"The Adventures of Tintin"
Richard's Review: 3 1/2 stars
Steven Spielberg has used the most modern performance capture 3D film technology to tell an old-fashioned action-adventure story. Binary code brings us "The Adventures of Tintin," inspired by a series of comic books created by the Belgian artist Hergé, about an intrepid boy reporter and his dog Snowy.
Based on three of the original books, "The Crab with the Golden Claws," "The Secret of the Unicorn" and "Red Rackham's Treasure," the movie is a long series of clues strung together to form the story and connect the action scenes. The intrigue begins when Tintin (Jamie Bell) buys a model ship at a flea market. He soon learns his new purchase comes with a steep price when a "sour faced man with a sugary name," the sinister Mr. Sakharine (Daniel Craig), kidnaps Tintin and his dog. Shanghaied on a cargo ship bound for North Africa, they meet an eyelidless sailor (among other unusual characters) and another key player in the mystery -- the ultimate drunken seadog Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis). Together they piece together the mystery of the Haddock family curse and why Sakharine was so desperate to lay his hands on the model ship.
Near the end of the movie Tintin asks Captain Haddock, "How's your thirst for adventure?" If, like the old seadog, you answer, "Unquenchable," then "The Adventures of Tintin" may be for you. It is paced like the Saturday morning serials that inspired Spielberg's "Indiana Jones" series.
But this isn't Indy. It's more like the Hardy Boys with English accents, more exotic locations and a bigger effects budget. As a character, Tintin is more of a catalyst for the action. He asks the right questions and has a skill set beyond his years -- how does he know how to fly a plane? That said, he's the least interesting character on screen.
It's rare to find a modern kid's movie that uses an alcoholic flashback as a plot point, but "Tintin" goes there and in doing so finds its best character in Serkis. He's a gem as the boozy Captain Haddock. Perhaps it's because he's such an unlikely character in a film like this. Not since "Dumbo" featured plastered hallucinated pink pachyderms have the effects of alcoholism been such a major part of a kid's flick. Serkis is also a master of the motion capture. He brings personality to the dots and dashes that make up the physical appearance of his characters, whether it's King Kong or Gollum.
Despite the well-loved characters and Serkis' work, this is a Spielberg movie through and through. Using a mix of motion capture and CGI, Spielberg is finally able to recreate the giant set pieces he has always been fond of in boldface. The motorcycle chase through a North African town, a plane crash in the desert and a swashbuckling flashback are all spectacular, exhilarating sequences. But they feel more Spielbergian than Tintin-ian. I'm not sure if Hergé purists will appreciate the director's vision imposed on their beloved characters. For everyone else "The Adventures of Tin Tin" is good, escapist fun.
"We Bought a Zoo"
Richard's Review: 3 1/2 stars
When Benjamin Mee (Matt Damon) was shopping around for a new family home, he ended up buying the ultimate fixer-upper in a ramshackle house with an even more ramshackle zoo attached to the property. Director Cameron Crowe has taken some liberties with this true story of a single father turned zookeeper. He relocates the story from Britain to Southern California for a start. But Crowe maintains the emotional core of this story, which is the most important part of Mee's journey.
At the start of "We Bought a Zoo" Mee's wife Katherine (Stephanie Szostak) has passed away. The thrill-seeking journalist is cut adrift, left with two young kids, teenager Dylan (Colin Ford) and 7-year-old Rosie (Maggie Elizabeth Jones) and a hankering to change his life. Leaving Los Angeles, Mee buys a rural house nine miles from the nearest Target store. It's attached to an 18-acre property called the Rosemoor Animal Park.
The zoo has seen better days, as have its staff -- the de facto zookeeper Kelly Foster (Scarlett Johansson) and the out-of-control maintenance man Peter MacCready (Angus Macfadyen). Mee's commitment to the zoo and his family almost bankrupts him financially and emotionally. But his commitment to doing the right thing for everyone, including the two and four legged characters, puts both the zoo and his life back on track.
"We Bought a Zoo" shouldn't work. It is too sentimental and manipulative by half. Luckily Damon is there to ground the flighty story. Even a postscript Steven Spielberg would find schmaltzy works because Damon hits all the right notes.
Johansson is sweet yet strong as the ambitious zookeeper, but like many of the supporting characters her role feels underdeveloped. That's particularly true in the case of Lily, the farm girl played by Elle Fanning. It's a likeable performance in search of some meaning within the movie.
As usual, Crowe's dialogue sings. A father and son argument included in this film is a showstopper. You'll never use the word "whatever" again without thinking of this movie.
Floating above all this is another pitch-perfect Crowe soundtrack, featuring the usual suspects -- Neil Young and Randy Newman -- to unexpected inclusions such as Sigur Rós frontman Jónsi.
"We Bought a Zoo" is a crowd pleaser with emotional truth. That comes from Damon's portrayal of a man who refuses to let grief rule his life. It's a performance ripe with decency and integrity and it elevates the entire movie.
"Carnage"
Richard's Review: 4 1/2 stars
It is unlikely that director Roman Polanski will be buying a condo near you anytime soon. Polanski would be arrested if he set foot on North American soil -- he's a fugitive from American justice. Polanski also sees the confined spaces of apartment life as stifling, claustrophobic and toxic. In movie after movie -- "The Tenant," "Repulsion," "Rosemary's Baby" and now "Carnage" -- these closed-in spaces are scenes of tension and strife.
Based on Yasmina Reza's play "God of Carnage," the film has a simple premise. Nancy and Alan Cowan (Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz) pay a visit to the Brooklyn apartment of Penelope and Michael Longstreet (Jodie Foster and John C. Reilly) to discuss an altercation between their children in a nearby park. At first, all seems to go well despite Alan's insistence on having loud cell phone conversations and Penelope's passive aggressive tirades. Soon, however, civility gives way to anarchy.
"Carnage" is a comedy of manners -- bad manners. The humor -- and there are many laughs -- come from the situations and not jokes with punch lines.
Polanski deliberately keeps the style of the film simple and focuses on the performances and the dialogue. It's all about the words -- and one unexpected but spectacular puke scene. Not one syllable is out of place. Only Polanski, with the aid of two great actors like Waltz and O'Reilly, could make a conversation about toilet flush mechanisms so menacing and so funny.
It's a sharply-written war of words performed by actors who are clearly relishing the chance to get under the skins of their characters and each other. Nancy, Penelope and Michael are all as thin skinned as the cheap veneer on Michael's bookshelf. Only Alan, the cutthroat lawyer, seems to understand and appreciate the dynamic in play.
You can see the actors stretching their muscles as the film's early undercurrent of tensions gives way to the overt hostility of its climax.
Although Foster's character is tightly wound, the actress has rarely been this loose on screen. It's a highly theatrical performance, complete with bulging forehead veins and furrowed brows. It expertly reveals her character's political correctness, as well as her self-pity and self-loathing. When she says, "There's no reason to lose our cool here," you know she doesn't really mean it.
Waltz finds his best role since "Inglourious Basterds" and Winslet is gloriously unhinged. Only O'Reilly seems slightly out of place. He's fine in the early scenes as the big friendly lug trying to avoid confrontation, but less effective later on when his true colors are revealed.
"Carnage" pokes fun at the middle class, constantly shifting the power from couple to couple, gender to gender, class to class and person to person. It's also a microcosm of society. Despite an abrupt ending that may leave some scratching their heads, Polanski's film takes a fascinating look at what lies underneath the carefully manicured facades many of us present to the world.
