New Releases for the Week of August 27, 2010

Cotton Marcus informs the young lady she doesn't need an exorcist, she needs a fashion consultant. Tim Gunn, to the rescue!

THE LAST EXORCISM

(Lionsgate) Patrick Fabian, Ashley Bell, Louis Herthum, Iris Bahr, Caleb Landry Jones, Tony Bentley, John Wright Jr., Shanna Forrestall, Justin Shafer. Directed by Daniel Stamm

The Reverend Cotton Marcus, a charlatan who performs fake exorcisms, has grown weary of separating the faithful from their wallets, so he intends his last exorcism to be a confessional video. What he doesn’t bargain for is that the young girl who will be his final subject is genuinely possessed of an evil beyond anything he has ever imagined or prepared for, and it will be up to him and his crew to somehow rid this young girl of the vengeful demon possessing her before unimaginable tragedy results.

See the trailer, clips and promos here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard

Rating: PG-13 (for disturbing violent content and terror, some sexual references and thematic material)

Mao’s Last Dancer

(Goldwyn) Wen Bin Huang, Bruce Greenwood, Kyle MacLachlen, Joan Chen. This is the true story of Chinese ballet master Li Cunxin and his rise to fame despite obstacles from his totalitarian Maoist government. Directed by Oscar-winning director Bruce Beresford (Driving Miss Daisy, Tender Mercies), the film covers the triumphs of a supremely talented dancer, as well as the loneliness and despair of an exile.

See the trailer and clips here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard

Rating: PG (for a brief violent image, some sensuality, language and incidental smoking)

The Secret of Kells

(GKIDS) Starring the voices of Brendan Gleeson, Evan McGuire, Christen Mooney, Mick Lally. A beautifully animated (it was also an Oscar Nominee for Best Animated Feature) movie about a young boy at an Irish abbey who comes face to face with Celtic mysticism, Viking invaders and the beauty of a well-illuminated volume. Previously reviewed during the Florida Film Festival, you can read my full review here.

See the trailer and clips here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard

Rating: NR (but would probably get a PG rating for some scenes with disturbing images and violence)

Takers

(Screen Gems) Matt Dillon, Paul Walker, Idris Elba, Jay Hernandez. A group of notorious criminals are getting ready to pull off their last heist, their most daring, complex and high-risk job yet – and also their most lucrative. They are used to pulling off meticulously planned jobs executed like clockwork, but this one might be beyond the capabilities of anybody – and to top it all off, a case-hardened detective is right on their tails, nipping at their heels. One false move and the whole gang might wind up caught, a fate worse than death for a taker.

See the trailer, clips, promos, interviews and a music video here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard

Rating: PG-13 (for intense sequences of violence and action, a sexual situation/partial nudity and some language)

The Education of Charlie Banks

Jesse Eisenberg and Eve Amurri share a laugh.

(Anchor Bay) Jesse Eisenberg, Jason Ritter, Chris Marquette, Eve Amurri, Sebastian Stan, Gloria Votsis, Steven Hinkle, Dennis Boutsikaris. Directed by Fred Durst

Change is part of the human experience; we all aspire to change the things that are imperfect within us. We are not always successful at changing, but we never give up hope that someday we’ll finally get to where we want to be.

Charlie Banks (Eisenberg) is a young man who is a walking bundle of nerves. He has a fascination for Mick (Ritter), the neighborhood bully that borders on awe, going back to their childhoods. It’s the swagger and self-confidence, two things that Charlie doesn’t possess, that he admires. At a frat party one year as Charlie prepares to enter a prestigious Ivy League University, Charlie witnesses Mick beating up a couple of jocks nearly to death.

He reports this to the police, but afraid of the consequences of his decision he recants, leaving Mick out on the streets after serving a few days in jail. Charlie has no idea if Mick knows for certain who squealed on him in the first place but now that he is in his academic environment he figures he’s safe from him.

That turns out not to be the case. One day Charlie is surprised to find Mick visiting Charlie’s roommate Danny (Marquette), a friend of Mick’s from the neighborhood. Charlie is understandably unnerved, wondering if Mick knows. What was supposed to be a brief visit turns into a lengthy stay, as Mick begins to insinuate himself into Charlie’s circle of friends, even making romantic overtures towards Mary (Amurri), the girl Charlie is crushing on.

As time passes, Charlie’s fears seem to be allayed. Mick seems to see Charlie as something of a role model. For Mick’s part, he sees that learning isn’t necessarily for pussies and begins to feel a glimmer of hope that a better life is available to him. Charlie knows what Mick is capable of and warns his friends to a certain degree, but at the same time is rooting for Mick to change his ways. Can Mick overcome his own brutal, violent nature?

Limp Biskit frontman Durst explores themes that aren’t exactly unknown to heavy rockers, and inserts them throughout the movie. Drugs, sex, violence are all in the mix, as are feelings of insecurity and a bit of a middle finger to the upper classes (most of Charlie’s circle are twits, arrogant assholes and spoiled brats).

Eisenberg made this at an earlier stage of his career when he tended to be a bit twitchy in his actions. It gets so unsettling that by the movie’s end you feel yourself tapping your feet or drumming your fingers unconsciously. It’s good to know that he’s matured as an actor, as his most recent turns in Zombieland and Adventureland both show.

Ritter is what one would call “interesting casting,” a polite way of saying “Who the heck cast him as that?!?!” This is the kind of role that twenty years ago might have gone to Michael Pare or Matt Dillon or last year might have gone to Channing Tatum; there needs to be a sense of the smolder beneath the charming façade and Ritter tries gamely to conjure it up, but isn’t always on the money there.

The triangle between Charlie, Mick and Mary make up the most compelling part of the story for me, and given the early-80s/late-70s era that this is set in, the sex and drugs and rock and roll are a big part of it too. The last 20 minutes seem to lose their way a little bit before the end credits run; I got the feeling that the writers began to lose some focus, although that could have been simply me. Either way, it isn’t a good thing.

As first movie’s go, The Education of Charlie Banks isn’t a bad first effort. It is certainly flawed and might have benefitted from the surer touch of a veteran director, but we all have to start somewhere. I haven’t seen The Longshots, Durst’s second film, but I’m more inclined to based on seeing his first.

WHY RENT THIS: The relationships between Charlie and Mick and Mary make for an interesting triangle.

WHY RENT SOMETHING ELSE: Eisenberg is a little bit too twitchy in the movie, giving the effect of watching a kid with ADD for a couple of hours.

FAMILY VALUES: As would befit a movie set in the early 80s about the poor little rich kid set, there’s a ton of drug and alcohol use, lots of swearing and thanks to the presence of Mick, a ton of sudden and terrifying violence. There’s also plenty of sexual content for those who look for such things.

TRIVIAL PURSUIT: While this was the first feature film to be directed by Durst, it actually was the second to be released; the sports film The Longshots with Ice Cube had a wide release several months before Anchor Bay released this on its brief limited run.

NOTABLE DVD EXTRAS: None listed.

FINAL RATING: 5/10

TOMORROW: Whiteout