Movies in brief: 'Rosewater,' 'Listen Up Philip,' 'Always Woodstock'

Classic melodrama, Iranian style. Maziar Bahari, a well-known Iranian-Canadian journalist, visits his ancestral homeland in 2009. He reports about the idealistic crowds brutalized following the presidential re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and is incarcerated by the Iranian government. They throw him into solitary confinement, call him a spy, and try to beat a confession out of him, as his pregnant wife in London suffers from stress and fright.

Jon Stewart, in his directing and screenwriting debut, takes a serious approach to the true account of Bahari's suffering. His film, shot in Jordan, pre­sents both political and personal drama. Gael Garcia Bernal plays Bahari as a cautious fellow; his dead father was a longtime Iranian prisoner a generation earlier, and he wasn't eager for captivity. Bahari's interrogator (the fine Danish actor Kim Bodnia) tries to make him admit to U.S. or Zionist connections. When Hillary Clinton talks about Bahari's imprisonment on American television, the jailers are all the more convinced he's working for the CIA.

Eventually only dream visions of Bahari's late father and sister keep him connected to humanity. Those imaginary conversations are much richer than his endless contacts with his tormentor (nicknamed Rosewater for his cologne). Stewart does a solid job of handling the facts of the time; it feels true to the moment, like a filmed Newsweek story. Creative acting, dramatized themes, gifted cinematic styling? Not so much.
COLIN COVERT

Philip Lewis Friedman is weeks away from publishing his sophomore novel and hitting the highest point of his career. But he can't walk down the street without wanting to shove aside the other pedestrians. He can't meet his former girlfriend for lunch to boast about his new book without launching a verbal melee. Following the hubris of an insufferable egoist, "Listen Up Philip" has won a ton of plaudits from the New York press. I think that's largely because such personalities are common there.

Jason Schwartzman, who was so sympathetic in "Rushmore," gives Philip the appeal of a rabid rat. His shortcomings are narrated at length (by omnipresent Eric Bogosian) as if from a novel that began as a dark comedy, then switched tones and went serious. Philip is malicious to his current girlfriend Ashley (Elisabeth Moss), because she has become a successful photographer. He's rude to his publisher, to a rising fellow writer who's friendly enough to let Philip pen a magazine profile of him, to the cameraman assigned to shoot his press publicity. And to every woman he pursues. Philip is beginning to do better in his fiction, just as he does catastrophically worse in reality.

If Philip showed a bit of personality beyond being a boor and a bore, he might be worth almost two hours of attention. We can't spend excessive time with a fellow who is driving himself to a lifetime of isolation. After all, he rates himself superior to every other human being but one. The only person who seeks his companionship and gets it is Zimmerman, an obnoxious old literary star. He's played by the brilliant supporting actor Jonathan Pryce, whose lightest dialogue is fascinating, even playing a jerk. They find one another charming and funny in ways very few among us will.
C.C.

Only the faintest echo of hippie magic clings to "Always Woodstock," a romantic-comedy-with-music set in the storied village where all that musical and cultural history was made more than half a century ago.

Ritter makes an amusing impression in his scenes — vain, dopey, weeping hysterically after sex. Miller isn't without her charms, working a line like "I'm on a little thing called 'the rebound' " nicely. A little icing on this Rice Krispie Treat of a comedy: Katey Sagal, sitcom actress and singer, plays Lee Ann, once a famous singer-songwriter, now a cafe owner who doesn't perform any more.

Mostly, though, "Always Woodstock" is as instantly forgettable as the pleasant but unremarkable tunes Miller, Sagal and assorted soundtrack artists sing during the film.
ROGER MOORE, Orlando Sentinel

"Beyond the Lights" is another pain-behind-the-music romance. But it's so well written, cast and played that we lose ourselves in the comfort food familiarity of it all. This hip-hop era "Bodyguard" has heart and soul, thanks to stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Minnie Driver and Nate Parker. Simple as it is, it simply works.

Mbatha-Raw shows a totally different set of skills from those on display in her breakout period piece hit "Belle." As rising hip hop-phenom Noni, she sings about her frankest desires and provocatively dances in outfits that leave little to the imagination.

She's dating the star rapper Kid Culprit (Richard Colson Baker, aka Machine Gun Kelly) who guest-starred on her debut record. She doesn't drink and never loses track of the album that's about to drop. Her driven stage mother/manager (Minnie Driver) sees to it that Noni's eyes are on the prize.

That's the question that hangs over the rest of the movie. Can officer Kaz Nicol (Nate Parker) save Noni? Mbatha-Raw gives life to this old-fashioned/sexually frank romance, totally believable as a woman who might be impressed by the strong man comes to her rescue, totally acceptable as a flashy-trashy candidate for Super Bowl halftime show. If this sometimes corny romance works "Beyond the Lights," it's because the lights are so perfectly pointed at her.
ROGER MOORE