list.co.uk/fi lm Reviews | FILM
DRAMA JOE (15) 117min ●●●●● ANIMATION THE NUT JOB (U) 85min ●●●●●
David Gordon Green’s biggest hit, urban-stoner comedy Pineapple Express, is very much untypical of the moody, backwater dramas he directs on an annual basis, from George Washington to Prince Avalanche. Joe is another entry in his canon of accomplished miserablism, adapted from a novel by Larry Brown, with a vigorous, charismatic performance by Nicolas Cage at its centre.
With a rare chance to play an ordinary Joe in an extraordinarily violent community, Cage paints the working man at the centre of this film as a noble savage, bedding prostitutes and drinking without care in the evenings, then pulling himself together in the early mornings to lead a team of labourers in the forest. But Joe places his reputation on the line when he reluctantly takes an interest in Gary (Tye Sheridan), a teenage boy whose relationship with dad G-Daawg (Gary Poutler) shows the darker side of father issues. Spare, lean and tough as a swampland snake,
Joe is a powerful, grimy drama. It may be too bleak and unsparing for some tastes, but it’s an adult, accomplished film that elevates an ordinary story to near-operatic heights. (Eddie Harrison) ■ Selected release from Fri 25 Jul.
Like last year’s Free Birds, in which enterprising turkeys built a time machine in an attempt to stop the first Thanksgiving, The Nut Job feels like an archly contrived excuse to justify the groaning pun of the title. The story of an eccentric squirrel who gets involved in an elaborately planned bank robbery, it’s a high concept that offers low entertainment.
Will Arnett provides the voice of Surly, an outcast Liberty Park squirrel who hopes to win the respect of his community. Chancing upon a gang of crooks organising a bank heist from behind the cover of a nut shop, he discovers a potential reservoir of treats that could end the squirrels’ famine.
Writer / director Peter Lepeniotis pulls together an oddly outdated 50s gangster B-movie vibe, while falling back on violent slapstick and weary pop-culture references. Featuring a full range of nut-related jokes that are likely to provoke allergic reactions in all but the most undemanding audiences, The Nut Job has enjoyed US box office success that illuminates nothing more than the public’s currently insatiable appetite for animated fare of any quality. (Eddie Harrison) ■ General release from Fri 1 Aug.
DOCUMENTARY SUPERMENSCH: THE LEGEND OF SHEP GORDON (15) 85 min ●●●●●
Actor Mike Myers makes his directorial debut with this engaging documentary about talent manager Shep Gordon, whose eclectic list of clients included Alice Cooper and Groucho Marx. The obvious affection Myers feels for his subject is extremely touching, though you do wonder just how full a picture you’re getting as a result. In a series of relaxed interviews, Myers allows
Gordon to tell his story in his own words, with illustrative archive material and occasional input from famous talking heads, including Sylvester Stallone, Michael Douglas and Myers himself. Unfolding chronologically, the film begins with Gordon’s arrival in Hollywood in the 1960s, whereupon he immediately got punched in the face by fellow motel guest Janis Joplin and advised to go into management by Jimi Hendrix.
Gordon makes for a likeable and engaging subject, and the film is packed full of entertaining anecdotes. However, there are notable omissions (ex-girlfriend Sharon Stone is conspicuous by her absence) and the film doesn’t allow Gordon to expand further on his unexpectedly negative views on the value of fame. (Matthew Turner) ■ Limited release from Fri 18 Jul.
MUSICAL DRAMA BEGIN AGAIN (15) 104min ●●●●●
How do you follow an Oscar-winning charmer like Once? It hasn’t been easy for director John Carney (did anyone see the comedy Zonad?). He is back on form with Begin Again, a quasi- sequel to Once. Twice maybe? Once More with Feeling? Begin Again is equally sweet and endearing and definitely
not for the cynical as it gathers together another unlikely couple. Greta (Keira Knightley) is a winsome English singer/ songwriter left high and dry in New York after her boyfriend Dave (Adam Levine) hits the big time and decides to opt for some conscious uncoupling. Fortunately, cheery busker pal Steve (James Corden) is on hand to offer shelter and confidence- boosting. At the same time, washed-up recording executive Dan (Mark Ruffalo) stumbles into an East Village bar where Greta is performing and decides that she deserves a shot at an album that he will personally produce on the streets of the Big Apple. Begin Again is a New York fairytale but a fairly irresistible one thanks to the actors. Knightley is such a variable, unpredictable performer but really fits the character on this occasion and can sing quite pleasantly in a Katie Melua / Norah Jones manner. There’s also a nice, dry humour to some of her comments as she declares, ‘I’m not Judy Garland off a Greyhound bus’. Mark Ruffalo is even better as a scruffy, roguish hustler who still has the passion to follow the music wherever it might lead him. He is charmingly disreputable whether trying to sustain a relationship with his weary daughter Violet (Hailee Steinfeld) or create an album that flies in the face of all the bland product championed by an industry he has grown to despise. His creative rebirth is the element of Begin Again that brings the biggest smile to your face. (Allan Hunter) ■ General release from Fri 11 Jul.
10 Jul–21 Aug 2014 THE LIST 75