Just the Ticket #17: It's Almost Relative
This has been a surprising week for movies big and small, beginning with two that feature young stars who may or may not be related to more well-known acting veterans.
First up is Enter Nowhere, starring Scott Eastwood, Katherine Waterston and Sara Paxton (Clint Eastwood's son, Sam Waterston's daughter and Bill Paxton's distant niece, if my genealogy math is right).
When three strangers meet at a cabin in the woods, each stranded by their respective automotive troubles, it soon becomes apparent that they have been brought together at the cabin (and not allowed to leave) for a reason.
Enter Nowhere is billed as a horror movie, hinting at elements of predecessors like Identity and Deliverance, but takes the usual suspects and turns them on their heads, producing something small of scale and big of heart without sacrificing continuity, sending the viewer on an unexpected trip to the outskirts of the Twilight Zone.
A-
Next is the true story adaptation We Bought A Zoo, starring Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, Thomas Haden Church, Colin Ford (no relation to Harrison Ford), and Elle Fanning (looking eerily like her sister Dakota at that age).
Damon is Benjamin Mee, a "why not?" adventurer trying to cope with the devastating loss of his wife to unmentioned causes. In an attempt at a fresh start, he buys a new house which also happens to be a zoo. The usual paces of the inspirational family film are given due coverage here, including financial troubles, interpersonal dynamics, an almost superheroically positive protagonist, and a cartoonishly mean by-the-book hindrance (a zoo inspector, played by Late Show staple John Michael Higgins), thankfully with nary a hint of toilet humor in the straw man's direction, or anyone else's; an achievement, given the setting of the film.
Not an exceptional movie, but an enjoyable one that makes you feel good, which is good enough for me.
B+
We end this week in movies with yet another inspirational adaptation (a word which I have recently come to despise for my frequent use of it these past two weeks. War Horse also has the distinction of being a member of the "I Hated It Until I Saw It" club. With a trailer that failed to do it justice and a Saturday Night Live sketch that made a cheesy mockery of the stage play as the only references I had to go on, I thought War Horse to be a joke from the start.
But despite the corn-syrup-infused dialogue, the movie itself proved to be this year's Red Violin. War Horse follows the serendipitous journey of Joey the mercurial young plow horse as he passes tragically from hand-to-hand through WWI-torn France and Ireland, finally returning to his owner and friend by film's end.
The action sequences are impressively done, the inspirational moments are appropriately emotional, and the most tragic moments were artfully obscured. Best of all, the story was engaging despite its length. Spielberg's best work since Jurassic Park.
A
First up is Enter Nowhere, starring Scott Eastwood, Katherine Waterston and Sara Paxton (Clint Eastwood's son, Sam Waterston's daughter and Bill Paxton's distant niece, if my genealogy math is right).When three strangers meet at a cabin in the woods, each stranded by their respective automotive troubles, it soon becomes apparent that they have been brought together at the cabin (and not allowed to leave) for a reason.
Enter Nowhere is billed as a horror movie, hinting at elements of predecessors like Identity and Deliverance, but takes the usual suspects and turns them on their heads, producing something small of scale and big of heart without sacrificing continuity, sending the viewer on an unexpected trip to the outskirts of the Twilight Zone.
A-
Next is the true story adaptation We Bought A Zoo, starring Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, Thomas Haden Church, Colin Ford (no relation to Harrison Ford), and Elle Fanning (looking eerily like her sister Dakota at that age).Damon is Benjamin Mee, a "why not?" adventurer trying to cope with the devastating loss of his wife to unmentioned causes. In an attempt at a fresh start, he buys a new house which also happens to be a zoo. The usual paces of the inspirational family film are given due coverage here, including financial troubles, interpersonal dynamics, an almost superheroically positive protagonist, and a cartoonishly mean by-the-book hindrance (a zoo inspector, played by Late Show staple John Michael Higgins), thankfully with nary a hint of toilet humor in the straw man's direction, or anyone else's; an achievement, given the setting of the film.
Not an exceptional movie, but an enjoyable one that makes you feel good, which is good enough for me.
B+
We end this week in movies with yet another inspirational adaptation (a word which I have recently come to despise for my frequent use of it these past two weeks. War Horse also has the distinction of being a member of the "I Hated It Until I Saw It" club. With a trailer that failed to do it justice and a Saturday Night Live sketch that made a cheesy mockery of the stage play as the only references I had to go on, I thought War Horse to be a joke from the start.But despite the corn-syrup-infused dialogue, the movie itself proved to be this year's Red Violin. War Horse follows the serendipitous journey of Joey the mercurial young plow horse as he passes tragically from hand-to-hand through WWI-torn France and Ireland, finally returning to his owner and friend by film's end.
The action sequences are impressively done, the inspirational moments are appropriately emotional, and the most tragic moments were artfully obscured. Best of all, the story was engaging despite its length. Spielberg's best work since Jurassic Park.
A
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