At the Movies (2009) - New York I Love You, Trucker, That Damned United

New York I Love You [Music] this is what I've always liked about New York these little moments on the sidewalks you can watch the buildings you can look at the people sometimes meet somebody you feel like you can talk to don't ignore what's happening here we're having some kind of powerful weird Alchemy and you have to pay attention when that happens no hi I'm Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune and I'm AO Scott of the New York Times there are 8 million stories in the Naked City to which New York I love you the followup to the Charming parisia adds about a dozen they oblique little vignettes from an Eclectic bunch of international directors ranging from Bad boysour Brett Ratner to the German Turkish can Prize winner FTI a a lot of well-known actors show up too including Orlando Bloom Ethan Hawk Juno's Olivia thurlby and Natalie Portman playing an Orthodox Jewish Diamond broker named Rifka so where's my invitation for your wedding did you invite me to your wedding oh I wish I had 25 years I've been trading with hdic people I know nothing about them they know nothing about genen people strictly business we don't come to 47 Street to CH that segment one of the most interesting in this very uneven movie was written and directed by Mira naer and it's one of the few that takes account of the rich human variety that is such a vital part of New York's identity most of the stories are precious little anecdotes turning on contrived ironies and self-conscious conversations like this one between Robin Wright Pen and Chris Cooper we going to talk about [Music] what things you can say to a stranger you know when there's no past there's no guilt have you ever made love to a perfect [Music] stranger now you're teasing me now last time I checked there were five buroughs in New York but only one brief chapter of New York I love you Ventures Beyond Manhattan and none of them offers a very credible sense of a city that has been loved so much better in other films from Breakfast at Tiffany's to Annie Hall to do the right thing yes I know this movie is supposed to be about the fantasy and the romance of New York City not the actual place where some of us happen to live but this one is strictly for tourists skip it you know Brooklyn completely left off the map you well Brooklyn has a little bit there's no queens no Staten Island no Bronx there's barely any African-American people one Spanish speaker no gay New Yorkers no and there are no gay people in New York last time I checked so yeah here's one thing that did surprise me all these different directors who have worked in all these different styles in their in their own projects come together and it really the film only feels like two or three different sort of approaches are represented they don't really feel like wildly different attacks on the yes I I noticed that too every single story kind of works the same way you have two people who come together you think one thing is going on it turns out something else is it's like an acting class exercise but I did like this film more than you do to Tony I think four or five maybe even six of them in I think the Alan Hughes directed one with Drea de Mato and Bradley Cooper who play kind of a one night stand take a look at this Tony and I'll tell you why this one worked I didn't realize we were going to go home together at that point idiot it's a bad idea with this girl what am I saying she's not a girl I have no idea how old she is why am I walking 30 blocks to this bar I'm I'm not in a good space for this there's no plot in this segment it's all about mood and character and feeling and that's why this works it's not trying to tell a whole story I I think that's right and it does capture the rhythm of the city a little bit but the rest of it I mean I think they just really should have called it you know New York I'm going to use you and never call you back because it's so it's so superficial and and and offhand and shallow I'm waiting for a Shaban I'm ambivalent that's the next one I want to say I say rent it though I say rent it okay next movie Michelle manahan is one of the few familiar female faces in Hollywood who would actually be convincing in the role of a long haul trucker she doesn't have to act tough resilience seems to come to her naturally in trucker manahan plays Diane who 10 years ago abandoned her husband and infant son now young Peter is 11 and circumstances have flung The Boy back into her life seems weird for a woman to be driving a truck yeah well what should I be doing I don't know something else yeah well I like being my own boss I own that truck I paid it off this here it's a hell of a lot better than being a nurse or a waitress or something you might believe that conversation but most of trucker comes off like a sincere but totally artificial Slice of Life Monahan the young Jimmy Bennett plus Nathan fillian Benjamin brat as the other men in Diane's life they're all effective as far as first time writer director James matern lets him go which is not far enough I really didn't believe any of this film skip it I say yeah it's interesting though because you know there's a certain type of movie like this you know that that that kind of tries to look at the the harsh life and emotional crisis of a of a blue collar person somewhere in America you see a lot of these movies at the Sundance Film Festival and always interesting to think why do some of them work and some of them don't why does a movie like Wendy and Lucy work so well why does a movie like Frozen River Work somewhat quite a bit better than trucker I would say but why does why is it that trucker which is kind of struck from the same template just so completely unconv here here's why here's the answer the answer to this is that it's it's a matter of how much plot Machinery I think the filmmakers throw onto the characters I think in Frozen River you're talking about a film that is arguably overplotted but Melissa Leo so good in it you know you you don't mind going with some of the more obvious melodrama in trucker you have an actress who's I'd say almost up to Melissa Leo's level Michelle M very good but you know my God this thing is just plotted with all contrivance and convenience every step of the way you know exactly what's going to happen and you don't really care so skip it coming up next a sports movie for people who don't like sports will review the Damned United and later the movie that tops my list of the best films of the year so far are Where the Wild Things Are 1 2 monopo is back at McDonald's and this year my family and I want to win big baby play online every day for a chance to win a million dollar plus a lot of cash and food prizes start playing now collect orn instantly play online or text go to McDonald's where else I want to win a million bucks to you breaking All State up breaking up is hard to do so all state will do it for you switch to All State and your new agent will help tell your old insurance company goodbye saving you that uncomfortable breakup moment and serious cash drivers who switch saved an average of $396 a year 473 if they dumped GE CA breaking up is easy to that's all state stand are you in good [Music] Buffaloco hands Wing lovers are falling for Al pool Loo's new buffaloco Wings smothered in her own spicy buffaloco or Tangy Smoky Barbecue Sauce they're Saucy they're irresistible and they're all yours Susie hin reporting live Christmas Grinch has been stolen every trimming every trapping every ribbon every wrapping You're a mean one Mr Grinch did you guys get that you're a mean one Broadway's holiday H Dr Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas the musical is coming to the Pantages Theater November 10th now on sale get tickets today at the pantes box office or visit [Music] ELO ticketmaster.com in these challenging times ELO local wants you to know you can still provide a healthier delicious meal for your family at an incredible value now you can get a whole chicken for just $4 with any family meal That Damned United purchase this has the potential to become a really big story what did you come into football for support the football club of my own town the club I've supported all my life well I'm sure we all admire your loyalty what I didn't come into it for is to be elected by some cocky little crap from the Northeast but the way I see it there's no point being in this game unless you want to beat the best and be the best next up is is the Damned United starring Michael Sheen who's the kind of actor you almost don't recognize from one movie to the next and he has an unusual knack for playing real figures from recent history he was British Prime Minister Tony Blair in the queen journalist and television personality David Frost in Frost nickon and now he plays Brian K well we're very different people Don and I uh we have different styles in football and in life I'm a warm man uh an idealist I do believe in fairies and that's my Outlook da is slightly different uh there's a hardness to him he's a cold person you don't know me in case you didn't already know kluf was the coach of the leagues United soccer team for 44 ill-starred days in 1974 we've just seen him with his predecessor Don Revy who's played by the terrific col meanie kuuf is obsessed with Revy who's both role model and Nemesis the damn United which was directed by Tom Hooper from Peter Morgan script is the rare sports movie that's all about failure whereas most movie coaches turn a bunch of losers into Champions KF from his very first day on the job does the opposite you lot may all be Internationals and have won all the domestic honors there are to win under Don Revy but as far as I'm concerned the first thing it can do for me is to Chuck all your medals into the biggest flipping dust spin you can find because you've never won any of them fairly the story flashes back from from K's disastrous tenure at leads to the years of his tumultuous rise assisted by Peter Taylor his loyal right-hand man played by the ever Dependable Timothy SP the dam United is a gritty modest movie but within its narrow scope it touches on some themes that are almost Shakespearean it's a story of rivalry vanity and mad destructive ambition well worth seeing I think Shakespearean is pushing it a little bit lost soccer tragedies of course yes yes that was a beautiful beautiful series of History plays but uh uh I I think too it's it's a film about failure but it's really more about learning from failure and and what I love about the dramatist here Peter Morgan the screenwriter with films like Last King of Scotland the queen Frost Nixon he's always taking these historical events and tilting the angle just slightly so you don't get the focus on the come from behind triumphal kind of resurrection of this what's interesting about Brian K is that you learn right at the end in a little text um kind of footnote that he went on to become one of the great coaches of all time even surpassing Don Revy now right in a Hollywood movie that would be the story how he vanquished this adversary this isn't We Are Marshall this this is we aren't Mar not at all and this is who cares if we're Marshall or not it's much more interesting to look at the humiliation at just the train wreck of this guy trying to work with this bunch of players who don't like him who he has no respect for Sheen is wonderful he's a wonderful actor because he doesn't beg for audience sympathy and the way he and Timothy Spa play these scenes you really get a true and and full dramatic sense of how two coaches work together split apart and then realize they need each other you yes and also just the the kind of the drama that Michael Sheen always plays in these Peter Morgan scripts of the guy going up against some kind of Mysterious Mr B whether it's Nixon or the queen or Don Revy this kind of young Scrappy ambitious guy colliding with the old world Yep this is very juicy stuff I say see it as the Damned United proves all sorts of very British exports can connect with an American audience even if they're not not said at Hogwarts but our next movie unfortunately is a modernized version of an Old English favorite and the film is well well it stinks St trinians is the name of the malicious all girls boarding school created by cartoonist Ronald surl back in the 1940s sur's cartoons became a series of films the first two in the ' 50s starring Alistair Sim in a drag role as the head mistress it's rert Everett this time wearing the wagon heels and here the old girl connects with the education Minister played by by Colin F what's going on Miss fr the girls are hard at work and their head mistress is rehearsing the road of a lifetime don't you think I make a remarkable Queen you're up to something and I will get to the bottom of it make no mistake I will expose you yeah to me f looks like he's changing his mind about being in this movie while the cameras are running directors Oliver Parker and Barnaby Thompson push for Laughs every second with no finesse no timing no nothing this film got trashed pretty roundly in England when it came out there two years ago yet there's already a sequel do later in the year in the UK maybe it'll work but St trinian's not working has nothing to do with it being too English it has to do with it being too lousy I say skippity dudah to this thing yeah I'm surprised to say that because usually you know a movie with school girls in uniform and rert ever and drag I'd be I'd be right there but uh but even that even that doesn't work this this is just it's like watching some kind of hyped up episode of some weird tweener comedy I mean but it just every every scene is so frantic and desperate to make you laugh to be clever to be naughty pushy pushy none of it no and it's like it's like this the these directors learned every one of the wrong lessons from guys like Ken Russell Terry Gill all about the camera doing this and just you know push push push who made some who made some good movies and also at least the first of the alisar Sim ones the bells of St trinians um Sim it's a lovely movie and it's and it's it's it's it's naughty it's mischevous it's it's fun I you know I I don't know if it's readily available out there in the DVD world but see if you that one that one the old one yes but this one skip it coming up next one of the most inventive children's movies of all time we'll review Where the Wild Things Are and on next week's show Hillary Swank and Richard Gear take on the story of Amelia aart in Amelia you missed this island you're out of fuel with 2,000 miles to go you are now the Wild Things king and you will be a truly great ging hey ke what's your first daughter of business it's the there are so many books and movies out there aimed at children but only a few that really get at how kids think and what they feel part of the reason is that a lot of grown-ups don't want to acknowledge that children just like everyone else can be angry sad destructive and Confused we'd prefer to see them as sweet and innocent the great author and illustrator Maurice Sendak had no such Illusions and his Masterpiece Where the Wild Things Are celebrates childhood in all its unruly Glory [Music] see this guy gets it hey uh weird little thing I like the way you destroy stuff good technique there's a spark to your work that can't be taught that's a scene from Spike Jones's adaptation of wild things a movie that Michael and I agree is one of the best of the year so far it expands on sendak's Simple Story of a boy named Max who Journeys to a land of monsters the movie gives those monsters voices and personalities and shows Max played by Max records to be a tricky and Not always completely likable young fellow so obviously you have no home or family I have one of those but did you ate them all no no I just bit one of them that's all and it went crazy that heart tohe heart between Max and KW a wild thing voiced by Lauren Ambrose is one of the quiet Melancholy moments that makes this movie so distinctive not that it's somber exactly the script which Jones wrote with Dave Edgars is full of fine little jokes sendak's book is one you can read over and over and over and this is a movie that you should see and then see it again yeah I am crazy about this film Tony and and I think I think you think everyone will be no it's polarizing I think it's absolutely I already have heard from people who think it's you know it's too dark it's too what depressing I don't I don't I don't receive it that way I mean this dark and depress well yeah but but it's not it is not a heavy-handed picture this book 338 words long and everything they've added everything that Spike Jones and Dave Edgar have added to this thing has just sort of filled out this world and in many ways the film is quite faithful to the original in fact the wild things we see on screen are a beautiful mixture of you know actual Wild Things suits and and really Exquisite CGI facial expression well yeah I mean what Jones and Edgars have done is take these monsters that don't have names or personalities or stories and given them all that and yet somehow it feels like it all grows out of what Mor send that originally did P it's pure invention but visually it does hold very close to the original drawings and and I think the whole thing is pure magic I see it coming up next we get into a playground fight about kids movies in a special segment it's not going to end up in a Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs disaster earlier in the show Tony and I gave High Praise to Spike Jones new film Where the Wild Things Are So that got us thinking about the state of children's films particularly children's films adapted from books and Tony Cloudy With The Chance of Meatballs your favorite film of the year you know ruled ruled the box office in September and you know a big hit for me it's like you you pile meatballs on top of the Shrek films on top of uh Ice Age films many of them you know billion doll sellers but why is it that we resist a lot of these pictures well the problem with Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs which is not I think adapted from any Great Masterpiece from a you know a nice little book with some nice line drawings and and and a a funny title and a funny premise sort of blows it up into this big Hollywood kid spectacle so it's full of noise and junk that film answers the question of who is this film for well it's got plenty of stuff for the kids it's all basically you know empty calorie eye candy kind of coming at you all the time but there's also the Wise Cracks and sardonic stuff for the older folks and the thing I love about you know Spike Jones's film is that it doesn't have that kind of Pop Culture reference that that is littering the Shrek series you know you can look at something like Coraline too Coraline adapting a full length book that's a film I think we both liked a lot and and that that's pure magic and also dark material like Where the Wild Things Are but I think parents are more flipped out about kind of who are kids old enough this but but it also respects the vision of the original I mean I think that there's a Temptation in Hollywood a very strong Temptation almost irresistible to go in and mess with stuff so Coraline Neil G book they they managed somehow to sort of to keep what was unique and characteristic about this book as Spike Jones and and Dave Edgar did but you take Shrek I mean for me that's the classic counter example that that kind of sets off the whole industry of these big you know CGI animated children's spectacles which takes again a simple picture book by William sty who is I think one of the great children's authors and blows it up into just as you say there's the wise cracking side and every one of them has a reference to Apocalypse Now which which does sense to anybody the seven-year-olds are like oh yeah yeah that's that's funny but I think it's the worst kind of jaded and knowing humor and and but also the worst kind of sentimentality wrapped around it so every kids movie has to end however vulgar and course the humor has been has to end with the Friendship lesson love yourself everybody's different everybody's special and nobody believes it and kids least of all look hats off the Warner Brothers for for for staying true despite Jones on where the well things are it is it is truly special go to our website and click on web exclusive where Tony and I will talk about some of our alltime favorite kids movies coming up next you can't decide what to see this weekend stay tuned for my three to music lover and I'm worried about your fell close captioning for at the movies is sponsored by and now for my 3 to see the theaters are filling up with interesting stuff so here's some movies you shouldn't let pass you by number three is an education the story of a British school girl seduced by an older fellow in England in 1962 I'm a little queasy about some aspects of the story but I like the period flavor and especially the performances by Carrie Mulligan as the young lady in question and Peter sarsgard as the Charming untrustworthy Seducer number two is Coco before Chanel with Audrey Tatu playing the great designer before she became famous it's less a biopic than a vivid snapshot of the sexual mores and class relations of early 20th century France and the clothes are pretty fabulous too and number one I'll Roar my terrible Roar and Nash my terrible teeth and tell you to put on your wolf suit get in your sailboat and go to Where the Wild Things Are now that's it for now remember we're always online just go to atv.com we'll leave you with a recap of this week's show join us next week when we'll review Hillary Swank and Richard Gear in Amelia and until then we'll be at the [Music] movies activon ultra strength for powerful pain relief a convenient applicator means no messy creams activon appli directly where 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