'Pope' a tale of a PR crisis in the making
<b>Reel Life review: 'We Have a Pope'</b>
Nanni Moretti's comic drama "We Have a Pope" is ostensibly about a beloved cardinal who poops out on being pope only moments after his installation.
But Moretti's movie is really about something else. It pontiff-icates on the greatest public relations crisis in the history of the Vatican - yes, even greater than the massive child sex scandals.
The moment that the College of Cardinals announces it finally has a new pope - habemus papam - the winner, the humble Cardinal Melville (Michel Piccoli) freaks out.
"I can't do this!" he constantly repeats. Then he escapes from the Vatican to roam about Rome and get a grip on the momentous responsibility he has agreed to take as the next pope.
Moretti, who also plays a nonreligious shrink hired to see if Melville is mentally stable, veers between respectful restraint and abject fun in following Piccoli's character suffering from a senior citizen's identity crisis.
"We Have a Pope" never achieves a consistent comic tone, wavering between farce and serious drama. Its inclusion of a lame and lengthy Vatican volleyball tournament only underscores the movie's erratic personality.
Jerzy Stuhr's Vatican press spokesman serves as the film's narrative hub, concocting wild cover stories for why the identify of the new pope can't be revealed.
Here is where Moretti's movie finds its pulse, presenting the Vatican as a regular corporation desperately fumbling to contain a massive PR meltdown not witnessed since the BP oil rig spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
"We Have a Pope" opens at the Century Centre in Chicago. Not rated. 104 minutes. ★ ★ ½
<b>Reel Life review: 'Juan of the Dead'</b>
As the title implies, "Juan of the Dead" works as a Cuban version of the deadpan British comedy "Shaun of the Dead," both parodies of George Romero's classic horror zombie sequel "Dawn of the Dead."
As a zombie thriller, Alejandro Brugues' "Juan" brings little innovation to the table. We've already seen the spewing blood from chomped throats, the ways a person can destroy a zombie by smashing its brain, and the creeping paranoia created by loved ones turning into food for others.
But this movie does Juan thing the others don't. It infuses the screenplay with a sharp Cuban political subtext that pokes at the inefficient government between juvenile jokes and repeated attempts to make its unlikeable characters worthy of our concern.
When local thief and slacker Juan (Alexis Dias de Villegas) and his amoral buddy Lazaro (Jorge Molina) first spot reanimated corpses, they dismiss them as "dissidents" while members of the media portray the zombie invasion as a plot from the United States.
Then, in a "Ghostbusters" twist, Juan and Lazaro decide to capitalize on the plague by opening up "Juan of the Dead: We Kill Your Loved Ones," dedicated to taking out people's unwanted zombies.
Brugues' screenplay comes littered with homophobic jokes, drawn-out scenes and an anemic subplot in which Juan struggles to reconnect with his pretty, estranged daughter (Andrea Duro).
"Juan" offers a few laughs now and then. Its piece de resistance occurs during a mass zombie decapitation scene bursting with the wit and inventive derring-do the rest of the movie sorely lacks.
The incredulous ending runs against common sense, until you consider its political subtext. Rather than escape the island, a Cuban stays to defend Castro's country from the "dissidents."
No wonder "Juan" didn't have to worry about government censorship.
"Juan of the Dead" opens at the Wilmette Theater, 1122 Central Ave., Wilmette. Not rated, but contains extreme violence and gore, nudity and raw language. 100 minutes. ★ ★ ½
<b>A disastrous show?</b>
Yes, it could be the most disastrous show Dann & Raymond's Movie Club ever presents. It's "The Great Disaster Movies," with clips from "Airport," "The Poseidon Adventure," "The Towering Inferno," "Earthquake" and 10 other features that shook our world, killed our planet, flooded our cities and burned our landscapes. Free admission. 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 3, at the Schaumburg Township District Library, 130 S. Roselle Road, Schaumburg. Bring your own alarms, warning bells and all-star casts.
<b>Screen Test film fest!</b>
Schaumburg's annual Screen Test Student Fest continues through Saturday at the Prairie Center for the Arts, 201 Schaumburg Court. Friday night will be a screening of the 2011 Oscar-winning animated short "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore," a terrific movie.
Saturday will be a gala reception, followed by 13 student shorts to be screened with audience members selecting a $100 audience-choice award winner.
Go to bit.ly/JBp5Mm for more information and tickets.
<b>Ferris Bueller returns</b>
John Hughes' Chicago-made classic "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" returns to the big screen as a midnight movie Friday night at the Tivoli Theatre, 5021 Highland Ave., Downers Grove. It will be shown in the theater's new state-of-the-art 4K digital sound and projection system. Admission costs $5. Go to classiccinema.com for details.
<i> Daily Herald Film Critic Dann Gire's column runs Fridays in Time out!</i>