LAWN DOGS

LAWN DOGS (1997) Here’s a little undiscovered gem, a bone for you’all to chew on while we wait for Dakota Fanning to make up her mind—Let’s rewind fourteen years to 1997 and imagine the O.C.'s Mischa Barton as cute a ten-year-old.
    Newly arrived in an up-scale housing development, quiet ten-year-old Devon  Stockard (Barton) doesn't quite fit in. Ignoring the urgings of her social-climbing father, Devon chooses the company of Trent (Sam Rockwell), a young man who makes his living mowing lawns, rather than  the "camp fire" girls her own age. The friendship between Devon and Trent continues  to blossom until  one night she unexpected  visits his trailer home.  Although their relationship is a completely innocent, it is obvious that such a relationship between an adult man and a little girl is open for misinterpretation.  
     Lawn Dogs is one of the best treatises on innocence and platonic relationships ever filmed. Trent is an honest hardworking noble fellow, he likes Devon but only in the purest “little sister” platonic way. Devon likes Trent, it remains clear from the onset that she is the instigator, but it’s a innocent little girl crush and nothing in the way of anything sexual ever develops between them. Yet appearances are everything, and appearances threaten to tear the relationship apart. This is a sad tale of unrequited platonic love.
 

     There is a genuine friendship here between an adult man and this little girl. Even when the girl takes off her shirt and shows Trent her scar from open heart surgery, he is uncomfortable; he has great hesitation even looking at her, and when he finally does touch her, its clear that its a loving compassionate touch. Devon for her part isn’t baiting him or tempting him by flouting her naked chest.  She's honest and sincere and her motives are pure. She never tries to kiss him or be romantic with him. Devon sees Trent as a real friend, someone she can trust. She shows him her scar, to prove that she has "scars" too.  Its a tender moment, there is only friendship between them.

     This movie is full of uncompromising images. There is the scene where young Devon climbs onto the roof, tosses her nightgown into the wind and stands naked on the roof top, she howls like a wolf. One could draw all kinds of Freudian symbolism from this scene. I just found it a visceral experience, an act of rebellion; a protest against her parent’s skewed values and the confines of life in a gated-community. Devon’s naked roof top spectacle was meant as a public exhibition of her own “imperfections.” Meaning, that Devon was to all outward appearances is a perfect little girl, yet she was scared, damaged goods from her heart surgery, an imperfection her parents want to desperately conceal, yet Devon felt was an intrinsic part of who she was, not something to be shuttered away, but literally shouted from the roof tops.

LAWN DOGS (1997) *** 

HANNA, first look

Dakota Fanning  has signed with prestigious  IMG modeling agency, you can view her portfolio here  IMG Agency, DAKOTA F. In other Dakota news it appears our favorite actress has dropped out of the supernatural drama "If I Stay."  Sources close to the actress said Fanning has opted not make that movie, which leaves Fanning without a major leading role. Representative for the star confirmed actress’ desire to finish her senior year of high school and enroll in NYU in the fall. Fanning is still on track to shoot the two The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn films (in which she plays Jane, a role that brings a decidedly less demanding workload). It appears Fanning is following the Jodie Foster, education first model. Fanning’s stock remains high with producers who say they are attracted to her mix of vulnerability and maturity, qualities she aptly demonstrated in last years biopic The Runaways.   What all this means is, that with the exception of a few magazine covers, some token two-minute appearances in Twilight, and maybe the promise of an indie quickie, that pretty much leaves this blog without a leading lady.

     We will have to look elsewhere, which brings us to the subject of this post, the action espionage thriller Hanna. I saw the trailer in the theater and was immediately impressed.  If it could be said that  Dakota Fanning has anything resembling a rival—the only actress out there who can hold a candle to Dakota would have to be Irish born Saorise Ronan (The Lovely Bones).  This girl is so talented, so natural it’s almost scary!  So I’m sitting in the movie theater and this trailer begins, it’s obviously a young girl lost in a frozen arctic wasteland, all dressed in animal skins like some kind of white-girl Inuit.  This piqued my interest, but it just kept getting better, turns out this girl kicks ass!  Saorise is such a chameleon actress that I didn’t even recognize her at first.
 

     THE PLOT: Hanna (Ronan) is a fourteen-year-old girl, who possesses the strength, the stamina, and the smarts of a solider; these qualities come from being raised by her father (Bana), an ex-CIA man, in the wilds of Finland. Living a life unlike any other teenager, her upbringing and training have been one and the same, all geared to making her the perfect assassin. The turning point in her adolescence is a sharp one; sent into the world by her father on a mission, Hanna journeys stealthily across Europe while eluding agents dispatched after her by a ruthless intelligence operative with secrets of her own (Blanchett). As she nears her ultimate target, Hanna faces startling revelations about her existence and unexpected questions about her humanity.

     Sounds cool! I love a story about a self-assured young girl who can kick-ass, and with the capable Ronan as the girl, this one promises to be significantly less cartoony than Chloe Moretz’s Hit girl. This is one movie we will defiantly be keeping our eye on. Hanna has an announced April release date.

      

JACKIE EVANCHO, voice of an angel

Friday
December 10, 2010

Jackie Evancho is a star.  All I can say is WOW! When I saw her for the first time, this little girl she absolutely blew me away—if you close your eyes, you might be fooled into thinking you were listening to voice of an adult woman, not even close, Jackie is all of ten-years-old and has poise and talent to spare.
     After Tatum O’Neal and Jodie Foster, lit up the screen in the seventies, I waited patiently for twenty-five years for Dakota Fanning to come on to the scene. The precocious little girl with the wispy blond hair and gravely sing-song southern voice, appeared first in I AM SAM and later in TAKEN.  I was not disappointed.  Since then, we've enjoyed a renaissance of sorts,  a mini-brat-pack if you will, consisting of Abigail Breslin, Anna Sophia Robb and Alison Stoner. All are very talented charming young women but none replaced Dakota. Alas, ever since Dakota Fanning hit sixteen, I’ve been in sort of a maudlin mood, watching and waiting for the next big thing. While I certainly don’t mean to imply that we are prepared to “jump ship” and hastily rename this blog Jackie Evancho: Viewpoint.  It's safe to say, Jackie has caught our interest.

     Little girls are by nature ephemeral creatures, it seems now we have Jackie as heir apparent, and I couldn’t be more pleased. This young lady is destined to become the next Charlotte Church or Sarah Brightman. Let me rephrase that, because I really hate comparisons, the way Dakota was always being compared to Jodie Foster, I found this annoying.  Jackie is a huge talent in her own right, she’s Jackie Evancho, and no comparisons are necessary. I am confident Jackie will develop her own style and bring her own uniqueness to the “classical crossover” of which she is already well on her way to mastering.

     Okay, let’s get this out of the way first and upfront. It goes without saying that Jackie didn’t win America’s Got Talent. This is a lame show with lame performers and looser judges who think themselves clever but if the truth be told don’t know their ass from a hole-in-the-ground. The proof is in the pudding, the one contestant who comes on the show that REALLY does have talent and what happens?  She looses, to whom? Michael Grimm, well the joke is on Mr. Grimm and the millions of people who voted for him. Grimm, isn't worth the powder to blow him up, and is destined for the dusbin of history. Michael Grimm who?  I’m sure in the moment young Jackie was disappointed, crushed, in hindsight; this represents not a loss but a blessing in disguise. Jackie is free to pursue her career unfettered by the constraints of any manipulative AGT contract. Her career is sure to soar!     
     Our Jackie on the onther hand gets to enjoy the last  laugh, her debut album O HOLY NIGHT has already gone platinum! Jackie performed for President Obama at Lincoln center for the lighting of the National Christmas tree. Let's listen to this wonderfully talented young girl. Yeah, Jackie!

PAPER MOON, a retrospective

Sunday
December 5, 2010

PAPER MOON (1973)—As P.T. Barnum put it, "There's a sucker born every minute."
     Paper Moon Directed by Peter Bogdonovich, from a screen play by Alvin Sargent  adapted from the novel, “Addie Pray” by Joe David Brown.  Paper Moon is the story of Moses Pray and eleven-year-old Addie Loggins, who may or may not be his daughter. Together the pair grift the back country of Missouri and Kansas under the guise of the “Kansas Bible Company”—selling bibles to unsuspecting widows, and short-changing dim witted five-and-dime clerks.
     Paper Moon is without a doubt one of the finest pieces of American cinema to grace the 70’s. Lazlo Kovacs' stunning black and white photography  gives the film a nostalgic beauty that perfectly complements the Depression-era it attempts to recreate. The film’s sound track only reinforces the movie’s charm, with the wonderful opening title track; It’s only a Paper Moon setting the stage for the drama . . . Peter Bogdonovich once consulted with no less than Orson Wells, as to whether to call the movie Addie Pray or Paper Moon. To which Wells replied, “That title is so good, you shouldn't even make the picture, you should just release the title!”
     The soundtrack is a marvelous nostalgic cavalcade of vintage recordings like, "Keep your Sunnyside up" and "Let's have another cup of coffee." Madeline Kahn is hysterically funny as Miss Trixie Delight, and Ryan O’Neal gives one of the best performances of his career.

    And her name is Tatum O’Neal; Tatum is just cool.  Tatum so completely steals this movie and I’m not just talking about the quality of her acting, there's just something about her, when she's sitting in bed, clad in a white cotton singlet smoking a cigarette, the camera is in love with her.  We are in love with her. From the second Tatum comes on screen, this little girl who swears and smokes and runs cons with a man who may or may not be her daddy made a powerful impression on me. I think it is safe to say that Tatum O’Neal, for better or worse changed me.  The year was 1973, at fifteen years-old, I was young and impressionable. I was smitten.

     It’s Tatum who gets the best lines (and best close-ups), in one of the film’s classic sequences, Addie confronts Moze at the county fair . . .

ADDIE

I had my photo took Moze!

MOZE

You did, huh? Ain’t that fine.

ADDIE

Moze, can you come have your photo took with me?

MOZE

Can’t right now sweetheart.

ADDIE

Only take a minute.

MOZE

Not now, you hear me? And stop standing around here checking on me . . . you don’t have to worry. I ain’t about to leave some poor little child stranded in the middle of nowhere. I got scruples you know. You know what that is, “scruples?”

ADDIE

No, I don’t know what it is, but if you got them, I sure bet they belong to somebody else.

Paper Moon (1973) ****

ANGELA

Friday
22 October 2010

ANGELA (1997)—A haunting tale of a young girl driven by her religious obsessions into a frightening world of childhood fantasy and superstitious delusion.

     The story begins by introducing us to ten-year-old Angela (Miranda Stuart Rhyne), her six-year-old sister, Ellie (Charlotte Blythe), and their parents Mae (Anna Levine) and Andrew (John Ventimiglia) as the family moves into a new house in up state New York. Andrew and Mae are washed-up performers looking for a better life and a new start. The family's fortunes or misfortunes are rooted in Mae's increasing mental illness. Andrew is a loving father and devoted husband and he desperately tries to make ends meet and keep the family together and happy.

     A dark and compelling Indie film, Angela is carried by the two principal child actresses, Miranda Stuart Rhyne and Charlotte Blythe who both deliver touching and poignant performances. Rhyne, in particular, is engaging as the young protagonist caught in a heavenly struggle between good and evil in a misguided effort to save her mentally ill mother. Precocious, to say the least, Angela has visions of Lucifer coming to take her and her sister away, Angela compels her six-year-old sister, Ellie to endure numerous regimens of “purification” in an attempt to rid themselves of evil, which she believes to be the cause of their mother's mental illness. One of her extreme remedies is for her sister to remain within a circle of dolls and toys until they see a vision of the Virgin Mary come to them.

     Written and directed Rebecca Miller, Miller is a bold courageous story teller who takes many chances in Angela; there is a decidedly unsettling scene in a carnival where the two girls are befriended by a man whose intentions are creepy to say the least. It’s unclear as to the man's true intentions until he lures the girls away to a secluded location and kisses Angela and promises to “make her happy.” Angela, naive as to the man’s true motives, mistakes him for a sign from heaven and scares him off with her religious delusions.

     The viewer should be warned there is a considerable amount of child nudity in Angela; I don’t understand why people get all exercised when there is a naked child in a film. Quite frankly I’ve secretly always found many of Shirley Temple’s films of the 1930’s to be more suspect, coy, and salacious, than what amounts to basically two kids skinny dipping . . . In reality, kids are naked all the time. Children possess a natural inhibition to being naked. To their way of thinking there’s nothing wrong, wicked or immoral about being naked; it’s a natural state of being—Being naked is a normal part of life. So, why not on film? Rebecca Miller dares to ask this question. I just don’t get it. Okay, so I do get it, but I’m being deliberately dense for the sake of argument. Main stream filmmakers steer away from child nudity like the plague because of the controversy over Brooke Shield’s relatively chaste nude scenes in Pretty Baby. Please, don’t get me started on the unfounded, scurrilous uproar caused by Dakota Fanning in Hounddog. I think the biggest misconception in the public mind is that it is somehow illegal to depict a child naked on American film. That child nudity, even full frontal nudity is somehow analogous to child porn. This is unequivocally and for the record patently untrue! As long as the child is not depicted in a salacious or overtly sexualized situation, child nudity is perfectly legal and is protected by the First Amendment.

     Young Charlotte Blythe does most of the heavy lifting as far as getting naked on film. She’s the one depicted in full frontal covered in mud, in the hauntingly beautiful water nymph scene. Miranda Rhyne, not to be out done, takes her turn, staring whimsically in the mirror at her flat little-boy-chest, while she traces the outline of her hoped-for-boobies-to-be in magic marker. A poignant moment made all the more sad because it is never to be.

     Angela will never grow up to be a woman. Angela’s death scene is one of the saddest, most powerful scenes I’ve ever watch on film in recent memory. Almost as powerful and memorable as the death of Bambi’s mother, well, maybe not quite, but you get the idea. As Angela’s mother continues to spiral downhill into the depth of madness. Angela seems even more obsesses with finding a spiritual cure. She goes down to the river to baptize herself and her sister. Angela figures if one good dunking washes away your sins, another and another must do even more. What she doesn’t figure on is the river’s rushing current and her own inability to swim. Well, let’s just say John the Baptist is not a lifeguard. Ellie plaintively calls and calls to her sister, “Angela, come back!” But it’s too late . . . it’s forever too late, Angela is never coming back. Ellie now for the first time in her life is free from her sister's delusions has an epiphany of sorts and is free to “fly” and take charge of her own destiny.








Angela (1997) ***

KICK-ASS

Chloe Moretz is HIT GIRL

KICK-ASS (2010)—Blame my brother for recommending this movie, unusual, yes, as our mutual taste in entertainment seldom converge. I was initially skeptical about the prospect of watching yet another superhero spoof movie, as the most recent attempts at the genre have been decidedly disappointing to say the least. Kick-Ass some how manages to break that cycle, completely transcending its predecessors through the use of an intelligent script that combines a montage of stylized über-violence with hilarious comedy, an eclectic if clichéd music score and snappy direction by Mathew Vaughn. Kick-Ass, as it turns out is every bit as campy tongue-in-cheek as its profane title implies.

Kick-Ass tells the story of Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), your average teenage nerd, whose obsession with comic books inspires him to create his very own superhero, “Kick-Ass,” despite his complete lack of any discernible superpowers. Dave’s initial attempts to become a vigilante crime fighter not only confirm his complete superhero ineptitude but end in near disaster. After bumbling about a bit more his impromptu rescuing of a cat changes his luck and the publicity propels him into the public limelight and establishing him as a cult phenomena. Sudden fame does have its draw backs and our hapless Dave also manages to inadvertently run afoul of a nasty drug lord who confuses Kick-Ass with another mask avenger “Big Daddy” (Nicolas Cage), the rest of the plot you can pretty much figure out for yourself.

Which then brings us to the film’s most outrageous, over-the-top side-kick ever, “Hit-girl,” as played by Chloe Moretz, everyone’s newest favorite pint-sized superhero, complete with purple wig, mask and black spandex. the eleven-year-old assassin with a penchant for naughty language. Girls with guns, you gotta love ‘em, and I do love them! Not since Natalie Portman teamed up with Léon in the “Professional,” have we been treated with a spectacle of a pre-teen girl who goes about the merry art of blood-letting with such wanton abandonment. Moretz’s outrageous homicidal spaghetti-Western character shoots, maims and decapitates her opponents with such infectious glee that she easily steals the show.

Matthew Vaughn’s directing is top-notch from a screenplay based on the Marvel comic’s graphic novel of the same name by Mark Millar and John Romita. An essential part of the film is its eclectic soundtrack, with choice tracks taken from excellent films such as “28 Days Later,” and “For a few dollars more.” I think my favorite use of music was the over-the-top spectacle of Hit Girl slaughtering villains to the tunes of “The Banana Splits theme.”

You might be taken aback a little bit by the prospects of an 11-year-old girl going around killing people and using explicit language. Kick-Ass is the right vehicle and Chloe Moretz has just the right combination chutzpah  acting chops, and a tempestuous gap-toothed grin to make a success. While I don't mean to assert I think she’s the “next” Dakota Fanning, I feel confident in my prediction that this girl has sufficient talent to go far. I’ll be watching for her . . .

Kick-Ass (2010) ***



THE BAD NEWS BEARS, a retrospective

THE BAD NEWS BEARS (1976)—TCM is celebrating the work of Walter Matthau for Summer under the Stars; one of the featured films  was THE BAD NEWS BEARS. What a great movie! Where were you in 1976? When I think back, for me, 1976 represents a seminal year, I was eighteen, I had just finished high-school, and I was preparing to enroll in Michigan State Technical School. 1976 was also the year Jodie Foster received her Best Supporting Oscar nomination for her portrayal of a twelve-year-old prostitute in Taxi Driver. Jodie didn’t win that year, she lost to Beatrice Strait. POP QUIZ, what was the name of the movie? * 1976 was also the year of Rocky, All the Presidents Men, A  Star is Born and Network.

The Bad News Bears, directed by Michael Richie tells the story of an aging, down-on-his-luck ex-minor leaguer Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau) a beer swilling, cigar chomping pool cleaner who agrees to coach a bunch of eclectic pre-teen misfits whose penchant for elementary school high jinks is only exceeded by their seemingly boundless maladroit lack of baseball ability. All the usual archetypes are brilliantly portrayed by the then unknown cast. There is your clichéd fat kid with the loud mouth, the shrimp with a hot temper, Alfred Lutter, from Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, as the know-it-all smart kid, the nerdy Jewish kid (complete with glasses), the African-American kid who wants to be “Just like Hank Aaron” and then there’s Kelly Leak, (Jackie Earl-Haley) the local bad-boy who rides a motor-cycle and smokes Marlboros.

While Buttermaker may be a poor excuse for a little league baseball coach, The Bears don’t give him much to work with. I think Tanner Boyle summed it up best in one of the movie’s classic politically incorrect lines: “What do you expect? All we got on this team . . . is a bunch of Jews, spics, niggers, pansies . . . and a booger-eating moron.” The  Bears loose their first game in appalling fashion; all while Buttermaker drinks himself into oblivion he hardly even notices. After seeing the kids humiliated—and after being insulted one-too-many times himself by the arrogant Yankee coach Turner (Vic Morrow)—Buttermaker decides to pull out all the stops.  He reveals his secret weapon:  his former girlfriend’s eleven-year-old daughter Amanda Wurlitzer (Tatum O’Neal). Amanda is a pitching ace, as Buttermaker tells it, “The best pitch I ever taught her was the curve ball . . . not only a curve ball, but the most tantalizing knuckle ball you ever saw in your life.”

Tatum O’Neal . . . (my god, I had such a crush on her!) In her first screen role since winning the Oscar for Best Supporting actress for her portrayal of Addie Pray, the worldly-wise eleven-year-old shyster in Paper Moon. Tatum has the most to prove, while Amanda Wurlitzer is no Lady Macbeth, Buttermaker’s relationship with Amanda remains complex. Amanda cooly trys to win his affection, Buttermaker, adamantly refuses to admit how much he cares about her, even when she practically begs him . . .  In one particularly memorable scene Buttermaker splashes beer in her face; I’ll have to say to anyone who thinks Tatum O’Neal can’t act, this scene is required viewing.

Even with Amanda’s ninety-mile-an-hour fast ball on board, the Bear’s can’t win if they can’t score. There is one more piece of the puzzle and it’s left to Amanda to use her pre-teen feminine wiles to snare local bad boy and top athlete Kelly Leak. Now with a batting offence and competent outfield, the Bears make a serious challenge for first place and end up in the play-offs against the hated Yankees.

There are many things to like about this film, the music, the script by Bill Lancaster, but ultimately I think the most important aspect is the film’s unflinching, unapologetic look at the underbelly of little league baseball. This is no Disney movie, the film is refreshingly unsentimental. When the story starts the kids dislike Matthau and he dislikes them, he’s a bum. By the story’s end, they still aren’t wild about each other, he’s still a bum, but they’ve developed a mutual respect. In the final reel, the Bear’s loose the championship, no sad faces here, there’s beer for everyone! The arrogant Yankee’s make a pathetic attempt to rub the loss in the Bear’s face. The Bears remain undefeated. Once again it’s spunky Tanner Boyle who delivers the films classic closing line: “Hey, Yankees! You can take your apology and your trophy, and shove it straight up your ass!”

* “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!”

—Peter Finch, NETWORK (1976)

The Bad News Bears (1976) ****

THE RUNAWAYS

THE RUNNAWAYS (2010)—I grew up in the seventies; I was never what you might call your typical impressionable hot blooded American boy, I was never into hard-rock.  I was much more country, into Don Mc Lean, Gordon Lightfoot,  and Olivia Newton John.  But I stood up and took notice when the all-girl band THE RUNAWAYS hit the music scene. I was fifteen; I listened to their music, I bought their records and worshiped those girls. I think I always knew their was something slightly naughty or forbidden  about them. I think that’s what appealed to me most. With promotional pictures of Cherie Currie, with her shirt unbuttoned down to her fifth button . . . Currie was always proffered as the band’s sex-pot front woman. Joan Jett, she however remained my favorite. There was something about Jett, her short coifed black hair, Drano-singed raspy voice and tough girl attitude that I always found very appealing. I think it was partially her bona fied passion for rock-n-roll that made Jett different from the other girls. I have been a Joan Jett fan for her entire career. So,  it was not without anticipation, high expectations, and a perhaps even a little bit of a personal vested interest that I approached this film.

      Directed by Floria Sigismondi, scripted  by Sigismondi and Cherie Currie based loosely on her book Neon Angel. The Runaways essentially  tells Joan Jett's and Cherie Currie's version of things. As a consequence, as a necessity,  much of rock history is compressed or deleted altogether, most notably, the omission of real-life base player Jackie Fox who is completely written out of the Runaways’ canon. Replaced by a  fictitious character named “Robin.” (Fox, who is a lawyer, threatened to sue, so the filmmakers didn't take any chances).

     The story focuses mostly on Cherie Currie and Joan Jett. Dakota Fanning plays Cherie Currie, a confused 15 year-old with a messed up family life. The family includes a mom, played by Tatum O’Neal (in a weird coincidence of déjà vu, Tatum was my number one crush in the seventies), who announces she is getting married and moving to Indonesia. Currie’s dad is an alcoholic, so Cherie is left alone and vulnerable and is an easy recruit for Fowley and Jett. Kristen Stewart’s portrayal of Joan Jett is phenomenal. She’s get’s the slouchy guitar, the gum chewing, the swagger and the foggy voice nailed down pat. Jett, as a girl is quite pretty, but she’s always had this tough girl, boyish manner. Stewart gets it right.

     Some may question the things that happen in this movie, and Jett in her audio commentary admitted as much that some events were stylized, fictionalized. Did they really write “Cherry bomb.” on the spot for Currie's audition? Did Fowley really teach the girls to dodge garbage thrown at them on stage? Did the Japanese really go THAT over-the-top ape-sh*t over the band? (Yes, they did).

     Both Stewart and Fanning do their own singing for the movie and Stewart sounds exactly like Jett as she belts out portions of one of Joan’s original early songs, “I Love Play’n  With Fire.” Unfortunately, the only song we get to see performed in it’s entirety is, “Cherry Bomb” (sung by Dakota), which was co-written by Fowley and Jett, specifically for Cherie and amounts to the band’s one and only true “hit.”

     Joan Jett was the heart of the band, but it took oddball music producer Kim Fowley to put the band together and get the recording deal. Fowley may be the most interesting character in this story. Here he is played with force by the very talented Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road). What the film really nailed was the relationship between the Runaways and their sleazy manager/producer Kim Fowley. Michael Shannon does a fabulous job playing this over-the-top character. His expletive-filled rants are simultaneously hilarious as they are cringe-worthy.

     Ultimately though the standout award in the film must go to Fanning, who even from an early age has always possessed this worldly-wise awareness of her sexuality. People were shocked when Fanning appeared on David Letterman in a slinky black dress that came half-way up her ass. I was not. Fanning is Hot and she knows it, and she’s not afraid to flaunt it. So it’s probably no accident that Fanning elects to spend a large part of the film dressed only in corset and  underwear. Dakota’s depiction of Currie amounts to a full onslaught assault of jail bait sex appeal. Fanning acquits herself quite well with her vocal duties and while she doesn't quite make it her own, Fanning does a credible job belting out a lusty version of “Cherry bomb.”

The Runaways (2010) ***

Dawning of Dakota

Saturday

July 17, 2010

I don’t care who you are—Now that thar is a pretty girl!  People doubt me, but I knew even when Dakota was eight-years-old, she was going to be a very pretty girl. All I can say is, ta, da!  

ORPHAN

ORPHAN (2009)─The movies have a long history of plumbing the depths of the child/psycho-killer genre; indeed wicked murderous children abound. From the archetypal Patty McCormack in The Bad Seed (1956) to demon possessed Linda Blair in The Exorcist (1973). In other examples of cinematic murderous children we find some are purely evil of the likes of Macaulay Caulkin in The Good Son (1993) and others kids have more sympathetic motives for the reason why they kill such as Jodie Foster in The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976).

ORPHAN a film written by David Johnson and directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and staring Isabelle Fuhrman in a startling fresh performance as Esther the homicidal nine-year-old Russian orphan. I’ll confess I’m not a big fan of the conventional Hollywood slasher/horror genre so it was with some skepticism that I elected to screen this movie. Orphan had some serious steep hurtles ahead to overcome my dismissive mindset and bring something new and startling to the table. The first half of the film largely succeeds owing to its careful character development and a cleverly nuanced back-story. The second half of the film, while it still possesses a few twists and shocks does descend into a somewhat predictable cliché ending. Orphan largely delivers based on the performances of its excellent cast.

We are introduced to the Coleman family, Kate (Vera Farmiga) and John (Peter Sarsgaard) an affluent yuppie couple who are experiencing strains in their marriage after Kate’s third child was stillborn. The loss is particularly hard on Kate, who is a recovering alcoholic who lost her job because of her drinking. The couple decides to adopt Esther a precocious Russian girl, from the local orphanage. Kate and John have two other children a deaf-mute daughter Max (Aryana Engineer) and a son Daniel (Jimmy Bennet). As the tag-line suggest, there is indeed Something wrong with Esther. Daniel wounds a bird with his paintball gun, Esther reveals her cool cold vicious nature by dispatching the fowl with a rock. When Esther blunders into the kitchen during a late night impromptu love-making session, Kate is shocked when not only is Esther unfazed, the girl expresses far more knowledge of sex than would be expected for a child her age. Kate tries to have a talk, explaining that sometimes grown-ups do things that children shouldn't know about  . . . “They F**k.” Esther deadpans,  then nonchalantly returns to her painting.

Kate is further alarmed when Sister Abigail (C.C.H. Pounder), the head of the orphanage, warns her and John about Esther’s proclivity to be around when tragedy strikes.  Esther eavesdrops and fearing that she will be taken away, viciously bludgeons the nun to death with a hammer. She ensnares inocent Max to help her get rid of the body. They hide the bloody weapon in the tree house, which Daniel witnesses. Later, Esther threatens Daniel with a box cutter if he tells anyone what he saw. “I’ll cut off your hairless little prick before you even know what it’s used for.”

The situation rapidly spirals out of control, after a minor scuffle with Kate, Esther in what is perhaps the most chilling act of psychotic nihilism,  breaks her own arm in an effort to illicit sympathy from John and cast Kate as the villain. Daniel decides to retrieve the hammer from the tree house and go to the police. Esther sets the tree house on fire, but Daniel escapes. Esther again tries unsuccessfully to kill Daniel at the hospital by smothering him with a pillow.

Later that night, like some kind of homunculus shape-shifter, in what amounts to the movie's biggest shocker. Esther transforms herself  into a miniature adult, now dressed in a skimpy black negligee, Esther tries desperately to seduce John. “I love you daddy . . . I really love you. Let me take care of you.” Angry and hurt at being spurned, Esther viciously murders John.

It’s here unfortunately in the final reel that Orphan starts to unravel and descends into hack and cliché. Complete with the classic “Kick scene” from Star Trek. The climatic struggle ensues at the edge of an icey pond. “Mommy please don’t let me die!” . . . “I’m not your mommy!” Not a very satisfying ending to what was overall a very scary and enjoyable movie.


Orphan (2009) ** ½

Roger Ebert loves THE RUNAWAYS

Monday February 1, 2010

SUNDANCE 01.30.10 "The Runaways" A somewhat fictionalized version of the life and times of the 1975-77 teenage girl rock band best known for Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart) and Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning). No members were over 16 when they were packaged as "jailbait rock" by snaky producer Kim Fowley (Michael Shannon). They dressed like hookers and dominatrixes, they idolized the Sex Pistols, but they were also insecure and immature young girls. Currie almost went down in flames, and the movie is based on her autobiography, Neon Angel.

Joan Jett still tours today, and is an intact survivor. The movie reproduces the Runaways' actual music, which is no better that you might expect, but the acting is very convincing. Kristen Stewart proves once again that she's a rising star, and Dakota Fanning is such a fine actress that I, for one, almost believed I'd always heard her using the f-word. As for Michael Shannon, is he the most unheralded force in acting today, or what?

—Roger Ebert

Viva Dakota

Saturday January 30, 2010 Dakota Fanning appears on the cover of V magazine looking mighty scary with her "big hair."