MATCH POINT

Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Rhys Meyers

MATCH POINT (2005). Written and directed by Woody Allen.

"I don't care that he's good. I just hope he's lucky."

Chris Wilton (Jonathan Rhys Meyers of Stonewall) is a British tennis instructor who becomes friends with a client, Tom Hewett (Matthew Goode), and is sort of adopted by his wealthy family. Tom's sister Chloe (Emily Mortimer of The Pink Panther), falls for Chris, but he really has his eye on Tom's fiancee, the aspiring American actress Nola Rice (Scarlett Johansson). Before you can say Crimes and Misdemeanors, Chris finds himself with a wife, Chloe, a cushy new life and position in his father-in-law's firm, and a mistress -- Tom's ex-fiancee Nola -- who is pregnant and making noises. Now what is Chris to do? As this is a Woody Allen movie, what do you think? Although this was seen by many as a "return to form" for Allen, it's really just an inferior retread of Crimes, and comes off more like a rip-off of the far superior A Life in the Sun (from Dreiser's "An American Tragedy.")  The acting cannot be faulted, however, and it's a pleasure to see Penelope Wilton of Downton Abbey as Chris' mother-in-law. Since Allen has pretty much revealed himself as a self-involved man who doesn't respect boundaries, his sociopathic "hero" is the same, so you can expect the same depressing non-denouement as in Crimes and Misdemeanors. Fortunately, in real life sociopaths aren't always so lucky, as you can see on practically any true crime program.

Verdict: This over-rated reprise of Crimes and Misdemeanors is entertaining, smooth, and very well-acted, but we've seen it before -- and better. **1/2.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER (2014). Directors: Anthony and Joe Russo.

The spy organization SHIELD is compromised, and the chief, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), attacked. Captain America (Chris Evans) discovers that the evil group HYDRA has been hidden inside SHIELD all the time. With the assistance of the Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Sam Wilson, the Falcon (Anthony Mackie), Cap takes on HYDRA, the Swiss scientist Arnim Zola (Toby Jones), Batroc (Georges St-Pierre), and a character from his past known only as the Winter Soldier, (Sebastian Stan) who is actually Cap's old partner, Bucky Barnes, now turned assassin. Evans [Fantastic Four] and Johansson [Marvel's The Avengers] give good performances, and there's a nice, well-played part for Robert Redford [Lions for Lambs] as the corrupt Alexander Pierce. Captain America: The Winter Soldier is busy, has some good action scenes and stunt work, but overall is second rate. It is a slight improvement over Captain America: The First Avenger however.

Verdict: Maybe the next one will get it right. **1/2.

HITCHCOCK (2012)

Hitchcock (Hopkins) and Leigh (Johansson) share a ride and a laugh

HITCHCOCK (2012). Director: Sacha Gervasi.

"I was filming all day with John Gavin. Plywood is more expressive!" -- Hitchcock supposedly talking about actor John Gavin

If you take it with a grain of salt, this is an interesting and entertaining look at Alfred Hitchcock during the days when he was making Psycho, detailing the skepticism with which the project was greeted by the studio and others, showing how he cast the film and got along with the people he made it with. Did Hitch really peep at Vera Miles (Jessica Biel) while she was undressing? Probably not, but Hitchcock takes certain, shall we say, dramatic liberties. Anthony Hopkins is really nothing like Hitch, but his performance is still good, and Helen Mirren is excellent as his wife and collaborator, Alma, who seems very drawn to a novelist (Danny Huston) who is working on a screenplay with her. The best scene has Alma telling off Hitchcock in blunt if loving fashion late in the movie. Scarlet Johansson makes an effective and personable Janet Leigh. James D'Arcy gets little to do as Anthony Perkins, but the private lives of the actors in Psycho generally go unexplored and some -- such as Martin Balsam and John Gavin -- barely appear at all. The relationship between Alfred and Alma is depicted primarily as a loving and professional friendship. Hitchcock barely touches on the outrage and disgust that the film engendered in many quarters when it was released. The film is good-looking and well-paced.

Verdict: If you don't take it seriously as biography, this is a nice picture all told. ***.

MARVEL'S THE AVENGERS

THE AVENGERS (aka Marvel's The Avengers/2012). Writer/Director: Joss Whedon.

The super-heroes featured in the movies Thor, Captain America, the First Avenger, Iron Man 2 and The Incredible Hulk band together to form a team called the Avengers [which first appeared in comic books in the early 1960's] when evil Loki of Asgard comes to Earth and enlists the aid of extra-dimensional robotic warriors and giant metallic worm-dragons that threaten to tear apart Manhattan. There's no real story or fully dimensional characters in this so the movie offers some good special effects and a few exciting sequences that save the movie from the scrapheap. The whole thing is an overlong live-action cartoon and often resembles a high-class video game. It's hard to imagine what audience members who aren't familiar with the comic books will think of this, as it's even confusing to long-time readers. [These Avengers seem modeled more on the heroes of the "Ultimate" universe than the regular Marvel universe.] Alan Silvestri's music helps a bit, but Seamus McGarvey's cinematography is generally mediocre. Samuel L. Jackson scores as SHIELD director Nick Fury, and Tom Hiddleston pretty much walks off with the movie as Loki. The other actors offer the right amount of attitude. [In some comic book -- and Star Trek -- movies the actors often emote as if they think they're doing Shakespeare!] In the comic books Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) is known as the Black Widow, and Clint Barton (Jeremey Renner) is known as Hawkeye, although I don't believe those names are used in this movie. NOTE: To read more about the early origins of all of these characters see The Silver Age of Comics. 

Verdict: Well ... it's somewhat better than Marvel's other summer movies with the exception of X-Men: First Class [which easily out-classes The Avengers] but it has its moments and is often entertaining. ***.

THE PRESTIGE

                                                                                   
THE PRESTIGE (2006). Director: Christopher Nolan.

"Just because you're sleeping with him doesn't mean he trusts you."

Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman), aka the Great Danton, and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) are rival magicians, both desperate to pull off the ultimate illusion and find out how the other does his tricks. While The Prestige has some fascinating and suspenseful elements, and is well-acted [especially by Michael Caine in a supporting part], Christopher Nolan tries a non-linear approach to the narrative that insures that that the viewer is almost continuously confused. Is this happening now, in the past, the day after tomorrow -- who knows? You may not like the picture enough to go for repeated viewings, but it's entertaining enough for a one-time looksee. David Bowie is a weird scientist type, and Scarlett Johansson and Rebecca Hall are the ladies in the magicians' lives. The movie goes in odd, almost supernatural or sci fi directions, but the approach actually limits the effectiveness of these ideas instead of taking full advantage of them. It's almost as if Nolan was afraid of making a genre picture. Still, it's certainly something different.

Verdict: Perhaps too strange for its own good. **1/2.

IRON MAN 2

IRON MAN 2 (2010). Director: Jon Favreau.

Antony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) returns as the armored hero in this sequel to Iron Man. The plot doesn't really matter, but Stark mixes it up with the Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Whiplash (Mickey Rourke), and Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), all of whom first appeared in the Iron Man comic books. The Widow pretends to be an employee of Stark Industries, Hammer has a sinister plot afoot involving dozens of Iron Man clones, and Whiplash is really Ivan Vanko, a Russian scientist who uses electronic whips to slash automobiles in half. However, the best sequence has a drunken Iron Man [Stark is a reformed alcoholic in the comics] battling his pal Rhody (Don Cheadle) as the latter is dressed in his own armor as War Machine. Iron Man 2 is colorful and has some exciting sequences, although it's too long and drags at times. Downey is fine as Stark; ditto for Gywneth Paltrow as his assistant Pepper Potts [whom he makes head of Stark Industries] and the rest of the supporting cast. Mickey Rourke looks fairly grotesque but he nearly steals the picture with his intense portrayal of Ivan Vanko. Nice theme music by John Debney.

Verdict: Noisy and splashy and at times entertaining. ***

THE SPIRIT (2008)

THE SPIRIT (2008). Written and directed by Frank Miller.

The Spirit was basically a parody of a comic book hero written and drawn by comics great Will Eisner back in the forties. Denny Colt, a cop, is shot and believed killed, but he continues to work for the law from his HQ in Wildwood cemetery. The Spirit appeared in both comic books and in the newspapers, and while Eisner's work was often cinematic and clever, I've always thought The Spirit was somewhat over-rated. Since this new feature film based on the character comes off a bit like a parody, one would have to say it's in "the spirit" of the strip, but what works (or doesn't) in a comic strip may seem disastrously overblown and stupid up on the big screen in a big budget motion picture. The only thing that really works in this movie is the star, Gabriel Macht, who hits just the right note in the title role [no easy feat in this movie]. Everything else ... ?

Even the makers of the old cliffhanger serials were smart enough to know that there had to be something at stake, some grand danger to the world or the city (or at least the hero) to keep the audience's attention and keep them in suspense. All we're told in The Spirit is that his old enemy the Octopus (Samuel L. Jackson) is up to something, but there's no sense of immediate danger or even of impending doom. Besides, who can take The Octopus seriously? As played by dead-common Jackson, the character radiates zero menace, command, or even believability. Dr. Doom in the Fantastic Four movies has undeniable presence; Jackson/Octopus is merely a lousy joke. The villainesses in the movie (always sultry, hot babes in the strip) do their best, but while Eva Mendes may have a great body she's borderline homely, and Scarlett Johansson's appeal is muted in this as well. Miller's script is full of cliches.

But what difference does it make? One can't point to a single memorable sequence in the movie. It's all striking scenic design and cinematography, but none of the visual gloss -- and it is very glossy -- can defeat the essential emptiness and dullness at its core. Macht deserves a better vehicle.

Verdict: Don't expect a franchise. **.

THE BLACK DAHLIA

THE BLACK DAHLIA (2006). Directed by Brian De Palma.

“I think you'd rather f--k me than kill me,” says Hilary Swank to detective Josh Hartnett in this adaptation of James Ellroy's novel, which pretty much sums up the tone of this rather silly movie. Brian De Palma once made some very well-crafted and entertaining pictures, but despite some elaborate scenic design and the duplication of the forties era, this is not one of his more memorable projects. The picture begins with a long, unnecessary prologue showing us how the detective team of Harnett and Aaron Eckhardt were originally boxers and how they square off against each other in the ring. Before long the two are not only partners but best buddies, forming a loose menage a trois with Eckhardt's girlfriend Scarlet Johansson. [Miss Johansson is either a mediocre actress or to be charitable is simply struggling with an impossible part.] Hilary Swank is much more on the mark as the stereotypical sexy, amoral rich gal, Madelaine, who dallies with Hartnett when he investigates her family in connection with the murder of [the real life] Elizabeth Short. One gets the impression that neither De Palma or anyone else connected to the movie cares that much about Short, The Black Dahlia, or anything else. The script by Josh Friedman is terribly confused and disjointed and the movie takes forever to sustain some interest. There is a hilarious scene in an alleged lesbian nightclub that could only be in a Hollywood movie, with stages and stairs out of Busby Berkeley and k.d. lang making a guest-appearance on the landing as a vocalist surrounded by chorus cuties. The movie has its compelling moments and entertaining scenes but by and large it just doesn't convince. Hartnett and Eckhardt are fine, however, and the picture is nearly stolen by Swank's mother (Fioria Shaw), who gets drunk and bitchy at dinner, to say the least. De Palma doesn't seem to care anymore about camera movements and angles and stylishness, and Black Dahlia can certainly not be seen as a memorial to the dead fifteen-year-old child, Elizabeth Short. The filmmaker doesn't seem to get that she was a minor being exploited by adults, a cycle which, frankly, this movie seems to be continuing.

Verdict: Overbaked and clumsy. **.