Carrie

HORROR

Blood Red

7.75 out of 10 | Rental

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Rated: R Bloody violence, disturbing images. language and some sexual content
Release Date: October 18, 2013
Runtime: 1 hour 39 minutes

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Director: Kimberly Peirce
Writers: Lawrence D. Cohen, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, based on the book by Stephen King
Cast: Chloe Grace Moretz, Julianne Moore, Gabriella Wilde, Portia Doubleday, Ansel Elgort, Alex Russell, Judy Greer

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SYNOPSIS:  A reimagining of the classic horror tale about Carrie White, a shy girl outcast by her peers and sheltered by her deeply religious mother, who unleashes telekinetic terror on her small town after being pushed too far at her senior prom.

REVIEW: Kimberly Peirce, director of the acclaimed 1999 Boys Don't Cry, takes on the daunting task of remaking and re-imagining the classic tale from horror master Stephen King and the 1976 film with Piper Laurie and Sissy Spacek. Based on the screenplay by Lawrence D. Cohen, a longtime Stephen King story adapter, and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Dark Matters), Peirce tries to bring new life to a bloody tale of bullying and revenge.

Carrie White (Chloe Grace Moretz, Kick-Ass 2) is a shy and quiet outcast trying to survive her high school experience. Raised and home schooled by her religious zealot of a mother Margaret (Julianne Moore, Crazy, Stupid, Love.) Carrie faces sneers and ridicule from her classmates, desperate to fit in and be a normal teenage girl. When Carrie experiences her first period in the girls' locker room, she is belittled and mocked by the other girls, led by mean girl Chris Hargensen (Portia Doubeday, Youth in Revolt). Fellow classmate Sue Snell (Gabriella Wilde, The Three Musketeers), trying to make amends for her part in Carrie's bullying, asks her boyfriend Tommy (Ansel Elgort) to ask Carrie to Prom. When Carrie accepts Tommy's invitation and starts enjoying her first social dance she finds herself the butt of another prank perpetrated by Chris and her boyfriend Billy (Alex Russell, Chronicle). After being pushed too far, Carrie unleashes her full vengeful telekinetic fury against the students, teachers and town.

In 1976 Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie embodied the unwieldy and strange relationship between a mother and her daughter - dreamed up and put to page by Stephen King. Should such an iconic film be remade for a new audience? If a new film is just a retread of the original, is it necessary to make at all? Director Peirce takes the original material and updates its in the right spots. Cyber bullying is included as an added insult. The story takes a moment more to explain how Margaret and Carrie come to have such an odd co-dependent relationship. And Carrie, played by Moretz, takes the character to the appropriate angst-ridden age.

When Sissy Spacek played the role of the teenage Carrie White, she was well into her twenties. She played the role with both an air of naive innocence and pent up anger. Chloe plays the age closer to age, still in her teens. She brings a fresh real perspective to the role, rivaling what Sissy portrayed. Piper Laurie, who dominated and put the fear of God into most of us as Margaret White, is given a run for her biblical money by the very talented Julianne Moore. The villains, in the form of Portia Doubleday and Alex Russell, bring modern day snark to Chris and Billy. Gabriella Wilde and Ansel Elgort bring more understated study to the desperate to do good Sue Snell and Tommy Ross. Judy Greer does gym teacher Mrs. Desjardin justice with an edge of her own.

Performances aside, the story follows a more modern version of the same tale brought to screen years ago. Most of the major plot points are the same as they were before, or twisted just a little bit to be just a little bit different. Peirce does bring a little more of the original source material back, but doesn't take enough license to make the iconic pop culture story something truly her own. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

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Playing for Keeps

Yellow Card

★ ★ 1/2 out of 5 buckets | Rental

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Rated: PG-13 - Some sexual situations, language and a brief intense image.

Release Date: December 7, 2012

Runtime: 1 hour 35 minutes

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Director: Gabriele Muccino
Writers: Robbie Fox
Cast:  Gerard Butler, Jessica Biel, Dennis Quaid, Uma Thurman, Noah Lomax, Catherine Zeta-Jones, James Tupper, Judy Greer

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SYNOPSIS: A former soccer star with no prospects tries desperately to reconnect with his son and soon-to-be remarried ex-wife. When he has the chance to spend more time with his son by coaching his soccer team, he finds himself dealing with lustful soccer moms and quirky dads.

REVIEW: Seven Pounds and The Pursuit of Happyness director Gabriele Muccino takes on the romantic comedy genre with dashing Gerard Butler and sexy girl next door Jessica Biel. Robbie Fox, writer of the 1993 So I Married an Axe Murderer, returns as a scribe after an eighteen hiatus, begging the question of whether soccer and family can mix. 

George (Gerard Butler, Chasing Mavericks) was a famous soccer striker in his youth, until an injury sidelined him and stole away his prospects in the sport. Today, he moves into a guest house in Virginia to be closer to his ex-wife Stacie (Jessica Biel, Hitchcock) and son Lewis (Noah Lomax, The Middle). Struggling to make ends meet and to become a quality father to Lewis, George takes in the challenge of coaching his son's wayward soccer team. With the kids in the team engaged with the sport, George finds himself having to deal with lustful divorcees in the form of soccer mom Barb (Judy Greer, Jeff, Who Lives at Home), married women Denise (Cathrine Zeta-Jones, Rock of Ages), and a rich, jealous husband Carl (Dennis Quaid, The Words) who cheats on his wife Patty (Uma Thurman, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief) but lives by his own double standards. George may have been able to handles the stresses of World Cup play, but his chance to make good with his son and to make peace with his soon-to-be remarried ex-wife may prove too much to endure.

Chiseled, scruffy, and dashing Gerard Butler made a name for himself with the theatrical Phantom of the Opera and 300, leading to roles in a string of so-so romantic comedies and decent action films. He provides one of the voices to the successful How to Train Your Dragon films and the gritty Machine Gun Preacher. Following up the zen surfer Chasing Mavericks drama, Butler continues with a more semi-serious romantic film to finish out the year. Jessica Biel, fresh off her limited released of the Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren film Hitchcock, has been successful in mixing up her resume with action, horror, and romance. Both make the most of the film and their characters, with Butler as the immature womanizer and Jessica as the woman who had to give up her love affair with a sports star in order to move on with her life to raise their son by herself.

Butler and Biel are cast with several A-listers including Thurman, Quaid, and Zeta-Jones. But the real show stealer is Judy Greer as soccer mom divorcee Barb. Sure, Thurman and Zeta-Jones are sexy and flirty as heck, but Greer's Barb is brilliant as the seemingly bi-polar emotional wreck that finds solace in Butler's George. Dennis Quaid plays a neurotic jealous husband who walks the line between a good guy and a bad guy. Either way, Butler's George should have probably given Quaid's Carl a wider berth. 

The story is solid enough, but formulaic. Characters are introduced and used, except Greer's superior performance, just as plot devices to throw at George. They serve their purpose well enough, but each piece hangs out to flap in the wind afterward. And the believability factor suffers a little bit when George's appearance at Lewis' practice turns into a soccer clinic and the complete turnaround of a losing bunch of kids to championship material. The story of George, his son Lewis, and ex-wife Stacie works to a greater degree, focusing on George's attempt to reconcile and better his relationship with both of them.

Playing for Keeps is a pleasant semi-dramatic romantic comedy. Anyone who can relate to divorced parents trying to reconcile for the sake of a child will appreciate what this film is trying to achieve. There is sexiness, bare chests, and charisma for most, and the campiness and hijinks of the soccer moms interested in George does take away from the more serious story between George, Stacie, and Lewis.

Playing for Keeps is a cute flick that will entertain moviegoers in the mood for a light dramatic romantic comedy. Butler and Biel have plenty of chemistry to go along with perfect smiles and beautiful features. Is this film nothing but the back of the net? You decide.

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Jeff, Who Lives At Home

Looking for Kevin

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Rated: R  Language, some drug use and sexual references
Release Date: March 16, 2012
Runtime: 1 hr 23 mins

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Director:  Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass

Writers: Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass
Cast:  Jason Segel, Ed Helms, Susan Sarandon, Judy Greer, Rae Dawn Chong, Steve Zissis

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SYNOPSIS: When 30-year-old Jeff is told to got out of the house to buy wood glue for a broken pantry door shutter, he ventures out of the basement letting the universe guide his path throughout the day.

REVIEW: Jay and Mark Duplass, writers and directors of the 2005 Sundance breakout hit The Puffy Chair, as well as Baghead and Cyrus, combine their collective writing and vision again for another off-beat semi-comedic drama Jeff, Who Lives at Home. Don't let the title fool you, hardly any of the film takes place inside the Jeff's home.

30-year-old slacker pothead Jeff (Jason Segel, The Muppets) resides in his widowed mother Sharon (Susan Sarandon, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps) basement. Letting the cosmos guide his life, Jeff sits and waits for his destiny to reveal itself. On his mother's birthday, Jeff's mother calls to demand that Jeff get out of the house, onto a bus, and to the local Home Depot to pick up wood glue for a broken pantry door shutter before she comes home from work. When a mis-dialed call asking for Kevin comes in, Jeff sees the call as a sign that guides him throughout the day. What starts as a bus ride, soon becomes stalking as Jeff follows a ball player with the name Kevin stitched on the back of his jersey. Enter Jeff's brother Pat (Ed Helms, The Hangover Part II) who starts the day revealing to his wife Linda (Judy Greer, The Descendants) he has bought a Porsche and ends up running into the cosmically guided Jeff who assists Pat in following Linda when it appears that his wife may be cheating on him. Meanwhile, Sharon becomes the focus of a secret admirer who sends her a picture of a flower and converses with her through the office's instant chat interface. As Sharon tries to uncover the man who is either interested in her or playing a practical joke on her, she confides her findings with close coworker Carol (Rae Dawn Chong, Cyrus).

What seems to be a series of random, unrelated events (as written above) is actually a closely wound story. Jeff's way of thinking about his life and the purpose of his life is akin to how he views M. Night Shyamalan's film Signs. When he is confronted by the first Kevin (Evan Ross, Pride) of the day, he tries to impress upon the young basketball player that the reason why he was following the young man was because life is like the movie. Even at the beginning of the film, Jeff actually dictates into a recording device how important and decisive the elements of Signs is in terms of how he sees the world.

Although a family, Jeff, his brother Pat and his wife Linda, and their mother Sharon are a broken family even though living in the same town. Pat doesn't understand why Jeff is the way he is. Sharon wonders why her wonderful cute sons have grown up to be so different than what she remembers them as they were growing up. Pat and Linda live with blinders on and are so passive aggressive in their relationship with each other, the bonds of their marriage are disintegrating even as they sit together at the kitchen table.

As Jeff's day is shaped by signs comprised primarily with references to people and things designated with the name Kevin, Jeff finds himself joining up with his brother at points, then forced to abandon Pat as another 'Kevin' sign comes into view. The journey that starts off as an earnest effort to get to the supply store for wood glue becomes a funny and touching adventure.

Jason Segel brings his brand of Knocked Up stoner sensibility and open faith to the role of Jeff. Ed Helms dials down his Andy Bernard (The Office) stamina without losing the kinetic nervousness that Pat has sitting just under the surface. Sarandon and Dawn Chong, both still beautiful, prove that talent and grace will shape actresses throughout entire careers.

Jeff, Who Lives at Home is a surprisingly touching and real look at life with a bit of light humor thrown in. The situations that Jeff gets into or that Pat gets Jeff into offer a down to earth story that draws the audience in for a fine movie going experience. Jeff, Who Lives at Home will never be considered George Clooney's The Descendants, but it covers similar ground in an off-beat Louisiana sort of way.

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WORTH: Matinee or Rental

The Descendants

Real Life In Paradise

Director: Alexander Payne

Writers: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash, novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings
Cast: George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Amara Miller, Nick Krause, Beau Bridges, Matthew Lillard, Judy Greer, Robert Forster

SYNOPSIS: After his wife goes into a coma, Matt King and his daughters have the face the harsh reality of an ongoing affair she was having prior to her accident, as well as dealing with the pressures of deciding how to sell off thousands of acres of inherited Hawaiian land that was put into a family trust.

REVIEW: Alexander Payne, director of Election and Sideways, comes back to the big screen after taking a break in favor of short films, video shorts and premium cable television. Based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings, Alexander Payne teams up with television movie Adopted writers Nat Faxon and Jim Rash to bring us a heart breaking look at the dilemma a man faces when his life is turned upside down by tragedy.

Matt King (George Clooney, The Ides of March), while on a business trip to one of the other Hawaiian island, finds off that his wife Elizabeth (Patricia Hastie) has been in a boating accident and is currently lying in a coma in a hospital bed. Returning home to care for her, Matt is forced to face the chore of handling his daughters Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) and Scottie (Amara Miller) alone. As his wife's condition worsens, Matt finds out from Alex that she witnessed her mother with another man. Now he must balance his curiosity about what his wife saw in this other man with how to sell off a huge inherited parcel of pristine Hawaiian shoreline that had been put into a family trust by his missionary ancestor who married one of the last Hawaiian princesses. As one of the state's largest landowners with the power of attorney concerning the trust, Matt must contend with many of his cousins looking to become financially secure with the land sale.

George Clooney has been a prolific and superb actor with a career spanning over 30 years in television and film. From Up In The Air to The Ides of March to Michael Clayton, Clooney's decisions in projects sets the standard for fine film. The Descendants is no different. Clooney sheds his uber-charming and confident exterior to portray a man coming to terms with his failures and frailities as a absentee husband and an 'alternate' father. Shailene Woodley's angry teenage daughter Alexandra is reminiscent of a young Natalie Portman, angst-ridden with no proper outlet for her frustrations. Everyone deals with their grief in their own way. Elizabeth's father Scott (Robert Forster, Lucky Number Slevin) lashes out at Matt, the cousins worry about their impending financial windfalls with the land sale, and Alexander brings along her guy pal Sid (Nick Krause, How To Eat Fried Worms) who has a gnarly Hawaiian surfer attitude and a possible zen outlook on the situation.

The Descendants is a real look at the uncertainties faced when confronted by the mortality of life, ours or the ones we hold dear. Matt King narrates at the open of the film that most mainlanders think that people who reside on the Hawaiian islands must live an idyllic existence in this tropical paradise. But as with any locale, tragedy can come calling at any time. Filled with Alexander Payne's About Schmidt pacing and sensibility, The Descendants combines a picturesque setting with Hawaiian shirts, classic island music and an all too somber, and sometimes funny, theme.

Sometimes slow but always engrossing, The Descendants is a fine film and will definitely be a buzz come the end of the Oscar season (either for George Clooney for a Best Actor nod or for Best Adapted Screenplay). If you have lost a loved one or someone close, you will be especially moved by this film. For everyone else, a few smiles will raise the corners of your mouth and at least a single tear will probably fall, regardless of the sandy beaches and crystal blue surf.

WORTH: Matinee or Rental