In NO STRANGER THAN LOVE, Nick Wernham & Steve Adams explore a rare subject (if only)

Yes, it's love: a theme that, gosh almighty, movies almost never tackle. Forgive my making light of this I'm-sure-well-intentioned bit of metaphorical fluff, but arriving in theaters only three weeks after Oliver Thompson's better example of metaphorical fluff, Welcome to Happiness, the new movie, NO STRANGER THAN LOVE, written by Steve Adams and directed by Nick Wernham (shown below), seems, among other things, like too-much-too-soon. While the Happiness film posited a magical door that opened up into a world where you can correct your past mistakes, Stranger/Love offers up some kind of black hole that appears in our heroine's living room and swallows up her about-to-be-adulterous boyfriend. Yikes. But so what?

The movie is also about important things like the meaning of art and unpaid bills to one's bookie. But it so rarely stops pushing its loony-tune story, and in a style so relentlessly bouncy that it soon sets your teeth on edge, that my spouse bailed after a half an hour of viewing. TrustMovies stuck with it -- because that's his job, and also because spousie and he sometimes disagree -- but to little avail. This tale -- of a pretty young high-school art teacher (Alison Brie, above) whom every man in town and even one of her sexier students seems to love -- goes just about nowhere, once that black hole appears. Instead we get silly vamping for at least a full hour, during which all the characters, from school officials to law enforcement, behave so foolishly that any kind of possible identification or caring becomes impossible.

The idea of this black hole (above) is fun, and its execution is both clever and economical, but beyond that we must wait an hour before the movie calms down enough that our patience stops being perilously tried. (That calming is due in large part to an actress named Robin Brûlé, who plays the wife of the would-be adulterer and is good enough to briefly ground the movie.)

Otherwise, the rest of the cast do their part to bring the would-be philosophical rom-com to silly life. This would include its not very believable hero, played by Justin Chatwin (above with Ms Brie), and Colin Hanks, below, as the naughty boyfriend (mostly wasted since, once he's in that hole, we only hear his voice).

"Why'd you come here?" "I don't know." That exchange sums up much of the ridiculous dialog on display, as the actors flail around trying to be adorable but instead come up annoying. It's quite endearing that the moviemakers want to show us the real meaning of love. But to do this, they ought to have situations and characters we can embrace. The problem here is not that the black hole defies belief. But just about everything and everyone else does.

Also, unless I was sent a defective screener, this is one of those films in which the background soundtrack deafens the ears while much of the dialog gets lost in space. (I managed to hear most of the latter by going back and upping the volume.) In the end we learn that "it takes a village," as a certain Presidential candidate once wrote, to demonstrate love and make it work. But then the filmmakers resort to the same-old tired, true-love formula for their finish -- as though these two characters would have the least notion of what love might mean. Well, better luck next time.

No Stranger Than Love, from Momentum Pictures/EntertainmentOne and running 90 minutes, opens this Friday, June 17 -- in Atlanta at the AMC Stonecrest 16, in Boston at the AMC Liberty Tree Mall 20, in Chicago at the AMC Streets of Woodfield 20, in Dallas at the AMC Stonebriar 24, in the Denver area at the AMC Westminster Promenade 24 and the AMC Cinema Saver 6, in Kansas City at the AMC Town Center 20, in Los Angeles at the Arena Cinema Hollywood, in Miami at the AMC Sunset Place 24, and in Washington D.C. at the AMC Lexington Park 6. Simultaneously, the movie will also be available via VOD.

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Canadian film, fantasy love stories, love, Nick Wernham, NO STRANGER THAN LOVE, Steve Adams, would-be rom-coms,

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Blu-ray/DVDebut: Wim Wenders' angst- and surprise-laden EVERY THING WILL BE FINE

I can't remember the last time I found a movie so trying to sit through for its first half, and then slowly became so involved in the second half that, by the finale, it had me in tears. Such a film, for better or worse, is EVERY THING WILL BE FINE, the new one from the popular German arthouse director, Wim Wenders. What Wenders does here is about as risky as it gets these days, in terms of audience approval. He delays and delays and delays our gratification and involvement with his main character to the point -- if you look at the critical reviews and audience response to the film -- of near obliteration. Even TrustMovies must admit that, had he not received a complementary disc (along with an obligation to cover this film), he might have stopped watching midway and moved on to something else. He is very glad he didn't do this.

Actors are often attracted to roles that occasion angst, guilt, and depressive behavior (and why not, as these so often win awards). Part of the problem very soon into the film is that James Franco (below) is not an actor who fares well with this sort of role. He can seem all-too-shallow for one thing, and he needs real specifics from which to build a character. Initially, at least, Wenders (shown at right) and his screenwriter, Bjørn Olaf Johannessen, don't provide these. Franco plays Tomas, a novelist who is evidently somewhat blocked and whose main characteristic seems to be that, despite the sub-zero temperatures, he forgets to close doors to the outside.

Fifteen minutes into the film, after a sudden shock of an incident, we are handed an ever greater shock, and the movie, for a time, clicks in. This is due partially to the actress Charlotte Gainsbourg (below), who does "depressed" with the best of them.

Tomas, in fact, treats her character better than he treats his longtime girlfriend -- another somewhat wasted role for the often excellent Rachel McAdams (below, left) -- and later in the film will treat his next girlfriend, played by Marie-Josée Croze (at left, two photos down), with equal unconcern bordering on disdain.

But Wenders has something more on his mind. During his film a number of years pass -- nearly a decade or more, I believe -- and in that time, things and people begin to change to the point where we finally become much more involved with them and their issues. Time is said to be the great healer, but it can act as something more. It bridges huge gaps, and when telescoped as interestingly as it is here, it shows us things and makes us understand them in ways we might not have otherwise done.

The Gainsbourg character has a son whom we meet early on (below) then later see as he grows up (as a teenager, he is quite beautifully played by young actor Robert Naylor). Tomas' odd bond with both the Gainsbourg character and her son is key to the movie, and as this bond grows and changes, the film takes on enormous resonance, with its ultimate scene a pure and emotional amazement.

Every Thing Will Be Fine is also quite a beautiful film to view. I believe it was originally shot in 3D, and even on the rather spectacular Blu-ray transfer the film has been given, there are a number of moments in which you can almost see that 3D come to life. (This is one of the better Blu-ray transfers I've yet viewed.)

All of which is by way of saying, stick with Wenders' movie and you may be very surprised how moved and connected you will eventually feel. Even Franco -- about whose work I run hot and cold -- finally acquits himself surprisingly well. And McAdams gets one scene toward the end in which she absolutely shines.

From IFC Films and running 119 minutes, the movie hit the street on Blu-ray and DVD this past Tuesday, June 7 -- for purchase or rental. On the Blu-ray extras, there are interviews with Wenders and most of his cast (Franco is the exception). These are quite interesting and offer additional worth to the overall experience.

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Canadian film, drama, EVERY THING WILL BE FINE, German film, guilt and redemption, time as a character, Wim Wenders,

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Another look at Sleazywood: David Cronenberg and Bruce Wagner's louche MAPS TO THE STARS

Does anyone have a more jaundiced, delightfully despicable view of Hollywood and its dank denizens than writer Bruce Wagner (shown below)? From his comic Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills to the masterful I'm Losing You (novel and film) to this latest lollapalooza -- MAPS TO THE STARS -- Wagner shows us la-la-land with an incredible blend of black humor and rapier wit tempered with just a dash of feeling so that we can't quite dismiss his nasty satire out of hand. To bring to fruition his latest foray into our narcissistic depths, he's landed David Cronenberg, shown above (or maybe to the right), to direct, and the combo turns out to be a marriage made in an absolutely heavenly hell.

Maps to the Stars begins rather quietly, if bizarrely, for we haven't yet understood the depths to which the characters we're meeting will soon sink -- how their insatiable need for constant acknowledgment and fame outdoes any human instinct they might have once possessed. Yet so interesting and strange seem all the people we encounter that we're hooked from scene one.

Mr Wagner's dialog definitely helps. Notes one character early on: "I met the Dalai Lama! He's the kind of guy you just want to hang with. But you can't. Because he's, like, you know, the Dalai Lama."

It isn't long, however, before the characters we're laughing at and with turn darker, nastier. Darkest of all and the woman we probably get to know best is the famous actress named Havana Segrand (played by last night's Oscar-winner Julianne Moore, shown above and below, right).

Also proving a strange character we learn to care about (and become a bit frightened of, as well) is Agatha Weiss (Mia Wasikowska, above, left and below). Agatha, who now possess an unsightly scarred body and face, is the daughter of a famous self-help guru, Standford Weiss, who serves the Hollywood set and is played with his usual panache by John Cusack (shown in the penultimate photo), who seems to be taking to darker roles like that proverbial duck to water.

Into Agatha's life also comes a handsome chauffeur-cum-screenwriter, played well by Robert Pattinson, below, who has by now thankfully gotten that stupid-but-successful Twilight series out of his system and can move on to roles that call for some actual acting. He's the character through whom we see much of what is happening (and is said to be based upon Wagner's own early Hollywood history).

The Weiss family also includes a mother, played with rigid intensity by the fine Olivia Williams, and a drug-addled TV-actor son, Benji, whose name and interaction with a dog should bring to mind a certain (in)famous series of animal movies. As played by the terrific and creepy Evan Bird, below, Benji complete this family of would-be Hollywood royalty, a matched set of major nut-jobs.

That Weiss family dances with and around our gal Havana, who pretty much rules the movie in the same manner as she does her retinue. There is a particular scene -- between Ms Moore and another actress playing an actress (Jennifer Gibson) on a Beverly Hills sidewalk outside one or another swank shop -- so perfectly on the mark and full of friendly sweetness masking outright hatred that it becomes an instant classic. The interaction demonstrates to a "t" how Hollywood folk are never scarier than when they're being "nice."

Ms Moore -- always a great actress who rarely makes a misstep or chooses a project that is not worthwhile -- is so very fine in this rich, rabid role that she actually makes what happens to her character somehow enjoyable. And that is indeed what they call "going some."

Well, that's Mr. Wagner for you. He turns us all into the kind of people who can take schadenfreude to unspeakable new heights. Or, rather, depths. "Juicy" does not begin to describe this amazing film.

Maps to the Stars -- from Focus Features and running 111 minutes -- opens theatrically this Friday, February 27, in various locales.

Here in the NYC area, it'll play at Manhattan's IFC Center, the Nitehawk Cinema in Brooklyn and the Kew Gardens Cinema in Queens. In the L.A. area, look for it at the Sundance Sunset Cinema, and at Laemmle's Playhouse 7 in Pasadena and their NoHo 7 in North Hollywood. Elsewhere? Maybe, and if I can find a link to playdates, I'll post it later....

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black comedies, Bruce Wagner, Canadian film, David Cronenberg, inside the movie industry, juicy melodrama, MAPS TO THE STARS, tales from Hollywood,

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DVD, Blu-ray & VODebut: From Canada, April Mullen and Tim Doiron's fast-moving, bloody 88

Perhaps we should think of April Mullen, the director of this new movie, as a kind of Quentina Tarantina -- so insistent is she on giving us fast-moving, comedic and bloody mayhem with a definite ironic twist. If, by now, we've seen a bit too much of aped Tarantino (if not way too much of the real thing, as well), this should not necessarily put you off viewing Ms Mullen's latest offering, 88. It's rather fun, in its over-the-top manner. Much of that fun is provided by a fellow named Tim Doiron, who wrote the screenplay and co-stars as the unlucky young man who finds himself smitten with the film's leading lady, Gwen, payed by Katharine Isabelle, whom some of us fondly remember from Ginger Snaps.

Ms Mullen (shown at left, and something of a looker herself), is an actress, as well as director, and she certainly gives her leading lady enough rope to either hang herself or lasso a nifty performance. Ms Isabelle manages to do both. She's deadly serious throughout, which results in the movie around her often seeming skewed, as the rest of the cast have caught onto the irony and laughs, while she is dead set on nothing but revenge. Sort of. The plot here, you see, deals with a young woman in a "Fugue state," which the movie goes out of its way to explain in some detail, none of which makes the goings-on any more believable, though it does help explain some of the bizarre behavior on display.

88 -- the title refers to just about every street address and motel room number throughout the movie -- begins with our heroine (above) sitting in a diner where, suddenly, all hell breaks loose. This ploy happens often throughout the film, and while it eventually drags things down, initially (and for quite awhile) it proves a lot of fun. This girl is clearly muddled, and when the movie begins flipping back and forth in time, so are we.

For much of its running time, 88 is one of those movies that asks: "Who is this character, what the fuck is happening, and why?" Slowly the pieces come together, but I'm afraid that fugue state doesn't really explain it all to our satisfaction. Yet the action rarely ceases, and much of it is randy, nasty fun, as Gwen looks to find and kill the person responsible for her lover's untimely demise. (He is played by Kyle Schmid, above, right, used here mostly for his drowsy sex appeal.)

Instead it is Mr. Doiron, above, as a new character in Gwen's life named Ty, who provides most of the movie's energy and spirit. The actor is marvelous as this screwball, comical-but-sexy wonder who hopes against hope that he can make Gwen his own. As well as a terrific performance, Doiron also gives us a few surprises via his screenplay.

Canada's old-time favorite Michael Ironside (above) plays the lead cop investigating the many deaths that Gwen oversees, while Christopher Lloyd (below) handles the villain role with his usual bizarre aplomb. Eventually, there are so many killings and maimings going on that you fear there will be nary a cast member remaining by movie's end.

The violence soon become comical -- it's meant to be -- and when you get to the point where one character (the lead cop, as I recall) says, "She's armed, she's dangerous, and she must be stopped!" you know you're in comic book territory.

88 -- from Millennium Entertainment and running, yes, 88 minutes -- makes its DVD, Blu-ray and VOD debut this coming Tuesday, January 6. Consider yourself informed (or maybe warned).

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88, April Mullen, Canadian film, comedic crime films, confusion, fugue state, thrillers, Tim Doiron, ultra-violent movies,

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Streaming oddity: Zach Bernbaum's surprisingly adept AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR

It may be a one-note wonder, but what a note it delivers! AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR tells the tale of a famous ad agency head who goes a little nuts and begins spouting only slogans from television commercials and print advertising in place of the usual dialog needed to get around in our world. The weird thing is: It mostly works -- as both a route to being understood and as an often delectably entertaining movie. Of course it helps immensely that the fellow in question is played by top-notch Canadian actor Bruce Greenwood, who is surrounded by some first-rate talent in the supporting roles. The movie's biggest asset, however is its screenplay credited to Michael Hamilton-Wright, which makes rather amazing use of those commercial tag lines.

Director Zach Bernbaum, whose first full-length film this is, does a commendable job of stringing the story together, with pleasant pacing and a professional look, but it is Mr. Hamilton-Wright's terrific dialog between Greenwood's character, Adan Kundle, and the rest of the cast, that makes the movie such delicious fun. Literally everything out of Adan's mouth is from some advertisement or other, and yet Greenwood (shown below) makes these run the gamut from funny to moving, sad to sweet -- even sometimes nicely furthering the odd plot along. That plot would have to do with two things, one business-related, the other personal.

The first of these has Adan, above, trying to hold onto his position as head of a hugely successful ad agency, at which one of his underlings, a slick sleaze played appropriately by Callum Blue, below, is trying to have Adan declared unfit for command.

The second plot strand has our very odd "hero," while his health plan moves slowly forward to get him into a rehab facility, moving in with the helpful Karen Hillridge (Parker Posey, below, right), and her estranged daughter Meghan (Allie MacDonald, below, left), and slowly commandeering a kind of truce between the two.

Most of the fun (and even, sometimes, the emotion) is supplied by those terrific slogans, which keep falling from Greenwood's lips like honey and vinegar. (The best of these, coming toward the finale, involves a certain famous credit card commercial.) Greenwood is such a fine actor that he can take a concept like this, that could run its course all too quickly, and turn it into something that grows more magical and riveting as it proceeds.

Where the film is going is a kind of mystery, right up until the end. When that arrives, however, you'll realize that we've been being prepared for this, almost from the beginning. This finale takes And Now a Word from Our Sponsor into entirely new realms -- fantasy, philosophy, maybe even religion -- and it seems somehow entirely appropriate and maybe just a little bit creepy.

The movie, available on DVD, can also be streamed via Netflix or Amazon Instant Video. Give it a whirl, as there's little remotely like it out there in entertainment-land.

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advertising, AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR, Canadian film, Fantasy, Michael Hamilton-Wright, psychology, Zach Bernbaum,

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INSIDE THE MIND OF LEONARDO DA VINCI 3D, with Scots accent and a poster like a horror flick

"What were they thinking?" gets yet another go-round with the theatrical release of the totally unnecessary documentary, INSIDE THE MIND OF LEONARDO DA VINCI 3D. Forget that they chose a Scot, the capable Peter Capaldi, to play an Italian -- sure, Doctor Who is a popular series, but come on: There are plenty of Italian actors who speak decent English (you can see a few right now on Netflix's Marco Polo) -- and then decided to shoot it all in 3D, while giving the dumb-ass poster the look of a horror film, this remains mostly a single-talking-head movie with a nod to some of the original Renaissance Man's singular work. Yes, the 3D scenery is pretty to look at, but in general it seems, as does most else in this grade-school-level doc, to border on the pointless -- except for those folk who know next to nothing about Signore Da Vinci.

The filmmaker Julian Jones (shown at right) both directed and co-wrote (with Nick Dear) the movie, so he gets most of the (dis)credit here. Jones has made a perfectly OK paean to one of history's geniuses, skirting along on automatic pilot regarding everything from the guy's history to his inventions and his art. Capaldi, below, does his best stern-voice-and-visage act, even if he does not begin to seem in the least Italian. And some of the scenery (I presume shot in Tuscany) looks lovely. Otherwise, this is all just a documentary-by-numbers look at its subject.

The press release makes much of the fact that the movie is based on the artist's private journals, offering more than 6,000 pages of handwritten notes and drawings, and that never before has access been granted to capture these works in 3D HD format. Well, if this is all they could come up with out of 6,000 pages, I suspect you will not be impressed. Ditto the fact that access was granted to capture it all in 3D and High Def. Run-of-the-mill remains run-of-the-mill, even with an extra dimension added.

Perhaps I am being too hard on this little movie, which might give the uninitiated a glance at genius. And yet, if this does not send viewers out to learn more about that genius, then what's the point? I doubt very much that the movie -- piecemeal, "arty" and slow-paced to the point of embalmed -- will do that. In fact, I greatly preferred the interesting and very entertaining Da Vinci section found in the recent animated movie, Mr. Peabody and Sherman.

Inside the Mind of Leonardo Da Vinci 3D (what an elegantly simple and subtle title!) -- from Submarine Deluxe and History Films and running somewhere between 80 and 85 minutes -- opens this Friday, December 19, in New York City at the Village East Cinema and in Los Angeles at the Crest Theater. For other playdates, click here and scroll down.

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British cinema, Canadian film, documentaries, INSIDE THE MIND OF LEONARDO DA VINCI 3D, Julian Jones,

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