Paul Haggis is back to his tricky script tricks with the thoroughly engrossing prison break thriller”The Next Three Days.” He foreshadows, hides details, delays his “reveals” and does a pretty good job of keeping us guessing, even if we remember the 2003 French film he adapted for this Hollywood project.
Others heard the story of rock climber Aron Ralston’s days-long ordeal, trapped by a boulder that pinned his arm, and winced. Danny Boyle saw a tale of endurance and triumph, a spiritual journey in which a young man comes to terms with the phrase — “No man is an island.”
“127 Hours” is the remarkable film the director of “Slumdog Millionaire” and his “Slumdog” screenwriter (Simon Beaufoy) conjured out of that excruciating tale. It’s a tribute to Boyle’s filmic flair and the humanity he wears on his sleeve that we can recall how Ralston’s 127 hour saga ends and still be stunned, moved and thrilled by the finale.
James Franco carries this gorgeous picture, giving us a Ralston as grinning Extreme Sports cliche. He works in a mountaineering equipment shop and takes off on solo weekend trips, hurtling across buttes on his mountain bike, exulting in nature and even in the spills he takes along the way. The film’s opening minutes, with Ralston narrating his gonzo adventures on his personal camcorder, show us just how long it takes him to get to the middle of nowhere and how psyched he is to reach his fortress of solitude.
On the day of his accident, he stumbles into a couple of cute coed hikers (Kate Mara, Amber Tamblyn) and disarmingly offers to show them the Blue John Canyon that only he knows. Ralston’s open faced grin advertises a big, open heart, and Franco effortlessly conveys the guy’s innocence, and his lust for life.
The girls move on, after an adventurous side trip (videotaped) to a water hole, and not before Aron has promised to come to their party tonight. Then he dashes up a hill and out of sight. By the time he takes his big tumble, there is nobody within miles of him. He’s going to miss that party.
Rapunzel, the girl locked in a tower with only her long, golden locks for company, gets a sassy, spirited screen treatment from Disney with “Tangled,” an animated fairytale musical from Not Pixar corner of the company.
Disney has turned her into a missing princess — naturally — and it’s not a prince who waits below and calls out “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair.” Her hair has magical powers of healing in this version, but only if she doesn’t cut it. Otherwise, they play the story pretty much straight out of the Brothers Grimm.
With “The Illusionist,” fans of the late, great and generally silent French comic Jacques Tati have what is, in essence, his final film. It’s an animated farce in the Tati style , based on a Tati (“Mon Oncle,” Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday”) script.
The lead character, a tall unflappable Frenchman of few words, looks like Tati. And since Tati rarely spoke, director Sylvain Chomet (“The Triplets of Belleville”) has license to basically resurrect him for this quiet, clever and adorably whimsical cartoon comedy.
In the late 1950s, a veteran magician struggles to make a living in an entertainment world that has passed him by. What with rock’n roll bands such as The Britoons, and television, “The Illusionist” can’t hold an audience with his quiet and gentle tricks. It doesn’t matter that he’s a master at his trade. Nobody wants to see a cranky bunny dragged out of a hat anymore.
Two broken souls meet and try to connect in Philip Seymour Hoffman’s screen directing debut, “Jack Goes Boating.” Hoffman, working from the Bob Glaudini play which he also starred in, conjures up a modern day “Marty” about fragile, damaged people who might somehow complete one another if they can just surpass the obstacles that this potential romance drops in their way.
Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook, is the smartest guy in the room. He used to be the smartest “kid” in the room, though he aged out of that. Kind of.
But the questions posited by David Fincher’s brilliant film, “The Social Network,” scripted by the brilliant Aaron Sorkin, is why anyone would want to be that smart, and just what Zuckerberg’s brand of brilliance gets him.
One savvy fan of both “Star Wars” and (maybe) J.J. Abrams has concocted this send-up of what Abrams will make “Star Wars” look like, a fan video with “flare.” Lens flare. Funny.
Back when “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” came out, it was hard to focus on anything but the film’s shortcomings. Director Chris Columbus, as he has proven in films before and since, has little sense of urgency — no gift for pacing.
Look at the full list of his credits and marvel that the “Home Alone” director was handed the most wildly popular youth novel series in history, heavy-handed comedies that aren’t that funny, clunky attempts at action, and a sentimental streak that probably was the trait that most qualified him to handle what could have been the first and only two films — had they failed.
But a dozen years later, here’s what stands out about “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” — all the things he got right. No expense was spared making this world, from the British suburbia of the early scenes, through the train ride and into Hogwarts itself. The detail is theme-park gorgeous, which is why it made for such a successful theme park here in Orlando.
“Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters” rode its pitch and its TV commercials– NOT its reviews — to a soft $18 million opening weekend. Not great for a 3D film, OK for a 3D splatter action comedy.
That puts it at number 1 for the last weekend in January, probably the worst weekend for moviegoing that we’ll see this year.
“Mama” managed to cling to #2 and close in on $50 million. A better movie that’s doing better at the box office? Go figure.
“Silver Linings Playbook” is doing well in wide release. Followed by “Zero Dark Thirty.”
In fifth place — the poorly pitched “Parker,” which deserved better. It did “Last Stand” numbers, a bit over $7 million.
“Movie 43” didn’t clear $4 million. Huge cast, weak movie, little hype.
As I said, a bad weekend for new openings.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is going to rue the day they didn’t recognize Ben Affleck with a best director nomination.
That old maxim, “Best directors direct best pictures” is going to be turned on its ear Oscar night, if all the tea leaves are telling the truth.
The Producers Guild honored “Argo” as best picture Saturday night. Take that along with a couple of other key pre-Oscar wins, and “Argo” has the momentum — the buzz — to be best picture next month.
SAG Awards tonight. We’ll see if the Actors Guild does anything to stoke the flames.
