The Spectacular Now [2013]

MPAA (R)  Roger Ebert (4 Stars)  AVClub (B)  Fr. Dennis (4 Stars)

IMDb listing
Roger Ebert's review
AVClub (A.A. Dowd) review

The Spectacular Now [2013] (directed by James Ponsoldt screenplay by Scott Neustadter and Michael Weber based on the novel by Tim Tharp) is a surprising and intelligent coming of age story, which despite its title arguably works to undermine "the Now's" glorification:  For is any "Now," no matter how perfect, capable of standing up against a Sea of Tomorrows?  And yet "the Now," any "Now," has Value, even when "a Now" becomes "part of the Past."  Wow!  Honestly, this is one heck of a story about the central characters' last semester of High School (one of those periods in Life that seems both Awesome / Eternal at the time, but of course is not  ...).

Sutter (played by Miles Teller) is a damn good kid.  Yes, it becomes patently obvious 15 minutes into the film that he's going to have to face a drinking problem.  But he's also a really, really good guy.  He's popular, often "the life of the party" but he uses his popularity to help his friends and classmates who are less (socially) capable than he.  His friend (played by Masam Holden) is less successful than he is with girls, so he sets him up.  He runs into Aimee (played by Shailene Woodley) the other main character in the film, whose name he's embarrassed he does not know/remember at that first encounter, even if she goes to his school.  Yet after a few moments of experiencing her goodness (she finds him passed out on her lawn after a party...) he decides that he's going to be nice to her and make her see her potential even if she's perhaps too shy/insecure to see it herself.

Indeed, Sutter seems to have plans for everybody, except for himself.  He's far smarter than his grades would indicate, but can't seem to focus on writing an effective answer to an essay question on a college entrance application that COULD perhaps do much to explain away those poor grades.  Instead, he drinks, spiking his soft-drinks with alcohol that he's become rather adept in getting a-hold-of despite being clearly underage.  Indeed, he spends his time being "Comfortably Numb" (there's no reference to the famous song by Pink Floyd in the film, but IMHO that's EXACTLY where he keeps himself).

Why?  Well, we learn that he comes from a single parent home.  His mother (played by Jennifer Jason Leigh) is a nurse (again someone who helps people).  His father has been out of his (and his family's) life for at least 10 years.   What Sutter remembers of him was that he too was also "a good guy" / "the life of the party" but he left or was thrown out by his mom for reasons that she adamantly refuses to talk to him about.  His older sister, already married, knows more, but also chooses not to talk much their parents' breakup AND HE IS BOTH TOO NICE AND PROBABLY TOO AFRAID TO ASK.

It is only after Aimee challenges him to be brave (just as he challenged her to be braver in facing her mother) that Sutter finally does not allow his mother / sister to continue to keep the story of his parents' breakup (and his father's whereabouts) a secret anymore.  Of course, what Sutter's told / pieces together on his own is painful, BUT NOT IN ANY CHEAP AND PREDICTABLE WAY.  His mother had told him (repeatedly) that he reminds her of his father ... and ... (well that's the rest of the movie ;-)

Is Sutter really like his dad?  How much is he like his dad?  Was/is his dad all bad?  Of course not, his mother never would have married his dad if he was.  But his dad did have clear flaws/failing.  Can he, Sutter, his dad's son, change?

Can Sutter learn to live in more than a "Comfortable Now" ... especially since the "Now" WON'T LAST FOREVER?  This is a great, great story! ;-)


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Elysium [2013]

MPAA (R)  CNS/USCCB (L)  RE.com (3 Stars)  AVClub (C+)  Fr. Dennis (3 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. Mulderig) review 
RogerEbert.com (B. Kenigsberg) review
AVClub (A.A. Dowd) review

Elysium [2013] (written and directed by Neill Blomkamp) is a SciFi parable set on earth and its environs in the year 2154 after life on Earth (according to the story) had become so problematic (pollution, crime, overpopulation) that its rich had abandoned it for the ultimate "gated community" a utopian wheel-shaped space colony (a la Gerald K. O'Neill's post-Apollo era book The High Frontier (1975) [wikip]) called Elysium where the air was fresh, the water was clean, the lawns were lush and the medical care so top-notch that all diseases, (most notably skin cancer due to radiation) is cured in real time by means of a MRI like scanning/treatment device.

On Earth, well ... life appears cheap, violent and brutal, yet not without hope.  In probably one of the most interesting portrayals of Catholic nuns by Hollywood in recent decades (let alone the happy surprise of portraying Catholic nuns as relevant even in a vision of a distant future in a science fiction film), the nun (played by Yolanda Abbud L.) running the orphanage where Max (played as a child by Maxwell Perry Cotton and later as an adult by Matt Damon) and Frey (played as a child by Valentina Giron and later as an adult by Alice Braga) grow-up tells Max who dreams of "one day" finding a way of reaching the space-wheel in the sky: "Never forget where you come from and never forget how beautiful it is here" (amidst all of Earth's chaos/problems).

And so it is, Max along with all kinds of others grows-up dreaming of getting out/off the "hell hole" that Earth has become and going to the "perfect gated community in the sky," while the beautiful/carefree inhabitants of said "perfect gated community in the sky" go to all kinds of lengths, including blowing-up "illegal shuttles" trying to evade the "gated community's" / space colony's defenses, to keep "intruders at bay." Writer/director Neill Blomkamp who was born and raised in South Africa knows and works now in Los Angeles, by far the largest American metropolitan area near the border between the United States and Mexico, knows a thing or two about both Apartheid and the current immigration debate in the United States/elsewhere.

And Blomkamp reminds viewers that "post-Apartheid Apartheid" is not about just physical borders, it's really about access.  So the film is not merely about "sneaking across borders" for "a better life" in general.  It's also about access to medical care.  While Max was always resentful of the rich floating above him in their "gated community in the sky," when he finds himself doused with a dose of radiation at work that would kill him in 5 days time (and yet his body would be cured within minutes by the above-mentioned MRI-like reconstruction device floating up there in the sky), getting to the space colony, by hook or crook, becomes a matter of life and death.  And when he finds out that Frey's daughter Matilda (played by Emma Tremblay) needs to get up there for treatment (for leukemia) as well, the quest becomes all the more urgent.

Yet, of course, there are obstacles.  There's a "space cayote" (people smuggler) named Spider (played by Wagner Moura), there's a merciless Earth based deep undercover "border control agent" (played by Jackson Berlin) who gets called upon to "bring down" unauthorized shuttle craft heading toward the space colony with shoulder fired SAM missiles.  Finally there's an "ice"-cold "Defense Secretary" named Delacourt (played by Jodie Foster) bent on defending "what we've built" at the high flying space colony against "all intruders" for the sake of her "children and grandchildren."

Yes, it's a left-wing parable.  But like Upside Down [2012] and In Time [2011] it tells a story about radicially unequal societies with those on top hell-bent on keeping things that way.  Blomkamp's contribution would be that the ideology that justifies such separation between those who have and those who do not is basically that of Apartheid.  It's something to think about ...

But the presence of the Nuns in the story remains a remarkable addition because they remind us that "having" isn't all-important, that there is beauty/value even in the midst of chaos and even where there "isn't much" there can be Relationships and Hope.  And floating in a blissful "space colony in the sky" where every need is met but most of humanity is kept at bay could actually be akin to "floating in a grade-A grave."  Again, something more to contemplate ;-)

Finally, Parents, I would note that the film deserves its R-rating as it is at times IMHO needlessly gory/violent.  Perhaps this is so as to showcase the power of the MRI-like "reconstruction" machine which proves capable of reconstructing even the most mutilated of people (by either the sun's rays/radiation in outer space or by RPG / machine gun blasts below).  However, I do think that the same point could have been made in a less graphic manner.  That said, the film is certainly worth viewing by a young adult and above sci-fi inclined crowd.


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Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters [2013]

MPAA (PG)  CNS/USCCB (A-III)  RE.com (2 1/2 Stars)  AVClub (C+)  Fr. Dennis (3 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. Mulderig) review
RogerEbert.com (M. McCreadie) review
AVClub (A.A. Dowd) review

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters [2013] (directed by Thor Freudenthal, screenplay by Marc Guggenheim, based on the book series by Rick Riordan [IMDb] entitled Percy Jackson & The Olympians (2005-) [wikip]) is the second installment of a somewhat derivative childrens' book series (a la J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series) about a young, previously listless boy named Percy Jackson (played by Logan Lehrman), who had been diagnosed as being ADHD, and had been growing-up in a single mother household in New York prior to being sent in the series' first installment Percy Jackson: Lightning Thief [2010] to "Camp Half-Blood" on Long Island one summer (CHB becoming the series' Hogwarts...) and only there discovering who he really was and why he didn't seem to "fit in" at home:  He himself was a "half-blood" (a demi-god, with his father having been the Greek God Poseidon).  There he made friends (again a la Harry Potter...) with other "half-bloods" (children of earth women and various generally deadbeat/never-really-around Greco-Roman dieities).  And at least the potential for a really fun series was born ... ;-)

Most of the critics have seemed unimpressed (see above).  I find myself in perhaps the surprising position of being more positive about the film / series than most, perhaps because:

(1) I don't necessarily find Greco-Roman paganism particularly threatening (It's really quite Earth centered ... what happens to Poseidon (a sea God after all...) once one steps off the Earth and goes to the moon or "Alpha Centauri..."?  These were not exactly conceived as "Gods of the Universe ..."), and ...

(2) I've always liked fun/creative takes on a good story:  So I did enjoy that chief Olympian God Zeus had his son Dionysus (known in the film as "Mr. D" and played by Stanley Tucci) as the Master at this "Camp Half Blood" for all the Gods' illegitimate/and often enough otherwise neglected children.  And yet, since Dionysus (the God of Wine after all) did like his vino (and yet was being made responsible for all these young kids...), Zeus put a curse on Dionysus' wine always turning it into water as he poured it into his glass.  Frustrated, Dionysus tells a Centaur: "You know the Christians have a guy who can do this in reverse ;-).  Now THERE's a God!" ;-)

In this story, Percy, Anabeth (daughter of Athena the Greek Goddess of Wisdom and played here by Alexandra Daddario), a young satyr (half-man/half-goat) named Grover (played Brandon T. Jackson) go on a quest to find the Golden Fleece, that was to have the power to heal, and particular heal a friend of theirs named Thalia (a daughter of Zeus), who had died at the end of the first story and had been converted by Zeus into a Tree that now protected the rest of the camp.

On the other side of the coin was Luke Castellan (played by Jake Abel) the rather bitter son of Hermes (played by Nathan Fillion), who as the messenger of the Gods, was truly "never ever there" for Luke when he was growing up.  So Luke was bent on getting a hold of the Golden Fleece as a means of resurrecting the Olympian Gods' great Nemesis, their father and king of the Titans, Chronos who once resurrected would presumably bring an end to the Olympians' rule.   (Amusingly, and a mild "spoiler alert" ... Luke had scoured the Earth and all its caves for the sarcophagus of Chronos and found it ... in a Cleveland museum ;-).  And so as this story proceeds there are some homages and send-ups of both Clash of the Titans [1981] [2010] and Raiders of the Lost Ark [1981]...)

All in all, I found the film quite entertaining, but I wouldn't recommend it anyone who hasn't had at least some exposure to Classical (Greco-Roman) Mythology as without some knowledge of the Greek/Roman Gods, a lot of the story would be missed.  So parents, I wouldn't see much of a point of taking a kid to this film who's below say 6th, 7th or 8th grade.  On the other side of the coin older teens might find the film a bit childish/boring.  Still a lot of the jokes/send-ups are quite funny ;-).


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Blackfish [2013]

MPAA (PG-13)  RE.com (3 Stars)  AVClub (B-)  Fr. Dennis (3 Stars)

IMDb listing
RogerEbert.com (M. Zoller Seitz) review
AVClub (M. D'Angelo) review

Blackfish [2013] (directed and cowritten by Gabriela Cowperthwaite along with Eli B. Despress) is a documentary centering on the treatment of Orcas known also as Killer Whales at marine-based amusement parks like "SeaWorld" in the aftermath of the 2010 death/killing of Orlando SeaWorld Trainer Dawn Brancheau by an arguably troubled Orca/Killer Whale named Tilikum who had already been involved in the deaths of two other people previously. 

While it is more or less obvious that Cowperthwaite's sympathies tend to side with Animal Rights proponents who question the morality of keeping of large sea creatures, clearly intelligent (otherwise one wouldn't be able to train them), often playful, in captivity often from childhood for decades at a time, IMHO she does a decent enough job navigating the minefield of ideology (on both sides) and money involved in the controversy.  SeaWorld is a money making enterprise, but it is also presumably capable of funding a lot of research that may be (or become) hard to fund otherwise.

Here I also confess that I've been fascinated by the question of "getting into the minds" of clearly intelligent animal species ranging from dogs to elephants to parrots/crows to chimps/gorillas to octopuses to dolphins and whales to even ants/bees and even vines/plants (whose rhythms and movements become discernible with time-lapse photography).  We have an annual blessing of animals around St. Francis' Feast Day at our parish and the little lawn area by the Church where we do so, has become over the years a surprisingly welcoming area for strays and even rabbits.  Do they "experience" that area as being "somehow special"?  How could one possibly know?  But I've seen over the years both strays (dogs) and even rabbits seemingly contently sitting there during summer evenings, again seemingly "contemplating" the vista of our rather large (and truth be told "needing work" parking lot ;-) and perhaps thinking: "Yeah, this is nice!" / "Life is good" and "I'm the Master of this space" (if for a while ;-).

Study in captivity could help researchers learn how to communicate with the seemingly more capable species with which we share our world and increasingly appreciate better how self aware they are (and then honestly see what they could teach us from their "point of view" / experience).  But I would hope that such study be done with respect toward the well-being of the creatures with which one would hope, over time, to enter into communication with.  In our world of webcams and even drones, all kinds of interesting, increasingly non-intrusive studies could be made.  And I would tend toward those kind of (increasingly non-intrusive) studies.  But I would not want to necessarily "throw away" the positive and potentially positive work that could be funded via for-profit institutions like SeaWorld.  They have a lot of money and certainly can be useful in funding such work.

In any case, this is a good thought provoking film that any dreamer / optimist / animal lover would certainly appreciate ;-)


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Carré Blanc [2010]

MPAA (UR would be R)  Fr. Dennis (3 Stars)

IMDb listing
AlloCiné.fr* listing

What would a French Film Festival worth its name be without at least one dark, dystopian piece brooding about the senseless brutality of human existence? ;-).  So it was, can one say "a joy"? ;-), to encounter Carré blanc [2010] [IMDb] [AC.fr]*(written and directed by Jean-Baptiste Léonetti [IMDb] [AC.fr]*) among the films that played at the Chicago's 3rd Annual French Film Festival held recently at the Music Box Theater on Chicago's North Side.  (The Festival was cosponsored by the French Diplomatic Mission in the United States.).

Philippe (played as a youth by Majid Hives [IMDb] [AC.fr]* and as an adult by Sami Bouajila [IMDb] [AC.fr]*) and Marie (played as a youth by Adèle Exarchopoulos [IMDb] [AC.fr]* and as an adult by Julie Gayet [IMDb] [AC.fr]*) grow-up in a perpetually grey and overcast world of concrete, glass and steel (where the sky doesn't have the decency to at least let down rain ;-), making their way through endless labyrinths of drywall/cinderblock lined corridors and spartan classroom/meeting rooms encountering only an occasional cord or baton to either hang oneself or beat the occasional passerby / compatriot with, and yet hearing occasional and not-to-subtle "subliminal messages" broadcast over an ancient public address system encouraging them "to reproduce." ;-)  Regardless of what one may think of this "world view" WHAT AN IMAGE :-)

Lumbering along like the living-dead through the corridors of this heartless world, their teachers seek to present the purpose of life to them as a game.  The point of the game?  To simply "get ahead of the other guy."  Why?  Well, "you don't want to lose."

After Phillip jumps after Marie who throws herself off the balcony of their drab concrete apartment and both are caught by a safety net below, they find that in this cold, heartless world at least they have each other.

To this the Catholic could add: In such "a valley of truly MONUMENTAL TEARS," WE also have God ;-).


* Rough (machine) translations of foreign language websites are generally most easily obtained using the Chrome browser.

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20 Feet from Stardom [2013]

MPAA (PG-13)  Rolling Stone Magazine (3 1/2 Stars)  RE.com (4 Stars)  AVClub (B+)  Fr. Dennis (4 Stars)

Rolling Stone Magazine (P. Travers) review
RogerEbert.com (S. Wloszczyna) review
AVClub (S. Adams) review

20 Feet from Stardom [2013] is a documentary directed by Morgan Neville that a lot of people from many walks of life ought to see and contemplate. 

And among those who ought to see the film are Religionists, People of Faith who may at times believe that the world is going (or has already gone) to "Hell in a hand-basket."  I'm writing this because the film is in so many ways a vindication of many of the more positive professors that I've had in the Seminary both in the United States and in Italy: God may really be (and if we believe IS) smarter, more clever, and certainly more positive than we are.  A SURPRISING yet REPEATED theme in this film is the UNDERCURRENT of the GOSPEL SERVICE present in the contemporary Rock and Roll art form.  Say what? 

Well almost every one of the backup singers interviewed in this documentary about the backup singers to the star acts began ... in church choirs and almost all of them were daughters of African-American preachers.  With that background they all learned that music is about harmony, working together, yes "giving glory" but NOT necessarily about being in the limelight.  And then there's the structure of a rock and roll concert on stage.  As Bruce Springsteen, one of the stars interviewed in this film pointed out (Would there be ANYBODY who knows anything about Bruce Springsteen who'd be surprised that he'd LOVE BEING PART OF A FILM CELEBRATING ROCK & ROLL'S BACKUP SINGERS? ;-) ... at a Rock Concert "There's the 'preacher' giving 'testimony' and then there's 'the choir' behind the preacher 'singing amen.'" 

Now let's face it: the 'testimony' given at a rock concert can go all over the place and even be pretty lousy (Rocker Ozzy Osborne famously bit off the head of a bat at a concert back in the 1980s ...).  BUT isn't it fascinating that a Rock Concert could still be compared to a Gospel Service? 

I smile from ear to ear as I repeat here the words of the Psalmist: "Where can I run from your Spirit?  From your Presence, where can I flee?  If I ascend to the heavens, you are there; if I lie down in Sheol, there you are. If I take the wings of dawn, and dwell beyond the sea, Even there your hand guides me, your right hand holds me fast." (Psalm 138:7-10 best known to us American Catholics through the hymn by Dan Schulte named You Are Near).  We think we can run away from God, but we can't.  He could be smilin' ear to ear even at Rock Concert ;-)

Anyway, if you like music and perhaps if you're somewhat irritated by / skeptical of the pretentions of the Stars (of the "Rock Gods" of the recent past...) this film may be for you ;-) because THIS FILM is a celebration of the voices BEHIND THEM and it helps one realize HOW IMPORTANT THOSE VOICES ARE.  One of the interviewees noted that most of the 'hooks' from the songs that we remember are ACTUALLY THE LINES OF THE BACKUP SINGERS ;-).

A priceless interview in the film is of Merry Clayton and Mick Jagger talking about how she, six-months pregnant and with hair-curlers-on was nonetheless called at 3 AM to a Rolling Stones recording session for Gimme Shelter and with that baby bump and those in hair curlers she absolutely nailed the lyrics to that haunting Rock and Roll anthem.  When you're good, you're good ... ;-) 

Anyway, I found the film to be a joy and a celebration of EVERYONE who's not necessarily "front and center" in life.  We're all Children of the Same God and we're all Part of a Team.  And without ALL OF US, ALL OUR VOICES, this world (God's Creation) remains diminished.


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Blue Jasmine [2013]

MPAA (PG-13)  CNS/USCCB (L)  RE.com (3 Stars)  AVClub (B+)  Fr. Dennis (4 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. McAleer) review
RogerEbert.com (S. Wloszczyna) review
AVClub (B. Kenigsberg) review

Blue Jasmine [2013] (written and directed by Woody Allen [IMDb]) is a spectacularly current mash-up of Tennessee William's Streetcar Named Desire [IMDb] and the recent 2008 Financial Crisis / Bernie Madoff scandal. 

The film begins with fallen NY socialite Jasmine (the film's "Blanche" character played here to certain Oscar nomination worthy heights by Kate Blanchett) flying into San Francisco (rather than Streetcar's New Orleans) to move-in with her far more humble / down-to-earth sister Ginger (played again at a level worthy of Oscar consideration by Sally Hawkins).  Both had been adopted and grew-up in Brooklyn before Janette (who subsequently changed her name to Jasmine) was "swept off of her feet" by the good-looking, über-confident and wealthy, soon to be spectacularly wealthy, Hal (played spectacularly again by Alec Baldwin).  But all that was gone.  All that was left of Janette/Jasmine's past gilded life was designer luggage (baggage?) and ... stories, like the story of how Jasmine had met Hal "to the strains of, 'you know the song' (most probably don't, I didn't ...), Blue Moon."

When Jasmine arrives by taxi at Ginger's humble abode, a flat above a nail shop in a nondescript, and certainly non-marquis section of San Fran, Ginger isn't there.  Calling her on her cell-phone, to ask if she even has the place right, Jasmin's told by her apologetic sister to run-over a few blocks to the grocery store where she works to pick-up the keys.  She does.  The taxi driver helps her carry her bags into the flat, Jasmine still tipping him well. "Wow!" he exclaims. "Old habits die hard," she shrugs.  Soon Ginger returns and, since she'd otherwise have to leave her there again..., asks Jasmine if she'd join her as she runs over to her ex-husband Augey (played again remarkably by Andrew Dice Clay)'s place to pick-up their their two kids Matthew and Johnny (played by Daniel Jenks and Max Rutherford).

Ginger and Augey's marriage had collapsed after their entire life-savings, which they had come to only through winning a significant if still relatively minor prize in the California lottery ($200,000), was lost following the Feds' arrest of Jasmine's husband Hal for having effectively run a decades-long pyramid scheme to finance his and Jasmine's previous Manhattan-the Hamptons-San Tropez lifestyle.  "Didn't you know?  How could you not know?" Augey screams at Jasmine when she shows up with Ginger to pick up the kids.  "I did not.  I never concerned myself with numbers.  And besides, I lost everything as well."  Yes, folks, while there are actual laughs present in the spectacularly written and cuttingly delivered lines of this film as well ... the dialogue throughout the film brims with awful betrayal and pain.

Ginger's current beau, an auto-mechanic nicknamed Chili (played again spectacularly by Bobby Canavale), who along with Augey plays the "Kowalski" role in the story, also seethes with resentment toward Jasmine's entry into his and Ginger's lives.  He was to have moved-in with Ginger on a trajectory of getting married.  (Ginger wanted a male in her house for the sake of her boys).  But Jasmine's penniless (except for her expensive baggage) arrival put that on hold.  He also knows from Ginger (after all, they were to get married) that Jasmine paid Ginger no mind while she was still rich back in New York.  But here she was now, in their way, and yet, still, often condescending to them both.  Much, of course, still has to play-out ...

 I realize that this is a film that a large number of my parishioners with probably never see.  Woody Allen [IMDb] is often perceived as part of America's often decadent elite.  And the break-up of his relationship with Mia Farrow years back over the beginning of his relationship with arguably then his 17 year old step-daughter Soon-Li certainly didn't help his reputation.

But here I do believe that holding-fast to this perception is a shame because Woody Allen ALSO grew-up in BROOKLYN.   And I do believe that Allen's portrayal of the palpable anger of his hard-working/honest Augey and Chili characters (who could have been his parents, friends and relatives) toward Jasmine and her husband Hal who RIPPED THEM OFF and DESTROYED THEIR FUTURES to support their high-flying lifestyle is dead-on.  And neither does Woody Allen give himself a break.  To those who do see the film, note the incident that precipitates the collapse of Hal and Jasmine's fortunes (and the destruction of so many others' lives and dreams, including Ginger-Augie's, as well).  Woody certainly doesn't paint himself among the "good guys."

It may all be too little too late ... but this is a film that ought to shake its probable largely upper-class / elite audience and certainly deserves significant consideration for a host of awards come the Oscars this year.  In terms of style, this film is certainly more of the vein of Crimes and Misdemeanors [1989] and Match Point [2005] than Annie Hall [1977] or Midnight in Paris [2011].  Yet Blue Jasmine [2013] is undoubtably one of Woody Allen's [IMDb] best films and quite seriously _may_ be remembered decades from now as his most important.  Approaching 80, and despite everything, Allen may actually be only now reaching his prime ;-)


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