In Theaters: ‘The Taking of Pelham 123,’ ‘Moon,’ & ‘Tetro’

It’s that time of the week again, TGIFridays! By all accounts the box-office showdown this week will be between Todd Phillips’ surprise. come-from-behind R-Rated comedy, “The Hangover” and Tony Scott’s remake, errr, retelling of “The Taking Of Pelham 123,” (which sort of has a terrible title as far as mainstream audiences are concerned, the studio is banking on their deep pockets for high-dollar mainstream promotion and the names of Denzel Washington and John Travolta). ‘Hangover’ is fun and all, but with those mostly unknown actors one would think it would be an embarrassment if ‘Pelham’ couldn’t best it this weekend, but with strong word of mouth for the lost-in-Vegas, fratboy comedy, the race sounds like it’ll be very close (and if Phillips wins, hell, all the more power to him and the future of R-Rated comedies, which is excellent).

Let’s start with Scott’s adrenalized and coked-out version of ‘Taking of Pelham,’ which we just reviewed. God knows The Playlist team can loathe us some Tony Scott autistic, over-styled garish cinema, and while the subway hijacking film has all those over-the-top elements (naturally), it also possesses a capable narrative motor that propels the thriller forward and works as your basic taut cat n’ mouser with all the typical and necessary aims. Sure, there’s unintentional laughs and it’s extreme! half the time, but its moderately enjoyable and does the trick. That’s not apologist talk, that’s just simple fact. Do we endorse it? Well, we pretty much always would rather you not spend your money at at a megaplex and “Moon” and “Tetro” are much more interesting films, but both of them are in limited release this weekend so if you must, you could do worse. But it’s overall grade is not high and the film is stuck in critical 2nd gear with a 45% RT rating (whether that means much to audiences remains to be seen).

Speaking of worse at the mainstream cinema that’s probably Eddie Murphy’s “Imagine That,” which in all fairness doesn’t look like it’s for anyone but kids and the parents that take them there. We saw the trailer when went to see “Up” and it wasn’t half bad all things considered and the kids seemed to enjoy it. But it doesn’t seem to have the wide enough appeal to vie for the number one slot. Perhaps that’s because it has a weak 37% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but then again, kids movies are the one least intended for critics.

Studios hate to go head to head, but someone greatly overestimated this weekend as ‘Pelham’ and “Imagine That,” are the only two major new releases in contention and it feels like there was an opportunity missed here along the way (or perhaps this just felt like a decent “hole” in the schedule for two minor mainstream works).

In Limited Release
The choices here seem obvious to us. It’s either Sam Rockwell in “Moon” or Francis Ford Coppola’s “Tetro” starring Vincent Gallo. If we had to rank them on sheer overall quality, “Moon” is likely the winner as the moody and atmospheric sci-fi film doesn’t break any new ground, but it does showcase a strong, nuanced performance by Rockwell worth watching and, wonderful cinematography, an excellent score by Clint Mansell and an assured directional hand by newcomer Duncan Jones (David Bowie’s son for the umpteenth time). It’s fine little addition to the modern sci-fi cannon that we enjoyed, but not the masterpiece that drooling nerds are making it out to be (they sensationalize anything that’s in their wheelhouse, be forewarned). “Moon” has a strong, 86% RT rating which we feel is overstating the case somewhat, but oh well.

More spotty and with peaks and sharp valleys, “Tetro,” is the more uneven of the two films, but probably has a stronger spot in our heart as its intimate, sad/funny tone of broken families is wonderfully rendered by the superb cast of Vincent Gallo, outstanding newcomer Alden Ehrenreich and stalwart Spanish actress Maribel Verdu. The issue with “Tetro,” is not really its story, but its director Coppola, who tries to inject it with two much style, seemingly not sure if he’s telling a black and white serio-comic drama or giving odes to the theatrical nature of Powell & Pressburger’s “The Red Shoes,” and other dreamy and fanciful musicals (like P&P’s “Tales Of Hoffman” which he references visually) While the “dream” sequences are vaguely interesting, they don’t fully work and often simply distract, but it is an admirable effort from the 70-something filmmaker and there’s some truly piercing emotional moments in the film. Lower your expectations, but go out of your way to find this odd, little slightly tarnished gem. It also reminds us just how good Gallo is at presenting comedic irritation. But given all our criticism’s it’s not surprising to see “Tetro” only with a mixed 55% RT rating.

Other than that, we’re not going to recount the rest of the box-office, because we’ve barely heard of the rest of the films, don’t care, or have little interest. However, we haven’t seen it, but hear that the documentary, “Food Inc.” is excellent. It has a super strong 96% rating on RT and the highest rating out there this week. Ok, “Youssou N’Dour: I Bring What I Love,” has a 100% rating, but it only has all of six reviews to its name.

We wrote in our June summer preview: Author Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation swept the country with its horrifying tales of food processing. Richard Linklater’s “Fast Food Nation”…well…existed. And now there’s Robert Kenner’s take on things in “Food Inc.” This documentary will likely better capture the spirit of the book as it appears to take a hardline stance on how the food Americans consume and its system need to be reevaluated. It investigates current practices, their possible detrimental effects, and the difficulties in instigating change. Unsurprisingly, Schlosser is featured in the film. Expect the urge to eat salads and zero urges to hit Burger Weeks well into weeks after this one is over.

If you want more limited release openings, try RT. If you live in New York, Alain Cavalier’s debut feature, the political action/spy drama, “Le Combat Dans L’île” at Film Forum starring the great Jean-Louis Trintignant and attractive Romy Schneider is a good retrospective bet, but there’s not a lot of super engaging retro-cinema in the Big Apple lately unless you caught Kurosawa’s “Rashomon” last week, but c’mon, you’ve seen that classic a dozen times now, right? 🙂