Monthly Archives: May 2012

May 31, 2012 · 12:15 pm

Quick Take: The Avengers

The Avengers (2012)

Directed by Joss Whedon
Written by Joss Whedon with story credit by Whedon and Zak Penn

Now that is how you start the summer.

The Avengers is the true definition of a popcorn picture. It has everything you could possibly want in a summer action film: It’s a movie about superheroes banding together to fight evil; the budget is on full display; the script never takes itself seriously; there’s a nice mix of established stars and charming relative newcomers; there’s a surprise death; and the third act is so relentlessly absorbing that you realize without looking that you are out of popcorn.

Not since Spiderman 2 has there been a superhero movie this fun. Guys like Raimi and Whedon know exactly what to inject into these movies to make them work. You need to be a geek with talent!

The bar is now set at a ridiculously high level for this season but I have faith in this summer’s crop of movies. I have a feeling we’re going to see more hits than duds. Will any of them be better than The Avengers? Possibly. But will any of them be as fun? If only we are so lucky.

A

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May 29, 2012 · 1:00 pm

Quick Take: J. Edgar

J. Edgar (2011)

Directed by Clint Eastwood
Written by Dustin Lance Black

Leonardo DiCaprio buries himself in garish makeup and a body suit to play the enigmatic J. Edgar Hoover, a flawed but fascinating officer of the law. It’s a convincing performance, one that deserved more critical notice. DiCaprio is one of our very best young actors and he should be proud of his work here.

However, the film itself was only quietly compelling. It lacked punch and felt a bit rough around the edges. J. Edgar was at its best and most absorbing when Hoover and his team handled the popular Baby Lindbergh case and established the FBI as a formidable institution in our country. It was a fascinating history lesson, told from a perspective I was unfamiliar with.

The rest of J. Edgar failed to move me. His relationship with Clyde Tolson was a bit too thin; we never really got to see what made Hoover fall in love with him. The film simply presented their love for one another as a statement of fact, not as a relationship with any real substance. I also did not care for Judi Dench’s one-note portrayal of Hoover’s disapproving mother. Their relationship looked like something out of a soap opera. And I wanted to see more sides to Miss Gandy (nicely underplayed by Naomi Watts, who had too little to do). What kind of home life did Hoover’s loyal secretary have?

Bottom line: Worth a look for DiCaprio alone. The rest is a mixed bag.

B-

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May 26, 2012 · 12:00 pm

The Rundown: Cate Blanchett

Fincher. Spielberg. Minghella. Raimi. Scorsese. Scott. Soderbergh. Jarmusch. Anderson.

One thing you may notice when looking at Cate Blanchett’s eclectic filmography is her penchant for choosing some amazing directors. A generous mix of mainstream and offbeat. Clearly, not many of these movies are hits or even very good. But Blanchett stretches and experiments unlike any actress I can think of. She’s a chameleon. I’m always in awe of her efforts.

And if I may say so, is there any actress sexier than Cate Blanchett?

Here’s a rundown of her career so far.

Heartland (1994) … Elizabeth
Bordertown (1995) … Bianca
Who knew? Our darling Cate started out in TV! She appeared in these relatively low profile Australian miniseries where she flexed her acting muscles alongside fellow Aussie Hugo Weaving.

Parklands (1996) … Rosie
Thank God He Met Lizzie (1997) … Lizzie
After those TV appearances, she scored the lead roles in these small Aussie films.

Paradise Road (1997) … Susan
Bruce Beresford, a respected Australian director, plucked Blanchett out of obscurity and cast her alongside Glenn Glose, Frances McDormand, Jennifer Ehle and Julianna Margulies in this Japanese/Australian drama about women prisoners in WWII. It wasn’t a hit, but the film paved the way for bigger and better things.

Oscar and Lucinda (1997) … Lucinda
Her highest-profile role to date. She played Lucinda to Ralph Fiennes’ Oscar in this delightful culture-clash romantic drama. I remember simply adoring all of the performances in this film, especially from Blanchett who I had never seen before. A delightful discovery. B

Elizabeth (1998) … Elizabeth I
And there it is. Her breakout role, an Oscar-nominated performance where she dazzled the world with her acting prowess and gorgeous physique. She embodied the role of a young and inexperienced new queen fighting to keep her throne. I’m not a fan of stuffy period dramas, but this one was anything but. And it’s all because of Cate Blanchett. Welcome to Hollywood, my dear. B+

An Ideal Husband (1999) … Lady Gertrude Chiltern
A modest hit from Oliver Parker, this one features Rupert Everett as a philanderer who helps his friend (Jeremy Northam) shush away a scheming blackmailer (Julianne Moore). Blanchett plays Northam’s wife, Gertrude.

Pushing Tin (1999) … Connie Falzone
A flop from Mike Newell that features the unique casting of John Cusack and Billy Bob Thornton playing cocky air traffic controllers. Blanchett and Angelina Jolie play the women in their lives. It’s certainly not boring, but it was an uneasy mix of Hollywood clichés and smart character beats. C+

The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) … Meredith Logue
I didn’t like this film when I first saw it in theaters, but when I revisited it on DVD not long after, I was enamored with it. Anthony Minghella crafted a very subtle, harrowing study of obsession in high society. Damon is breathtaking here. Blanchett has a brief bit that doesn’t quite pop, but she blends in well with this high-caliber cast. A

The Man Who Cried (2000) … Lola
Sally Potter helmed this bizarre story of a Russian immigrant (Christina Ricci) who falls for a gypsy horseman (Johnny Depp). Blanchett plays her dancing friend, Lola. Can’t say I have much of a desire to catch this one.

The Gift (2000) … Annabelle “Annie” Wilson
A crazy little thriller from Sam Raimi (and co-written by Billy Bob Thornton). It wasn’t a hit by any means, but I know some folks who really dug it. I kind of fell somewhere in the middle. It has some credibility issues, but it certainly contained some pretty explosive twists. I really loved this cast (including Reeves, Holmes, Swank, Kinnear). B-

Bandits (2001) … Kate Wheeler
Blanchett concluded her offbeat Billy Bob period by starring alongside him and the great Bruce Willis in Barry Levinson’s misfire about two bank robbers who fall in love with the girl they’ve kidnapped. Clumsy and poorly paced, I couldn’t get into Bandits at all. I was tremendously disappointed with it considering how much I adore these actors. D+

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-2003) … Galadriel
In Peter Jackson’s glorious, extravagant epic, Blanchett has the pivotal role of Lady Galadriel, an ethereal guardian elf who casts a watchful eye over our beloved group. These movies are cinematic achievements of the highest order. A

Charlotte Gray (2001) … Charlotte Gray
I love that Blanchett works with such talented directors. I haven’t seen this one, but she re-teams with Gillian Armstrong (Oscar and Lucinda) to play a young Scottish woman who joins the French Resistance in WWII to look for her boyfriend, who is MIA in France. I hear the movie is just OK, but that Blanchett is, no surprise, pretty damned good.

The Shipping News (2001) … Petal
A hugely underrated drama from Lasse Hallstrom. This one has a fantastic performance from Kevin Spacey as a timid, down-beaten man living a sad, quiet life in icy Newfoundland. Blanchett, Judi Dench and Julianne Moore play the women in his life who eventually turn him around. I discovered this on DVD long after it was released and was pleasantly surprised on all levels. A sweet, soft-spoken movie with lots of real human emotions on full display. A-

Heaven (2002) … Philippa
A Tom Tykwer venture in which she plays a widow hellbent on killing the drug dealer that helped claim her husband’s life. Amidst her descent into crime, she falls for the police officer (Giovanni Ribisi) on her trail. A little artsy, a little twisted, but it’s an absorbing, well-acted drama. B

Veronica Guerin (2003) … Veronica Guerin
Coffee and Cigarettes (2003) … Cate/Shelly
The Missing (2003) … Magdelena Gilkeson
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) … Jane Winslet-Richardson
Four wildly different directors – Joel Schumacher, Jim Jarmusch, Ron Howard and Wes Anderson – helmed these dramas that were unseen by me. Her performance as Veronica Guerin was well-received by critics, though the film was not quite embraced by many. (Neither of these films were hits, actually.) One could argue that this was a rare “low period” in Blanchett’s career.

The Aviator (2004) … Katherine Hepburn
She escaped from that string of flops and disappeared in an Oscar-winning performance as Katherine Hepburn in Martin Scorsese’s masterful biopic. Blanchett stole my heart in this film doing an utterly convincing turn as one of the most beloved movie actresses in the world. Blanchett clearly did her homework. DiCaprio is spectacularly good here as the titular Howard Hughes. A stunning film all around. A

Little Fish (2005) … Tracy
I’m sad to say that I never even heard of this one. Cate returned to her native Australia to film this low-budget indie where she plays an ex-druggie who has been trying to live a clean and sober life while building a new business. Of course, it doesn’t exactly go as planned. Her famous Aussie co-stars include Hugo Weaving and Sam Neill.

Babel (2006) … Susan Jones
In Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s gorgeous tapestry of interlocking stories set in far ends of the world, we watch in horror as a married couple (Brad Pitt and Blanchett, a divine pairing) are tragically stricken in the desert. It’s richly layered and truly heartbreaking. The cast is brilliant from top to bottom, especially the divine Rinko Kikuchi. A-

The Good German (2006) … Lena Brandt
I skipped this one on the basis of negative buzz and overall disinterest in the story, but part of me regrets it. I so love this cast. I always say I’ll see anything Clooney does, so I have to back that up, don’t I? And one can’t usually go wrong with including Blanchett and Maguire in the cast as well. I should just suck it up and watch it already. Buzz be damned!

Notes on a Scandal (2006) … Sheba Hart
A fantastic little potboiler in which Blanchett plays a teacher carrying on a dangerous affair with a 15-year-old student. Judi Dench is the veteran colleague who does some serious finger-wagging. It’s a bit melodramatic, of course, but Blanchett sold it for me, 100%. It’s a very sexy thriller. B+

Hot Fuzz (2007) … Janine (uncredited)
I’d much prefer Hot Fuzz over Shaun of the Dead, and I know I’m not alone in that thought. In Edgar Wright’s silly, thunderous action comedy, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have truly never been better. Blanchett is virtually unrecognizable as Pegg’s masked ex-girlfriend. A

I’m Not There (2007) … Jude
I’ve heard many wonderful things about Blanchett’s performance as a variation of Bob Dylan’s persona. The buzz for the rest of the film is polarizing, as expected from auteur/experimentalist Todd Haynes. But I may take the jump and rent this one someday…

Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) … Queen Elizabeth I
Negative reviews and lack of interest in revisiting the character kept me away from this sequel to the movie that made Blanchett a star. I feel like this one came and went, and no one even noticed.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) … Irina Spalko
Sigh. Where can I begin? I have very mixed feelings about this whole affair. In context, it doesn’t deserve to be called an Indiana Jones movie. It’s not even close to being as good as the previous three. But… as a standalone action blockbuster? It’s not that bad. Spielberg does know how to spin an action yarn. However, Spalko is a poorly conceived cartoon and arguably Blanchett’s worst role. B-

Ponyo (2008) … Granmamare (voice)
I have yet to dip my toe in the waters of Japanese animation, including this very well-received adventure from the revered animator Hayao Miyazaki. Blanchett is one of many Americans voicing the English dubbed version.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) … Daisy
A huge disappointment considering that it was my most eagerly anticipated film of 2008. I certainly didn’t hate it; I found a lot to admire about David Fincher’s fantastical story about a man who ages backwards. But glacial pacing and dull supporting characters prevented me from getting under its skin. B-

Robin Hood (2010) … Marion Loxley
Another one I skipped, despite being such a big fan of Russell Crowe and director Ridley Scott. It’s one of those films I mean to get around to someday but never did (yet). Pairing Crowe with fellow Aussie Blanchett seems just right.

Hanna (2011) … Marissa
One of the best films of 2011. Blanchett has a steely, ice-cold reserve as an agent hell-bent on stopping a 15-year-old assassin (the brilliant Saoirse Ronan). This is electrifying filmmaking from Joe Wright, also starring Eric Bana as Ronan’s father. All of the elements worked here — from the action to the pulsating music, from the depth of the performances to the resonant themes of belonging and vengeance. A

Family Guy (2012) … Penelope (voice)
Cate made a rare foray in television, albeit behind the microphone. I don’t watch the show, but I can’t judge the appearance. But Blanchett is a dazzling voice actress. I can see her doing a career in voice work for many years to come.

The Hobbit: An Expected Journey/There and Back Again (2012/2013) … Galadriel
Galadriel, the fanboy’s wet dream from the LOTR trilogy, will be returning to Middle Earth in Peter Jackson’s hugely anticipated epic adventure later this year. This is going to be a big one.

Lawless (2013)
Blanchett joins Ryan Gosling, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale and Rooney Mara in Terence Malick’s upcoming tale of sexual obsession.

Ahem… Is it hot in here, or is it just me?

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May 24, 2012 · 1:00 pm

Quick Take: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011)

Directed by Stephen Daldry
Written by Eric Roth

The only Best Picture nominee from last year that has truly moved me to tears.

I had such low expectations for this movie; it seemed to be everyone’s punching bag, a bullied title, a movie that didn’t deserve to be listed alongside The Artist, The Tree of Life, etc. Well, I couldn’t disagree more.

I was thoroughly engrossed by Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, a distinctive three-hankie weeper rich in humanity. The inner goodness of people is on full display here. What surprised me most was the depth of emotions I felt as young Oskar Schell encountered all of these amazing people along his journey of truth-seeking and self-discovery. Oskar, not an easy kid to get along with, is deftly played by Thomas Horn. It’s one of the most remarkable performances I have seen from a child actor with virtually no acting experience.

And isn’t it amazing what Max Von Sydow accomplished here without saying a single word? I was in awe at his every move. A very well-deserved Oscar nomination.

It’s no surprise that the screenplay is written by the great Eric Roth, who also wrote Forrest Gump, another rich tapestry about a guy who goes to great lengths to achieve some kind of emotional closure.

I know I’m in the minority here but the film stayed ahead of me every step of the way and touched me very deeply. One of the year’s best.

A

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May 23, 2012 · 2:22 pm

Quick Take: Tower Heist

Tower Heist (2011)

Directed by Brett Ratner
Written by Ted Griffin and Jeff Nathanson, with story credit by Adam Cooper, Bill Collage and Griffin

Oh, this one could have been so much better.

The clunky set up should have given me a clue that Tower Heist was not going to be a smooth film. It didn’t help that the screenwriters cared very little about plausibility or subtlety. You can feel the grinding machinations of the plot as each scene unfolds.

But despite this and other structural and technical issues, Tower Heist is actually kind of watchable thanks to this high wattage cast. Stiller is good, and I dug Michael Pena, Casey Affleck and Tea Leoni. Eddie Murphy was uproariously funny in the first half but grew tiresome as the plot grew more contrived. It was actually nice to see sparks fly when Murphy was on screen earlier in the film. He still has the magic. Broderick, unfortunately, was the weak link; it’s not entirely his fault since the role was paper thin and he had so little to do.

I really wanted to like this one, but it’s too bad the film only met me half way.

C+

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May 21, 2012 · 1:00 pm

Quick Take: Young Adult

Young Adult (2011)

Directed by Jason Reitman
Written by Diablo Cody

Jason Reitman does it again.

He’s four for four with Young Adult, a bruising, painful dramedy about a spoiled, self-centered ice queen (Charlize Theron, brutally good) who attempts to find happiness by returning to her hometown and reclaiming her high school boyfriend (Patrick Wilson). While digging her claws on him, Theron befriends an old classmate (Patton Oswalt) who regales her for making the wrong choices in life.

Reitman has yet to make a misstep in his young career. His three previous films ended up on my year-end lists, and while this one has so many great things going for it, it’s not among his best work. I kind of wish we had more of the side characters (Oswalt, Wilson, Elisabeth Reaser as Wilson’s wife, Collette Wolfe as Oswalt’s sister) interacting with each other. They are all so good in this film and I really could have used more of them. I think Young Adult could certainly have benefitted from a little more padding.

Theron, who continues to build an astounding career as an actress, never fails to hold the screen.  At the same time, Reitman continues to engage and provoke.

B+

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May 18, 2012 · 1:00 pm

Quick Take: The Guard

The Guard (2011)

Written and Directed by John Michael McDonagh

I was hoping for another In Bruges but instead I got something far worse. Perhaps my expectations were too high. Despite the appearance of Brendan Gleeson, despite being an action buddy comedy, despite being produced by Martin McDonagh (who directed In Bruges), and despite being directed by Martin’s brother John, I hate to say that The Guard doesn’t match the laughs, the excitement or the wit of Martin’s ’08 masterpiece.

Gleeson, as always, is a towering presence and delivers his lines with relish. Quite frankly, I couldn’t take my eyes off him. Don Cheadle and Mark Strong failed to make much of an impression and even worse is the ridiculously strained and incoherent plot. It was almost as if the script was assembled by fans of the genre who wanted to make their own movie in their backyard. I clearly missed the point McDonagh was trying to make.

C-

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May 15, 2012 · 12:00 pm

The Ten: Best Actors of All Time Relay

I can’t believe Nostra began this series way back in March. This relay has taken all sorts of crazy and unpredictable turns! I’ve seen some of my favorite on-screen performers come and go from this ever-evolving list. I’m the 20th recipient of this relay and I don’t think my choice of actor will rock the boat too much.

To sum up the point of all this, in Nostra’s words:

So what’s the idea behind the relay? I’ve created a list of what I think are the best actors. At the end I, just like in a real relay race, hand over the baton to another blogger who will write his own post. The blogger will have to remove one actor (that is an obligation) and add his own choice and describe why he/she did this. At the end the blogger chooses another blogger to do the same. The idea is to make this a long race, so that each blogger gets a chance to remove and add an actor. We will end up with a list (not ranked in order) which represents a common agreement of the best actors.

The Previous Entries:

The Actors

Bogart

Brando

Day-Lewis

De Niro

Fiennes

Newman

Nicholson

Burton

Sellers

Can I start off by saying that I love this list as it stands right now? I was bummed to see some other actors go, but seeing the likes of Nicholson, Newman, Fiennes, Brando, etc., just makes me proud to be a film geek among film geeks. That said, removing one of the actors on the previous list was an easy choice for me. I didn’t hesitate. I have nothing negative to say about the guy; it’s just that my personal viewing experience doesn’t warrant his inclusion on my own top ten list of actors.

Chaplin

Charlie Chaplin is a legend. An icon. One of the most influential giants of the movie industry. I’ve only seen one of his films – Modern Times - and that was in film school over 15 years ago. Silent films are simply not on my radar, but I do recognize the importance – and sheer brilliance – of the format. Chaplin was a pioneer in front of the camera and behind. His inclusion on this list is justified.

However, I needed to make room for another giant. Literally and figuratively.

Bridges 

Jeff Bridges, standing tall at 6’1″, has been an acting powerhouse since 1971 and is still going strong.  In fact, I had it narrowed down to two actors. Bridges and Dustin Hoffman. I love Hoffman and have been waiting for his inclusion on here since its inception. But what made me pick Bridges over Hoffman? Consistency. Jeff Bridges has been consistently good throughout his entire 40-year-plus career. Looking at his body of work made it very clear to me that he belongs on this list. 

His versatility was apparent right from the get go. The Last Picture Show (1971), Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974), Stay Hungry (1976), and Tron (1982) showed us that Bridges was not going to be pigeonholed inside of a particular genre.  The 80′s, in fact, were really good to him. He released Starman (1984), Against All Odds (1984) and Jagged Edge (1985) within one year from each other, certifying him as a box office star. He sizzled on screen with Jane Fonda (The Morning After [1986]), Kim Basinger (Nadine [1987]), and Farrah Fawcett (See You in the Morning [1989]). He went from a matinee idol to an esteemed actor with some spectacular, high-caliber performances in Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988), The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989), The Fisher King (1991), American Heart (1992) and Fearless (1993). He was no longer a movie star. He was now an actor.

In the years that followed, Bridges mixed it up. The Big Lebowski (1998), The Contender (2000) and The Door in the Floor (2004) are my personal favorite performances from Jeff Bridges. The amount of range and depth he has shown in his body of work never fails to amaze me, and those three roles showed me how good he can be when he is firing on all cylinders. Bridges, of course, has made a few mediocre films, but he always remains an interesting figure on screen. Blown Away (1994), White Squall (1996), The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996), and Arlington Road (1999) are not great films, but Bridges has made them highly watchable. I can think of moments in each of those films that worked because of Bridges and that wonderfully expressive face of his.

The last decade had its share of ups and downs. He led the charge with the well-received Seabiscuit (2003) and created a memorable villain as Obadiah Stane in Iron Man (2008). I admired his performances some very small films, like The Amateurs (2005), Stick It (2006) and The Open Road (2009). The return to his Kevin Flynn/Clu characters in Tron: Legacy (2010) was remarkably good. The film was flawed, but go back and soak in his dual, layered performances. He was more dazzling than the special effects. Then there’s the one-two punch that finally led him to his long-deserved Oscar. He’s phenomenal in Crazy Heart (2009), a movie I didn’t love. But his performance was typical, masterful Bridges. And wasn’t he just about perfect in True Grit (2010)?

Jeff Bridges is irreplacable. I hope he stays on this list for a long, long time. I know if this were my personal Top Ten, he’d never come off!

But since it’s not my personal list, I gotta pass it along. The buck now stops with Diana at Aziza’s Picks. Go crazy, Diana!

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May 14, 2012 · 1:32 pm

Hidden Treasure: Indian Summer (1993)

“Respect for the land teaches respect for your fellow man, a sense of belonging, and more importantly, respect for oneself.” – adage from Camp Tamakwa

–

I was blessed to have a childhood that allowed me to immerse myself in the beauty of Mother Nature. In addition to a few stints of sleepaway camp, I spent every summer of my childhood at the family lake house in the Adirondacks in upstate New York. I had some of the best times of my life on Paradox Lake. You can definitely say I felt a certain sense of belonging.

Mother Nature is a constant in everybody’s rapidly changing lives. You grow older, but everything else stays the same. I’ve been going back to Paradox Lake every year for 30+ years now and very little has changed. The lake is as beautiful as it ever was. The trees remain tall and proud. The stars haven’t changed position. The neighboring cabins hold steady.

In Indian Summer, a modestly budgeted comedy-drama written and directed by Mike Binder, a group of thirtysomethings return to their childhood camp for the first time since they were kids. When Brad Berman (played by the great Kevin Pollak) steps foot onto the grounds of Camp Tamakwa again, everything seems so small to him. “It’s tiny! I can’t believe how tiny this place is!” Of course, nothing has changed. The camp stayed the exactly the same. Brad Berman had grown up.

It’s amazing how perspectives change, isn’t it?

First, can I just say how much I adore this film? Budgeted at $9 million and grossing only $15 million, it’s not exactly a hit. It has a measly 6.2 rating on IMDb and a borderline rotten score of 65%. And yet… and yet when I speak to people who have seen the film, they embrace it as warmly as I do. Does it speak to people in ways only few would understand? Does it speak a private language? Perhaps if you’ve never been to camp as a child, you wouldn’t “get it?” Nah, I highly doubt all of that. Indian Summer is about, among other things, rekindling fires from your past. Everyone has a past. Everyone had relationships and dilemmas and memorable incidents from when they were growing up. Now, after a long absence, imagine being implanted back to the place where all of that happened, alongside the same folks you grew up with. Imagine feeling these fires light up again inside you.

“But I’ll tell ya one thing: if you hit it right, it’s one hell of a life.” – Unca Lou

Think of Indian Summer as a lighter, less angsty version of The Big Chill. It’s a warm, gentle film that features 7 adults who are invited back to Camp Tamakwa for a week-long reunion. Their former camp director, Unca Lou (Alan Arkin, wise and brilliant as ever), wants to see the old gang together before he closes the camp for good. Those kids represented the golden age of the campground; it was a time when everything made sense. Beth Warden (Diane Lane) is a recent widow. Her late husband used to be best friends with Jack Belston (Bill Paxton), a hippie musician who was once kicked out of camp. Jamie Ross (Matt Craven) is a millionaire who brought along his 21-year-old fiancé (Kimberly Williams). Matthew and Kelly Berman (Vincent Spano and Julie Warner) are married with kids and are going through a rough patch. Matt’s former camp flame (and Kelly’s old friend) Jennifer Morton (Elizabeth Perkins) is a bit of a self-obsessed wanderer. And Matt’s brother Brad (Pollak) runs their successful business. Unca Lou’s right hand man, Stick Coder (a delightfully kooky Sam Raimi), helps keep the camp up and running.

During this reunion, there are laughs, fights, sex (“Just try not to kill any wild animals in process”), races, boxing matches (“The kids are fine. I told them that mommy beat the shit out me today”), midnight kitchen raids (“No shit, the munchies! I forgot all about the munchies!”), practical jokes (“Reverse shreck!”) and good old-fashioned moose watching (“There’s nothing like a good moose”).

The cast is aces all around. This ensemble bounces off one another just beautifully. Alan Arkin is perfect as the patriarch of the campground. We already know Arkin can deftly handle comedy and drama in a single scene, and there are several moments in Indian Summer where he gets the balancing act just right. Diane Lane, an actress of the 80′s, is resplendant here as Beth. You can tell she has grown considerably as an actress throughout the 90′s and the ‘aughts. Kevin Pollak and Bill Paxton are two remarkable character actors today, steadily working in television and film. You can never go wrong with these guys. Matt Craven and Elizabeth Perkins have kept a lower profile in recent years, but still pop up in bit parts on the tube and big screen. The adorable Kimberly Williams (now Williams-Paisley) also kept busy on television (does anyone else melt a little when Father of the Bride comes on TV?). The two stars we barely see these days are Julie Warner and Vincent Spano. It’s a shame; they appeared in so many strong films of the 80′s and 90′s, and are very appealing performers. And Sam Raimi! Whatever happened to that dude? :-)

Indian Summer is filmed on location at the actual Camp Tamakwa campground, based in Ontario’s Algonquin Provincial Park. The sights are breathtaking. As lensed by veteran cinematographer, Newton Thomas Sigel (who later went on to shoot all of Bryan Singer’s films), the colors are bathed in warm sunlight and vivid greens. You can practically feel the nighttime chills and the warm lakeside breeze. Binder attended Tamakwa back in the late 60′s-early 70′s, and this film is a tribute to a place where he proudly came of age. Incidentally, Sam Raimi also attended the camp, as well as famous comedians Gilda Radnor and Chevy Chase. The film may be fictional, but there’s a lot of facts and nods sprinkled throughout. “Unca” Lou Handler is actually one of the founding directors of Camp Tamakwa, and when he passed on, some of the former students carried on the responsibility of taking over the camp. That’s only one of several true-life tales that Binder has incorporated in the film.

Indian Summer is clearly Mike Binder’s love letter to his childhood. It’s mighty generous of him to allow us to go along for the ride down memory lane.

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May 11, 2012 · 8:00 am

Quick Take: The Cabin in the Woods

The Cabin in the Woods (2012)

Directed by Drew Goddard
Written by Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon

A ridiculously fun ride.

On a rare trip to theaters a few weeks ago, I saw The Cabin in the Woods blindly. I read no reviews and I was completely unspoiled. Perhaps that’s the best way to experience the escalating tension of the film’s second half. You just have no idea where the hell the film is taking you.

Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard – who brought me the thrills and chills of Buffy long ago and far away – are adept in crafting carefully orchestrated mayhem and satirizing a genre that’s always ripe for picking. The cast all around delivers, but I must single out the greatness that are Bradley Whitford and Richard Jenkins. I hope the genius who decided to pair them together got a shit ton of money, a raise, a bonus and a promotion. I hope that person got laid, as well. I bow to this almighty casting agent!

The only trouble I see with The Cabin in the Woods is this: once you know everything that unfolds, does the film hold up? Is it all smoke and mirrors? I have faith in Goddard/Whedon, but only time will tell after repeated viewings if the film is as brilliant as it attempts to be. For now, for its shocking initial impact and sheer visceral thrills, the film gets very high marks.

A-

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