The Flick Filter: Paranoid Park, Married Life, Drillbit Taylor and Sleepwalking
Our no-BS guide to the newest movies …
PARANOID PARK
Psychological thriller
Rated R, 84 minutes
(with unknown, nonprofessional actors found via MySpace; directed by Gus Van Sant, who brought you such uplifting ditties as Elephant and My Own Private Idaho)
In 10 words or less: Teen (accidentally) kills man with his skateboard. Extreme stress follows.
The critics, abridged:
• “fluid, graceful camera-work,” “soundtrack choices are beyond eclectic, veering chaotically from thrash metal to classical, country and western to orchestral jazz” — Times Online (London)
• “intriguing and obliquely involving” — Carrie Rickey (Inquirer)
• “a haunting tone poem laced with violent death,” “a defiant slap at slick Hollywood formula” — Rolling Stone
• “I have to wonder when — or if — the fierce filmmaking of his earlier career will return” — Cinematical.com
DRILLBIT TAYLOR
Comedy
Rated PG-13, 102 Minutes
(produced by Judd Apatow; with Owen Wilson and absolutely no one else worth mentioning, Wilson himself barely making the cut)
In 10 words or less: Bullied teens hire Wilson for protection. My Bodyguard it’s not.
The critics, abridged:
• “wards off laughter,” “goes a long way toward torpedoing all the mojo producer Judd Apatow received last summer with the one-two punch of Knocked Up and Superbad.” — msnbc.com
• “a defeat for Team Apatow” — Time magazine
• “Owen Wilson is nothing less than a national treasure,” “an amusing hour and a half” — South Florida Sun-Sentinel
• “too much of Drillbit Taylor is the kind of formulaic free-for-all that does Wilson no good,” “isn’t super bad, but it’s no Superbad” — Steven Rea (Inquirer)
Sleepwalking
Drama
Rated R, 100 Minutes
(with 14-year old AnnaSophia Robb (Violet Beauregarde in the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory remake), Nick Stahl, Charlize Theron, Dennis Hopper, and Woody Harrelson)
In 10 words or less: Mother abandons tween. Tween exploited by Dennis Hopper. Go figure.
The critics, abridged:
• “far too many flaws,” “a tentative, unsatisfying ending” — New York Times
• “Terrific performances and a bleak, riveting look at life on the economic fringes eventually gives way to an overly familiar tale of abuse, denial and catharsis that feels like warmed over Sam Shepard minus the poetry.” — Los Angeles Times
• “a soporific dud, which should have been tossed out of Sundance” — Entertainment Weekly
• “Best advice may be to snooze through banal Sleepwalking” — Salt Lake Tribune
MARRIED LIFE
Drama (of the romantic, crime variety)
Rated PG-13, 90 minutes
(with Pierce Brosnan, Chris Cooper, Patricia Clarkson, and Rachel McAdams)
In 10 words or less: Divorce too humiliating? Just murder her.
The critics, abridged:
• “a period domestic drama that never quite decides if it wants to be a credible marital study, a noirish meller or a sly comedy” — Variety
• “one of those movies that seduces you with great looks and a sexy story, but leaves you feeling empty, and just a little used, once the climax comes — and goes — without realigning the universe” — Canwest News Service
• “a tony, well-upholstered drama that manages to charm” — slate.com
• “bracingly malicious noir for a while, a sort of gray-flannel-suit take on the Coen brothers’ Blood Simple… [but] just when things should be boiling over, the script goes lukewarm.” — New York Post