The Wright Stuff

Movie Review: ATONEMENT
Rating: *** 1/2 (three and 1/2 stars)

Not since Quentin Tarantino followed "Reservoir Dogs" with "Pulp Fiction" has a director avoided the sophomore jinx with such a vengeance as Joe Wright does with "Atonement," the kind of sublimely, astonishingly good film most filmmakers spend their careers aspiring to.

Wright, who breathed new life into "Pride & Prejudice" two years ago, tackles a less familiar novel by Ian McEwan, brilliantly adapted by Christopher Hampton. The book was written in this decade but most of the story takes place in 1935 and 1940. Like "The Children's Hour," written in 1934, it concerns the consequences of a spiteful girl's accusation. The thirties must have been a good decade for bad girls.

On the hottest day of 1935 the Tallis family is entertaining on their English country estate. Oldest son Leon (Patrick Kennedy) is coming to visit, bringing along his eligible friend Paul Marshall (Benedict Cumberbatch), who owns a chocolate factory and is already planning to profiteer from the coming war. Also visiting are cousins from the North: adolescent Lola (Juno Temple) and her younger twin brothers.

Nothing escapes the eye of 13-year-old Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan), who is writing a play for the occasion. She watches as a long-budding romance finally blossoms between her sister Cecilia (Keira Knightley) and Robbie Turner (James McAvoy), the housekeeper's son the Tallises put through Cambridge.

Briony, who has a crush on Robbie herself, sees everything but filters it through a child's understanding. When she intercepts an erotic note from Robbie to Cecilia she shares it with Lola, concluding that Robbie is a "sex maniac." Events later that evening look to Briony like the work of a sex maniac and she, the only witness, accuses Robbie.

At this point "Atonement" jumps forward four years (actually closer to five). Robbie has been released from prison to serve in the military and is part of the English force fleeing the German advance in France. His arrival at Dunkirk cues the film's bravura scene, a five-and-a-half-minute shot without a cut as Robbie surveys the beach and the town, both teeming with life as a thousand soldiers await evacuation.

Cecilia, estranged from her family, is serving as a nurse. Briony is training as a nurse by way of penance, having realized the enormity of her lie. She tries to reopen communications with her sister but Cecilia rebuffs her until Briony forces the issue.

An epilogue set in the present, practically a one-woman show by Vanessa Redgrave, shows things in a different light.

The plot could seem trivial in lesser hands but Wright's treatment of Hampton's screenplay gives it the heft of classic literature. Early scenes and occasional later ones are propelled by typewriter sounds laying a beat for Dario Marianelli's score, an effectively daring switch from the usual reverent, bucolic sounds attached to films of this type.

The period is reinforced with expressions like "the cat's pajamas" and "you're a real brick" and, in an anachronism, the singing of "The White Cliffs of Dover" the year before it was written. After two successful period pieces it may not be too soon to appoint Joe Wright as James Ivory's successor-designate. Wright fills every frame of "Atonement" with enchantment and an utter mastery of the cinematic medium that's rarely seen.

A Moral ‘Compass' or Amoral ‘Compass'?

Movie Review: THE GOLDEN COMPASS
Rating: ** 1/2 (two and 1/2 stars)

You can stop worrying about kids growing up stupid. If they're able to follow the complexity of "The Golden Compass," they're ahead of where I was at their age. It will probably help if they've read the book, "Northern Lights," from Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy; or if they're young enough to ignore the intellectual struggles and just enjoy the fight scenes and bears; or if they can overlook the raging controversy about how much of Pullman's professed agnosticism comes across in the film.

(It will also help not to see the movie, as I did, in a theater that can't get the sound working properly until after the explanatory introduction has been all but obliterated. And theater owners wonder why you'd rather stay home and watch DVDs than go out and pay a fortune for overpriced popcorn. They put their energy into concessions, which make money for them, not showing movies properly. But I digress.)

"The Golden Compass" takes place in a parallel universe that looks a lot like our own when the special effects aren't going to town. The people look just like you and me, except that instead of having souls inside, their souls take the form of animals that walk or fly by their side.

These souls are shape-shifters when they're linked to children who haven't yet "settled" (gone through puberty), after which they take on a permanent form. Our heroine, Lyra Belacqua (Dakota Blue Richards) is 12, so she's getting close; but in the meantime her daemon (as the souls are known), Pantalaimon (thankfully called "Pan"), can be a cat, a butterfly or some kind of rodent much like Pip in "Enchanted." He's voiced by Freddie Highmore, who sounds so much like Ms. Richards you'll think she's talking to herself when they have conversations.

Lyra's a free thinker and a tomboy. In the opening scene she's trying to scare Billy (Charlie Rowe) into leaving her friend Roger (Ben Walker) alone, although later she has to rescue both boys. The orphaned Lyra is living at Jordan College with her uncle, Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig). Later she'll be told her parents' identities under suspicious circumstances and believe it unquestioningly, even though she usually questions everything.

Lord Asriel is planning a trip to the Arctic Circle or thereabouts to pursue his theory that the "dust" that falls there comes from other worlds and might reveal a way to travel between those worlds and ours. He is opposed by the ruling Magisterium, which doesn't believe in dust or other worlds (or evolution, probably). While Magisterium in our world is a term associated with the Roman Catholic Church, in the film it's strictly a secular governing body, one that "keep(s) things working by telling people what to do" - stifling independent thought, in other words. Had religious groups not brought attention to it, sight unseen, by protesting before the film's release, the connection of religion to the plot would have gone over the heads of most viewers, young and old.

While the Magisterium is capable of murdering Lord Asriel to stop his exploration, they also want to take advantage of it to be able to dominate all the worlds instead of just one. This contradiction is set up but not explained.

Mrs. Coulter (Nicole Kidman, playing the 40-year-old version of Susan Sarandon's 60-year-old in "Enchanted"), an ally of the Magisterium, invites Lyra to go north as her assistant. Since her uncle hasn't invited her and she really wants to go, Lyra jumps at the chance; but she soon has reason to hate Mrs. Coulter.

Oh, that's such a tiny part of the story. There are also Samoyeds and Tartars, Witches, Gobblers and Gyptians - and Lee Scoresby (Sam Elliott), a Texas aeronaut who becomes one of Lyra's protectors. Then about halfway through we start seeing the ice bears we've been hearing about. The main one is Iorek Byrnison (voiced by Ian McKellen), who lost the title of Bear King to Ragnar Sturlusson (voiced by Ian McShane). When they eventually fight, with Lyra as the prize, it's the biggest CG bout since King Kong vs. the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Lyra is armed with an alethiometer, the golden compass of the title. It cannot tell a lie, but you have to be pretty clever to ask it a question and decipher its answer. Our heroine is very clever.

There's a mention early on that the Magisterium's General Oblation Board is experimenting with the Intercision Process. That's something like circumcision, except what is cut off is a child's daemon. This is meant to spare the children the loss of innocence awaiting them at childhood's end. It's not revealed until late in the film, but with a plot this dense any information you're forearmed with is an enhancer, not a spoiler.

There's a big, climactic battle before the film ends, somewhere short of where the book did. Instead of a clean finish, though, there's a setup for Part II (which may or may not happen, depending on the success of this film). The good witch Serafina Pekkala (Eva Green) announces that Lyra "will decide the war which is to come." So Lyra goes off to war with Roger as her bitch - or at least her Samwise Gamgee.

Craig's fans who are expecting James Bond will be disappointed by the brevity of his appearance. Even Kidman tends to disappear for large sections of the film, but she certainly dominates the scenes she's in, looking like a high-class Hooters waitress. The young star has by far the most screen time, enough for us to get tired of her, although Ms. Richards shows she's more than a one trick pony.

The cast is loaded with the likes of Tom Courtenay, Derek Jacobi and Christopher Lee in interchangeable supporting roles.

Director Chris Weitz adapted the screenplay, with studio pressure to avoid controversy. He doesn't distinguish himself in this genre the way he did with contemporary comedies "About a Boy" and "In Good Company," but he gives you plenty to look at and too much to think about, and brings it all in in under two hours.

One thing you might think about is that our 12-year-old heroine endures more than just about any boy her age has in a movie, perhaps a subtle way of preparing the world for President Hillary.

I Now Pronounce You...Boring

Movie Review: FRESHMAN ORIENTATION
Rating: ** (two stars)

Made the same year (2004) as the original "Eating Out," "Freshman Orientation" has the same plot too: a straight man pretends to be gay to get close to the woman he desires. Coincidence? An idea whose time had come? Or did somebody reveal an original idea to someone who didn't have one?

Before "Freshman Orientation" was released, though not before it played the festival circuit, Hollywood got on the faux gay bandwagon with "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry." Whatever you thought of that, it had a lot more going for it, except in the youth department.

A couple of characters talk about the importance of "moments," and "Freshman Orientation" has some, but not enough. It recovers somewhat from a dismal beginning, but there's always another groaner of a scene to keep it from developing momentum.

Sam Huntington stars as Clay Adams, introduced trying to get his date to blow him the night before he leaves Oshkosh, Wisconsin, for college. "Men'll say anything to get off," she says before puking all over him.

Amanda (Kaitlin Doubleday) comes to the same university from Pittsburgh, "an 18-year-old former prom queen" who's there on a legacy scholarship from her mother's sorority. Tau's president, Serena (Jud Tylor) is a megabitch who's still getting even with hunky Tazwell (Bryce Johnson) for dumping her.

One of the first people Clay sees on campus is Marjorie (Marla Sokoloff). He dated her in tenth grade but now she's "an out, woman-identified lesbian activist."

Clay has roommate problems as does Matt (Mike Erwin), the nice guy across the hall. Things work out for them to move in together and they decide they might get more action if they pledge a fraternity.

Tazwell is attracted to Amanda; so is Clay. The latter gets his chance when the fraternity makes their pledges drink until they pass out, then puts Clay and Matt outside, where they wake up nearly naked in the morning. That makes them look gay because everyone knows gay men sleep naked together in public places.

Serena is plotting revenge on all men through a "freak party." Each pledge has to find a man in a specific category (e.g., "cripple," "fat fuck," "deaf dude") and get him to fall in love with her so she can break his heart at the party. Amanda draws "fag" and her roommate, Jessica (Heather Matarazzo), a Jew, picks "Muslim."

Despite the fact that Matarazzo is an out lesbian and Jessica is always telling Amanda, "I fucking love you," she's not one of the people who have surprise comings-out in the course of the movie. She's also terrible, doing a vocal (not singing) impression of Barbra Streisand - she even says "Hello gaw-jus"! If it weren't for Rachel Dratch as "Very Drunk Chick" Matarazzo's would be the most embarrassing performance in the movie.

Hearing that Amanda is interested in gay men (but not knowing the reason for it), Clay becomes the gay man she's looking for. He goes to the local gay bar to get gay lessons and a makeover from the friendly bartender (John Goodman). He and Matt never mention their fraternity again.

What follows is a mix of the expected and unexpected, funny and unfunny. Serena teases Tazwell about being "cock-blocked by a butt pirate." "Gay Clay" (I guess that was funny in 2004 but no one's sides will be achin' from laughing at it now) becomes the subject of a major protest when a silly misunderstanding has him thought to be the victim of a gay-bashing by fratboys.

"Freshman Orientation" promotes the attitude that life ends at graduation so you'd better party hearty while you're in college. That's not the only message. Can you believe Clay actually says, "Being gay made me a decent straight guy"?

It's incredible that Ryan Shiraki also wrote the far superior "Poster Boy," which was filmed the same year as "Freshman Orientation." Perhaps it helped that he didn't direct "Poster Boy," but there's a vast difference in the level of writing talent.

"Freshman Orientation" is stale, man.

Steve Warren is a local actor and film reviewer. His reviews can also be seen weekly in the Sunday Paper.