MOVIE REVIEW: LICORICE PIZZA

 

Alana Kane and Gary Valentine grow up, run around and fall in love in California's San Fernando Valley in the 1970s.

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Cast: Alana Haim, Cooper Hoffman, Sean Penn, Tom Waits, Bradley Cooper, Benny Safdie

Release Date: November 26, 2021

Comedy, Drama, Romance

Rated R for language, sexual material and some drug use.

Runtime: 2h 13m

Review:

Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza is the type of film where the plot is secondary as it focused more on capturing a time period’s feel and essence.   While the film is very much set in the 70’s it does manage to capture something timeless about the random adolescent adventures that nearly everyone experienced growing up.  The central romance of the film is rather chaste onscreen but still a bizarre choice since it’s made explicit multiple times that Cooper Hoffman’s Gary Valentine is underage as he pursues Alana Haim’s 25-year-old Alana Kane.  It’s a distracting choice that detracts from the two linchpin performances from Haim and Hoffman who both bring an unmistakable on-screen charisma and chemistry to their role.  Both actors deliver nuanced turns that are never showy or over the top but ultimately serve as the heart of the film as we follow their series of adventures in San Fernando Valley.  They are fascinating to watch together onscreen because they both carrying an air of authenticity.  Hoffman captures the character’s hustler mentally while Haim does equally impressive work portraying her character’s state of arrested development as she tries to find her place in the world.  Famous faces pop up in small supporting turns with Sean Penn and Bradley Cooper each having a ball in their limited screen time.  Anyone unfamiliar with Paul Thomas Anderson’s style might not like the pacing which isn’t in any rush to get anywhere even if the two central characters run quite a bit throughout.  Licorice Pizza will connect with some people more than others depending on personal experiences but there is something universal about the moments it captures. 

B+

Movie Reviews: THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS

Sunday, January 10, 2010
Movie Reviews: THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS
IN THEATERS

THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS


Dr. Parnassus (Christopher Plummer), the leader of a traveling show, has a dark secret. Thousands of years ago he traded the soul of his daughter, Valentina, to the devil. Now the devil has come to collect his prize. To save her, ..Parnassus.. must make a final wager: Whoever collects five souls first will win Valentina. Tony (Heath Ledger), a man saved from hanging by ..Parnassus..' troupe, agrees to help collect them, with his eye on marrying Valentina.


Cast: Heath Ledger, Christopher Plummer, Tom Waits, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Colin Farrell


Director: Terry Gilliam


Opened ..December 25, 2009..


Runtime: 2 hr. 2 min.


Rated PG-13 for language, violent images, some sensuality and smoking


Genres: Fantasy


Review:


The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is more than Heath Ledger’s final performance. It’s a bit difficult to separate him and the film at the outset especially once Ledger makes his first appearance, hanging from a noose no less. Gilliam does the smart thing in this sometime choppy but very imaginative fantasy. He addresses Ledger’s passing and devotes a scene to eulogizing him in a surprising effective way that works well within the story. Gilliam’s creative eye and his distinctive style is very much on display and the fantasy element that occur inside the imaginarium are the real high points of the film where you can sense the energy coming from the screen. The film falters in the more mundane real world sequences which creates an uneven flow throughout even though the cast does it’s best to keep you interested. Christopher Plummer performance as the titular doctor is appropriately sagely yet he’s able to also show how deeply flawed the character is as well. Plummer is clearly having a good time playing this Faustian character. Heath Ledger does fine work as the amnesic Tony, giving him a nice dose of huckster charisma while keeping an air of enigma throughout. Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell do well as the different aspects of Tony’s psyche within the imaginarium all the while channeling Ledger in homage. Virtual newcomer Lily Cole provides a nice sense of innocence while looking like a Botticelli model. Tom Waits and Vern Troyer both have fun in broadly written caricatures. Andrew Garfield barely registers even when he’s front and center. Even though it’ll be remembered more as Ledger’s final act, Imaginarium is an impressive bit of creative filmmaking from a director who’s never been afraid to test limits of classical story telling. Gilliam’s film is far from perfect but you’d be hard pressed to deny it’s creative energy during it’s more inspired segments.


B-