Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer: There are better recent corporate tell-alls (Inside Job) and better political character studies (Weiner), but this was solid, a straightforward doc with an interesting cast of characters that examines not just Spitzer’s career but money’s entrenched stranglehold on politics. ***1/2
Jack Goes Boating: I saw this when Philip Seymour Hoffman was alive and it felt like the most Philip Seymour Hoffman-ey type of movie, mostly for better but sometimes for worse. That’s not much of a surprise I guess, considering he both directed and starred in it. It’s very sweet, but also a hair much. Now that he has passed, I can look back on it fondly as the weird treat that he sent out into the world, his only journey into directing. ****
Yogi Bear: A stupid movie that does nothing for any stakeholder – kid audience, adult audience, the Yogi Bear property in general. A TJ Miller who still seemed to have some light in his eyes doing his shtick around everything was amusing, but everything else is unwatchable. DUD
The Special Relationship: One of what has become many HBO political biopic-ish movies, this time telling the story of the close U.S./U.K. relationship told through the relationship between two new young leaders in the mid-90s. These always tell the story in a straightforward way, so it’s all about the performances of actors doing modern political figures. Dennis Quaid as Bill Clinton isn’t very good but Hope Davis as Hillary Clinton is spot on. Michael Sheen as per usual is a fine Tony Blair. **3/4
Love and Other Drugs: The director is onto a fun tone here and there’s a few amusing performances (Oliver Platt!), but it’s a movie about two attractive people that rewards greed so it doesn’t feel like a useful addition to the world. **
