I periodically provide short reviews or recaps of pictures I've previously reviewed, when they become available for streaming and/or on DVD. The following movies have been released for home viewing over the last three months. This is part 1 of a two part posting. Movies are listed in no particular order:
The Family Fang (2015): Adapted from the darkly
comic, insightful bestselling novel by Kevin Wilson, Family Fang is the
story of the titular family, focused on two adult siblings: Annie Fang (Nicole Kidman)
and Baxter Fang (Jason Bateman), both of whom have issues, stemming from a very
strange upbringing in the shadow of their very strange parents Caleb
(Christopher Walken) and Camille (Maryann Plunkett).
Setup: Caleb and Camille were avant garde “conceptual performance
artists” famous for staging elaborate public hoaxes, the more outrageous, the
better. When their children - referred to as child A (Annie) and Child B
(Baxter) – came along, Caleb and Camille simply incorporated them into their
oevre. As soon as they could the, kids left the act and now, years later, still
blame their parents for their life problems. But when Caleb and and Camille go
missing, and evidence suggests foul play, Annie and Baxter come together to try
and make sense of it all and to answer the question: is this real or the
ultimate artistic hoax?
Family Fang is the second feature film directed by
Jason Bateman who does a lovely job with somewhat difficult material. All of
the acting is superb, and Walken, especially, is a standout as the committed
artiste/nutjob father. Not as deep or complex (naturally) as the novel, the
story is coherent and engaging; it hooks you and resonates, even for those of
us with a less outrageous upbringing. Parts are pretty damn funny, too. Definitely
worth a looksee.
Available streaming on
iTunes, Amazon, GooglePlay and elsewhere; and on DVD from Netflix.
The Adderall Diaries (2015): I saw this at the TriBeCa Film Festival a
year and a half ago and rather liked it, but it was never picked up by a major distributor, and was “released” for about a week last April (shown at fewer than thirty US theaters at that time). In other words – a box office bust. Still, I think The Adderall Diaries is worthwhile. It’s based on the
bestselling memoir by Stephen Elliot, and features James Franco, Ed Harris,
Amber Heard and Christian Slater in a story about a genius writer with
substance-abuse and father-abuse issues, trying to reconnect and overcome writer’s
block.
Check out my full Review.
Available streaming at
Amazon [free with Prime membership], iTunes, GooglePlay, Xfinity OnDemand and elsewhere,
and on DVD from Netflix.
Maggie’s Plan (2016): I’ve
been a Greta Gerwig fan for awhile now, and this is a pretty perfect Gerwig
movie. It also features a couple of my other favorite actors: Ethan Hawke and
Julianne Moore, so I had high hopes going in – and I was not disappointed.
There’s actually a bit of a twist to this in that Gerwig
plays a young woman (Maggie) who is accomplished and well organized, rather
than the well-intentioned but hopelessly screwed up girl she has often portrayed
in the past, in pictures like Frances
Ha (2012) and Mistress
America (2015). Here, she seems more intelligent and more grown up. Maggie does have her weakness
though: she can’t seem to maintain long term relationships with men, and now in
her early thirties she wants to have a child. She has got a plan to deal with
that, too. But when Maggie meets the charming academic and would-be writer John
Harding (Hawke), her plan goes awry: complications arise - not the least of which is
Harding’s unresolved marriage to Georgette (Moore), a brilliant, public
intellectual with an agenda of her own.
Hawke does his chatty, brainy, disheveled writer thing well,
as usual. Moore is a hoot, with a non-specific Scandinavian accent and a blend
of emotional toughness and brittleness, that totally won me over. And Ms.
Gerwig is, well, probably a bit closer to her real self here than in some of
her earlier work. The film also features, Maya Rudolph and Bill Hader as Maggie’s
friends, and Travis Fimmel in a small, but important role as Guy, a pickle
entrepreneur. Pickles are always funny, right?
Available streaming on
iTunes, Amazon, GooglePlay, and elsewhere; and on DVD from Netflix
Sing Street (2016): I started my May 2016 review of this picture
as follows: “Looking
for an appealing movie with a pick-me-up ending? A little romance fueled by
youthful rocknroll. perhaps? The new teen movie, Sing Street, is a
variant of the classic “Let’s start a band” story, set in Dublin in 1985. This
particular version delivers, for the most part. It may be aimed at the young,
but I found it fun and invigorating, and I’m not in that demographic (not even
close).” If you do watch this one at home, I’d encourage you to turn up the
volume a bit for the musical numbers.
Check
out my full Review.
Available streaming on
iTunes, Amazon, GooglePlay, and elsewhere; and on DVD from Netflix
Keanu (2016): Keanu is the story of a cute kitten
told through the emotions, trials and travails of his adoptive humans. It is
also the feature film debut of the sketch comedy team of
Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele (a.k.a. Key and Peele), directed by their
long-time TV director Peter Ascensio and written by Jordan and long-time
collaborator/writer Alex Rubens.
The story is a bit sketchy and episodic. Keanu appears on
the doorstep of a super-depressed Rell (Jordan), immediately curing him of his
doldrums; only to be kidnapped (kitty-napped?) by a bunch of drug dealers, led
by a kingpin called "Cheddar” (Method Man). Rell calls in his nerdy friend
Clarence (Key) to help get Keanu back. These two lily-livered
black men decide to pose as the tough-as-nails, universally and justly feared “Allentown
Brothers” (also played by Key and Peele) to try and impress Cheddar and his
gang. This involves a lot of schtick not unlike Gene Wilder trying to act “black”
in Silver Streak (1976) and Stir Crazy (1980). Coincidentally, and adding to
the confusion, Keanu is also connected to the actual Allentown Brothers, and
they also want him back.
The movie has some fine moments, but is not as funny as one
would want or expect. It also has a nice dollop of charm, which partially
offsets the dearth of laughs. For fans of Key and Poole, this is a must-see. For
the rest of us, it’s a nice, but unessential evening’s entertainment.
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