The Age of Adaline
Fantasy romance starring Blake Lively (The CW's Gossip Girl) as a woman who never ages, who must confront her long-kept secrets when she finds love unexpectedly. So much preposterous science and so many incredible coincidences to accept... but so much to enjoy (really!) if you can get past that. Strong lead performance from Lively, who masters the old-timey inflections and poise her character demands. Michiel Huisman, whom you've loved on tv (Treme! Nashville! Game of Thrones!), is everything you could want in a romantic leading man — more movies with him, please. Harrison Ford unexpectedly tender and vulnerable. Ellen Burstyn, always superb, does so much with her few scenes as Adaline's elderly daughter. Numerous small moments to enjoy — the sweet relationship between Adaline and her blind pianist friend, the photo album of deceased pet dogs that wordlessly suggests the huge emotional cost of immortality. Director Lee Toland Krieger (Celeste and Jesse Forever) a promising filmmaker with an understanding of visual storytelling. Yeah, this is pure fluff. But the quality of the film's storytelling will help you forgive its slightness.
Grade: B-
Little Boy
Treacly World War II-era drama about a young boy named Pepper who believes that, by doing everything on a list of good deeds given to him by his local priest, he can end the war and bring his father home. (The middle-aged dad, by the way, was obligated to go fight in the war when his eldest son was found physically unfit — is that really how it works?) Along the way, Pepper causes an earthquake with his faith (!), stands up to a bully, and learns that it's not okay to be racist towards Japanese people, because not all of them are bad. Intended audience for this appears to be Christian families who watch films together to learn moral lessons — there's a message here about how it takes courage to have faith. But Pepper also shares a nickname (the film's title) with the atomic bomb that the US dropped on Hiroshima, and the townspeople give him the full hero treatment once that bomb hits, crediting it as a blessing brought by his unyielding faith. Really not sure where the filmmakers are going with this name parallel, but the blind patriotism of it all kind of reeks of racism and a lack of empathy, which is troubling. Unlikely pair of Michael Rapaport and Academy Award nominee Emily Watson as the parents. Mourn for Watson's career, which has her trapped lately as a series of worried war-time mothers. Even weirder — Kevin James (in a dramatic role) as her potential love interest. Sensational lead performance by young Jakob Salvati, who exudes love and compassion (well, once he learns not to be racist). Great period-evoking visuals. But really strange film all around — did I mention that it's also a Mexican production (but in English) shot entirely in Mexico by a Mexican director (Alejandro Monteverde)? Can't really decide if it's a sweet, nostalgic fairytale about family and faith... or an overtly religious piece of right-wing propaganda. But I found it engaging?
Grade: C+
The Longest Ride
Gooey Nicholas Sparks romance about a girl from New Jersey who falls in love with a professional bull rider while attending college in North Carolina, and who also develops a close friendship with an elderly man whose letters to his dead wife reveal a startling parallel to her own love story. Several huge writing problems that are probably more the novelist's fault than the screenwriter's (letters-to-the-dead-wife device is just a lazy way of transitioning to the film's other love story, because why would someone write daily letters to the person he lives with?... also, that climactic twist that solves everyone's problems is LOL ridiculous), but this is otherwise a surprisingly enjoyable film with very solid acting. Britt Robertson expressive and intelligent. Scott Eastwood charismatic and outrageously hunky. Flashback love story starring Jack Huston and Oona Chaplin even better, with more affecting performances. In terms of cinema, this is obviously a trifle. But as rainy-day comfort food, you'll feel decently satisfied.
Grade: C+
Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2
Not proud that I watched this, but I gave myself a professional responsibility to review every major release, which I take very seriously. My only reaction here ultimately is a shrug. No, it's definitely not good — but it's also not bad enough to warrant any anger or passion of any kind. Films like Black Mass and Chappie, both from prestige filmmakers who have done excellent work in the past but whose latest releases are appalling failures — focus your disappointment and nerdy cinephile rage there. Don't worry too much about afterthoughts like this underwhelming marathon of fat jokes about Kevin James. This is just lazy and artless. As in the first film (which I only just watched for the first time in order to deal with this one; I'm dedicated, folks), difficult to care much about Paul Blart — the underdog-becomes-an-unlikely-hero thing is fine, but both films establish him first as a self-centred know-it-all whom I really couldn't stand. Mind-bogglingly stupid romantic subplot where Daniella Alonso plays a sexy hotel manager with an unrequited crush on Blart. Raini Rodriguez, as his daughter, is likable and sweet, though. Plus, Ana Gasteyer is in this one, and she's always funny. Mildly amusing at times. Harmless but impressively unremarkable.
Grade: C-
True Story
Engrossing drama about a disgraced journalist who gets involved with an accused murderer who has stolen his identity. So fun to see Jonah Hill and James Franco star together in an intense drama. Strong performances by both leads, but especially Franco, who balances perfectly between vulnerable and mysterious and creepy. Screenplay problems, though — film acts as if there's a major, nail-biting mystery to be solved, only to collapse into an anti-climactic shrug. Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything) also stranded in a weird, needlessly intense mess of a subplot where it's not even clear for a while if she's Hill's sister or wife. First-time director Rupert Goold has something to say about the personal cost of investigative journalism, but I'm not sure that he really manages to express that idea the way he wanted to. Flawed, but thought-provoking.
Grade: C+
Unfriended
Creepy and formally innovative supernatural horror flick, in which all the action unfolds in real time through the device of a teenage girl looking at her computer screen (and using its various apps and programs). Has an unsettling point of view on the anonymous complicity inherent in cyber-bullying. Very much a film of its time — it's especially effective because the apps the characters use are so familiar to us.
Grade: B
