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Police accuse bank robbery suspect of gobbling up note (with dashcam video)
Dad accused of forcing son into field, killing him
Man found dead in North Akron home is identified
Victim of beating in Kent last week is declared dead at Akron hospital
Coventry man killed in crash at I-77 ramp
Browns' roster nearly devoid of consistent players
College student mistaken for deer, shot to death
NFL star Chris Spielman's wife loses cancer battle
Blogs:
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Cat-loving chihuahua suckles seven abandoned kittens
The Heldenfiles:
Friday Night Notebook
Patrick McManamon:
For your Saturday entertainment …
Akron Zips:
Hitchens leads Zips in second-half comeback
Tribe Matters:
Seven players added to Tribe’s 40-man roster
Cleveland Browns:
Holmgren expresses interest in Browns position
Kent State Sports:
Kent State blown out in second half, loses to Temple 47-13
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Gameblog: Cavs vs. Philadelphia 76ers
Buckeye Blogging:
OSU – Michigan college football rivals meet in Baghdad
Varsity Letters:
Four area football teams play tonight
All Da King's Men:
Headed For Disaster
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Will Health Care Reform Pass?
Akron Law Café:
Health Care Financing Reform: (69) The Brookings Institute Study on "Bending the Curve" – Four General Strategies
See Jane Style:
Vintage Chic
Car Chase:
TIME TO GET YOUR COLLECTOR CARS WINTERIZED
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Silverdome Potentially SOLD!
Ohio Travels with Betty:
George is looking for a Thanksgiving buffet in Akron.
Sound Check:
Steely Dan Plays "The Royal Scam" at E.J. Thomas Hall
HRLite House:
Colloquium at University of Akron
Akron Gamer:
Nintendo's Mario endures even as games come and go
By Ty Burr
Boston Globe
Published on Sunday, Jun 21, 2009
''Careful'' is not a word you'd associate with Michael Keaton — not based on the antic energy that made him a star in the 1980s (and which was on display as recently as 2005's Game Six). Keaton's directorial debut, The Merry Gentleman, though, is an overly muted and cautious piece of work. Watching it is like seeing a man ease out onto the limb of a tree, constantly testing its strength.
The character he plays finds himself high up at one point, too. Frank Logan is a suicidal Chicago hit man — yes, it's one of those movies — who has prospered by the very fact of his invisibility. A men's tailor in his day job, Frank doesn't talk much and he leaves no leftover threads to pick at. Yet he's a fallen man, and one night after completing a sniping job, he prepares to jump off a roof. The scream of a woman startles him back from the ledge.
She is Kate Frazier (Kelly Macdonald), and fallen men are her specialty. A fragile Scottish immigrant working as a receptionist, she's fleeing an abusive cop husband (Bobby Cannavale) and has attracted Murcheson (Tom Bastounes), a police detective who knows he's no prize, either. ''I'm a divorced alcoholic chain smoker,'' he tells his partner, who says of Kate, ''She don't know that.''
In this context, Frank is Mr. Right, a spooky yet tender presence who respects Kate's silence and personal space. Curious whether she can ID him, he helps carry her Christmas tree into her apartment, and wariness turns to protectiveness and doomed love. ''What's the difference between a ghost and an angel?'' Kate asks as she trims the tree. ''A ghost is haunted while an angel is blessed,'' Frank responds. It's one of those movies, too.
The Merry Gentleman takes its title from the Christmas carol and dourly waits for Frank to find either God or rest. Ron Lazzeretti's script is chock-a-block with religious symbolism that feels both forced and unfocused, and as director, Keaton slows the pace down to a funereal crawl, waiting for magic to happen. Much of the time it doesn't. But every so often it does, as in a couple of spiky dinner dates/procedural interviews between Kate and Murcheson, or the hushed later sequences between the hit man and his new love.
It helps that Macdonald has a face made for close-ups and that Keaton understands as much. It's good, too, to see a director willing to let his actors stew at a low simmer until the flavors come. Next time, though, Keaton should think about jumping off that ledge.
''Careful'' is not a word you'd associate with Michael Keaton — not based on the antic energy that made him a star in the 1980s (and which was on display as recently as 2005's Game Six). Keaton's directorial debut, The Merry Gentleman, though, is an overly muted and cautious piece of work. Watching it is like seeing a man ease out onto the limb of a tree, constantly testing its strength.
Get the full article here.
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