STARTING OUT IN THE EVENING - Frank Langella stars as Leonard Schiller, a novelist who is in his last days and whose novels are out of print. Schiller meets Heather Wolfe, a young graduate student who decides to write her thesis on Schiller's writing and novels. As she interviews Schiller she discovers he is trying to finish his last novel before he dies. And in the course of their interviews about novels and writers the two form a "light" romance. Now the subplot to this film involves Schiller's daughter, Ariel...played by Lauren Ambrose. Ariel is a free spirit, and is close in age to the young graduate student. Schiller is constantly distracted by Ariel's constant wanderings in life, as she goes from one man to another in search of happiness and a family. The main storyline here between Schiller and the graduate student is first rate and top notch. There's a great balance of intellectualism and tenderness in their dialouges. However, the subplot involving the free spirit daughter becomes more and more distracting as the film goes on. Still though, as a whole this movie is really good...primarily because of Langella's first rate performance here. I really enjoyed this one.
PURPLE VIOLETS - I've written in previous entries how I'm a fan of Edward Burns movies. Let me clarify - the ones he writes and directs...and not his Hollywood roles. Here is his latest low-budget independent film..."Purple Violets." I've always thought Burns as a Woody Allen-type of storyteller with his films, and this one comes across as his most "Woody Allen" like. In "Violets" we have 4 old friends (2 couples) who become reacquainted with each other after a 10 year hiatus. This is one of those storylines where everyone's either a writer, a writer-wanna-be, or somekind of young New York intellectual/professional. Some of the performances here are interesting, such as Patrick Wilson's character as a successful novelist trying to change his style. But other performances here are not as convincing, such as Selma Blair's character as the talented writer-to-be. Overall this is one of Burns' better independent efforts.
HANCOCK - Will Smith stars as Hancock, a not-so-typical-super-hero in Los Angeles who wants no part of the public spotlight. He befriends Ray the publicist, played by Jason Bateman. Ray works with Hancock to change his image and become more "public-friendly." The first act has some mildly amusing moments, but somewhere in the second act the story takes a dark turn that never recovers. Eventually you're left with a movie that leaves a bad taste in your mouth, and one that should have been a lot more funny.
THE ROCKER - Rainn Wilson (THE OFFICE) plays Robert Fishman, a former 80's metal drummer who's never gotten over his missed opportunity on fame. Fishman teams up with his nephew's band and they become the hottest ticket in high school. I realized this might be a movie targeted more for teens than adults, but as a fan of THE OFFICE I thought there would be enough laughs here from Wilson to make it worthwhile. Uh...I was wrong. I think I laughed 3 or 4 times here. Definately not worth the time.
MAX PAYNE - Mark Wahlberg is Max Payne, a New York City cop who is bent on getting revenge towards those who murdered his family. The film didn't get great reviews from critics, but I have to admit I thought it was okay. The style and look of the film resembles something out of SIN CITY and CONSTANTINE, and is actually pretty cool. In fact, the stylized look does indeed help make up for an otherwise laughable script. I'm not going to say this is best picture of the year or anything. But I thought it was good enough as a rental.
QUIET CITY - Uh...I don't know how it happened...but I recently watched 3 movies all about young New Yorkers. This is the third. Here we have a guy and a girl who meet at a subway station. She is supposed to meet her friend but the friend is no where to be found. So she starts killing time with a guy she happens to meet. Then somehow in the course of 24 hours the two form a romantic bond. Uh...huh? This film is as indie as you can get really. Very little additional lighting, a stripped down script, hand held camerwork, etc. While I admire the effort, the result was so annoying to watch. I was so glad when this was over. In fact, I struggled here just to keep my attention focused on this one.
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