Some More Films for Your Consideration

"After Fall, Winter"
starring: Eric Schaeffer, Lizzie Brochere
written and directed by: Eric Schaeffer

I haven't seen Eric Schaffer's first film in what I guess is going to be a quartet of films (most likely following the pattern of seasons), "Fall," but now I'm definitely intrigued. The films will apparently focus on the main character, writer Michael Shiver and his ups and downs in life.

"After Fall, Winter" finds Michael $600,000 in debt, unable to land a publisher for his next work, evicted from his apartment and just down and out in life. So, he moves to Paris.

It’s there that the film opens, albeit not on Michael but on Sophie (Brochere, very sexy French lady, indeed), plunging immediately into her two seemingly contradictory vocations, as a dominatrix and a nurse to the terminally ill. She takes a call from a dying woman, with the phone cord wrapped tightly around the throat of a nude, bound client. Once Michael arrives in Paris, the film briefly turns into a quirky romantic comedy, complete with requisite meet-cute and playful nocturnal strolls through the City of Lights. Michael trots out his repertoire of lightly outrageous pickup lines, shot through with disarming moments of painful honesty, to woo Sophie, who’s 15 years his junior. But unleashed emotions resonate painfully between the damaged, thin-skinned lovers, drawn together only to skitter apart at every perceived wrong. They no sooner start to settle into a harmonious rhythm, expanding their circle to touch Sophie’s memory-damaged mother (Niseema Theillaud) and her 13-year-old leukemia patient (Marie Luneau, excellent), than their sexual secrets threaten their hard-won trust: Sophie says nothing of her whip-cracking alter ego, while Michael, who periodically employs dominatrices to externalize his sense of failure and self-loathing, denies any interest in S&M. What could have been comic soon turns tragic. The ending is worth the time you put into Schaeffer's film and his character, so I definitely do not feel a need to spoil anything for you.This is a great, deep film.

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"Butter"
starring: Jennifer Garner, Ty Burrell, Olivia Wilde, Ashley Green, Garrett Schenck, Kristen Schaal, Phyllis Smith, Judy Leavell, Yara Shahidi
directed by: Jim Field Smith

Okay, seriously, films like "Butter" are why I really enjoy the independent film scene. Here, the writer takes a page out of Alexander Payne's witty scripts, perhaps most notably and recognizable with this film is "Election" which starred Matthew Broderick and Reese Witherspoon. In "Butter" we have Jennifer Garner in the role of the delightfully, while slightly insane and crazy woman on a mission who will stop at nothing to achieve her goal. And she knocks it out of the park!

The writer of the film uses the backdrop of small-town Iowa with a folksy local culture as well as a butter carving contest to tell his story as well as his message (about the political state we find ourselves in).

Jennifer Garner's character is married to Bob Pickler (Ty Burrell, a bit typecast) who is the Michelangelo of butter, having won the said contest for 15 straight years. This year, though, he has decided to hang up his carving knife and give others a chance- most notably a cute 11 year old, African American foster girl. Laura (Garner) is a control freak and an ambitious social climber looking to become a political figurehead. Laura decides to enter this year's contest in order to keep the winning trophy in their household. While she's busy working her magic and crafting a win in any way she possibly can, Bob ends up having a one-night stand with an exotic dancer/prostitute, played by the delectable Olivia Wilde, in some scene-stealing moments.

Behind every one of Laura’s half-smiles is a meltdown waiting to happen. The first time she snaps is a real humdinger, as Laura smashes her SUV into the minivan where Bob dimwittedly opted to shag his go-to stripper, Brooke (Olivia Wilde). In a film brimming with hilarious cameos, Wilde nearly steals the movie, playing into the reliable comedy tradition that there’s nothing more embarrassing than a hooker who refuses to blend in.

To get back at Laura, Brooke throws her hat in the ring, where “The Office’s” Phyllis Smith emcees and helium-voiced Kristen Schaal offers her best kitten carving. Although many of the laughs come at the direct expense of certain all-American character types (Hugh Jackman’s car dealer is another standout), “Butter” is not without its genuine, even bittersweet emotional moments. The film’s single best scene is an ad-libbed pep talk between Destiny and her latest foster dad (Rob Corddry).

This film is quite enjoyable, much like Field's previous, and first, film "She's Out of My League." We might have a winning underdog of a filmmaker here, folks. In fact, check out both of his films. You won't be disappointed.
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"The Stepford Wives"
starring: Nicole Kidman, Matthew Broderick, Bette Midler, Christopher Walken, Glenn Close
directed by: Frank Oz

Here's another victim of the film industry green-lighting a project, perhaps because of the actors and actresses attached to it, when it really should have let the original stand alone, because the original worked, especially for the time period that it came out in. Herein lies the problem with the remake of "The Stepford Wives" starring Nicole Kidman, unfortunately enough for her.

Nicole Kidman is a woman who moves with her husband to the upscale community of Stepford, Conn., and notices something odd about the women. They act like, well, Stepford wives! They're placid, have glazed demeanors, perfect homes and gentle expressions, and they wait on their husbands hand and foot. Obviously, something is wrong here. 

Joanna (Kidman) is a high-powered TV executive who has just been fired. In the firing scene, director Frank Oz keeps the camera right on Kidman as she registers the unthinkable. It's beautiful comic acting and reminds audiences that Kidman, despite her porcelain beauty, is a first-rate farceur.

But as the film goes on, it becomes clear that Kidman is not right for the role. Just to play a normal-looking woman, Kidman has to be coiffed in a severe, dark wig. To make her look anything less than stunning, she practically needs to be wearing a costume. Knowing what Kidman really looks like, and knowing the Stepford beauty aesthetic, we can't help thinking that becoming a Stepford wife might be a reasonable course for Joanna, or at least her natural destiny.

Where the movie really wanted to go -- into uproarious comedy -- would have been better supported by Bette Midler in the Kidman part. As it stands, she plays Joanna's friend, Bobbie, the author of self-help books, including one about her mother: "I Love You but Please Die!" But she's underutilized. Bette Midler has proven time and time again that she has some comedic-timing genius in her. 

If in 1975, the dark satire of "The Stepford Wives" had teeth, it's because its message rang true: Many men would have been ecstatic to be married to a sexually willing robot. But in 2004, there are just not enough men like this to make the movie work, even as an exaggeration. Can anyone look at Matthew Broderick, who plays Kidman's husband, and believe, even for a second, that he'd prefer a placid zombie to a complicated woman? Could anyone believe he'd even consider it?

The movie spirals out of control on itself, and perhaps even knows that it's just not working so it attempts to make fun of itself and the material, but even that seems like a stretch. This film passed the time, very slowly. Even Christopher Walken cannot save it with his movie magic. 

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"Gambit"
starring: Cameron Diaz, Colin Firth, Alan Rickman
directed by: Michael Hoffman
written by: Ethan and Joel Coen

The plot revolves around a scheme hatched by mild-mannered art expert Harry Deane (Firth), who, with the help of a forger known only as the Major (Tom Courtenay), plans to con his ferociously rude billionaire boss, Shabandar (Alan Rickman), into buying a forged Monet painting. In order to pull off the grift, Deane must recruit PJ Puznowski (Cameron Diaz), a Texan chicken-plucker and part-time rodeo star whose grandfather had a possible connection to the painting’s last known whereabouts. Naturally, things don’t go according to the plan Deane has in his head, shown in a fantasy sequence that keeps PJ from uttering a word of dialogue for roughly 10 minutes after she’s introduced, a strange device stolen straight from the 1966 version.

Let's start with what I found wrong with this film right from the start. Cameron Diaz. I guess after almost 20 years in the film industry, I'm still unconvinced that she is a decent actress and not just a pretty face, tall, blonde, with a full-face smile that could knock any man, this one included, down. She is a bona fide leading actress, but why? And the fact that she doesn't say anything for nearly 10 minutes and then when she does open her mouth, a terrible Texas accent is attached to her, it's all an uphill battle for me, as I watched the film with this bias. 

Perhaps the one and only thing that drew me to the film was the fact that it was written by the Coen Brothers. Yes, that's right, I've been on their bandwagon for years. But, this one just doesn't feel like theirs. It's supposed to be a humorous film, but there's nothing here that really makes you laugh, because it's all the trappings of screwball comedies- not necessarily the comedy the Coen Brothers have been known for with their other darker comedic films. It's the first film they haven't chosen to direct as well since 1985 and maybe that's because they knew it was a bit of a cheap knockoff of something like "The Pink Panther" or even the original "Gambit." This is another remake that perhaps could've stayed on the shelf and let the original stand alone. 

Skip this one and watch their other films instead, maybe have a Coen Brothers marathon. 
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"I Do"
starring: Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Alicia Witt, Maurice Compte, David W. Ross
written and directed by: David W. Ross)

"I Do" is a film about a gay British man (Ross) named David who has been living and working in the United States until he learns his work visa is set to expire. At the same time, his brother dies, tragically, on the night he has dinner with him and his wife, learns that he's going to be an uncle. So, in order to stay stateside, David hatches a plan to fake a marriage to his lesbian friend (played unconvincingly by Sigler). Everything seems all right and to be going rather well, the marriage hasn't gotten anyone's attention as faulty; David is helping raise his niece, while still maintaining his "cool uncle" status. Then, of course, the problem comes around- David meets Mr. Right, which will definitely derail his otherwise okay life, at the moment.

Unfortunately, the writing of the characters, specifically David is not really a compelling character and you don't really feel any connection to him. He cannot really carry the film's story. He never really draws you in with his dilemmas. And then, the females in David's life just come off as angry, albeit edgy, but it's rather off-putting, especially when his sister-in-law screams-cries-confuses to him that she wishes he had been killed that night, instead of her husband, his brother.

Honestly, perhaps one of my favorite films to dissect this type of situation has always been "The Object of My Affection" from the '90s starring Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd as her gay-counterpart.

Skip this one because it's not a compelling story at all.
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"4:44- Last Day on Earth"
starring: Willem Dafoe, Shanyn Leigh
written and directed by: Abel Ferrara

I want to say/think that Abel Ferrara's film is something more, that it holds a deeper meaning than just what we see develop and happen. And I don't want to think it's simply a film with a message about how the end of the world is inevitably upon us because of how we've chosen to ignore climate change and science, Al Gore, you know. Aside from the artsy take on how the world is coming to an end, thanks to many computerized F/X and graphics that seem rather collegial, like an art student's final project.

The underlying cause of the end of the world is explained simply as we are screwed because the ozone layer has been basically raped. And everyone knows that the world will end very specifically at 4:44 on this last day that Ferrara's invited us to witness through the eyes of a bizarre match of a couple- a successful actor (Dafoe) and an artist (Leigh).

Dafoe does a decent job playing a man who knows the end is coming and he wants to spend it with the woman he loves (at the moment) while also making sure he closes the gaps that he left open through his life. He spends the day having some great, passionate, end of the world sex, he listens to his friends' rock 'n' roll jam session via Skype (which acts as the soundtrack to the film as well), and also pacing back and forth on his rooftop patio while shouting at the people down below him.

Abel Ferrara has seemingly taken notes from film classes as well as another artsy film director Lars von Trier (specifically "Melancholia). He's made a decent film that works as a last-day rendevous.