PLAYING NOW FILM BIRDMAN—Too much and not enough. Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu’s “meta-movie” stars Michael Keaton as Riggan Thomson, a once famous actor whose career took a downturn after he stopped playing the superhero character he was famed for. In need of a comeback vehicle and artistic validation, Thomson mounts a Broadway play as a vehicle for himself, a troubled production that forms the basis of this film’s increasingly wild proceedings. It’s certainly challenging, dynamic, and technically fluid. But it’s also erratic, lurching from scenes of banal domestic confrontation and confession to deliberate comic excess to surreal flights. In the end it’s too much structural complexity for one film to handle. Co-starring Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, and Andrea Riseborough. –GS BLACKHAT—After Miami Vice and Public Enemies, this makes 0 for 3 for Michael Mann, once our most dependable crafter of intelligent crime dramas. A miscast Chris Hemsworth stars as a hacker released from federal prison to help a team of Chinese and American intelligence agents track a cybercrook who has scammed Wall Street and crashed a nuclear reactor. The technological issues devolve into gobbledygook in a script that plays like a lesser James Bond entry. Mann amuses himself with a few lively action sequences, but taken as a whole it’s as entertaining as reading computer code. With Viola Davis, Wei Tang, and John Ortiz. –MF EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS—Christian Bale as Moses leading his people out of Egypt. With Joel Edgerton, Aaron Paul, Sigourney Weaver, and Golshifteh Farahani. Directed by Ridley Scott, who, after Prometheus and The Counselor, is not exactly on a hot streak. FOXCATCHER—Another biopic from director Bennett Miller (Capote, Moneyball), this time based on the relationship between millionaire John du Pont, of the du Pont chemical family, and brothers Mark and Dave Schultz, both Olympic gold medalists for wrestling. You may want to read up on the case before you see the movie, which seems to go out of its way not to offer any explanations for what happened. Stars Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, and Mark Ruffalo perform under daunting amounts of facial prosthetics, a somewhat odd decision given that few in the audience are likely to know what these people looked like in the first place. The clinically observational tone is fascinating, but in the end all of the cool weirdness leaves you more than a little frustrated. With Vanessa Redgrave, Sienna Miller, and Anthony Michael Hall. –MF FURY—War has seldom been portrayed more hellishly than in writer-director David Ayer’s (Training Day) film that follows an American tank crew in the very last days of the Second World War’s European Theatre operations. Brad Pitt plays the sergeant leading this crew as a quasi-mythic figure, a profane but all-American warrior-saint. His philosophy is presented as he trains a green kid (Logan Lerman in a sensitive, persuasive performance) in the cynicism and savagery that are natural consequences of war. The theme of brothers-in-arms fades under all the juvenile pulp-fiction fantasy, and by the last overblown, drawn-out, catastrophic battle scene, it has become impossible to take seriously. With Shia LaBeouf, Michael Peña, and Jason Isaacs. -GS THE GAMBLER— Even if you haven’t seen the 1974 film on which this is based, this glossy remake is a facile waste of time, retaining most of the macho posturing from the original but none of the plausibility. Done up like a slumming rock star, Mark Wahlberg is hard to take seriously as a literature professor (his self-aggrandizing lectures are hilarious) with a gambling addiction that seems born of a death wish. The script by William Monahan (The Departed) is ripe with writerly dialogue, much of which is entertaining, especially as delivered by Michael Kenneth Williams and John Goodman (who has a classic speech on earning the right to say “fuck you” is almost as good as Monahan thinks it is). But director Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) gives it a superficial sheen that doesn’t make any sense. And its treatment of gambling is shameful—any virtues the film has are negated by a bullshit ending. With Jessica Lange, Brie Larson and George Kennedy. -MF THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES—The last of Peter Jackson’s six J. R. R. Tolkien’s adaptations is the shortest but feels like the longest. After perfunctorily dispensing with the dragon Smaug, the remainder of the film becomes a sword and sorcery take on The Treasure of Sierra Madre, with dwarf leader Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) refusing to share the treasure with his now homeless Middle Earth neighbors. A subplot inspired by references in other Tolkein work finds the White Council (Gandalf, elf king Elrond, Lady Galadriel, wizard Saruman) on a parallel quest to solve the mystery of the Necromancer, setting up the reign of evil Sauron in Lord of the Rings. This padding out of The Hobbit’s relatively simple storyline is the equivalent of George LuMortdecai cas’s Star Wars prequels, though fans are less likely to mind its inclusion. At
the end of the day, Jackson and his army of collaborators have achieved something remarkable with this series, but I’m glad it’s over and Jackson can concentrate on other endeavors. This final entry feels like the last half hour of a traditional feature, stretched out to five times the length. Starring Martin Freeman, Orlando Bloom, Richard Armitage, Cate Blanchett, Ian McKellen, and Christopher Lee. –Greg Lamberson
INHERENT VICE—Whether or not the densely contrived novels of Thomas Pynchon provide proper material for the movies, this first attempt at one so shows that Paul Thomas Anderson isn’t the guy to do it. Anderson is certainly fond of rambling, overstuffed narratives, but he has trouble bringing them into focus (which is why his best films are the ones with the fewest characters—There Will Be Blood, The Master). Pynchon’s 2009 book, a private eye homage set in Los Angeles at the end of the 60s, is his most broadly appealing novel, but it still features a story that comes apart instead of solidifying, which brings out the worst in Anderson. His film feels haphazardly stitched together from pieces of the book, and while there are many rewarding scenes and amusing performances, the whole thing goes nowhere. Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, Katherine Waterston, Michael Kenneth Williams, Benicio Del Toro, Owen Wilson, Reese Witherspoon, and Martin Short. -MF THE IMITATION GAME—The story of English mathematician and logician Alan Turing, who was instrumental in breaking Germany’s Enigma code during World War II but was later driven to suicide for being gay. Benedict Cumberbatch plays Turing as a kind of comic but poignant genius in a clever and vivid performance. Britain’s stringent secrecy laws kept Turing’s role in the Allied victory a secret until the mid-1970s, since which point Turing has become both a hero of the code-breaking program and as a martyr of the oppressive, sometimes vicious treatment of homosexuals in the British Isles. Although the movie’s dramatic arc is consistently entertaining, it bears only a limited general resemblance to the more complicated story told in Andrew Hodge’s long, dense 1983 Turing biography, credited as a primary source. Exaggeration and invention are hardly uncommon in biopics, but the filmmakers choices here are dramatically conservative and audience-oriented. Co-starring Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Charles Dance, and Mark Strong. Directed by Morten Tyldum (Headhunters). -GS INTERSTELLAR—That Christopher Nolan’s magnum opus, about the search for a planet capable of supporting human life, is the most argued-about movie of the year has less to do with reaction to its content than with its inconsistency. Your own opinion likely to hinge on what you most want in a movie, visual effects, provocative ideas or fleshedout drama. The ideas are there, though whether they’re plausible or merely fantastical is likely to be over the heads of most viewers. Nolan and his co-scripter brother Jonathan alternately withhold information that you want (about the demise of our planet in the near future) while rushing science at you too quickly to digest. Matthew McConaughey’s performance demonstrates that it’s possible to overact quietly, though he’s still effective in the occasional tear-jerking moments. It’s worth seeing, but don’t expect anything as dazzling as The Dark Knight or Inception. With Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Michael Caine, Matt Damon, John Lithgow, Casey Affleck, and Topher Grace. -MF THE INTERVIEW—After all the sturm und drang surrounding its release, all that’s left to say about this comedy starring James Franco as a fatuous tabloid TV host and Seth Rogan (who also wrote and directed with his partner Evan Goldberg) as his producer, who gets him an interview with North Korean dictator Kim
Jong-un, is that it’s exactly what you would have expected, a broad comedy with a few smart ideas struggling to free themselves from endless juvenile ass jokes. Destined to be remembered as the film that led a major studio to embarrass itself over and over. With Lizzy Kaplan, Randall Park, and Diana Bang. -MF
INTO THE WOODS—This long-anticipated adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim/James Lapine musical parodying traditional fairy tales and their ancient themes is likely to play best for the choir of the already converted. Sondheim’s work is as ever clever but not really mass market-friendly, a problem that director Rob Marshall (Chicago) addresses by amping up the show’s periodic infusions of wiseguy show-business sass (sometimes at the expense of the generally darker mood). But he keeps the turning, incurving plot moving gracefully, and the songs are almost always delivered with verve and emotive skill, particularly by Meryl Streep. Co-starring Anna Kendrick, Emily Blunt, Johnny Depp, Chris Pine, and Christine Baranski. -GS NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: SECRET OF THE TOMB—Larry (Ben Stiller) is off to the British Museum for the final film in the series. With Dan Stevens, Dick Van Dyke, Owen Wilson, Ricky Gervais, and Robin Williams, but no Amy Adams. Directed by Shawn Levy (the remake of The Pink Panther). PADDINGTON—The beloved “short but polite” talking bear of children’s books comes to the big screen in a good-natured movie that will be beloved by Anglophiles of all ages. Combining computer effects with animatronics and voiced by Ben Whishaw, Paddington’s story stays close to the books as he journeys from “darkest Peru” to London in search of a home. For dramatic structure the movie borrows from 101 Dalmations in the form of Nicole Kidman as a Cruella De Vil-ish taxidermist in a snakeskin jumpsuit. It was co-written and directed by Paul King, but don’t expect anything as anarchic as The Mighty Boosh, the cult comedy show he’s best known for: special effects aside, it’s as traditional as a cup of hot chocolate. The cast includes Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey’s Earl of Grantham), Sally Hawkins, Peter Capaldi, Julie Walters and Jim Broadbent, along with other faces you’ll probably recognize if you’re a Britcom fan. – MF SELMA—Drama based on the historic 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (David Oyelowo) to secure passage of the federal Voting Rights Act that prohibited racial discrimination in voting. With Cuba Gooding Jr., Tim Roth, Giovanni Ribisi, Carmen Ejogo, Martin Sheen, and Tom Wilkinson. Directed by Ava DuVernay (Middle of Nowhere). –GS TAKEN 3—It may have the same star (Liam Neeson) and production team as previous Takens, but there’s no kidnapping this time. Instead, the story is lifted from The Fugitive: Retired CIA operative Bryan Mills scours Los Angeles for the men who framed him for murder while evading police detective Forest Whitaker (in the Tommy Lee Jones part, but without any of the snappy dialogue). There’s plenty of action, all filmed in a way likely to induce seizures—hand-held cameras, editing that cuts so much you can’t get a grip on what your seeing. Worse, there’s nothing in the by-the-numbers story that makes you in any way interested in what you’re seeing. It’s slickly made product ordered up by executives just because they need a third film in order to be able to market a Taken Trilogy DVD box set next Christmas. With Dougray Scott, Famke Janssen and Maggie Grace. Directed by Olivier Megaton, a name that just dares reviews to make cracks about “megaton bombs.” -MF THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING—As an Oscar contender, this biography of Stephen Hawking, based on a memoir by his first wife Jane, is a model of restraint and inoffensiveness: it’s a shoo-in for the The King’s Speech voters. Hawking’s work takes a back seat to his slow debilitation from ALS and the history of his marriage. But while we go into the film knowing it will end in divorce, the factors driving the couple apart feel elided. It’s as if the filmmakers didn’t want to be disrespectful to a man who is considered one of the great
scientific minds of our era. But in that case, why make the film at all? Even the irony that, as presented here, all that ended the marriage of a man so obsessed with the nature of time was time itself seems unintended. With fine but unostentatious performances by Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones as the Hawkings. Co-starring Harry Lloyd, David Thewlis, and Emily Watson. Directed by James Marsh, best known for documentaries like Man on Wire. -MF
TOP FIVE—Chris Rock wrote, directed and stars as a comedian trying to make a career switch to a serious actor. Set in one day (with way too much happening for 24 hours), it veers between show business satire and sexual politicking as Rock’s character is interviewed by journalist Rosario Dawson. It’s the best of Rock’s efforts behind the camera but still wildly uneven, balanced between a fair amount of laugh-out-loud humor and too much unbelievable plotting. With Gabrielle Union, Ben Vereen, and Kevin Hart. –MF UNBROKEN—The true story of Olean native and Olympic athlete Louis Zamperini (adapted from Laura Hillenbrand’s 2010 book) focuses on the horrifying experiences of his young life: as a lieutenant in the Air Force during World War II, he spent 47 days adrift in the Pacific Ocean after his plane was shot down, only to wind up in a Japanese POW camp where for two years he was tortured by a corporal who became obsessed with him. These painful scenes may be unparalleled in a movie intended for a mass audience. And by ending with Zamperini’s rescue from the camp, the film oddly avoids terminates the more satisfying dramatic arc that would have been provided by the rest of his life. Director Angelina Jolie does fine work in the opening scenes of the plane being shot down, but at 137 minutes most audiences are likely to be very uncomfortable with the movie’s brutality. Starring Jack O’Connell, Finn Wittrock, and Domhnall Gleeson and Miyari; Joel and Ethan Coen were among the scriptwriters. –GS THE WEDDING RINGER—The ubiquitous Kevin Hart as an LA hustler who makes a good living hiring himself out as a hip best man to guys who have no real friends to turn to for their weddings. His skills are challenged when financial executive Josh Gad comes to him in need not just of a best man but seven groomsmen as well—and in ten days. The directorial debut of Jeremy Garelick, who rushes through all the best material in his own script. (Maybe it was his way of not having to cut anything?) It’s not well tailored for Hart’s strengths, allowing Gad to steal most of their scenes. The humor isn’t as crude as other wedding comedies of recent years, which is a plus or a minus depending on your perspective. Nor is the bromantic aspect adequately fleshed out. It’s not an awful movie, but neither is it memorable. Co-starring Affion Crockett, Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting and Ken Howard. -MF WILD—Novelist Nick Hornby wrote the screenplay for this adaptation of Cheryl Strayed’s memoir of her 1994 hike along the Pacific Crest Trail, which extends for 2,663 miles from Mexico to Canada. Strayed (played by Reese Witherspoon, who also co-produced the film, in an effective act of image-adjusting) was not an experienced hiker, and she doesn’t seem especially well prepared for such an arduous trek. But she undertakes it as an act of will and self-punishment, to confront and exorcise her demons. As unveiled in flashbacks, they don’t seem all that awful, especially when we compare the film to Into the Wild and 127 Hours, both recounting much more distressing wilderness journeys. Wild is at its best not when it’s trying to persuade us how bad Strayed’s life was but when it focuses on the alternately grim and dull slog of a three-month walk—now there’s a triumph. With Laura Dern, Thomas Sadoski, and Michiel Huisman. Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée (Dallas Buyers Club) -MF THE WOMAN IN BLACK 2: ANGEL OF DEATH—There’s no Daniel Radcliffe, nor anyone else you’re likely to have heard of in this sequel to the 2012 horror movie. The same secluded haunted house is used forty years later to house children and two schoolteachers escaping the World War II bombing of London, and the same trouble spirit causes more trouble. There are more shocking moments than any one film should have, though in general it’s a relatively old-fashioned spook movie. But if you haven’t seen the original you’re going to be lost as to what’s going on. Starring Phoebe Fox, Helen McCrory, and Jeremy Irvine. Directed by Tom Harper P (Peaky Blinders). -MF
DAILYPUBLIC.COM / JANUARY 21, 2015 / THE PUBLIC 19