by Phil Mann
What are THE PERKS OF BEING A
WALLFLOWER? A
beguiling title, but really the movie is more about how cool it is
to be
different… and not care. It’s a tough role for most high school
students, but
the brother and sister pair of Sam (Emma Watson – Harry Potter) and Patrick (Ezra Miller – We Need to Talk About Kevin) are triumphantly beyond
the pale, so
good-looking and self-confident that they create their own little
circle of
senior-year superiority. Charlie (Logan Lerman), a clueless
freshman – the wallflower
of the title – stumbles into their penumbra and has the experience
of a
lifetime until it all collapses and he has to step to the fore.
“A sweet surprise, a funny, touching terrific
and quite
wonderful movie that gets it all right about the joys and
heartbreaks of
growing up circa 1991.” (Pete Hammond, Box Office Magazine)
“Touching and brimming with the energy,
enthusiasm and tides
of teenage love and life, 'Perks'
could very well be the next classic of the genre.” (Kevin
Jagernauth, The
Playlist)
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Moving on in life, LIBERAL ARTS takes
up the angst of a
35-year-old “kid.” Jesse (Josh Radnor) is single and adrift when
he returns to
his old college for a dinner to celebrate the retirement of
Professor Hoberg, his
favorite teacher (Richard Jenkins). But it’s a pretty young
sophomore, Zibby
(Elizabeth Olsen) and a sexy older English professor (Allison
Janney) who capture
his attention. “Nobody feels like an adult, that’s the world’s
dirty secret,”
Professor Hoberg warns him. Question is, can Jesse at least act
like one?
“Josh Radnor's Liberal
Arts is an almost unreasonable pleasure about a jaded New
Yorker who
returns to his alma mater in Ohio and finds that his heart would
like to stay
there.” (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times)
“An artful blend of tenderness and sharp,
clear-eyed
observations. Its characters talk like real people -- who also
happen to be
smart, appealing and thoughtful. “ (Claudia Puig, USA Today)
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Don’t confuse MEET THE FOKKENS
with the similarly
titled Meet the Fockers, the
Robert Di
Nero gagfest from 2004. This one is the real thing, a documentary
about an
aging pair of Amsterdam prostitutes (Meet
the Fuckers?). These 69-year-old twins haven’t lost their
sense of humor,
or their enjoyment of sharing their ribald past. “Rob Schroder and
Gabrielle
Provaas' raunchy, hilariously uninhibited documentary should wow
arthouse
audiences.” (Ronnie Schieb, Variety)
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Lots of
holdovers this
week: Joseph Gordon Levitt’s loopy sci-fi LOOPERS; the a cappella delight PITCH PERFECT; Tim
Burton’s animated
goof FRANKENWEENIE
(3D); and Nicole Kidman’s slut turn in THE PAPERBOY.
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This week’s Monday night Creature Feature is THE THING,
the 1951 classic about a vegetable monster at an Arctic
research
station (played by Gunsmoke’s
James
Arness in a rubber suit). “One of the seminal 1950s creature
feature films that
paved the bridge between the horror and science fiction genres,”
says
ClassicHorror.com.
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Have you seen the announcements about the
upcoming inaugural
KEY
WEST FILM FESTIVAL? Four days of premieres, parties
and panache from
November 29-December 2. The festival will be taking over all four
Tropic
screens, plus the San Carlos. It kicks off on Thursday night with
director Kat
Coiro introducing her film While We Were Here,
starring Kate Bosworth, and concludes on Sunday night with a final
free movie
on the beach outside Salute! You’ll be able to see Dustin
Hoffman’s directoral
debut film – Quartet, the first ever Judy Blume novel
brought to the big
screen, featuring Willa Holland and Russell Means – Tiger Eyes,
and the Tribeca
Film Festival winning movie starring Alan Cumming – Any Day Now.
I’ll be
telling you more as the event draws closer. But you can get full
info and buy
tickets now at Keywestfilmfestival.com.
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