Latest Reviews March 20-26, 2008

Doomsday

Near-future, post-viral action thriller Doomsday is chiefly notable for the important question about filmmaker evolution that it raises: Is a somewhat self-aware hack better than a blissed-out, oblivious hack who thinks he’s making high art? Written and directed by Neil Marshall (The Descent), the movie unfolds in 2035 Scotland, after a lethal virus and a drastic quarantine have left a walled-in fiefdom, devoid of social order. With a new outbreak in nearby, overpopulated London looming and an ineffectual British prime minister (Alexander Siddig) being railroaded by his scheming advisor, the military sends in steely ass-kicker Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra) to extract some sort of vaccine or cure from the survivors.

If Doomsday’s story is taped together from the Resident Evil and 28 Days/Weeks Later films, its costuming (purple mohawks! facial tattoos!) and production design seem nipped from The Road Warrior or a Grace Jones music video. Every single thing in Marshall’s film – character relationships, motivations big and small, and especially action settings and editing – is poorly or thoughtlessly defined, so much so that he righteously dials up the sound mix … during early scenes of expository setup. Usually this is a sign of an impatient commercial director not trusting a screenplay, trying to cold-crank the vehicle and get the “excitement” started. When the director actually wrote the script, however, isn’t this a slyly shrugging acknowledgment of its basic ineptitude? (Brent Simon) (Citywide)

Fighting for Life

The new documentary from two-time Oscar winner Terry Sanders follows medical personnel who received training at the Uniformed Services University – the West Point of med schools and learning center for 25 percent of all military physicians. For these fresh-faced teenagers, the journey begins by sitting through lectures, dissecting cadavers, and carrying “patients” through obstacle courses. Soon, they’re in Iraq, treating 17 wounded an hour, including a three-year-old burn victim, his tiny arm swathed in gauze, and a newly-paralyzed Iraqi soldier begging an American sergeant to kill him.

While the information about those on “the life-saving end of things” is certainly fascinating, Sanders doesn’t take full advantage of his unlimited access. His film is merely a heavy skim of battlefield hospitals and rehab centers. We don’t follow or emotionally invest in any of the medical personnel, although we do witness the rehabilitation of Army Specialist Crystal Davis, who lost her leg in an IED blast. But we’ve seen stories like hers before. While it’s not as powerful as HBO’s Baghdad ER, it’s still an informative shout-out to the selfless few whose contributions cannot be minimized. And horror-movie makeup artists, take note: If an actors’ strike shuts down production, help the war effort by becoming a Casualty Simulation Artist, applying phony injuries to soldiers during field exercises. Show those Republicans that Hollywood really does love America. (Mark Keizer) (Laemmle’s Sunset 5)

The Hammer

Radio (Loveline) and TV (The Man Show) star Adam Carolla makes the leap to leading man in this rom-com/sports drama. Like Carolla, character Jerry Ferro is a carpenter (not a handyman) and an amateur boxer, and has a Nicaraguan (not Mexican) best pal Ozzie (Oswaldo Castillo, familiar to listeners of Carolla’s morning radio show). Just turned 40, Jerry loses yet another job and gets dumped in short order. At the gym where he teaches evening boxing classes to mostly middle-class women, he gets a second shot both in the ring and at love.

The Hammer is at times immensely entertaining, a bit in spite of itself, based on Carolla alone. Middle-aged and lanky, he makes an unlikely opponent for the fit young pugilists he goes up against, but he’s unafraid to look goofy. And, although the romantic scenes can be painfully awkward, Carolla’s particular brand of ranting, tangential comedy, often aimed at his beloved Los Angeles, transfers well to the big screen. Even the sports-movie clichés are entertainingly tweaked. Unfortunately, some of the gags and the action lose their impact simply due to shoddy editing and shot construction. Writer Kevin Hench (The Man Show) brought with him wife Heather Juergensen (co-star and producer), who in turn brought on producing partner Eden Wurmfeld and her brother, director Charles Herman-Wurmfeld. The trio previously made Kissing Jessica Stein together but is mismatched with this material. (Annlee Ellingson) (Laemmle’s Monica 4, Laemmle’s Sunset 5, Laemmle’s Playhouse 7, AMC Burbank 8)

Planet B-Boy

After an unneeded skim across break-dancing history from the highs (Ken Swift spinning in Flashdance!) to the lows (President Reagan nodding approvingly at a stage of tamed b-boys), Benson Lee’s energetic documentary settles into a familiar structure. It’s the 2005 “Battle of the Year” and 19 teams from 18 countries have mobbed Germany to drop some science. In the first half, we identify our five teams: the lithe, musical French; the battling Americans; the innovative Japanese; and two raucously athletic South Korean groups – underdogs Last for One and last year’s grand champion Gamblerz. (Cheeseball names are de rigueur.) Each has a need to win, but the South Koreans’ is most compelling – once they’re drafted into the anti-dancing Army, they’ll never dominate the floor again.

Lee does a decent job making us care for the squads, or at least a key member or two of each. But he does better just by pointing his camera at the breathtaking contortions of the human body. A head-spinner who twists his body like a flame is topped by a dancer who stands steady, as his buddy balances on his head whirling like a pinwheel beanie. Too often, Lee interrupts their feats for some extra emotional padding; the climactic duel is paused twice as hip-hoppers ruminate about their daddy issues. (Amy Nicholson) (Nuart)

’Tis Autumn: The Search for Jackie Paris

In 1991, pianist and future documentarian Raymond De Felitta was gobsmacked when he heard a song on the radio by one Jackie Paris – a name he was totally unfamiliar with. A reference book said that Paris had died 15 years earlier, so in 2004 De Felitta was even more gobsmacked when he saw that the 79-year-old Paris would be appearing for three days at a New York club. During the next few months, De Felitta – who had been nominated for an Oscar for his fictional short Bronx Cheers – filmed Paris, trying to uncover just why the amazingly talented singer had remained relatively obscure, despite having worked with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Charles Mingus and having among his boosters Peggy Lee and Lenny Bruce.

De Felitta talks to musicians and jazz historians, as well as to Paris’s family, searching for some primary reason that Paris never came close to being a household name. Did he have a scandalous secret? Had he offended a mob-connected club owner? Was he an egotistical S.O.B. who had alienated the people who tried to help him? The movie suggests much, but, in the end, it seems to be all and none of the above. What is certain is that De Felitta makes a strong case for Paris’s greatness simply by cramming the soundtrack with cuts from the singer’s sporadic five-decade discography. Revealing a voice a little like Chet Baker, but larger and more controlled, his version of “Skylark” says all that needs to be said. (Andy Klein) (Laemmle’s Grande 4)

Under the Same Moon

When Rosario (Kate del Castillo) leaves her poor Mexican village to find work in the United States, she puts her son Carlito (Adrian Alonso) in the care of his grandmother. But when grandma goes kaput, Carlito has only one last hope for a normal family life: undertake the perilous border-crossing trek, make lots of colorful friends along the way, and magically find his mother just in the nick of time, resulting in the kind of tearful, weepy, audience-pleasing reunion that absolutely never happens in real life.

A hit with audiences at the Sundance Film Festival, director Patricia Riggen’s shamelessly manipulative fable (scripted by TV writer Ligiah Villalobos) plays the heartstrings so fiercely you can almost hear them fraying. Not that this film’s core audience will care: This is art-house populism – melodrama with a message – and those who go to see it will already be so predisposed to love it that its actual flaws and merits are almost beside the point. For anyone who wants a similar story told with more grit, honesty, and depth, the flawed but still compelling 2005 Russian film The Italian is a markedly better effort. (Wade Major) (Citywide)

Also Opening This Week:

Drillbit Taylor. Three bullied high school kids (Troy Gentile, Nate Hartley, David Dorfman) hire an inept soldier of fortune (Owen Wilson) to protect them from a bully (Alex Frost). Steven Brill (Little Nicky, Without a Paddle) directed from a screenplay credited to Kristofor Brown, Seth Rogen, and “Edmond Dantes.” (AK) (Citywide)

Nana. Two completely dissimilar girls named Nana become best friends in Tokyo. Otani Kentaro directed this 2005 production, adapted from a manga series by Ai Yazawa. (AK) (ImaginAsian Theatre, 251 S. Main St., downtown L.A., 213-617-1033. Theimaginasian.com/la.)

Shutter. Newlyweds (Joshua Jackson, Rachael Taylor) go to Tokyo for their honeymoon and find ghostly images in the photographs they’re taking. Masayuki Ochiai (The Hypnotist) directed this Hollywood remake of a 2004 Thai film by Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom. (AK) (Citywide)

Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns. Yet another family-reunion flick from one-man-band Tyler Perry, who not only wrote and directed this adaptation of his 2004 stage-to-video release, but also reprises his Madea character. Tamela J. Mann and Angela Bassett costar. (AK) (Citywide)