The Dialog

By Joseph McAleer

Catholic News Service

We have the assurance of the Old Testament that the iniquity of a father will be visited upon his children.  That happens more than once in “The Place Beyond the Pines.”

Director and co-writer (with Ben Coccio and Darius Marder) Derek Cianfrance elevates a standard crime drama into a wrenching and profound morality tale about ordinary lives caught in the balance between good and evil. Each life decision carries a high price that few wish to pay, with the debt and the consequences passed on to the next generation.

Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes star in a scene from the movie “The Place Beyond the Pines.” The Catholic News Service classification is L — limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted.

The film’s title is also its setting, the titular phrase being an English translation of the Mohawk word from which the upstate city of Schenectady, N.Y., takes its name. The carnival comes to this depressed industrial burg, bringing with it “Handsome Luke” (Ryan Gosling), a motorcycle stuntman who rides around the inside of a steel cage like a gerbil on steroids.

Luke is thrown for a different kind of loop when his ex-lover Romina (Eva Mendes) comes to see his show. She has a surprise for him: a baby son. But Romina wants love, not a husband; she’s living with Kofi (Mahershala Ali) and planning her future.

Fatherhood transforms Luke. Sneaking into a Catholic church to watch his son being baptized, a rite depicted here with refreshing reverence and accuracy, Luke has a tearful epiphany (the redemptive nature of water is a recurrent image throughout the film). He pledges to quit the circus, win Romina back, and provide for his new family.

Sensible fathers resolved on such a course would get a proper job. Luke instead decides to rob banks, relying on his motorcycle skills for smooth getaways. He hooks up with Robin (Ben Mendelsohn), a demented auto-body mechanic and petty thief, to plan the heists.

They are initially very successful, becoming, so to speak, the Clyde & Clyde of the Mohawk Valley. Flush with cash, Luke showers Romina and the baby with gifts, enflaming Kofi’s jealousy. Then Luke beats Kofi to a pulp, and lands in jail.

Not, however, for long. More determined than ever, Luke resumes his life of crime, this time without Robin’s help. “If you ride like lightning you’re gonna crash like thunder,” Robin warns.

That fall happens midway through the film, when “The Place Beyond the Pines” takes a dramatic turn. Avery (Bradley Cooper), a rookie cop, gets his big break, tracking down the elusive bank robber. Like Luke, Avery has a baby son, and has high hopes for his future.

To elaborate further would spoil the outcome of the film. Luke and Avery’s interaction has devastating consequences, not only for them, but for their families, and, especially, their sons.

Cianfrance’s picture offers a powerful message about temptation and relativism, as well as the role of conscience and the effect of one individual’s actions on others; though the choices made by the conflicted characters are not, of course, always ideal ones.

The film contains action violence including gunplay, brief gore, frequent drug and alcohol use, a instance of distasteful humor, a scene of sensuality, and a couple of uses each of profane and crass language. The Catholic News Service classification is L — limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

By Joseph McAleer

Catholic News Service

By turns repellent and charming, “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone” comically charts the rise and fall of dueling magicians on the famed Las Vegas Strip.

On the surface, the film seeks its laughs the conventional Hollywood way, via sexual innuendo or gross-out sight gags. Regrettably, such sleaze, together with a morally flawed conclusion, obscures interesting commentaries on the wickedness of narcissism and a fallen idol’s potential path to redemption.

Alan Arkin, Jim Carrey, Steve Carell and Michael Bully star in a scene from the movie “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone.” The Catholic News Service classification is L — limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. (CNS/Warner. Bros)

For years, the hottest ticket in Sin City has been “A Magical Friendship,” headlined by the superstar, and colorfully named — magicians Burt Wonderstone (Steve Carell) and Anton Marvelton (Steve Buscemi). The two have been pals since elementary school, when a shared love for sleight-of-hand built confidence and provided armor against bullies.

“Everyone loves a magician,” intoned the great illusionist Rance Holloway (Alan Arkin) in his how-to videotape watched by the wide-eyed boys. “And they will all love you, too.”

Audiences did, but lately changing tastes and increased competition have dimmed the spotlight and strained the friendship. Burt, channeling Siegfried and Roy with his flowing blond locks, spray tan and sequined jumpsuit, has become an obnoxious diva who beds lady volunteers from the audience. He’s bored with the act and, especially, with Anton, who has never wavered in his self-discipline and loyalty.

When a new stunt fails in spectacular fashion, the duo parts ways, and Burt falls on hard times, forced to work as an entertainer in an old folks’ home.

Meanwhile, a new star is rising in the person of outrageous street performer Steve Gray (Jim Carrey), who goes by the title “The Brain Rapist.” Steve’s form of magic involves squeamish physical challenges, such as using his head to pound nails into wood or holding his urine for days on end.

To Steve, magicians such as Burt and Anton are old school and must be destroyed. “It’s natural for a dying leaf to be frightened of this autumn wind,” he tells Burt.

To make matters worse, Burt and Anton’s former assistant, the lovely Jane (Olivia Wilde), has become Steve’s aide. But Jane, a magician herself, has a soft spot for the down-and-out Burt, and supports efforts to turn his life around.

“The Incredible Burt Wonderstone” takes a decisive wrong turn at its climax, when a big comeback stunt depends more on narcotics than on magic. Coming on top of all the dubious humor on display, this development ramps up the problematic content of the picture, and will leave viewers questioning whether Burt’s values have really changed after all.

The film contains a benign view of drug use and contraception, much crude humor, sexual innuendo and occasional profane and rough language. The Catholic News Service classification is L, limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13, parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

By Kurt Jensen

Catholic News Service

A souped-up Corvette gets more screen time than star Arnold Schwarzenegger in “The Last Stand,” a formulaic shoot- em-up action flick that marks Schwarzenegger’s return to leading-man roles.

Forest Whitaker and Arnold Schwarzenegger star in a scene from the movie “The Last Stand.” The Catholic News Service classification is L — limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian. (CNS photo/Lionsgate)

Guns go a-blazin’ when Gabriel Cortez (Eduardo Noriega), the leader of a Mexican drug cartel, escapes custody just as he’s being sent to death row. He outwits the feds, led by agent John Bannister (Forest Whitaker).

Key to the plot, Cortez also is a skilled race-car driver and his Corvette can hit speeds of nearly 200 mph.

He’s planning to cross the border at a narrow canyon near Sommerton, Ariz. Out to stop him is the town’s sheriff, ex-Los Angeles police officer Ray Owens (Schwarzenegger). Sommerton’s a sleepy place and Owens’ deputies are clownish until faced with this unprecedented challenge.

Cortez has a hostage in tow, FBI agent Ellen Richards (Genesis Rodriguez), while Owens has his deputies and an ally in local loon Lewis Dinkum (Johnny Knoxville).

The big finale includes a car chase through a cornfield and considerable gunfire aimed at an empty school bus. Schwarzenegger doesn’t chase the bad guys; they come to him. Convenient that, given his age.

Director Kim Jee-Woon and screenwriter Andrew Knauer stick mostly to the car-chase genre while failing to give Schwarzenegger a single good one-liner, unless you count, “Dese tings are all connected.”

Meandering mayhem for the sturdy and mature only.

The film contains considerable violence, including much gunplay, occasional profanity and frequent rough language. The Catholic News Service classification is L, limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R, restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

By Adam Shaw

Catholic News Service

Scandal, intrigue and a surfeit of bad language combine to form “Broken City.” This thriller with political overtones is strictly for those who can withstand actors growling their lines, downing two shots of whiskey in one go and dropping a payload worth of F-bombs.

Russell Crowe and Mark Wahlberg star in a scene from the movie “Broken City.” The Catholic News Service classification is L — limited adult audience.

Seven years after being acquitted in the suspicious shooting of a rapist and murderer, ex-cop Billy Taggart (Mark Wahlberg) is approached by the mayor of New York, Nicolas Hostetler (a sensational Russell Crowe), who wants to make a deal: Hizzoner withheld evidence of Taggart’s wrongdoing; now, he wants Taggart to return the favor with some private-eye work.

With the mayoral election looming and feisty new rival Jack Valliant (Barry Pepper) posing a threat to his reign, Hostetler is determined to retain his office by any means necessary. But he fears that his wife, Cathleen (Catherine Zeta-Jones), is two-timing him. So, for $50,000, the former officer is dispatched to follow, find, and film the illicit couple.

Predictably, things are not what they seem in director Allen Hughes’ picture, and the grizzled Taggart quickly finds himself caught in a web of intrigue and blackmail. He has other troubles as well, namely, his struggle with alcoholism and his complicated, frequently strained relationship with girlfriend and wannabe actress Natalie (Natalie Martinez).

Moviegoers of faith will be pleased by Taggart’s commitment to justice, despite the sometimes murky means by which he seeks to achieve it. Laudably, Brian Tucker’s screenplay shows the true costs and consequences of corruption. While it encourages viewers to understand Taggart’s morally dubious choices, his script doesn’t prompt them to approve.

Yet the evident desire to turn out a gritty movie sends things off track, with scenes of heavy drinking interspersed with locker-room vulgarities.

Although at least one scene implies that Taggart and Natalie are living together, he is at least shown to be a believer in marital fidelity. In fact, when he reproaches the mayor’s wife with her breach of trust, she tauntingly responds, “Are you stupid or Catholic?”

The film contains occasional graphic violence, possible cohabitation, fleeting but strong sexual imagery, brief upper female nudity, mature themes, including adultery and homosexuality, about half-a-dozen uses of profanity, pervasive rough language, occasional crude and crass terms and a couple of anti-gay slurs. The Catholic News Service classification is L, limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R, restricted.

By John Mulderig

Catholic News Service

“Zero Dark Thirty” offers moviegoers a challenging account, based on real events, of the decade-long hunt for terrorist leader Osama bin Laden.

This gritty glimpse into the underworld of acknowledged detention centers and concealed prisons, known as “black sites,” raises ethical quandaries and presents content that will prove unsettling even for many adults.

U.S. Navy SEALs are portrayed in a scene from the movie “Zero Dark Thirty.” The Catholic News Service classification is L — limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R –restricted.

The action centers on a relentlessly determined CIA officer named Maya (Jessica Chastain). Urged on by her superiors, one of whom demands that she “bring me people to kill,” Maya painstakingly gathers intelligence hints concerning bin Laden’s whereabouts and those of his confederates.

Eventually she weaves these slender strands of evidence together sufficiently to track America’s public enemy number one to his fortified compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. There, as enacted in the film’s climax, Navy SEALs killed him in May 2011.

Some of Maya’s leads are obtained by her colleague Dan (Jason Clarke), who employs both physical and psychological torture to break down the prisoners he interrogates. His techniques include water-boarding, a process that simulates the effects of drowning, close confinement and various forms of humiliation.

While director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal have crafted a compelling drama, their movie’s moral stance is ambiguous. The harsh reality of so-called “enhanced interrogation,” as practiced by Dan, is graphically portrayed. Yet the results of subjecting prisoners to it are shown to be effective.

Viewers will need a strong grounding in their faith to discern the proper balance between the imperative of upholding human dignity and the equally grave obligation to save innocent human lives. They will also need to guard against the temptation to revel in the death of an evildoer.

As God asks the prophet Ezekiel, “Do I find pleasure in the death of the wicked, oracle of the Lord God? Do I not rejoice when they turn from their evil way and live?” (Ez. 18:23)

In keeping with the tough-guy tone of the spying and soldiering worlds in which “Zero Dark Thirty” is set, moreover, the dialogue involves a steady assault with F-bombs and other vulgarities.

The film contains considerable violence, including scenes of torture and degradation, brief rear nudity, at least one use of profanity as well as frequent rough and crude language. The Catholic News Service classification is L, limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R, restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

Mulderig is on the staff of Catholic News Service.

By John Mulderig

Catholic News Service

Early on in the stylish but excessively violent cops-and-robbers tale “Gangster Squad,” the villain of the piece, a reptilian gangster played by Sean Penn, has a rival chained to two cars which drive off in opposite directions, tearing the victim in half.

That’s a fair tipoff of the mayhem to come which, taken together with the film’s murky morality, makes this fact-based drama, directed by Ruben Fleischer, suitable only for the most stalwart adult viewers.

James Carpinello, Sean Penn and Evan Cohen star in a scene from the movie “Gangster Squad.” The Catholic News Service classification is L — limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling.

Penn’s baddie, Mickey Cohen, is a Brooklyn-bred ex-boxer intent on making 1940s Los Angeles his own. Out to stop him, by any means necessary, is the metropolis’ police chief, William Parker (Nick Nolte).

Parker commissions idealistic World War II veteran Sgt. John O’Mara (Josh Brolin) to form the team of the title. Made up, most prominently, of slickster and fellow Sgt. Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling), tough African-American officer Coleman Harris (Anthony Mackie) and electronics expert Conwell Keeler (Giovanni Ribisi), the squad will operate outside the law to break Cohen’s power.

Along the way to a conclusive shootout that seems to reap as many casualties as a small-scale military operation, Wooters secretly romances and straightforwardly seduces  Cohen’s good-hearted moll Grace Faraday (Emma Stone).

O’’Mara and company occasionally express second thoughts about their methods. But screenwriter Will Beall’s script, adapted from Paul Lieberman’s eponymous book, presents their illegal actions as the only practical solution open to them.

Given Cohen’s ruthlessness, he eventually orders a machine-gun attack on O’Mara’s home, endangering the upright sergeant’s pregnant wife, Connie (Mireille Enos), the audience is invited to react as viscerally as the characters to his seemingly unstoppable reign of terror. Moviegoers will require maturity and prudence to work through the tangled ethics of the situation and a strong stomach to endure the wild gunplay and interludes of brutality.

The film contains a vigilantism theme, scenes of gruesome, bloody violence, a premarital situation, brief partial nudity, numerous uses of profanity and much rough and crude language. The Catholic News Service classification is L, limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R, restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

Mulderig is on the staff of Catholic News Service.

By Kurt Jensen

Catholic News Service

In the dystopian distant of science fiction, and especially “Looper,” there will be time travel, but it will be illegal, so only criminals will utilize it.

Dang. In the near future, though, all cars will be electric, we’ll have cool flying motorcycles, a genetic mutation will make telekinesis sort of commonplace, and we’ll still rely on our trusty firearms on the remote prairie.

Read more »

By John Mulderig

Catholic News Service

Although fundamentally moral, “Hope Springs,” a skillful mix of comedy and drama that focuses on the problems of one long-married couple, is also significantly flawed.

Primarily, that’s because the frankness with which director David Frankel’s film approaches marital intimacy veers, at times, into intrusiveness. Additionally, in keeping with the under-refined values of contemporary society, his picture implies that virtually all methods of obtaining sexual gratification, at least between married partners, are acceptable.

Read more »

By Adam Shaw

Catholic News Service

Remakes are all the rage in the movie industry at the moment. While some retreads manage to introduce classic films to a new generation, others leave theatergoers scratching their heads, wondering why anyone involved bothered. The latter reaction, alas, is likely to be provoked by “Total Recall.”

Director Len Wiseman has sanitized Paul Verhoeven’s extremely violent 1990 action thriller, an adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s 1966 short story “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale,” that starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. Yet although toned-down, the new version still contains more than its fair share of objectionable content.

Read more »

By Joseph McAleer

Catholic News Service

Its title notwithstanding, night falls on 1950s Catholic Ireland in “Stella Days.” Director Thaddeus O’Sullivan’s adaptation of Michael Doorley’s memoir tells the story of a country in transition and one priest’s struggle to keep his flock and himself from spiritual exhaustion.

Antoine O. Flatharta’s script does not condemn the church and its role in Irish society outright, but marginalizes it, casting it as a relic of a rose-colored time in recent history. In this sense, “Stella Days” could be regarded as a cinematic stand-in for the real-life Irish church today, fighting to regain trust and to be recognized as relevant in the aftermath of traumatic scandals.

Read more »