Rush

Directed by Ron Howard.

2013. Rated R, 123 minutes.

Cast:

Chris Hemsworth

Daniel Bruhl

Olivia Wilde

Alexandra Maria Lara

Pierfrancesco Favino

David Calder

Natalie Dormer

Stephen Mangan

Christian McKay

Alistair Petrie

Colin Stinton

Julian Rhind-Tutt

In the mid 70s, two of the up and coming names in F1 racing are James Hunt (Hemsworth) and Niki Lauda (Bruhl). Making things more interesting for fans of the sport, they hate each other. That only makes sense considering they are polar opposites. Hunt is a tall, good looking guy who parties every night and obliges as many groupies as possible. Sure, he loves racing, but he loves the lifestyle it provides him with even more. Niki doesn't seem to have any friends at all, nor is he looking for any. He eats, drinks, and sleeps racing. His goal is to win the F1 championship every year for the rest of his life. Lots of animosity between the two, on and off the track, ensues.

Hemsworth is in fine form, turning in a wonderfully charismatic performance. He perfectly embodies everything about James Hunt. The most amazing part of his work is that we admire and pity him all at the same time. On some level, we want to be him, to be that carefree, that confident, that attractive. We also realize his existence is almost entirely superficial. The one bit of substance he has is his burning desire to defeat Niki Lauda. Aided by a great script, Hemsworth lets us see both the man's bravado and his vulnerability.

As Lauda, Bruhl also gives us the goods, albeit in a less flashy role. He makes the ultra-focused, but seemingly less interesting person, a fascinating specimen. We don't really like Lauda, but come to understand him. Despite Hunt's best efforts, he never becomes the villain. He just isn't the life of the party. Still, we come to admire him as well for his resolve and his passion to be the absolute best he can be. We just wish he were a nicer guy about it.

While the two guys keep our attention off the track, what happens on it gets our blood pumping. The races are beautifully shot and the conversations between the drivers and their teams helps us get inside the competitors' heads. When there are crashes, we fully comprehend that life is hanging in the balance. It all adds to the feeling that each guy, no matter his approach, is a daredevil risking it all each time he gets behind the wheel. That understanding is key to the movie. Without it, we cannot grasp the gravity of decisions made by each guy at crucial moments. These moments are not only crucial to the race they're in, or even just their careers, but their lives.

Instead of being your typical underdog story, Rush gives us two such characters and pits them against one another. That these two are championship material is never really in question. Our doubt, what keeps us on the edge of our seats, is whether or not they will destroy each other in the process. In the end, we realize that this is truly the story of James Hunt, however it could not be told without Lauda. Furthermore, when the credits roll we are still conflicted in our feelings about Hunt and his accomplishment.

MY SCORE: 8/10

Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel

Directed by Alex Stapleton.

2011. Rated R, 95 minutes.

Cast:

Roger Corman

Julie Corman

Jack Nicholson

Martin Scorsese

Peter Bogdanovich

Ron Howard

Peter Fonda

David Carridine

Robert De Niro

Jonathan Demme

William Shatner

Bruce Dern

Pam Grier

Eli Roth

Quentin Tarantino

With good reason, Roger Corman is known as the king of the B's, as in B movies. After all, he's had his hands on close to four hundred pictures as director and/or producer. It adds up to about fifty years of movies so bad they're awesome. Most of these were made on the cheap, filmed entirely in a handful of days or less. All but one, The Intruder turned a profit. The man knows what his audience wants and gives it to them. That's the easy assessment of Corman, the schlock-meister making money off a never ending succession of cinematic turds. However, as this documentary shows, that is an off-handed dismissal of a career that is immensely important to cinematic history.

True, Corman is a shrewd businessman who, to this day, is still churning out cheapos. Also true, his infamous guerilla-style filmmaking served as proving grounds for a number of Hollywood legends. Jack Nicholson, Martin Scorcese, Francis Ford Coppola, Jonathan Demme, James Cameron and Ron Howard all cut their teeth on his sets. Others he didn't technically "discover", but worked for him very early in their careers include Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Robert De Niro. There are many others, but you get the idea. In addition, he was instrumental in bringing the work of foreign masters such as Truffaut, Kurosawa and Fellini to the United States. Thereore, his legacy is much more about perseverance and the spirit of the auteur than it is about the types of movies he made. Corman's World is about a man who has taken a most unusual path to greatness.

The Dilemma

Directed by Ron Howard.

2011. Rated PG-13, 111 minutes.
Cast:
Vince Vaughn
Kevin James
Winona Ryder
Jennifer Connelly
Channing Tatum
Queen Latifah
Chelcie Ross
Amy Morton
Eduardo N. Martinez

What should you do if you find out your best friend’s wife is cheating on him? That question is at the heart of The Dilemma. The conflicted guy is Ronny (Vaughn). He’s not really conflicted, though. He has a pretty brief period of doubt then decides he’s definitely going to tell his pal Nick (James) about his wife’s indiscretions. It’s a matter of timing. Not only are Ronny and Nick best friends they are also business partners in the midst of trying to secure the biggest deal of their lives. The stress of this has already caused Nick’s ulcer to flare up again. Understandably, Ronny fears that news like this would completely break his friend. When he confronts Geneva (Ryder), the guilty party, with his knowledge and plans she offers up some interesting justifications. What ensues is Nick following around both of them while ignoring Beth (Connelly), his own girlfriend. He’s also sort of torn about whether or not to pop the big question to her.

Vince Vaughn gives the same performance we’ve come to expect from him. You can decide for yourself it that’s a positive or a negative. He’s ably assisted by Ryder, Connelly and even a refreshingly subdued Kevin James. There are also interesting turns by Channing Tatum and Queen Latifah. Overall, it shapes up to be a nice little drama with a few funny moments sprinkled in. It’s not mind-blowing or anything, but a decent time-passer.

Expectations is what dooms The Dilemma. If you’ve paid any attention to the marketing campaign for the film and are even slightly familiar with the two male leads you should reasonably expect a screwball comedy. It is not anything of the sort. That people would be severely disappointed only makes sense. It’s like ordering a thick, juicy steak and being given a salad with a few strips of beef within. Sure, that can be good on most days, but today you had your heart set on that steak.

The question that arises is this: Is The Dilemma not really that funny because it’s not trying or are the jokes falling flat? I’ll own up to having trouble discerning. There are some jokes that definitely fail. There are plenty of other spots where I didn’t think they were going for laughs at all, but attempting to make Ronny (and occasionally the others) both a pathetic and sympathetic figure. I thought it worked. However, for audiences craving steak, this salad just won’t do.

Frost/Nixon

Frost/Nixon
2008. Rated R, 123 minutes.
Director: Ron Howard. Starring Michael Sheen, Frank Langella, Kevin Bacon, Oliver Platt, Rebecca Hall, Toby Jones.

Plot: Former US President Richard Nixon (Langella) grants his first interview since resigning from office to British talk show host David Frost (Sheen).

The Good: This is an actors' movie and the actors deliver. The writing and directing are both superb but without the actors it would disintegrate. After all, the movie largely consists of people sitting around hotel rooms and living rooms talking. It doesn't sound like riveting drama, but it is. Frank Langella is marvelous as Pres. Nixon. He conveys the smugness of a man confident things will turn out in his favor, yet accusing "media people" of possessing that same trait. People who have seen the actual interviews the movie is based on, or really can remember Nixon, might notice that Langella is much more demonstrative that the President. However, that's done for dramatic purposes and Langella (and the script) hit all the right notes to create what essentially is the movie's villain. Speaking of hitting the right notes, Michael Sheen also does so as David Frost. He is simply perfect. Like most great performances, he does his best acting when he's not talking. Through these moments we sense the pressure mounting on him to pull off something amazing or watch his career go down the drain. That same pressure is on the people working with him and the supporting cast does a great job showing this. Finally, the movie gives us a love interest for our hero but doesn't distract us with a love story.

The Bad: It, maybe, could've gotten more out of Pres. Nixon's team. We get plenty of Jack Brennan (Bacon) but the rest of his team of strategists are reduced to wall flowers simply around for reaction shots. Getting more input from them might possibly have raised the tension between the two camps a bit. Also, I know I commended the movie on not giving us a love story but they still could've found something for Caroline Cushing (Rebecca Hall) to do. She's pretty much just a prop in the background for most of the movie. However, if giving her more to do would've changed the direction of the film then I'm fine with it, as is.

The Ugly: The Prez's late night, drunken phone call to our hero.

Recommendation: Fans of political and/or courtroom drams will love this (yes, I know there are no courtroom scenes in this movie). It's the best one of either I've seen in quite some time. It works best if you have a decent working of knowledge of Nixon's presidency. Stay away if you need any of the following to enjoy a movie: gunplay, explosions, fighting, romance or slapstick.

The Opposite View: Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald

What the Internet Says: 8.0/10 on imdb.com (5/19/09), 92% on rottentomatoes.com, 80/100 on metacritic.com

MY SCORE: 9.5/10