Review: Timothy Green's life isn't odd, just old fashioned

"Yeah, I don't know what to tell you. We love our leaves on Krypton."

 Grade: C+

For years, pockets of society have railed pretty hard against Disney for making slight, unambitious entertainment that tries to please all but clearly only satiates a very specific majority: children.

As if that's a crime.

Disney has never had to make edgy, sharp entertainment; it's great if they do, but they never needed to develop fare that pushes the boundaries of art, nor should they be expected to, because their audience simply doesn't demand such "sophistication". Does this mean that Disney deserves any less regard as a credible creative force with the power to affect the masses? Not really, and even if the company did receive less regard for lacking creative ambition, I'm sure they could use a spare hundred or two from their coffers to dry their scant tears. So, when Disney releases something as rote, cute, and middle-of-the-road as Peter Hedge's The Odd Life of Timothy Green, there should be no cause for alarm (there won't be) or inflammatory criticisms. Simply, audiences should adjust their expectations and accept the fact that hedges flick won't set the world on fire, but the kids and families will get a mild kick out of it before their memory of Timothy Green's odd life falls away like leaves on an autumn tree.

Odd Life centers on Jim (Joel Edgerton) and Cindy (Jennifer Garner) Green, a small town couple who have struggled to bring a child of their own into the world. At the end of their rope after years of trying every medical option available, Jim and Cindy write down their wishes for a perfect kid and bury those wishes in their backyard garden, which seems suspiciously on-the-nose in its cutesy progressiveness. That same magical night upside-down rain falls from the heavens and out from the ground, literally, pops Timothy (CJ Adams), the most adorable and precocious 10-year old since Disney's last movie or show starring a precocious ten year old. With the exception of the leaves growing from his ankles, Timothy is the absolute child of Jim and Cindy's dreams. Once adjusted to the shock of having "birthed" a magical plant child, Jim and Cindy quickly open their hearts and home to Timothy, who has that ever-elusive power to positively change the lives of everyone within spitting distance, especially Jim and Cindy's less-than-loveable families. As his "parents" and the town come to love the eccentric Timothy, especially teen outcast and potential crush Loni (Odeya Rush), and his propensity to absorb sunlight for energy like Superboy's skinny cousin, the young man struggles to keep a devastating secret from Jim and Cindy that will change the course of their lives.

Hedges film, based on a story by Ahmet Zappa, handicaps itself early by working with a framed structure that telegraphs an ending that would have been far more effective without the framing. That structure, in combination with a languid pacing that is typical for prestige picks and films made before the turn of the century, may be a bit of a turn off to moviegoers still attuned to the flash and fire of the Summer Movie Season. Yet, the pacing is absolutely central to telling this type of psuedo-Oscar bait story about a relatively heavy topic as it lends some somberness in the moments where Timothy isn't letting his precociousness generate a few chuckles and chortles. Despite the slightly somber tone, Odd Life builds some humor out of the central conceit that Jim and Cindy's wishes were a tad incomplete, which makes Timothy appear to have his head firmly entrenched in the clouds as he doles out sage down-to-earth advice. Granted, Odd Life is far from a riotous experience, especially once the central joke wears thin, but it is amusing enough to keep the younger and younger at heart members of the audience from dozing.

Star CJ Adams does most of the heavy lifting with the comedy in Odd Life, bringing an easy charm and restraint to the proceedings that recalls Freddie Highmore's turn as Charlie in Tim Burton's Charlie & the Chocolate factory adaptation.Adams imbues Timothy with that fictional balance of old soul wisdom and childlike innocence to make Timothy a lot more bearable and lovable than he could have been. Making Adams job easier are Edgerton and Garner, who are both a tad saccharine and square but acceptable as Timothy's parents and straight man/woman. Edgerton acquaints himself fairly well, though he is mostly reduced to staring in shock or frowning as he grapples with a daddy-issue storyline. Garner, on the other hand, seems to have abandoned any pretense of embracing her athleticism and sexiness as she did at the height of Alias' popularity and become a real-life mom. On screen, there is little to hint that Garner was once kind of a big time action star as she ladles on the doting and a relentless stream of hugs and kisses. Together, the three make a cute (there's that word again) and reasonably convincing if not particularly memorable family who most won't mind spending an hour and a half with.

The family at the center of Odd Life, and the accompanying performances, is a perfect encapsulation of all that is wrong and right with Odd Life. It is twee but inoffensive. Slightly charming but possessed with a great potential to incite eye-rolling. Heartwarming but rote. Life-affirming but not particularly memorable. I can't begrudge Hedges and his crew for not aiming higher because they don't need to. Odd Life doesn't have to be a gritty affair that plunges into the depths of a marriage struggling under the weight of the couple's failure to reproduce. it merely has to be a mildly funny and sometimes spritely little tale about how one magical little boy changed one couple's, and a handful of townsfolk's, lives.In aiming for that target, Odd Life succeeds, just don't expect much more than that.

In-Between Observations:

•  David Morse, Ron Livingston, and Diane Weist all occupy small roles that add up to a handful of extended cameos; a sad waste of talent.
• Timothy Green's Odd Life is very much like the early days of kal-El's Strange Life; up to and including absorbing energy from the sun.
• CJ Adams has moments where his posture makes him look 62 rather than 12. If this is acting, great job; if not: poor kid.
• Mila Kunis+Sarah Hyland=Odeya Rush; there is nothing cookie cutter at all about Hollywood casting.

Review - Warrior

Grade: A

Good: Amazing performances from Hardy, Edgerton and Nolte; Superbly filmed and choreographed MMA fights; Great dramatic restraint that prevents taxing melodrama.

Bad: Plot is a nakedly contrived.

Ugly: All of the submission moves used by Edgerton’s character.

Earlier this year, David O. Russell’s The Fighter won a few people some awards, and rightly so. Stars Melissa Leo and Christian Bale deserved to be recognized for their superb performances as the most co-dependent mother-son duo south of the Merrimack. As good as the performances in the Fighter were, it didn’t exactly re-invent the wheel that is the sports movie, but it did show how the traditional framework could amplify a narrative built around family drama. Now, a few months shy of a year later, Gavin O’Connor tries his hand at the family drama-sports movie hybrid with Warrior, a deceptively moving film that transcends a contrived plot and delivers a legitimate emotional gut punch.

The plot for Warrior sounds like it was copied straight out of a Street Fighter instruction manual. Former marine Tommy Reardon (Tom Hardy) has returned to the Pittsburgh home of his father, recovering alcoholic and ex-boxer Paddy Conlon (Nick Nolte), after years of estrangement. Tommy wants nothing to do with his father, who apparently spent most of Tommy’s formative years beating his wife and terrorizing his family, but he needs Paddy to train him for an upcoming Mixed Martial Arts tournament, cleverly named SPARTA, with a $5 million purse that he desperately needs to help the family of one of his lost squad mates. On the other side of Pennsylvania, the brother Tommy hasn't spoken to in years, former UFC competitor Brendan Conlon (Joel Edgerton), is family man who spends his days teaching high school physics and his nights competing in bush league MMA fights. His luck hits the skids when he is suspended from teaching for coming into work looking like Edward Norton after a night at Fight Club, and, adding to the misery, his bank threatens to foreclose on his family's home. With his world falling apart, Brendan decides to give it another go as a fighter. After getting the begrudging support of his wife (Jennifer Morrison), hooking up with ace trainer Frank Campana (Frank Grillo) and benefitting from a cruel, contrived twist of fate, Brendan finds himself in position to enter the SPARTA tourney. The two brothers arrive at SPARTA and set forth on a collision course that includes a litany of brutal beatdowns and moments of measured catharsis that threaten to tear the family apart as much as it may bring them together.

As the leads, it is implied that Warrior is a showcase for Hardy and Edgerton, but both truly own this film with superb performances that show a restraint and humanity that few films like this ever possess. Hardy does an outstanding job as Tommy, a literal caged animal haunted by the pain of his past. Hardy avoids making Tommy a moper and a whiner, and opts to present Tommy as reticent when outside the ring and frighteningly ferocious inside of it. If this is what audiences can expect from him as Bane in next year’s The Dark Knight Rises then Christian Bale better bring Mickey Ward’s kidney punch. Joel Edgerton may not play the flashier of the two brothers, but his performance as Brendan is noble and relatable in the way that classic underdog sports heroes should be. Brendan’s attempts to deal with very real issues motivating his pursuit is laudable for its avoidance of melodramatics and embrace of dignified control. Probably the most impressive part of both performances is how well both actors translate their characters personalities into physicality. As Tommy, Hardy is constantly moving and shifting in the cage, as if he cannot wait to knock his opponent on their back. Conversely, Edgerton gives Brendan a patience that manifests in superb timing and an aptitude for eschewing the knockout and making his opponents tap out in the most painful way possible. When these two bring their physicality and emotion to their respective final bouts, they do so in a way that tells a story better than any words on page ever could.

Hardy and Edgerton’s performance are only elevated by the strong work Nick Nolte does as their father, Paddy. Nolte carries the weight of past sins deep inside much like his sons do, but his quest for redemption balances exaggerated desperation with honest compassion. Nolte never lets Paddy devolve to the point where his love for his sons is questioned. As haunted and demolished as the man is, he carries on because the love of his sons is pretty much all he has, and Nolte plays that beat perfectly. The rest of the supporting cast is fairly marginalized with Morrison having a bit more impact than the rest, playing the beleaguered, reluctantly supportive wife that is required for any boxing/fighting drama. Pro wrestling fans will be interested to see that Olympic Gold medalist, TNA wrestler and all around all-American Kurt Angle has a fairly significant role as, ironically, Russian powerhouse Koba. Thankfully, he doesn’t speak; he just annihilates opponents, which is probably the wisest use of a wrestler who is untrained in more traditional acting.

Director Gavin O’Connor, best known for the underrated Miracle, does a superb job in keeping the affairs outside of the ring fairly low-key. By avoiding melodramatics and grounding the character’s motivations in relatable, contemporary issues, he allows Warrior to reach beyond the expectations of the average sports film. Admittedly, the plot is a bit contrived in the sense that the two brothers both enter the same tournament at the same time, but without it there’d be no movie. Ignoring the plot contrivances, audiences will find that O’Connor, who manages a cameo as SPARTA organizer J.J. Riley, has a strong hand for not only storytelling sans dialogue, as evident in the fights and the scenes of utter quiet, but also for atmosphere. As artificial as the plot may seem, the atmosphere is absolutely tangible, as the darkness and claustrophobia of the character’s lives at home provides a powerful contrast to the spectacle of MMA competition. O’Connor is also no slouch with filming the superbly choreographed MMA fights. The fights are appropriately brutal without being overly bloody and deliver an impact that should ring true to most fans of the sport. The balance of restrained drama, tangible atmosphere and solidly filmed and choreographed fights that O’Connor brings to the table is crucial to giving the film an authenticity and an insight that many may not find when watching a real MMA competition.

All things considered, Warrior is a remarkable achievement. It brings a new twist to the genre of boxing/fighting sports film and shines a light on the contemporary successor to the sweet science. Based on the cheap-ish commercials, Warrior seems like something better suited to a late-night run on FX or Spike TV, but make no mistake this is as good as a movie like this can be. Like its two leads, Warrior is much more than it appears and deserves to mentioned in the same breath as champions of fight films like Rocky, Raging Bull, and The Fighter.