Cinemazlowski 'A Walk in the Woods' and 'The Gift'

Sep 5, 2015

There's something to be said for expert craftsmanship, whether one is considering a car or a fine piece of furniture. It can also apply to artistic formats like movies, and the new film "A Walk in the Woods" is a prime example of how truly ace veteran actors can elevate what might seem to be a simple story into absolutely exquisite entertainment.

Starring Robert Redford in the best role he's had this century, as well as Nick Nolte in the kind of career-capping role that could win him an Oscar next year, "Walk" is based on the wildly popular book of the same name by popular humorist and nature writer Bill Bryson. Redford plays Bryson, who in his senior years developed an itch to go on one last great manly adventure by hiking the Appalachian Trail.

But because his wife (Emma Thompson) finds a trove of news articles listing people who have died via accidents, animal attacks or outright murder along the trail while hiking solo, she is so worried that Bill decides to find a hiking partner to assuage her fears. He invites lots of friends, but everyone has an old-age excuse not to go – except for Stephen Katz (Nick Nolte), the very definition of a frenemy, or friend/enemy, who still owes Bill $600 from a disastrous escapade they shared 40 years ago.

Bill wants to hike the entire trail, a total of five million steps up most of the East Coast through wilderness and mountains, in all kinds of weather from sunny to snow-driven. Stephen wants to cheat the process any chance he can, always looking for hotels to sleep in or a ride to move them up the road. Together, the comic differences between the reserved Bill and the earthy Stephen create comedy gold, and while there is profanity scattered fairly frequently throughout the movie, it's the kind of good-natured man-to-man smack-talking that is nearly impossible to be offended by.

Redford looks like he's having a ball, thankfully leaving behind the dreary political pseudo-thrillers that have constituted much of his output in the past decade. Nolte is a wonder to behold, using his genuinely craggy old looks and rough real life to give deep shadings to Stephen, especially in a couple of moving scenes where he discusses his lifelong struggle with alcohol – a battle Nolte has famously faced as well.

But more than that, Nolte's timing and physical comedy sense is astonishingly well-used. Nearly every movement he makes from falling down to struggling through a doorway, is packed with little bits of motion that take the mundane to mirth.

Add in breathtaking scenery, a terrific supporting cast with name veterans like Mary Steenburgen and Nick Offerman in even the smallest roles, and a fantastic screenplay plus sterling direction from Ken Kwapis, and you'll want to run, not walk to see this movie. Trust me, even if you're way younger than the likely target audience of retirees, this is a highly enjoyable movie.

A great film of an entirely different sort has been scaring up good word-of-mouth for the past month, but I somehow missed it until last weekend. "The Gift" stars Jason Bateman, who normally acts in raunchy comedies like "Horrible Bosses," in a thoughtful, foreboding and intelligent thriller that would make Hitchcock proud.

Focusing on Bateman's character Simon, who has followed a promotion to a new job and life in California after bad luck in Chicago that is only mysteriously hinted at in the script, "The Gift" shows what happens when Simon and his wife Robyn (Rebecca Hall) run into a strange old high school acquaintance of his named Gordo (played by Joel Edgerton, who also wrote and directed the movie).  Gordo seems a little too eager to reconnect, and sure enough, he soon leaves a bottle of fine wine on their front doorstep that has to be reciprocated with a dinner invitation – and that's where the cat and mouse games begin.

Now, most movies of this type would just be potboilers in which it's easy to determine the heroes and villains, and where the lines of black and white, good and bad, are clearly drawn. But "The Gift" is vastly smarter than that, and instead keeps viewers' heads spinning throughout as one unexpected revelation after another is made and the back and forth of revenge and retribution escalate – yet impressively with a minimum of violence and foul language compared to most R-rated thrillers.

Yet even on that level, this isn't a prurient movie that's merely existing to draw viewers in for cheap thrills. It's also a deep mediation on forgiveness, and whether we can truly escape our pasts or always live in fear of having our worst moments be discovered. And by the end, a Bible verse plays a key part in all of the proceedings, as Edgerton realizes he's crafted a modern parable for our times.

"The Gift" is definitely not the feel-good movie of the summer, but it may be the most intelligent and genuinely exciting one. It will also certainly give you plenty to talk about on the way home, and that's a rare gift indeed in the current cinematic climate.

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