A Weekend of Films and Fun

Film 296
"The Poker House"
starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Selma Blair, Sophi Bairley, Bokeem Woodbine, Chloe Grace Moretz
written and directed by: Lori Petty (Tank Girl and A League of Their Own fame)

Judging on the reviews for this film, because sometimes I like to know what I'm getting into, this is a film that was not necessarily seen by many people. In fact, I didn't even see any "true" professional critical reviews. And it's too bad, because this is a gut-wrenching and honest piece of work that truly comes from the heart and mind of an artist that had to live through the story in real life. Lori Petty, whom I remember as the unwanted, tag-along sister of Geena Davis in "A League of Their Own" as well as the comic-book-inspired "Tank Girl." Sure, she wrote this film with help, and a lot of its pieces are autobiographical (although, I'm not so naive as to think that she may have embellished some of it, in order to be even more emotional). The film does deserve praise for its grittiness and honesty and for being able to tug at your heartstrings. A lot of the praise, though, is due to Jennifer Lawrence's performance as the fictional version of Lori Petty- the 14 year old Agnes.

If everything is to be believed as truth from this film, Lori Petty suffered through quite a traumatic childhood. Here it is in a nutshell: Agnes is the strong, teenager daughter of a strung out prostitute (somewhat believable Selma Blair, in blonde hair and slurred speech), who lets the parties and poker games happen under her roof. She's controlled, in every aspect of her life, by her pimp. And when push comes to shove, mom actually chooses to side with her pimp instead of her daughter. Agnes is infatuated with her mom's pimp. They make out. She clearly has misguided feelings for him (perhaps due to the fact that her father is not around at all, and come to find out her was abusive as well). The pimp ends up raping Agnes on their living room floor and Agnes is terrified and traumatized as she washes herself in the bathtub, hiding herself from her mom, perhaps afraid what she'll think of her daughter. Maybe she'll tell Agnes she deserved it. Or maybe, she'll be furious with Agnes, and blame her. Agnes also writes poetry as an escape from her awful living situation. She's also a star on the basketball court (maybe that could eventually be her way out). There's a crazy sequence in which Agnes gets raped, washes, confronts her attacker and mother with a gun, leaves the house and then goes to her semi-final basketball game, in the second half and scores 27 points.

Another unfortunate piece of the puzzle is that Agnes has two younger sisters (Bee and Cammie) who she is clearly trying to protect and shield from their mother and her poor choices. Why does this suck? Well, besides the obvious, Agnes is also clearly clinging to any innocence she may have left. Cammie spends her time drinking loads of orange soda in a bar, which in David Alan Grier seems to live, as well. And Bee has a paper route to keep her busy. Bee spends her time sitting around with homeless guys, who otherwise might be scary and intimidating to any other young girl, but they seemed to have adopted her. She trades her empty bottles for candy and sherbet. The three young girls live in their roles so comfortably that it's almost scary how good they are (alone and together). The film lives and dies with their performances and that's why I really liked the film. I wish I had seen this when it first came out, on DVD probably, because I would have totally believed in Jennifer Lawrence as an amazing actress with this film alone. I saw her first in "Winter's Bone" and she was just as convincing.

This is certainly an emotional journey of a film. Is it worth it, though, to watch it and become completely depressed and hate that there are probably thousands upon thousands of children in our country experiencing the same things (if not worse) every single day. Luckily for her, Lori Petty found her way out of the situation. Most kids aren't as lucky.

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Film 297
"Elektra Luxx"
starring: Carla Gugino, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Kathleen Quinlan, Lucy Punch, Marley Shelton, Timothy Olyphant, Justin Kirk, Adrianne Palicki, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Malin Akerman
written and directed by: Sebastian Gutierrez

If ever there was an unnecessary sequel/trilogy it has come in the form of writer/director Sebastian Gutierrez's films "Women in Trouble" (which I saw a few years ago, streaming on Netflix, which was about a cast of different women all going through a variety of troubles, mostly self-induced) and now the sequel "Elektra Luxx," which focuses on the main character, Elektra Luxx (played well by Carla Gugino, who is apparently married to and the muse of Gutierrez, I just wish he was giving her better material to work from). Miss Luxx, as her name suggests, is a former porn star, retired, actually. And she was apparently one of the best and most sought after in the industry. Her character is supposed to be a deeper version of the "regular" porn stars. She's pregnant with her dead rock star boyfriend's baby. She's oftentimes reflective and can be see prone to fits of self-doubt. She's a complex character in a ridiculous format of a film. Gutierrez also chose to heavy-load his sequel with way too many characters, a few that don't even really have a connection to Luxx's story (re: Adrianne Palicki's dim-witted, lesbian porn industry co-star who is having relationship woes with her girlfriend, Emmanulle Chriqui).

I really think that perhaps Gutierrez writes and directs films so that he can just throw a bunch of attractive, stunning ladies together and film them in mild fantasy-like situations. Yes, it's quite transparent that Gutierrez has a thing for strong female-lead characters, but many of them here are irrelevant to Luxx's story. I'm thinking of Mary Shelton's scenes as a woman at the bar who wants to use Luxx's sexuality to catch her boyfriend cheating.

And perhaps the biggest waste of acting talent that has emerged in recent years is Joseph Gordon-Levitt's role in the film as a pornography aficionado. He's a blogger rather obsessed with Elektra Luxx, even unable to notice the beautiful and attractive Malin Akerman (character) until she basically throws herself at him in his basement.

It's not that I hated this film. I give it create, as well as its predecessor, for being ambitious. But, it's ambition doesn't really go anywhere or take us on an interesting journey that we can invest in. If Elektra Luxx is supposed to be a deeper character, give her more things to be contemplative about.

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Film 298
"Bottle Rocket"
starring: Luke and Owen Wilson, Shea Miller
written and directed by: Wes Anderson

Here's the film that proved Wes Anderson is a filmmaking genius. And it was his debut feature film.

It's a film that, like many of his other films, is in love with the whimsical, the coincidences and conversations and people having them, involved in everyday life.

The film is about Anthony (Luke Wilson), who is just out of a mental institution (for reasons unexplained and really there's no need to explain either) and his friend Dignan (Owen Wilson) who is somewhat of a control-freak in terms of his relationship with Anthony. He believes Anthony needs him. He wants Anthony to live his life and not be defined by the things that put him in the mental asylum. He wants him to forget about all that. It's in the past. He wants Anthony to focus on the future. He wants Anthony to help him commit crimes. They become crooks together, starting small with house burglaries, waiting and trying to prove themselves ready for the "big time." The trouble is, neither of them are very skilled criminals. In fact, they're not just novices. They could be considered idiots. After the house, their next choice is a bookstore. They also bring in a friend named Bob (Robert Musgrave) to be their getaway driver. Eventually, they get themselves caught up and involved with a true criminal (played by James Caan, anyone else more perfect?) who hires them to hit up a bigger place. The small-time crew of three quickly finds themselves way in over their heads.

The film, although formulaic, has some great small moments, but all pieced together, it's more of a foundation for what would eventually become Wes Anderson's brilliant career. This is an excellent debut film that shows potential (for the filmmaker and the film, perhaps if it could have been made later in Anderson's career, he would have gotten everything right and he would have been more meticulous about telling the story).

Again, I stick to the reliable words of Roger Ebert, who saw this through the Sundance Festival:

"Bottle Rocket" is entertaining if you understand exactly what it is: if you see it as a film made by friends out of the materials presented by their lives and with the freedom to not push too hard. Its fragile charm would have been destroyed by rewrites intended to pump it up or focus it; it needs to meander, to take time to listen to its dialogue, to slowly unveil character quirks.


I enjoyed this film for its slow proceedings and watching the Wilson brothers act in one of their first films. As their characters get more involved in the story they find themselves in, the film gets more interesting. Wes Anderson is perhaps a master of idiosyncrasies in his characters, as well as the small moments that help make up his films.
Watch this film in perhaps a Wes Anderson-films inspired marathon and then of course check out:

Rushmore
The Royal Tennebaums
The Life Aquatic of Steve Zissou
The Darjeeling Limited
Moonrise Kingdom

and his upcoming "The Grand Budapest Hotel"
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Film 299
"The Purple Rose of Cairo"
starring: Mia Farrow, Jeff Daniels
written and directed by: Woody Allen

Life can never be as simple and dreamy as we want it to be or as the movies make it out to be. Woody Allen seemed to know that right from the start of his career, and he didn't exactly sugar-coat it for his audience. Instead, he kind of pokes fun at the whole idea.

Mia Farrow's character, Cecilia, escapes reality in "The Purple Rose of Cairo" by going to the movies, well, movie- titled "The Purple Rose of Cairo." And she goes and goes to this movie over and over again. Cecilia's life is pretty shitty. She's married to a guy many nowadays would consider quite an asshole. He slaps her. He yells at her. He bosses her around. He treats her like a second-class citizen. And Cecilia seems like a terrible employee. She can't even waitress to save herself.

The "Purple Rose of Cairo" is audacious and witty and has a lot of good laughs in it, but the best thing about the movie is the way Allen uses it to toy with the very essence of reality and fantasy. The movie is so cheerful and open. If it is true that most of the time we go to the movies in order to experience brief lives that are not our own, then Allen is demonstrating what a tricky self-deception we practice. Those movie lives consist of only what is on the screen, and if we start thinking that real life can be the same way, we are in for a cruel awakening. Cecilia becomes obsessed with the split characters that Jeff Daniels plays. One of his characters is the movie star who is trying to get the other version of himself back into the movie. The other is Jeff Daniels, the character from the movie, who is a rather dim-witted, perfect version of a man, because he's been written that way (kind of the same story as a recent film titled "Ruby Sparks" except that one was written by a woman and has a woman in the Daniels role). 

Many of Allen’s best moments come from exploring the paradox that the movie character knows nothing of real life. For example, he can drive a car, because he drives one in the movie, but he can’t start a car, because he doesn’t turn on the ignition in the movie. Cecilia thinks maybe they can work this out. They can learn from each other. He can learn real life, and she can learn the romance of the movies. The problem is, both of them are now living in real life, where studio moguls and angry actors and snoopy reporters are making their life miserable.

Woody Allen has definitely had some misses in his career, but in 1985, with this film, Allen hit it out of the park like a homerun. It's quite charming and clear. It's witty and the dialogue doesn't pretend. It's set in the 1930s and that's how the characters act and talk. Allen is a great film writer and director. And this proves it.
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Film 300
"Love an a .45"
starring: Renee Zelleweger, Gil Bellows, Rory Cochrane
written and directed by: C.M. Talkington

This is a film that is bad because it's simply a rip off of so many much better films.
At its heart it is trying way too hard to be a redneck version of "Bonnie and Clyde" and "Natural Born Killers" (with much less sadistic-ness), "Wild at Heart" and perhaps my favorite of the same genre of love-on-the-run, Tarantino's "True Romance." Why this one is a failure is rather simple. Because with each of the aforementioned films, the filmmakers chose one specific thing that the film was at its core, and they focused on that and made the film around its theme. There's no savage wit, no true cleverness, although it tries hard, and its not hot, sexy or nihilistic with a sense of style, like only Quentin Tarantino can be. No one should try to match Tarantino or even Oliver Stone (because, in all honesty, I did like "Natural Born Killers").

To me, it's not even worth telling you about, but I will anyway, for the sake of this blog.

Watty Watts (played by Gil Bellows, who is probably good in anything else, with a better script) isn't your average crook-on-the-run. He's smarter than he looks, which left me wondering why he resorted to a life of crime. I mean, for a guy who consults the "I Ching" before each heist job and provides a few nuggets of wisdom here and there (re: the opening scene where he has a "heart-to-heart" with the teenager running the counter in the convenience store he is robbing), I would think he could actually hold down a job, if only he applied himself. His character isn't really believable. So, why is he doing what he does? Well, he bought his girlfriend, Sharlene (a young Renee Zellweger, trying really hard to channel her inner Juliette Lewis via "Natural Born Killers"), an engagement ring for $2,000 and he's in deep with the loan shark. The loan shark has sent a couple of goons after Watty Watts and Sharlene, so that's another reason why they're on the run. Oh yeah, and also Watty Watts used to have a partner in crime, Billy Mack (Rory Cochrane) who flipped out during another convenience store robbery and shoot his heroin-strung out girlfriend, and so there's cops looking for them, too. This whole plot spirals with violence, unnecessary or not, bloodshed, etc. It turns into a ridiculous road-trip for the lovers, who stop at Sharlene's parents' house (Peter Fonda and Anne Wedgworth), which is probably the best scene in the whole movie.

It certainly has its moments of being clever, but knowing that it's just not original at all, really lost me on the entire concept, because I've seen much better.