film
Movie Crawl IV: The Return
A classic tale revisited and an exploratory winner By Br yan VanC ampe n The Legend of Tarzan, directed by David Yates; playing at Regal Stadium 14; Swiss Army Man, written and directed by Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, playing at Cinemapolis,
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ummer vacation means time for another movie crawl: seeing as many films as I can before deadline. Strap in, kids. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover.
Aside from Carol Burnett’s Tarzan yell, I never really got the whole Tarzan thing. So I was surprised by how much I enjoyed David Yates’ The Legend of Tarzan. Yates is the house Harry Potter director, but his vision of Burroughs has a lot of pleasing echoes of Fitzcarraldo and Apocalypse Now. The origin of Tarzan (Alexander Skarsgård) and Jane (Margot Robbie) is only seen in brief flashback. Accompanied by Samuel L.
Jackson as a version of his character from The Hateful Eight, the dashing married couple returns to the jungle to confront the corrupt Captain Leon Rom (Christoph Waltz), a Belgian captain sent by King Leopold of Belgium to find diamonds and control the region. I’m not sure why the veddy British Robbie speaks in a flat American Val-voice, and there’s a scene between her and Waltz that’s a direct steal from Raiders of the Lost Ark. But with Jackson there for back-up and wisecracks, at least this Tarzan is fun. I’ll just warn you up front that extreme flatulence isn’t just a gag in Swiss Army Man, like the campfire scene in Blazing Saddles. Oh, no. In this surreal two-hander starring Paul Dano (Love & Mercy) as a shipwreck survivor who encounters a corpse (Daniel Radcliffe) with amazing abilities, epic farting is an actual plot point
Jeffrey L. Rand, MD Department of Dermatology
Dermatology Guthrie Welcomes Dr. Jeffrey L. Rand The Guthrie Dermatology Department welcomes Jeffrey L. Rand, MD, a boardcertified dermatologist specializing in general dermatology care and skin cancer screenings. Dr. Rand will see patients at the the Guthrie Ithaca office on Hanshaw Road, and at the Corning Centerway office.
Guthrie Dermatology Locations Corning Centerway Corning, N.Y. 607-973-8000
He is now accepting new patients.
Desmond Street Practice Sayre, Pa. 570-887-2832
To schedule an appointment, call the Ithaca office at 607-257-5858 or the Corning Centerway office at 607-973-8000.
Guthrie Clinic Ithaca Ithaca, N.Y. 607-257-5858
www.Guthrie.org
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Paul Dano and Daniel Radcliffe star in “Swiss Army Man” (Photo Provided)
and a big part of the film. Though Swiss Army Man has scenes that test an audience like the toilet scene in Trainspotting, this outermost survival comedy/ultimate bromance has more to offer than just naughty bodily function gags. This odd little $3 million indie is the debut feature from a duo billed as “The Daniels”: writer-directors Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. Even though most aspiring filmmakers end up working in the studio system, it’s said that a filmmaker’s first film should be as off-beat and worthy of comment as possible. That’s Swiss Army Man. While I believe less you know about it the more you’ll enjoy the film, as the story develops, Radcliffe evolves from a deceased Rube Goldberg device that can rescue Dano from any danger in the wild, to Dano’s more idealized alter ego (and better half?). Put another way, this is wild and wooly stuff, just about 180 degrees from the cheap “dead-guy” gags you’d see in the Weekend at Bernie’s flicks. It’s like the sweet bro story of Chasing Amy crossed with the palm-frond construction jokes in an episode of Gilligan’s Island. And still, with all those references, Swiss Army Man feels utterly unique and sui generis. •