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Adventureland

Director: Greg Mottola

Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Ryan Reynolds, Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig, Martin Starr

Review [2.Sep.2009]

Review [3.Apr.2009]

15

You may have known an awkward Romeo like Adventureland‘s James when you were in college. If you were lucky, he made you a mix tape of his favorite bummer songs: “real pit of despair stuff [he thought] you’ll love.” Or maybe you whiled away the hours of a lame summer job with a guy like him—brilliant when it came to books, naive regarding matters of the heart, and often undone by his tendency to blather. As the recent college grad, Jesse Eisenberg captures James in all his bright, bumbling glory. Two pitch-perfect moments stand out. When James finally makes a move with the girl of his dreams, boldly pulling her in for a kiss, he pauses as their lips part to ask, “Was it okay that I did just that?” Just as revealing is the moment when he quietly bests his romantic rival with a knowing but sympathetic glance. Yes, James wants to be a man, but more important, he yearns to be a good man. In this lovely performance, Eisenberg makes us believe that his flawed character will one day get there. Marisa Carroll

Crazy Heart

Director: Scott Cooper

Cast: Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Colin Farrell, Robert Duvall

Review [30.Apr.2010]

Review [22.Dec.2009]

14

The wily Bridges as Bad Blake in Crazy Heart immediately recalls Tender Mercies-era Robert Duvall’s Oscar-winning character Mac Sledge (Duvall, for symmetry, co-stars with Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal here). The actor’s country-singing train wreck with a heart of gold showcases one of the unsung great actors in cinema (see also: The Big Lebowski, Fearless, The Door in the Floor, etc.). Bridges explains his process of getting into character: “In a general sense, making a movie’s sort of like a magic trick. There are all kinds of sleight of hand things going on and then there is real alchemy going on (Bridges grins wickedly). You’re kind of summoning up the muse or whatever. My approach is that I try to make it real and interesting. What holds your attention doesn’t necessarily have to be that the character’s a good guy but that he just makes you wonder ‘what’s next’ and makes you care about that. You don’t have to like some guy who is walking down the street but you can find him fascinating. The same thing works in movies, too. You’ve got to find that thing that’s interesting that doesn’t pop or rip the fabric. In other words, there are so many things that are different in movies that are like that – from wardrobe to makeup. You don’t want to think ‘wow! That’s wonderful makeup,’ you want it to be invisible, you don’t want to see that. You go for those things.”—Jeff Bridges to Matt Mazur in New York, December 2009 Matt Mazur

Star Trek

Director: J.J. Abrams

Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Eric Bana, Bruce Greenwood, Karl Urban, John Cho, Winona Ryder, Ben Cross, Simon Pegg

Review [8.May.2009]

13

“Space is disease and danger wrapped in darkness and silence,” growls Karl Urban’s Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy in his first scene, making a strong initial impression as a sharp-tongued pessimist. J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek gleefully smashes almost every sacred franchise icon in sight, but Urban’s McCoy wields a silver hammer. As much as his performance is a delightful and sometimes uncanny tribute to DeForest Kelley’s beloved crusty medical officer, Urban also slides a quality of formidability into it. He injects medicine viciously, as other men would throw a punch. McCoy was always the on-screen proxy for sci-fi sceptics, his no-nonsense asides letting the air out Trek’s balloon before it inflated to self-righteous proportions. Urban’s McCoy vocalizes our doubts as sarcastically as Kelley’s did, but he does so with a menace and muscle that is all his own. Ross Langager

A Single Man

Director: Tom Ford

Cast: Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Matthew Goode, Ginnifer Goodwin, Nicholas Hoult

Review [22.Dec.2009]

12

Baffling as it may be, I had never once before seen a Colin Firth film prior to this performance. Yet now that I have, I have the desire to immerse myself in a Firthian marathon. The way in which he manages to capture every subtle physical nuance of this deteriorating soul is a breathtaking artform and one of the most exquisite portraits of a gay man ever captured on film. When voters fill out their Oscar ballots this month, it would be criminal not to include Colin Firth as one of their top nominees. James De Roxtra

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

Director: Werner Herzog

Cast: Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Val Kilmer, Fairuza Balk, Jennifer Coolidge, Vondie Curtis Hall, Shawn Hatosy, Xzibit, Brad Dourif

Review [23.Nov.2009]

11

Occasionally, students sneer and laugh at my defense of Nicholas Cage. This is likely due to the fact that much of the actor’s best work took place 15 to 20 years ago. For many younger viewers, high points as varied as Raising Arizona, Wild at Heart, and Leaving Las Vegas are distant, or completely undiscovered, reference points within Cage’s filmography—a perception supported by the actor’s admittedly questionable choice of scripts in the past decade and a half. Werner Herzog’s Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans is, therefore, a kind of godsend, as it both validates those still holding out hope for Cage and rewards said support with a performance for the ages. Completely transcending inevitable comparisons to Harvey Keitel (because of the film’s title) and Klaus Kinski (because of the director and tenor of the role), Cage hits what seems like—even on repeat viewings—an impossible range of notes within a single film. His Lt. Terence McDonaugh is a man who risks losing honor and forsaking long term goals in order to fulfill immediate needs, especially the demands of his various addictions. Cage’s commitment to this quicksilver quality leads to nonstop surprises that must be seen to be believed. From tender moments with his prostitute girlfriend to hallucinogenic communication with iguanas to questioning elderly ladies at gunpoint, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans offers the full, unrestrained range of Cage. Awards do not yet exist for this. Thomas Britt