town of Bomont where he experiences a heavy dose of culture shock. A few years prior, the community was rocked by a tragic accident that killed five teenagers after a night out and Bomont’s local councilmen and the beloved Reverend Shaw Moore (Dennis Quaid) responded by implementing ordinances that prohibit loud music and dancing. Not one to bow to the status quo, Ren challenges the ban, revitalizing the town and falling in love with the minister’s troubled daughter Ariel (Julianne Hough) in the process.

Trailer:

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YOU AND A GUEST ARE INVITED TO A VERY SPECIAL EVENT

MEET DIRECTOR JAMES MCTEIGUE (V FOR VENDETTA) AND ACTOR

LUKE EVANS (THE THREE MUSKETEERS, THE HOBBIT, IMMORTALS), THE STAR OF THE MUCH-ANTICIPATED

THRILLER SET IN BALTIMORE — “THE RAVEN”

AS THEY HONOR THE 162ND ANNIVERSARY OF EDGAR ALLAN POE’S DEATH

**THIS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7TH AT 12:00NOON – WESTMINSTER HALL**

WHERE:        WESTMINSTER HALL (EDGAR ALLAN POE’S BURIAL SITE)

519 West Fayette Street
Baltimore, MD 21201

THE EVENT IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

ABOUT THE FILM

In this gritty thriller, Edgar Allan Poe (John Cusack, Being John Malkovich) joins forces with a young Baltimore detective (Luke Evans, Immortals) to hunt down a mad serial killer who’s using Poe’s own works as the basis in a string of brutal murders. Directed by James McTeigue (V for Vendetta), the film also stars Alice Eve (Sex and the City 2), Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges) and Oliver Jackson-Cohen (Faster).

EDGAR ALLAN POE

Edgar Allan Poe (19 January 1809 – 7 October, 1849) was an American author, poet, editor and critic. Best known for his Gothic and horror stories and poems, Poe championed the short story as a literary form, contributed to the growing science fiction genre emerging in his day, and is the inventor of the modern “detective story” as we now know it. Poe lived a brief life of continued financial hardship sparked by flares of creative and critical success. Born in Boston to David and Elizabeth Poe, working actors, his father’s disappearance and mother’s premature death forced him into a pseudo-adoption by John Allan of Virginia, where he grew to consider himself a “Southern Gentleman” for the remainder of his life. As a student at West Point, poetry captured his fervent imagination, and he became a writer, winning his first monetary prize for his writing in Baltimore, Maryland. Shuttling between Richmond, Philadelphia and New York through-out his turbulent life, jumping between newspaper and magazine editorial jobs while gaining notoriety for his Gothic short stories, Baltimore became more of a home for him than other cities. His paternal grandfather and brother lived in Baltimore, and it was in Baltimore that he lived for many years with his Aunt, Maria Clemm, whom he considered more than anything else to be his “mother”, and his child-bride, Virginia. It is in Baltimore that he died under mysterious circumstances in the autumn of 1849, and it is in Baltimore where he is buried, along-side Clemm and Virginia Poe.

THE RAVEN opens nationwide on March 9, 2012 

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Film Synopsis

Machine Gun Preacher is the inspirational true story of Sam Childers, a former drug-dealing criminal who undergoes an astonishing transformation and finds an unexpected calling as the savior of hundreds of kidnapped and orphaned children. Gerard Butler (300) delivers a searing performance as Childers, the impassioned founder of the Angels of East Africa rescue organization in Golden Globe-nominated director Marc Forster’s (Monster’s Ball, Finding Neverland) moving story of violence and redemption.

When ex-biker-gang member Sam Childers (Butler) makes the life-changing decision to go to East Africa to help repair homes destroyed by civil war, he is outraged by the unspeakable horrors faced by the region’s vulnerable populace, especially the children. Ignoring the warnings of more experienced aide-workers, Sam breaks ground for an orphanage where it’s most needed–in the middle of territory controlled by the brutal Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a renegade militia that forces youngsters to become soldiers before they even reach their teens.

But for Sam, it is not enough to shelter the LRA’s intended victims. Determined to save as many as possible, he leads armed missions deep into enemy territory to retrieve kidnapped children, restoring peace to their lives–and eventually his own. The explosive, real-life tale of a man who has rescued over a thousand orphans from starvation, disease and enslavement, Machine Gun Preacher also stars Michelle Monaghan (Due Date), Kathy Baker (Cold Mountain), Madeline Carroll (Mr. Popper’s Penguins), Academy Award® nominated Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road) and Souleyman Sy Savane (“Damages”).

Nothing fancy tonight – Just download the e-pass here and enjoy the film!

Based on Karen Bosnak’s novel “20 Times a Lady”, What’s Your Number points out the disparity between the sexes when it comes to sex.  Guys bang anything that moves and that makes ‘em a stud, women run out of fingers to count with when counting conquests and they’re not marriage material.  So after her younger sister’s engagement party, Ally decides that it’s no more sex, no more conquests, no more random hooking up.  Naturally, she boinks her boss that night (a hilariously creepy Joel McHale, in a role more Talk Soup than Community).  But her lothario neighbor Colin gets roped into helping her with the promise of Ally’s help with ditching the one-night-stands he constantly brings home.  Ally’s cute, Colin’s sexy, they’re both funny…and you can figure out the rest.  Thank goodness What’s Your Number has a refreshingly light touch with the romance, focusing on laughs and the awkwardness of tracking past lovers instead of the deep meaningful connection the leads share.  The chemistry between Faris and Evans is off the charts anyway, so gilding that lily would have had the movie ending up a clunker.

This movie wouldn’t work without the supporting characters, and the casting department did it’s homework here.  Besides Joel McHale, Zachary Quinto (Star Trek) plays an indifferent granola-guy, Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker) plays now-gay Republican wannabe Tom, Reno 911’s Thomas Lennon plays gynecologist ex Barrett, and as a pi’ce de résistance, Andy Samberg has a cameo as Gerry Perry, the guy Ally loses her virginity to.  Seeing Faris and Samberg, two comedic actors that have no problem going anywhere for a laugh, get down and dirty is hilarous and cringeworthy.  Dave Annable (Brothers & Sisters) plays Ally’s “one that got away”, and he nails the role of a guy that is just a bit too perfect.  Cute points for casting Faris’ real-life hubby Chris Pratt (Parks and Recreation) as ex “Disgusting Donald”, the guy that gets her started on her crazy adventure by being better now than he was then.

The usual chick-flick cliche’s run hot & heavy here, but they’re cute as all heck in the talented hands of director Mark Mylod (Entourage, the amazingly wonderful BBC rom-com series Cold Feet).  Ally and Colin meet cute, but can’t stand each other.  Ally has an amazing,  huge apartment smack-dab in the middle of Boston, something a marketing assistant would never be able to afford (though scenes with her family show that her parents are rich as hell, so there’s that.)  There are the requisite montages, the conflict after they finally realize they’re perfect for each other (and if I’m spoiling the movie for you by that tidbit this must be the very first romance you’ve ever thought about watching in your entire life), and the big chase scene at the end.  There are also lovely wedding vows, gorgeous Boston scenery, and a wacky ending that has real emotional depth.

Though What’s Your Number shows that all ends well after Ally’s ex-tracking binge, I’m not sure I’d do it myself.  Would you?

Based on Carolyn S. Briggs’ memoir, This Dark World: A Memoir of Salvation Found and Lost (which has now been re-printed under the title Higher Ground), Higher Ground follows Corinne (Vera Farmiga; Up in the Air) from a young girl who sees going to church as just something to do, to a rebellious teen pregnant and hurriedly married and then to a woman who has put all her trust and hope in God.  But as the decades change, the groovy veggie hippies for Christ she joined as a teenager slowly become more dogmatic.  Adding to her troubles is a husband (played by Joshua Leonard of The Blair Witch Project) who sees no problem with the way their church has changed, and a sister and mother who have shed their earlier beliefs.  The film takes these characters from the personal, sexual and spiritual freedom of the 1960s, all Jesus Christ Superstar and tofu patties, to the close-minded demagoguery of 1980s “spirituality”.  As Corinne passes through the years, she must make a decision to stay with her faith, or to find her own way to be in the world.  ”Lord, it’s either inside with you, or outside with the dogs”, one church member says early on, a softly worded threat that anyone doing, saying or feeling anything different from those of the church would burn in H-E-double-hockey-sticks.  With all that fear of damnation thundering on a person 24-7, is it any wonder so many fundamentalists are batshit?

The character of Corinne is a refreshing change from all the half-crazed Bible-Belters that have become cliché over the years.  Here is a woman with strong beliefs that is also open minded and loving.  In my mind every single hyper-judgemental fundamentalist should be tied down and forced to watch this movie, if only to show them how they should really be living.  Then again they probably wouldn’t get it.  Farmiga pulls off the double duty of director/lead actress admirably, giving a nuanced performance that may well be overlooked by the Academy for it’s low-key style.  Which would be a shame, but we all know the Academy loves histrionics.  Dagmara Dominczyk (Kinsey) plays Corinne’s best friend Annika, a woman who sees God in everything, even in the drawings she makes of her husband’s penis.  “Christ-like sex!”, she exclaims, as the women collapse into giggles.  Meanwhile, Joshua Leonard as Corinne’s husband Ethan is sort of the Everyman of the Fundamentalist movement, and how he goes from a pot-smoking hippie to a crunchy believer to a flat-out shunning “Christian” is probably scarier than anything the horror genre will whip out at moviegoers this year.  It’s a sneaky, moment-by-moment change, and to see him become someone entirely different through Corinne’s eyes is heartbreaking and horrifying.

Higher Ground takes a look at many of the problems destructively fundamentalist movements have; blatant sexism, brainwashing, clannish/cultish behavior, and shows you how they’re used to keep the flock in line.  It seems all are not equal in His sight.  Have a gift of preaching?  Well, if you’re a woman that’s out.  (I hope nobody’s told Joyce Meyer.)  Wanna read Lord of the Flies?  Fuggetaboutit.  Piece by piece we see the negativity of their fundamentalism, a stark contrast to Corinne’s all-accepting faith.  She is a segment of the population that goes unnoticed; the open, accepting person of any faith.  Hey, the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and the judgemental self-righteous saved of any religious denomination makes better press, right?  Absolutely.

Corinne’s struggles to reclaim the faith she feels she’s lost leads her to therapy (faith-based of course), crushing on the hot mailman, and finally acceptance.  Her faith is a part of who she is, not the sum of everything she is.  That’s gotta be a difficult message for any extremist to swallow, but it makes for amazing filmmaking for those open to it’s message.  Higher Ground is a lot like Corinne’s faith, a quiet thing that is no less powerful for the lack of bells and whistles.

Sometimes hitting the multiplex just isn’t in the cards. That’s when cable, the web and streaming step in to provide an instant movie fix. But how to separate the wheat from the chaff? I’m happy to help; every week I’ll pick a flick and see if it’s worth your time. This week it’s the documentary “Forks Over Knives”.

The Story: This documentary takes a cold, hard look at how Americans eat, and how what we decide to shove into our gaping maw affects how crappy we feel. And, how if we switch things around, how the food we put into our bodies could possibly make us feel better, and reverse health problems. Wait, so Ding-Dongs and grape soda aren’t good for me?

The Good: TONS of research went into this documentary, and it’s covered in a way that keeps viewers interested. Forks Over Knives not only throws research evidence at you, it follows test subjects in a personal way. Forks Over Knives introduces you to many different men and women who for one reason or another have been in studies or have found these doctors as a last-gasp effort to be more healthy. These people tell you in their own words how their lives and/or bodies have changed by switching to a plant based (or, in some instances, “plant strong”) diet, and not a one of ‘em sounds like a cult member. Dr. Campbell of Cornell University and Dr. Esselstyn of the Cleveland Clinic — the doctors that lead the way in this research — are personable, and incredibly hands-on, and the movie follows them through their careers to show how these docs came up with their ideas.  The director himself gets in on the diet-switch, and we get to see him and his bloodwork before and after his very own guinea pig-dom; think of this movie as Un-Super Size Me.  By the way, fellas, wanna know how to ditch Viagra and still be a hit with the lay-deez? Forks Over Knives’ll show you exactly how and why what you eat can affect how you get your groove on. And who knew badass Ultimate Figher Mac Danzig was a vegan?

The Bad: Though this is a very interesting documentary that has so much information on how a whole plant-based diet helps you live a healthier life, at times it seems a bit heavy handed. There’s no middle ground here; you live an oil-free, vegan way of life, or you’re doomed to a life less healthy. And I like my EVOO and Miracle Whip (yeah, I’m one of those people) too much to give ‘em up. Then again, any all-or-nothing message repeated over and over again in the course of an hour and half starts to feel a bit oppressive. Yeah, yeah, yeah; of course they’re right. Anyone who doesn’t think eating healthier would be better for them is an idiot. But we’re all a bunch of lazy putzes who would rather eat a handful of Cheetos than grapes, so I have a feeling this is a documentary that will mostly be preaching to the converted instead of those who need saving.

The Everything Else: There’s a cute animated segment in the beginning of the documentary that shows viewers how animals are pleasure seekers, thanks to the roaming of an adorably drawn great white shark. Next Shark Week I’ll be picturing them all in Hawaiian shirts & sunglasses. The pieces of old footage from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s showing how we were taught how to eat are adorably retro now, especially so after all the information this documentary throws down.

Here’s the breakdown:
Would I watch it again?: Absolutely! In fact, in light of what I had for lunch, I probably should watch it again right now.
Should you see it?: Everyone should see this film. Period.  Force yourself if you have to.  Whether or not it’s all true, it makes you re-evaluate your choices and asks you to live a better life. Not too shabby.
Netflix average rating: 4 ½ Stars
My rating: 5 Stars