The Killer

Director: David Fincher
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Tilda Swinton, Charles Parnell, Arliss Howard, Kerry O' Malley, Sophie Charlotte, Emiliano Pernía, Gabriel Polanco, Sala Baker, Endre Hules, Monique Ganderton
Running Time: 118 min.
Rating: R

★★★★ (out of ★★★★)  

The title character in David Fincher's The Killer prides himself on not being sloppy, or at least that's what he'd have us believe, as this unnamed assassin painstakingly walks through the steps of his job with enough precision and synchronicity to make Dexter look like a clueless hack. Just take his word for it, with a hypnotic voice over narration that not only runs down his static routine, but the skills and life philosophy needed for it. "Stick to the plan." "Don't improvise, anticipate." "Trust no one." "Forbid empathy." 

While those mantras are repeated throughout as we hang on every word, many his actions will eventually contradict them. He has the pre-kill ritual down to a science, eating, practicing yoga, and listening to The Smiths while waiting for his heartbeat to drop under 65 beats per minute before pulling the trigger. There's no room for trepidation or errors, until he actually misses and the fallout causes him to make some unexpected adjustments. Out for the revenge he can't admit to craving while carrying a guilt he's incapable of expressing, it's suddenly personal now.  

The killer (Michael Fassbender) hauls up in any empty office building across the street from a Parisian hotel, preparing to take out his latest target with a sniper rifle. But despite his obsessive preparation, the job goes horribly wrong, causing him to fall out of favor with his handler Hodges (Charles Parnell). Fleeing the country, he arrives back at one of his secret homes in the Dominican Republic to find girlfriend Magdala (Sophie Charlotte) viciously attacked by assassins sent by Hodges to satisfy the client. 

With vengeance in mind, the killer sets his sights on those responsible for ordering and carrying out the attack, targeting Hodges himself, the thuggish "Brute" (Sala Baker) living in Florida, the New York-based "Expert" assassin (Tilda Swinton) and billionaire client Claybourne (Arliss Howard). The question now becomes whether he can remain as calm and coldly proficient in his technique when the stakes are this high.  

Following a quick but transfixing opening title sequence and that meticulous setup, the killer missing his target hits particularly hard given all the precautions taken in avoiding this exact scenario. Wearing his bucket hat and Hawaiian shirt, he informs us his disguise is that of an easily avoidable German tourist, acknowledging the impossibility of going unnoticed in this day and age, aiming instead to be unmemorable. And he is, with everyone too busy, distracted or self absorbed to notice there's a murderer in their midst, providing valuable cover from his increasing carelessness.

Because we're so fully immersed in the killer's procedure, it's only more jarring when the wheels fly off, causing him to step outside a very familiar comfort zone. The assault on his partner is turning point since he could have just disappeared under one of his many fake names (a great running gag), sheltering himself and her from any further fallout, never to be seen or heard from again. Instead, he opts for payback, evolving from someone who despises improvisation into the rashest of improvisers. Either way, it's apparent he's much better at this in his head than reality.

Anything that can go wrong almost does, and multiple times, especially during a spectacular mid-film fight where the target's fate takes a backseat to his probability of survival. It may have been a lie at the beginning, but now the killer truly doesn't care, his recklessness most evident when confronting Tilda Swinton's previously untouchable assassin. Their extended one-sided conversation is the closest he gets to any kind of emotional connection, as it nearly breaks him discovering just how similar they actually are. 

The only quality differentiating him from Swinton's character is her ability to enjoy what appears to be a normal life in plain sight, free from the idiosyncrasies he leans on to do the job. She may have been worse at it this time, but it's not lost on him that their roles could have easily been reversed. And she won't let him forget that, regardless of her fate. None of his targets should really stand a chance since they're loose ends, but the unthinkable notion someone could be spared creeps through the further off course he veers, discovering buried pieces of himself along the way. 

Fassbender drolly delivers the unreliable but endlessly quotable voiceover, while also allowing each little movement, twitch and expression to do all the talking when he's not. An ideal fit for such oddly specific material, he quietly plays this without so much as a shred of humanity, squashing any chances the character will be experiencing any kind of epiphany or redemption.

Clinical to a fault, Fincher's chief interest lies in the process itself, with help from cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt's impressive location shooting, a propulsive, anxiety inducing score from Trent Rezor and Atticus Ross and a Smiths' soundtrack that humorously clashes with what unfolds. There isn't an ounce of excess fat here, with every scene and episodic stretch visually advancing Se7en writer Andrew Kevin Walker's script. Fincher's best in years, it also shares some of the same thematic elements of technical obsession contained in Zodiac and his brilliant but prematurely cancelled Mindhunter Netflix series.

The Killer is about a perfectionist suddenly left twisting in the wind, more desperate than ever to maintain his illusion of control. Skirting the line between genre exercise and art film, every move he makes feels compulsively purposeful, causing many to cite it as the definitive commentary on Fincher's own work. But it's also thoroughly rewatchable, finding the master again in top form, filling each frame with an abundance of details viewers experience entirely through the eyes and mind of an assassin who might be too fastidious for his own good.

Asteroid City

Director: Wes Anderson
Starring: Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Liev Schreiber, Hope Davis, Stephen Park, Rupert Friend, Maya Hawke, Steve Carell, Matt Dillon, Hong Chau, Willem Dafoe, Margot Robbie, Tony Revolori, Jake Ryan, Grace Edwards, Aristou Meehan, Sophia Lillis, Ethan Josh Lee, Jeff Goldblum
Running Time: 105 min.
Rating: PG-13

★★★ ½ (out of ★★★★) 

The style vs. substance debate that's followed Wes Anderson throughout his career again rears its head with Asteroid City, an ambitious effort from a very distinctive filmmaker sure to split critics and audiences down the middle. He must be used to it by now, considering how each new release is accompanied by conversations about how Andersonian it really is. For rabid devotees, there's no such thing as too much, whereas just a couple of minutes is more than enough for the harshest detractors. But even as his singular aesthetic still prompts accusations of superficial repetitiveness, few contemporary directors have amassed a body of work so instantly recognizable. No matter what you think of it.  

For all the SNL skits or viral video spoofs, making a Wes Anderson picture is a market he'll always have cornered because there's an underlying sincerity to what he does that no one's been able to duplicate. Even when the execution seems like a parody of itself, there's more there. It's especially true of his best efforts like Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums, where style and substance overlap in character-driven stories that go to deeper, rawer places many feel he hasn't returned to since. The jury's still out on where this one lands, but it's definitely a departure of sorts. Or at least as much of a departure as we've gotten from the divisive director in a long time. 

The film's retro futuristic desert setting is a hugely impressive visual achievement brought to surreal life by Robert Yeoman's cinematography and Adam Stockhausen's production design. But there's also a meta layer that distinguishes it, as a stacked cast pulls double duty in both a black-and-white TV documentary special of a play and the play's events, presented in vibrant color. It's also a pastiche of postwar Americana, UFO paranoia and old Hollywood moviemaking that further explores the themes of grief and ostracization constantly present in Anderson's output. In other words, there's a lot to unpack.

The film opens in black-and-white as a TV host (Bryan Cranston) introduces renowned playwright Conrad Earp's (Edward Norton) production of "Asteroid City," a play that takes place in a fictional 1955 desert town of the same name. In it, war photographer Augie Steenbeck (Jason Schwartzman) arrives with his intellectual teen son Woodrow (Jake Ryan) and three daughters at the Junior Stargazer convention where Woodrow is being honored. But Augie's inability to tell the kids of their mother's recent death complicates his already fragile relationship with curmudgeonly father-in-law Stanley (Tom Hanks). 

Also in town is Midge Campbell (Scarlett Johansson), a famous, melancholy actress whose teen daughter Dinah (Grace Edwards) is also being recognized at the convention. Among the other attendees are elementary school teacher June Douglas (Maya Hawke) and her class, a cowboy band led by a singer named Montana (Rupert Friend), the brilliant but eccentric astronomer Dr. Hickenlooper (Tilda Swinton) and five star General Grif Gibson (Jeffrey Wright). 

When a major extraterrestrial event inexplicably occurs during the awards presentation, the U.S. government frantically intervenes to contain the site and quarantine witnesses in town. We're also shown glimpses of the TV special detailing the play's evolution, as the actors struggle to make sense of their roles, most notably Schwartzman's Jones Hall, who helplessly turns to director Schubert Green (Adrien Brody) for creative guidance.

It isn't clear where the story's going for much of the first forty minutes, or even if it's headed in a direction that would set it apart from what we've already seen from Anderson. And despite his penchant for attracting huge names, the involvement of Hanks and Johansson doesn't necessarily signify we're in for something especially unique, as sometimes even the biggest stars have taken back seats to the framing and visual presentation of his pictures. And this one is mind-blowing, shot by Yeoman with a bright, oversaturated artificiality that recalls 50's Westerns like Bad Day at Black Rock. 

As usual with Anderson, the actors dryly deliver their lines with a kind of detached bemusement that almost implies they're playing imitations or mockeries of themselves. Only the real kicker this time is that they actually are. The "play within a play" conceit allow the actors to carry aspects of their performer's uncertainty toward the material into the actual roles, adding an important contextual layer. This works especially well with Schwartzman and Johansson, who delicately depict Augie and Midge's ambivalence toward each another, dancing around their feelings before eventually connecting on a deeper level. Schwartzman's nuanced turn has you wondering why he isn't cast more often as a lead while Johansson perfectly captures this moody, morose Hollywood starlet with an edge. 

Once the UFO event unfolds with the appearance of a wacky looking alien, the script's characters really start to wrestle with various forms of loneliness and uncertainty. And like many Anderson films, it celebrates the quirky outsider, as the Junior Stargazers are far more tuned in and observant than any of their parents, scientists and especially government officials. Those Moonrise Kingdom vibes are definitely present in Woodrow and Dinah's relationship, while the film still manages to incorporate an endless parade of well known faces without it coming across as a stunt.

Hanks, Hawke and Swinton make the most impact with what they're handed and even the smaller parts occupied by Hope Davis, Liev Schreiber and Willem Dafoe humorously fill out the corners of this bizarre world. If there's a true highlight, it's Margot Robbie's sensational single scene opposite Schwartzman, which ties the movie's metaverse in knots to gain invaluably greater insight into Augie and the actor who plays him. Most assumed Hanks' cranky part was originally intended for Bill Murray, but the latter was actually cast as Steve Carell's motel manager before having to pull out. Regardless, Hanks puts his own spin on Stanley and Carell's tiny role would likely be a waste of Murray anyway. 

From the moment an entertainingly deadpan Cranston appears on screen channeling Rod Serling in a Playhouse 90-style special, it's apparent we're in for a rarer breed of nostalgic escape than Anderson usually delivers. A single viewing of Asteroid City won't determine its ranking in his filmography or win over doubters, but much of what the trailer hinted at pans out with Anderson flair, again making it difficult to separate the filmmaker from his creation. But like these characters, we'll just have to accept that understanding everything isn't the goal, or really even necessary at all.

Trainwreck

Director: Judd Apatow
Starring: Amy Schumer, Bill Hader, Brie Larson, Tilda Swinton, Colin Quinn, John Cena, Mike Birbiglia, Jon Glaser, Vanessa Bayer, Ezra Miller, LeBron James
Running Time: 124 min.
Rating: R

★★★ ½ (out of ★★★★)

It's easy to assume you have Judd Apatow's Trainwreck all figured out before even seeing it. It'll be an uncomfortable, awkward mixture of comedy and drama with some toilet humor thrown in, eventually culminating in an unlikable, emotionally arrested protagonist learning to grow up. And since it's an Apatow production, there's always the chance it'll take thirty minutes longer to arrive at that revelation than it should. In the best case scenario, that would be just over two hours, or in the worst case, closer to two and a half. While those details do prove correct, there's something very different about the execution this time, resulting is his most purely satisfying effort in a while.

After essentially repeating the same formula that worked in the 40-Year-Old Virgin, but grew progressively worse with Knocked Up, Funny People and This is 40, Apatow finally nails it. Maybe it's the absence of
autobiographical subject matter or a willingness to relinquish his desire to be the next James L. Brooks, but he's delivered a movie that stands out from his others. But you have to figure the real difference maker is Amy Schumer, who in her first big screen starring role proves she's more than deserving of all the hype surrounding her.     

The film opens with a flashback in which a young Amy and her sister Kim are told their parents are divorcing, and warned by their drunken, philandering, Mets obsessed father, Gordon (Colin Quinn) on the dangers of monogamy. Flash forward twenty-three years and an adult Amy (Schumer) has internalized that advise, regularly smoking, drinking and sleeping around with guys like gym rat, Steven (John Cena) in order to escape the possibility of an actual adult relationship. Meanwhile, Kim (Brie Larson) has done the exact opposite, settling down with Tom (Mike Birbiglia) a dorky, if generally decent guy with an equally nerdy son Amy finds annoying.

It's Amy's intense dislike of sports that causes her intimidating editor at S'nuff men's magazine, Dianna (Tilda Swinton), to assign her a piece on renowned sports surgeon, Aaron Conners (Bill Hader.), who spends most of his free time hanging with best friend LeBron James (as "himself") and is currently preparing for a major surgery on Knicks' Amar'e Stoudemire (himself again). With a promotion on the line and her father recently admitted to a nursing home, Amy hasn't a clue what to do when she actually starts dating and falling for a genuinely good guy who really likes her, faults and all. So, of course, she does her best to sabotage it, not realizing the person she's hurting most is herself.

This is a comedy that gets a lot right, which is a big surprise considering how much it's attempting to do at once, and how shaky Apatow's previous attempts at juggling this type of material have been. Helping is a really strongly defined character at the movie's center, which is evident immediately upon her introduction in the first few minutes. There's no doubt Amy likes to have fun, and it's interesting to note that when she wakes up in some random guy's bed completely hung over without a clue where she is, we realize this isn't a scene we'd even wince at if the protagonist were male. Schumer (who penned the script) and Apatow know this and are always a few steps ahead of our thinking she's a slut by having her admit to being one with little hesitation and no regrets.

I know very little, if anything, about Amy Schumer other than the fact that she has a show on Comedy Central a lot of people love that's supposedly dirtier and more controversial than this. That her casting was met with groans that she's not "hot enough" for the role is an especially bizarre complaint considering this isn't exactly the kind of female part we frequently see. Schumer makes it soar, hilariously transforming what should be detestable character traits into relatable, often painfully sympathetic quirks. She's also able to switch gears on a dime between the laugh-out-loud scenes and some of the more serious, soul-searching moments which are thankfully never all that serious in her hands.

The movie's secret weapon is Hader, would seem to be as atypical a choice as Schumer to lead a romantic comedy, which makes him an inspired choice, while marking sort of a divergence from the goofball characters he's known for playing since his SNL days. She's not as funny without Hader's straight man to play off and if the running joke is that Aaron's supposed to be boring, than it would be tough to find another actor who makes boring as interesting. Similar to Schumer, audiences will walk away from this experience with a higher opinion of his acting talents than when they went in, potentially opening the door to different types of roles we can picture him in.     

What separates this from other entries in an increasingly popular comedy subgenre is that this is actually invested in exploring what's behind Amy's behavior, while still consistently eliciting laughs doing it. She's on a journey with a very clear end point but the plot doesn't feel as forced or telegraphed as usual does because the writing and acting are so strong. It's the little details that count, such as the hilarious workplace scenes where we get to see an unrecognizable, but delightfully evil Tilda Swinton endorse one ridiculous story idea after another, as Amy and her hapless co-workers (played by Vanessa Bayer, Randall Park and Jon Glaser) sweat with fear.  Or how John Cena's musclehead character becomes a little too boyfriend-like for Amy to handle. Even a sub-plot involving Ezra Miller's overeager intern that has no business working, somehow pays off hilariously.

Every scene with LeBron and Bill Hader's Aaron, specifically those involving the world's highest paid athlete stiffing the latter with every bill. It's worth noting that Cena and especially LeBron's roles are almost ridiculously substantial compared to what would be expected of them. Neither necessarily feels like stunt casting and both end up excelling in supporting parts that don't ask too much of them and actually serve a function in the story. The real celebrity stunt casting actually comes at the end, and it's so random and unexpected that it rightfully earns some of the film's biggest laughs.

Colin Quinn playing Amy's ailing father in a nursing home while looking exactly like his 56-year-old self is definitely a head-scratcher that strangely serves to make an already hilarious performance seem that much funnier. At worst, Quinn's trademark sarcasm and deadpan delivery is put to such excellent use that it's difficult to even notice or care that he's playing someone nearly two decades older. As Kim, Brie Larson is given a slightly undeveloped role she still manages to still do a lot with, allowing us to see through her how Amy turned into such a disaster. And as her oddly matched husband, the loony Birbiglia unexpectedly steals most of the scenes he's in.

Despite employing the usual Apatow tricks, the movie never forces us to like Amy. We just do, and that's all Schumer. The running joke will be that this is really a guy's part since Hollywood dictates only they can struggle with the issues she does here. It's almost impossible to watch without thinking her script's really on to something that hasn't been publicly acknowledged, at least on the big screen. In finally figuring out how to effectively juggle comedy and drama, without giving audiences a headache, Apatow does creep over the two-hour mark, if just barely. But this time it doesn't feel like a drag or mishmash of tones. The only quibble might be the ending, as it's difficult not to wish for a conclusion a little less pat, and maybe a bit more ambiguous or edgier. But that may have been asking too much. As it stands, Trainwreck is the kind of movie we all not so secretly wish Woody Allen could still make, even when it's poking fun at him.         
                     

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Director: Wes Anderson
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Tony Revolori, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Saoirse Ronan, Edward Norton, F. Murray Abraham, Mathieu Amalric, Jude Law, Harvey Keitel, Bill Murray, Léa Seydoux, Jason Schwartzman, Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson, Owen Wilson, Bob Balaban
Running Time: 99 min.
Rating: R

★★★ (out of ★★★★)
  
One thing Wes Anderson's never been accused of is his films having an overabundance of plot and action. Even his best work is thought of as primarily aesthetic achievements, his stories serving merely as backdrops for highly stylized costume and production design and visual flourishes. In some ways, the highest grossing and most favorably reviewed film of his career, The Grand Budapest Hotel, doesn't represent a deviation from that classic Anderson template. And yet it also somehow does. This is the closest he's come to directing a screwball action comedy and it contains more story and characters than most would know what to do with. For the first hour I thought I was watching a masterpiece, but by the second he kind of lost me, before recovering and delivering something that's still special. There's a nostalgiac sadness hiding under the humor  that stays with you, as the many colorful characters populating the hotel mourn an era that's rapidly slipping away, or in the case of some, slipped away a while ago. But at the same time, the whole thing still manages to be a lot of fun.

Featuring a story within a story within a story, the film opens in the present day with a teenage girl reading the memoir of an unnamed "Author" (Tom Wilkinson), who narrates the book from his office in 1985, recalling his stay at Europe's Grand Budapest Hotel in 1968. It was then, with the hotel clearly in decline, that the young Author (played by Jude Law) encountered its elderly, reclusive owner, Zero Moustafa (F. Murray Abraham). Over dinner, he tells him the incredible story of how he took ownership of the hotel. We flash back to 1932 when young Zero (Tony Revolori) worked as a lobby boy under the Grand Budapest's eccentric concierge, Gustave H. (Ralph Fiennes), running errands and tending to the guests.

It's when one of Gustave's many older, wealthy mistresses, Madame D (Tilda Swinton) dies under strange circumstances and she leaves him a valuable painting, he finds himself at the center of a murder investigation and the target of her son Dmitri's (Adrien Brody) hired assassin, J.G. Jopling (Willem Dafoe). With the help of Zero and hotel baker Agatha (Saorise Ronan), he must evade capture and clear his name, even as war breaks out in their Republic of Zubrowka, signaling a cultural shift that will heavily impact all their futures.

I want to live in this hotel. That was my first thought upon seeing the majestic structure, which is rendered not by some fake looking CGI in wide, exterior shots but an actual handmade miniature model. Remember those? But it's what happens inside that ends being more impressive, with some jawdropping production design that makes you anxious to discover what secret or character is hiding behind every corridor, room and crevice of the building. The atmosphere may draw you in, but it's the story that keeps you there, as there's this pervading sense of melancholy that distinguishes it from Anderson's other work, despite still being very recognizable as such. The story's not only bigger than usual for him, but broader in scope and crossing over multiple timelines.

While Anderson's a filmmaker almost compulsively obsessed with the past, he's at least now found the ideal outlet by creating a story where all his characters are equally obsessed. Nearly every recognizable name in this fully stacked cast is given at least a moment or two to shine, but the the movie really hangs its hat on the friendship that develops between Ralph Fiennes' witty, somewhat delusional Gustave and his impressionable young lobby boy, Zero, played by newcomer Revolori. Not necessarily known for his comedic skills, Fiennes gives what may be his most memorable performance since his very different one in Schindler's List, while Revolori makes the perfect straight man to his zaniness. Of the rest, Goldblum and Ronan each make valuable contributions, while Jude Law and F. Murray Abraham breath real life and history into roles that could have come off as expository or mere bookenders. The rest of the cast have what amount to cameos, checking the usual boxes of Anderson's favorite actors. If pressed, the section during which Gustave and Zero find themselves on the run from authorities is the weakest, before the story regains its footing in the last third.        

This is actually one of Anderson's messier films, but that's of little consequence considering how ambitious the undertaking is and the ease by which it would rank amongst his most visually daring. He really swung for the fences this time and there's explanation as to why it all works other than the fact that he's become a brand unto himself, with no other filmmaker viewing the world quite like he does. As usual, his whimsical style perfectly suits oddball material, but it isn't calling as much attention to itself as it is reflecting the story's darker themes. And this is all about telling stories, to the point you could easily categorize it as a great epic novel put to film, right down to the impeccably realized hotel of the film's title, which seems as much alive (or in some cases as dead) as those inhabiting it. The more you start considering how much he accomplished here, the larger it looms.

Moonrise Kingdom

Director: Wes Anderson
Starring: Jared Gilman, Kara Hayward, Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Harvey Keitel
Running Time: 94 min.
Rating:  PG-13

★★★ ½ (out of ★★★★)

The word "genius" probably gets thrown around a little too much, but after viewing Moonrise Kingdom, it's even clearer Wes Anderson just might be one of the few filmmakers working today who's rightfully earned the tag. How else can you explain the world he creates in this? Literally a world all its own. And you know you're watching one of his movies before the credits even start to roll. From the costume and set design to the film stock, to the title font to the dialogue and even the actors chosen to deliver it, there's definitely nothing else out there that resembles a Wes Anderson movie. This effort stands as the biggest example of that yet, and also maybe his most personal. Of course, some will still call this "pretentious" "twee" or "hipsterish" but they weren't the audience for this anyway, and would still have trouble denying it's the work of a seriously talented artist. No one else can do exactly what he does and any perceived problems with the the film only exist because his idiosyncratic sensibilities can be so off-putting that it's sometimes hard to find an entry point. But once you find it and surrender to the eccentricity there's no turning back. The movie's set in the 1960's but looks and feels how an imaginary memory wishes the 60's looked and felt like, with a visual aesthetic and production design that's unforgettable, making it seem as if it could be made and released successfully during that era. And try remembering the last picture starring two children that was squarely aimed at adults. I'm still not sure if it's completely perfect, but its messiness and craziness is part of what make it so endearing, and a real keeper likely to continue reaping rewards on repeated viewings.

It's 1965 and 12-year-old Sam Shakusky (Jared Gilman) is spending the summer as a khaki scout at Camp Ivanhoe on the small New England island of New Penzance. Suzy Bishop (Kara Hayward) lives on the "Summer's End" portion of this island with her eccentric attorney parents Walt (Bill Murray) and Laura (Frances McDormand) and her younger brothers. But Sam and Suzy's paths crossed a year earlier when, in one of the films best scenes, they meet during a church production of Noye's Fludde, becoming pen pals and vowing to run away together the following year. After making good on their promise, Scout Master Ward (Edward Norton) is horrified to wake up and discover, in a clever touch, an escape hole cut in the side of Sam's tent. Enlisting the help of the island's dour police Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis), the Scout troop and Suzy's parents, a search is underway for the two young refugees who have set up camp in a secluded area on the beach, complete with Suzy's record player and books. With a violent hurricane approaching, their prepubescent romance blooms and they even make plans to marry, but the search team is closing in, as is a "Social Services" representative (Tilda Swinton) who plans to stick Sam in juvenile detention because his foster parents no longer want him. Now the troubled Sam and Suzy, experiencing the only true friendship each has known, are at risk of being torn apart by comically clueless adults who could probably learn more than a few things about life from them.        

The movie makes no qualms about the fact that Sam and Suzy two kind of messed up kids with dysfunctional upbringings and exhibit anti-social behavior that makes it difficult for either to make friends. Sam's entire Scout troop detests him while Suzy is shown in flashbacks fighting at school and discovering a book her parents bought on how to deal with a "troubled" child. In actuality, they're just super smart, sensitive kids who seem to have been done a disservice by the adult authority figures in their lives who are epitomized by, though not limited to, Suzy's endearingly wacko parents expertly played by Murray and McDormand. What's so special about the story is the juxtaposition between the excitement and happiness felt by these tweens experiencing their first blush of puppy love and these depressed, cynical adults have even less direction in their lives and prove to be comically incompetent when it comes to any kind of decision making. It's no wonder Tilda Swinton's "social services" (yes, the character's actual name) gets involved, yet we root against her anyway knowing it's Sam she wants to punish. This conflict between these clever kids and the dumb adults is where must of the script's intelligent humor comes from, and it's a subtle, sophisticated type that slides under the radar at times and demands the viewers' full attention.

In their big screen debuts, child actors Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward simply become Sam and Suzy. There's no other way to put it, as neither exhibit signs they're ever "acting" like precocious kids. Both are brilliantly understated, with Hayward making Suzy the more worldly of the two as Gilman perfects the outsider geek. The adult cast is the best rounded up in some time, with Bruce Willis playing a melancholy type of part we're not often used to seeing him in. It's easy to forget just how great a dramatic actor he can be when pushed by the right director, and he's definitely pushed by Anderson here, giving a really quiet performance that's just filled with depth and complexity. It's a comedy and this shouldn't work, yet Captain Sharp's sadness and the bond he forms with Sam is somehow one of the most touching aspects of the picture. His scenes with the him are gold, with Willis subtly suggesting there's perhaps a whole other movie that could have been made exploring how his character got to the point where he is. Similarly, Edward Norton Scout Master Ward as a kindly leader who not only feels responsible for Sam's disappearance and dreads the prospect of facing the stern Commander Pierce (Harvey Keitel), but wants to use this an instructional lesson for the kids. It's the best role Norton's had in ages and he's strangely perfect for it. Jason Schwartzman memorably cameos has a character named Cousin Ben, a relative of one of the scouts who volunteers to perform an unusual ceremony. And it wouldn't be a Wes Anderson movie without a narrator (Bob Balaban), who takes us on what could kind of be considered a tour of all the various locations on the fictitious island.      

The experience of watching this does in a way mirror the experience of watching Rushmore, The Life Aquatic, The Royal Tenenbaums, but times ten. It's a movie very much in love with its own characters, it's imagined setting and the time period and wants the viewer to be to. It's something you either respond to it or you don't and how you feel about Anderson's unique style will completely determine it. It's not his absolute best, but it seems like his most mature, merging style with substance in a seamlessly to tell his story. Creating a world from scratch isn't easy and in many ways Anderson could be considered the J.D. Salinger of modern movies, his efforts always featuring complex, novelistic characters seen through the warm glow of nostalgia. At only just over 90 minutes, we get more than we could have possibly asked for and there were even points where I simply didn't want it to end. But even as comical as Moonrise Kingdom is, it's underlying themes suggest almost an unbearably sad, bittersweet coming-of-age story. Sam and Suzy will grow up, probably never see each other again and possibly mature into the misguided adults who were searching for them. The film's biggest feat is somehow making that potential outcome seem weirdly satisfying.

Burn After Reading

Director: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Starring: George Clooney, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton, Brad Pitt, Richard Jenkins, J.K. Simmons
Running Time: 96 min.
Rating: R

*** (Out of ****)

Burn After Reading is the rare film that’s truly about nothing. Fortunately, “nothing” can be pretty hilarious when it’s handled by the Coen Brothers. The movie is the equivalent of watching Tom Cruise’s cameo in Tropic Thunder for an hour and a half. Okay, maybe it’s not quite that funny, but it shares similarities in that the comedy comes out of the ridiculously absurd and involves big stars being able to laugh at themselves. From the get-go you’re not exactly sure where the film plans to take you and by the end you realize it took you nowhere at all. But it doesn’t matter because it’s a lot of fun getting there.

The Coens respond to the pressure of having to follow up their Best Picture Oscar win for No Country For Old Men by simply not responding at all, which was the best route to take. In many ways the film comes across as a big joke on critics and audiences who expected them to continue down the same thematically challenging road. There’s nothing challenging about this material in the slightest, and the film is only better for it. Instead, we find out that despite last year’s detour to the dark side the guys who brought us Raising Arizona, Fargo and The Big Lebowski have retained their quirky sense of humor and ability to get us to care about even the weirdest of characters. This will never be mistaken for those aforementioned films and wouldn't be considered among the Coens’ best, but I far prefer them when they’re working in this mode so it’s reassuring to discover they haven’t lost their touch.
The film’s convoluted and often intersecting plot involves alcoholic C.I.A. agent Osborne Cox (John Malkovich) who quits the agency after being informed of his impending demotion. But that’s not even the worst part. He now must come home and break the news to his bitchy, ice queen wife, Katie (Tilda Swinton) who’s having an emotionless affair with ex-secret service agent Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney), a serial womanizer who prowls the internet for dates while contemplating a divorce from his wife. On one of those dating sites he meets "Hardbodies" gym employee Linda Lizke (Frances McDormand) who dreams of extensive plastic surgeries she hopes will transform her appearance. Her big break seems to come when along with her airhead co-worker Chad Feldenheimer (Brad Pitt) she discovers a copy of Osborn’s unpublished C.I.A. memoirs and attempts to blackmail him. Needless to say, things don’t go as planned and the situation gets very messy for every party involved, whether they know they’re involved or not.

It’s almost become a cliché to say that when a well known actor tackles an against type role that we’re seeing them “like we’ve never seen them before.” Except in the case of Pitt and Clooney in this film it’s true. You’ve really never seen them like this and the results are hilarious. Decked out in a goofy spandex outfit and pompadour haircut Pitt channels a far too energetic fitness instructor so well it’s alarming. You don’t expect someone of Pitt’s stature to take a role like this, especially when he’s finally reached that point where he’s really being taken seriously as an actor. In way, that’s part of what makes it so fun. A lesser actor might have mistakenly kept the volume down fearing a descent into parody but Pitt realizes his job is to present a broad caricature and just has a blast with it. And I’m wondering why more people didn’t go as Chad Feldenheimer for Halloween. There’s always next year.

As strong as Pitt is, Clooney’s even better and the one memorable scene they share together is one of the most entertaining in the film. I’m not sure what’s happened with him over the past couple of years but it seems as if like he’s really turning the corner as an actor and taking more chances. With this and his underrated Leatherheads from earlier in the year he’s proving to have an unexpected knack for comedy. If pressed, I probably could have guessed he’d be able to accurately portray a womanizing sleaze ball, but I had no idea he’d be able to make him this funny…and clueless. Just look at the look of pride on his face when he unveils the mysterious contraption he’s been building for weeks in his basement. We think it has something to do with the plot but by now we really should know better. He has another memorable moment in the park, flipping out in full panic mode when he thinks a massive conspiracy is closing in on him. I'd even go as far as to say his work here is nomination worthy. That the material is essentially pointless doesn't make what he had to do any less difficult. I'd argue that just made it harder.
Harry is beyond pathetic yet Clooney somehow finds a way to make the guy seem both creepy and enduringly likable. A similar statement could be made for nearly all of the film’s characters because as ridiculous as their actions seem they do strangely feel rooted in a recognizable reality. This is especially true of Linda, who has a sadness to her that never comes off as pathetic in McDormand’s capable hands. We’re not only rooting for her but feel for the gym manager (played by Richard Jenkins) who can’t get her to notice him or, more importantly, notice her own hidden potential. Jenkins plays the situation as straight as he played the one in The Visitor and you can read the desperation and exhaustion on his face in trying to get through to this woman. It’s a lost cause, but he can’t help it. Malkovich is as weird as ever, with it stepped up a few notches since it’s a Coen brothers movie. The further the story gets the further off the deep end he goes.

There’s little plot to discuss not because there isn’t one (there’s enough for five movies) but because it’s largely irrelevant. The movie is the performances and the characters react to the crazy situation they’re in exactly how stupid or desperate people would. It’s hard to fault the film for not amounting to anything when it openly admits that that’s the entire point. Some of the funniest moments come when a C.I.A. agent (David Rasche) must report and actually attempt to explain the bizarre goings on to his superior (J.K. Simmons). It’s then when we finally realize just how little sense the entire thing makes and how only Joel and Ethan Coen could have possibly come up with it.

In tone, Burn After Reading falls into some kind of grey area between Fargo and the somewhat underrated and misunderstood Intolerable Cruelty, although it’s probably a lot closer to the latter. I didn’t enjoy No Country For Old Men a much as everyone else (are we even supposed to "enjoy" it?) but respected it greatly and will concede that there are very few if any directors working today capable of having two films so wildly different on their resumes. There’s something to be said for range and the Coens have it in spades. When the film concludes in asking what we’ve learned and the answer is of course nothing, that actually comes as a surprisingly huge relief.

Michael Clayton

Director: Tony Gilroy
Starring: George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, Sydney Pollack, Michael O' Keefe, Ken Howard
Running Time: 120 min.
Rating: R

***1/2 (out of ****)

Finally, the curse has been lifted. For years I've been telling everyone that George Clooney hasn't starred in a single movie I liked since 1996. And yes, I saw Syriana. It's a shame too because I actually like Clooney as an actor and he's made some smart choices recently, but I just haven't liked his films. So when people would rave about a Clooney movie or performance all I could do is just shrug and say, "Well, I enjoyed his work on E.R." Now, with the legal thriller Michael Clayton he finally has a winner. The film, which is up for 7 Academy Awards (including one for Clooney as Best Actor) and marks the directorial debut for Bourne trilogy screenwriter Tony Gilroy is a slowed-paced thriller that doesn't exactly bring anything new to the table from a story perspective but still packs an incredibly powerful punch.

You could sum up the movie in one sentence, revealing key plot details and none of them would surprise. There isn't a single twist or turn in the film that's revelatory and the plot is one we've seen before. It moves methodically toward its predestined conclusion. And yet, it succeeds by executing its premise with laser-like precision and uncommon intelligence. Gilroy knows what he has to do and does it expertly, not getting bogged down in silly sub-plots or unrealistic situations. It also features the best performance of George Clooney's career and two more supporting performances of nearly equal value. It's a cold, distant picture and one I'm surprised Oscar voters selected as one of this year's Best Picture nominee, but it's deserving nonetheless. It's a film to be respected, but not necessarily enjoyed or embraced by everyone.

The job description of attorney Michael Clayton (Clooney) at his prestigious New York City law firm headed by Marty Bach (Sydney Pollack) would read as one word: "fixer." Whenever there's a legal mess Michael is usually the first one called upon to clean it up, like a janitor. He's described as the absolute best at what he does but that's a difficult notion to swallow watching him. He doesn't even seem to believe it himself and looks tired and spent, as if after 15 years he's done enough cleaning up for a while When the firm's top defense attorney Arthur Edens (Best Supporting Actor nominee Tom Wilkinson) has an apparent mental breakdown and strips naked during an important deposition involving a lawsuit against the firm's biggest client, Michael is called to Milwaukee to rectify the situation.

That client is U-North, an agricultural company whose products allegedly caused serious illness, resulting in a class action lawsuit that's dragged on for the past six years. U-North's chief legal council, the steely and determined Karen Crowder (Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominee Tilda Swinton) is none too happy about Eden's episode and even less happy with what she believes is Michael's mishandling of it. Accompanying Arthur's breakdown is a sudden attack of conscience, which makes him determined to blow the lid off this case and in the process unintentionally endanger the lives of everyone involved in it.

If you've seen any of the trailers or commercials for this film you may be led to believe it's a non-stop thrill ride full of and shocking twists and revelations that will keep you on the edge of your seat. It's not. The pacing of the film more closely resembles those intellectual legal thrillers from the '70's or early '80's like Sidney Lumet's The Verdict and there's more exposition than excitement. I remember taking a screenwriting course a while ago and The Verdict was the study film and I'm convinced a major reason why was because its script was so simple and basic. Michael Clayton could easily be substituted for it because it attempts nothing new, instead focusing on executing a tried and true formula perfectly.

The movie is very straightforward and veers from the course only once by employing what's becoming a popular non-linear storytelling device in which the opening scenes generally reveal where the story ends up, but the film then flashes back to let us know how we got there. It's kind of humorous that Gilroy would show his hand so early and use that technique in a film that's otherwise very matter-of-fact but then again, this isn't a story entirely built on surprises.

When the film ended I was quick to check the credits and see who provided the original score. Not because I thought it was fantastic but because I could swear that this movie contained no music at all, or if it did, I definitely didn't notice. It's kind of funny imagining Gilroy (who directs this flawlessly) being so focused on the story that he just didn't have time for music because it could possibly distract from the task at hand. Much to my surprise, I found out that not only does the film have a score, but it was provided by James Newton Howard and is one of those seven Oscar nominations. It's often said that the most brilliant scores in motion pictures should blend in so seamlessly with what you're watching you don't realize it exists. If that's true then this is among the best scores I've never remembered hearing.

I've always had a little bit of a problem with legal potboilers, mostly because it's been hard to take them all that seriously, yet I do enjoy them. Big lawsuits against evil, greedy companies. Fancy cars and expensive suits. Honest, crusading lawyer struggling with addiction (here it happens to be gambling but feel free to substitute drugs or alcohol). They always seem to contain big, showy scenes also. But I will say it isn't too often you see a mentally ill defense attorney streaking naked, declaring his love for the plaintiff, then preparing his case AGAINST his own client. It should be hysterical but isn't because Wilkinson is so realistic and emotionally invested in the role. We're used to seeing him play more subdued, implosive characters so this walk on the wild side was an interesting departure that justifiably earned him a nomination. I thought the other legal thriller from this year, Fracture was hilarious, mostly because it didn't take itself seriously and delivered its ludicrous plot with tongue planted firmly in cheek. This takes itself very seriously, and while that should make the film less effective it doesn't mainly because it's so technically sound.

Whereas something like Fracture stretched credibility to the maximum this doesn't at all and I think that's why Gilroy's script, despite the absence of unpredictability, has garnered such praise. It's airtight without a hole to be found. That's a rare accomplishment for a movie in this normally ridiculous genre. It seems odd praising a script simply for not doing anything stupid but it's true in this instance. What really elevates it though are the performances, all three of which you could argue are better than the movie itself. After years of hits and misses this is finally the role Clooney was born to play and it wouldn't surprise me if years down the line this ends up being the part he's most associated with.

Usually he's an actor with very distinctive mannerisms, but here they disappear and he just inhabits this isolated character with low-key, assured intensity. His reputation as "Mr. Cool" has never served him better than here. He has an incredible scene (actually the same scene twice that bookends the film) in a field where his character feels and we feel he knows something but neither of us are completely sure. He doesn't have a word of dialogue. He doesn't need it. It may be one of my favorite scenes this year and if they were to show one clip from the film on Oscar night that should be it.

This movie has been heralded as the big breakthrough for British actress Tilda Swinton who first became known to American audiences in 2001 with her memorable turn in The Deep End but whose underrated work has always seemed to fly under the radar. What she brings to this role is special and there's no way it was something that was just merely translated from page to screen. As cold as her ambitious character seems there's this feeling of desperation Swinton invests her with. It's almost as if Karen knows her company's guilty and knows what's she's doing is wrong but has no choice in the matter. She's come this far and there's no turning back now. The only way she can deal with that is to completely cut herself off emotionally from the situation and for a woman like Karen that isn't difficult. Her and Michael are on a collision course and while the film prefers to draw its suspense out slowly and subtlely there is one notable explosive exception. The final scene will get your heart racing.

This is a film that can be watched and analyzed again and again because how it attains such great success is somewhat of a head scratcher. When it ended I was on the fence about how good I thought it was just because it's so basic, but another viewing cleared that up. We're used to praising films that give us something fresh we haven't seen before, but what about those that don't necessarily bring anything knew, yet delivers what it has with nearly flawless precision?

Michael Clayton has been labeled the underdog in this year's Best Picture race, but I could see many wanting to throw their hands up in the air when it's over and ask, "THAT WAS IT?" I can see their point but I would also say to look much closer. It may not succeed how you expect it to, but it succeeds nonetheless. Seamlessly executing a story that's been told so poorly by just about every other film puts Michael Clayton in a class of its own.