Short Take:"Moneyball" and "Tuesday After Christmas".

Moneyball is a good movie but its sensibility is unquestionably, perhaps exclusively, American given that it centers around the world of baseball. Screenwriters Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillian do a superb job of trying to sketch out the universal in the real-life story of Oakland Athletics' general manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) who single-handedly tried to revolutionize the sport by recurring to mathematics and statistics.

Jonah Hill plays Peter Brand, the Yale graduate who was hired by Beane to scout players using a strange method that has them choose players who have been rejected by other teams based on their "on base percentage". The Athletics become the laughing stock of the baseball world until they suddenly begin to go on a winning streak the likes of which had never seen before in baseball history.

If you see past the baseball lingo and all the mathematics and numbers, you will discover a movie that's essentially an example of how we try our best to excel in the face of adversity. Pitt is exceptionally magnetic as Beane, finally showing some signs of rugged wisdom beyond his pretty boy looks. The rest of the cast does a wonderful job circling around him, Kerris Dorsey is particularly good as his daughter Casey, but the film can't tap into the universality to make it really work outside the American context. Sorkin and Zaillian try to make its outer layer become more accessible, but the end result is quite marred by one's own tolerance for sports, particularly because director Bennet Miller keeps everything under such precise control that you can't help but feel unwelcome. "How can you not get romantic about baseball?" asks Beane, if you agree with him, then this is the movie for you.

The Romanian New Wave might just be the singular, most exciting film current to have occurred in decades! Every film coming from the formerly troubled country, feels like a breath of fresh air in the midst of all these pre-produced, highly disposable works done all over the world. What results so strange about these movies is that they're essentially telling us stories we've heard a million times before; even the fact that they often seek to portray the social angle makes us wonder what makes them superior to similar schools of thought. Can it be maybe, that having been repressed for so long gave these young filmmakers the ability to see the world with fresh eyes? To find uniqueness in what's become so ordinary and unnoticeable to others?
Take Tuesday After Christmas for example, an exercise in Bergmanian restraint that's as dark and strangely humorous as the master's best works. The film opens with a naked couple engaging in post-coital conversation. Raluca (Maria Popistașu) teases her lover Paul (Mimi Brănescu) about his stamina, the size of his penis and then wonders when she will see him again. Paul it turns out, has a wife (Mirela Oprişor) waiting for him back home.
The film, which takes place in the days leading to Christmas Eve, has none of the usual twists we'd expect from plots in which infidelity is a major theme, perhaps precisely because the film isn't about cheating. It's a carefully constructed slice of life that gives us access to lives that could very well resemble ours. Watching Paul and his wife arguing about what to get their daughter for Christmas makes for a slightly disturbing nod to what we might see every day at the mall. These people, we are constantly told, are not special or unique, they are pieces of a larger universe.
Perhaps director Radu Muntean is emphasizing the blasé fascination with others' lives as a way to encourage us to empathize with others. The film isn't even "interesting" in strictly superficial terms; there are no insane plot twists, sudden shocks or scenes that alter the main landscape, yet somehow watching these parents take  their daughter to the dentist becomes more thrilling than watching alien-robots fight each other, watching the wife cut her husband's hair as he stands naked, rings with more urgent humanity than a dozen activist documentaries and the camera's stillness throughout the film is a perfect reminder that cinema might be the ultimate window to the soul.

Grades:
Moneyball **
Tuesday After Christmas ***½

Short Take on "What's Your Number".

It's a shame that this movie begins with a joke that feels rehashed from the vastly superior Bridesmaids (people in the theater whispered it without realizing that both movies were probably in production at the same time) and kicks off its proceedings by wondering about the sexuality of a character played by Zachary Quinto (and on the week when he decides to come out!). Truth be told, all in all the film isn't any good, it feels like an episode of Sex and the City gone bad and it hides some disturbing chauvinism under the face of being who you are and defending your right to have sex with as many people as you want. The film still sells audiences the good old fashioned idea that finding "the one" is some sort of panacea that everyone should dream about! Even women who enjoy having sex can be rescued by the notion that out there there's someone willing to forgive them for their previous sluttiness and make honest beings out of them.

Why then, might this movie be worthy of even a minute of your time? Anna Faris. The way in which this woman puts herself through all sorts of incoherent episodes in the name of comedy makes her the ideal heir to a long tradition that features women like Mae West, Carole Lombard and Lucille Ball. Watching Faris' expressive eyes can sometimes deliver a funnier punchline than the words her character is given! Not to mention she even makes the endlessly dull Chris Evans seem funny (and with his shirt on!).

She crafts delightful chemistry with every actor in the film. Her scenes with Martin Freeman are hilarious, her encounters with real life husband Chris Pratt makes you wish they invited you to their home and entertained you with their humor and her moments with Joel McHale encompass the terrors of dating with such sweet sincerity that you can't help but fall for her.

Why hasn't anyone given Ms. Faris the movie she actually deserves?

Sheet-y Saturday + Kylie!

Where we take a look at posters for upcoming features.

Why isn't Anna Faris the biggest female comedy star in the movie world? She constantly delivers purely genius work, and no this is not hyperbole. The other day watching X-Men for example, the trailer for this movie was the only one that brought a smile to my face (sorry Harry Potter Part 20 and Mr. Popper's Penguins). On the bright side, it's refreshing to see that she still gets leading roles, her movies haven't been precisely huge by any chance, so I'll take my Faris as I can.

If this movie had been made thirteen years ago I would've been all over it. Back then Tom Hanks was my favorite actor and Julia ruled my world, actually come to think of it, wasn't it that way for everyone else too?

Now, I find Hanks smirk utterly irritating and while Julia still rules my world, she abandons it so much, that I've learned to survive without her. With that said, the poster for Larry Crowne, which should feel like an event, is so dull.

Yes, it's about Hanks' character going back to college and being taught by Julia but it's not really Big or anything. The poster wants to reflect the fun of doing things at an inappropriate age, and as much as Julia's smile creates new angels, Hanks riding a Vespa feels less Gregory Peck and more like Old-man Holiday.

Dying to see either of these flicks? Do you remember loving Tom and Julia as much as I did?

On another note, go check out my Kylie article over at The Film Experience. It's all part of the Moulin Rouge! anniversary.

I still can not believe ten years have passed since I became obsessed with this movie.

Yet still every viewing feels like the very first one.

Sigh.

Jennifer's Body ***

Director: Karyn Kusama
Cast: Megan Fox
Amanda Seyfried
Johnny Simmons
J.K. Simmons
Amy Sedaris, Adam Brody

"Jennifer's evil" says Needy (Seyfried) to her boyfriend Chip (Simmons). "I know" he replies with a bit of a "duh" look in his face.
Jennifer has been Needy's friend since infanthood ("sandbox love never dies") and in a way they compliment each other.
Needy's the geeky-with makeover potential- looking, good girl with a steady boyfriend and a curfew.
Jennifer is the hot cheerleader with a thirst for boys who pretends to be a virgin just to turn on her victims more.
People around them wonder what the hell they have in common, but as many other things in high school, the nature of their friendship remains a mystery.
Things change after a bar burns down and Jennifer's boy hunger seems to develop into actual demonic cannibalism.
Jocks turns up dead, Jennifer turns up mysteriously bloodied in the middle of the night and Needy has more slasher worthy moments than anyone would ever dream of.
Kusama's teen-thriller packs a hell of a punch and owes most of it to Diablo Cody's terrific screenplay which obviously makes an extensive use of pop culture references ("it's true! It's on the Wikipedia") but manages to outlive its otherwise temporary shelf life by contributing to the dying teen flick genre.
"Jennifer's Body" might not bring anything new to the table, in fact Cody sometimes seems to betray the very nature of her story. For example why did she have to bring it all down to good old fashioned geek vs. hot competitiveness when there's been a million more movies like that before?
But when she's on a roll the characters deliver some truly brilliant, and extremely quotable, bits of dialogue that both poke fun and exalt the adolescent life.
There is nothing really scary about the movie (even if Fox does seem like she might eat you alive to stay wrinkle free) but Cody taps into some fascinating issue circling modern life.
For one, she is unashamedly open about sex and ignores the ridiculous cliché that "smart girls" don't have sex.
When Chip coyly announces to Needy that he'll be getting condoms for their date later during the day, Cody is in fact screaming that "smart girls have sex...with protection". The film offers several moments of refreshing maturity that play out in awkwardly sweet moments.
We are also reminded of the indifference our culture has grown towards violence. As the murders increase in the town where the movie takes place, it's only a matter of time before they're seeking the next big thing ("sorrow was last week's emotion").
This trait is embodied through Jennifer who struts the halls without a care in the world, even if everything outside is collapsing.
When Needy proclaims "we had faith. We were fucking idiots" the post-Obama world seems to balance on a tightrope for a fraction of a second...
Then we're being vastly entertained by the sight of two girls in formal dresses fighting inside a pool and everything goes back to normal.