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Fall Movie Review Roundup: Nick and Norah's Infinite Body of Lies and Miracles
NICK AND NORAH'S INFINITE PLAYLIST (B+)
Very sweet little movie, truly romantic, and the first teen flick in years that really earns a John Hughes comparison. The writing isn't as sharp as Hughes, but the characters feel fresh and authentic. It doesn't just cough up the same old teen cliches, the world and the people are totally real and act reasonably throughout. Strange how surprising that can be. Michael Cera gets what may be his Cera-est role to date (Ceraously!) as Nick, an indie kid who's just on the right side of annoying. Kat Dennings is really sharp as Norah, and it is massively refreshing to see a female role developed so thoroughly in this genre. The romance is fairly standard stuff, until an amazingly intimate scene of the pair getting physical ups everything considerably. I believed these two crazy kids were falling in love. Oh, and special props to Ari Graynor, who keeps things from getting too sweet and does a flawless drunk for the entire running time.
The director, Peter Sollett, does a commendable job capturing Manhattan. It felt exactly like a lot of nights I spent there, and the city hasn't looked this authentic and inviting onscreen in a long while. Made me second-home-sick. (Sollett did a similarly great job with the city in his debut film - the excellent and little-seen Raising Victor Vargas. Check it out.) The script by Lorene Scafaria (an adaptation of a teen novel I never read because I am old), is smart and funny. Proof positive that a "cute movie" doesn't have to be a terrible thing, this is a great first date flick.
BODY OF LIES (D+)
Two fine actors (Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio), a fine director (Ridley Scott), and a fine screenwriter (William Monahan, Oscar winner for The Departed) team up to bring us...a real turdburger. Crowe and DiCaprio engage in an unconvincing accent-off, with DiCaprio winning by a nose. Crowe is kind of fun here actually, Foghorn Leghorn accent and all. With loads of extra pounds and a stupid haircut, he looks exactly like excellent character actor and awesome-last-name-haver J.T. Walsh. DiCaprio is really terrible, and he squanders all the goodwill I built up for him following the one-two punch of The Departed and Blood Diamond. I mean, look at his face in that photograph! Is he serious?!?! Is he pooping?!?! It's as though the director told him to make a "mad face." His acting here is on a par with his performance as troubled teen Luke Brower in TV's Growing Pains.
This is yet another movie about terrorism, and for all the firepower on display, it is powerfully dull. I remember very little about it, except my valiant (and occasionally losing) struggle to stay awake. At a 2PM show. Never a good sign. Also notable for containing the most pointless and forced film romance since...well since Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Connelly in Blood Diamond. The guy doesn't have to bang someone every time out, Hollywood. Let him focus on FOILING TERRORIST ATTACKS!
MIRACLE AT ST. ANNA (C+)
Oh, Spike Lee. Oh, Spike Spike Spike Lee. Without hesitation, I put Mr. Lee in the top five filmmakers working today. A lot of people claim his best work is behind him, and while I can concede he's never bettered his 20 year-old masterpiece - Do the Right Thing, he's doing consistently impressive work. The 25th Hour is one of the best movies of this decade and the best movie yet made about 9/11. Anyone who can make When the Levees Broke and Inside Man in the same year deserves high praise. I say all this as an intro because I also have to be a Spike Lee apologist from time to time. A lot of people hate the guy, seemingly because he is opinionated and black. But also because, well, because sometimes he makes shit. She Hate Me, for example, is one of the more misguided movies in recent memory. It's part of the reason I love the guy, though. If you're gonna fail, fail big and fail ambitiously. Don't bore me.
Well, Miracle at St. Anna is an ambitious failure. And, yeah, it's kinda boring. At 2 hours and 40 minutes, it is easily 40 minutes too long. It's also pretty easy to spot what should have been removed, there are a lot of really random subplots going on here. A romance triangle with two of the soldiers and an Italian girl is particularly egregious...although I'm willing to let it slide because the woman has perhaps the most perfect breasts I have ever seen on film. (Valentina Cervi is the name. Can you imagine going through life with those breasts and that name? Is there anything you couldn't do?)
Every time Lee starts to whip up some real interest and excitement, there's a scene around the corner waiting to sabotage what he's built. There's a Saving Private Ryan-style framing device that was so awful it made me wish I had fled from the theater at the five-minutes-to-go mark. Whoever let him keep that closing scene in should be fired. There's a great, visually spectacular war movie in here, and an important one, but like the double album that shoulda been a single - there's just too much embarrassing crap in the mix. It's the Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness of war movies.
So glad you liked Nick and Nora because I definately want to see this.
Going to see Rachel Is Getting Married today! Decadence befalls the stay
at home mother. Ha ha. Can't wait!
Pat, have you seen Roger Dodger? Your review of Nick and Norah made me
think of that movie. Body of Lies may have sucked, but some of those action
scenes, especially in the first half hour, were really cool.
I really wanted to like "Nick and Norah...", I thought it would bring some
nostalgia for the days when I lived on E. 9th Street (on the same block as
Veselka) and caught shows at CBs, ABC no Rio, etc. But in the end, I felt
too old and/or too sober for this movie. I totally agree with you on the
Cera-ness of his character,Graynor's nailing the drunk friend character,
and capturing authentic New York--especially Port Authority. I had some
trouble getting into Kat Dennings' character, but maybe if I rewatch it,
I'll feel different.