***CRITIC’S
CHOICE***
Monday,
May 5 through Sunday, May 11: Blue Ruin
Available
for On Demand rental through YouTube, Amazon
and local cable providers
It’s
a slow week for local cinema options with the UWM spring calendar coming to a
close and the majority of major releases being soundly in the “don’t bother”
category (unless you like garish computer-animated sequels to the Wizard
of Oz, in that case – this is your week). So I’ll take this opportunity
to stump for a film that more than likely will never hit any big screens in the
Milwaukee area but is certainly worthy of your time in Blue Ruin.
Written, directed and shot by Jeremy Saulnier while starring his best friend of
many years Macon Blair, the film is an amazing meditation on revenge that
upholds everything that makes a suspense thriller so intense while
simultaneously deconstructing it. It is no spoiler to say that Blair’s character
of Dwight carries out the vengeance he believes necessary early on in the
picture, and the rest of the movie acts as his attempt at making sense of what
he’s done while also trying to survive. Imagine an Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle
with Jesse Eisenberg as his replacement and you’ll start to get an idea of how
this film approaches its dirty deeds from the perspective of its decidedly
non-proficient lead. Thrilling, oftentimes blackly comic and gorgeously
performed shot, Blue Ruin is easily one of the best pictures of
the year.
Wednesday,
May 7 and Saturday, May 10: The Wolf of Wall Street
7
p.m. @ UWM Union Theatre (FREE!)
I’ve
already written extensively about the latest (and greatest!) collaboration
between Scorcese and DiCaprio, so I don’t think I need to say much more other
than I think Wolf of Wall Street is slightly underrated (if such
a thing can be said about a multiple Oscar-nominated, critically-acclaimed film).
It is easily the funniest movie of Scorcese’s career and is filled throughout
with numerous show-stopping comedic set pieces. But don’t let the humor
distract from the message at the heart of the picture, and never assume that because
the actor and director made an amusing picture that its message isn’t a moral
one, as well. Depiction isn’t endorsement, and the final shot of the film
should prove beyond a doubt that Scorcese is in full control of his faculties
here.
Friday,
May 9: Neighbors opens nationwide
Check
local listings for showtimes
Nicholas
Stoller’s directing career started so promisingly with the heartfelt and
hilarious Forgetting Sarah Marshall but quickly petered out in Get
Him to the Greek and The Five-Year Engagement, both
movies with promising premises that don’t do enough to justify the emotional
investment in their dramatic portions. But all indications are that he’s
rallied considerably with the Rose Byrne/Seth Rogen vehicle Neighbors,
managing to craft believable and lovable characters (a married couple raising a
newborn child finds a fraternity moving in next door – complications ensue)
while delivering a memorable, raunchy comedy. We’re due for a great mainstream
comedy, and my review later this week will let you know if Neighbors
lives up to that challenge.
Saturday,
May 10: The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer
7 p.m. @ The Church in the City ($3)
The
Focus Film Society pays its respect to the recently-deceased Shirley Temple,
not with one of her indelible child performances but instead her possibly finest
performance from her teenaged years in The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer.
In it, Temple plays a teenage girl who develops a major infatuation over Cary
Grant’s considerably older bachelor who made quite the impression during his
visiting lecture at her school. Convinced to play along until her fervor for
him fades away, Grant finds himself falling for Temple’s older sister played by
the incomparable Myrna Loy. The film’s script netted its writer Sidney Sheldon
an Academy Award before he went on to success as a novelist and television
creator (I Dream of Jeannie and Hart to Hart), so
you know its creative bonafides are in place. A witty and well-performed piece
of classic cinema to round out your cinematic week.
