"How's school?" he asks her, remembering to play Dad.
"It sucks," she replies more exhausted than angry. "It's full of candy-ass future fags and dykes like me. Those are your words not mine."
He tells her he never said that but you don't believe him. It sounds exactly like the kind of hostile thing he'd say. Earlier in the movie he is upset at a racy piece of collage that Helen has made and hypocritically complains about the profanity and nudity. He asks what the collage means and she mocks him pretending that he doesn't even know what collage is. "It's like these little bits of paper… and you cut them out and glue them together. They make another picture."
Rampart could actually be described this way. The movie's scenes often feel like separate vignettes, overlapping with sound and texture. Once they're all crammed together they display a rude, naked and uncompromising portrait of a very difficult man. Rampart is opening in limited release after a failed Oscar run and though it's basically a character study — fans of challenging performance and ensemble acting will like it most — it's the kind of movie they probably should've sold like a pure cop thriller just to get asses in seats. It's not that it's without shootouts, it's just that Woody Harrelson is the gunpowder.
ALSO OPENING:
In THE VOW (pictured above) Channing Tatum must win back the heart of his amnesiac wife Rachel McAdams. We recommend showing her clips from your upcoming male stripper film Magic Mike, Channing!; The Best Foreign Film Oscar Nominee and Holocaust drama IN DARKNESS from the director of 90s classic Europa Europa; Denzel Washington returns as a rogue CIA Agent (are there any other kind in movies?) in SAFE HOUSE. Should Ryan Reynolds trust him?; In the sequel JOURNEY 2 THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND Josh Hutcherson brings The Rock along for his new adventure; And George Lucas continues to pee on the Star Wars legacy by converting the execrable PHANTOM MENACE into 3D. Don't encourage him!
Nathaniel Rogers would live in the movie theater but for the poor internet reception. He blogs daily at the Film Experience. Follow him on Twitter @nathanielr.
