Mr. CHURCH Review

While Mr. Church might have initially been looked at as something of a return to quality movie-making for star Eddie Murphy it is more a return to the realm of inoffensive movie making than anything else. Mr. Church is certainly no Pluto Nash or Norbit...hell, it's not even Meet Dave (which I admittedly never finished), but it isn't the high-reaching piece of transcendent cinema that encapsulates all the major themes of one's life that illustrates mistakes made and identities redeemed that it seemed to want so badly to be in its trailers either. Rather, Mr. Church is a pleasant enough distraction about a kind-hearted man that is largely elevated by the credible performances of its two leads. Both Murphy and Britt Robertson (Tomorrowland) deliver the necessary sympathies to draw on audience emotions that keep us invested in the sometimes tedious story that strings us along for decades with large stretches where little to nothing happens or is revealed. Fortunately, it isn't really the narrative that is meant to drive Mr. Church though, but rather the core relationship that forms between Murphy's titular character and Robertson's Charlotte Brody which remains the reason we become and stay as invested as we do throughout the sometimes tepid 100-minute runtime. The film, which comes from TV writing veteran Susan McMartin in her first feature film credit, feels rather episodic as a result with director Bruce Beresford (Driving Miss Daisy, Double Jeopardy) doing little to add any filmmaking flairs as, at the age of seventy-six, seems to be on auto pilot. In that way, Mr. Church is very much a competently made and sometimes even emotionally affecting film, but most of the time it feels like a Hallmark movie that is emotionally manipulative for reasons of knowing it has little else to offer by way of connecting with its audience. It is a holiday Hallmark film that escaped the clutches of such a fate by appealing to talent such as Mr. Murphy by being a project not typically offered to the comedian and thus an opportunity after an intentional hiatus to do something different. Murphy, while doing his best to salvage this sappy if not occasionally comforting piece of melodrama can't rescue the project from total mediocrity, but he puts forth a valiant effort and that is duly noted.

LOVE & FRIENDSHIP Review

From the outset of director Whit Stillman's Jane Austen adaptation, Love & Friendship, it is apparent that this is unlike any Austen adaptation one has seen before and probably unlike any film one has seen set in the Georgian era as well. Joel Coen has said, and the sentiment has been repeated and discussed many times, that directing is more or less about managing tone and it is in this aspect that Stillman more than excels here by giving this distinguished era in British history a tinge of the sardonic. The Georgian era is most prominent for the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution in Britain and how such changes brought about more tension between the social classes. Love & Friendship more or less capitalizes on such anxiety by putting our protagonist in a transitional stage between losing a wealthy husband and finding another suitor who might allow her to live out the rest of her days in comfort. This protagonist is the titular character of Austen's 1871 novella, Lady Susan, who has a duplicitous personality and a keen understanding of man's nature that makes such a transition all the more entertaining. And this is kind of the crux that allows for Stillman's latest venture to stand out in the way that it does as not only is it unlike any film one has ever seen set in this era or a similar one, but that it deals in its subject matter not as a Pride & Prejudice adaptation would, but rather with a tone that is sometimes screwy and a little eccentric, but always hilarious and maybe even more importantly-frequently impulsive. It can't help but to seem that films set during a time period such as this are met with preconceived notions that carry negative connotations by today's younger audiences, but Downton Abbey (though I haven't seen a single episode) has seemingly bucked that trend to a certain degree and it only seems Stillman has pushed these notions even further by creating a film of Victorian-like structure and style that resonates a certain freshness one would never expect from such material. I cannot emphasize enough how simply delightful Love & Friendship is if not for how surprisingly fun it is, but for the career best performance delivered by Kate Beckinsale.

ADORE Review

Adore is one of those films that looks a little icky when you see the trailer. I don't use the word "icky" very often and it is probably against my better judgment to do so here, but given that the definition is simply adding two letters to the word its defining to make it sticky with the added value of being unpleasant it seems extremely appropriate as that is the exact type of situation our two protagonists get themselves into in this twisted, disturbing, and surprisingly affecting film. Is it controversial? Sure. Does it push boundaries? I guess so, slightly. Does it make for an entertaining film? Not exactly. What the film, previously titled Two Mothers, does make for is a pretty intense soap opera with top caliber acting and beautiful cinematography. There are plenty of dynamics you could draw on here, but nothing so obvious as the Oedipal complexities of a mother and son relationship. In fact, there is no need for that type of development because in what is essentially the opening scene of the film one of our two mothers boys is attending his fathers funeral. Though this does leave what we assume is a lasting effect it isn't the one the world would so easily assume. Instead, Ian (Xavier Samuel) develops and very intense, very genuine, if not at first sight naive love for his mothers best friend Roz (Robin Wright). Another thing you think upon first seeing the trailers is that you know exactly where this film will be heading even if you're not quite sure where it could possibly end up. What I found surprising and what may have lent to me becoming more intrigued with the film is the fact it doesn't follow the dramatic beats I expected it to. In fact, it goes to some rather unexpected places and explores avenues and dilemmas I had yet to come up with in my own head about what might cause trouble in the scenario these four work up. It is a slightly distressing film in that you wonder how two successful, mature women would ever allow themselves to succumb to such temptation and clearly wrong action, but both Wright and Naomi Watts sell it even if, in the end, we still feel they know better.