Beginners
(Starring Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer, Mélanie Laurent, Goran Visnjic)
Gay-themed Beginners is a poetic, meandering dramedy about an artist (McGregor) who slowly struggles through grief to a new lease on life. Even with its artsy, self-conscious narrative style, it boasts Oscar-worthy performances from McGregor and Plummer.
Five years earlier, when McGregor's mom dies, his 75-year-old dad (Plummer) announces that he's gay, always has been, and wants to experience life. If this revelation shocks oddball, quiet McGregor, he doesn't let on. Instead he bolsters his dad as the old man makes bonds with other men, creating friendships that father and son never shared. Soon Plummer develops stage four cancer; McGregor loses his dad just as they were getting to know each other. McGregor's lack of parental bondingâ┚¬â€Âwith mom or dadâ┚¬â€Âaffects his own relationships, especially with the luminous French actress Laurent (Inglorious Basterds).
There is no real drive to Beginners, because grief is indeterminable. The film slides from the distant past to recent past with a melodic fluidity. The careful tone allows us to revel in the glorious acting. The only sticking points are that the narration and artwork seem a bit contrived.
Writer/director Mike Mills bases this on his own story with his dad; it's a tale obviously culled from a still aching heart. Beginners also elegantly encompasses gay rights and what that means to a straight man deeply transformed by a father brave enough to start over so late in life.
Page One: Inside the New York Times
(Documentary directed by Andrew Rossi)
The events of this past decade have pummeled print news. At bastions like the LA Times, Washington Post, and New York Times, advertising sales and subscriptions plummeted. Internet sources are providing real-time news (although without a lot of professional integrity).
Activists like WikiLeaks dump tons of unsorted data on the public. Reporter scandal has rocked reputations. Finally, papers have had to embrace technology, hiring staff to report on the changing media that affects themselves, most of all.
Page One covers all this messiness by devoting a year to the New York Times asit reports on the WikiLeaks scandal, the Tribune buyout, the Middle East wars, and layoffs at every major paper. It's tumultuous stuff, hard to get a grasp on. That's in part a fault of a documentary that decides to follow too many strands, never completing any single story.
There is a shining example of what Page One could've focused on. Reporter David Carr roguishly talks about everything from his drug-addicted past to his current role in changing media. He's a survivor. In this year, Carr learns to tweet, begrudgingly accepting other technology and tech experts to the paper. He defends the societal role of his in-depth news staff. He covers the Tribune fiasco (which directly affected the Orlando Sentinel). Page One should've just followed lively, mouthy Carr. It would've encompassed a more engaging story, one with immense character, still including every nuance without the scattershot approach.
Super 8
(Starring Kyle Chandler, Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning)
Discovering the secrets of Super 8 is a large portion of the fun. So, it's just safe to say this is JJ Abram's big-budget homage to Steven Spielberg's super summer flicks of the 1980s, purposely calling to mind Close Encounters, ET, and The Goonies. We're not talking complex here. We're talking heartfelt, showy, goofy and pretty enjoyable. Spielberg must've felt honored, because he produced it.
Courtney is a teenage boy grieving the recent loss of his mom. His deputy dad (Chandler of Friday Night Lights) is distant, officious. So Courtney and his friends turn to filming a Super 8 zombie film during their summer break. While shooting a late-night scene, the kids catch a horrific, stunning train wreck and become embroiled in a giant military cover-up.
Even though it's lovely to see a well-made teenaged adventure film, writer/director JJ Abrams (Lost, the Star Trek reboot) takes a very long timeâ┚¬â€Âwith lots of cute tangentsâ┚¬â€Âto get to the meat of the story. The train wreck doesn't come until 30 minutes in. Then the film darts and ambles for another hour before, finally, a big reveal. Furthermore, the idiocy of the military is a massive plot hole, and the characters are a bit cliché.
Are these quibbles going to matter? No, because Super 8 is visually magnificent, adorable and funny, with its heart in the right place. It's a fitting tribute to Spielberg, a man who changed many of our childhood summers.
