The Ice Harvest
April 13th, 2007
It’s the night before Christmas in Wichita Falls, and John Cusack plays a crooked lawyer who runs off with two million in mob money in the first scene of the movie. During a very long night in a very odd town, he has to navigate overly solicitous cops, dangerous strip club owners (Connie Nielsen), an untrustworthy partner (Billy Bob Thornton), and the drunken friend who ran off with his wife (Oliver Platt.) The brisk screenplay by Richard Russo and Robert Benton, based on a novel by Scott Phillips, keeps the movie swerving between outright hilarity and Cusack’s increasing desperation. One of the sharper and more entertaining crime/heist/noirs I’ve seen in a while, The Ice Harvest may earn itself a spot on our list of Christmas movies for cynics.
The Ice Harvest. Harold Ramis, ***
The Lookout
March 27th, 2007
Joseph Gordon-Levitt played the argot-spouting teenage gumshoe who held the excellent Brick together; now he’s back for more crime with a noirish thriller about a guy with brain damage who is drawn into a heist. A former college hockey star, Chris Pratt (Gordon-Levitt) had a serious car accident, and now he can’t keep his “sequencing” straight, he’s rooming with a blind man (Jeff Daniels), and instead of living high off fat cat daddy’s dough, he’s mopping floors at the local farm bank. Enter no-goodnick Gary Spargo (Matthew Goode), with a dame named Luvlee Lemons (Isla Fisher) and a goon called Bone in tow. There’s more than a little After Dark, My Sweet in this tale, and Gordon-Levitt sells his character’s frustrating, infuriating brain malfunctions. In the end, I found The Lookout too pat and tidy; it’s slick but forgettable. Marcy enjoyed it a good deal more than me so she’s handling official About.com review duties. The Lookout opens on Friday.
The Lookout. Scott Frank, 2007. ***
