The Illusionist

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A failing Parisian Illusionist travels to Scotland to find work and accidentally picks up a poor young stowaway, who turns out to be something of a gold-digger, which forces our aging Illusionist to find increasingly more degrading ways to make money in order to buy her things.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: It's animated and the sparse words spoken in the piece are deliberately incomprehensible, even to people who think they understand French and English.

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. It's highly artistic and aimed at the thinking crowd.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Sure, if you like to laugh at things you have to think about first.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: The ending is pretty depressing... But also goes without saying. I mean, what was he thinking would happen?!

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: It's nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Feature. Too bad it's up against the very best film of the year, Toy Story 3.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: I can honestly say that there isn't any.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: The animation of the scenery is beautiful. It makes you want to go to Edinburgh. Speaking of which, if any of you wants to go there, I have a friend who's producing a series of one-man/one-woman shows at the Edinburgh Theater Festival, and she's still looking for some acts for this year, so if you have a completed piece, let me know in the comments section.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: It's based on an unproduced script written by the late French actor and icon, Jacques Tati. While alive, Tati was one of France's most famous movie stars. In fact, he still is, despite having passed almost 30 years ago. My point is that this is not a man who had any trouble getting a movie made if he wanted to, so if this script remained unproduced there's probably a reason for that. I'm just sayin'.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: The Illusionist Trailer

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Me and Orson Welles

(Guest Review by Russ)

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A teenager (Zac Efron) is cast in the 1937 Broadway production of Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” and comes of age in the shadow of actor/director Orson Welles’ genius.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Zac Efron, Claire Danes, Christian McKay, Ben Chaplin, Eddie Marsan, James Tupper, Zoe Kazan

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. You might try not to pay full price for it. Although, I guess this film could pique the interest of various fans, so here’s a handy guide. Screaming insane tween female Zac Efron fans: stay away and re-watch the High School Musical trilogy on DVD. Forty year-old gay men: sorry, Zac never goes shirtless, re-watch 17 Again. Orson Welles fanatics: it’s an interesting insight into a week of his life, pre-Hollywood filmmaker genius mode. Richard Linklater fans: I don’t know what to tell you, no one gets high in this film and Jack Black is nowhere to be seen.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Yes. The overall tone of the movie is light and there is good wordplay and joke set-ups that pay off with nice chuckles. The funniest revolves around “the Quadruple Space,” but I won’t ruin it for you with an explanation in this review.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: No. And it’s not built for it anyway so don’t hold that against it.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Nothing obvious. But depending on how it plays, a buzz could begin to circle for British stage actor Christian McKay’s portrayal of a young Welles... especially when they realize that he has never acted in a movie before.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: It’s all first rate if not spectacular. Christian McKay steals the show as a 22 year-old Orson Welles putting his budding genius on show. The performance sneaks up on you and builds into something completely authentic. Zac Efron might not blow you away, but there’s no denying his youthful charisma, perfect eyebrows and freakishly long eyelashes. He both naturally seduces and is seduced in a role that doesn’t call for much more than that.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: It’s serviceable and works on the relatively low budget the film was shot on. It doesn’t look cheap, but it doesn’t look expensive either. The period detail is all there, but it’s mostly done in medium and close-up shots, which undercut the grandeur of the period. Otherwise the whole thing skips along at a nice pace and never bores.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Probably the biggest problem and the main thing holding the film back from a green light. Zac Efron’s character ‘Richard’ is the dual lead with Orson Welles and it’s an unfortunately underwritten part. Its purpose is for us, the viewer, to see Welles’ genius through the eyes of an everyman, but one can’t help wishing that we knew more about Richard and what he wanted out of life and his experience working in the theater. There also isn’t much conflict as Richard easily gets everything he wants up until the very end. There’s nothing glaringly wrong or bad with the movie, but as good as it is, it’s not hard to imagine how it could have been so much better with another script rewrite.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2003567129/

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Phoebe in Wonderland

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A nine-year-old girl (Elle Fanning) tries to cope with the as-yet-undefined mental illness that is making her "different," by acting in her school production of Alice in Wonderland.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Elle Fanning, Felicity Huffman, Patricia Clarkson, Bill Pullman, Campbell Scott, Ian Colletti, Bailee Madison, Peter Gerety

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. This is a great movie, but as you can tell from the description of the plot, it's not for everybody. And by "everybody", I obviously mean, people who don't want to deal with a movie about a child with a mental illness. But if you're still reading, maybe this one is for you?

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: It's very quirky. Proof: Patricia Clarkson is in it.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: I almost cried from watching that adorable Elle Fanning smile. And that was before the dramatic stuff happened, so you can only imagine.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: I did witness, in the movie, one of the first Oscar worthy performances of the year. No surprise, this film has award winners Felicity Huffman and Patricia Clarkson in it... But I'm not talking about them. Patricia Clarkson is superb in this movie, but much too subtle to get noticed by any doler-outers of awards. And I was one of the first people to jump on the Felicity Huffman bandwagon when I saw her brilliant performance in Transamerica... But in this movie, she is seriously upstaged by a 9-year-old. Will somebody please give that child an Oscar?!

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Just in case I haven't gushed enough about Elle Fanning yet, I'd like to also mention that she brings a completely different quality to the screen than her older sister, Dakota, and I hope that after this film people will start to think of her for roles because they want her, and not just because Dakota is too old.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Because the movie takes such a deep look into this child's imagination, there are a lot of opportunities for poetic visual story telling, and first time director, Daniel Barnz, does not miss seizing them.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: The family scenes have several moments of pure brilliance. But there are also some moments that read false, mostly having to do with the behaviors of the teachers and the principal.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/search/phoebe%20in%20wonderland/trailers

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High School Musical 3: Senior Year

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: The High School Musical gang is in their senior year, so they're playing their last basketball game, performing their last musical, and trying to figure out how they will deal with their broken hearts as they leave each other to go off to college.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Lucas Grabeel, Corbin Bleu, Monique Coleman, Bart Johnson, Alyson Reed, Olesya Rulin, Chris Warren Jr., Ryne Sanborn, KayCee Stroh, Matt Prokop, Justin Martin, Jemma McKenzie-Brown

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution... Unless you're under 8 years old, in which case congratulations on finding and reading this incredibly mature blog.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Mostly at yourself, for being there.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: If you grew up watching good musical and dancing movies about high schoolers, like Grease and Footloose, it makes you sad to notice that not only is the depth of teenage music, life and angst only scratching the surface here, but bizarrely, as real life teenagers get more and more wild, the depiction of them in movies gets more and more tame. What's that trying to prove?

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Craziest phenomenon of the new millennium.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Zac Efron is dreamy. Which is the only reason I can think of that justifies how this series caught on. As far as the rest of the cast goes, you find yourself wondering where they will be 5 years from now. My guess is The Surreal Life.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: It's like watching The Disney Channel on a really big screen.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: If you're going to this movie for the story, you don't know anything about High School Musical. And if you don't know anything about High School Musical, you're living under a rock. And if you're living under a rock, you've got bigger problems to worry about than how lame this story is.

Q: Is there anything else worth mentioning about the movie?

A: You should probably take my in-depth analysis with a grain of salt on this one, because while I did see the first High School Musical, I missed the second one, so I might have missed some of the important hidden innuendo in the third.

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Hamlet 2

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A down on his luck drama teacher (Steve Coogan) tries to put on the play of his life, with a bunch of apathetic students, to try to save the drama program from being phased out.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Steve Coogan, Catherine Keener, David Arquette, Amy Poehler, Melonie Diaz, Elisabeth Shue, Marshall Bell, Joseph Julian Soria, Skylar Astin, Phoebe Strole, Michael Esparza, Arnie Pantoja, Natalie Amenula, Shea Pepe

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Go! This quirky little film is full of unexpected dialogue and unconventional (read: inappropriate) teaching methods. Like when a teacher asks a student to punch him in the gut, what lesson would you guess he's trying to teach that student? Because I have no clue, and I can't guarantee that seeing the movie will answer that question for you either.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Everyone may not laugh at the same time, but you'll all find something to laugh at.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Not likely, but you will find yourself tapping your feet and singing along to the catchy musical theater number, "Rock me, sexy Jesus."

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: It won the honor of being the highest priced sale at Sundance this year, so that's pretty big.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Steve Coogan is so Steve Coogan in this one. If you like Steve Coogan's schtick, you'll know exactly what I mean. If you don't know Steve Coogan's schtick, this would be a good introduction to it. And Catherine Keener, who's naturally more suited to play edgier roles than fluffy love-interests, has an opportunity to show us what she does best-- which is be unhappy and in your face about it.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Although I have no idea what the final stage play was about or how it had anything to do with Hamlet 1 (as they hilariously call William Shakespeare's little dramatic frivolity), I was drawn in by the staging and design of the piece.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: I'm not sure at all about the logic behind pretty much everything in the third act, but if I don't scratch my head too hard, I realize that I still had fun. Just don't think about it.

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