Cavemen, Mobsters and Nazi Zombies

Lazy summer days with "Daytime Drinking" and "Whatever Works."

“The Narrows”
While these days it’s trendier to lean towards West Coast glitz, guns and gangs, the coming-of-age dilemma of a working class kid having to choose between family and “family” has long been a staple of New York film, though it’s worth noting that this particular Italian-American parable is directed by French helmer François Velle, working from a pulp novel by Tim McLoughlin. “Transamerica”‘s Kevin Zegers stars as Mikey, the son of a small-time bookie (Vincent D’Onofrio) trying to make it as an NYU art student, but who unwisely accepts a job running packages for the mob to raise the tuition money. Sophia Bush is the girl on the outside who catches his eye.
Opens wide.

“The Proposal”
Having spent 15 years in the chorus line, so to speak, professional dancer and choreographer-turned-director Anne Fletcher has made a name for herself as a peddler of candy-coated crowd-pleasers. While this, her third comic caper, sounds like the kind of twaddle (she’s a career girl, shame on her) we’d normally vilify, we are happy to see women directors working in Hollywood. In a role reversal, Ryan Reynolds is the deer in the headlights to Sandra Bullock’s caustic Canadian executive who learns her visa sponsorship is being dropped and casts herself as the Gerard Dépardieu to his Andie MacDowell.
Opens wide.

“Under Our Skin”
Spurred on by the tragic death of his sister, producer/director/writer Andy Abrahams Wilson explores the deep mystery surrounding Lyme disease, the diagnosis and treatment of which has become a hotly contentious issue. Careful to give each side their say, Wilson switches between people who’ve found their lives ravaged by the condition to the point of paralysis and worse to health care professionals who deny its very existence, sketching out an issue that’s seemingly been politicized before it’s been understood.
Opens in New York.

“Year One”
While no influence has officially been declared (and since it’s in the public domain now, none is needed), it’s hard not to consider Buster Keaton’s 1923 silent slapstick odyssey “Three Ages” as a template for this attempt by Harold Ramis to club us over the head with the old funny bone. Jack Black co-stars as — well, it doesn’t really matter does it because he’s always just Jack Black — alongside a typically deadpan Michael Cera as a pair of cavemen who embark on a lazy ramble of ironic discovery through the early chapters of recorded civilization.
Opens wide.

“Whatever Works”
Following a three-year stint in London that yielded two strikes and a ball (“Match Point” was okay), Allen finally hit a home run with “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” after hopping over to the Mediterranean, giving audiences a reason to mark an Allen picture on the calendar once more. Seemingly content to conclude his European tour, he returns to his beloved New York for a tale of neurotic misanthropy he wrote nearly 30 years ago. Larry David is
Allen stand-in Boris Yellnikoff, a string theorist driven to distraction by the impending cosmic oblivion before he’s calmed by the arrival of a naïve country bumpkin named Melody (Evan Rachel Wood).
Opens in New York and Los Angeles.

“The Windmill Movie”
Pieced together in the years after Harvard professor and filmmaker Richard P. Rogers passed away from cancer in 2001, this detailed, intimate account of his life was compiled by former student Alexander Olch. Utilizing over 200 hours of footage — much of which is comprised by Rogers’ frustration at his inability to carve out a detailed, intimate account of himself — Olch’s take on the material serves to reflect the life of a conflicted human being who was defined by an inability to reconcile his privileged background with his innate desire for something more intangibly meaningful.
Opens in New York.

Pages: 1 2