Courage, brains, and a heart … and a movie about Oz Dead Man Down Directed by Niels Arden Oplev Oz the Great and Powerful Directed by Sam Raimi In an odd coincidence this week, after a screening of “Dead Man Down,” I was pondering its release alongside “Oz the Great and Powerful” and also recalling the “The Wizard of Oz” and its three characters in search of courage, brains, and a heart. Much to my surprise, “Dead man Down” which had looked like a fairly run of the mill action film in previews, actually has all three. Having said that, it’s not a fantastic film, and it has some problems, but it’s far more interesting than I was expecting. It’s directed by Niels Arden Oplev who directed

A more upbeat week at the movies After a relatively disappointing month of new releases, and no great expectation of that changing anytime soon, I was pleasantly surprised by two of this week’s new movies. Not that they’re especially wonderful, but they’re both quite a bit better than their previews might suggest.   Jack the Giant Slayer Directed by Bryan Singer Bryan Singer (“The Usual Suspects,” “X-Men,” “Superman Returns”) brings his B-game to this mashup of the traditional English fairy tales of “Jack and the Beanstalk” and “Jack the Giant Killer.” And for anyone who is offended that the movie takes generous liberties in blending and adapting these two stories into a new form, real

  And … the winners ARE ...Jennifer Lawrence for moving up to the stage with such grace – ultimately. ...Seth McFarland for telling his “joke” about President Lincoln being shot in the head reminding me of a jerk record salesman who told me, one day in my office not long after the presidential assassination in Dallas, “That JFK got it through his head that he wasn't welcome in Dallas.” (Presidential assassinations aren't funny, from any century, Seth.) ...Chris Terrio for getting through (sort of) an acceptance speech for a best writing award (“Argo”) while being drunker than anyone ever in Hollywood. Chris' performance would've made Norman Mailer jealous. ...Meryl Streep for really c

"West of Memphis": film review by Gary Chew Equal justice under the law is the reason for the documentary, “West of Memphis.” Many are familiar with this recently resolved example of shoddy police work and justice in Arkansas. West Memphis is a short drive into Arkansas from Memphis, Tenn. Three teenage boys were arrested in 1994 for the 1993 murder and bodily mutilation of three other 8-year-old boys in West Memphis, Ark. The case, which has no racial aspect to it, was complex and saw no complete resolution - with regard to the young men convicted - until 2011. The film was directed by Amy Berg, who also did the 2006 documentary, “Deliver Us From Evil,” about a pedophile Catholic pries

Snitch Co-Written and Directed by Ric Roman Waugh There are some aspects of “Snitch” that I admire and that aren’t immediately apparent in the lowest common denominator style of previews that tend to get made to promote films. On its face, it’s a story about a father who goes undercover to assist in the capture of drug dealers in return for a reduced sentence for his son. That’s the kind of action film one might expect from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and would probably be enough to draw a respectable action-oriented audience. But there’s more to “Snitch” than that and the action story is essentially a cover for an indictment of mandatory sentencing laws as they apply to drug offenses. In

Although I've often needlessly harped about the term “safe haven” being redundant, the new, so titled Lasse Hallström film is all fuzzy with warmth as well as being edgy, scary stuff that's surely an attention-holder for its two-hour run. The Swedish director is a favorite of mine. Hallström's sentimentality occasionally gets waist deep, but I always tend to keep a spot in my head for films of his – “The Cider House Rules,” “What's Eating Gilbert Grape?” and his more recent “Salmon Fishing in Yemen” will stay with me until the synapses unplug. The busy Nicholas Sparks wrote the novel which gave rise to the “Safe Haven” script. Sparks, who grew up some in Fair Oaks, is keen on romance tha

New films For the third week in a row, I find myself recommending the zombie love story “Warm Bodies” over any of the other new 2013 releases – or any of the Oscar best picture nominees that are still playing around town. A Good Day to Die Hard Directed by John Moore I wrote recently about the new Schwarzenegger and Stallone movies and here’s the third leg of the trifecta of aging action stars – although Bruce Willis is the youngest of the three by 8-9 years and, although less massive than the others, actually looks to be in better shape in terms of generally mobility. Sadly, none of the three movies is very good, with this one probably matching “The Last Stand” for some fun moments, a

This Weekend Only: Oscar Documentary Shorts Nominees Two weeks ago, in my regular column, I described the process through which the Oscar-nominated short films are selected. At that time, I reviewed the five animated narrative shorts and the five live action narrative shorts. Those two programs continue in regular release at Sacramento’s historic Crest Theatre. Additionally, this weekend, for two days only, the Crest will screen the five documentary shorts nominees. Shorts, in Academy terms, are shorter than feature films but can still reach 40 minutes in length. This year’s nominees are collectively long enough that the Crest will screen them in two programs this weekend, on Saturday an

A disappointing week Maybe it’s just me but I’ve had a disappointing week at the movies – probably not helped by wishful thinking if not actually especially high expectations. And the near future isn’t looking any better, but more on that next week. This week’s major releases include a comedy starring people whose work I’ve generally liked, until now, and a thriller against a backdrop of prescription drug use from a director I normally appreciate far more than this.   Identity Thief Directed by Seth Gordon The idea of a comedy starring Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy appeals to me – before you could even tell me a subject matter or a premise, that idea would pique my interest. And t

 “Amour”       film review by Gary Chew Austrian director, Michael Haneke's worthy film “Amour,” to use a terse description, defines love; the kind that is real love; totally committed and long suffering. Georges and Anne Laurent (Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emanuelle Riva) are retired teachers of consummate pianists. Both are in their 80s. Their retirement looks comfortable in their comfortable, spacious Paris apartment. After we get to know the married couple, Anne suffers a stroke which, even with subsequent surgery, nudges the gentle and gracious woman toward her demise. What happens between the moment when Anne is first struck by the malady and up to her death is where the film stay

Oscar Shorts Even for most dedicated film goers, the shorts categories at the Academy Awards are often some of the most obscure, with short films that have primarily been seen in various Academy sanctioned film festivals (with one or two exceptions, typically among big name animated films that sometimes play in support of a mainstream feature film). However, despite their relative obscurity, the shorts are subject to some of the fairest final voting in the entire competition. (And I make that distinction between final voting and nominations, because there are always wonderful short films out there that weren’t seen in regular theaters and which might have won in festival competitions, b

More January-esque Film Openings The January pattern of film openings I was discussing last week continues this week with an award season drama, a straightforward action film that feels at home at this time of year, and a flashier popcorn actioner that feels like a refugee from the summer. There’s also the opening of “Movie 43” which wasn’t made available for press review – and you can draw your own conclusions on that.   “Sister” and “Parker” Interestingly, while very different, two of the new films share a Robin Hood-like sentiment towards stealing. In “Sister,” Switzerland’s official entry in the foreign language category for the Academy Awards, a young boy lives in the town at the

New film releases – the good-bad and the ugly January can be an odd time at the movies, with some of the most varied releases showing up. On the one hand you have the serious award contenders slowly rolling out across the country, having had Christmas releases in Los Angeles and New York City in order to qualify for various competition deadlines. While on the other hand you tend to see the flotsam and jetsam of projects with low expectations and those that haven’t lived up to studio hopes for release at busier times of the year. Looking at two of this week’s new releases shows us more about the latter categories than the former. Broken City Directed by Allen Hughes On paper, a film abo

‘Rust and Bone’ film review   By Gary Chew     If your favorite kind of film is one that has poetic elements, yet seems almost random as it realistically unwinds, depicting hard-scrabble living, then have I got the movie for you: Jacques Audiard's “Rust and Bone,” also called “De rouille et d’os.”   A lower middle class Belgian named Alain van Versch (Matthias Schoenaerts) moves with his young son to Alain's sister's home in Antibes. It's on the French Mediterranean, about equidistant from Cannes and Nice.   Alain is scuffling for income. He's not even above thievery. But he seems to be a good father, and his sister (a working stiff) is helpful with caring for Sam (Armand Verdure), as wel

    Zero Dark Thirty’ film review   By Gary Chew   It came over me as I left the screening of “Zero Dark Thirty” the other evening. I had this sudden, silly urge to quickly whisper at two or three people working the concession stand, “The bad guy gets killed,” but thought better of it and, without a word, went outside to my car.   But as I walked across the lot, I thought to myself: “I wonder about the life histories and personal conflicts of the U.S. personnel depicted in this new film by Kathryn Bigelow (“The Hurt Locker”). “What is it that motivates them to such courage and risk? How much of it is for the right stuff, or is it … for stuff that isn't?”   That also ran through my mind

Zero Dark Thirty Directed by Kathryn Bigelow As with “The Hobbit” a few weeks ago, this is a movie that people are going to watch (or not even bother to watch) and evaluate for completely different reasons, with the quality of the movie not necessarily being foremost in a lot of people’s minds. For that reason, the column is broken into thematic sections. Torture For starters, the film depicts torture – or “Enhanced Interrogation Techniques.” This has been cited as controversial but there’s nothing especially controversial about what’s shown – at least not in terms of whether or not what we see is what happened. The most extreme, sustained technique depicted, that’s subsequently used a

‘Not Fade Away’: a film review by Gary Chew Coming-of-age films are as common a genre as a staged car chase on a hilly street in San Francisco or anywhere else in United States. This latest one, “Not Fade Away,” occurs on the other end of the continent near the Jersey Shore. David Chase (there's that word again) is at it again … not with a successful long-running series about wiseguys in Jersey, but a two-hour feature about British-Invasion-obsessed teenage Jersey guys smitten with Mick, Dylan, the blues, long hair and amplified guitars. Our story begins on the day a president is assassinated in Texas. A New Jersey family sits at the kitchen table, listening to and watching the aftermat

Promised Land Directed by Gus Van Sant *CONTAINS VAGUE PLOT SPOILERS* In “Promised Land,” Matt Damon plays an up and coming employee of a natural gas company that’s in the process of entering into contracts with land owners to allow the company to drill for and extract gas from under their property. Their modus operandi is to arrive in a new location and quickly and quietly secure enough contracts to make the process viable before there’s any groundswell of opposition or any involvement from environmental groups who might not be so fond of the “fracking” gas extraction process. I say “up and coming” as he seems primed for advancement, but he’s not a junior employee - the film starts wit

“Promised Land” film review by Gary Chew “Promised Land” is not an effort to revive big screen bible epics. The land promised is that which is likely to have millions of dollars worth of natural gas in it. The people who own the land are being paid to promise (sign on the dotted line) that what lies below goes to a large natural gas corporation. That's where Matt Damon and Frances Mc Dormand come in. As Steve and Sue, they're salespersons of a global-sized gas company. Their job is to persuade locals who live in natural-gas-rich regions that allowing the energy firm to bring up what's locked in the rock will make property owners wealthy. Extracting natural gas this way has come to be cal

Django Unchained Film review by Gary Chew If revenge is really sweet, then Quentin Tarantino has a sweet tooth. He's really indulged himself in the writing and directing of his latest screen splatter, “Django Unchained.” But Quentin has never been known to not overdo things. Fortunately though, he does make for a broader diversity of movies. Tarantino is the movie freak's movie freak. He knows more about movies and directors, probably, than the likes of 10 Pauline Kaels. Two strong influences in “Django” are borrowed from directors Sam Peckinpah and Mel Brooks. At a recent screening of “Django Unchained,” I had to remind myself more than once that I wasn't watching “The Wild Bunch” and