George Clooney

THE BOYS IN THE BOAT: the underdogs soar

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Photo caption: Callum Turner (center front) in THE BOYS IN THE BOAT. Courtesy of MGM.

The Boys in the Boat is the entertaining true story of the ultimate sports underdog – the University of Washington’s junior varsity rowing team, which won gold medals at the 1936 Olympics hosted by Hitler in Munich (the Jesse Owens Olympics). Again, this was UDub’s JUNIOR varsity boat.

The Boys in the Boat follows a familiar arc for sports movies – the heroes must win the Big Race (actually, three Big Races here). We’ve all seen this before, but director George Clooney gets the credit for keeping The Boys in the Boat from becoming unbearably hackneyed or corny. Best known as a movie star, Clooney has proven himself an able director: Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Good Night and Good Luck, The Ides of March, The Monuments Men.

In telling the story, Clooney emphasizes the Depression setting and how impoverished the kids on the team are, especially the main kid, played by Callum Turner. Joel Edgerton plays the taciturn coach, who must gamble his job on an unconventional decision. Few of us have a deep understanding of the sport of team rowing, so Clooney takes us on a rowing procedural.

Joel Edgerton (second from right) in THE BOYS IN THE BOAT. Courtesy of MGM.

I love Edgerton in everything, and he’s starred in Master Gardener, Loving and Zero Dark Thirty. I especially recommend watching him in The Gift, which he also wrote an directed. Edgerton is very, very good here.

Callum Turner is adequate, but Luke Slattery and Jack Mulhern are especially vivid as his two of his teammates.

This story is still celebrated in Seattle, where you can still visit the boathouse and see the team’s memorabilia. One race is staged in the Montlake Cut between Lake Washington and Puget Sound. The coolest race scene has an observation train, with bleachers on the rail cars, keeping pace with the boats racing down the Hudson River.

The Boys in the Boat ain’t the most original film, but it’s enjoyable to watch.

Gravity: woman against nature – an infinitely vast nature

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Having been nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, Gravity has been re-released in theaters in 3D.  Gripping and visually spectacular, Gravity is less a sci-fi film than it is a basic Man Against Nature (mostly Woman Against Nature) survival tale set in space. A catastrophe strikes a space station, and it’s in doubt whether the two survivors (Sandra Bullock and George Clooney) will be able to make it back to Earth or be forever lost in space.

The skeleton of the story may be simple, but Gravity is an exceptional experience because writer-director Alfonso Cuarón, in a triumph of special effects, captures both the messy nuts and bolts of space travel and the potential lethality of the space environment. I’ve seen my share of space movies, but I’ve never experienced a better sense of the terrifying dark and silent vastness of space. A human in space is suspended in an infinity in which, without a man-made propulsion device, he/she can only helplessly drift. Space is not so much hostile to humans as it is indifferent to our tiny existences.

The technical marvels of manned space missions have dulled us to the reality that space-walking astronauts are just one broken tether or one lost grip from floating away and becoming lifeless space lint. Cuarón brings his audience into that reality, and keeps our tension acute during Ms. Bullock’s Wild Ride.

The Mexico City-born Cuarón will certainly receive an Academy Award nomination for directing. Now Cuarón is an amazingly gifted filmmaker – he also wrote and directed Children of Men, my #2 movie of 2006 and Y Tu Mama Tambien, my #1 movie of 2002. Along the way, he also directed one of the best Harry Potter movies – Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azbakan (the one with the Dementors, Sirius Black and the werewolf).

There are essentially only two characters on the screen, and Cuarón benefits from two instantly sympathetic movie stars, Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. Clooney, of course, can do anything on the screen, and he nails the less complex role of a The Right Stuff style space jock. (In a wonderful nod to Apollo 13 and The Right Stuff, Ed Harris voices the earth-based NASA control chief.)

I’m generally not a huge fan of Bullock but acknowledge her ability to sometimes excel in comedy (The Heat) and to bring something extra to action (Speed). But I’ve gotta say that she’s never been better than she is in Gravity. Here she plays the Everyman role of a person with ordinary skills thrust into overwhelming peril – the kind of cinematic part that made icons out of James Stewart and Tom Hanks. There isn’t a false moment in Bullock’s performance, and she keeps us rooting for her on whole wild ride.

Gravity currently has an unbelievably high 96 Metacritic rating because critics are rightly acknowledging Cuarón’s achievements in directing and special effects. Gravity is without flaws, and it’s damn entertaining, but I’m not going to rate it as the year’s best; I think that some indies and foreign films are more emotionally compelling and have more textured stories. But Gravity is definitely the one of the best Hollywood films of the year and deserves its Oscar nod.

Gravity: woman against nature – an infinitely vast nature

by

The gripping visually spectacular Gravity is less a sci-fi film than it is a basic Man Against Nature (mostly Woman Against Nature) survival tale set in space. A catastrophe strikes a space station, and it’s in doubt whether the two survivors (Sandra Bullock and George Clooney) will be able to make it back to Earth or be forever lost in space.

The skeleton of the story may be simple, but Gravity is an exceptional experience because  writer-director Alfonso Cuarón, in a triumph of special effects, captures both the messy nuts and bolts of space travel and the potential lethality of the space environment.  I’ve seen my share of space movies, but I’ve never experienced a better sense of the terrifying dark and silent vastness of space.  A human in space is suspended in an infinity in which, without a man-made propulsion device, he/she can only helplessly drift.  Space is not so much hostile to humans as it is indifferent to our tiny existences.

The technical marvels of manned space missions have dulled us to the reality that space-walking astronauts are just one broken tether or one lost grip from floating away and becoming lifeless space lint.  Cuarón brings his audience into that reality, and keeps our tension acute during Ms. Bullock’s Wild Ride.

The Mexico City-born Cuarón will certainly receive an Academy Award nomination for directing.  Now Cuarón is an amazingly gifted filmmaker – he also wrote and directed Children of Men, my #2 movie of 2006 and Y Tu Mama Tambien, my #1 movie of 2002.  Along the way, he also directed one of the best Harry Potter movies – Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azbakan (the one with the Dementors, Sirius Black and the werewolf).

There are essentially only two characters on the screen, and Cuarón benefits from two instantly sympathetic movie stars, Sandra Bullock and George Clooney.  Clooney, of course, can do anything on the screen, and he nails the less complex role of a The Right Stuff style space jock.  (In a wonderful nod to Apollo 13 and The Right Stuff, Ed Harris voices the earth-based NASA control chief.)

I’m generally not a huge fan of Bullock but acknowledge her ability to sometimes excel in comedy (The Heat) and to bring something extra to action (Speed).  But I’ve gotta say that she’s never been better than she is in Gravity.  Here she plays the Everyman role of a person with ordinary skills thrust into overwhelming peril – the kind of cinematic part that made icons out of James Stewart and Tom Hanks.  There isn’t a false moment in Bullock’s performance, and she keeps us rooting for her on whole wild ride.

Gravity currently has an unbelievably high 96 Metacritic rating because critics are rightly acknowledging Cuarón’s achievements in directing and special effects.  Gravity is without flaws, and it’s damn entertaining, but I’m not going to rate it as the year’s best; I think that some indies and foreign films are more emotionally compelling and have more textured stories.  But Gravity is definitely the best Hollywood film of the year so far.

DVD of the Week: The Descendants

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In director Alexander Payne’s first film since Sideways, George Clooney seeks to care for his daughters in Hawaii after his wife is hospitalized, but then learns that she has been cheating on him.  That news sends him on a quest that he defines along the way.  To complicate things, his daughters are cooperative to various degrees.  The heat is turned up even higher by a potential land deal that could make Clooney and his many entitled slacker cousins wildly rich, but the deal’s deadline looms and he is pressured by his VERY interested relations.

The situation is promising enough, but Payne takes the story in unanticipated directions.   And, as you would expect from Sideways, there are many funny moments in The Descendants.

Clooney’s performance is brilliant.  Here, he does not play The Coolest Man on the Planet.  Instead, Clooney is a grinding workaholic who is so clueless about his kids that he doesn’t realize how clueless he is.  He is stunned by news of the affair that he never suspected.  Perhaps for the first time in his life, he must work through his situation figuring it out as he goes along.

Shailene Woodley’s performance as the older daughter is even more essential to the success of The Descendants. It’s not just that she perfectly plays a bratty teenager, but that we can see that some of her brattiness is hormonal and some of it is entirely voluntary and manipulative. Woodley had to convincingly play a character who is at times self-centered and shallow, but who can rally and reach within herself to serve as the family glue and support her dad and little sister.

The Descendants approaches being a perfect movie but for two things: 1) the daughter’s stoner boyfriend is just too oblivious to be credible among the other colorful yet completely authentic characters; and 2)  the audience can never believe that there’s any chance that George Clooney is going to allow bulldozers on thousands of pristine Hawaiian acres.  Still, almost perfect is pretty good.

DVD of the Week: The Ides of March

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It being Super Tuesday and all, let’s go with a film about electoral politics, The Ides of March.  George Clooney directed, co-wrote and stars in this contemporary political drama. It’s an engrossing story about ambition, loyalty and betrayal.  The story revolves around an up-and-coming political consultant (Ryan Gosling).  He is working under a veteran campaign manager (Philip Seymour Hoffman) in a Democratic Presidential primary.  He is wooed by the campaign manager (Paul Giamatti) for the opposing candidate, and the intrigue begins.

Two performances stand out.  Philip Seymour Hoffman perfectly captures the old school politico, now jaded, but able to access the idealism that first drove him into politics.  Ryan Gosling can soar in any kind of role.  Here he is smart, but is he smart enough?  He is well-intentioned, but can it overcome his ambition? Gosling keeps us on the edge of our seats as he navigates a snake pit of betrayals.

The rest of the cast is good, too:  Giamatti, Evan Rachel Wood as an ambitious intern and Marisa Tomei as a hard-nosed reporter.

It’s a movie that MOSTLY gets the politics right.  The fundamental truth of the movie is that an utterly cynical veteran politico can still fall in love with candidate, as Hoffman’s campaign manager does with Clooney’s candidate.

In another dead on accurate touch, Hoffman and Gosling need a room to privately pass on some bad news to Clooney.  Instead of finding a cramped office, the three men sit on folding chairs knee-to-knee in a room that could accommodate 200.  That stuff really happens.

Unfortunately, Ides gets some things wrong.  Would never happen:  A veteran strategist like Hoffman would never be surprised by the possibility of “mischief voting” in an open primary.  Real life campaign consultants would never discuss policy positions with a candidate in a room full of thirty 20-somethings, all itching to leak what they know.   And no veteran politico worth his salt would tell a reporter about a deal that is not done.

Nonetheless, it’s a movie that I recommend.

The Ides of March: an engrossing story about ambition, loyalty and betrayal

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Here’s a belated comment on The Ides of March, released earlier this fall.  George Clooney directed, co-wrote and stars in this contemporary political drama. It’s an engrossing story about ambition, loyalty and betrayal.  The story revolves around an up-and-coming political consultant (Ryan Gosling).  He is working under a veteran campaign manager (Philip Seymour Hoffman) in a Democratic Presidential primary.  He is wooed by the campaign manager (Paul Giamatti) for the opposing candidate, and the intrigue begins.

Two performances stand out.  Philip Seymour Hoffman perfectly captures the old school politico, now jaded, but able to access the idealism that first drove him into politics.  Ryan Gosling can soar in any kind of role.  Here he is smart, but is he smart enough?  He is well-intentioned, but can it overcome his ambition? Gosling keeps us on the edge of our seats as he navigates a snake pit of betrayals.

The rest of the cast is good, too:  Giamatti, Evan Rachel Wood as an ambitious intern and Marisa Tomei as a hard-nosed reporter.

It’s a movie that MOSTLY gets the politics right.  The fundamental truth of the movie is that an utterly cynical veteran politico can still fall in love with candidate, as Hoffman’s campaign manager does with Clooney’s candidate.

In another dead on accurate touch, Hoffman and Gosling need a room to privately pass on some bad news to Clooney.  Instead of finding a cramped office, the three men sit on folding chairs knee-to-knee in a room that could accommodate 200.  That stuff really happens.

Unfortunately, Ides gets some things wrong.  Would never happen:  A veteran strategist like Hoffman would never be surprised by the possibility of “mischief voting” in an open primary.  Real life campaign consultants would never discuss policy positions with a candidate in a room full of thirty 20-somethings, all itching to leak what they know.   And no veteran politico worth his salt would tell a reporter about a deal that is not done.

Nonetheless, it’s a movie that I recommend.

The Descendants: beginning a quest, stunned and clueless

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In director Alexander Payne’s first film since Sideways, George Clooney seeks to care for his daughters in Hawaii after his wife is hospitalized, but then learns that she has been cheating on him.  That news sends him on a quest that he defines along the way.  To complicate things, his daughters are cooperative to various degrees.  The heat is turned up even higher by a potential land deal that could make Clooney and his many entitled slacker cousins wildly rich, but the deal’s deadline looms and he is pressured by his VERY interested relations.

The situation is promising enough, but Payne takes the story in unanticipated directions.   And, as you would expect from Sideways, there are many funny moments in The Descendants.

Clooney’s performance is brilliant.  Here, he does not play The Coolest Man on the Planet.  Instead, Clooney is a grinding workaholic who is so clueless about his kids that he doesn’t realize how clueless he is.  He is stunned by news of the affair that he never suspected.  Perhaps for the first time in his life, he must work through his situation figuring it out as he goes along.

Shailene Woodley’s performance as the older daughter is even more essential to the success of The Descendants. It’s not just that she perfectly plays a bratty teenager, but that we can see that some of her brattiness is hormonal and some of it is entirely voluntary and manipulative. Woodley had to convincingly play a character who is at times self-centered and shallow, but who can rally and reach within herself to serve as the family glue and support her dad and little sister.

The Descendants approaches being a perfect movie but for two things: 1) the daughter’s stoner boyfriend is just too oblivious to be credible among the other colorful yet completely authentic characters; and 2)  the audience can never believe that there’s any chance that George Clooney is going to allow bulldozers on thousands of pristine Hawaiian acres.  Still, almost perfect is pretty good.

Late November at the Movies

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Promising films coming out in the last part of November include:

The Descendants with George Clooney, director Alexander Payne’s first film since Sideways.

Into the Abyss:  Werner Herzog’s documentary exploring American capital punishment.

My Week with Marilyn:   Reputedly dazzling performance by Michele Williams as Marilyn Monroe.

You can see trailers of upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To. Here’s the trailer to My Week with Marilyn.

DVD of the Week: The American

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In this 2010 thriller, George Clooney plays an international master assassin.  He lives a life of crushing loneliness.  Anyone who gets close to him will either die or betray him.  He is exhausted by years of perpetual vigilance, unnourished by human affection.  I remember this loneliness from my own years as an international master assassin.

Clooney’s character is written and played well.  This is a smart, arty film that transcends its hackneyed set-up:  the assassin takes One Last Job and encounters some beautiful, available and potentially dangerous women who may be Up To No Good.  The climax reminds me of the greatest assassin movie, Day of the Jackal.

For my recent DVD choices (including trailers), see DVDs of the Week.

The American

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In this thriller, George Clooney plays an international master assassin.  He lives a life of crushing loneliness.  Anyone who gets close to him will either die or betray him.  He is exhausted by years of perpetual vigilance, unnourished by human affection.  I remember this loneliness from my own years as an international master assassin.

Clooney’s character is written and played well.  This is a smart, arty film that transcends its hackneyed set-up:  the assassin takes One Last Job and encounters some beautiful, available and potentially dangerous women who may be Up To No Good.  The climax reminds me of the greatest assassin movie, Day of the Jackal.