June movie reviews

SUPER 8.  In 1978, four young kids in a small town are making a zombie movie to enter into a film contest. During filming one night, they see and accidentally record a horrific train accident. Before they know it, the Air Force is in town and dogs (and people) start disappearing. The kids know that there’s something mysterious going on, but there seems to be a cover up going on. And the adults aren’t paying attention. This movie is getting very good reviews, but although I didn’t think it was awful, it wasn’t that great. It reminded me of a 1950’s horror movie, where the town is fighting some giant monster created by radiation or something. So it’s a good homage to those 1950’s movies, but let’s face it, most of those movies weren’t that good. Directed by JJ Abrams (Star Trek), I guess I had high expectations.

BEGINNERS. Oliver’s (Ewan McGregor) parents didn’t have a good marriage, but Oliver didn’t understand why until after his mother died, when his 75-year-old father (Christopher Plummer) came out of the closet. Despite being diagnosed with lung cancer, Dad now is intent on living his life to the fullest and being fully involved in his new gay life. The bits of the movie with him enjoying life are the best part. But most of the movie is about Oliver, who, on the other hand, is stumbling through beginning a relationship with a woman who also has parental issues. Then there’s odd stuff about his cartoonist job and painting slogans on buildings and a talking dog and gay history. I guess the theme of the movie is that people who don’t have good role models growing up have challenges developing relationships when they get older, but honestly, despite the good father and son relationship, and even though I really like Ewan McGregor, Oliver’s relationship kind of bored me.

BRIDE FLIGHT. The movie opens with Frank, a successful vineyard owner, collapsing and dying. Three older women receive news of his funeral. Then the movie flashes back to post-WWII, when a plane flies from London to New Zealand. On board are a young Frank, and three young Dutch women, all traveling to join their husbands for a new life. The movie follows the four lives, and the connections they have as they move in and out of each others’ lives. Kind of a melodrama, and a total chick flick, but the characters felt like real people, making mistakes real people make. It wasn’t so soapy that I didn’t enjoy it.

CONAN O’BRIEN CAN’T STOP. After Conan O’Brian was pushed out of the Today Tonight Show on NBC, he wasn’t allowed to go on TV for six months. So he went on a concert tour, doing a combo stand-up and music show. This documentary follows him through the development of the show and on the road with him. This movie isn’t a film of the show itself, and isn’t particularly funny. It is a look into Conan’s personality, which seems to be really driven. He’ll complain about being worked too hard, and having to meet with fans, but at every opportunity he takes on more and more work. He doesn’t really come off very well, but to be fair it was a bad time of his life and he was really angry. Somewhat interesting movie, but definitely not a must-see, unless you live for all things CoCo.

PAGE ONE. A YEAR INSIDE THE NEW YORK TIMES. This documentary follows the events at the media desk of the New York Times during a very interesting year (2010, I think). Like all newspapers, the NYT is coping with serious financial issues that threaten them because more and more people are getting their news on the Internet for free. They listen to bloggers and other Internet mavens who claim print media is dying or dead. So the media desk in a sense is reporting on themselves and those issues. They also work with WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange, which is a partnership of the old and new media. During the movie someone points out how much of the news from all sources originated with stories found in the Times. There are brief snippets of journalists interviewing sources, and their process is interesting in itself. The movie is kind of all over the place, but a nice reminder of the value of newspapers, emphasizing that most of the news found on the Internet still comes from traditional media, while focusing on some interesting characters.

TROLLHUNTER. This Norwegian movie is a Blair Witch Project-like mocumentary. Three young college students are making a film, and come across what appears to be a bear poacher. However, as they track the supposed poacher into a forest, he comes running out yelling ‘troll’ and they all run for their lives. Of course at first they think he can’t be serious about the trolls. But he allows them to follow and film him tracking various trolls (there are different kinds), because he is disgruntled that the TSS (Troll Security Service) isn’t giving him time-and-a-half and other work benefits he thinks he deserves. Meanwhile, the TSS is opposed to any of this information about the trolls becoming public. So the students are threatened both by the TSS and the trolls. Will they survive? There were a couple of belly laughs, but mostly this is just mildly amusing, barely worth the price of a ticket. Thinking about it still makes me smile, though, I have to admit.

May movie reviews

 

BRIDESMAIDS. Annie (Kristin Wiig) isn’t doing well. She has lost her bakery and boyfriend, and is reduced to working as a jewelry store sales clerk and having booty calls with a selfish sleazeball (Jon Hamm). When her best friend Lillian (Maya Rudolph) announces that she is engaged, Annie steps up to be maid of honor. But when Annie meets one of Lillian’s wealthy new friends (Rose Byrne), a very funny game of one-upmanship ensues over bridal showers, bachelorette parties, etc. Lots of crude and lewd laugh-out-loud moments, with some pretty gross stuff. There’s also a great performance by Melissa McCarthy as another of the bridesmaids. It’s not the funniest movie ever, but it’s a very good comedy (produced by Judd Apatow). Despite the title, not just a chick flick. Just funny.

 MIDNIGHT IN PARIS. Gil (Owen Wilson) and Inez (Rachel McAdams) are an engaged couple visiting Paris with her parents. He is a big-time screenwriter in Hollywood, but is writing a novel with a protagonist who lives and breathes nostalgia. Gil loves Paris, and regrets he didn’t move there when he was younger. Inez is a shallow harpy that can’t understand why he doesn’t want to live in Malibu and keep writing movies and making money. They are really not very compatible. When she meets old friends that he can’t stand, she goes out with them and he ends up walking the streets of Paris at night. And when the clock strikes midnight, he gets in a cab that takes him to 1920’s Paris, when Hemingway and Picasso and so many others were making art. Every night he goes back, meeting more and more people of the time that he idolizes. This is a lovely movie, quite funny, charming, and thoughtful about the value of nostalgia vs. people needing to live the lives they have, not fantasize about whatever. One of Woody Allen’s recent best.

 

13 ASSASSINS. As the movie opens, a samurai commits harakiri. It’s the late Shogun era in Japan, and the half-brother of the current Shogun is a murderous psychopath. The half-brother is on his way to being in line for leadership, which will be a disaster for the country. (The dead samurai was protesting against his growing power.) The current Shogun’s advisor finds a wise older samurai to carry out the secret mission of killing the half-brother. The samurai recruits other samurai and the gang makes plans to assassinate the half-brother by ambushing him in a small village. The last half of the movie is one gigantic battle of the few good guys fighting against overwhelming odds, typical of these movies (the Magnificent Seven was based on a samurai movie). I am not a huge fan of this genre (a little bloody sword fighting goes a long way with me), but this is very well done and kept me interested.

 

FAST FIVE. I haven’t seen any of the “fast” movies, but this one is getting some favorable reviews, so I thought I’d give it a try. In this one, the guys are on the run down in Brazil, and come up with an idea to do one last big score, stealing from the drug kingpin. Now, I am game for action movies, even ones that are a little ridiculous, but this one – oh my – is flat-out preposterous. For me, there has to be some character that makes sense or some kernel of truth or at least some wit in an action movie to make me want to go along for the ride. Despite attractive leads (Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, and Dwayne Johnson), this was just so over the top  that I just could not buy into it. Throw in some phony sentiment, and it really lost me.  (Maybe I should have seen THOR instead.)  That said, if you want a movie full of car crashes and car chases, this is definitely your movie.

 

EVERYTHING MUST GO. In this drama (not a comedy!), Nick (Will Farrell) is fired from his job, only to go home and find that his wife has changed the locks and thrown all his belongings onto the front lawn. Nick is an alcoholic, and he is in a downward spiral. Not wanting to lose his stuff, but not having any money to move it, he camps out on his front lawn to keep an eye on his things. He meets a neighborhood teenager, and they start working together to protect (and eventually sell) his stuff. He also meets a new neighbor (Rebecca Hall), and they become friendly. Interesting movie about a man coming to grips with the wreck that his life has become. Will Farrell does a really good job, too.

 

BILL CUNNINGHAM NEW YORK. Documentary. Bill Cunningham works for the New York Times as a photographer. He does the photography for both the street fashion and the society pages. At 80 years old, he is still riding his bicycle around the city, keeping his eye out for interesting subjects. He lives like a monk, spends all of his time doing his job (and loves what he does) and no one really knows much else about him. But this documentary shows him to be a worthy subject, because he is just a fascinating character. Although this may sound like kind of a niche film, you don’t have to have any interest in fashion to find the movie interesting because it is more about the man than his job.

 

INCENDIES. Two grown twins gather at an attorney’s office to hear the reading of their mother’s will. To their surprise, her last wishes are for her children to go back to the old country (not named, but much like Lebanon) and find the father they thought was dead and a half-brother they didn’t know existed. The son refuses, but the daughter travels to the Middle East and starts putting the pieces of her mother’s life together. The movie flashes back and forth from the daughter’s search for the truth to the mother’s experiences as a young woman. Set during a civil war and sectarian violence, the mother’s experiences were grim. Although the story is really disturbing, and the movie is at times slow, the mystery of the mother’s past did keep my interest the whole time, so I guess I would have to say it’s worth seeing. French Canadian movie, mostly subtitled.

November movie reviews

UNSTOPPABLE.  Denzel Washington is a grizzled train engineer near retirement, Chris Pine is a newbie conductor.  They are on their route in Pennsylvania when they get word that there is a runaway train with hazardous materials coming straight at them (and populated areas).  So goes this popcorn action movie.  The movie gives you a great feel for the weight and power of a runaway train.  And there is suspense, lots of crashes, an evil corporation more worried about the bottom line than human lives, and two attractive leads.   Fills the bills very well, if sheer entertainment is what you are looking for.  Very enjoyable.   And inspired by a real event.  

FAIR GAME.  Valerie Plame (Naomi Watts) is a covert operative for the CIA, on the front lines in fighting terrorism.  Joe Wilson (Sean Penn) is her ex-ambassador husband.  When he realizes that the Bush administration is misrepresenting his findings about the possibility of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, he pens an opinion piece for the New York Times.  In retaliation, because they were so damn anxious to justify going to war in Iraq, the Bush administration outs her as working for the CIA (a majorly illegal act that probably cost lives).  This movie, based on books by the two protagonists, pretty clearly explains the reprehensible nature of what Scooter Libby and others in the administration did, and also has some good insight on how tough it is to maintain a relationship when you work for the CIA.  Good movie, although for me not terribly gripping because I read the news and knew quite a bit about the story already.

MEGAMIND.  Animated feature.  Will Farrell voices Megamind, an alien who comes to earth as a baby, but because he isn’t very popular with his schoolmates, becomes a evildoer.  His nemesis is MetroMan, who also came to earth as a baby.  Because MetroMan a goodie-goodie and better looking (voiced by Brad Putt), he is popular and always wins.  Tina Fey, girl reporter, reports on their conflicts.  The problem is that Megamind isn’t really an evil person, but when he tries to be good, the populace can’t accept his changing.  This movie just didn’t grab me; it wasn’t original enough in any way.  But probably children would enjoy it.

127 HOURS.  Aaron (James Franco) is a happy-go-lucky, wild outdoors-loving guy.  He’s an engineer, but really would like to be a guide in the canyonlands wilderness he lives in.  One weekend he goes out for an adventure without telling a soul where he is going.  He meets up with some hikers and shows them an unforgettable time.  Then he is off on his own again.   He falls into a crevasse and a rock falls in on him, pinning his hand.  He spends days trying to get out, and (if you haven’t heard this true story) eventually figures a way out.  There are also flashbacks to his life and relationships, and some hallucinations when things get really tough.  Very VERY intense movie.  I am not squeamish, but even I had to avert my eyes at times.  It’s a fine movie, but I think, for most people interested in the story, they’d be better off reading the book (appropriately titled BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE.)  It’s kind of a stressful experience, although I do have to admit that the end of the movie is very uplifting and life-affirming.

HEREAFTER.  Matt Damon is a psychic who can hear what the dead are saying and convey it to their loved ones.  But he has stopped doing readings because he finds it too emotionally draining.  In a parallel story, a French journalist had a near-death experience but survives the Indonesian tsunami.  Because she saw the “white light”, she becomes obsessed with the afterlife.  And in London, a third story follows a pair of young twins who face tragedy.  In the way of movies, all three stories will come together and the characters will find each other.  I cannot pinpoint what about this movie lost me, but I had kind of an “eh” reaction when it was all over.  Just not my cup of tea, I guess.  Directed by Clint Eastwood.

KINGS OF PASTRY.  Documentary about a very prestigious cooking competition that takes place in France.  The movie follows three competitors.  I didn’t mind the movie…and the pastries and sugar sculptures are beautiful, but there wasn’t much about how the cooking is actually done.  You can see similar stuff with more info on the Food Channel.  Mostly it was a little learning experience about this specific competition.

TODAY’S SPECIAL.  Sayid (Aasiv Mandvi from The Daily show) wrote and stars in this little movie.  He is a sous chef who dreams of having his own restaurant, but his boss doesn’t think  his cooking has soul. Sayid is the son of Indian immigrants who want him to be more successful, get married, give them grandchildren, the same old story.  His dad, who ran a hole-in-the-wall Indian restaurant, gets sick, and Sayid tells his parents he will take care of  the restaurant.  But he knows nothing about Indian cooking.  So he will learn about cooking and life from a real character. This is a harmless movie, but I have seen this story a dozen times before.  Nothing original.

October movie reviews

THE SOCIAL NETWORK.  This movie is loosely based on the Harvard undergrad who developed Facebook.  Mark Zuckerberg, as portrayed in the movie, is obsessed with getting into the right social clubs, but while very, very smart, he is socially inept.  One night, after being dumped by his girlfriend (because he is an obnoxious asshole) and fueled by beer, he starts madly writing code that will eventually lead to the development of Facebook.  Along the way, he takes ideas from other students and betrays his business partner.  Written by Aaron Sorkin ( The West Wing, The American President), it is a fascinating story with great dialogue.  The structure of chronology interspersed with various depositions lets you see the different points of view.  I liked the movie, but I think critics are making it much more than it really is.  It’s not that deep to have a story of an underdog being successful, even if there is the irony of a socially clueless guy becoming a leader in social media.  It may be on a lot of top 10 lists this year, but might only crack the top 20 for me.  We’ll see.

RED.  Bruce Willis is a retired CIA agent, so bored he has taken to chatting up a woman (Mary-Louise Parker) who solves payroll problems.  One night, a wet team invades his house to try to kill him.  He takes Mary, and begins to investigate why he is on a hit list. Who and what is behind this?   This leads him to other former agents, including John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman, and Helen Mirren.  They are all red (retired: extremely dangerous).  Pretty tongue in check, with lots of action.  Like this summer’s Angelina Jolie movie (SALT), this movie is really preposterous but great fun.  A terrific popcorn movie.

IT’S KIND OF A FUNNY STORY.  When  stressed out teenager Craig decides he is fantasizing about suicide too much, he checks himself into a mental hospital.  But the teenage ward is closed, so he ends up with the adults, one of whom is Zach Galifianakis (from The Hangover), who just seems kind of quirky, but actually also suffers from depression.  Zach shows the kid the ropes, and also provides some perspective on life in general.  Craig finds that he must stay in the ward five days, so he starts making the best of it.  And there is a cute girl too (Emma Roberts), so they get to know each other.   The movie is both amusing and serious. I am kind of making it sound like a very predictable movie, but I really really liked the path it took.  Recommended.

INSIDE JOB.  Documentary on the economic collapse of 2008.  This is very well done, doing a good job of explaining how several years of de-regulation led to greater and greater risk taking by financial institutions.  It also explains in pretty easy terms (animation, charts, etc) the things the banks did that caused the problems (including creating the housing bubble and AIG’s insurance of the flimsy financial instruments).  It explains why thinking short-term is all that matters, because no one in the industry cares about long-term risks.   If you are interested in this kind of stuff, I would say this movie is well worth the two-hour investment.  It held my attention.

SECRETARIAT.  When her father gets ill, housewife and mother of four Penny (Diane Lane) takes over management of their horse breeding farm, even though her husband and brother don’t think she should.  She is intent on ensuring that the family gets the most out of the place as possible,  Including developing any colts that have potential.  She hires a quirky trainer (John Malkovich), and together they strategize their way to the top of the horse racing world in the early 1970s with the horse Secretariat.  The movie depicts the sexism she withstood and her support for her daughters’ independence.   But mostly it’s about her wisdom about horses and her strength to do what she thought right, including not selling the horse for a sum she really could use to save the farm.  I thought this was quite entertaining, even though there isn’t really any suspense (for me anyway), but I will admit that I have a real tendency to enjoy the sports-underdog-does-good genre movie (REMEMBER THE TITANS, MIRACLE, RUDY, etc).  

CONVICTION.  Betty Ann (Hilary Swank) and her brother Kenny (Sam Rockwell) have a tough life growing up, mostly in foster homes.  But they are bonded to each other through thick and thin.  Kenny is kind of a loser, getting into drunken bar fights and such, but nothing serious.  So when Kenny gets accused and then convicted of murder, Betty is willing to do whatever she can to prove his innocence.  When all other efforts fail, she gets her GED, graduates from college, and goes to law school, all in an effort to get him out of jail.  Even though her family life suffers and the process takes years, she remains determined.   Swank and Rockwell are totally believable, and Melissa Leo and Juliette Moore have small roles that they do very well.  Middlin’ good movie.  Definitely shows how those without money can get screwed by the justice system.  True story.  

NOWHERE BOY.  In 1950’s England, teenager John has always lived with his Aunt Mimi (Kristin Scott Thomas) and Uncle George.  George is great fun, but Mimi – she’s kind of a stick in the mud.  When George dies, Mimi is very stiff upper lip, all about getting on with things and not mourning.  John decides he wants to meet his mother, only to find out that all this time, she has lived only a few blocks from him.  So he starts getting to know her.  She is great fun, a real party girl, just the opposite of her sister Mimi.  So John’s meeting his mother and bonding with her leads to conflict between the two sisters, and with Mimi and John.  He finds that music can help him feel better, and he starts really getting into early rock and roll.  Well acted, and definitely evoking the time and place, this certainly isn’t a bad movie.  But for me, it’s mostly about teenage boy angst and just isn’t all that interesting, even if the teenager is John Lennon.  

WAITING FOR SUPERMAN.  This documentary tries to analyze what has gone wrong with our public schools.  It follows five children, all stuck in crappy public schools,  whose parents are trying to do right by them.  Which in most cases means trying to get into charter schools where selection is by lottery.  There are also interviews with educators and academics who know the issues.  According to this movie, a lot of the blame lies with the tenure that bad teachers get, plus the multiple layers of bureaucracy in our education system.  It makes it pretty clear that poverty can be overcome with good schools, and that poor schools aren’t a result of an impoverished student body.   Lots of good facts and figures here.  If you are interested in the subject, it is worth waiting to see if it shows up on PBS.  But it’s pretty depressing stuff, to tell you the truth. The movie attempts to inspire one to do something about the issues, but it didn’t work for me. 

LAST TRAIN HOME.  This documentary follows one Chinese family as representative of the 130 million Chinese that have left their homes to work in urban industries.  It’s a rough life, and most migrants only get to go home to see the families once a year, at New Years.  In this case, both parents have gone to the city and left their children behind with grandparents in the hopes that the children can get a good education and not have to live the hard life of the parents.  But the teenage daughter is very bitter about her parents having left her.  The movie basically shows a system that has torn families apart. Another sad documentary, worth waiting for on PBS.  (The scenes of the train stations packed with humanity at New Years are worth it.)

September 2010 Movie Reviews

THE TOWN. Doug (Ben Affleck) is the brains behind a crew in a Boston blue-collar neighborhood that robs banks and armored cars. His best friend (Jeremy Renner) is a loose cannon, and during one robbery, takes a hostage (Rebecca Hall). After the robbery, Ben follows her to ensure that she can’t identify them (they were all hooded), and ends up taking quite a liking to her. He is thinking of maybe getting out of the crime business, but the money launderer of the crew (Pete Postelwaite) isn’t about to let that happen. And the FBI (Jon Hamm) is closing in on the gang. So there has to be one last big heist.  The movie doesn’t have any huge surprises (it reminded me a lot of HEAT), but it’s a very good crime-thriller with well-done action scenes and a decent amount of tension.

EASY A. Olive (Emma Stone) is an ordinary high school girl in Ojai, California. One Monday, embarassed about how she really spent her weekend, she lies to her friend about what she did, and a holier than thou classmate overhears and starts spreading the rumor on what a tramp Olive is. Instead a trying to stamp out the rumor, Olive runs with it, becoming the school slut in reputation (but not in reality). Things get out of hand in a hurry, with Olive pretending to have sex with unpopular boys so that they won’t be considered such losers. This may sound like a rather tawdry plot, but it is actually very funny and pretty smart, with references to Mark Twain, The Scarlett Letter, and John Hughes. Despite some unbelievably cool adults (Patricia Clarkson and Stanley Tucci as her parents, Thomas Haden Church as a teacher) and a out-of-nowhere sub-plot twist, this was definitely a lot of fun.

THE TILLMAN STORY. Documentary on Pat Tillman and his family. He is the NFL player who quit football to enlist and fight terrorism, and was killed in Afghanistan by friendly fire. The movie shows a bit of his life but mostly follows the family in their attempts to find the truth about his death and bring the people involved in the cover-up to light. They were appalled by how his death was exploited as a recruiting tool, and believe Pat would have been appalled as well. Good movie. Not too much new to the story that I already knew, but the movie puts it all together well.

THE LAST EXORCIST. Not usual my type of movie, but good reviews… Anyway, this fake documentary starts out with a holy roller preacher who admits he does it because he loves being an entertainer. But he doesn’t really believe in wwhat he is doing.  When he reads of children being killed during exorcisms, he decides to show the world what a scam it is by doing one last exorcism and having a film crew show the tricks of the trade. A father believes his young girl possessed, and the farm animals ARE being butchered. So the preacher and the crew show up, and of course, things get pretty hinky pretty quick. I actually really enjoyed the first half of this movie, but the second half was the kind of creepy stuff I don’t care for, with the last tem minutes just ludicrous. If you like that kind of thing….

MAO’S LAST DANCER. Very standard bio-pic. This is about Li Cunxin, who as a child was taken from his Chinese peasant village and put in a Beijing boarding school to learn to be a ballet dancer. He becomes quite good, and in the early 80’s he was given the chance to dance for a summer in Houston. Of course, he loves the freedom he finds there (very different from the “revolutionary” ballets he is forced to dance at home), and a girlfriend, and decides he would like to stay a while longer. But the Chinese won’t extend his stay, and defecting would mean never seeing his family again. So that is hard for him. There really aren’t any surprises in this movie, but his part is played by a terrific dancer and I like ballet, and am a sucker for happy endings, so I thought it was an OK movie.

THE AMERICAN. Even though this is getting mixed reviews, it has both George Clooney and Italian scenery, so I thought I would give it a try. Jack (Clooney) is some kind of bad guy, and when the movie opens in Sweden, people are out to kill him. He does manage to escape, and ends up in Italy, where his boss is located. The boss gets him a job making a weapon, most likely for a high profile assassination. Jack is very unhappy about what happens in Sweden, and would like a new life (it seems). But change isn’t easy, especially when people are still out to get you. This is NOT an action picture. If you want to watch a movie where pretty much all that happens is George making a weapon, sleeping with a prostitute, and being real depressed, this is the movie for you. Very slow paced, with an ending that made no sense to me. And, because I find it difficult to care about what happens to Jack, not recommended.

CAIRO TIME. Juliet (Patricia Clarkson) is a New York magazine editor in Cairo to meet her husband for a vacation. But he works for the UN, and is held up in Gaza. So she tries to explore the city, but an unaccompanied woman doesn’t do so well there, so she calls one of her husband’s ex-employees (Alexander Siddig), and they explore the city together. There is slight sexual tension because they are two single people, but they really barely even flirt. And unfortunately, neither of them are particularly interesting people, which makes for a rather dull movie. If it weren’t for the interest in seeing Cairo and learning a little of the culture, it would have been a total snooze-fest.

July 2010 Movie Reviews

  INCEPTION. Leonardo DiCaprio works for hire, invading people’s dreams to steal corporate secrets. He and his team (including Joseph Gordon Leavitt and Ellen Page) create alternate realities (with really cool visuals for us) to set up the circumstances during the dream that enables them to steal the secrets. But there are things you don’t do, like plant ideas in someone who is dreaming (inception) because they always know they didn’t come up with the idea themselves. But when Leo is offered the job of conducting an inception for the chance to go back home (he can’t go home for reasons not explained early on), he jumps on it. This is a complicated movie with dreams within dreams within dreams, and time moving at different speeds, but I didn’t find it too difficult to follow. Directed by Christopher Nolan (Dark Knight and Memento) and he delivers. In fact, I really liked this movie.

THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT. Family drama being advertised as a comedy. Jules (Julianne Philips) and Nic (Annette Benning) are long time partners with two teenage children. Nick is a bit of an uptight doctor, and Jules is kind of a hippie chick. They have kind of settled into routine, and I would say the romance is mostly gone. When the daughter turns 18, her brother convinces her to contact their sperm donor dad (Mark Ruffalo). The movie follows the changing dynamics of the family as they try to see how biological dad can fit in. Although this movie has very funny moments, I would say it really is more about family dynamics, exploring how everyone has issues, we are all imperfect, and how challenging it is to be together for decades. Very good stuff.

 RESTREPO. Documentary that covers a year with a company of soldiers in Afghanistan. They are stationed in an isolated valley near the border of Pakistan, and the Captain has them building an outpost (named Restrepo after a fellow solider that died) in a veery dangerous area. They face gunfire every single day, fighting an enemy who is everywhere but rarely seen, while at the same time trying to get the local village elders to support them. (The carrot is that the US will build a road that will help the village economically.) A terrific look the life of these young kids – their goofing off, their fears, their sorrows. It’s not easy for civilians to get a feel for battle, but this movie does about as good a job as can be done (without the adrenaline rushes of real warfare). It’s really well done (by Sebastian Junger, author of the Perfect Storm, who was embedded with them for most of the year, and wrote a book about it, which I now want to read).

 SALT. Angelina Jolie is Evelyn Salt, one tough cookie CIA agent. One day a soviet defector comes into their office, and tells her and her colleagues that a sleeper agent is about to be awoken in order to kill the Soviet President and re-start the Cold War. The sleeper agent’s name is Evelyn Salt. Denying that she could be the sleeper, Salt takes off, theoretically she says to save her husband. But we wonder – maybe she really is a Soviet assassin. The CIA and counter-intelligence are after her. Meanwhile, the Soviet President comes to the US to attend a state funeral. Will he be assassinated? And so on. Of course she does things that are physically impossible and takes bruising hits with little effect, but that’s typical for action movies these days, and it doesn’t bother me. This is a roller coaster of a popcorn summer movie – very entertaining and well done for the genre.

 DESPICABLE ME. Animated feature. Steve Carrell voices Gru, an evil mastermind, complete with evil minions. But he starts be overshadowed by Vector. So Gru decides to steal the moon. But first he must steal Vector’s shrinking ray, but he can’t get in to Vector’s house. So he adopts three little girls who will sell Vector cookies, and get entry. A little action, but a lot sappy. Anyway, I suppose this would be fine for kids, but I was 5% amused and 95% bored. Pretty lame. Maybe better in 3D.

June 2010 Movie Reviews

TOY STORY 3. In this newest episode of Toy Story, Woody and Buzz and the rest of the toys are facing tough times, as Andy has grown up and is going to college. His mother is making him clean out his room, and the toys face the garbage bin, the attic, or being given away. They end up at a Day Care Center, which at first they think is the best thing, because children will play with them once again. But the Center’s toys are led by a bitter stuffed bear who will ensure that the new toys are assigned to the worst room on the center (with all the toddlers). So the story involves the toys trying to escape the Day Care Center and get back to Andy’s house. Sweet movie, but I didn’t find it as entertaining as the earlier two Toy Stories. It’s actually kind of a deep movie, about coping with life changes. Still good for not-too-young kids though (the end would be pretty scary for real little ones).

WINTER’S BONE. Ree is a 17-year-old living in the Ozark backwoods. Her dad has disappeared and her mom has had a nervous breakdown, so she is the sole caretaker of her 12-year-old brother and 7-year-old sister. The family is dirt poor, often depending on the kindness of neighbors. When the sheriff comes to their cabin to tell her that her dad put their house and land up for collateral to guarantee his appearance in court, and they will lose the house if he doesn’t show up, Ree lets the sheriff know she will find her dad. Which she sets out to do. But her dad cooked meth, so she has to contact some pretty sketchy characters, none of whom want to help her, even though some are family. This is a mystery story combined with a real feel for these people and their way of life. It makes for a gripping drama. Well worth seeing.

GET HIM TO THE GREEK. Jonah Hill is a low-level flunky working for record producer Sean Combs, and the company needs to bring in some revenue. Jonah suggests bringing down-on-his-luck rock star Aldous Snow (Russell Brand in the same role he played in FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL) back to LA to do a reprise of his most successful concert ever, a 10-year comeback concert at the Greek Theater. So Sean sends Jonah off to London to get Aldous back to LA within 3 days. Aldous’ last album was a critical and popular disaster, and the pop-star love of his life (Rose Byrne) dumped him. Since then, he has been off the wagon in a big way. Aldous is a serious substance abuser and major party hound, so Jonah, who is not exactly a wild man, has his hands full trying to manage him. Stops in New York and Vegas don’t help Jonah’s deteriorating relationship with his fiancee, but they certainly broaden his life experiences. Although the movie is not a 100% success (gross out humor that was more gross than humor for me), it’s at least usually amusing and certainly has laugh out moments. Some cute and unexpected cameos too. But it wasn’t THE HANGOVER, which I guess I was expecting. It has more heart than that, giving the Aldous character some back story and reasons for his issues.

BEST WORST MOVIE. Documentary on the cult status of the 1992 movie TROLL 2. It is apparently a truly dreadful straight-to-video movie that makes no sense whatsoever. But hipsters discover it on HBO and make it a midnight success. The documentary, directed by one of the child stars, interviews fans and the cast members, including a small town Alabama dentist, who truly loves his newfound fame. Very entertaining movie, and quite amusing, but it is brought down a little by the director of Troll 2, and one of the stars, who are completely oblivious to how awful the movie is. Those parts are kinda sad. Otherwise, I enjoyed the film.

JOAN RIVERS: A PIECE OF WORK. This is a documentary on Joan Rivers, who was a ground breaking comedian when she came on the scene in the early 60’s. The filmmakers followed her for a year, plus intersperse the movie with earlier clips of her career. It’s a year filled with ups and downs (bad audiences, no work, then Celebrity Apprentice). She was 75 years old when the film was made, and still working her tail off. She can be funny , of course, as well as too crude (for me), but she also has an almost pathological obsession with working and being accepted (which I found disconcerting). Interesting movie.

SOLITARY MAN. Michael Douglas plays a successful car salesman who in the first scene, gets the news that something might be wrong with his heart. Six years later, and his life is falling apart. He is having trouble connecting with his family (because he is mostly obsessed with nailing young women), and his career is also in the dumps. He is really in a downward spiral. At first he seems charming (the salesman in him), and you root for him, but then I realized that his character is so reprehensible that I found it hard to care what happened to him. This movie is the kind that people can actually discuss after seeing, because it has an open-ended finale, but it wasn’t entertaining, if that makes sense.

PLEASE GIVE. Katherine Keener and husband Oliver Platt make their living buying retro furniture from the children of the recently deceased. Their daughter is an unhappy adolescent, a typical teenage girl with zits and weight issues. The couple are waiting for the next door neighbor, a cantankerous old lady, to die so they can buy her apartment and double their living space. She is taken care of by one of her granddaughters, a bland young woman played by Rebecca Hall. Her sister, Amanda Peet, is a nasty piece of work, who will pretty much say and do whatever she wants. The movie doesn’t really go anywhere, it just shows these people’s interactions and highlights their lack of self awareness. The one granddaughter hates her grandmother, for instance, and is really nasty to her, but doesn’t realize how much they are alike. Katherine gets annoyed when she finds another store owner buying her stuff and marking up the prices, yet feels guilty that she does the same thing. The movie mostly kept my attention, but the lack of what I would call a plot leaves me cold. I get that the director likes to show everyday life, but that doesn’t mean it’s that entertaining to watch.

May 2010 Movie Reviews

IRON MAN 2. I really like Robert Downey Jr., but with the exception of a minute or two here and there, I was bored out of my mind. Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell are the bad guys, Gwyneth Paltrow is back as Stark’s right hand, and Scarlett Johanson arrives as an attorney for Stark Industries. Lots of explosions and battles. Just didn’t engage me.

SECRET IN THEIR EYES. Winner of this year’s Oscar for Best Foreign Film. It is about a former detective who is retired and has written a book about a 1970s rape-murder case he worked on. He has never been able to let go of how politics interfered with justice on the case. He asks his boss from from that time (she is now a judge) to take a look at the book for him. He was in love with her, but believing she was out of his league, he never acted on his feelings. The movie tells the two parallel stories, the rape-murder case that he has written about, and the now-older couple reconnecting. This is a very watchable movie – I like the way the stories just unfolded…

CASINO JACK AND THE UNITED STATES OF MONEY. Documentary about Jack Abramoff, who is serving a prison term for his shenanigans as a high profile lobbyist in Washington. He took vast sums of money from both garment manufacturers in the Marianas Islands (so they could continue to exploit workers) and Indian tribes (to support their casinos). He wasn’t content to make gobs of money; he got involved in kickbacks as well. The movie describes Abramoff’s start as an ambitious young college Republican to his fall from grace, and also highlights the huge amounts of money that politicians need to get elected, and the inherent corruption in our system. The investigation into his actions eventually brought down several Congressmen. Depressing, and maybe too convoluted, but still interesting to me.

MOTHER AND CHILD. This is the story of three women: Annette Bening, who as a 14-year-old gave up a child for adoption; Naomi Watts, the child she gave up, and Kerry Washington, who desperately wants to adopt a child. Both Annette and Naomi was strongly affected by the adoption – Annette is a strange, socially clueless woman, and Naomi is an aggressively independent woman. They both avoid relationships. The acting in this movie is terrific (including the supporting cast of Samuel Jackson, Jimmy Smits, and S. Epatha Merkerson). Although I was never bored by the story, it took some turns that were all too predictable, and others that were just unbelievable. Too bad – there aren’t all that many movies about women these days.

EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP. Documentary based on the home movies filmed by Thierry Guetta, a Frenchman living in LA. He compulsively films everything. When he visits his cousin in Paris, noted street artist ( a step above graffiti) named Invader, Thierry becomes involved in the world of street art. He becomes more and more involved in filming street artists, and implies to them that he is making a documentary. But he really isn’t; he is too disorganized. When he finally puts something together, his most famous subject, Banksy, a British street artist who has become a darling of the art crowd, is appalled at how bad the film is and takes over the making of the movie. And then the documentary focuses on Thierry, as he starts doing his own art. Interesting and entertaining, just on the street art portion of the film. But then the movie takes a little turn that I really enjoyed. Leading to questions about what is art. Don’t want to give it away. Fun flick.

April 2010 Movie Reviews

DATE NIGHT. Tina Fey and Steve Carrell are suburban married parents stuck in a rut. So they decide to go into the city on a date night. Arriving at a trendy restaurant, they find they have no chance of getting in without a reservation. So they take the reservation of a couple of no-shows. But it turns out that the no-shows are in trouble with some bad guys, and so Tina and Steve’s night in the city turns into a series of crazy adventures running from bad guys and trying to get out of the jam there are in. Very cute movie; I laughed out loud quite a bit.

THE SQUARE. Australian noir. A middle aged man and a younger woman are in love. Problem is, they are both married to someone else. When the young wife discovers that her husband is hiding some money away, she tries to convince her older lover that they should steal the money so they could run away together. So begins their downward spiral. In typical noir fashion, one bad act leads to a series of unexpected consequences. I usually like this genre, and I really liked this movie. (Note: this movie is preceded by a 10-minute short film by the directors that I also thought was terrific.)

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON. Animation by Dreamworks. Hiccup lives in a Viking village terrorized by dragons. He is a skinny boy, considered a lost cause as a warrior by his chieftain father. But Hiccup wants very badly to be a dragon killer and gain respect. He does shoot down a dragon, but discovers he doesn’t have the heart to kill it. Instead, he makes friends with it. And he will become the hero he dreamed of. This movie has beautiful 3D animation, but for me, I thought this one more aimed at kids than adults.

THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA. DANIEL ELLSBERG AND THE PENTAGON PAPERS. Documentary on the life and times of Daniel Ellsberg, beginning with his work for the Rand Corporation (a Pentagon think-tank) in supporting the Vietnam War in the early years through his evolution to an anti-war activist. I knew the outlines of the story, but this goes much deeper into Ellsberg’s past and motivations. Fascinating stuff, both the American history and the personal history of Ellsberg. I really enjoyed it.

GREENBERG. Ben Stiller is Greenberg, a New Yorker recently out of a mental institution after a nervous breakdown. He moves into his Los Angeles’ brother’s house to recuperate. The brother and his family go on vacation, and they leave the phone number of their young assistant for Greenberg, in case he needs anything. He does call Florence, and they develop an up and down relationship. Greenberg also reconnects with his high school buddies. The problem is, Greenberg is a terrible person. He seems to have a personality disorder that make him lash out at people, he seems to have no sense of appropriate behavior, he’s completely self-centered, he’s just a jerk. Plus there is the age difference. Still she sees something in him and puts up with his shit. I was not happy the two connected; she seemed too normal and nice to end up with a loser like that. I really disliked this movie. I didn’t get that there was humor in this movie as it seems some critics did…

October 2009 Movie Reviews

AN EDUCATION. In early 1960’s Britain, schoolgirl Jennie is in a big hurry to grow up. She wants to speak French, go to nightclubs, be with people who appreciate art. She is on the path to going to Oxford, but one day she meets an older man (Peter Saarsgard) who introduces her to all the things she wants. He also enchants her parents, and they let her go out with him, despite the nearly 20 year difference in their ages. But something isn’t quite right with him. Turns out Jennie will get quite an education from him. I really liked how well this movie depicts a teenager’s desperate desire to be and do “adult” things, even if they aren’t quite ready for them. Quite good (and based on a true story).

WHIP IT. Seventeen-year-old Bliss (Ellen Page) lives in small-town Bodeen, Texas, and doesn’t quite fit in. She works at a local diner and her mother (Marcia Gay Harden) makes her participate in beauty pageants, which just aren’t her thing. One day, on a lark, her and a friend go to Austin to watch a women’s roller derby event. And Bliss is enthralled. She pulls out her Barbie roller skates and starts practicing, and she makes the team. So begins her growing up during the derby season of hard knocks on and off the track. This isn’t a terribly original sports movie, but it was a fun grrl power flick. I liked it.

ZOMBIELAND. Jesse Eisenberg is surviving in a world taken over by zombies. And he does it by religiously adhering to certain rules (do cardio, avoid bathrooms, etc). He’s always been a loner, but now that he has no choice, he misses people. Trying to get home from college, he and Woody Harrelson team up to survive. On the way, of course, they must kill and kill and kill zombies. Very tongue in cheek, with lots of gore, the movie is pretty darn funny.

THE INVENTION OF LYING. Marc (Ricky Gervais) lives in a world where no one can lie. About anything. He works writing scripts for “Lecture Movies” because only non-fiction works can exist. He goes on blind dates where the dates flat out tell him that he’s a loser (so do the waiters!). The world of advertising is quite different (“Pepsi – it’s what you drink when they don’t have the other one.”) One day, in an especially stressful moment, he finds that he can tell a lie. Which leads to all sorts of complications. This is a brilliant idea, and the movie has some real laugh-out-loud gags. The movie doesn’t give the love of Marc’s life (Jennifer Garner) enough of a personality, so I thought she came off rather shallow. And the movie has a religious theme that I thought was too heavy handed. But still, it was definitely funny enough to make up for the weaknesses.

THE DAMNED UNITED. Bryan Clough (Michael Sheen) is a coach for a small soccer team in the late 1960s. He is very ambitious, and works up quite a rivalry with the coach of the leading team (Leeds United) in England. (Not that the rival coach realizes it.) Along with his assistant (Timothy Spall), they make their small team one of the best in England. Then Bryan gets the chance to coach the Leeds team when that coach retires. And he fails miserably. The movie goes back and forth from his earlier successes to his later downfall. This isn’t really a soccer movie, but a terrific story of the rise and fall of one man. (Based on a true story.)

CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY. I don’t think Michael Moore is the most intellectual of filmmakers, but he knows how to put together an entertaining documentary. This one takes on the current economic conditions and how we got here. There is info on deregulation, the tax code, insurance scams, and the foreclosure crisis. There is a really interesting tidbit about how FDR wanted there to be an economic bill of rights for all Americans. Moore is even able to circle back to his first movie (Roger and Me) and take a look at GM and what has happened to his hometown employer. Not much analysis, and no solutions (socialism?), but it was an enjoyable movie experience.

GOOD HAIR. Chris Rock takes a look at black women and their hair in this documentary. He interviews activists, entertainers, politicians, hair dressers and ordinary women in the beauty shop. He explores straighteners, weaves, industry shows, company ownership of black products, and other topics. There isn’t enough real analysis of the issue of women and their looks, and the movie is kind of all over the place, so it’s not a great documentary, but it was interesting (I did not know how much weaves cost!) and Chris Rock is always good for a funny line for sure.

BRIGHT STAR. In the early 1800’s, Fannie Braune was a young woman known for her sewing and fashion sense. Her neighbor makes fun of her, but she holds her own with him. One day, she meets his roommate, John Keats. They don’t get along at first either, but she is curious about his poems and he agrees to explain his poetry to her. Eventually they become romantically attracted to each other and their relationship develops into a passionate but chaste love affair. They can’t get married because he has no money. Then he gets TB, goes to Italy and dies. That’s it. Directed by Jane Campion (she did The Piano), it is beautifully shot and well acted. But it didn’t grab me. If you are a fan of costume dramas, unrequited love stories, or romantic poetry, this might be for you.

A SERIOUS MAN. From the Coen Brothers, this movie takes place in 1967 Minnesota. Larry is a physics professor, and he is just an ordinary guy leading an ordinary suburban life. But he is having a string of bad luck – wife wants to leave him, money troubles, loser brother, etc. With the exception of his son’s upcoming bar mitzvah, it seems like there is no joy in his life. He goes to a series of rabbis in an attempt to understand why all this is happening to him. But he gets no answers, and although he is trying to do the right thing, he is pretty passive about life. I guess the movie’s theme is that a person’s character doesn’t necessarily determine his fate – bad things happen to good people. But for me, what a snoozefest. Some reviewers are finding it funny, but I rarely did.