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FILM AUGUST 5-11, 2009 M E T R O S I L I C O N VA L L E Y
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Reviews by Michael S. Gant, Steve Palopoli and Richard von Busack.
New The Cove (PG-13; 92 min.) See review on page 51. G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra (PG-13; 120 min.) Behind-the-scenes moments to look for when this DVD comes out: Sean Penn is passed over for a role on the G.I. Joe team after he fails to demonstrate proper “kung-fu gripâ€? and “eagle-eye visionâ€? in audition; producers screen Todd Haynes’ 1987 underground ďŹ lm Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, which was acted out with Barbies, and briey consider casting actual G.I. Joe dolls;
writers somehow remain blissfully ignorant to the fact that their plot point about the bad guys trying to destroy the Eiffel Tower was used in Team America: World Police, as a parody of how bad the plots for movies like this are; project stalls when everyone involved realizes a live-action movie based on plastic action ďŹ gures is a really stupid idea, revived when Transformers becomes one of the most successful movie franchises in history. (Opens Aug 7.) (SP) Julie & Julia (PG-13; 123 min.) Meryl Streep’s greatness—her facility with accents, her plasticity and that uncompromising quality every really lasting actress has to have—has been used to portray the limits of human suffering. In Julie & Julia, Streep gets to kick up her heels. She has such fun with the part of the cookbook writer Julia Child that she’s consistently intoxicating to watch. Streep continues at full sail through the ďŹ lm, elevated a bit on a high heels and
trotting with the happy clunkiness of a Clydesdale. Childs’ distinctive voice—the whoop of surprise, the trill and warble when she talked—makes Streep’s part of the ďŹ lm enthralling. But there had to be some way to hold the ďŹ lm together, and sure enough disaster befalls. Half of this ďŹ lm is based on the hustled-into-print book version of a blog by Julie Powell about replicating all of Childs’ recipes. Amy Adams, the most charming young actress alive, plays Julie, and she’s still a horror. Director Nora Ephron tries for frankness in her script by having Julie Powell call herself a bitch. That isn’t enough to rehab her. (Opens Aug 7; read a full-length review at metroactive.com.) (RvB) La Rondine The Puccini opera recorded at Teatro la Fenice in Venice. (Screens Aug 9 at 11am and Aug 12 at 7pm at Camera 7 in Campbell.) Lorna’s Silence (R; 105 m in.) See review on page 55. Paper Heart (PG-13) Charlyne Yi and Michael Cera star in a country-spanning romantic comedy masquerading as a documentary. (Opens Aug 7.) A Perfect Getaway (R; 98 min.) Island tourists discover they’re being hunted by a psychopath in what appears to be (despite a lack of credit) yet another version of “The Most Dangerous Game,â€? the 1924 short story which has been adapted and ripped off more times than maybe any other piece of genre ďŹ ction. Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovich star. (Opens Aug 7.) (SP)
Revivals Iron Man (2008) Rousing adaptation of the Marvel comic. The hero’s scarlet and gold armor (designed by the late Stan Winston) is gorgeous, like a wrathful Art Deco statue come to life. As Errol Flynn did, Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark sometimes reects scroungy misdeeds offscreen; the black-dyed beard and mustache recall past-their-prime swashbucklers. The idea conveyed is of great speed, exhilaration and purpose renewing a heartless man jaded by everything. (Plays Aug 6 at sunset in Redwood City at old Courthouse square; free; bring lawn chairs or blankets.) (RvB) The Black Pirate (1926) See story on page 57. (Plays Aug 7 at 7pm in San Jose at the California Theatre.) Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) King Arthur is played by Graham Chapman as soft and rather dumb, a constitutional monarch in the bloody Middle Ages. Even God, animated by codirector Terry Gilliam, isn’t that keen on him. John Cleese is impressively gruff as a bellicose knight who doesn’t let quadruple amputation dull his ďŹ ghting spirit; he is also an extravagantly ridiculous French knight. Eric Idle is brave, brave Sir Robin, his shield bearing the emblem of the ferocious Chicken of Bristol. And Michael Palin and Terry Jones (in drag) are the moral centers of the ďŹ lm, the razzing voices of the working class. The ruling class in England derives some of its power from the myths wrapped around it. The Pythons never forgot that power when it came time to roast the tales of Arthur. The screening includes contests and free ticket giveaway to the upcoming local run of Spamalot. (Plays Aug 12 at sundown in San Jose at San Pedro Square; bring blankets or lawn chairs; free.) (RvB) My Fair Lady (1964) The ďŹ lm of the beloved stage musical is oversized, but it boasts Rex Harrison as the snide elocutionist Prof. Henry Higgins, who transforms a cockney ower peddler into a society lady. Audrey Hepburn, no one’s idea of a mudlark, co-stars as Eliza. There are some terriďŹ c songs: “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Your Face,â€?“On the Street Where You Liveâ€? and “The Rain in Spain.â€? (Plays Aug 7-10 in Palo Alto at the Stanford Theatre.) (RvB)