Nebraska,
directed by Alexander Payne
(R, 115 minutes)
With a premise that could have played it safe -- a dutiful son reluctantly drives his elderly father across the Midwest because the old man is convinced beyond all reason that he's the sweepstakes winner of $1 million -- Nebraska instead creates a memorable portrait of aging and regret.
In Alexander Payne's evocative black-and-white road trip film, cranky alcoholic Woody (Bruce Dern) is married to bossy Kate (June Squibb) and is the none-too-involved father of audio-visual equipment salesman and all-around sad sack Dave (Will Forte) and perky local TV newscaster Ross (Bob Odenkirk). When Woody gets a sweepstakes letter in the mail, he becomes convinced he needs to go from his home in Billings, Mont., to Lincoln, Neb., to pick up his winnings in person. Dave, who deals with his father's bitter terseness and his mother's outgoing vitriol with equal amounts of patience and acceptance, finally agrees to take him.
It's a fool's errand, but to Dave, Woody's desire to get to Lincoln gives the old man a much-needed sense of purpose.
On the way, they visit Hawthorne, Neb., the hardscrabble town where Woody and his brothers grew up, to have an impromptu family reunion. When Woody runs into old friends -- and an enemy in his former business partner Ed (Stacy Keach) -- in a bar, he can't help but brag on the reason for his cross-country trek, and soon the town is ablaze with the (false) understanding that Woody is now a millionaire.
This sets everyone off. Ed demands repayment of a massive loan he supposedly made to Woody years ago, while two comically dense cousins attempt to steal the sweepstakes letter for themselves. But there's also excitement and joy at seeing one of their own make it big. Dave and his family realize the folly of letting the old man continue his self-deceptive fantasy, but it's still difficult to extinguish the hope it brings his dad.
Much like Jack Nicholson's elderly character in About Schmidt, this is about becoming old and obsolete and fearing that your life is of no consequence.
The film is the opposite of the standard Hollywood method of road-trip movies: Woody never comes around to seeing the error of his ways and loving his son the way he should. Rather, Dave finally gets the opportunity to understand Woody from a more objective point of view, and ends up able to give him something of lasting worth.
Elton John: The Million Dollar Piano (PG-13, 120 minutes) This concert film records Elton John's extravagant revue (complete with a piano equipped with 68 LED screens) that held court on and off starting in 2011 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Fans will thrill to some of the performer's greatest hits of his 45-year career, including "Bennie and the Jets," "Levon," "Tiny Dancer," "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting," "Philadelphia Freedom" and "Your Song." There's also a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the highly regarded 1973 album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.
Afflicted (R, 85 minutes) An ambitious low-budget found-footage horror thriller in which two best friends, on a trip of a lifetime around the world, find that their journey takes a dark turn after an encounter with a beautiful woman in Paris leaves one of them undergoing a mysterious and disturbing array of transformations.
Bonus features include deleted scenes as well as featurettes "Afflicted: Behind the Scenes" and "Anatomy of a Scene: The Window Jump" concerning one of the films' attention-getting action sequences. Written, directed and co-starring Derek Lee and Clif Prowse.
The Unknown Known (PG-13, 96 minutes) When documentarian Errol Morris (The Fog of War, The Thin Blue Line) asks former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to elaborate on some of the memos he wrote (and events he witnessed and helped to shape) in The Unknown Known, it's clear that Rumsfeld has a remarkable ability to craft responses that can transpose evasiveness into authority.
Does he hold any non-negotiable beliefs? It's hard to tell, because he insists on engaging Morris as an adversary. Rumsfeld displays a formidable intelligence, but he won't allow any access to his personality. He comes across as calculating, cocky and immune to most human emotion.
To his credit, Morris doesn't insist on demonizing Rumsfeld and allows his subject to answer direct questions posed in whatever fashion he wishes. What's most telling are Rumsfeld's asides. His strategy is to respond with statements that don't quite address Morris' points, but can't really be refuted either.
This is all highly entertaining, even if Rumsfeld doesn't treat Morris with the smug contempt he heaped on the Washington press corps. After a while, Morris' larger point -- that Rumsfeld values power over truth -- becomes clear, but it's hard not to retain a residual respect for Rumsfeld's deft handling of language.
The Lunchbox (PG, 104 minutes) Set in India, charming and well-observed The Lunchbox revolves around a mistaken delivery by the Dabbawalas (lunchbox service) of Mumbai, which leads to a relationship between lonely widower Saajan and unhappy housewife Ila as they start exchanging notes through the daily midday meal. With Irfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur; directed by Ritesh Batra.
The Wolf of Wall Street (R, 180 minutes) Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street is a restless, disjointed three-hour spectacle that feels as raw as its protagonist, self-made bunco artist Jordan Belfort (played with ferociousness by Leonardo DiCaprio).
It's the story of Belfort's incredible rise from selling penny stocks to a life of depravity and corruption, fueled by piles of money hauled in from naive suckers who believe in him. Eventually it all comes crashing down, but nothing too terrible happens to Jordan, which makes for a problematic resolution. But if you enjoy the comedy that comes from excess, this is time well spent.
MovieStyle on 07/04/2014