BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
(FOUR) BERNIE
I think my problem is that I WANT this movie to be good, but I think deep down I know it won’t be. It’s basically an over the top comedy, but the tone is really dark. I can’t remember the last time Jack Black was in a movie I actually wanted to see. It might have been Dewey Cox and even then I think it was a surprise cameo. He makes watered down kid comedies that pretty much suck. Only the worse kids like Jack Black movies. Sorry, but it’s just a fact. If you’re a kid and you like Jack Black then you’re going to grow up less cool than someone who doesn’t. Richard Linklater makes great movies and I think this has potential to live up to that kind of goodness. It’s been awhile though. We get Jack Black as the title character. He plays a guy who is investigated after his old lady friend is murdered. He’s a homosexual too and I think that somehow matters to the plot. I dunno, really.
(THREE) BEING FLYNN
This cast sounds like an all star team. Robert De Niro, Julianne Moore, Oliva Thrilby, Lili Taylor, and a slew of other people that we’ve seen in a lot of other things. With a cast like that you’d assume that it’s a Scorsese type of movie. It’s not. The movie actually stars Paul Dano. He’s working at a homeless shelter when he comes back into contact with his long lost troubled father. He then deals with the idea of being alone and getting him back into his life. De Niro plays the father and seems to be in an interesting role for once. I’m not saying De Niro is a bad actor AT ALL, but I AM saying he doesn’t attempt to showcase range very often. This is one of those rare occasions. I could imagine this movie being an award winner come the time. You don’t put those kinds of ingredients together and get anything all that bad.
(TWO) DETACHMENT
This is the indie drama I’ve been waiting for. It feels like the good indie drama is becoming harder and harder to come by. A few years ago tons were popping up, but in the past few years things seem to have lost their way. I’m a fan of Adrien Brody. He stars in this movie as a substitute teacher. We follow three weeks of his life and his interactions with people at the school he’s subbing at. Like a lot of these teacher movies, “his method is non-traditional”. He gets in the head of a few kids and I think that’s where the main story really gets its meat. The ensemble cast seems pretty awesome too. Bryan Cranston, Lucy Liu, Christina Hendricks, James Caan, Tim Blake Nelson, Isiah Whitlock Jr., and even more familiar faces. That’s a lot of awesomeness. This seems like one of those airy, let things fall into place as the narrative unfolds, type of smart indies. I have a really good feeling about this movie. I think it’ll be a sleeper.
(ONE) THE RAVEN
This movie HAS to rock. It’s a movie about Edgar Allan Poe and it’s starring John Cusack. Cusack is easily one of my top five favorite actors of all time. He’s entertaining and seems to pick really interesting and fun roles all the time. The movie takes a crazy surreal approach to things. It’s a fictional account of Poe’s last days. He joins forces with a young detective to hunt down a crazy serial killer. I don’t know really anyone else in the cast. Alice Eve is in it. She was the “She” in “She’s Out Of My League”. That was a fun and underappreciated movie. I think the fact that we get Cusack in a great role and an interesting plot is more than enough to make this movie “highly anticipated”. Sadly, I’m not all that into “mystery thrillers”. It’s always good for one viewing where all the twists and spins are shocking and fresh, but I never found them that rewatchable after that. With this movie falling into that sensibility I’m worried that this movie will go on as something disposable and forgettable. It pretty much purely rides on how much Cusack brings to the table. That’s always a bet worth taking.
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