Dec 12, 2007 4:08 pm US/Pacific
Christmas Film Releases Include Oscar Hopefuls
CBS 5 Film James Rocchi
As the year ends, movie screens are lit up with everything from small quirky comedy to large-scale action -- with more than a few Oscar contenders in the mix. CBS-5 Film Critic James Rocchi rounds up some recent and upcoming releases playing at a theater near you.
Juno
3 out of 4 reels
Starring Ellen Page as the title teen facing an unplanned pregnancy with pluck and panache, Juno is cute, quirky and whimsical; it's an "independent film" made to attract an audience who would normally never go see an independent film. Screenwriter Diablo Cody is being praised for her up-to-the-minute dialogue, but to me it sounds instantly dated. (When Juno informs a friend of her condition, the friend needs to be certain, asking "Swear to blog?") Juno arranges to have her child adopted by seemingly-perfect couple Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner, but things aren't that easy. … Directed by Jason Reitman (Thank You for Smoking), Juno's a charming, light comedy with plenty of style, but I can't help but think that it's even less realistic about sex and responsibility than Knocked Up was earlier this year. Juno offers a bright, sweet vision of friction-free feminism, but your initial elation may fade after the sugar rush of the candy-coated dialogue wears off.
I Am Legend
4 out of 4 reels
After starring in the Men in Black films, Independence Day and I, Robot, the phrase "Will Smith science-fiction movie" makes most movie reviewers throw up their hands in despair even as movie goers empty their wallets. But I was actually surprised by how effectively I Am Legend works on the big screen; it's a mean, lean machine of action moviemaking that's far better than you might have expected. Smith is the last man alive after a virus has decimated humanity and turned almost everyone else into blood-hungry revved-up predators that only come out at night. I Am Legend is impressively well-constructed; the tension early on, as Smith explores an abandoned New York City, is almost unbearable. This Richard Matheson novel's been filmed before, in the '60s with Vincent Price as The Last Man on Earth and in the '70s with Charlton Heston as The Omega Man, but the people behind this new version actually wrote a movie instead of just draping new effects over a familiar vision. Full of smart suspense and excitement, I Am Legend is big-budget filmmaking at its best.
The Kite Runner
3 out of 4 reels
Adapting Bay Area author Khaled Hosseini's well-loved best-seller, The Kite Runner follows two young boys in Afghanistan, growing up before the Soviet Invasion -- and flashes forward as one of them, living in America, has to come to terms with his past. Superbly adapted and directed, The Kite Runner has all the strengths and weaknesses of Hosseini's novel; for every touching moment or dramatic scene, there's also an easy coincidence or obvious metaphor. Still, director Marc Forster (Finding Neverland) gets great performances out of his child actors, screenwriter David Benioff (Troy) does a remarkable job fitting Hosseini's novel onto the screen. In its best moments, The Kite Runner offers a glimpse of live and love between fully-realized characters, and it tries to respect a people, cultural heritage and homeland American audiences normally associate with grim nightly news reports or Hollywood stereotypes.
Sweeney Todd
3 out of 4 reels
Director Tim Burton's been in a bit of a rut recently, and while this big-screen adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's Broadway musical about a murderous barber in Victorian London doesn't really change that, Sweeny Todd at least redecorates that rut in grand, gory style. Johnny Depp plays the title role, a barber and family man unjustly sent abroad for crimes he didn't commit so that corrupt Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) could seduce his wife. Returning to London, fifteen years later, all Sweeney wants is revenge, and pie-seller Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham-Carter) is a big part of his plan. Depp's no great singer (his croaking singing voice evokes early David Bowie, and not in a good way), and Burton's eagerness to paint the town red with blood spurting from split throats is a little overdone. Still, the central appeal of Sondehim's musical -- beautiful music about ugly things -- plays out magnificently on the big screen, and the end result is a murderous musical quite unlike anything else you've seen on-screen in a while.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
