Short Takes: "Love and Other Drugs" and "Hereafter".

More than the "Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhall Naked Variety Show", this movie is a sadly overdone ode to complicated love. Sure, Anne and Jake are naked a lot and as good a marketing angle as that might've been, the truth is that they are remarkable not because of their bubble butts and perfect stomachs but because of the nakedness of their performances (corny to say it but true...).

Gyllenhaal plays womanizing Pfizer medical representative Jamie. Hathaway plays Maggie, the cynical, early onset Parkinson's disease, patient he falls for.

They try to make it all about sex but movie conventions have showed us that before soon they'll be entangled in some messy emotional issues.

When this happens the movie gives its lead actors a chance to shine, the rest however is a confused mess that makes it seem as if the editor and the director were on some weird emotion altering pill.

The film alternates between moods in such an uneven way that it's impossible for the filmmakers to say they were doing a cute postmodernist take on the drug experience through editing. The whole thing is jut muddled filmmaking.

It's nice then to see Gyllenhaal stretching his limited chops to explore a more aggressive character, someone unafraid to come off as a total jerk and win our hearts by the end (George Clooney would've played him in the 90's...).

And it obviously comes as no surprise that Anne Hathaway is all sorts of magnificent. The little things she gives Maggie are stunningly detailed without being show-offs. She could've played this woman with pity and gone over the top to deliver her message, however she does quite the opposite and slowly lets Maggie become who she is.

Watching Hathaway go from sexiness to raw pain is the one truly addictive thing about this movie.

Clint Eastwood has got to be one of the most overrated working directors, yet at the same time some of his films are so subtle and misunderstood that he seems to be slightly underrated.

Such is the case with Hereafter, a haunting romantic drama that fails to ignite the tragic passion The Bridges of Madison County did but is still able to steer off the preachy stubbornness of Changeling.

The script (written by Peter Morgan) seems to be getting its line from the Iñárritu school of "connecting random dots to achieve universal catharsis" and as such, we see how the lives of former psychic George (Damon), French tsunami survivor Marie (de France) and British boy Marcus (Frankie McLaren) are united by death and then brought together by the magic of the movies.

Eastwood however directs taking his cue from the school of Clint and turns the film into a meditative examination of life in times of chaos. Hereafter takes its time to make its point but it's never a slow movie. In fact Clint plays with the story so well that for a moment we doubt it's leading to the place where it eventually takes us to.

This makes it a curious experiment and the film often feels as moody as the characters are tragic. Damon gives a superbly restrained performance but the film perhaps belongs to the stunning de France. Her bittersweet portrayal of Marie is infused with a cruel tenderness that gives her such rich layers. Her story is often at risk of becoming the most convoluted and corny, yet she handles it with such class that you really don't care when the movie tries to turn her into a paperback romance heroine.

The ending of Hereafter might turn off some who feel Clint's gone senile, surrendered to love and just teased us for 130 minutes with the promise of turning on his darkness and delivering one of his intense takes on justice.

However those willing to look past the sensationalism the movie deals with, will be rewarded with a heartbreaking tale that tells us to stop worrying about what's to come when all we really have is today.

Love and Other Drugs **

Hereafter ***

Sheet-y Saturday.

Where we take a look at posters for upcoming features.


Anne Hathaway is getting all sorts of awards buzz for a performance people haven't even seen but with each passing day Love and Other Drugs looks more promising.
If not just take a look at this delightful poster that puts any recent rom-com sheet to shame. The color palette is delicious and even it makes no secret of the fact people are dying to see this because Jake Gyllenhaal and Annie are rumored to be naked all the freaking time.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with sex and it's refreshing to see a studio sell a movie based on purely carnal desires.
Some might complain we aren't seeing too much and the poster could've been somewhat bolder but anything featuring Annie's million dollar smile makes me a happy camper and did you see the size of Gyllenhaal's foot?


Apparently our previous complaints were heard and someone went and fixed the Fair Game poster. The results are not entirely better but at least this time Sean Penn seems to know what movie he's in.

Defiance *1/2

Director: Edward Zwick
Cast: Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell
George MacKay, Mark Feuerstein, Alexa Davalos, Tomas Arana
Allan Corduner, Iddo Goldberg

With "Defiance" Edward Zwick proves there isn't a sociopolitical event he can't trivialize.
Set during the Nazi occupation of West Belarus during World War II, it tells the story of the Bielski brothers, who fled to the local forests after their family was murdered, where they formed a resistance that fought the invaders and eventually rescued 1,200 Jews.
Problems rise between the people as they must form an informal community while escaping the ever threatening Nazi soldiers.
Craig as older brother Tuvia and Schreiber as Zus give the film a respectable feel as they reflect sibling problems while giving convincing performances.
Craig does tough, sensitive guy like few people and there's no amount of moving disdain that Schreiber's grin can't muster, but the rest of the actors are just there to fill their Holocaust movie character quota.
The usually charming Feuerstein plays the "intellectual" who argues with the spiritual guy (Corduner) in random scenes that feel contrived and naive.
"Defiance" does get its action scenes right though, Eduardo Serra's cinematography gets you right in the battles and the film perhaps should've embraced its shallowness and play out like a romantic version of the Bielski saga as over the top heroism.
The film is worth a look if only as a reminder that the Jews didn't react passively during the Holocaust, as Hollywood has constantly tried to make us believe; they fought back and strove hard for survival.
In this raw desperation to keep alive we find the film's most compelling moments; watching dozens of people share the same plate of food, fight for it when they don't have it and face the moment when they have to shoot someone for the first time, makes for an affecting experience.
One that Zwick isn't aware he is creating, because he reduces everything to every Holocaust cliché we've seen.
Grandiose speeches before an important battle? Check.
Cold blooded murder justified because the lead actor commits it? Check.
Sudden romantic interests in the midst of annihilation? Check.
Dismissal of laws, stressed throughout as being unbreakable, just because someone's heart is warmed? Check.
The list goes on and on as Zwick turns the Bielskis into Charlton Heston in "The Ten Commandments" (he even has them "part" a body of water).
When one of the characters points out the irony that they are being attacked in the eve of Passover, we don't link this fact with actual historical accuracy but with Zwick's need to over dramatize everything.
Then he goes as far as making all the plot work just so the brothers will resolve rivalry issues and bond in a slightly homoerotic embrace once it's all over.
"Your Jewish sentimentality is heartwarming, but counter-revolutionary" warns officer Ben Zion (Arana) to Zus who has left his camp to fight in the front with the Russians.
Zwick's film isn't smart enough to be subversive and its kind of sentimentality (complete with real pictures of the Bielskis during the end credits) is disrespectful because instead of making us sit in awe about such an admirable deed it mostly just makes us want to look away.