Tag: Catherine Zeta-Jones

Side Effects

Steven Soderbergh’s movie “Side Effects” may just be his last film. Hopefully that’s not true, as this coldly clinical, but limp conspiracy thriller would be a disappointing way to end a great career.

“Side Effects” is supposed to look like a Zoloft commercial, correct? Steven Soderbergh’s film, which I hope is not his last despite his hints, sustains a flat, picturesque aesthetic resembling a medicine ad in a magazine or on TV. It’s designed to make the characters appear phony or untrustworthy, but the unfortunate side effect, for lack of a better term, is that the whole film falls limp in the process.

That you can’t trust these people or their actions is about all the hint I can give you without treading in spoiler territory. It involves the months after Martin (Channing Tatum) has just been released from a white-collar prison to his wife Emily (Rooney Mara). His presence, though loving and supportive, causes her to try and commit suicide shortly thereafter. A doctor named Jonathan (Jude Law) agrees to release her from the hospital on the condition that she come in for treatment and therapy, both of which will eventually lead to Emily’s mental breakdown, a lawsuit, some jail time and a conspiracy.

“Side Effects” is a film about the unexpected consequences of trying to do good. We look for a fix, or a cure, and more problems are borne out of it. Jonathan will drive himself insane trying to mend this problem he’s created in Emily, and he’ll eventually become a slave to his own medicine. Continue reading “Side Effects”

CIFF Review: Lay the Favorite

I still don’t know what the title “Lay the Favorite” means. It’s a term used by bookies and gamblers to bet against the odds, but it doesn’t make any sense. It’s empty fast-talking, it’s not memorable and it’s not funny. I keep thinking the movie is called “Pay it Forward” or something because everything about this movie is generic, forgettable and tepid.

It’s a disappointing, personality-less comedy from the otherwise interesting Stephen Frears and this dynamic cast. Rebecca Hall, who is usually womanly and relatable, here plays Beth, an air-headed stripper from Tallahassee with ambitions to be a cocktail waitress in Vegas. Her talents include twirling her hair, being chipper and wide-eyed and wearing Daisy Dukes, but in an instant she lands a folksy and wise best friend with a Southern accent and a job at Dink Inc.

The company is called Dink Inc. because Dink sounds like dick and it allows the movie to repeatedly say Dink Inc. The owner of Dink Inc. is of course Dink (Bruce Willis), a professional gambler who briefly explains the ropes to Beth and offers her $20 an hour.

The movie is about always being trustworthy in an untrustworthy business, and so she is. Willis acts sunny around her and she falls in love with him as a father figure, but she’s fired when Dink’s wife Tulip (Catherine Zeta-Jones) gets jealous.

Beth goes to New York with a boy toy (Joshua Jackson) she met hours earlier, makes it big with another bookie (Vince Vaughn), gets into some trouble and later lives happily ever after.

It’s a movie without stakes, which is bad for a movie about gambling. There’s no chemistry, nothing interesting about these characters, no reason to care for them and nothing funny about their dialogue. The Vegas gamblers all have this dopey mobster mentality and thick accent, as if talking fast and tough makes it so.

“Lay the Favorite” is an empty, lightweight film that could’ve come from anyone. What makes me so disappointed by it was that it was the secret screening at the Chicago International Film Festival. Anticipating “Lincoln,” “Life of Pi,” “Les Miserables” or even just “Skyfall,” I can’t even express how much of a let down this was.

2 stars

Chicago

As movies go digital and trail blaze ahead with 3-D technology, it’s nice to see an older film that feels as though it was grafted from the stage, rife with metaphorical depth and space, and yet still maintains its image as a film production of massive proportions impossible to recreate in any theater.

Considering “Chicago” is this decade’s rebirth of the musical, there are probably more important things worth paying attention to, but you have to hold on to both the big and little things the movies have to offer.

Rob Marshall’s adaptation of “Chicago” is a remarkable musical in the spirit of “Cabaret.” It is a delightful romp full of fun performances, catchy rhythms and fabulous choreography on a massive scale. To not enjoy such a film would be to dislike entertainment. No, the plot is not riveted with psychological depth and drama. There is no revolutionary fancy footwork throughout the film either. But it is still a joy. Continue reading “Chicago”