Now Playing

Here's a look at the new movies I saw this week.

Game Change

Starring: Julianne Moore, Ed Harris, and Woody Harrelson

Synopsis: "Game Change" is an HBO biopic that looks at the selection of Gov. Sarah Palin as a running mate for Sen. John McCain during the 2008 Presidential election. The film follows the closing months of the McCain-Palin campaign, the challenges that followed the selection of Palin, and tries to provide some insight into what went wrong. The film is a mixture of fictionalized docu-drama, based in part on the book from Mark Halperin, and file footage from the campaign. With this type of movie, you can never be sure what is accurate and what is exaggerated. Palin, and her team, have decried the movie for it's unfair representation of her. That's possibly true. But when evaluating a movie for entertainment, message, and quality, those arguments about the historical representation are secondary. So I will address this movie based on its artistic merit, rather than engage in a discussion of fact. Though I will say that, in my opinion, the film fairly accurately represented the Palin we've all come to know via the media. And the portrayal of McCain, in my opinion, was favorable. He comes off as an honest man who wanted to run a good campaign but got caught in a whirlwind. The film isn't overly harsh to anyone — in fact it plays more like an examination of a fatal campaign strategy flaw and the reality of governance in the 21st Century. Considering those two ideas, the film does a fantastic job of capture the issues and making you think. I would say this film, much like the fictionalized "Ides of March," does a great job of presenting the state of American politics as it is. The performances are great. Harrelson gives perhaps his best performance in years. He has become an exceptional dramatic actor. Moore does a great job, too, channeling the complexities of Palin. This is far more than a simple impression — as Tina Fey offered on "Saturday Night Live" — Moore becomes the character. Harris does a great job as McCain too, as does the rest of the supporting cast. Director Jay Roach moves the film along well, creating a sense of dramatic tension and capturing the behind-the-scenes drama that is part of a campaign that Americans remember all too well. Perhaps the best aspect of the film is the social idea it poses — that the culture of celebrity has extended to elections at the highest level. No longer can a respectable politician get elected, no matter how good his views are, if he doesn't have the modern media personality to match. This is a fascinating, entertaining, and wonderfully made film.

Verdict: Four stars out of four.

John Carter

Starring: Willem Dafoe, Lynn Collins, Dominic West, and Taylor Kitsch

Synopsis: For the past few years, March has been a time when studios have rolled out a big-budget, effects-driven film hoping to dominate the market before a flood of such films arrive in the summer. It hasn’t always worked. “John Carter” is one of those films trying to catch the market at a good time. It didn’t, but not because there’s so many other films out there, but rather because the filmmakers didn’t do a good job. Plus, like so many other misguided moves, the film was released in 3D as a means of increasing its Box Office take. “John Carter” is based on a series of stories from Edgar Rice Burroughs. The stories were written in the early 1900s, and likely would have seemed fantastic at the time. The ads for the film correctly note that the stories served as inspiration for other sci-fi, fantasy, and comic book stories that followed. But the problem for “John Carter” is that, though it may have been created first, it’s a little late to the cinema party. I’m sure the names alone seemed complex in this movie. They are. The film is sometimes hard to follow, which is strange because it also feels super familiar. Doubtless some of the story got lost in translation, and the film also feels familiar because it was the inspiration for so many modern films that followed it. All that works against co-writer/director Andrew Stanton (“Wall-E”), who is trying to make a big budget, exciting movie that just doesn’t make the elements work. The film’s visual effects are passable. Its performances are passable. Its story is weak, but passable. But none of that coincides with a $250 million budget film that is supposed to be a cinematic event. That was combined with a few other factors that just didn’t work. The story was hard to follow, in part, because of the weird names for everything and the unclear relationship between the characters. It looks like plenty of time was spent crafting the visual effects, but not enough time was spent making sure the film is coherent. It just comes off as a Civil War soldier transported to the desert, dressing like He-Man lite, and engaging in battles with some strange, tattooed warriors. None of that works that well. “John Carter” is meant to pave the way for a series of films. The first story includes a complex back story and spends a painful amount of time introducing characters. But the characters are all two-dimensional, and at the end of 132-minutes you’re still not invested in the story. Given that, it’s hard to see how this film can become a major film franchise, no matter how rich and amazing the original source material was when it was released.

Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action.

Verdict: One star out of four.

(Because it is now, finally, opening in Paso Robles)

The Iron Lady

Starring: Meryl Streep, Jim Broadbent, Richard E. Grant, and Olivia Coleman

Synopsis: Streep already won the Academy Award for this role, as well as the Golden Globe. She is, without a doubt, the greatest actress working, and she brings her all to this role. Streep plays Margaret Thatcher, the first female Prime Minster in England. Streep captures a unique mannerism and speaking voice while bringing her incredible emotional range to the role. That being said, "The Iron Lady" is a bit of a disappointment as a film. In much the same way I praised Leonardo DiCaprio's performance but panned the film "J. Edgar," it was hard to like "The Iron Lady." The film is a biopic of an important historical figure that the average American likely doesn't know much about. Instead of a moving piece that gets you into the head space and mindset of Thatcher during key periods of her life, the film offers a muddled focus. It bounces back and forth and seemed to focus on aspects of the story that minimized Thatcher as a historical figure, which is unfortunate. Streep is a consummate professional, and the supporting cast does fairly well, especially Broadbent, but this is a tough film to watch. It feels like a missed opportunity.

Rating: PG-13 for some violent images and brief nudity.

Verdict: Two stars out of four.

Upcoming Releases:

Friday, March 16 — "21 Jump Street"

Friday, March 23 — "The Hunger Games"

Friday, March 30 — "Wrath of the Titans," "Mirror, Mirror"