2012 Denny Awards - Part 1 - Best Films

Part 1/3 of my Annual "Denny Awards" ;-)
(Other Years' Awards)


Part I - Best Films of 2012
Part II - Most Compelling Performances (Male)
Part III - Most Compelling Performances (Female)


BEST FAMILY ORIENTED FILMS
    FOR FAMILIES WITH LITTLE CHILDREN -
       Winners -       
             Brave [2012] PG / A-II - 4 Stars - More for families with girls as the lead character is a girl.  However, her toddler triplet brothers are hilarious as well.
             Frankenweenie [2012] - PG / A-I - 3 1/2 Stars - More for families with boys as except for the mom, there are almost no girls in the story.  HOWEVER both lead character little Victor Frankenstein and his best friend/nerdy/and yes "kinda creepy" Edgar E. Gore are just great ;-)
       Honorable Mentions -
              Dr. Seuss' The Lorax [2012] - G / A-I - 4 Stars - Can't go wrong with Dr. Seuss ;-)
              Chimpanzee [2012] - G / A-1 - 3 Stars - Cute nature film about a baby chimpanzee who gets adopted by the clan leader after his mother dies.
              Wreck-It Ralph [2012] - PG / A-II - 4 Stars - If Brave is a "mother/daughter" sort of a film, Wreck-It Ralph is a "father/adoptive daughter" sort of one.  One of the best original child oriented animated films of recent years.
               The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure [2012] - G / A-I - 3 Stars - Okay, it's super-commercial (and made by the makers of the Teletubbies of the past) but it is a brave and original sort of project (for 1 1/2 to 3 year olds) that may interest some parents and IMHO deserves mention here ;-).  


FOR FAMILIES WITH PRE-TEEN CHILDREN - 
        Winners -
                The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey [2012] - PG-13 / A-II - 4 Stars - More for families with young boys (as there are almost no women characters in the story).  IMHO BETTER than even the first LOTR film as it ends at a natural break in Tolkein's Hobbit story.
                Brave [2012] PG / A-II - 4 Stars - More for families with girls as the lead characters are really all women (Merida, her mother, and even the witch).  Picked this film also for families with littler girls but older-preteen girls will get even out of it.
         Honorable Mentions -
                 ParaNorman [2012] - PG - 3 Stars - Kinda like Frankenweenie [2012] but more developed / balanced family dynamics (Norman has an older teenage sister) and generally as a whole both boys and girls have significant roles.
                 Hotel Transylvania [2012] - PG / A-II - 3 1/2 Stars - A father / daughter story that a family with a pre-teen girl or two would appreciate (kids do inevitably ... grow up ...)


FOR FAMILIES WITH TEENS -  
        Winners -
                 The Perks of Being a Wall Flower [2012] - PG-13 - 4 Stars - A classic "teenage angst" film, if at times quite sad, probably destined to be this generation's Breakfast Club [1985].
                 Taken 2 [2012] - PG-13 / A-III - 3 Stars - Are you kinda angry at dad for "not always being around?" Well he may have a "story" of his own about what he's had to go through to put dinner on the table ;-) 
                 Girl in Progress [2012] - PG-13 - 3 Stars - A pretty good Mother/Daughter film particularly for Hispanic families, similar to the film above, only here it's a single mom who's going through a heck of a lot to give her daughter a better chance at life (but it's still hard when she's not always around and one realizes that "ma isn't perfect...")
        Honorable Mentions                
                 House at the End of the Street [2012] - PG-13 / A-III - 3 Stars - another Mother/Daughter film.  The Daughter sees the boy next-door as "someone to fix", while Ma just sees "trouble."
                 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey [2012] - PG-13 / A-II - 4 Stars - see above.  Though here I'd underline that this film tells a great "Call story."  Yes, child you can "stay at home" and lead a totally predictable life, but you may be Called to do far more than that.


BEST INTERGENERATIONAL FILMS (for Older/Adult Children and their Parents) - 
         Winner -
                  People Like Us [2012] - PG-13 / A-III - 3 Stars - Hard film to watch about a post-mortem reconciliation between a Father and Son and then a half-Sister that the Son never knew he had because the Father had two families... 
         Honorable Mentions -
                  This Must be the Place [2012] - R - 3 1/2 Stars - Reconciliation between Father and Son (again even after the death of the Father).  The Father was "a hero/martyr" in life, while all the Son (who actually had become a celebrated "rock star") felt was "unloved." Late for the Father's funeral, the Son with nothing to do decides to hunt down the (Nazi) who had made his Father into who he was.
                   Hick [2012] - R - 3 1/2 Stars - No chance for reconciliation here, just sadness.  A 13 year old growing-up in a truly dysfunctional family decides to run away from home.  Much often terrible and sad ensues ... (Parents, yes your personal behavior does matter ...)
                   Parental Guidance [2012] - PG / A-I - 3 Stars - When the Daughter was growing-up, Dad dominated the Family.  That was okay with Ma' but not okay with the Daughter.  Now the Daughter has her own family ...
                   The Guilt Trip [2012] - PG-13 / A-III - 3 1/2 Stars - Fun Mother/grown Son film in which the Son has to forgive the Mother for her adoring "motherliness" while also coming to terms with his own limitations. 
                   Robot & Frank [2012] - PG-13 / 3 1/2 Stars - Perhaps he wasn't the best Dad in the world, but now he's old, alone and his two kids have their own lives far away.  But at least the Son buys Dad a "Robot" ... much ensues ... ;-)
                   Starlet [2012] - UR (would be R) - 3 Stars - Great story about two unrelated women, one "young and drifting," the other "old and widowed/alone."  They become friends. 
 

BEST TEEN ORIENTED FILM (for boys) - 
         Winners - 
                    The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey [2012] - PG-13 / A-II - 4 Stars - see above. Obviously, I loved this film.  Great film about choices and destiny.  Do you want a "small life" in an already half-buried house "at the edge of the shire?"  Or are you willing to accept the Call when "Gandalf comes by" to invite you to something new/great?  "Will I come back?" the Hobbit Bilbo asks. "I can't guarantee that," answers Gandalf. "And if you do, you won't be the same as when you left."  What a GREAT story about Call.
                    Safety Not Guaranteed [2012] - R (note rating) - 3 1/2 Stars - For older teens.  Actually with a same message.  Folks, as you grow-up you make choices even if you think you're not.  You won't be young forever.
                    The Perks of Being a Wall Flower [2012] - PG-13 - 4 Stars -Wow, a "three way tie" :-) a film about why making those choices can be hard.   
         Honorable Mentions -
                    Avengers [2012] - PG-13 / A-III - 3 1/2 Stars - The Marvel Comics stories generally have had good messages, this is no exception.  In this film, I loved the dialogue between Captain America and Tony Stark, two great embodiments of America (one that had been "frozen in time" from the 1940s, the other of today).
                    Frankenweenie [2012] - PG / A-I - 3 1/2 Stars.  If you find yourself "smart" and in a lot of AP classes here's your chance to tell the "cooler" kids "Be afraid, be very afraid ..." ;-) ;-)                   
                  

BEST TEEN ORIENTED FILM (for girls) -
          Winner -
                    Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 [2012] - PG-13 / A-III - 3 1/2 Stars - Yes it was a GREAT SERIES about finding a SPECTACULARLY RICH/FULFILLING LIFE even in "the back woods" of dreary/rainy Washington state. 
           Honorable Mentions -
                     Hunger Games [2012] - PG-13 / A-III - 2 1/2 Stars - Honestly girls, embrace the "super-hero" within you.  There is an entire generation of boys (your piers) who will accept you/love you for it. ("Slaying dragons" is a lot cooler when you don't have to do it alone ...)
                     Girl in Progress [2012] - PG-13 - 3 Stars - Honestly, find the heart to give "Ma" a break.  She's almost always on your side.


BEST FILM THAT WILL HELP YOU WITH YOUR SCHOOL WORK - 
         Winner - 
                 Lincoln [2012] - R / A-III - 4 Stars (as well as the more fictionalized Django Unchained [2012] - R / L - 4 Stars and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter [2012] - R / L - 3 Stars).  Folks, there honestly was no "other side" to Slavery.
         Honorable Mentions -
                 Anna Karenina [2012] - R / A-III - 3 1/2 Stars (based on Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina)
                 Trishna [2011] - R - UK / India (subtitled at times) - 3 1/2 Stars (based on Thomas Hardy's Tess of D'Urbervilles)
                 Les Miserables (musical) [2012] - PG-13 / A-III - 3 Stars (based originally on Victor Hugo's Les Miserables)
                 Wuthering Heights [2011] - R - 3 Stars (based on Emily Brontë's novel Wuthering Heights)
          You really should know at least something about all these stories ... ;-)


BEST FILM THAT ASKS THE BIG QUESTIONS -
           Winner - 
                   Samsara [2012] - PG-13 / 4 Stars - Nobody knows Sorrow like the Buddhists know Sorrow ;-)
            Honorable Mentions - 
                    Cloud Atlas [2012] - R / O - 3 1/2 Stars - Ponderous film taking us from "100 years after the Fall" to "140 years into our future" asking the question "Are we in this world together?" or "Are the Weak simply Meat for the Strong to Eat?"
                    Band of Sisters [2012] - (UR would be PG-13) - Documentary - 4 Stars - Education has never been particularly respected in either Society or if we're honest, in the Church (think of the history of the Jesuits or even the Knights Templar before them...).  This is a documentary about the Catholic nuns in the United States (as a group always among the most educated women in the country ... heck they've always run schools, universities and hospitals) and (in their own words) about what they've been doing since the reforms of Vatican II.
                    Django Unchained [2012] - R / L - 4 Stars - Why 150 years after the American Civil War are we still trying to find excuses for the South and its legacy of Slavery?
                    Life of Pi [2012] - PG / A-III - 4 Stars - What would have been the better end to the story?
                    Russian Reserve (orig. Русский заповедник) [2010] - UR - Documentary - Russia (subtitled) - 4 Stars - I loved this film.  A calm, confident, classically Russian Orthodox response to the question of what's really needed to save the global village.
                    Avé [2011] - UR (would be R) - Bulgaria (subtitled) - 4 Stars - What if life really consists of simply (and more or less randomly) traveling from "point a" to "point b" under a dreary October sky in the rain? 


BEST "SMALL" FILM - 
              Winner
                     A Late Quartet [2012] - R - 4 Stars - "Nothing is as beautiful or as 'complicated' as ..." Even a group of four professionals who've been playing together forever can still really get on each other's nerves over the smallest things ... ;-)
               Honorable Mentions 
                     Meeting Leila (orig. Ashnaee ba Leila) [2011] - UR (would be PG-13) - Iranian (subtitled) - 3 1/2 Stars - If this film wasn't set in Tehran today, it could have starred Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in L.A. of the 1940s.  A film about a lonely 40-something couple living in Tehran preparing to get married.  She just wants him to quit smoking, and he doesn't understand why it would matter so much to her.
                     Lola Versus [2012] - R - 3 1/2 Stars - Three weeks before their wedding, 20-something Lola's similarly aged fiance' breaks up with her and if at least he could give her a reason, ANY reason.  What now?
                     Cosmopolis [2012] - R - 4 Stars - Great "dialogue driven" film about a young "corporate vampire" taking a limo-drive from work to his old neighborhood to get "a hair-cut."
                     Small, Beautifully Moving Parts [2012] - UR (would be R) - 3 Stars - About a young, 20-something woman of today who freely admits that she generally "relates better to technology than to people" who now finds herself pregnant (and obviously not by her computer ... ;-)
                     Day of Black (orig. Dia de Preto) [2011] - UR - Brazilian (subtitled) - 4 Stars -  A retelling of the story of the first African slave in Brazil to be given his freedom.  But okay, he's free, now what?
                     Footnote (orig. Hearat Shulayim) [2011] - PG - Israel (subtitled) - 4 Stars - A story of two contemporary Scripture scholars, father and son, one successful, the other not particularly, and how "footnotes" matter.
                      Avé [2011] - UR (would be R) - Bulgaria (subtitled) - 4 Stars - She's about 19 years old and basically running away from home.  He's in his 20s and heading to the village of his best friend for his best friend's funeral.  What if life just involves traveling in such sad and random ways under a dreary and rainy autumn sky?
                      The Land of Eb [2012] - 3 Stars - A simple tale about a Marshallese Islander grandfather/patriarch who's in his life-time moved most of his family to Hawaii.  Now he's dying (of cancer) and has to come to terms with all the dreams that he's realizing that he's never going to fulfill. 


BEST OPENLY RELIGIOUS FILM - 
            Winner -
                    Cloud Atlas [2012] - R / O - 3 1/2 Stars - (See above) a truly ponderous film asking about the fundamental nature of our relationships with each other and with the Cosmos.
            Honorable Mentions - 
                    Have you seen Lupita? (orig. ¿Alguien ha visto a Lupita?) [2012] - UR (would be PG-13/R) - - Mexico (subtitled) - 4 Stars - A brilliant youth oriented "retelling" of the story of Mary envisioned as contemporary and somewhat "flighty" upper middle class teenager named Lupita living in Mexico City today.

                    Flight [2012] - R / O - 3 1/2 Stars - A well formed / Protestant informed Parable asking the question: Can even a "miracle worker" who has some "issues" be saved without confronting them first?  
                    Band of Sisters [2012] - (UR would be PG-13) - Documentary - 4 Stars - (see above) - again, education often gets dissed.                  
                    Life of Pi [2012] - PG / A-III - 4 Stars - Yes, this story may help you see the Fundamental Choice between Believing and Not Believing more clearly.  
                    Samsara [2012] - PG-13 / 4 Stars - Nobody knows Sorrow like the Buddhists know Sorrow...
                    Footnote (orig. Hearat Shulayim) [2011] - PG - Israel (subtitled) - 4 Stars - Definitely not for everybody, but anyone who's ever seriously studied Scripture (in an academic environment) would appreciate this film.


BEST PRO-LIFE FILM - 
               Winner -  
                     The Well Digger's Daughter (orig. La Fille du Puisatier) [2011] - UR (would be PG-13) - France (subtitled) - 3 1/2 Stars - Lovely story from France of the first half of the 20th-century about how an "unplanned/inconvenient pregrancy" can end up being a blessing / answer to the prayers of all.
               Honorable Mentions -
                     Lose to Win (orig. Nad Życie) - (UR would be R) - Poland (subtitled) - 4 Stars - A biopic about Polish volleyball star Agata Mróz-Olszewska who found herself diagnosed of having cancer and pregnant at almost the same time.  Against the advice of most of her doctors she brought her child to term and only afterwards began cancer treatment.  She died.  But she died of an infection that she could have gotten (and died of) anyway even if she had aborted her child.  Instead, she left a healthy child to her husband (their only child) and family... A remarkable story that leaves one with much to think about.
                     October Baby [2011] - PG-13 / A-II - Drama - 3 1/2 Stars - American and perhaps more edgy than the above two films.  However it's about an (adopted) teenager who finds-out that she was born while actually being aborted.  Yes, it's necessarily going to be an "edgier" / "angrier" story than the others.


BEST (YOUNG ADULT) RELATIONSHIP FILM - 
               Winner -  
                     Celeste and Jesse Forever [2012] - R - 4 Stars - A film about a young couple Celeste and Jesse that's divorcing and asks all concerned (including the viewers) the very pointed question: "Do you want to be right or do you want to be happy?"
               Honorable Mentions
                      Ruby Sparks [2012] - R - 3 1/2 Stars - A young writer previously facing "writer block" starts writing about a young woman who's appearing in his dreams.  Suddenly she appears in real life.  But even if he created her, if he loved her would he not let her go free? 
                      Valley of Saints [2102] - UR (would be PG-13/R) - India/USA (Subtitled) - 4 Stars - A lovely romance between a poor, 20-something and definitely Muslim Kashmiri water-taxi operator and a young, wealthier, better educated and possibly Hindu graduate student who's returned from the United States to study the water quality of the lake that's been his livelihood.  There are so many barriers and this appears to be a Muslim movie so they _don't_ hop into bed.  Instead, they smile, they talk.  And one gets the sense that they get to know each other quite well.  Is it enough?  But what difference would it have made if one or the other had 'tried for more'?
                       Jab Tak Hai Jaan [2012] - UR (would be PG-13) - Hindi (subtitled) - 4 Stars - Another movie from India, this time a true big-time Bollywood production directed by one of its masters.  The male protagonist is a legendary "sapper" in today's Indian army.  Stationed again in war-torn Kashmir, he diffuses the most complex of IEDs (improvised explosive devices) in short order and he never ever wears any protective gear as he does so.  Why would someone so recklessly risk his life like that?  Well he must have a story... And what a story it is ;-)
                       Ted [2012] - R / O - 2 Stars - She's wants him to grow-up, but his best friend remains his childhood "teddy bear."  Often crude and very "basic" with its symbolism but may help young men realize that their girlfriends have friends and co-workers of their own to whom they have to justify why they are going-out with them.  And if one's boyfriend's "best friend" remains "his teddy bear" well, that's kinda embarrassing ... ;-)


BEST FILM FOR FILM LOVERS - 
              Winner - 
                         Samsara [2012] - PG-13 / 4 Stars - Third film of its kind by the film makers.  Each time it is just an awesome visual spectacle to behold.
              Honorable Mentions -
                          Anna Karenina [2012] - R / A-III - 3 1/2 Stars - again a visual feast to behold.
                          Day of Black (orig. Dia de Preto) [2011] - UR - Brazilian (subtitled) - 4 Stars - Set almost entirely in an upscale Brazilian shopping at night, this parable about "becoming free" is once more visually stunning.
                          The Well Digger's Daughter (orig. La Fille du Puisatier) [2011] - UR (would be PG-13) - France (subtitled) - 3 1/2 Stars - Fundamentally optimistic and EVERY SINGLE SHOT could be a painting by one of France's late-19th century Impressionist painters.
                          Cosmopolis [2012] - R - 4 Stars - If the above films were all visually driven, this is a great dialogue driven film set almost entirely in a young "corporate vampire's" coffin-like limo as he takes a ride from his work to his childhood neighborhood to "get a haircut."
                          A Late Quartet [2012] - R - 4 Stars - just a lovely, perfectly cast, again largely dialogue driven film about the tensions that can exist even in the smallest, tightest knit communities ;-).
                          Meeting Leila (orig. Ashnaee ba Leila) [2011] - UR (would be PG-13) - Iranian (subtitled) - 3 1/2 Stars - I am free to say that Iran's regime is oppressive bordering on totalitarian.  But life for its people does go on, and this is a lovely human story about two lonely 40-somethings preparing to get married and trying to set things straight prior to taking the big plunge.
                          Avé [2011] - UR (would be R) - Bulgaria (subtitled) - 4 Stars - A simple film about two Bulgarian teenagers/young adults that asks sincere and pointed questions about the meaning of life under a dreary and rainy autumn Bulgarian sky. (I honestly loved this film ;-)
                          End of Watch [2012] - R / O - 4 Stars - Risky, but IMHO probably the best "shaky cam" film ever made.  The use of the hand-held and even clip-on cameras in this police drama made one honestly feel that one was _there_ in the squad car, in the room making the arrest, even being punched during an arrest ;-).  Not for everybody, but IMHO a great use of this technology.   
                          Safety Not Guaranteed [2012] - R - 3 1/2 Stars - A low-budget "science-fiction-y" film that tells a great story AND IT WORKS.


BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM - (Note this category may still change)
              Winner -
                      The Central Park Five [2012] - UR - 4 Stars - In a very strong year for documentaries I pick this one because it's probably the most challenging to our society now.  In the summer of 1989 a horrific crime was committed in New York's Central Park.  A 28-year old white woman jogger was raped and left for dead in the Park.  But in the frenzy for justice, five young teenagers (all Black or Hispanic) were rounded-up and accused of the crime.  And despite having no other evidence other than their own confessions (extracted without the presence of either their parents or a lawyer) they were convicted of the crime.  Some years later someone else, a serial rapist, arrested subsequently for other crimes freely confessed to it.  What a nightmare...
              Honorable Mentions -
                       Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry [2012] - R - 4 Stars - about the avant guard Chinese artist, who helped design Beijing's Olympic stadium only to become later one of China's most prominent dissidents.
                       Searching for Sugar Man [2012] - UR - 4 Stars- the story of a 60s era Hispanic blues singer from Detroit who went by the name of Rodriguez.  So shy that he would sing and play the guitar facing the the opposite direction from the audience, his career quickly fizzled.  HOWEVER, one of his albums made it to South Africa, where it became an enormous hit among the 60s era (white) Afrikaner folk/rock community.  But no one knew what happened to him... After the Apartheid regime fell, and the internet came to South Africa, someone created a website dedicated to finding out what happened to him.  The rest of the story follows ;-)  
                       Band of Sisters [2012] - (UR would be PG-13) - Documentary - 4 Stars - mentioned already several times above, a great documentary giving the American Catholic nuns "side" of what they've been doing since the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.  Always among the most educated women in this country, they've been both spiritual guides and at the edge of defending the most marginalized of society.
                       The Other Dream Team [2012] - USA/Lithuania (at times subtitled) - UR - 4 Stars - about little Lithuania's 1992 Men's Olympic Basketball team and what it was like previously to be forced to represent another country (the former Soviet Union) prior to regaining independence (four out of five of the starters on former Soviet Union's 1988 gold medal men's Olympic team were actually Lithuanian)
              Not yet reviewed in this category (so these may still be included somewhere in the documentaries list)
                       Invisible War [2012] - about the under-reported epidemic of rape existing today within the U.S. military.
                       The Gatekeepers [2012] - interviews with the last 5-6 directors of Israel's "Shin Bet" domestic intelligence agency.        
                     
                     
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Gangster Squad [2013]

MPAA (R)  CNS/USCCB (L)  Michael Phillips (2 Stars)  AVClub (D+)  Fr. Dennis (2 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB review
Michael Phillips' review
AV Club's review

Since America's film industry remains centered around Hollywood in Los Angeles, CA, interesting, often scandalous tid-bits of Los Angeles' history inevitably find their way into our films.  However, how these "tid bits" from L.A.'s history get incorporated into our films is not exactly straight forward and there have been all kinds of approaches.  Consider simply:

(1) the venerable "neo-noir" film Chinatown [1974], directed by Roman Polanski and staring Jack Nicholson inspired by murky water-rights disputes in the early 1900s, the resolution of which making the metropolis of Los Angeles possible;

(2) the screwball comedy 1941 [1979], directed by Steven Spielberg and staring Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi conflating two WW II-era Los Angeles stories, that of the hysteria caused by the "phantom raid" on Los Angeles in early 1942 and the "zootsuit" race riots between white sailors/marines and hispanic youths in Los Angeles;

(3) the Disney animated "noirish comedy" Who Framed Roger Rabbit? [1988] about the conspiracy by a consortium lead by General Motor which bought-out Southern California's "Red Car" public transportation service in the early 1950s with the purpose of shutting-it-down to make "pave the way" for automobile expressways and increases in auto-sales, a conspiracy the film called "so stupid that only a 'toon' [a cartoon villian] could come up with it." and finally back to

(4) the neo-noir classic LA Confidential [1997], starring Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Kim Bassinger and Danny DeVito giving a rather grim answer to the question of why the mob never made a permanent inroad into Los Angeles: the police itself conducted itself like the mob. 

All these films tell, often with swagger/exaggeration, some part of Los Angeles' story.  It is in the context of this celluloid legacy that Gangster Squad (directed by Ruben Fleischer, screenplay by Will Beall, loosely based on the non-fiction book by the same name by Paul Lieberman) is to be understood.

For it is clear that while some of the characters in Gangster Squad, notably LA Police Chief Bill Parker (played in the film by Nick Nolte), his aide (shown briefly) Daryl Gates (played in the film by Josh Pence) who later also became a similarly legendarily hard-nosed LA Police Chief (and was L.A. Police Chief at the time of the 1992 L.A. Riots) as well as the film's chief villain, gangster Mickey Cohen (played in the film by Sean Penn) and even the film's chief hero, World War II vet turned LAPD Sargent and Parker's special/off-the-books "Gangster Squad" leader John O'Mara (played in the film by Josh Brolin) were all real people, the "stew" that the film-makers put together does _not_ fit the historical record (simply check the wikipedia article on Mickey Cohen).

So what to make of the film?  Well, it's a "period piece."  It is "inspired by a true story."  The "off the books Gangster Squad" apparently really did exist.  But the rest is, well, "Hollywood."  Does that take away from the performances by Nolte, Penn, Brolin as well as Giovanni Ribisi (who played the "gangster squad's" radio/bug man Sgt Keeler, who again really existed), and of others like Mirielle Enos (who played O'Mara's wife Connie), Ryan Gosling (a squad member) and Emma Stone (girlfriend of Cohen though also involved with Ryan Gosling's character) who's characters become ever "less historical"?  No, just don't read too much history into the film?  Look above and begin to think again in terms of Disney's "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" ("Which 'toon' represented 'General Motors?'" ;-)

However, since Gangster Squad is not altogether "historical" a more important complaint could be made (and especially in light of the recent shooting massacres in Aurora, Colorado and the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT) whether it was wise for the for the film makers to focus on and certainly exaggerate the story's violence.  Yes, the creation of the "off the books" squad itself indicated a determined "take Cohen down by any means necessary" approach taken by LA Police Chief Parker.  (And this in itself has produces its own problems: Thoughout the 1960s-1980s anti-Communist paramiliary "Death Squads" killed all kinds of people, Communists and non ..., throughout Latin America.  Do we really want to give Police, or anyone, unlimited powers with little/no accountability?)  Still, if the way Cohen was actually arrested and actually sentenced to Alcatraz was emphatically not the way the film-makers chose to portray his downfall, then why (wildly...) exaggerate the number of deaths/bullets?

So to be honest, I ended up rather disappointed with the film believing that though the individual performances were good, the story cheated both the author of the original (and true) story as well as the audience.  We, the book's original author and even the actors deserved better.


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A Haunted House [2013]

MPAA (R)  USCCB (O)  AVClub (D+)  Fr. Dennis (3 Stars with explanation)

IMDb listing
USCCB review
AVClub's review

Wow, you know it's January (after the Oscar deadline) when a crop like this weekend's films including A Haunted House (directed by Michael Tiddes, screenplay by Marlon Wayans and Rick Alvarez) is released and actually stands a good chance of scoring number one in the box office this weekend (I don't know whether to put a :-) or a :-( because both apply ;-).

I went to see the film because I am more or less certain that a fair number of the young people at my parish are going to see it anyway.  And I have to say to Parents that, (1) YES, the film is definitely R-rated (drugs, upper female nudity, backside male nudity, and a whole lot of trash talk), and (2) I can't think of any reason why a teenager, especially a young teenager would "need" to see the film.  And so I would encourage parents to STAND THEIR GROUND with this film as I can't think of a reason why their 15 year old would need to see something this trashy or stupid.  (Let them "grow up" a bit more to see something this trashy/stupid ;-) ... seriously, because then they'll KNOW that it's so).

But that then becomes an interesting dividing line (that of Maturity).  For those of upper high-school (17+) and young adult age, hence those who've reached that "wisdom threshold" and especially those young people of that age who know the films (mostly the Paranormal Activity films) being spoofed, I do believe that as a send-up of those movies, A Haunted House is one of the funniest in years (hence why the film simultaneously got only a 6% (!!) favorable rating from critics AND an overwhelming 94% (!!) favorable from audiences on rottentomatoes.com -- part of my amusement being that together they actually equal 100% but that's of course, only by coincidence ;-).

Yes the film is extremely crude, yes it is extremely stupid, but it is also funny.  It's based on the oft-said joke by African American comedians like Chris Rock (and even Richard Pryor before him) that most American horror movies are basically "white people movies" because "there's no way that an African American family would stay in a house that is haunted ..."

Well in this case, a young, yes unmarried African American couple, Malcolm (played by Marlon Wayans) and Kisha (played by Essence Atikins) move into a house in suburban Los Angeles (note that the white couple in the Paranormal Activity series was also unmarried...) only to find themselves tormented by a ghost/demon (like the white couple in Paranormal Activity was).  And yes, Malcolm's first instinct is just to run.  But he can't.  Why?  Well, just like in last summer's B-movie horror film The Apparition [2012] again featuring a white unmarried couple living in their case at the outskirts of suburban Los Angeles, he can't "run" because he wouldn't be able to sell the house "in this market."  So he and Kisha must stay ... Much ensues ...

Part of what ensues is that most of the people they go to for help turn out to be themselves rather creepy: "Chip" a gay psychic (played by Nick Swardson) who seems more intent on hitting-on Malcolm than searching for a ghost; Malcolm's "gangsta" cousin Ray-Ray (played by Affion Crockett) who quickly and sincerely comes with his "posse of homeboys" still "from the hood" to help is "bro" out when he hears that Malcolm in in trouble only to realize that invisible ghosts would probably be rather immune to bullets from "gangsta arms" ...); and a black "priest" who did his "theology" through a six month correspondence course while in prison (played by Cedric the Entertainer).  Note here that the USCCB review found the portrayal of the "priest" among the most appalling aspects of the film.  Yet most Catholics would know that while there are plenty of "fly by night" mostly Baptist/Pentacostalist-inspired Protestant seminaries that give all kinds of "ministerial degrees" in short orders of time, it takes next-to-for-ever (7-8 years of college/graduate study) for Catholics to get ordained precisely because the Catholic Church takes seminary training so seriously.  Yet the "store front churches" (again mostly Baptist/Pentacostalist-inspired) are fixtures throughout the poorer neighborhoods of America's cities.  So, okay, while Cedric's character would not be a Catholic priest, he could easily be a somewhat "hucksterish" Protestant minister who's both sincere and, well, kinda/rather flawed.  But also, frankly, he's "still out there fighting the good fight" as best as he can.

Anyway, the film is certainly NOT for those who haven't already seen some of the Paranormal Activity series of films (My own reviews of PA 2 and PA 3 are given here)  And yes, I would certainly say again to parents that they could insist on their minors sitting this film out until they reach maturity.  But for those who've already seen the Paranormal Activity films and are of an age to understand that the film is a "send-up" of those films, then I do believe that this film, if often very raunchy, is also very, very funny. 


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Price Check [2012]

MPAA (UR)  Chicago Tribune (3 stars) Fr. Dennis (3 Stars)

IMDb listing
Chicago Tribune's (Gary Goldstein) review

Price Check (written and directed by Michael Walker) is a small, low budget "indie" picture that I sw recently at Chicago's Facets Multimedia theater a few blocks east on Fullerton from Ashland.  As such the story is simple but certainly contemporary.

Pete Cozy (played by Eric Mabius) lived a rather uneventful life with his wife Sara (played by Annie Parisse) and their kindergarten aged daughter in suburban New York, working in the Long Island regional office of a rather middle-of-the-road, arguably boring supermarket chain.

Into these doldrums enters a firebrand named Susan Felders (played by Parker Posey) who for reasons that seem baffling to the staff of this previously sleepy regional office had apparently machinated her way into taking their regional boss' job.  Why would anyone want their apparently sacked boss' job?  And why would anyone want to come out all the way to "midway-up Long Island" from "Corporate" (located in Los Angeles) to "change things?"  Yet she arrives with corny, eye-rolling enthusiasm quickly instituting (without asking) the office's "the first annual Halloween party -- costumes MANDATORY" and then insists that everyone at the party SING at the kareoke mic.  What an unbelievable nightmare ... ;-)


She also takes a quick and arguably inappropriate "liking" to Pete who she tries to butter-up and get him to become her "right hand man" to the obvious, eye rolling derision of the rest of the office staff.  But hey, she's the new Boss, who makes NO SECRET that she's been sent there by "Corporate" with a blank check and well, when she opens that magic checkbook and at the drop-of-the-hat doubles Pete's salary, that's a kind of "life changing development" for a late 30-something marketing expert who's previously been resigned to essentially sleep at work, all the more so since she insists on coming over to his house and with equal vigor and persistence seeks to befriend his wife.

What the heck is going on?  After-all, all this "regional office" does is help the "Corporate's" local grocery stores "stock their shelves."  This is not exactly the Apollo or Manhattan project ...

Well much ensues.  And probably anyone who's ever worked in the "regional office" of anything will enjoy the ride...


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Any Day Now [2012]

MPAA (R)  Michael Philips (2 Stars)  AV Club (B)  Fr. Dennis (3 Stars)

IMDb listing
Michael Phillips' review
Village Voice's review
AV Club's review

Any Day Now (directed and screenplay adapted by Travis Fine based on the original screenplay by George Arthur Bloom based on a real case which took place in Brooklyn, NY in the 1970s) is a propaganda piece.  That said, I don't mean that necessarily in a bad way.  There are times to when it is entirely correct to "make a case."  And I do believe that this is a story that that people of good will ought to know.

Though Any Day Now is set in Los Angeles in the late 1970s, it's based on a real case that took place in Brooklyn, NY around that time.  It's about a gay man, Rudy (played by Alan Cumming) seeking to first get custody and then keep custody of a severely challenged 15-year old boy named Marco (played by Isaac Leyva) with Down Syndrome who lived in the run-down flat next to Rudy's, who due to his family situation (absent father, drug addicted mother, played by Jaime Anne Allman) really had few options other than state sanctioned foster care.  Pulling no punches, Rudy is portrayed as being a singer in a West Hollywood "drag club," indication of the film makers' desire to not try to "sanitize" the story by making Rudy artificially "respectable" AND also helping to explain why Rudy would have found himself involved in Marco's case to begin with: If Rudy didn't work as a "drag queen" in a club and live in a run-down apartment somewhere in the Hollywood/West Hollywood district of Los Angeles, he never would have had met Marco the differently-abled son of a down-on-her-luck / drug challenged mother.  Yet once one meets such folks in such heart-rending situations, well, what does one do?  Rudy does step-up to take care of Marco after Marco's mother doesn't come home one night (after being picked-up by the cops on some charge ...).

Now due to the particular characteristics of the gay-subculture, the "bohemian" (to the drag queen edge) singer Rudy comes to have a friend (who becomes more of a friend) Paul (played by Garret Dillahunt) a recently divorced and now half-out-of-the-closet lawyer/assistant D.A. who's able to help Rudy navigate some of the then overwhelmingly complex legal minefields that he would have to pass in order to hope to get custody of Marco after Marco's mother is locked-up for a sentence of three years.  Much certainly plays out ...

Now the Catholic Church in recent years has taken the stance of opposing both gay marriage and gay adoption to the extent that in Illinois from where I write Catholic Charities has withdrawn itself from dealing in adoption services rather than be compelled to grant custody of children to gay couples.  So why am I, as a Catholic priest, reviewing a film like this?  I am doing so because theology is made with the Scriptures/the whole history/Tradition of interpreting the Scriptures in one hand and our (humanity's) experience in the other.  This film is a data point.  My own experience both (1) in dealing over the years in my pastoral work with a surprisingly and at times depressingly large number of cases of troubled adults who grew-up in truly horrendous home situations (headed, as a matter of course, by heterosexual but often deeply troubled parents) and (2) actually knowing of a case of a gay (in this case, a lesbian) couple and their experience with adoption (by then, in their case, it was "legal" for them to adopt, but the number of opportunities available to them remained limited to basically the hardest, most troubled children that very, very few prospective adoptive parents would dare to undertake -- troubled, abandoned teens with either severe disabilities or drug problems) tells me that this film rings fundamentally true.   And hence I make note of the film here, noting also, as I generally try to do, what other relevant/published reviewers (see above) had to say about the film as well.


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Promised Land [2012]

MPAA (R)  CNS/USCCB (A-III)  Michael Phillips (2 Stars)  Fr. Dennis (3 Stars)

IMDB listing
CNS/USCCB review
Michael Phillips' review

Promised Land (directed by Gus Van Sant, screenplay by John Krasinski and Matt Damon, story by Dave Eggers) is a message movie about the controversy surrounding the relatively new natural gas extraction technique called "fracking."  On the positive side, fracking opens up a potentially game changing supply of natural gas in the United States (enough to make our country energy independent for the first time in generations).  On the negative side, the technology has been associated with the occasional poisoning of underground water supplies and even if the risk to the nation's underground water supplies proved relatively small or otherwise managable, natural gas remains a fossil fuel and depending on the true seriousness of the threat of global warming due to the world's use of fossil fuels, the development of this new source of energy could exacerbate environmental problems.

From what I've written thusfar, and from my previous writings on my blog, Readers here would not find it hard to discern that my natural sympathies would tend toward a "natural conservatism," that is, "if you don't really know the danger of something, then you don't do it ..."  I would add however that an IMHO under-discussed aspect of the whole "Fossil Fuel" / "Global Warming" controversy has been the relative poverty of Europe with regards to fossil fuel resources and their relative abundance, if not in terms of oil, then certainly in terms of coal and natural gas in the United States.  To put it simply, Europe (taken together an economic powerhouse of the scale of the United States) loses "little" by "going green," while the United States stands to forfeit an enormous economic advantage that it would otherwise have over Europe in the coming century if forgoes developing these resources.  Now it may well be that the threat of global warming is such that for the sake of the future of the whole planet (including the United States) these coal and natural gas resources would have to remain undeveloped.  Still, it should at least be admitted in public discussion that the United States would be sacrificing "quite a bit" for the sake of the planet's welfare (and the presently poorer nations of the world even more), while Europe would actually be sacrificing "relatively little."

Be all this as it may, this film, IMHO, does a fairly good job in presenting the various aspects of the current fracking debate.  Matt Damon's character, Steve Butler a representative of a natural gas firm called Global Crosspower Solutions sent to a rural Pennsylvania farming community to get local residents to agree to let the firm use their land to extract the shale gas found miles below their properties in return for royalties, is  emphatically not evil.  Butler introduces himself in the film as someone who himself grew-up on the farm, in his case in rural Iowa, and one who understood the importance of "industry" to supplement farm income.  He tells the story of the devastating impact that the closure of a Caterpillar tractor factory had on his hometown's local economy.   As such, he tells his bosses that he's been successful in talking farm residents to sign contracts for the drilling rights on their land because he understood their realities.  Steve Butler's partner Sue Thomason (played by Frances McDormand) is perhaps more mercenary/professional about the matter of talking to the residents, but even her pitch talks to the local residents about their hopes, needs and realities.

All goes relatively swimmingly, except for an early and relatively amateurish attempt by the local mayor to shake down Steve Butler and the company that he represents for some extra and presumably personal cash.  However, when what up until that point was expected to be a perfunctory "town meeting" goes unexpectedly awry -- a grandfatherly high school science teacher named Frank Yates (played by Hal Holbrook) who's done some reading-up on fracking on the internet asks some pointed questions -- and the mayor is forced to adjourn the meeting with a promise that the town be able to vote on the matter of bringing Global into town to drill for the natural gas, Steve and Sue, as well as their bosses at Global's office get nervous.  Things seem to get shakier when an outside environmentalist  named Dustin Noble (played by John Krasinski) roles into town a few days later after hearing of the stand that some of the residents had taken at the town meeting, promising to help organize the town's residents against falsehoods and half-truths being pitched by Global's representatives, Steve and Sue.  The rest of the movie unspools from there ... Metaphorically the battle between Steve and Dustin becomes also over the affections of a younger grade-school teacher named Alice (played by Rosemarie Dewitt).

It all plays out IMHO quite well.  The film does come from generally more Liberal Hollywood rather than from more Darwinian Wall Street/K-Street or Texas, so most Readers here could probably guess how it ends up.  Still the complexities of the questions involved (and I'm not talking about the science here but rather of a clash of competing values) is IMHO presented very well.  The "deciders" (to take a term from the GW Bush years) are truly regular folks, who've had farms in their families for generations, who do understand that there would naturally be some risks involved with the fracking technology, but could also use the money. 

So honestly folks, very good job, very good job!

Finally, parents, the only reason why the film is rated-R is from occasional use of some rough language.  There is no sex/nudity or violence in this film to speak of.  All in all, it's a quite gentle, arguably "pastoral" film.


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Jack Reacher [2012]

MPAA (PG-13)  CNS/USCCB (L)  Michael Phillips (2 1/2 Stars) The Onion/AVClub (C-)  Fr. Dennis (3 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB review
Michael Phillips' review
The Onion/AV Club's review

Jack Reacher (directed and screenplay by Christopher McQuarrie based on the crime novel (series) by Lee Child/Jim Grant) is an army/crime/detective story set in the context of a fictional mass murder sniper attack that is necessarily going to give viewers pause.  (The film was released at roughly the same time as the mass shooting at the elementary school in Connecticut).

That said, the film hinges on the following question: Can a sniper who apparently kills five random people actually have been contracted to kill one specific person plus several others to make the massacre seem random?  It's I suppose something to think about.   The question is, does one want to?

On the other hand, I've recently reviewed a documentary, The Central Park Five [2012] about a TRUE INCIDENT in which five young teenagers (all "of color" ...) were wrongly convicted of a crime that they didn't commit largely because society appalled by a horrific crime (the brutal rape of a white 28-year old female jogger one hot summer evening in Central Park, a rape that left her in a coma and nearly killed her) demanded speedy "justice" even if it severely altered/damaged the lives of further five (all "browner" ...) innocents in the process.  

So sometimes things really aren't "what they seem," and this film certainly does train viewers to "think outside the box."  As an example, former army investigator Jack Reacher (played by Tom Cruise) asked for by name by the accused shooter Barr (played by Joseph Sikora) asks the young defense attorney Helen (played by Rosalina Pike) to interview the victims' families as she begins work on (at least nominally) defending the person arrested for the shooting.  She thinks he's trying to teach her the lesson of having sympathy for the victims and their side of the story.  But Jack is actually interested in discerning just how "random" the victims were.  It turns out that two of the victims were meeting on the river bank there across the river from the garage from where the shooter was to have been perched because they were probably having an affair. The two still end-up tragic/unfortunate victims and the shooter was not targeting those two for any specific reason, but the reader here should get the picture.  An incident that appears to look "random" may not be random at all.

Anyway some of the performances are quite good - Cruise's, Pike's, Richard Jenkins' / David Oyelowo's (as the DA and chief police investigator on the case).  Alexia Fast plays a young woman named Sandy who gets caught up in the mess and Robert DuVall and Werner Herzog come to play significant roles in the story as it progresses.

The question becomes, honestly, does one have the stomach for this kind of film?  Yet do we want to see "patsies" then sitting in prison or even getting the chair ...?


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