Meek’s Cutoff

2011 in Movies: biggest disappointments

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LE QUATTRO VOLTE

1.  I haven’t seen Killer Joe, Restless and Tyrannosaur becuase they haven’t been released where I live.  And I haven’t seen Oslo August 3, The Kid on the Bike, Paul Williams Still Alive, Natural Selection, Polisse and Little White Lies because – as far as I know – they haven’t yet been released in the US.  You can read descriptions and watch trailers of these films as Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

 

2.  Meek’s Cutoff is an unfortunate misfire by the excellent director Kelly Reichardt (Old Joy, Wendy and Lucy).

 

3.  Le Quattro Volte is supposed to be a lyrical contemplation on the Circle of Life, but you’ll find yourself checking your watch during the interminable hacking of an aged goatherd.  If the geezer had taken Robitussin DM, there would be no story at all.

 

4.  The bewildering, pompous mess that is The Tree of Life .  It does contain a fine 90-minute family drama about a boy growing up in 1950s Waco (a superb Hunter McCracken) and the friction with his caring but brutishly domineering father (Brad Pitt). Unfortunately, there is another 60 minutes in the movie.

That additional 60 minutes is a self-important muddle that tries to lift the story to an exploration of life itself – from creation through afterlife. There are beautiful shots of clouds and waterfalls, with unintelligible whisperings from cast members. There are Bible verses, the Big Bang and dinosaurs (yes, dinosaurs). And, in case you don’t get how seriously the movie takes itself, there is an overbearingly pretentious score.

 

5. The Hangover Part II.  I really enjoyed The Hangover, but the sequel was just lame.

 

6.  Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives is by no means a bad film, but I expected more from the winner of the Palm d’Or.

 

7.  David Gordon Green, director of All the Real Girls, Undertow, Snow Angels and Pineapple Express, showed up this year with The Sitter.  Say it ain’t so, Dave.

 

8.  HBO’s take on the financial meltdown, Too Big To Fail, failed in spite of an excellent cast.  It wasn’t nearly as good as last year’s great documentary Inside Job or this year’s fictional Margin Call.

 

9.  James Franco co-hosting the Academy Awards.  Lay off the weed, Jimmy!

 

10.  After watching the jaw droppingly awful trailer, I was hoping that Nicholas Cage’s Season of the Witch would be deliciously and entertainingly laugh out loud bad. But it was just bad.

 

Movies to See Right Now

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13 Assassins

The top picks this week are Incendies, Midnight in Paris and Cave of Forgotten Dreams.  I’m still urging people to see the searing drama Incendies, the year’s best film so far. Upon their mother’s death, a young man and woman learn for the first time of their father and their brother and journey from Quebec to the Middle East to uncover family secrets. As they bumble around Lebanon, we see the mother’s experience in flashbacks. We learn before they do that their lives were created – literally – by the violence of the Lebanese civil war.

Woody Allen’s sweet and smart Midnight in Paris is his best comedy in twenty-five years.  Owen Wilson accompanies fiancée Rachel McAdams to Paris, where she is intrigued by pretentious blowhard Michael Sheen, leaving Wilson to explore midnight Paris and time travel back to the Paris of the Lost Generation.

Don’t miss Cave of Forgotten Dreams while it can be seen in 3D; Werner Herzog explores the amazing 30,000 year old Chauvet cave paintings.

13 Assassins is brilliantly staged and photographed, and is one of the best recent action films; an honorable samurai must assemble and lead a team of thirteen to hack their way through a psychotically sadistic noble’s 200 bodyguards.

In Bridesmaids, Kristen Wiig plays a woman whose insecurities keep her from seeing the good and the possible in her life; it’s funny, but not one of the year’s best. Meek’s Cutoff is a disappointing misfire.

For trailers and other choices,see Movies to See Right Now.

I haven’t yet seen The Tree of Life, which opens this weekend. You can see trailers of upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

My DVD pick is Kaboom.

Movies on TV this week include the vicious drama Sweet Smell of Success and the campy mutant rabbit horror flick Night of the Lepus on TCM.

Meek’s Cutoff: when men don’t ask for directions

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Meek’s Cutoff is an unfortunate misfire by the excellent director Kelly Reichardt (Old Joy, Wendy and Lucy).   The masterpiece Picnic at Hanging Rock has already been made.  We didn’t need an indifferent covered wagon version.

The route of the Oregon Trail was not yet well established in 1845, so a covered wagon train hires a mountain man who claims that he has found a shortcut through the Cascades.  However, it becomes clear that the mountain man (Bruce Greenwood) is unreliable, and there is a new option of following an Indian of unknown motives.  We can’t even tell if the Indian is sane.  The men (Will Patton, Paul Dano) must figure out what to do while their wives (Michelle Williams, Shirley Henderson) eavesdrop and guess their fate.

There are possibilities there, but Reichardt hasn’t made much of a point by the time the movie ends.  We know that human decision making cannot guarantee survival in a harsh and unfamiliar environment, but that’s not enough of a payoff after tromping around bleak Eastern Oregon for two hours.

Oddly, Reichardt shot the movie in a 1.37:1 Academy screen ratio.  This looks especially boxy in a Western set in a vast, horizonless wilderness.

Movies: Best Bets for May

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You can see trailers and descriptions of upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

Nominated for the Best Foreign Language Oscar, Incendies, releases widely May 6.  Upon their mother’s death, a young man and woman learn for the first time of their father and their brother and journey from Quebec to the Middle East to uncover family secrets.

Meek’s Cutoff is especially promising because it is directed by the excellent Kelly Reichardt (Old Joy, Wendy and Lucy).  The route of the Oregon Trail was not yet well established in 1845, so a covered wagon train hires a mountain man who claims that he has found a shortcut through the Cascades.  However, it becomes clear that the mountain man (Bruce Greenwood) is unreliable, and there is a new option of following an Indian of unknown motives.  The men (Will Patton, Paul Dano) must figure out what to do while their wives (Michelle Williams, Shirley Henderson) eavesdrop and guess their fate. Releasing widely on May 6.

And now for a lowbrow guilty pleasure on May 27:  The Hangover Part II.  The buddies return – this time losing a little brother on a wild night in Bangkok.

Here’s the trailer for Incendies: