David Gordon Green's Boston Marathon bio-pic, STRONGER, certainly is -- for awhile, at least....

Thanks to an Oscar-worthy performances from lead Jake Gyllenhaal and supporting actress Miranda Richardson, and a less-showy-but equally-fine one from co-star Tatiana Maslany, STRONGER -- a new film about the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing from filmmaker David Gordon Green -- proves a better, much more real dissection of part of that event than did last year's too-often fake but feel-good Patriot's Day.

Filmmaker Green, shown below, provides his usual flair for documentary-like realism coupled to an ability to draw very strong characterizations from his entire cast. The generally well-drawn screenplay -- by actor/writer John Pollono and based on the book by Bret Witter and Jeff Bauman, the latter of whose story the movie tells -- helps a good deal, too.

For a feel-good, triumph-of-the-human-spirit movie -- which, unfortunately, this one turns out to be -- Stronger is surprisingly dark, from the beginning, going forward, and very nearly until its conclusion. To his and its great credit, Mr. Bauman -- portrayed ably by Mr. Gyllenhaal, below -- and the movie about him have trouble defining the man as any kind of "hero" of the Boston Marathon massacre. He was a victim not a hero, and the manner in which the media both heralds and uses him is sleazy and stupid, pointing up much that is regrettable about western society today.

Gyllenhaal's Bauman is, from the movie's initial scene, something of a charming fuck-up. His character doesn't change much throughout, as the actor insists upon showing us his warts-and-little-else personality. He evidently comes from a family of loudmouth Boston drunks, of which Ms Richardson's uber-controlling mother (below, right) is at the forefront.

What makes the movie as powerful as it is comes from Gyllenhaal's hugely committed work. He makes us experience this character's every painful, excruciating moment -- from the bombing itself (seen only in flashback) to waking up in the hospital bed and having the bandages painfully removed to his on-and-off but growing relationship to his girlfriend, portrayed with grit and caring by Ms Maslany, below.

In fact, so continually dark (and believable!) does the movie become, as Bauman descends deeper into depression, doom and drink, that when, far too suddenly, his journey shifts direction, it simply seems both too fast and somehow unearned. And as well-acted, despite too big a bundle of exposition, as the scene is, late in the film, between him and the fellow (played by Carlos Sanz, below, right) who saved his life by applying tourniquets to his thighs at the time of the bombing, as well as another confrontation between Bauman and a couple fans at a sports event, both of these scenes act as too-obvious explanations/shortcuts to recovery.

So, even as Stronger achieves its feel-good finish, its strength weakens accordingly. Too bad, because the performances are compelling and the subject matter and its theme are important. But mainstream movies have their demands, and though this happy ending (or middle, at least) actually happened, the road there, movie-wise, could have been better negotiated.

From Roadside Attractions and running 118 minutes, Stronger opens nationwide today, Friday, September 22. To find a  theater near you, simply click here then click on GET TICKETS on the task bar atop your screen.

Short Take: Blu-ray/DVDebut for David Gordon Green and Paul Logan's poetic MANGLEHORN

More than anything else, the movie MANGLEHORN -- directed by David Gordon Green, written by Paul Logan and starring Al Pacino -- is a heavy-duty character study. Not much happens, which will keep away those Pacino fans who demand action and bloodshed, via the kind of Al they know and love from Scarface. Instead, the film is super quiet, slow-paced, and nicely poetic in its conception and execution. Pacino plays a small-town Texas locksmith who's been pining over a lost love for so long that he can't seem to break the spell of despair that hangs over him.

His fast-track, semi-sleazy "investment" type son (a fine Chris Messina, above) and his maybe/sort of might-be girlfriend who works at the local bank (Holly Hunter, below) make up most of the rest of the cast.

Pacino brings his savvy elder self to the proceedings, and he is, as usual these days (The Humbling, Danny Collins) very, very good. There is an "arc" here (you might even call it finally-feel-good), but it's a slow one. Recommended for Pacino/Hunter/Messina and Green fans who appreciate "character" and small-town tales of real, "problemed" people, Manglehorn is a lot closer to arthouse than to mainstream.

From IFC Films and running 97 minutes, Manglehorn hits the streets on DVD and Blu-ray, today, Tuesday, October 6 -- for purchase or rental.

Mentoring, southern style: Nicolas Cage & Tye Sheridan star in David Gordon Green's JOE

It would appear to be all here: Nicolas Cage in what looks like a role that might put him back in form, after so many mediocre movies; Tye Sheridan, one of those two kids who was so very good in Mud, a little older now, this time in a near-starring role; and director David Gordon Green, going back to his roots (Undertow) to bring us another piece of Southern Gothic pie. The film starts off well, too. Everything seems in place for one hell of a ride: two heroes (one young, the other growing old), villains (two again: the fucked-up father of all time and a scarface creep with anger management problems), and the despoiled countryside where our boys make their living destroying the environment. What a world!

And yet, by the time that JOE, the new film from Mr. Green (shown at left), reaches its obvious and predestined conclu-sion, it has become an unmitigated disaster: bloated, bilious, depen-dent upon cliche and coincidence, full of heavy-handed southern miserablism and violence for violence's sake, and then -- say it ain't so, Joe -- a sentimental end. Worst of all, it gives free-rein to Green's least ability as a director: to form his narrative into a satisfying whole and guide it to conclusion. As solid as everything seems at the beginning of this film, by mid-point, it has hopped the track. From there, things only grow worse.

The silliest portions of the film are devoted to that scarface character, played by Ronnie Gene Blevins (shown above, left). who certainly gives it his all and who keeps appearing from out of nowhere, time and again, just long enough to do something loud and nasty before disappearing again for a spell.  It's all so convenient -- and annoying. (The screenplay is by Gary Hawkins, adapted from the novel by Larry Brown.)

The film begins as Gary (young Mr. Sheridan, above) tells off his father, then cuts to Joe (Mr. Cage, below, center), as he begins his workday, leading a band of black men as they place poison into healthy trees so that the trees will die and the lumber company paying Joe and his crew can then chop them down and clear the land. Neat.

Once Joe and Gary connect, it's clear that a ton of mentoring is about to go down. Which it does. Along the way we meet the barely-there women: a brothel of whores, a bad mother, a sad sister and the young woman who comes to Joe for protection. None of them register strongly at all. This is a man's movie, doncha know.

Gary's nasty and drunken dad is played by first-time actor Gary Poulter, below, whom the filmmaker, known for his casting of locals, found homeless on the street. Poulter is dynamite; his performance is the single strongest thing in the film, and it will be his only one, as the fellow died on the Texas streets only weeks after filming had concluded.

Otherwise, the movie belongs to Cage and Sheridan, and both are very good: Cage looking buffed and beefy, with a mat of gray hair on his chest, and Sheridan having now grown into young manhood from his Mud boyhood, while holding onto his innocence nicely. The two work together very well and provide the bond the movie finally makes central. If only Green and Hawkins had been able to create something more original for these character to act out. A little melodramatic Southern miserablism goes a long way.

Joe, from Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions and running a lengthy 117 minutes, will open this Friday, April 11, here in New York City at the AMC Empure 25, the Angelika Film Center, the Lincoln Plaza Cinema and the Brooklyn Heights Cinema, and on VOD and iTunes. To learn if the film is playing anywhere near you, click here, enter your zip code and click on GET TICKETS AND SHOWTIMES.

David Gordon Green's PRINCE AVALANCHE takes us to Texas during the summer of '88

How nice to have David Gordon Green back, movie-wise, closer to where he perhaps belongs -- after three forays into the mainstream market: Pineapple Express (which TrustMovies thoroughly enjoyed), Your Highness (unadulterated crap; a mistake of epic proportions for all concerned), and The Sitter (surprisingly acceptable, overall). Now, Mr Green, shown below, who got his start making genuinely independent cinema (from George Washington to Snow Angels) is back in his native Texas, where he is -- surprise! -- remaking a 2011 Icelandic movie called Either Way.

That remake, now titled PRINCE AVALANCHE, features two more-or-less mainstream actors -- Paul Rudd (below) and Emile Hirsch (further below) -- who've had their greatest success doing interesting independent movies. It's a quirky, often funny, sometimes sad film about a couple of oddballs forced to spend their summer working together who slowly, barely begin to form a bond. Rudd plays Alvin, Hirsch does Lance. The film's title, I believe, comes from mashing the two names together (kinda jumbled and all), from which you get "Avalanche." Taken separately, each guy is pretty much a loser dork. Together, however, these two combine to make, yes, something like a "prince." That's TrustMovies' take on the title, anyway; you'll have your own.

The relationship between the men (Lance is the brother of Alvin's current girlfriend) develops from something "forced" into something both worse and better. Getting there, thank goodness, provides most of the fun. Given Green's penchant for putting characterization over plot and rarely giving in to any feel-good impulses, be assured that you're in for little sentimentality but a lot of quirk and reality.

The job of these two is to paint that yellow dividing line onto many miles of country road. That this takes place not long after a major fire has devastated the area ensures us a marvelously strange landscape of burnt-out views and an occasional animal and bird. Other people? Well, there are two of these, one stranger than the last, but both providing oddly buoyant fun.

On one level little happens during the course of the movie; on another -- the one that counts -- everything changes, including our view of the maturity of the respective guys, which one is on top or in charge, and much else.  Yet none of this feels forced or fake. There is a wonderfully organic sensation to the proceedings. This is something at which Green usually excels, and in this regard Prince Avalanche is little different from much of his past work.

In his earlier movies the filmmaker has sometimes sacrificed movement and thrust to his desire for truer characters. Now, with actors as good as Rudd and Hirsch, there's no need for sacrifice, as we're glued to the screen via the smart work at hand.

Visually, Green is growing with each film. From his wobbly hand-held camera-work and the cute idea that spans the opening credits to the film's final shots, among the most beautiful and meaningful in recent memory, Prince Avalanche is a "little" film to treasure.

From Magnolia Pictures and running just 94 minutes, the movie opens this Friday, August 9, in 13 cities -- in NYC it plays at the Lincoln Plaza Cinema and the IFC Center;  in Los Angeles, look for it at the Landmark NuArt -- and will expand across the country in the weeks and months to come. Click here to see all currently scheduled playdates, cities, and theaters.