Pic of the Week returns!

Ah, the (hopefully?) long-awaited return of Pic of the Week. It’s not that I haven’t been watching movies…it’s just that I haven’t had time to think coherently about any of them. Going on the theory that, to write, one just has to, you know, write, here goes…

“Michael Clayton” (2007)
Came out at the $2 cinema the same day I moved it to the top of my Netflix queue, natch. So, though I could’ve seen it on the big screen, I’m glad I watched it at home with the benefit of being able to view certain sequences a second time. Here’s everything you need to know about “Michael Clayton” – it was written and directed by Tony Gilroy, who wrote all three “Bourne” scripts (plus a bunch of stuff I didn’t know about). For me, the Bourne trilogy was remarkable for how smart – and patient – it assumed me to be. They’re movies that only leave in the absolute least amount of information possible for you to understand the story, and “Michael Clayton” is the same way. There were plenty of times in watching “Michael Clayton” where I found myself thinking, “Whaaa?” but trust me, stick with it. Also, the acting is off-the-charts good.

“Once” (2007)
Unless you’re a film geek, the first time you heard of this Irish indie was when it won the Best Original Song Oscar for “Falling Slowly” last month. This was shot in 17 days for something like $150,000. It’s a simple, almost perfect story about a guy and a girl (neither named) who meet, write some songs and…oh, I don’t want to ruin it. It’s got the kind of pacing that shouldn’t work, but does. I spent most of the first two-thirds of “Once” thinking, this is sweet, but where is it going? And by the end I was crying like a teething baby. “Once” is a sweet story about how people come together and sometimes part, and a lovely reminder of that old saying that to love someone is to set him/her free. And you absolutely must download the soundtrack on iTunes this minute

“The Passenger” (1975)
I’ll admit it, “Blow-Up” whetted my appetite for Michelangelo Antonioni. Though “Blow-Up” is Antonioni’s best-known English-language film, I think I liked “The Passenger” better – although that may be because I was a little more prepared for Antonioni’s style this time around. (And also because there are no mimes.) “The Passenger” (original title: “Professione: reporter”) is about a – you guessed it – reporter (Jack Nicholson, back when he was still acting in roles other than “Jack Nicholson”) who’s seriously disaffected with his job, his marriage, everything. On assignment in Africa, he meets an exotic, seemingly free-as-a-bird stranger, who dies suddenly. On impulse, Jack takes the stranger’s identity, only to learn that Mr. Body was – oops! – an arms dealer with a price on his head. (Well, Jack, you wanted adventure…) If “The Passenger” were made today, someone would turn it into a “Bourne”-style thriller. Not bad, but… Instead, it’s an interesting meditation on identity (btw with a strong turn by Maria Schneider of “Last Tango in Paris”). I liked.

“The Namesake” (2006)
Oh, my Hell, I hated this movie. Do yourself a huge favor – watch the trailer and just tell yourself that “The Namesake” actually only lasts two-and-a-half minutes. Or better yet, read Jhumpa Lahiri’s book, on which the film is based. (Note: Lahiri co-wrote the screenplay along with Sooni Taraporevala, a frequent collaborator with director Mira Nair.) This follows the book closely – I think that might be the problem. Book adaptations to film are an interest of mine. And having attempted one, I definitely concur with the advice that one should treat an adapted story no different than an original story. This feels like Nair just threw the book up on-screen, without making any cinematic choices of her own. Sure, it would be hard to find a standard Hollywood narrative in Lahiri’s sprawling novel about two generations of a Bengali immigrant family. But that’s why Nair gets the big bucks. Acting-wise, Irfan Khan and Tabu, who play the parents of the ill-named Gogol Ganguli (Kal Penn) are wonderful. Penn is cute, and not much else. I stopped watching about halfway through – it takes a lot for me to quit on a movie, so this should tell you something – because I was reading the book and didn’t want to spoil it. I’m glad I did.

“The Indian Runner” (1991)
Speaking of adaptations…this, Sean Penn’s directorial debut, was inspired by a Bruce Springsteen song. Huh. I couldn’t believe I’d never seen it, considering that it features two of my favorite actors, Viggo Mortensen and David Morse. They play brothers – Morse is a cop and Mortensen his seriously f*cked up Vietnam vet baby brother. This is the kind of movie that seems like it should’ve been released in the early or mid-70s. It has far more in common with something like “Badlands” than with “Silence of the Lambs,” which won the Best Picture Oscar that year – which is to say that it’s more character-driven than plot-driven. I thought Mortensen was marvelous, not to mention hot as hell (full frontal nudity alert!) – don’t understand why it took him another decade to hit the A-list. Speaking of A-list, Morse’s wife is played by Italian actor Valeria Golino (playing a Mexican, but whatever…), who was all over the place in the late 80s and early 90s (“Rain Man,” the “Hot Shots” movies), but inexplicably disappeared after. Kind of drifty movie, but it’s worth a look.

“In the Valley of Elah” (2007)
Seriously disturbing movie – that’s not to say you shouldn’t see it, just that you should be forewarned. Tommy Lee Jones is marvelous (Oscar-nominated performance) as a former MP investigating the murder of his own son, who went AWOL shortly after returning from Iraq. Some reviewers thought “Elah” moralized too much, and maybe it does – I’m not really sure what co-writer/director Paul Haggis (of “Crash” fame) intended with the last scene. I didn’t really see this as any more anti-war than “Platoon” or any other war-is-hell-and-turns-people-into-monsters movie, except that it’s more topical and WAY more graphic. Seriously, if you or your loved ones are or have served in the military, “Elah” might be hard to watch (and I say that from experience). Also, this might be he first time since “That Thing You Do!” that I’ve bought into Charlize Theron.

“Be Kind Rewind” (2008)
Just to end on a happy note…well, sorta happy. I really wanted to love this movie, and couldn’t quite do it. I mean, it’s tailor-made for movie geeks – an indie video store that only stocks VHS, and really random VHS at that, battles the DVD revolution that apparently took 10 years to hit North Jersey and the evil spectre of urban gentrification. Only their livelihood is threatened when Jack Black accidentally erases the entire stock after being magnetized (don’t ask, just go with it). So, Black and store employee Mos Def scramble to re-shoot movies as they’re demanded, using people from the neighborhood and Jethro-rigged set-ups. You know, if this were a YouTube mash-up done by my friends and I back in high school, it would rock. But this is a major Hollywood production from Michel Gondry, the guy that brought us “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and “The Science of Sleep.” It’s a hot tranny mess. If I brought my writing group this script, they’d kick my ass out. It only works if you buy that most of the characters are operating at a Forrest Gump-level IQ. Okay, I’m going to stop bitching, I obviously have no soul. (btw, this was my first feature-length Jack Black experience – let’s just say I won’t be doing that again any time soon.) Honestly, if they’d focused longer on the “Sweded” (don’t ask) film adaptations, I would’ve had more fun. If they’d picked more classic film geek stuff (no “Goonies”???), instead of “Rush Hour 2,” I’d have had more fun. This is a love-letter to filmmaking, but… I expected better, I’m sorry. Two stars.

Pic of the Week: Do some “Once.” Even if you’ve already seen it, go watch it again.