Review: Tim Burton's 'Big Eyes' starring Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz

We haven't seen Tim Burton make a movie as grounded as Big Eyes in a long time, and it's a refreshing turn for a director who has been coasting on CGI silliness for quite a while.  He still draws upon something personal here in recounting the loopy story of Walter (Christoph Waltz) and Margaret Keane (Amy Adams), renowned artists in the 1950s and '60s. Well, one of them was an artist. That’s kind of the point. Burton has long been a fan of the paintings of doe-eyed children the Keane's were famous for, and he's clearly invigorated by the chance to tell their story.

Reuniting with Ed Wood screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewsk, Burton paints a vividly complex picture of gender bias and repressed creativity, with a whole lot of betrayal thrown in for good measure. After leaving her first husband, no small act back in those days, Margaret met Walter Keane; a painter who resembles a street mime when we first see him. It's the perfect look for a guy who always seems to be performing, selling some aspect of his personality. He notices her talent for painting right away; the two become a pair, and soon the Keane empire is born as her paintings of sad, big-eyed children become a global sensation. There's just one big problem: Margaret didn't get any credit for her work for over a decade.

How does something like that happen? It was an era of creatively-stifled housewives and male dominance, that's how. Plenty of brilliant women were held back by a system that didn't value their input on anything except cooking and child-rearing, and Margaret bought into it while Walter exploited it. He convinced her nobody would buy her work unless his name was on it. He may have been right, too, but that doesn't make him any less of a creep. While he lives the high life, making famous friends and meeting powerful dignitaries, she's literally locked away churning out picture after picture while her daughter anguishes. Burton, along with another reliably strong performance by Adams, let us in on the quiet sadness of Margaret's plight.  She's ashamed and fearful of the lie she helped Walter construct; to admit the truth would be to admit a fraud. But she's also fiercely protective of her work and has a deep emotional connection to it. As Walter begins the mass production of the art, putting them in stores and on household goods everywhere, it's like something deep within Margaret's soul dies.

But what the Keanes are known for nowadays is the bizarre turn their marriage would ultimately take. They would go to court to decide who the true artist was and Walter turned it into a complete circus. Waltz taps into Walter's pathetic, increasingly desperate core. Where Margaret believes art can touch people's lives, Walter sees it as just another get-rich-quick scheme appealing to those looking for the latest fad.   It's easy to see why Burton would take to this story as it also works as a spot-on metaphor for the kinds of passionless films he's churned out in the past. Visually, this is probably the least obvious Burton movie he's ever done. While the color palette and somewhat kitschy tone give it away eventually, Big Eyes is a true and very welcome departure.

 Rating: 4 out of 5

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'Dallas Buyers Club' Director Takes Over Janis Joplin Biopic starring Amy Adams

Want to know who is on one Hell of a roll right now? Jean-Marc Vallee, who helped take Matthew McConaughey to his first Oscar with Dallas Buyers Club, and has Reese Witherspoon possibly earning her next award for Wild. Basically, he knows how to pull the best from his actors, and now we're going to see what he can do for Amy Adams in the long-gestating Janis Joplin biopic.

Okay, this news has been making the rounds for awhile but is now confirmed that Vallee will direct the film on rock 'n roll legend. Adams has long been on board to play Joplin while the search for a director saw Lee Daniels and Fernando Meirelles briefly attached. Titled Get It While You Can and due to be given a rewrite by Dallas Buyers Club writers Craig Borten and Melissa Wallack, the story will follow the fast-living singer/songwriter who became known as the "Queen of Psychedelic Soul" during her brief but legendary career.

Vallee just wrapped up the Jake Gyllenhaal-led film, Demolition, and will begin work on the Joplin film in mid-2015.

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First Trailer for Tim Burton's Bizarre Art World Drama 'Big Eyes' with Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz

Tim Burton has had a couple of his animated features, Corpse Bride and Frankenweenie, emerge as Academy Awards contenders but his live-action films have been completely shut out. That could change later this year when his art drama Big Eyes hits theaters, especially with prior winner Christoph Waltz and five-time nominee Amy Adams in what look to be worthy performances.

The first trailer for Big Eyes has been released and it has the offbeat vibe of a Burton film while telling the bizarre true story of married artists Walter and Martha Keane. They became famous in the 1950s for their painting of doe-eyed children, until their divorce led to her claim Walter was taking credit for her work. The case went to court where he was exposed as a fraud in what turned out to be quite the circus trial.

Also starring Terrence Stamp, Jason Schwartzman, Krysten Ritter, and Danny Huston, Big Eyes opens Christmas Day.

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First Look at Christoph Waltz and Amy Adams in Tim Burton's 'Big Eyes'

Chances are a lot of people don't know the bizarre story of artists Walter and Margaret Keane. There's is one that occupies a strange place in the art world, and so perhaps it's only fitting that the eccentric mind of Tim Burton is the one bringing their story to theaters with Big Eyes, a film starring Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz that some are calling a potential Oscar contender.

USA Today has the first images from the buzzed about film, and while it's definitely not as surreal as many of Burton's other works, there are plenty of oddities to be found.  Margaret and Walter became famous in the 1960s for their paintings of sad children with oversized eyes. The art was sold exclusively under Walter's name, but upon divorce she took him to court claiming she did all of the work. It became a public spectacle with Margaret challenging him to a public "paint-off", and that showdown eventually did take place in the courtroom.  Burton has long been a fan of Margaret Keane's work and commissioned her to paint his then-girlfriend, Lisa Marie.

Big Eyes is set to open on Christmas Day.

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Win a Copy of 'Lullaby' on DVD, starring Garrett Hedlund, Amy Adams, and Terrence Howard

We have a chance for your to win a copy of the family drama, Lullaby, courtesy of ARC Entertainment. Garrett Hedlund, Richard Jenkins, Amy Adams, Terrence Howard, Jennifer Hudson, Jessica Brown Findlay, and Anne Archer star with Andrew Levitas writing and directing. To enter, simply follow the instructions in the Punchtab widget below. This is our first time using Punchtab so please also send us your feedback on it at punchdrunkcritics@yahoo.com. The contest runs through Monday, July 21st. 

SYNOPSIS: Estranged from his family, Jonathan (Hedlund) discovers his father has decided to take himself off life support in forty-eight hours’ time. During this intensely condensed period, a lifetime of drama plays out. Robert (Jenkins) fights a zero sum game to reclaim all that his illness stole from his family. A debate rages on patients’ rights and what it truly means to be free. Jonathan reconciles with his father, reconnects with his mother (Archer), sister (Brown-Findlay), and his love (Adams) and reclaims his voice through two unlikely catalysts – a young, wise-beyond-her-years patient (Barden) and a no-nonsense nurse (Hudson). Through this intensely life affirming prism, an unexpected and powerful journey of love, laughter, and forgiveness unfolds.

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Review: 'Lullaby' Starring Garrett Hedlund, Richard Jenkins, and Amy Adams

Lullaby tells the story of a family ripped apart by tragedy as their cancer-stricken father makes the decision to end his suffering the next day. After about ten minutes of enduring this manipulative, seemingly-endless weeper you'll just wish he would go ahead and die already.

There are reasons why a film like this, with a desirable cast of Garrett Hedlund, Amy Adams, Richard Jenkins, Anne Archer, Terrence Howard, Jessica Brown Findlay, and Jennifer Hudson, sits on the shelf and gets unceremoniously dumped when nobody will ever see it. Lullaby is the kind of movie that practically begs for your tears, and it won't stop piling on the heartache until you give them up. Cliches, desperation, and artificially inflated subplots aren't enough to win anybody ever and chances are your eyes will remain dry as a bone.

Hedlund is one of the most boring leading men around but he's especially dull as entitled, obnoxious wannabe musician Jonathan, the kind of guy who lights up a cigarette on a plane then hits on the stewardess to get out of it. He also lights up in a hospital because...well, because he's handsome or something. Basically you want to kick him in the teeth right from the start, which makes it hard to sympathize when he comes to learn his long-suffering father Robert (Richard Jenkins) has decided twelve years is long enough to be battling cancer. He's decided to let the hospital pull the life support plug in the morning because the pain is too great. Jonathan's response? "I can't handle this". Yeah, way to show compassion, dude.

The rest of the family are either just as selfish or have no personality at all. The mother (Anne Archer) fits in the latter category. She cries a lot and is very Jewish. That's all we know about her and honestly it's probably best they didn't spend more time on her. Jonathan's sister is a lawyer who decides to file an injunction preventing her father from ending his life. Her big moment comes when she presents a legal argument on why it's a bad idea for her father to die. It's as ridiculous as it sounds.

Written and directed by newcomer Andrew Levitas, the film never really seems to have much point beyond "everybody just be sad and mope a lot". There are long stretches where Levitas seems to be pulling ideas out of a hat in an effort to pad out the length. So we get a weird stretch that focuses really heavily on the family's Jewish faith, although it doesn't really inform their character relationships in any tangible way. Jonathan starts hanging out with a spirited terminal cancer patient, played by the excellent Jessica Barden, who basically teaches him that sh*t could be a lot worse so stop being a downer. And then there's Amy Adams as Jonathan's ex-girlfriend. Why Adams is in this movie is a mystery but her character is so thinly drawn that she only seems to exist on street corners. How many times can they run into one another just milling about on the street? And why should we care about them, anyway? His flirtations are especially troublesome considering what he's in town for. Hey guy, remember your dying Dad back at the hospital? This isn't the time for a hook-up. Attempts to lighten the mood are largely ill-timed and kill the few truly heartfelt moments which usually involve Jenkins' heartbreaking performance. If there's a reason to see Lullaby it's him.

Levitas smothers a deeply personal and compelling tale of life and death in Hollywood cliche, and unfortunately Lullaby never recovers.

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New Poster and Trailer for 'Lullaby' Starring Amy Adams and Garrett Hedlund

Lullaby has a cast any director would kill to have: Amy Adams, Garrett Hedlund, Jennifer Hudson, Terrence Howard, Richard Jenkins, and Jessica Brown Findlay. So why has it been sitting on the shelf for so darn long with zero buzz? Perhaps the new trailer will give you some indication.

Just a couple of weeks since the first unimpressive trailer was released, a new one arrives that isn't much better. Emotionally manipulative, melodramatic, and with a generic love story in the middle, the film follows an estranged son who returns to his family when his terminally ill father decides he wants to die. So yeah, there's a right-to-die aspect in here, too, but it doesn't look like it will be dealt with in any depth.

Lullaby opens June 13th.

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First Trailer for Right-to-Die Drama 'Lullaby' Starring Garrett Hedlund and Amy Adams

The idea that a person has the "right to die" or commit voluntary euthanasia has been a hot button topic for a lot of years, with Doctor Kevorkian's name becoming synonymous with the issue. And we've seen some films tackle the subject in different ways; there was the Kevorkian biopic You Don't Know Jack, and even Clint Eastwood dealt with it in his boxing drama, Million Dollar Baby. An eternity ago Amy Adams, Garrett Hedlund, Richard Jenkins, Terrence Howard, Jennifer Hudson, and Jessica Brown-Findlay (Winter's Tale) came aboard Lullaby, a dramedy that would also deal with euthanasia. Nothing had been heard of it since but a trailer for it has quietly been released.

Marking the directorial debut of actor Andrew Levitas, the story centers on a family whose cancer-stricken patriarch (Jenkins) has made it known he wants to be taken off life support. Hedlund plays the estranged son struggling to cope with the decision. Fortunately he has a potential love interest in Adams to help get through the tough times ahead.

The cast is beyond reproach but there's no getting around how maudlin and cliche this looks. Perhaps that's why there's zero buzz surrounding it, and why Lullaby will be dumped unceremoniously into theaters on June 13th.

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Amy Adams Joins Denis Villeneuve for 'The Story of Your Life'

Making the move to big Hollywood features with Prisoners and Enemy, Denis Villeneuve stepped up his game with those brooding thrillers and gained the attention of A-list stars Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal. And it appears his hard work continues to pay off as he's just landed Amy Adams for his next film, The Story of Your Life.

Deadline reports Adams is in talks to board the adaptation of Ted Chiang's sci-fi short story, penned by Eric Heisserer, responsible for The Thing remake nobody liked. But there's greater potential here as the story presents a unique take on your typical "aliens come to Earth" storyline. Adams will play an expert linguist hired by the military after alien crafts land on Earth, to discern whether they come in peace or are a threat to humanity. As she learns to communicate with them, she begins experiencing flashbacks that may unlock the greater mystery surrounding their arrival.

Adams is just coming off playing Lois Lane in Man of Steel, which also follows an extraterrestrial's arrival on the planet. Otherwise, this is a turn in a different direction for her and Villeneuve, who continues to shift genres with ease.

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Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal Board Philip Seymour Hoffman's 'Ezekiel Moss'

Philip Seymour Hoffman has been keeping plenty busy in front of the camera, starring in two movies premiering at Sundance: the John Le Carre thriller A Most Wanted Man and John Slattery's God's Pocket. But he's also looking to pick up the pace behind the camera after making his directorial debut in 2010 with Jack Goes Boating. A couple of years ago we learned he'd be directing Ezekiel Moss, based on a Black List script by Keith Bunin, and now we know Hoffman's going to have some big stars to work with.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Amy Adams are set to headline Ezekiel Moss, a depression-era ghost story about a small town boy who befriends a drifter who may have the ability to speak with the dead. Gyllenhaal, who is set to appear in the creepy thriller Enemy next week, will play the titular drifter while Adams is the young boy's mother who begins to fall in love with Moss.

No word on when this will begin shooting, but this already looks to be a much bigger deal than Hoffman's last directorial effort.

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'12 Years a Slave' Wins Best Picture at the 2014 Critics' Choice Awards

The 19th annual Critics' Choice Awards aired live last night, January 16, on The CW Network and was hosted by Whose Line is it Anyway? host Aisha Tyler. The awards are voted on by the Broadcast Film Critics Association (of which our own Travis Hopson is a voting member). The top honor this year went to 12 Years a Slave for Best Picture. Lupita Nyong'o also picked up an award for Best Supporting Actress.  

Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto both picked up Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, respectively, for their work in Dallas Buyers Club while Amy Adams and Leonardo DiCaprio won Best Actor and Actress in a Comedy. Surprisingly, Lone Survivor got two awards, one for Best Action Movie and another for Mark Wahlberg who took home the award for Best Actor in an Action Movie. It beat out competitors Iron Man 3 and Man of Steel. 

To see the complete all the winners, check out the list below! The winners are asterisked and highlighted in bold.  

BEST PICTURE
American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Dallas Buyers Club
Gravity
Her
Inside Llewyn Davis
Nebraska
Saving Mr. Banks
*12 Years a Slave
The Wolf of Wall Street

BEST ACTOR
Christian Bale – American Hustle
Bruce Dern – Nebraska
Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave
Tom Hanks – Captain Phillips
*Matthew McConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club
Robert Redford – All Is Lost

BEST ACTRESS
*Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine
Sandra Bullock – Gravity
Judi Dench – Philomena
Brie Larson – Short Term 12
Meryl Streep – August: Osage County
Emma Thompson – Saving Mr. Banks

BEST SUPPORTING ACTORBarkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips
Daniel Bruhl – Rush
Bradley Cooper – American Hustle
Michael Fassbender – 12 Years a Slave
James Gandolfini – Enough Said
*Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Scarlett Johansson – Her
Jennifer Lawrence – American Hustle
*Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave
Julia Roberts – August: Osage County
June Squibb – Nebraska
Oprah Winfrey – Lee Daniels’ The Butler        

BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS
Asa Butterfield – Ender’s Game
*Adele Exarchopoulos – Blue Is the Warmest Color
Liam James – The Way Way Back
Sophie Nelisse – The Book Thief
Tye Sheridan – Mud

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE
*American Hustle
August: Osage County
Lee Daniels’ The Butler
Nebraska
12 Years a Slave
The Wolf of Wall Street

BEST DIRECTOR
*Alfonso Cuaron – Gravity
Paul Greengrass – Captain Phillips
Spike Jonze – Her
Steve McQueen – 12 Years a Slave
David O. Russell – American Hustle
Martin Scorsese – The Wolf of Wall Street

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Eric Singer and David O. Russell – American Hustle
Woody Allen – Blue Jasmine
*Spike Jonze – Her
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen – Inside Llewyn Davis
Bob Nelson – Nebraska

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Tracy Letts – August: Osage County
Richard Linklater & Julie Delpy & Ethan Hawke – Before Midnight
Billy Ray – Captain Phillips
Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope – Philomena
*John Ridley – 12 Years a Slave
Terence Winter – The Wolf of Wall Street

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
*Emmanuel Lubezki – Gravity
Bruno Delbonnel – Inside Llewyn Davis
Phedon Papamichael – Nebraska
Roger Deakins – Prisoners
Sean Bobbitt – 12 Years a Slave

BEST ART DIRECTION
Andy Nicholson (Production Designer), Rosie Goodwin (Set Decorator) – Gravity
*Catherine Martin (Production Designer), Beverley Dunn (Set Decorator) – The Great Gatsby
K.K. Barrett (Production Designer), Gene Serdena (Set Decorator) – Her
Dan Hennah (Production Designer), Ra Vincent (Set Decorator) – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Adam Stockhausen (Production Designer), Alice Baker (Set Decorator) – 12 Years a Slave

BEST EDITING
Alan Baumgarten, Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers – American Hustle
Christopher Rouse – Captain Phillips
*Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger – Gravity
Daniel P. Hanley, Mike Hill – Rush
Joe Walker – 12 Years a Slave
Thelma Schoonmaker – The Wolf of Wall Street

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Michael Wilkinson – American Hustle
*Catherine Martin – The Great Gatsby
Bob Buck, Lesley Burkes-Harding, Ann Maskrey, Richard Taylor – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Daniel Orlandi – Saving Mr. Banks
Patricia Norris – 12 Years a Slave

BEST MAKEUP
*American Hustle
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Lee Daniels’ The Butler
Rush
12 Years a Slave

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
*Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Iron Man 3
Pacific Rim
Star Trek into Darkness

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
The Croods
Despicable Me 2
*Frozen
Monsters University
The Wind Rises

BEST ACTION MOVIE
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Iron Man 3
*Lone Survivor
Rush
Star Trek into Darkness

BEST ACTOR IN AN ACTION MOVIE
Henry Cavill – Man of Steel
Robert Downey Jr. – Iron Man 3
Brad Pitt – World War Z
*Mark Wahlberg – Lone Survivor

BEST ACTRESS IN AN ACTION MOVIE
*Sandra Bullock – Gravity
Jennifer Lawrence – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Evangeline Lilly – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Gwyneth Paltrow – Iron Man 3

BEST COMEDY
*American Hustle
Enough Said
The Heat
This Is the End
The Way Way Back
The World’s End

BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Christian Bale – American Hustle
*Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street
James Gandolfini – Enough Said
Simon Pegg – The World’s End
Sam Rockwell – The Way Way Back

BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
*Amy Adams – American Hustle
Sandra Bullock – The Heat
Greta Gerwig – Frances Ha
Julia Louis-Dreyfus – Enough Said
Melissa McCarthy – The Heat

BEST SCI-FI/HORROR MOVIE
The Conjuring
*Gravity
Star Trek into Darkness
World War Z

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
*Blue Is the Warmest Color
The Great Beauty
The Hunt
The Past
Wadjda

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
The Act of Killing
Blackfish
Stories We Tell
Tim’s Vermeer
*20 Feet from Stardom

BEST SONG
Atlas – Coldplay – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Happy – Pharrell Williams – Despicable Me 2
*Let It Go – Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez – Frozen
Ordinary Love – U2 – Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
Please Mr. Kennedy – Justin Timberlake/Oscar Isaac/Adam Driver – Inside Llewyn Davis
Young and Beautiful – Lana Del Rey – The Great Gatsby

BEST SCORE
*Steven Price – Gravity
Arcade Fire – Her
Thomas Newman – Saving Mr. Banks
Hans Zimmer – 12 Years a Slave

Joel Siegel Award
*Forest Whitaker

Louis XIII Genius Award
*Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, Richard Linklater for trilogy Before Sunrise, Before Sunsetand Before Midnight

Hollywood's Hottest Star
*Benedict Cumberbatch

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Review Spike Jonze's 'Her' Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johansson, and Amy Adams

How do we define love in the digital age? Has our Internet, social networking, mobile world made us less capable of true intimacy? Are we less capable of finding true love, or have our horizons been broadened to a whole new world of possibilities? Why is it that we seem to have a deeper emotional connection with our Iphone than with the people closest to us? There are a great many questions asked in Spike Jonze's observant and funny Her, a film that takes us through the familiar heartaches and joys of a relationship but from a completely different light.

In vivid pastel colors, Jonze cleverly introduces us to lonely, depressed Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix), the best writer at BeautifulHandwrittenLetters.com, a service that provides deeply personal letters for other people to share. He speaks casually to his computer and the words come with ease for him, displayed neatly and beautifully on the screen. In this not-too-distant future version of Los Angeles Jonze has fashioned, human emotion and intimacy has been dulled so much by technology that it must be created out of thin air by others and then, yes, filtered through more technology. It's an introduction worth a chuckle or two, mainly because it's not as far-fetched as it seems, and in some ways recalls Joseph Gordon-Levitt's greeting card writer from (500) Days of Summer.

But there is no manic pixie dream girl in Theodore's future, he's wrapped up in his own pain for that. He's been unable to finalize a divorce with his wife Catherine (Rooney Mara), holding out hope for a reconciliation that won't come. They've been together all their lives but the divorce was bitter, brutal, and Theodore can't help but think back to those terrible final arguments while trying to recall the moments of genuine happiness. It's almost as if he's trying to prove to himself there was a time before the depression, in an effort to find that place again. He's not very good with people, as evidenced by the brief conversations with his boss (Chris Pratt), but he does have friends, mainly his equally-awkward neighbor Amy (Amy Adams, as far from American Hustle as imaginable). She programs video games for a living, which is convenient because he freely admits to being addicted to them, not that he finds them emotionally rewarding in any way. Everything changes when he sees an ad for the new OS1, hailed as the first true artificial intelligence program, capable of evolving over time. Intrigued, he buys one and brings it home, answers a few easy questions (not unlike an online dating profile, coincidentally) and is introduced to Samantha (Scarlett Johansson), the voice that will come to be his constant companion

Right away he's amazed at how engaging and probing Samantha can be, and while she organizes his cluttered life she also begins to grow into a real friend. She does more than help him out at work, talking to him through a little earpiece and seeing the world through a tiny camera stashed in his pocket, she also starts pushing Theodore back out into civilization. She encourages his ultimately disastrous blind date with a sexy, somewhat unstable woman (Olivia Wilde), and begins sorting through his best writing for a potential book. Eventually, that friendship begins to turn into something more, built on long late-night conversations of a personal nature. He takes her on whirlwind trips to show her the world, and she's genuinely fascinated just as much as he's enlivened by having a partner to share these things with. When things begin to turn to a romantic, and ultimately a sexual nature, it feels very natural; as natural as anything Theodore has ever experienced.

Movies about our destructive dependence and obsession with technology are nothing new; we had one just a few months ago in the badly misguided Disconnect; but Jonze's film is a unique, humanist take on the idea. The genius of it is how Jonze is capable of making us believe in this relationship as something real, looking beyond just the physical limitations and focusing on the feelings. And soon it's like we're watching just another relationship, with its blistering honeymoon period and eventual fall into comfortable predictability. As things become too familiar, jealousy and doubt become a destructive presence, especially as Samantha's circle of disembodied friends (including the mind of Zen philosopher Alan Watts!) begins to grow.  Jonze isn't telling us anything new about male/female interaction per se, what he does say is deeply felt and truthful, enough to move through what can be a slowly-paced first hour.

Shot in soft tones and given a soothing climate by Arcade Fire and Karen O's score, the film is both sad and hopeful, with humor that comes from a place of genuine warmth.  That warmth is embodied in another idiosyncratic performance by Phoenix, who shows a broad range of emotions in a role that requires him to be on screen alone for long stretches. It seems like ever since his return after the whole I'm Not There debacle, he's been delivering increasingly expressive performances, and we've never seen him like this before, covering the range from melancholic to joyful with equal efficiency. While Amy Adams is somewhat forgettable as Theodore's pal, it's Scarlett Johansson shows just how much can be done merely with the various inflections of her voice. Her Samantha is a fully-realized character, as much as anybody else in the film if not more so. If there's a case to be made for altering the criteria for acting awards nominations, Johansson makes it here and now with a performance that is more than worthy of recognition.

Jonze finds real beauty and genuine passion in the midst of the technological landscape, suggesting all is not lost for true love just yet.

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Review: 'American Hustle' Starring Christian Bale, Amy Adams, and Bradley Cooper

David O. Russell's swingin' 1970s ode to greed and corruption American Hustle tells you right up front, hey "Some of this actually happened". It's the one kernel of honesty in a film that's swimming with sharks, but at the same time there's the subtle admission that you're going to be conned, so just sit back and enjoy the ride. Russell, who has found ways to have a good time with everything from the Iraq War to boxing to mental illness, has crafted one of the most enjoyable movies of the year, and certainly being swindled has never been this much fun.

Russell is no moron; he knows his skyrocketing success after The Fighterand Silver Linings Playbook can be attributed as much to his cast as to himself, and he's smart enough to bring them back and turn them loose. Christian Bale transforms the most; chubby, Jersey-accented, and elaborately hairdo'ed as Irving Rosenfeld, a petty con man who has never really known a way of life that didn't involve scamming others. He's a survivor, or so he likes to call himself, and he finds his kindred spirit in Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams), a woman with a great (and very fake) English accent. She wields it like a weapon, almost as effectively as she wields her oozing sexuality, and soon she and Irving are an inseparable pair, romantically and professionally. Russell is clearly enamored with the little oasis of relative calm Irving and Sydney find in one another, literally sweeping us through their courtship in a dizzying array of brassy jazz music (their mutual love of Duke Ellington's boisterous 'Jeep's Blues' says more about them than anything) and prances through the Manhattan streets. Their happiness comes at the expense of others, hustling fools out of $5,000 with a fairly simple loan scam that relies on the victim to basically trick himself.

The fun 'n games take a turn with the arrival of ambitious FBI agent Richie DiMaso, played by Bradley Cooper in another case of shocking stunt hairdo casting. How is Javier Bardem nowhere to be found in this movie? Catching her red-handed while Irving has the chance to skate free, Richie offers them total freedom if they help entrap corrupt power players looking to pad their bank accounts at the expense of the public. The film is based, extremely loosely, on the real-life Abscam scandal, an FBI plot that eventually took down a number of low-level politicians, but it's not remembered with any particular fondness due to the questionable lengths the government went to. That idea of governmental overreach is a small cog in the puzzle, as DiMaso eventually ups the ante by targeting well-meaning mayor Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner), a decision that proves to be a very dangerous one.

Forget keeping track of the messy Abscam puzzle, which comes to include fake Arab sheiks and mafia big wigs; the most ruthless games being played are of the heart, with each new development spinning these screwed-up characters into wildly different directions so you never know who has the upper hand. DiMaso pulls the strings, sending Irving off to get in close with the mayor, while he and Sydney get close in a totally different way.

But this isn't just another love triangle of petty jealousies and broken hearts; we’ve seen that story before, especially with morally dubious characters like this that have serious trust issues. Jennifer Lawrence throws molten hot lava on the situation as Irving's unhinged, batty wife Rosalyn, with whom he shares an adopted son. When he's forced to bring her out on a double date with the mayor, Sydney is understandably pissed, sending her scurrying into DiMaso's arms, although he has his own marital issues that need sorting out. With the exception of the egotistical DiMaso, the rest of these characters are scrappers, prone to doing whatever they need to in order to get by.  "Did you ever have to find a way to survive and you knew your choices were bad, but you had to survive?” Irving asks at one point. And it's that toughness in the face of a constantly shifting emotional landscape that keeps American Hustle thrilling and the audience on its toes. Russell, who co-wrote the script with Eric Warren Singer, constantly reframes the power structure, and the film has a deftness to it that feels like it could go absolutely anywhere.

There's no shortage of talent in big and small roles that Russell has managed to put together, and it's a credit to him that he is always able to pull terrific, if largely over-the-top performances.  While some have been quick to criticize Bale's performance, perhaps because it's such an easy target given the physical transformation he undergoes, he's completely convincing and strangely sympathetic as Irving. On the other end of the spectrum, DiMaso is a total douche and Cooper has a great deal of fun playing him as one. DiMaso is the worst kind of crook, who puts his own ambitions over others while pretending to do what's right and just.

But this is a film that belongs to the ladies, and it can be argued no director knows how to better utilize Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence better than Russell. Both women are on fire here, smoldering with sexual energy (bras must not be a thing in the '70s) that they use to engulf the men in their lives. In one of the finest performances she's ever given, Adams is flawless as Sydney, depicting her as someone who has been to the bottom and will do whatever it takes to never go back. She's not just some damsel stuck to the whims of two warring men; she's got her own schemes which prove to be the most central thing in this story that is kind of all over the map. Lawrence gets the most sizzle and the biggest laughs as Rosalyn, a self-centered user who drinks too much and always seems on the verge of either a breakdown or breaking out in dance. She does a little bit of both, actually, when she's not throwing Irving's plan into disarray by her mere presence.  Others pop in for oversized cameos and all of them have a certain charm, whether it’s Robert De Niro as an infamous mobster (type-casting? Not really.) or Michael Pena as a Mexican posing as an Arab prince.

The version of the 1970s Russell fashions is an artifice in itself, a little indulgent and certainly more stylized than the era warrants, but it all fits for the world he's dropped these crazy characters into. The soundtrack is easily one of the year's finest, and surprises by not falling back on the usual period staples. There are too many angles being played for the story to hold together completely, and there's never any real sense of danger, but Russell deserves credit for not blowing things out of proportion when he easily could have. A few corners are cut to conveniently wrap up all that unnecessary Abscam stuff and get right to the emotional payoffs, which resonate more than many movies of this type usually deliver. Few movies had greater expectations than this one ever since Russell began putting it together, especially when it was dropped smack dab in the middle of awards season. But unlike all of the other movies out there grasping desperately for gold, American Hustle makes it look easy.

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New Clips from Spike Jonze's 'Her' Starring Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson

We've come to expect Spike Jonze to deliver movies that are a little off the beaten path, and while his latest film Her certainly fits the bill, it's also one of his most deeply personal. The film, a rather quiet, unassuming romance, takes place in the near future and chronicles the relationship between the lonely Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) and his Siri-esque computer OS, voiced by Scarlett Johansson. As the film prepares to roll out in select cities this week, a handful of new clips have been released to get you ready for this unusual love story.

The four clips are actually quite revealing, as Theodore and Samantha (the OS's chosen name) battle with the reality of their feelings, questioning if those feelings even can be real in the first place. We also see flashes of Theodore's prior relationship with his ex-wife (Rooney Mara), his opening up to best friend Amy (Amy Adams) who is in a similar situation, and also how Theodore and Samantha interact when on a double-date. It's a film that won't be for everybody, and probably some won't be able to get around the concept, but others are sure to fall in love with Jonze's deep insights and unique perspective on love in the modern age.

Her opens in limited release December 18th, and here in D.C. on Christmas Day before going wide January 10th.

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The Hottest Leading Ladies of 2013

When the guys and gals of Punch Drunk Critics are sitting around the fictional water cooler (where our Rocky Hadadi always forgets to buy paper cups), our chats often turn to how hot this actress is, or how hot this actor was in some random movie. It's what we do, and I'd be lying if I said a good chunk of our readership wasn't folks coming to check out whatever hot pics we put up every chance we get. But now we're at the end of the year, my favorite time of year as a movie geek, and while the coming days will be filled with lists of our top films (like my best overlooked movies of 2013), it's also a good time to reflect on the sexiest leading ladies.

To that end, this list isn't just who was hottest in general. These are the leading ladies who really got my engine revving in a starring role. If I didn't do that then my list would be topped by Ali Larter every single year, but she didn't do jack sh*t in 2013 so she ain't here. But is Cameron Diaz for The Counselor? Yeah, definitely. Would she ever be one of my top draft picks normally? Hell no.

Some are smokin', some are quirky, some are a little dangerous, but these are my picks for the sexiest leading ladies of 2013. Enjoy! (Note: Meagan Good would have made this list for Anchorman 2 but there are no good photos! Come on, man! She had Ron Burgundy actin' a fool! More than usual.)

Gemma Arterton- Byzantium 

Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley Benson- Spring Breakers

Rosario Dawson- Trance

Juno Temple- The Brass Teapot

Adrianne Palick- G.I. Joe: Retaliation

Greta Gerwig- Frances Ha

Gwyneth Paltrow- Iron Man 3

Isla Fisher- Now You See Me

Emma Watson- The Bling Ring

Antje Traue- Man of Steel

Jennifer Aniston- We're the Millers

Alexa Vega- Machete Kills

Adele Exarchopoulos- Blue is the Warmest Color

Melissa De Sousa- The Best Man Holiday

Jena Malone- The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Jennifer Lawrence- American Hustle

Amy Adams- American Hustle

Veerle Baetens- The Broken Circle Breakdown

Manuela Martelli- Il Futuro

Cameron Diaz and Penelope Cruz- The Counselor

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