Movie Nation

The religious and cultural fault lines of the Middle East get thoroughly blurred in “May in the Summer,” the second feature film from the Palestinian-American actress-writer-director Cherian Dabis (“Amreeka”).
The setting and various religious rifts are unfamiliar, if the domestic/romantic melodrama isn’t.
May and her sisters rendezvous at the airport, three expats returned to the desert land of their birth. The absence of soldiers and Orthodox Jews tells you this isn’t Israel. It’s Amman, Jordan.
May (Dabis), a vivacious Palestinian New Yorker, is returning to marry her Islamic scholar fiance. The bubbly, big-mouthed party girl Yasmine (Nadine Malouf) and marriage-averse Tomboy Dalia (Alia Shawkat of “Arrested Development”) have taken a month off to fly here and help her prepare.
Because Mom (Hiam Abbass, “The Visitor”) does not approve. Jordan is home to one of the oldest Christian communities in the Middle East, and present day Mom is a born again Christian. She is vehemently opposed to this marriage. She’s not overtly ugly and unpleasant about it, but she refuses to go to the wedding, and she indulges in a curious folk superstition, a “Knowledge Rope.” Untie its knots, and an ill-suited couple can be broken up.
“Marrying outside your religion…never works,” she mutters. She should know. She’s divorced. Mom is “married to God,” now.
“Another lousy husband who’s never around,” May cracks.
May is worried about the wedding, having argued with her intended before getting on the plane. She’s troubled by her mother, refuses to see her father, and everywhere around her she’s reminded of the reasons she’s glad she left. Jogging, she earns the leering attention of every creep within eyeshot. Her sisters, well ONE of her sisters, takes an interest in the local men.
“Does he live with his parents?”
“They ALL do here!”
May’s future in-laws seem OK, but at every turn, she stumbles into rigid folks, centuries into their dogmatism.
And every so often, military jets interrupt a conversation, reminding one of the tensions of the region.
Dabis, a striking woman with a seriously sexy screen presence, is our tour guide through a land of stark desert mountainscapes (May befriends an “adventure travel” tour guide), Dead Sea resorts and nightclubs, a secular country in a part of the world where that’s rare. The women go out on their own, drink too much, bicker in private and in public and plan a wedding (caterers, dress fittings) just the way they would here in the U.S.
But the behind-the-camera Dabis never lets us forget the “otherness” of it all. The sisters giggle at Muslim women encased in their black Hijab head-coverings.
May is the author of a book divining the folk wisdom of Palestinian proverbs, which break the film into chapters — sort of.
“Love is an endless act of forgiveness.” “There is no pillow so soft as a clear conscious.”
So the tone is light and comic, even when things take more melodramatic turns in the third act (Bill Pullman is her estranged dad).
Dabis requires an awful lot from the audience, perhaps too much. One of the running gags here is how confusing it can be for outsiders to see why the region is in turmoil. Three lovely and distinctly Semitic women kvetching about finding themselves, finding the right man, bickering over “our petty problems..DJ or band?” Switch the language from Arabic to Hebrew and this is an Israeli culture clash comedy, or Jewish American variation on a “Bridesmaids” theme.
Miss the fact that they’ve landed in Amman (it’s easy), and you’d swear this was Israel or Lebanon.
“May in the Summer” doesn’t have the heart of “Amreeka,” which plopped Palestinians in small-town Middle America. But Dabis takes these archetypal characters and finds just enough funny, fish-out-of-water things for them to do in this unusual setting, even if she’s determined not to spell out exactly where that setting is and what its religious history might be.
　
MPAA Rating: R for some language
Cast: Cherien Dabis, Hiam Abbass, Alia Shawkat, Nadine Malouf, Bill Pullman
Credits: Written and directed by Cherien Dabis. A Cohen Media Group release.
Running time: 1:39

As “found footage” horror movies go, “The Possession of Michael King” is more
unpleasant than scary.

The self-inflicted wounds, menace to innocents and general supernatural
mayhem is nothing we haven’t seen before — the old “body yanked out of the
frame” trick, etc. You see where it’s going and which films it is leaning on for
inspiration. But some folks dig this eyes-averting gore thing, so here goes.

The title character, played by Shane Johnson, wanted to make a little home
movie about his happy family. Then his wife died in an accident and Michael King
decided to go after people who comfort those who have suffered a loss.

They would be priests, tarot card readers, psychics and dabblers in
necromancy. He posts an ad, offering a reward for such people to “prove it.” And
some take the bait.

He blames his late wife’s tarot card reader (Dale Dickey) for convincing her
not to take the trip that might have changed her fate. He dabbles in LSD-boosted
black magic with an enterprising couple of “demonologists.” And he taunts the
religious.

“God or the Devil, if you’re out there, PROVE it! Come and get me!”

The dying young priest (Tobias Jelinek), chain-smoking to the end, warns him
he’s playing with fire. Call the Devil’s name, he hints, and “the Devil will
never let you go.”

And sure enough, the necromancer-mortician (Cullen Douglas) puts Michael
through a ritual that has him hearing voices, seeing things and makes his
cameras and his camera man freak out.

Meanwhile, Michael has a daughter (Ella Anderson) whom he is utterly
neglecting and creeping out with all this nonsense. By the time he is possessed,
sneaking into her room growling in the middle of the night, nuts but still —
apparently — videotaping his actions, he’s beyond the help of the
psychotherapist he seeks help from, or of anything a priest can offer.

Filmmaker David Jung trots out the familiar tricks of the found-footage
trade, extreme close-ups, night-vision footage, creepy, shrieking music welling
up on the soundtrack.

None of which does much as far as frights go.

Johnson, of “Saving Private Ryan,” makes a compelling skeptic, and landing
the formidable Dickey (“Winter’s Bone”) was a coup.

The effects are on-the-money, never more than when Michael, having carved a
pentagram on his chest and realizing what he’s done, tries to self-administer an
exorcism. A ceiling camera captures the book he’s chanting from bursting into
flame.

But what they were shooting for here was skeptic-is-converted tale, a “Last
Exorcism” in which a doubter is freaked out by the reality of much of what he’d
doubted. That comes across, but the message feels muted — broken up by the
demands of that “found footage” format.

We’re constantly wondering, “Who is supposed to be the camera operator,
here?” and “If he’s possessed and crazy, why he is taking the camera up stairs
while he stalks his kid or his sister?”

Yes, glitchy footage that looks like it came from a cell-phone or security
camera is still a great shortcut to “this must be REAL.” But the format is
confining, and leaning on this for a horror story is totally played out. Fifteen
years past its “Blair Witch” expiration date, “Michael King” proves it’s time to
repossess found footage.

MPAA Rating: R for disturbing and violent content, language, some drug use
and sexual material

Cast: Shane Johnson, Ella Johnson, Dale Dickey, Cullen Douglas

Credits: Directed by David Jung, screenplay by David Jung. An Anchor Bay
release.

Running time: 1:23

It’s far and away the worst of the three new wide releases to open this weekend. It opened Wed., to no reviews and zero fanfare. And “Let’s Be Cops” still surpassed “The Expendables 3” and “The Giver” at the box office, doing @$17 million over the weekend, some $23-24 million since Wed. That’s what hiding a crappy movie from critics gets you.

“Expendables” won’t reach $17. “Giver” barely cleared $13.

“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” fell off the expected amount and hit $27 million, actually a little better than most of us expected. “Guardians of the Galaxy” taps into the same audience — well, parents taking kids to TMNT are the difference — did $23-24 million.

“Boyhood” finally cracked the top ten. “Lucy” cleared $100 million (Thursday, actually). It kept “Hercules” and “Get On Up” out of the top ten.

“What If” is in enough theaters to have hit the top ten, but didn’t. Daniel Radcliffe is still looking for his second post-Potter hit. Rom-com didn’t do it.

 The comedy from the director of “Ghost Town” is based on Kyril Bonfiglioli novels about a Clouseau-esque upper crust twit/con-man, etc. Daffy looking. February.

Every so often, a movie comes along and reminds us of the primacy of the pretty picture, the importance of the image in telling a motion picture story.

“Island of Lemurs: Madagascar” is so gorgeously photographed that it’s very much like visiting that exotic island off the coast of Southern Africa. Slow, swooping drone-shots sweep over splintered rocky peaks, hang over forests that climb above the fog and get up close — VERY close — with Madagascar’s most famous residents — lemurs.

In 39 short, lovely minutes, we learn how ancient lemurs are — predating every other surviving primate species on Earth — how they got to Madagascar, how varied they are in appearance and what the only threat to their future is.

“Madagascar is Treasure Island,” Morgan Freeman narrates, as we visit the only forests in the world where lemurs are found. The film then follows lemur expert Patricia Wright as she travels the country, checking in on the Greater Bamboo Lemurs, which she proved hadn’t gone extinct, and tiny-feisty Mouse Lemurs, the singing Indri Lemurs and others.

It’s easy to see the origins of that famous cartoon film franchise’s fascination with Madagascar — the flora, baobab trees, octopus trees and bamboo are lush, a full rainbow in shades of green. And the fauna, wild-eyed, exotically colored, cute and vocal, don’t just run or skip across open ground. They dance.

We see the careless slash-and-burn farming practices that threatens Madagascar’s remaining forests, a nation plainly in need of more firefighters. And we check in on lemurs who have adapted, moving out of the threatened land and up into the rocky mountains, short but breathtakingly steep.

“Island of Lemurs” is close to the perfect nature documentary — a visually striking use of IMAX 3D that is picturesque and wonderfully informative about its adorable subject.

MPAA Rating: G

Cast: Narrated by Morgan Freeman, with primatologist Patricia Wright

Credits: Directed by David Douglas, written by Drew Fellman. A Warner Brothers release.

Running time: :39

A PG-13 rated “Expendables” sequel featuring a high body count and a fun turn by Puss-N-Boots Banderas is limping into the $16 million range, the worst opening weekend by far for this aged action hero franchise. They’re done, unless there’s some epic overseas opening that justifies their return. Don’t see it.

And “The Giver,” whatever its merits, cannot overcome all the other film versions of this YA sci-fi plotline that came before it, managing only $12-13 million, according to Deadline.com estimates based on Friday.

“Let’s Be Cops” gained awful reviews, once Fox let critics see it. Hiding it didn’t hurt, though, as it looks to be reaching a $14 million+ weekend, almost $24 since it opened Wed. From the looks of it and gauging the price tags of the cast, they’re already in profit.

“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” is falling off steeply, but not so steeply it can’t hold on to the top spot, low to mid $20s. “Guardians” is right behind it, low $20s.

“Boyhood” expanded, maybe its last big bump in screens, and still will have only reached $13-14 by weekend’s end. Woody Allen’s critically panned “Magic in the Moonlight” also opened wider. Why?

“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” will clear $200 million by late Sat.

You knew the third time would reveal “The Expendables” had passed their expiration date. So did Stallone, who brings in a lot of fresh meat to go with his geezers. Banderas steals a rather weak actioner. Poor reviews for “Expendables 3.”

“The Giver” took Jeff Bridges 18 years to get on the screen. If it had come out ten years ago, he’d have beaten all the Teens-Save-the-Future Films that preceded it (“Hunger Games,””Ender’s Game,””Divergent” et al) and maybe had something here. Lovely looking, smart, well directed and acted. But blah. Been there, seen that. The reviews reflect that.

“Life After Beth” is a zombie film that didn’t have to be.

“The Trip to Italy” is a comic improvisational delight. Coogan and Brydon reverse the order of things a bit in this one. Coogan is more relaxed and amusing, Brydon the needier one. Funny.

“Frank” is enjoying all the hype, with a band, Michael Fassbender in a gigantic head and Maggie Gyllenhaal at her most brittle. Dark and fun.

“Dinosaur 13” is a reminder that being Native American does not confer righteousness, especially when it comes to handshake deals over dino bones found on property one has a claim to. A bit one-sided (the dino hunters are mercenaries, too), but an interesting documentary.