Film

Dream cast

Seven Psychopaths

Writer-director Martin McDonagh’s Seven Psychopathsis one of the best films since the Coen brothers’ Barton Fink about the art of writing or, more precisely, not being able to write a movie screenplay. This is an ingenious, wildly engaging movie from the man who brought us the brilliant In Bruges (my personal pick for the year’s best movie in 2008). Like Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson and Wes Anderson, McDonagh creates movies that transcend genres. While I can compare him to other directors, I can only compare him to the unique ones who make movies that are decidedly theirs and theirs alone. McDonagh makes movies like no other. Colin Farrell gets the second best role of his career—the best being the starring role in In Bruges—as Martin, a character obviously modeled after the director himself. Martin is trying to write a screenplay called Seven Psychopaths, and he’s wracking his brain for seven characters with distinctive killing methods. The way these characters appear to him is very much part of this film’s unending fun. He’s friends with a true nutball named Billy, and when your nutball is played by the magical Sam Rockwell, you just know it’s going to be good. And it is. Billy wants to help his buddy write his screenplay. He’s a struggling actor making money on the side kidnapping dogs with Hans (Christopher Walken—oh, this cast is just a dream). They swipe the pups, and turn them in for rewards. They make a big mistake when they grab an adorable Shih Tzu owned by the psycho-

pathic Charlie (Woody Harrelson—do I hear best cast of the year?). Terrible behavior and violence ensues, and nobody is safe in McDonagh’s crazed world. When Martin describes the Seven Psychopaths, the movie depicts them in an almost fairytale fashion. Anybody familiar with McDonagh’s body of work will see similarities to his Tony Award-winning play The Pillowman. There are other elements by Bob Grimm similar to the play in this film, and I won’t give them away. I will tell you that a promibgrimm@ nent member of the Broadway cast makes annewsreview.com awesome cameo. The movie doesn’t skimp on the violence, which is often delivered during stylized depic-5 tions of the seven psychopaths and their killing ways. This could almost be a children’s movie, if everybody wasn’t getting their heads shot off in it. Farrell is at his best when his Irish accent is in full force and he’s allowed to show his comic edge. Martin’s constant drinking helps fuel a Farrell performance that isn’t stereotypically drunk, just obviously impaired. And I love the almost immature, childlike attitude that Farrell injects into his work when McDonagh is around. Perhaps he should just make movies with McDonagh from here on out. Rockwell and Walken are basically playing the character types they excel at. They are stereotypical Rockwell and Walken, and what’s better than that? Rockwell is constantly delivering his lines with a wide-eyed, bigassed grin and Walken delivers his in that, well, unmistakably Walken way. These roles seem tailor-made for these actors. And if you think their presence isn’t enough, here comes Tom Waits holding a white bunny rabbit and regaling you with tall tales about executing serial killers. And there’s Gabourey Sidibe as a teary-eyed former dog sitter who’s about to get fired in a most unfortunate way. Ultimately, the film is about the struggle to create, presented in a very creative way. I mentioned the Coens’immortal Barton Fink up above because it was a brilliant take on writer’s block written when Joel and Ethan actually had writer’s block. McDonagh’s Seven Psychopaths is about making something artistic and respectable out of trashy themes. Martin is trying for depth and beauty, while Billy screams for shootouts. Both characters get their wishes in hugely entertaining ways. Ω

“Oh my gosh! That dog is so cute! I just want to hold him!

Can I please? He’s just so fluffy and adorable. Ooh! Ooh! Please! Good doggie! So cute! You just have the cutest little face, don’t you, little cutie patootie puppy!”

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POOR

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EXCELLENT 4End of Watch Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña shine in this absorbing cop drama from writerdirector David Ayer (Harsh Times). They play Los Angeles police officers who go above and beyond the call of duty, and sometimes bend the rules just a little bit. Their willingness to put their necks on the line eventually leads to trouble with a drug cartel, and their lives are threatened. Gyllenhaal and Peña make for a great screen duo. The movie is often very funny simply because of the way they interact. Ayer uses the old “cops videotaping themselves on the job” gimmick a little bit, but it never becomes too distracting. He also fills his movie with great action and chase sequences. The movie is a shocker in many ways, and truly makes you think about what cops go through on a daily basis. Nice supporting performances from Anna Kendrick and America Ferrera.

4Finding Nemo 3D Nine years after its original release, this Pixar charmer comes back to screens with a nice 3-D presentation. Honestly, I felt like I was watching it for the first time. The Pixar films are primed for 3-D. The movie looks like it was always intended to be this way. Albert Brooks voices Marlin, a paranoid clown fish who loses his kid Nemo to human divers. While Nemo sits in a dentist’s aquarium, Marlin frantically races across the ocean with new friend Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) in tow. For me, DeGeneres is the true star of this movie. Her voice work will always stand as a favorite cartoon character of mine, especially when she speaks whale. Other voice actors include Willem Dafoe as a growling angelfish and Brad Garrett as a puffer fish. I know I sound a bit clichéd saying this, but this is a real treat for the entire family.

3Frankenweenie Tim Burton directs this enjoyable blackand-white stop-motion animated movie based on his own short film about a family dog being resurrected … Frankensteinstyle! Burton made the short film 28 years ago. While the story isn’t an especially electric one, the art direction is superb, and there are enough good laughs to make it worthwhile. Also worth noting: Winona Ryder voices a young girl character that looks suspiciously like Lydia, her character in Burton’s Beetlejuice. Other voices include Burton alumni such as Catherine O’Hara and Marin Landau, once again using his Bela Lugosi voice from Ed Wood. A finale sequence involving a giant, Gamera-like turtle and rabid sea monkeys gives the film a nice retro-horror feel. It’s a little sleepy in spots, but too impressive in other ways to completely overlook.

2Hotel Transylvania This animated take on Dracula (Adam Sandler) and other big monsters like Frankenstein’s monster (Kevin James) and the Werewolf (Steve Buscemi) has a fun setup and some great gags. But its overall feeling is that of total mania in that it barely slows down long enough for you to take it in. It’s often unnecessarily spastic in telling the tale of a nervous Dracula dealing with his daughter on her 118th birthday—young in vampire years). A human (Andy Samberg) shows up at the title place, a building Dracula created to keep dangerous humans away, and his daughter (Selena Gomez) falls for him. The overall story is hard to digest, but there are some great moments, such as every time the vampires turn into bats (cute) and a werewolf baby knowing what plane flight somebody is taking by smelling his shirt (unbelievably cute). Even with the cute moments, there were too many times when I just wanted to look away because the animation was far too frantic.

5Looper Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Joe, a loner living in 2042 who has actually been sent back from the year 2072 to kill people that organized crime wishes to dispose of. He stands in a field with his gun aimed at a tarp, waiting for his hooded victim to zap back from the future and receive a very rude greeting. Very bad, and very entertaining, things happen when the man sent back to be executed is actually Joe’s future self (Bruce Willis). Willis is great here as a tired and scared old criminal hell bent on fixing his future. GordonLevitt is even better as an embittered, callous young man looking to preserve his future and get his older self out of the picture. GordonLevitt, made up to look like a younger Willis, does a nice job of capturing the Willis stare and growl. Emily Blunt is on hand as a mother trying to protect her child, and Paul Dano lights up the screen with a pivotal supporting role. This is one of the year’s most ingenious films, and one of the best time travel yarns you’re going to see.

3The Master Joaquin Phoenix plays Freddie, a troubled World War II vet who returns from a stint with the Navy a little messed up in the head. He’s having trouble finding his place in the world, and he’s constantly swigging lethal alcohol drinks made of anything he can find in the medicine cabinet or tool shed. He’s prone to major mood swings and violence. His relationships and jobs aren’t working out, and his drinking is getting him into a lot of trouble. He winds up a stowaway on a luxury yacht where he meets Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman), leader of The Cause, a cult-like movement with more than a few similarities to Scientology. The two wind up strangely dependent on one another as they both battle different demons. Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood) the film features great performances, but also has a vibe of been there, done that. It’s worth seeing for the Phoenix-Hoffman fireworks, but not one of Anderson’s best.

2The Possession As far as demon possession movies go, I’d have to count this as one of the better offerings in recent years. That still doesn’t make it all that good. Based on a “true story”—bullshit!—it stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan as a basketball coach who moves his two daughters into a new house. They go to a yard sale, where the youngest daughter (an impressive Natasha Calis) grabs a mysterious box that has dead moths and spooky stuff in it. She winds up getting possessed by a demon, requiring the help of a Hasidic Jew instead of Roman Catholic priests for a change. And, of course, that Hasidic Jew is none other than Matisyahu. Director Ole Bornedal provides some genuinely creepy moments—I especially liked the very spooky CAT scan—but he also provides a little too much bad melodrama that drags the film down. Still, Morgan and Calis are good here, and the possession portions of the movie do have a decent freak-out factor. (Love those hands coming out of mouths!) A hearty “Screw you!” to the dumbass who decided to make this a PG-13 affair. This one should’ve shot for an R.

1Resident Evil: Retribution In the fifth chapter of the popular zombie franchise, things get so sloppy, disorganized and frantic, it’s as if one of the TVirus zombies bit the movie on the leg and it got all crazy and infected. This is the third installment directed by the much-maligned Paul W.S. Anderson, who has been involved with the franchise from the beginning in various capacities. He directed the first movie, took a couple of movies off, and returned for 2010’s lousy Afterlife, and now this even worse monstrosity. He has the dubious distinction of having directed the best and worst films in the franchise. Milla Jovovich returns as Alice, zombie killer, and her efforts are all for naught. The movie makes little to no sense, the action is haphazard and clumsy, and this franchise seriously needs to call it quits. It got off to an OK start with the first two films, but things have deteriorated mightily since then.

Reno

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