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Filmboy's Clips
STARRING: Cate Blanchett, Tommy Lee Jones, Eric Schweig and Evan Rachel Wood
 Director Ron Howard has followed up his Oscar-winning “A Beautiful Mind” with this western about a tough pioneer mom (Cate Blanchett from “The Gift”) and her estranged dad (Tommy Lee Jones from “The Hunted”) searching for her abducted daughter. It’s a solid film with strong performances and a riveting climax, but it’s handicapped by a slow pace and a heavy slathering of hokey-pokey Native American mysticism.
Blanchett is Maggie, a widowed mother of two and rancher in 1885 New Mexico. She has a pretty okay life caring for her kids, her land and her hunky ranch hand (Aaron Eckhart from “The Core”) when her long-lost pop rides in. He’s been living with the Indians ever since he ditched his family when Maggie was a kid and now he wants to make amends. No sooner than you can you say “dysfunctional frontier family reunion,” Maggie has kicked out her dad and had her eldest daughter kidnapped by a gang of renegade Indian army scouts led by an evil creepy shaman (Eric Schweig of “The Last of the Mohicans”).
After hooking up with Daddy again and recruiting him to find her daughter, Maggie takes off on an adventure that will test her courage and bring her closer to the father she barely knows. Blanchett is one of the few actresses today that can pull off the frontier woman thing without eliciting giggles. The scenes where she and Jones attempt reconciliation are some of the film’s best. By making his character a repentant absentee dad, Jones’ character has a few more layers than his traditional grizzled hero.
Howard and screenwriter Ken Kaufman (“Space Cowboys”) have clearly been influenced by the classic John Ford/John Wayne western, “The Searchers.” This great epic western is also about a family’s quest to recover a young girl stolen by Indians and its still holds your attention more than fifty years later. As much as I like Howard, however, he is no John Ford. He does capture some exceptional scenery, but it takes more than majestic vistas to make an epic film.
The Matrix Revolutions
(Filmboy’s Rating: 2 Popcorns)
STARRING: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Laurence Fishburne and Hugo Weaving
 After three Matrix movies, I no longer care about Neo and his fellow leather clad karate chopping machine gunning superheroes. I’m over all the slow motion coolness and silly philosophizing. The first flick was really cool and revolutionary, but each sequel has dampened my enthusiasm. Each subsequent movie has diluted the power of the original. Enough already.
I like slick action and cool special effects as much as the next guy, but please God (or at least the Wachowski Brothers), give me a decent story, too. This final installment has all the passion of a mortgage payment. It feels like the fulfillment of a contract rather than a satisfying conclusion. The flick slogs through the first hour yammering about destiny before we even get to the big payoff: the machine’s invasion of Zion. The effects-laden showdown is a doozy, but by then, who cares? The action is purely mechanical (pardon the pun). Save your money and watch the first movie again.
STARRING: Will Ferrell, James Caan, Bob Newhart, Ed Asner and Zooey Deschanel
 Over the years, I’ve accumulated a select list of yuletide cinema. Viewing them is as much part of my holiday celebration as decorating the tree. Christmas just isn’t Christmas without screening flicks like “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “A Christmas Story” and “Scrooged.” After seeing the new film by SNL escapee Will Ferrell and director Jon Favreau, I now have to amend my list to include the heartwarming and hilarious “Elf.” In my opinion, it’s a modern Christmas classic.
Ferrell plays Buddy, a man raised by Santa’s elves in the North Pole. He leaves behind Santa’s workshop to find his biological father (James Caan from “Misery”) in New York City. Unlike say Jim Carrey who was constantly winking at the camera throughout “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” Ferrell completely embraces his role. His facade never fades even when wandering the city streets in full-on elf-wear or exposing a department store Santa as an impostor sitting on a “throne of lies.”
Favreau, Ferrell and screenwriter David Berenbaum (“The Haunted Mansion”) have great affection for the film’s premise and their loving care elevates this material. They have succeeded in blending sweetness with irony. You’re not laughing at the cast in this movie. You’re laughing with them. The actors work together to make “Elf” a charming little sugarplum of a movie with laughs for all ages.
The kiddies will enjoy Ferrell’s shenanigans while the sight of deadpan comic legend Bob Newhart in elf garb (pointy ears and all) will certainly amuse the grownups. Caan’s edge nicely balances Ferrell’s childlike innocence while Ed Asner (forever TV’s “Lou Grant”) is alternately wise and cranky as Santa. Then there’s Zooey Deschanel (“The Good Girl”) as Buddy’s love interest, a cutie pie department store elf. She steals the spotlight when she seductively croons “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.”
Favreau is equally adept at channeling the Rankin-Bass vibe as he was at chronicling the twenty-something hipster doofus when he was the screenwriter and star of “Swingers.” He has accurately recreated the locales of those beloved holiday specials right down to the funky talking snowman. These scenes prove that the director is indeed one of us. He has the same childlike devotion to holiday chestnuts like “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and the nostalgic buzz that he has created is incredibly endearing.
STARRING: Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Liam Neeson and Keira Knightley
 Richard Curtis, the scribe behind “Four Weddings and a Funeral” and “Notting Hill” has directed his latest effort: the ensemble romantic comedy “Love Actually.” This ambitious film, which juggles multiple story lines and an all-star cast, has its drawbacks but ultimately succeeds at being ideal light entertainment. It’s also a date movie that won’t make a guy’s stomach churn.
Taking place in the weeks before Christmas, the movie explores all kinds of love – romantic, platonic, familial, unrequited, etc. – and its effects on a bunch of contemporary Londoners. While the film is as witty and enjoyable as his earlier efforts, Curtis overwhelms us with too many characters and plot lines. I appreciated his smorgasbord approach, but a streamlining of the cast could have fleshed out some of the film’s more intriguing points.
For example, a subplot about two movie stand-ins falling in love on the set is sweetly amusing, but seems like an afterthought compared to more well-developed story lines like Hugh Grant as the freshman prime minister smitten with one of his staff. Other highlights include Laura Linney’s fixation on a co-worker and Bill Nighy as a cynical pop has-been trying for one last hit. There’s also an incomplete romantic triangle featuring the luminous Keira Knightley, which is both charming and heartbreaking.
To his credit, writer/director Curtis smartly keeps the movie from going love overboard. Nighy’s washed-up and bitterly honest pop star adds just the right amount of vinegar to the mix. Plus not every story line ends happily ever after, which is refreshing in today’s world of assembly line finales. Many characters find love, but the ones that go home alone give the movie a bittersweet karmic balance.
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