New Releases for the Week of September 25, 2020

KAJILLIONAIRE

(Focus) Evan Rachel Wood, Richard Jenkins, Debra Winger, Gina Rodriguez, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Mark Ivanir, Patricia Belcher. Directed by Miranda July

A pair of married con artists have raised their daughter to adulthood, teacher her the arts of swindling scamming and stealing. During one desperate and ill-conceived heist, they charm a stranger into joining their little crew only to have their lives disrupted in ways they couldn’t have imagined.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Dramedy
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: R (for some sexual references and language)

Ava

(Vertical) Jessica Chastain, Colin Farrell, Common, John Malkovich. A trained assassin working for a black ops organization questions a job she’s given and finds herself targeted by her own organization.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website  
Genre: Action
Now Playing: Studio Movie Grill at Sunset Walk
Rating: R (for brief sexual material, violence and language throughout)

Break the Silence: The Movie

(Trafalgar) BTS, Marry Majara, Sindi Mokoena, Mirriam Mosia. The K-pop superstars are captured on their 2019 tour.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website  
Genre: Music Documentary
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: NR

Jimmy Carter: Rock and Roll President

(Greenwich) Jimmy Carter, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Garth Brooks. The 39^th President of the United States becomes the first to embrace rock and roll; the music becomes a unifying force in his campaign and would change how politics and music entwine.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website  
Genre: Documentary
Now Playing: Enzian Theater, Cinematique Theater Daytona Beach
Rating: NR

The Last Shift

(Stage 6/Sony) Richard Jenkins, Ed O’Neill, Alison Tolman, Shane Paul McGhie. After 38 years working in fast food, an aging worker is getting ready to retire. As he trains his replacement, he begins to confront the meaning of his life and what he has accomplished with it.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website  
Genre: Drama
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: R (for language and some drug use)

Leap

(Jetsen Huashi) Li Gong, Bo Huang, Gang Wu, Yuchang Peng. After an absence of twelve years, the Chinese women’s volleyball team has made the Olympic finals. Getting there has required them to completely change the culture on the team.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website  
Genre: Sports Drama
Now Playing: AMC Altamonte Mall, Regal Waterford Lakes
Rating: NR

Meeting the Beatles in India

(Gathr) The Beatles, David Lynch, Pattie Boyd, Lewis Lapham. A young American in India in the Sixties seeking to find himself runs into the Beatles who have come to the same ashram to find inner peace. He is allowed into their inner circle and his photographs capture the group in a moment of creative explosion which would lead to the White Album.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website  
Genre: Music Documentary
Now Playing: Enzian On-Demand
Rating: NR

Shortcut

(Gravitas) Jack Kane, Zak Sutcliffe, Andrei Claude, Sophie Jane Oliver. A group of five friends are stalked by a mysterious creature when their

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website  
Genre: Horror
Now Playing: Premiere Fashion Square Mall, Studio Movie Grill at Sunset Walk
Rating: R (for some bloody images and language throughout)

SCHEDULED FOR REVIEW:

Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President
Kajillionaire
The Last Shift

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New Releases for the Week of November 22, 2019

FROZEN II

(Disney) Starring the voices of Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Josh Gad, Jonathan Groff, Sterling K. Brown, Evan Rachel Wood, Alfred Molina. Directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee

Elsa has magical powers, that much we know, but where did they come from? The question has become more important with her kingdom hanging on the line, Elsa, Olaf, Anna, Kristoff and Sven must undergo an adventure that even Elsa’s powers may not be able to protect them on.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Animated Feature
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: PG (for action/ peril and some thematic elements)

21 Bridges

(STX) Chadwick Boseman, Siena Miller, Keith David, J.K. Simmons. The son of a slain cop is given responsibility to track down a pair of cop killers. As his investigation deepens, he goes from being the hunter to being the hunted.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website  
Genre: Crime Drama
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: R (for violence and language throughout)

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

(TriStar) Tom Hanks, Matthew Rhys, Susan Kelechi Watson, Chris Cooper. A jaded and broken reporter is assigned to interview Fred Rogers, and has his life transformed by the experience.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website  
Genre: Biographical Drama
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: PG (for some strong thematic material, a brief fight, and some mild language)

The Irishman

(Netflix) Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Anna Paquin. A former World War II veteran who earned his living postwar as an operative for a notorious crime family, reminisces about his part in the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa. This is the latest from legendary director Martin Scorsese and is said to be one of his best ever.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website  
Genre: Gangster
Now Playing: Enzian Theater
Rating: R (for some strong violence, and for language and brief nudity)

Waves

(A24) Kelvin Harrison Jr., Lucas Hedges, Taylor Russell, Sterling K. Brown. A suburban African-American family in South Florida led by a well-meaning but domineering father navigate the shoals of love and loss in this Oscar hopeful.
See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website  
Genre: Romance
Now Playing: Enzian Theater (opens Wednesday)
Rating: R (for language throughout, drug and alcohol use, some sexual content and brief violence – all involving teens)

ALSO OPENING IN ORLANDO/DAYTONA:

Adithya Varma
Age Out
The Courier
Pagalpanti

ALSO OPENING IN MIAMI/FT. LAUDERDALE/KEY WEST:

Adithya Varma
Age Out
Cunningham
Frankie
George Reddy
Pagalpanti
Synonyms

ALSO OPENING IN TAMPA/ST. PETERSBURG/SARASOTA:

The Divine Move 2: The Wrathful
Edie
Pagalpanti

ALSO OPENING IN JACKSONVILLE/ST. AUGUSTINE:

Adithya Varma
George Reddy
Pagalpanti

SCHEDULED FOR REVIEW:

21 Bridges
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Synonyms
Waves

FILM FESTIVALS TAKING PLACE IN FLORIDA:

Key West Film Festival, Key West FL
Ocean Dance International Film Festival, Miami FL

Strange Magic

Welcome to Fairyland Idol.

(2015) Animated Feature (Touchstone) Starring the Voices of Evan Rachel Wood, Alan Cumming, Kristin Chenoweth, Meredith Ann Bull, Sam Palladio, Peter Stormare, Maya Rudolph, Alfred Molina, Elijah Kelley, Llou Johnson, Tony Cox, Joe Whyte, Gary Rydstrom, Robbie Daymond, Sterling Sheehy, Amanda Jean Young, Nicole Vigil, Brenda Chapman. Directed by Gary Rydstrom

At the risk of making this review about the reviewer – a cardinal sin – I want to preface this particular review with a little bit about me. I try to be fairly lenient whenever viewing a movie. I honestly try to highlight the things about a film that work rather than focus on the things that didn’t. I try to criticize constructively as often as possible, sometimes with suggestions on what I think might have improved the movie. I don’t look for pithy bon mots at the expense of the filmmakers or the cast, or at least I try not to. Sometimes it’s unavoidable; I’m only human after all.

I give out few perfect scores, but I do hand them out, usually about three or four a year. However, up until this point, more than five years into this blog I haven’t ever – not once – given out a zero. Until now.

Strange Magic is an animated feature from LucasFilm, with a story written by George Lucas himself that is loosely – very loosely – based on Shakespeare’s immortal Midsummer Night’s Dream. It’s actually a brilliant idea – that’s a Shakespeare play that cries out for being the subject of an animated feature; just not this one.

After discovering her husband-to-be has been cheating on her, fairy Marianne (Wood) turns her back on love, becoming a fairyland version of Xena, Warrior Princess instead. Her younger and blonder sister Dawn (Bull) is boy-crazy in the way that mid-teen girls can be. Her good friend Sunny (Kelley) – who happens to be an elf, which means he looks a whole lot like a garden gnome – would like to take things to the next level, although Dawn has her eye on much better looking guys than Sunny.

Advised by Marianne’s ex Roland (Palladio) to get himself a love potion from the Sugar Plum Fairy (Chenoweth) under the pretense of winning Dawn’s love for Sunny but in reality so he can liberally douse Marianne with the potion and get her back to the altar so that he can win the kingdom he wants to rule. However, Sunny’s success provokes the Bog King (Cumming), who has a vendetta against love but turns out to be a sweet guy despite the Jewish insect mom (Rudolph). Will true love triumph or will Roland’s plans to win the fairy kingdom end up destroying it?

The filmmakers, in a particularly Baz Luhrmann moment, decided to pepper the soundtrack with pop songs from across the various decades of rock music (the music supervisor from this film also worked on Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge) which ends up making this a cross between an excruciating night at the karaoke bar and a particularly bad episode of Glee. While some of the songs are punchy and/or performed adequately, the bulk of them seem to be thrown in there without regard for whether they fit in with the movie’s plot or atmosphere. While Wood, Chenoweth and Cumming have fine voices, the soundtrack is essentially a hot mess.

The animation is something I’m kind of torn on. The backgrounds are extremely detailed and chock full of interesting eye candy which normally isn’t a bad thing, but scene after scene of overwhelming imagery makes you want to shut down, or at least it did me. There was literally too much going on but at least it provided someplace to look other than at the characters who have that creepy rubber-faced style that made motion capture films so unpopular. At the end of the day the characters look like they sprang from a video game circa 2003.

None of the characters are given much depth and there isn’t much reason to root for anyone. “But this movie isn’t intended for adults,” you might say. “This is meant to appeal to a much younger audience.” You’d be correct in pointing that out, but appealing to children doesn’t have to mean pandering to their lowest instincts. Kids aren’t cretins; they can be very smart and yes, they actually have standards, probably higher than most adults when it comes to animation. After all, they see a ton of it, more than we do since they tune in to Nickelodeon, Disney and the Cartoon Network more regularly than we do.

I can’t honestly and in good conscience recommend this for anybody. I wish I could – I would love to see Lucas hit one out of the ballpark, something he hasn’t done in several decades – but this film is just so terribly made that it gets the absolute bottom of my normal rating scale; the dreaded Zero. Please save yourself the chore of asking for your money back after walking out halfway through by spending it on a different film in the first place – the lovely Paddington comes to mind.

REASONS TO GO: Not a one.
REASONS TO STAY: Poor animation. American Idol-like singing that sometimes approaches drunken karaoke levels. Several steps backwards in animated feature quality.
FAMILY VALUES: Some mildly scary images that may upset wee tots.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: The sisters Marianne and Dawn were originally supposed to have long brown hair but in order to save on animation costs, they were given short hair instead with only Marianne retaining brown hair to differentiate her and Dawn’s hair style.
CRITICAL MASS: As of 2/10/15: Rotten Tomatoes: 18% positive reviews. Metacritic: 24/100.
COMPARISON SHOPPING: Epic
FINAL RATING: 0/10
NEXT: Black Sea

The Ides of March

Ryan Gosling tries to remember his line.

(2011) Political Drama (Columbia) Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Jeffrey Wright, Marisa Tomei, Max Minghella, Evan Rachel Wood, Jennifer Ehle, Gregory Itzin, Michael Mantell, Charlie Rose. Directed by George Clooney

Politics make strange bedfellows for just about anything. Few human endeavors employ more of the worst elements of human nature while trying to appeal to the best. It is a machine that chews up and spits out those who don’t have the stomach for being an absolute prick.

Stephen Meyers (Gosling) hasn’t been chewed up or spit out – and he’s as good a media relations specialist as there is in the business. He’s been on plenty of campaigns in his time but none have captured him like the Presidential campaign of Democratic hopeful Mike Morris (Clooney), governor of the great state of Pennsylvania.

They are in the midst of the Ohio primaries and coming down to the wire. The Democratic nomination hangs in the balance and so far, Morris is leading Senator Pullman (Mantell) by a slight margin. Morris’ campaign manager Paul Zara (Hoffman) is romancing Senator Thompson (Wright) who has over three hundred delegates that will all but assure the nomination. Reporter Ida Horowicz (Tomei) is leaning on Stephen for a story but he doesn’t have one to give her – yet.

Then Stephen gets a phone call from Tom Duffy (Giamatti), the campaign manager for Pullman. Duffy wants Stephen to jump ship and even lets him know that Pullman has Thompson in his camp after promising Thompson the secretary of state position in the new administration. Furthermore, Duffy is trying to get Republicans and Independents to vote for Pullman in the open primary election since the general political trend is that the Republicans have a better chance against Pullman than they do against Morris.

Stephen is distraught but he chooses not to tell Paul at first. When he does, the crap hits the fan. Suddenly the campaign is in the middle of a dogfight and they might not necessarily be the stronger dog in the fight. An attractive young campaign worker, Molly Stearns (Wood) who is also the daughter of the bulldog-like Democratic National Committee chairman (Itzin) may prove to be the key that will either save Morris’ presidential chances – or destroy them.

Clooney, who has several really fine directing jobs under his belt, adds another one here. Based on the stage play “Farragut North” by Beau Wilimon (which in itself was loosely based on the author’s experiences in the 2004 campaign of Howard Dean), the movie has a sense of realism. All the dirty tricks, all the behind-the-scenes maneuvering, that fits in with the perception of most people as to what really goes on in a major campaign.

Gosling has had quite a year with appearances in Drive and Crazy, Stupid, Love and giving fine performances in both. He is to my mind a star who has shown potential for years (he already has one Oscar nomination under his belt) and has finally arrived as a legitimate star. He hasn’t shown any desire to headline a big franchise-type film, preferring lesser-budgeted dramas and comedies to ply his trade in, but I don’t doubt he could do that and just as well as anybody.

Hoffman and Giamatti are two of the best actors in the business and they play disparate sides of the same coin; one a shark, willing to do anything to win and the other valuing loyalty above all else maybe to his own detriment. Clooney has a supporting role here (as he did in Good Night and Good Luck) but it’s a memorable one. Like Martin Sheen’s Josiah Bartlett, one wishes there was a candidate out there like Mike Morris. Clooney brings him to life and, surprisingly, gives him a bit of a dark side.

While I found the character a bit more naive than you’d think a media relations manager in a major presidential campaign would be, my main beef with the film is the pacing seems a bit lax. The movie unfolds in an almost nonchalant manner which can be frustrating at times.

There are those who are going to have problems with The Ides of March because those who might have conservative political beliefs may find the depiction of the Democrats as disturbing, even though they are shown to be corrupt in the end. There are others who are going to be a bit put off as well because this is a pretty smart motion picture which requires at least a little bit of intellectual commitment. Those looking to lose themselves in a mindless haze are probably better served to look elsewhere.

REASONS TO GO: Nice thinking person’s political drama with a good sense of realism as to how the political process works. Terrific performances by the ensemble.

REASONS TO STAY: Unfolds at a rather slow pace. Might require too much thought for some. Although it does portray the liberal Democrats as corrupt, Conservatives might not like this either.

FAMILY VALUES: There’s a bit of violence, some terror, a little sensuality and briefly some bad language.

TRIVIAL PURSUIT: In the campaign office are posters of Governor Morris that are much like the iconic Hope posters for the Obama campaign created by street artist Shepard Fairey. In fact, the original photo that the Obama posters were based on were of Obama listening to George Clooney speak at a 2006 press conference.

HOME OR THEATER: You won’t lose anything by waiting for it to come out on home video.

FINAL RATING: 6.5/10

TOMORROW: Saw VI

The Conspirator

Robin Wright's bodyguards have had enough of her Civil War fetish.

(2010) Historical Drama (Roadside Attractions) James McAvoy, Robin Wright, Justin Long, Tom Wilkinson, Kevin Kline, Colm Meaney, Evan Rachel Wood, Alexis Bledel, Toby Kebbell, Danny Huston, Stephen Root, James Badge Dale, Johnny Simmons, Norman Reedus, Jonathan Groff, Marcus Hester. Directed by Robert Redford

Sometimes in the course of a nation great events take place that change everything. Sometimes these events are terrible tragedies in which the nation’s safety is compromised. Is it during these times when the essence of that nation must be compromised in order to maintain the nation’s safety?

Such a time would be the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Simultaneous attempts on the lives of Vice-President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William Seward were also made, unsuccessfully. It was immediately apparent that the heinous actions were the results of a conspiracy, at the head of which was actor John Wilkes Booth (Kebbell).

Booth had met at the boarding house of Mary Surratt (Wright) with her son John (Simmons) and fellow conspirators David Herold (Hester) and Lewis Payne (Reedus). When Secretary of War Edwin Stanton (Kline) essentially took over the government, he had the lot of them arrested including Mrs. Surratt. Only her daughter Anna (Wood) was spared.

The conspirators were brought before a military tribunal presided over by General David Hunter (Meaney) and prosecuted by Judge Advocate General Joseph Holt (Huston). The mood of the country was such that few lawyers wanted to risk their careers representing them. However Maryland Senator Reverdy Johnson (Wilkinson) agreed to represent Mrs. Surratt, assigning the case to his associate Frederick Aiken (McAvoy), a hero of the Union Army.

Aiken is loathe to represent Surratt, feeling her guilty – if she didn’t know what was going on under her own roof with her own son then by God she should have – and this feeling is echoed by his good friends Nicholas Baker (Long) and William Hamilton (Dale), as well as his sweetheart Sarah Weston (Bledel). Gradually, Aiken raises some doubts about Mrs. Surratt’s guilt and is certainly disturbed by the apparent railroading of the boarding house owner by Stanton for political purposes. He will give up friendships, his career and a potential marriage in order to save her.

Redford is a first-class director who doesn’t make a whole lot of movies but when he does they’re always interesting and this is no exception. Said to be historically accurate with the transcripts of the trial providing dialogue, he creates the atmosphere and look of post-Civil War Washington meticulously.

As you’d expect with a movie being directed by Redford, there’s a first-rate cast. McAvoy is the lead here and he does his usual strong job. It becomes necessary for him to change from stiff-necked and unyielding to having doubts about not only the guilt of his clients but also of the means by which they are being tried. Wilkinson plays a savvy politician who distances himself from the trial while keeping true to his convictions. Wilkinson is another terrific character actor who specializes in playing characters reacting to moral dilemmas. He may be soft-spoken but he projects a great deal of power.

Wright, who has dropped the Penn from her name since divorcing Sean, plays Surratt enigmatically which is as it should be because so little is known about the woman. She is a fiercely protective mother (repeatedly telling Aiken not to besmirch her son’s name in order to save her) and a proud Southern sympathizer. Whether or not she actually plotted Lincoln’s assassination is not known to history – although David Herold, who attacked Seward, reportedly insisted she was innocent – but one gets the feeling Redford and Solomon believed she was.

There are modern parallels for this story, particularly in our handling of the prisoners at Gitmo and Al-Gharib, as well as the freedoms we’ve given up in the name of security. As 9-11 has irrevocably changed us as a nation, so too did the Lincoln assassination. History tells us that the process of reconstruction was spearheaded by radical elements in the Republican Party which was far more interested in punishing the South and creating economic opportunities for Northern business interests than in re-integrating the Confederate states back into the Union. As a result, the Southern economy would be in shambles for decades, carpetbaggers would loot the former Confederate states, education would lag to the point where the cotton belt states continue to be among the worst in measurable education statistics even today and a rift between South and North would continue to divide the country in many ways throughout the years through now.

Lincoln certainly would have chosen a different path to reconstruction; one that would have been forgiving and welcoming. His assassination by Booth would have far-reaching consequences for this nation and for the South in particular. How our handling of Iraqi prisoners, how we react to the eroding of our freedoms are going to have far-reaching consequences for our future. This is not only a historic drama, it is also a cautionary tale.

REASONS TO GO: Even though I knew what Surratt’s fate was, I was still on the edge of my seat. Relevant not only in a historical sense but also for today’s events.

REASONS TO STAY: I get the sense that Redford and screenwriter James D. Solomon were making assumptions about Suratt’s guilt/innocence.

FAMILY VALUES: There is some violence and smoking.

TRIVIAL PURSUIT: This is the first production of the American Film Company, a production company dedicated to making movies about the United States that are historically accurate.  

HOME OR THEATER: While much of the movie takes place in enclosed spaces, it still has the grand epic sweep that requires a big screen.

FINAL RATING: 7/10

TOMORROW: Water for Elephants

King of California

Michael Douglas is clearly up to no good.

(First Look) Michael Douglas, Evan Rachel Wood, Willis Burks II, Laura Kachergus, Paul Lieber, Kathleen Wilhoite, Anne Nathan. Directed by Mike Cahill

Don Quixote tilted at windmills and searched for the perfect woman, and for his troubles was labeled insane. Even today, those who search for the impossible dream are often considered lunatics and are treated as such.

Miranda (Wood) has a fairly atypical and comfortable existence. She’s managed to fool the authorities and her estranged family into thinking that she’s living with relatives. The truth is that the teenaged girl is living alone in her family home, her mother long since deceased and her father Charlie (Douglas), an ex-jazz musician, is spending his days at his new address in a local mental institution.

One day however, Charlie is released from the nuthatch and she is forced to deal with him again. He has a peculiar gleam in his eyes and an appetite for things that makes her think he’s up to something. He denies it at first, claiming he’s just going for a job interview at a local Applebee’s.

Except that he’s not. He is, in fact, up to Something and it is not in error that I capitalize. Using the internet for research, he has locked into the idea that a Spanish conquistador once buried a treasure full of gold in the Santa Clarita valley, where the two of them live. He is positively giddy with the idea.

Miranda doesn’t have time for the lunacy, at least not at first. Their ramshackle house, virtually falling apart around them, is theirs only by the skin of her teeth. She is working double shifts and overtime at McDonald’s to make ends meet. She has managed to purchase a car – nay, a hunk of junk that runs by the grace of God – and it is her pride and joy. It is the one tangible proof that she has accomplished anything in life.

Soon, Charlie’s quest, like Don Quixote before him, overruns her life and begins to take it over. He discerns, using the translated maps and adjusting for the terrain changes in the intervening years that the gold is buried beneath a palate of toys and a slab of concrete at the local Costco. He hatches a plot to go retrieve the treasure, but is there really anything there or is this just a product of Charlie’s mental illness?

This movie came and went on a limited release and now is getting a bit of airtime on cable. The allusions to Cervantes’ iconic character aren’t lost on Michael Douglas, who plays Charlie with a wild, unkempt beard (making him look oddly Spanish) and a gleam in his eyes that could be madness or could be Gordon Gekko messin’ with ya. It’s been years since we’ve seen Douglas perform as well as he does here, having mostly done mediocre supporting roles in forgettable comedies recently. This is certainly a comedic role, but Douglas plays him in a sympathetic vein, making it very easy to root for the clearly unbalanced Charlie, even though we know he’s probably out to lunch.

Against this backdrop we have Evan Rachel Wood, a competent actress in her own right and she makes the best of a thankless role. Although she narrates the film, still the movie is Charlie’s and it is him you will remember from the movie, which is the way the filmmakers want it. Wood is no Dulcinea here – she’s far too worldly for that – but she plays the role as a girl wise beyond her years. Miranda humors Charlie mainly to give him something to do at first, but eventually she buys into his madness. It is charming to watch, and some of the later scenes in the movie are some of the best Wood has ever done.

The difficulty here is in balancing the story with the impulse to over-emphasize Charlie’s quirks, an impulse Cahill fails to resist. At times, Charlie’s screwloose charm dominates the movie overly much, making it nearly impossible to follow the story because the movie stops dead in its tracks in those instances. Still, for the most part, it moves nicely at a pace that isn’t too fast which might irritate those of the post-MTV generation who don’t like staring at the same shot for more than five seconds.

The story doesn’t really mine any new territory, and that’s okay. What matters here is that the movie’s point about the mind-numbing blandness of modern suburban life is well-taken and well-illustrated here. Few of Costco’s customers notice the wild-looking man pacing about Costco with a metal detector, all lost in their own banal nightmare. Charlie is a spark of life in an ocean of conformity, one who embraces life and seeks out adventure even when such acts are frowned upon and thought insane. One wonders if perhaps Charlie is the only sane one of all those living in a colorless world of interchangeability in which people all over the country in cities and suburbs identical to this one buy the same products in the same stores and eat at the same restaurants afterwards. If Charlie’s insane, then commit me now. I’d rather live in his world than in the other.

WHY RENT THIS: Douglas gives one of his best performances in years. The film pointedly illustrates how bland, banal and interchangeable modern suburban/city life is.

WHY RENT SOMETHING ELSE: The movie sometimes goes a bit overboard with the quirkiness. No new territory is really mined here.

FAMILY VALUES: There’s a bit of off-color language and references to past drug use but the kicker here is the portrayal of mental illness. More mature kids might be okay with this, but certainly fine for teens.

TRIVIAL PURSUIT: The production filmed in a working Costco during the nighttime hours when the store is normally closed. A cash register was kept open so that the crew could make purchases during the shoot.

NOTABLE DVD EXTRAS: This carries with it one of the strongest audio commentary tracks you are ever likely to hear. Highly recommended for that alone.

FINAL RATING: 5/10

TOMORROW: Mountain Patrol: Kekexili

Battle for Terra

She's got the whoooooole world...in her hands...

(Roadside Attractions) Starring the voices of Evan Rachel Wood, James Garner, Dennis Quaid, Luke Wilson, Amanda Peet, Danny Glover, Brian Cox, David Cross, Chris Evans, Justin Long, Ron Perlman, Beverly D’Angelo, Rosanna Arquette. Directed by Aristomenis Tsirbas.

One of the more conventional plotlines in Hollywood-style science fiction is that of the alien invasion. It’s the one where evil aliens with far superior technology and vast numbers attempt to conquer the Earth for her valuable resources, and plucky humans make a last-ditch stand to save the planet and its inhabitants. However, we rarely see this scenario from the point of view of the invaders. And what if the aliens were humans?

Terra is a peaceful, idyllic world with a civilization that values art and music over technology and conflict. The inhabitants live in harmony with the wild and abundant natural life of their world. Like most of the life on Terra, the civilized inhabitants have a natural power of flight which they often augment with gliders, dirigibles and mechanically-driven flyers. They are ruled over by a benevolent council of elders, chief among them Doron (Garner). Young Mala (Wood) has a restless curiosity and a wild sense of adventure that often causes her to get into trouble. She has no problem pushing the boundaries, as when she races her more timid friend Senn (Long) in powered flyers, but comes too close to a dangerous wind tunnel, forcing Senn to rescue her.

On that day, an ominous shadow darkens the Terran sky. The shadow turns out to be cast by a gigantic spacecraft, which sends scout drones to abduct Terrans for study, including Mala’s father Roven (Quaid). Mala herself barely evades capture, leading one of the drones on a thrilling chase before using her knowledge of the terrain to cause the drone to crash. She comes to the site and finds the pilot, Lt. James Stanton (Wilson), injured and in need of oxygen (the Terran atmosphere has almost none). She brings the injured pilot home, and is followed by his faithful robot Giddy (Cross) who instructs her on how to build a makeshift oxygen tent and save Stanton’s life.

Once awake, Stanton realizes that he has stumbled onto a culture that values peace and life, and is not so far removed from his own. However, the human race is in dire straits. Earth has been wiped out by ecological disaster and civil war. The last surviving humans have assembled a gigantic spaceship called the Ark and journeyed over several generations to the nearest habitable planet. Unfortunately, the Ark is falling to pieces and structural defects take the lives of its inhabitants on a nearly daily basis. They have no other options but to somehow make this world theirs.

While the human council, led by President Chen (Glover) dithers, unable to make a decision, General Hemmer (Cox), leader of the Earth Force military arm, takes matters into his own hands. He orders the terraforming machine launched into the Terran atmosphere. This machine would convert the atmosphere into something that humans could breathe. Unfortunately, that atmosphere would kill all the existing life on the planet. As both sides prepare for a battle for their very survival, one thing becomes clear; one of these species must die in order for the other to live.

Writer/director Tsirbas has mostly worked as a digital effects artist for films, television and videogames. This is his feature debut, and it’s a dandy. He based this on a seven-minute animated short called “Terra” (the events of which are repeated early on here). While the concept of invading aliens isn’t new, this is a totally unique take on the subject, and the writing is superb. While some of the characters are a bit cliché – the plucky hero, the evil General, the wise elder – the story is riveting. You find yourself unsure of which side to root for and despite the overeager General, there are no real villains here. I found that rather refreshing.

Considering that this is an independent feature from a first-time director, the voice cast is impressive. Wood makes for a fine heroine, and Garner deliberately gentles his distinctive voice as Doron to satisfying effect.

The animation isn’t up to the standards of Pixar or DreamWorks, but is spectacular in places (particularly during the climactic battle). What makes it all the more amazing is that they had about 20 animators as opposed to the more than 100 usually employed for major studio animated features. The depiction of the alien world and its inhabitants is very imaginative and at times you’ll forget that you’re watching an animated film. If I have a quibble, the humans look a bit plastic and too similar. It does jar you out of the film in a few places, but after awhile you do get past that.

There’s not a lot of humor here, which is rather refreshing but that isn’t to say that it’s as humorless as Final Fantasy: the Movie. This is definitely a movie with a heart, and plenty of charm. While the concepts are pretty complex, the story isn’t so hard to follow that wee children will have difficulty keeping up, and they’ll love the creatures and joie de vivre of the rebellious teenaged leads Mala and Senn.

This was the first film we saw at this year’s Florida Film Festival and it was a great way to kick off one of our favorite events of the year. It’s also one of the most unusual animated features you’ll see. I doubt if it will get an Oscar nod with Pixar’s Up and Miyazaki’s Ponyo but I think it deserves some consideration. Strangely, Sony’s Planet 51 has a similar humans-as-invaders theme but done for laughs; I haven’t seen it yet but if it’s half as good as this, it’ll beworth seeing.

WHY RENT THIS: Superbly written, with a story that contains a perspective not usually seen in its genre. An imaginative alien world full of life and color delights and amazes. A spectacular battle sequence at the film’s climax will leave you conflicted as to whom to root for.

WHY RENT SOMETHING ELSE: Some of the animation is sub-par, particularly the human characters who look plastic and unrealistic. There are too many cliché characters that might have been fleshed out better.

FAMILY VALUES: Despite the complexity of the story, even small kids will have no problem following it. An uplifting anti-war message is delivered by alien characters that will delight most kids. Definitely suitable for all ages.

TRIVIAL PURSUITS: Earlier in his career, director Tsirbas was a digital artist on the special effects crews of several Star Trek series.

NOTABLE DVD EXTRAS:  On the Blu-Ray edition, an animated version of Tsirbas walks around the CGI sets of the movie, explaining his love for filmmaking. Not especially informative, but different.

FINAL RATING: 7/10

TOMORROW: When Did You Last See Your Father?