Midnight in Paris

As opposed to Terrence Malik, Woody Allen's been making films almost every year for over forty years. His latest, Midnight in Paris, is the film I'm reviewing now.

Gil Pender (Owen Wilson) is a writer in Paris who wants to live there since that's where all the good artists lived. His latest project is a novel about a guy who sells old memorabilia. His fiancee Inez (Rachel McAdams) think his past obsession is nuts, while her Tea-Party parents don't like his political views.

And then at the stroke of Midnight, Gil finds himself in Paris of the '20s. Soon, he's chatting with F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein and Pablo Picasso, among others. Gil's trips to the past give him a shock: longing for the past is nothing new.

As Gil, Owen Wilson made for a likeable protagonist. His role would've fit right in for Allen, but Wilson gives it his touch. The numerous supporting stars, such as Kathy Bates as Stein and Corey Stoll as Hemingway, are finely cast. My favorite of the supporting cast was Adrien Brody, as the whimsical Salvador Dali.

It's charming, funny and finely written, a good antidote for the big, dumb blockbusters crowding the cineplex. For the historical-savvy, this film is a treat. For everyone else, it's still a good time. At least you'll get to see Paris for free.

The Smurfs

Smurf this out. It's The Smurfs, the creation of Belgian artist Peyo, as a smurf-screen feature film. It's in 3D, as are a smurf of other films these smurfing days. Did that make smurfing sense to you? No, but it smurfing does to a Smurf.

Anyway, the Smurfs are still blue, small and live in 'shrooms. One day, their secret Smurf village is discovered by the evil Gargamel (Hank Azaria). Papa Smurf (Jonathan Winters) and five of his fellow Smurfs are chased into a portal in a waterfall. On the other side is a strange place called Central Park. They find themselves house guests of ad-man Patrick (Neil Patrick Harris) and his wife Grace (Jayma Mays).

The Smurfs need the magic of a blue moon (an actual blue moon) to open the portal again. Gargamel wants The Smurfs for their magical essence. Sounds like a conflict.

It's directed by Raja Gosnell, previously of the Scooby-Doo films. So expect a few jokes that Hanna-Barbera wouldn't have approved of. Does this mean an embarrassing day at the movies for adult audience members? Hopefully, not at all.

As Gargamel, Azaria was truly the scene-stealer of the cast. His chemistry with Azrael, and his over-the-top villainy, was truly funny. There were a few dirty jokes involving him, but they don't detract from the performance that much.

What about the 3D effects? I didn't see it in 3D, so I can't comment. I can comment on the smurf effects, and I can say they're quite good. Even if you don't see it in 3D, a few scenes feel 3D anyway. A nice opening shot of The Smurfs traveling by bird is a highlight.

For kids, this'll be a memorable film on an afternoon matinee. For me, at least, this was only a decent afternoon film. But it's still a smurf of a time. And that's smurf enough.

The Tree of Life

If I can describe The Tree of Life, director Terrence Malik's fifth film of his forty-year career in two words, it would be “um, what?”

Believe me, if you saw this film, you'd ask the same question.

What story there is concerns a Texas family, the father being played by Brad Pitt. A son dies in 'Nam, but that's not important. Kids play around as DDT gets sprayed from trucks. Again, that's not important. There's also some guys getting arrested. Guess what? It's not important.

What is important is the out-of-order history of not just the family, but of the entire world. Along the way, the family's eldest son (Sean Penn as an adult) and others ask existential questions in the narration. And neither they nor the audience get clear cut answers thrown at them.

What Malik has created is 2001: A Space Odyssey in the real-life year 2011. As with the older film, this film's visual effects are supervised by the revered Douglas Trumbull. This is his first film since Blade Runner; the effects he's created are perfectly surreal.

Rather than use surreality to bludgeon its audience, the film uses it to soothe them. It takes off slowly, and lets the cinematography by Emanuel Lubezki do much of the talking. Its five editors, headed by Mark Yoshikawa, make human life itself as surreal as the big bang. While it is definitely confusing, it's definitely the good kind of confusing.

And in the midst of all the scenery, Brad Pitt gets the best performance. A nice man one minute, an utter tyrant the next. Believable all the way.

It's not the kind of movie that you can "get" in a day. You might not get it all. But don't worry if you don't get it. I think that's the whole point; for that, Malik's film works.

Captain America: The First Avenger

Ironically enough, the last of Marvel's feature length previews for its upcoming The Avengers is also chronologically the first. Well, that probably explains why its latest feature is Captain America: The First Avenger.

Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is the puniest of the puny who really wants to serve his country in World War II. Unfortunately, no matter how much he tries, he's still 4F. During a trip to the World's Fair, Allied scientist Dr. Erskine (Stanley Tucci) notices Steve and gets him enlisted. The Allies are looking for a few good men to become Super-Soldiers and Steve's to be "the first of many." Soon enough, the puny runt becomes a man among men.

But thanks to a spy from Hydra, Hitler's R&D department, Steve's now the Allies' only Super Soldier. Now Captain America, Steve's number one mission is to provide moral support at USO shows. Meanwhile, Hydra and their evil leader Red Skull (Hugo Weaving) have just acquired the mysterious Tesserect (introduced at the end of Thor). They plan to use its awesome powers to overthrow Hitler himself, and then the world. Not unless Captain America has anything to say about it.

It's essentially a modern-day serial with a bigger budget and optional 3D viewing. It's directed by Joe Johnston, who's directed one already (The Rocketeer) and won an Oscar for the Visual Effects of another (Raiders of the Lost Ark). He knows what he's doing here; it's purpose is to entertain and nothing more. It succeeds thanks to some good supporting actors and nice action scenes.

Asides from all the action effects, the best effect concerns the pre-Captain Steve. With some good CGI work, Chris Evans is perfectly reduced into the epitome of puny. It's this kind of effect that makes CGI effects worth it.

Those who stay through the end credits will see a preview of The Avengers. This first glimpse makes it worth staying through; the film itself makes it worth the effort to watch the credits.

Winnie the Pooh

Oh, bother. Do we really need another 3D-less cartoon feature drawn by human hands and only colored by computer? Yes, yes we do and Winnie the Pooh is a surprising step in that direction.

Pooh, A.A. Milne's world famous stuffed bear, still likes honey and still hangs around Piglet and Tigger and Christopher Robbin and the others. Eeyore still needs a tail, so all of the Hundred-Acre Wood pitches in to help. Everything's fine until Pooh finds a letter on Christopher Robbin's door saying "Go Out Bizy Back Soon."

Owl wrongly concludes that the "fierce" monster Backson has caught their human friend. So, the intrepid animals team up to save him. Comical misunderstandings ensue.

It's extremely harmless and quiet, unlike some other summer debuts I previously reviewed. So, why recomend it? Because it's delightfully silly not just for kids, but for their parents as well. The antics of Pooh and Co. are charming, not annoying, even if they're too familiar.

The film also has some catchy songs composed by Robert Lopez and his wife Kristen (also the voice of Kanga here). Actress Zooey Deschanel even performs a few songs, including the Sherman Brothers' theme to the original shorts and her own composition, "So Long."

It's an incredibly short film that runs for about 70 minutes. To pad some time, Pooh runs with a short toon called The Ballad of Nessie, a quick take on the origins of Loch Ness and it's monster. The toon, narrated by Billy Connolly, is a whimsical, sweet tale that compliments the feature attraction.

If Harry Potter's not on the list this weekend, you can see this instead. Its animation is easy on the eyes, and its magic isn't scary in the least. Hopefully, you won't regret it if and when you go.

Stay tuned for the credits for a surprise appearance.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

Back in December, I reviewed Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One, the film which was half a book and thus, half a movie. And now, the other half, Deathly Hallows: Part Two, is finally here.

It's all a straightforward plot this time. Evil Voldemort's taken over Hogwarts and can only be killed if the Horcruxes containing his soul are destroyed. Intrepid boy hero Harry and his friends set out to do just that. Things change for the heroes once they find out who the last Horcrux is. Oh yeah, and a lot of people bite it.

This last Potter is presented in optional 3D showings, the kind that Part One was supposed to get before Warner Bros. bailed. And that's all I'm going to say about it.

What I am going to say more about is what Director David Yates, and the cast and crew mostly first assembled by Chris Columbus have done now. They've just made the split-up of the last book very much worth it.

Easily the shortest of the franchise, the film devotes much of its time to battle scenes. These scenes are aided by great visual effects depicting such aspects as magic spells, giant trolls and even Voldemort's face. In fact, I'm forced to consider the last mentioned as the best effect because it's the least obvious.

There's much fun to be had from seeing the cast at work. The who's who of British cinema are fun to watch, as are the younger actors first made famous by this franchise. They know what to do with their characters and seeing them together on screen makes it all the more fulfilling.

The end result is that the film is thrilling, amusing and moving at once. And it makes it all the more satisfying to see good triumph over evil on screen.

The End.

Jethro's Note: Rather than put makeup on actor Ralph Fienne's face, his face is sculpted into Voldemort's on the computer.