The Messenger

Starring: Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson, Samantha Morton
Directed by: Oren Moverman (debut)
Written by: Oren Moverman (“I’m Not There”) and Alessandro Camon (“The Bandit K.”)

While films about the war in Iraq or issues associated with these events have not done well at the box office over the last few years (see “Lions for Lambs,” “The Lucky Ones,” “The Kingdom,” “In the Valley of Elah”), there are still many compelling stories that need to be heard.

Like the intense film “The Hurt Locker” from earlier this year, which follows the stressful experiences of an Army bomb squad, the intimate drama “The Messenger” is another of those rare narratives that will not be featured on the evening news anytime soon. Instead of taking audiences to the frontlines like in “The Hurt Locker,” “The Messenger” focuses on the painstaking mission of the soldiers who must notify the families when a loved one dies in combat.

In “The Messenger,” Ben Foster (“3:10 to Yuma”) plays Staff Sergeant Will Montgomery, a soldier three months away from completing his military service when he is assigned to join Captain Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson) on his Casualty Notification team and deliver the worse possible news anyone could imagine getting.

As Tony teaches Will the ropes in his new position (some rules include never making physical contact with family members, only notifying the next of kin, and avoiding phrases like “passed away”), Will is overwhelmed by the responsibility he has undertaken and the lives he is changing with the few professionally-reported but often aloof words he has memorized from the Army’s authorized script.

It’s not a stretch for Will to operate this way since he is mostly introverted himself (his only relationship is with a childhood friend who is now engaged). But after going on a notification mission, he begins to open up to Olivia Pitterson (Samantha Morton), a widow he recently informed of her husband’s death. Despite strict orders from Tony not to get involved in her life, Will can’t help but to feel a connection with her established only through tragic circumstances.

While Morton and Harrelson are top-notch with their performances, it the less-seasoned Foster who is unforgettable in the first lead role of his career. The powerful scenes director/co-writer Oren Moverman (“I’m Not There”) has crafted along with writing partner Alessandro Camon (“The Bandit K.”) always keep Foster’s Will on the brink of an emotional breakdown. It’s fascinating to watch Will fight through the grief and heart-wrenching moments of his job and form the close bond with both Olivia and Tony while they, too, serach for a way to confront with their own agony.

“The Messenger” isn’t just another story about Iraq. It literally brings the harsh realities of war to your front door. It’s up to audiences to take that step and invite the message in. While it may be difficult to witness, it really is a film every American should see.

Zombieland

Starring: Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone
Directed by: Ruben Fleischer (debut)
Written by: Rhett Reese (“Cruel Intentions 3”) and Paul Wernick (debut)
 
It’s all about survival of the fittest in the riotous new zom-com (zombie comedy) “Zombieland,” a surprisingly fresh crack at the subgenre by first-time director Ruben Fleischer. It’s also a farther step away from the type of movies director George A. Romero popularized in the late 60s. To put it simply: “Zombieland” isn’t your grandma’s zombie movie.
 
Zombie flicks first started evolving in 2003 when British director Edgar Wright and comedians Simon Pegg and Nick Frost made destroying a zombie’s brain a hilarious delight instead of a chore in the insanely clever “Shaun of the Dead.” Now, in “Zombieland,” Fleischer stylizes his own outrageous war against the undead and does it in a most amusing way.
 
Reminiscent of the book “The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead,” in which author Max Brooks gives tips about how to survive in a world flooded with flesh-eaters, “Zombieland” serves up its own thoughtful pointers. Here to guide the audience through the post-apocalyptic United States is Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), a delicate young loner who has managed to avoid becoming a zombie’s midday snack by following his own personal rules for survival.

On his way to Ohio to see if his parents are still alive, Columbus (no one uses their real names to avoid personal attachment) teams up with Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), an eccentric, Twinkie-craving cowboy who packs some serious heat and loves showing off his zombie-killing skills whenever he gets the chance.

Tallahassee gets to do a lot of point-blank-range shooting since that’s basically what “Zombieland” is all about. Without much of a plot, Fleisher, who comes from the music video industry, pays specific attention to the crazy ways zombies meet their demise. Sisters Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) and Wichita (Emma Stone) join the diverse group and set off on a road trip to a rumored zombie-free theme park. No one believes it’ll really be safe there, but what else are they going to do with their time?

As Tallahassee, Harrelson steals the show in the same manner as Robert Downey Jr. does in “Tropic Thunder.” Harrelson might not earn an Oscar nod like Downey did, but it’s definitely his funniest role since playing Roy Munson, a one-handed bowler in 1996’s Farrelly Brother comedy “Kingpin.” 

While it’s almost impossible to offer up anything new in zombie mythology (here the zombies emerge from a strain of mad cow disease), it’s the playful and mischievous dark humor that makes “Zombieland’ such a hoot.

Seven Pounds

Starring: Will Smith, Rosario Dawson, Woody Harrelson
Directed by: Gabriele Muccino (“The Pursuit of Happyness”)
Written by: Grant Nieporte (debut)

In “Seven Pounds,” debut screenwriter Grant Nieporte and “Pursuit of Happyness” director Gabriele Muccino keep the audience in the dark for so long, there’s no way to find middle ground between the lagging story and its foregone conclusion.

Will Smith plays Ben Thomas, an emotionally distraught IRS agent who killed seven people, including his wife, in an automobile accident, and vows to make amends for the pain he has caused. His plan: Ben will commit suicide, but not before finding seven people and “drastically changing their circumstances” by giving them something they need.

For example, when he meets Ezra Turner, a blind meat salesman, Ben decides after his death, he will donate his eyes to him. For a kid with leukemia he sees at the hospital, Ben donates bone marrow. A love interest presents herself to Ben in the form of Emily Posa (Rosario Dawson), who is in dire need of a heart transplant (cue Ben’s giving nature).

It’s fairly obvious where Muccino wants to take this and has no shame in being so blatant about it. Smith is a talented actor, but in “Seven Pounds” he lays it on thick and the performance ends up too schmaltzy for its own good. Scenes of Ben thinking while staring out into the ocean, thinking while showering, thinking in the rain, thinking in the grass, are contrived. Smith is trying way too hard for an Oscar here and it shows. Any real emotion should have come from the relationships Ben creates (even from afar) with the people he plans on helping. But there’s really only time for Dawson’s character and everyone else ultimately ends up on the backburner.

Instead of “Seven Pounds,” a reference to William Shakespeare’s “A Merchant of Venice,” Nieporte and Muccino should have aimed for a couple of ounces and not spread themselves so thin. But reach they do and try giving us something profound to think about.  It’s not so much thoughtful as it is apparent and improbable.

Semi-Pro

Starring: Will Ferrell, Woody Harrelson, André Benjamin
Directed by: Kent Alterman (debut)
Written by: Scot Armstrong (“Old School”)

Unless you sleep, eat, drink, and dream Will Ferrell, “Semi-Pro” is one of his comedies you’d be better off letting slip through the cracks.

Sure, there will always be this unattractiveness about Ferrell that is just too darn charming to ignore, but as a basketball player from the ’70s, there not much to show off other than a few one-liners that revolve around things like afros, short shorts, and wrestling bears. There’s only so much you can take of Ferrell when he’s all over the place.

Starring in his fourth sports comedy (his others were “Kicking and Screaming,” “Talladega Nights,” and “Blades of Glory”), Ferrell dons a basketball jersey and speedos to play Jackie Moon, a player/coach/owner/promoter for the fictional Flint Tropics. The Tropics are the team dead last in the now defunct ABA league of the late 60’s and early 70’s. (Jackie’s fame came when he recorded a disco hit called “Love Me Sexy” and used the money to purchase the team).

In real sports history, the ABA merged four teams with the National Basketball Association (NBA) to create what we now know today as the official professional basketball league. This is where “Semi-Pro” steps in to add a little aqua blue and orange to the mix. Because not all the teams of the ABA will be absorbed by the NBA, Moon must lead the Tropics to earn at least a fourth place ranking so they can be chosen to continue their B-ball careers.

It’s starts with the injection of aging basketball legend Ed Monnix (Wood Harrelson, who hasn’t played basketball on film since “White Men Can’t Jump”) into the Tropics’ sad sack of cliché misfits. The roster consists of no memorable characters, including actor/singer André Benjamin, who plays Clarence “Coffee” Black, the most talented ball player on the team.

Harrelson, who has proven he has the dark comedic chops in films like 1996’s “Kingpin” fails to produce anything other than a washed up sidekick role to Ferrell’s free-for-all. A secondary storyline between Monnix and his estranged ex-wife (played by Maura Tierney) crashes and burns from the onset with little material to work from.

Ferrell, who has been one of the more successful “Saturday Night Live” alum to make it into the film industry, has placed himself in one of those positions where it’s either hit or miss for what he has to offer the comedy genre. The fact that he is always more enjoyable in small doses (“Wedding Crashers”) should tell him something. Full-out barrages of nonsense may have worked in skits, but in feature films one can only take so much. In “Semi-Pro” Ferrell throws his fair share of temper  tantrums and, like when infants do the same, none of them are as cute or entertaining as they would like you to believe.