D2 RED DEER ADVOCATE Friday, Oct. 10, 2014
TELEVISION
Carnies’ hearts just aren’t in Freak Show BY HANK STUEVER ADVOCATE NEWS SERVICES
Photo by ADVOCATE news services
FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Robert Downey Jr. as Hank Palmer, Robert Duvall as Joseph Palmer and Dax Shepard as C.P. Kennedy in a scene from The Judge.
Duval dominates tonal mishmash The Judge One-and-a-half stars (out of four) Rated: R
At the
Please see FREAK SHOW on Page D3
BY ANN HORNADAY ADVOCATE NEWS SERVICES The Judge, a courtroom procedural tucked into the folds of a family melodrama, feels like one of its own characters, a onetime champ who could have made it to the big leagues had his potential not been squandered by someone else’s poor choices. The movie certainly has casting on its side. On paper, a showdown between Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall looks like one of those too-good-tomiss cinematic cards, a bout between two heavyweights whose mutual game of rope-a-dope approaches heights of poetry. And it’s true that Downey — here playing a predatory Chicago defense attorney named Hank Palmer — and Duvall, as his estranged father, Joseph, enjoy moments of pure music together, with Downey’s cocksure, slightly pitchy mannerisms ricocheting off Duvall’s steady-eyed focus like so many BBs hitting a mighty, impervious oak tree. If only the story surrounding them were in as fine a fighting trim: it’s as if writer-director David Dobkin (Wedding Crashers) created The Judge by ticking the boxes on a set of screenwriting instructions. Thriller element, check. Adorably wise child, check. Rekindled love interest, check. Explosive family dynamics soothed by loving, learning and laughter, check, check, check. Dobkin earns extra points for choosing some gorgeous Massachusetts locations to play the all-American town of Carlinville, Indiana, where Hank reluctantly returns for his mother’s funeral, and where he even more reluctantly stays when his father, a respected judge, faces some legal trouble of his own. Like an unwieldy cross between a John Grisham legal potboiler and “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “The Judge” is a baggy, tonally all-over-the-place pastiche of genres that, sharply edited and streamlined, would have resulted in an absorbing, even sophisticated, grown-up drama. Not surprisingly, considering Dobkin’s résumé, The Judge possesses its share of astringent humor, the most welcome of which comes by way of Vera
LOCAL Farmiga, who plays Hank’s bleach-blond high school girlfriend with a large tattoo and tartly funny throwaway lines. (Dax Shepard is also appealing as a slightly dim local lawyer who has a habit of throwing up before every trial.) Vincent D’Onofrio and Jeremy Strong drift in and out as Hank’s brothers, Glen — with whom he shares a complicated past — and Dale, who is developmentally challenged, his naivete a source of humour no less patronizing for being painstakingly gentle. Luckily, one of Dale’s tics is carrying a home-movie camera around everywhere, giving The Judge plenty of opportunities to stop the action and have the Palmer boys watch super-saturated images of times when they were all closer, nicer and happier together. Such digressions take away from the molten core of The Judge, which is the spiky, unresolved relationship between Hank and his demanding, distant father. Downey’s Hank swoops into Carlinville much like Tony Stark in Iron Man mode, dripping sarcasm, contempt and un-thinly veiled superiority. The alltoo-familiar shtick grows tiresome after a while — and it’s particularly hard to take when know-it-all Hank refers to someone’s mental “actuality” when he clearly means “acuity.” But whenever he’s on screen with Duvall, The Judge seems to rediscover its emotional bearing. Duvall has been so good for so long that it’s easy to take him for granted, but watching his wily, touching, flawlessly calibrated performance here serves to remind viewers just what screen acting looks like, or should look like. Even in the film’s most sentimental, maudlin and conveniently extreme moments, Duvall dominates The Judge, much like his character dominates his own courtroom: through sheer force of presence, integrity and implacable authority.
FX series to feature O.J. Simpson murder case BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LOS ANGELES — The FX network is joining with American Horror Story producer Ryan Murphy on a true-crime anthology miniseries. First up: the O.J. Simpson murder case. Each season of the miniseries, American Crime Story, will focus on a different crime that captured the public’s imagination, FX said Tuesday. The 1994 killing of Simpson’s ex-wife, Nicole
Freak Show, the fourth iteration of FX’s American Horror Story anthology series, starts off sluggishly, behaving as if it didn’t get a suitable respite between seasons. It shows up to work Wednesday night staggering around without caffeine, halfheartedly plopping its tale this time in the worn-out milieu of the carnival sideshow. They’re all here — the bearded lady; the “Siamese” twins; the Lobster Boy with his strange hands. (And weren’t they just in a musical?) Even the show’s once-eager repertory players go through the motions as if they’re punching a time clock (whether using hands or stumps), chief among them Jessica Lange, who won Emmys for Seasons 1 and 3. Lange, who has already indicated that this will be her last go-around with American Horror Story, is cast this time as Elsa Mars, the cruel-spirited German proprietress of a circus-tent freak show that has more or less permanently settled on a patch of swampy land outside Jupiter, Florida in 1952. All Lange has left to offer, it seems, is a Marlene Dietrich impression. Tropes and cliches are nothing new to American Horror Story; in fact, they are the golden keys to its success, as creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk use the series as a way to explore and pay homage to old TV and movie horror setups (a haunted house; an insane asylum; a coven of witches; now a freak show) while injecting each story with varying doses of selfreflective camp. The results have always been uneven, but, for the certain viewer who is eager to ride through Murphy and Falchuk’s spook house, the series has provided moments of great, sickening fun.
Brown Simpson, and Ronald Goldman, and Simpson’s arrest and trial led to a prolonged media frenzy. The NFL Hall of Famer and former TV and movie star was acquitted in the case but is in prison for a robbery. FX did not announce the casting or air date for season one of American Crime Story, based on a book by lawyer and TV legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin. The fourth season of American Horror Story began Wednesday.
BRIEF
The Gay Nineties play on Sunday at the International Beer Haus The Gay Nineties will strike up some indie pop/ rock tunes in Red Deer this weekend. The Vancouver musicians, who perform on Sunday at the International Beer Haus and Stage, are best known for the hit Letterman (it won the Best of B.C. Songwriting Contest and was a Top 20 alternative radio hit for six months, peaking at No. 3). The Gay Nineties are releasing their Liberal Guilt album, which involves the talents of producer Scott Ternan (54/40, Sam Roberts). It follows their debut EP Coming Together on First Love Records. The group that’s starting to shake its “best kept secret” reputation is touring Canada with July Talk and The Darcys. For more information about the show, call 403986-5008.
GALAXY CINEMAS RED DEER 357-37400 HWY 2, RED DEER COUNTY 403-348-2357
SHOWTIMES FOR FRIDAY OCTOBER 10, 2014 TO THURSDAY OCTOBER 16, 2014 GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (PG) (NOT REC. FOR YOUNG CHILDREN,VIOLENCE,COARSE LANGUAGE) CLOSED CAPTIONED FRI-SUN 4:15; MON 1:20, 4:15 GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY 3D (PG) (VIOLENCE,NOT REC. FOR YOUNG CHILDREN,COARSE LANGUAGE) CLOSED CAPTIONED FRI-MON 7:10, 10:10; TUE-WED 7:00, 9:55; THURS 9:30 THE EQUALIZER (14A) (NOT RECOMMENDED FOR CHILDREN,COARSE LANGUAGE,BRUTAL VIOLENCE) CLOSED CAPTIONED FRI 3:50, 6:50, 10:00; SAT-MON 12:45, 3:50, 6:50, 10:00; TUE-THURS 6:45, 9:50 THE BOOK OF LIFE 3D (G) NO PASSES THURS 7:00 THE MAZE RUNNER (PG) (VIOLENCE,NOT RECOMMENDED FOR CHILDREN,FRIGHTENING SCENES) CLOSED CAPTIONED FRI 3:45, 6:30, 9:15; SAT,MON 12:50, 3:45, 6:30, 9:15; SUN 12:50, 6:30, 9:15; TUE-THURS 6:35, 9:20 FURY (14A) (COARSE LANGUAGE,GORY BRUTAL VIOLENCE) NO PASSES THURS 7:00, 10:05 DRACULA UNTOLD (14A) (VIOLENCE) CLOSED CAPTIONED, NO PASSES FRI 5:35, 8:00, 10:25; SAT-MON 12:40, 3:10, 5:35, 8:00, 10:25; TUE-THURS 7:35, 10:05 THE BOXTROLLS (PG) CLOSED CAPTIONED SAT,MON 2:40; CLOSED CAPTIONED SUN 12:10, 2:40; STAR & STROLLERS SCREENING WED 1:30 THE BOXTROLLS 3D (PG) CLOSED CAPTIONED FRIMON 5:05, 7:30, 9:55; TUE-THURS 7:20, 9:45
ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY (G) CLOSED CAPTIONED, NO PASSES FRI 5:30, 7:40, 9:50; SAT-MON 1:10, 3:20, 5:30, 7:40, 9:50; TUE-THURS 7:25, 9:35 DOLPHIN TALE 2 (G) CLOSED CAPTIONED FRI 3:35; SAT-MON 12:55, 3:35 THE JUDGE (14A) (COARSE LANGUAGE) CLOSED CAPTIONED, NO PASSES FRI 4:10, 7:20, 10:30; SAT-MON 1:00, 4:10, 7:20, 10:30; TUE-THURS 7:05, 10:15 GONE GIRL (18A) (DISTURBING CONTENT) CLOSED CAPTIONED FRI 3:40, 7:00, 10:20; SAT-MON 12:30, 3:40, 7:00, 10:20; TUE-THURS 6:55, 10:15 GONE GIRL (18A) (DISTURBING CONTENT) STAR & STROLLERS SCREENING WED 1:30 THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU (14A) (COARSE LANGUAGE) CLOSED CAPTIONED FRI-MON 6:20, 9:00; TUE-WED 6:30, 9:05 ANNABELLE (14A) (FRIGHTENING SCENES) CLOSED CAPTIONED FRI 5:25, 7:50, 10:15; SAT 3:00, 5:25, 7:50, 10:15; SUN-MON 12:35, 3:00, 5:25, 7:50, 10:15; TUE-THURS 7:30, 10:00 LEFT BEHIND (PG) FRI 4:05, 6:40, 9:25; SAT-MON 1:30, 4:05, 6:40, 9:25; TUE-THURS 6:40, 9:15 THE METROPOLITAN OPERA: MACBETH () SAT 10:55 ONE DIRECTION: WHERE WE ARE (G) SAT 11:30; SUN 11:30, 2:00 NANNY MCPHEE RETURNS (G) SAT 11:00
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