Promised Land

Last evening my wife and I went to the movies and, as I am saving The Hobbit to attend with my very busy teenage son, we attended the new Matt Damon movie Promised Land. My wife says just seeing Matt Damon's smile is worth nine dollars. I am not sure that I would agree with that but I do find Damon very likable.

This movie, straight out of the headlines is about fracking. Fracking is a process of removing natural gas from shale deposits deep under the ground. In recent years we have all heard stories of both landowners gaining untold riches from the deposits under there land as well as horror stories as to the effects this process has on the land and those who use it.

I do not have all the answers. I suspect that the truth probably lays on both sides of this issue. A great deal of money can be made by those fortunate enough to have these deposits underground but there is always a risk in extractions from the Earth.

In the movie Damon plays Steve Butler a mineral rights specialist for the Global company. Steve has been sent into an unnamed small town to gain the mineral rights to peoples land so that his company can start extracting large amounts of the gas believed to be underneath. Steve, as played by Damon, is not a bad guy. Having suffered through the death of his own farming community as a teenager he knows how bad it can get. His town collapsed when the local Caterpillar plant closed and moved overseas. In his mind the chance to earn a million dollars for doing nothing but selling mineral rights is a goldmine to these folks and he fervently believes he is on the side of the angels. He has heard some of the horror stories of the problems with fracking but is told by his company that these are untrue and chooses or wants to believe it. His partner in this process is played by Frances McDormand of Fargo fame. Playing Sue in an understated way she is all common sense and organization to Steve's emotional tent revival kind of salesmanship.

As they make their sales pitch to landowners they find more resistance than is usual. Hal Holbrook plays the town's Science teacher who is very knowledgeable and very concerned about the potential invasion of the gas companies. Soon after this confrontation an unknown man with the unknown of company of Athene Environmental shows up. John Krasinski plays Dustin Noble, a fellow who saw his father's farm and livestock destroyed by the effects of neighboring fracking and tells us the loss of his father's farm. With a receptive audience already concerned as a result of their local townsman's vocal opposition Dustin finds fertile ground for his claims.

Stuck somewhere between anger and disbelief that the locals might well be turning down an opportunity to safeguard their well-being based on untrue claims about the dangers of fracking Steve fights on. Signing folks, some who are more than willing, one gentleman in a trailer makes Steve drink some hooch with him to celebrate their " being partners", to take a chance on making a million dollars.

As the movie comes to the end Frank Yates, Holbrook's teacher, Dustin the environmentalist and of course Damon's Butler work to win votes on the binding town election forthcoming. A sharp twist in the road of the story appears, I saw it coming but not much more than a minute before it occurred, and we are left with a different story. One that is much more definitive on who the bad guy is, but perhaps one that by doing so makes the movie less about looking at an issue that deserves a real airing than defining in a black and white way a problem that might not have a black and white answer.

Still it is a good story, Damon is as he always is, above average though this movie never really takes off. It is as if it is a plane screaming down the runway, you are moving faster than you would driving but you never really take off and soon you run out pavement. When this movie comes to the end of the pavement you never really got off the ground though it was a sort of enjoyable ride.

Moonrise Kingdom

I had heard a great deal of buzz about this movie through the early parts of the summer but it was not until August that it arrived at our theater. With Wes Anderson as the director and with a stellar cast one was instantly curious about what this simple movie could have to bring such a group together.

The movie set in the mid sixties is about a young boy, 12 or 13, who goes to summer camp, is unpopular, runs away with a local girl he has met, and all that happens as a result of this.

Jared Gilman plays Sam Shakusky an orphan boy who returns for a second year to Camp Khaki s summer camp in New England. The camp's Scoutmaster is Randy Ward, played by Edward Norton. Scoutmaster Ward's real job is as a math teacher but he considers scouting his real calling and takes it very seriously. It is a hoot to see, as he makes his inspections of the camp and scouts, the scout-leader smoking. Different times indeed.

Kara Hayward plays Suzy Bishop. Hayward makes her first movie appearance, she won an open casting call for the role in Massachusetts. Hayward is a member of Mensa and has said that her IQ rates in the highly exceptional range. One guesses she had no trouble remembering her lines.

She is unsettling in her role, with heavy eye shadow like a girl trying to be a woman, and yet bringing her cat when they run away, complete with cans of cat food, and her favorite books. As they seek to get to their idyllic runaway spot, which they name Moonrise Kingdom, she is seen carrying her heavy clunky suitcase.

The cast is exceptional. Truly. Bruce Willis plays the local police captain. Harvey Keitel plays the Commodore of all the khaki scouts on the island. Frances McDormand of Fargo fame plays Suzy's Mom and Bill Murray plays her Dad.

This is a top notch cast and this is a sweet movie. Cute, innocent, heartfelt, escapism is as good a description as one can give. This movie is worth all the buzz.

A final note. It might be time to accept what a treasure we have in Bill Murray. Hard to believe that this man who played on Saturday Night Live in all it's over the top, raucous glory, could be the same actor who can play an understated role such as this in a way that makes it hard to remember how over the top he can be. He is however. Murray with his late night visits, usually in preposterous costume or character, to David Letterman are must see television has reached the point where he does exactly what he wants and only what he wants. I remember hearing a story about he came to take a certain role and the screenwriter described that Murray never answers his phone and one must follow this process of leaving and relaying messages and hoping for the best. Still, once in a role, Murray might be the most underrated actor we have.

Before this movie I saw a preview for the upcoming movie Hyde Park on the Hudson in which Murray will play a Presidential Franklin Roosevelt. Based on the previews he appears to nail it in a way that might be award winning. It is shaping up to be a great year for one who is fast becoming a treasure for his eclectic choices of where to use his enormous talent.