THE INFORMANT! Mark Whitacre (Matt Damon) is a corporate vice-president at Archer Daniels Midland, a major agribusiness company. When he tells his supervisors that a Japanese competitor is sabotaging their factory, they call in the FBI (Scott Bakula and Joel McHale) to tap his phone. This leads to Mark telling the FBI about much bigger problems at ADM; that is, ADM is involved in a world-wide price fixing scheme. So Mark becomes an informant for the FBI. He is very naive about what this will mean for his future, even though the FBI keeps trying to get him to understand the ramifications of being an informant. So there is something a little bit off about Mark, which will become more and more obvious as the investigation wears on. Although based on a true story, director Steven Soderbergh has made this into a very funny movie. Matt Damon is really really good as a brilliant goofball with issues. I thought this was a wickedly entertaining movie.
NO IMPACT MAN. This documentary follows the Beavan family for a one year. Colin Beavan is a New York City writer of non-fiction. For his next work he decides he wants his book to be more meaningful. So he decides to embark on an experiment of living in such a way that he has no impact on the environment, and write about it. First he, his wife and daughter eat only locally grown food and only travel by bike or foot. Soon they won’t buy anything new, and six months in, they turn off the electricity. Colin knows that on some level the experiment is a gimmick, but he is thoughtful about what they are doing. His wife is a Starbucks-loving, clothes shopping, TV watching fiend, so the experiment is much tougher on her, which actually makes the story more interesting. You get more of a pro and con of it, as opposed to a true-believer viewpoint only. I found the movie fun. It’s not a lecture that we should do everything, but more examples of things people can try to reduce their carbon footprint.
THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE. This documentary follows the putting-together of the September 2007 issue of Vogue, their biggest issue ever (five pounds!) The focus is Anna Wintour, the editor. She is always dressed perfectly, as if imperfections can not be tolerated. She is not given to explaining her decisions. She isn’t a holy terror (despite her being the inspiration for THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA), but she doesn’t appear to have much in the way of warmth or humor. (The only crack in her armor seems to be when she admits her siblings find what she does frivolous.) The movie would be dull dull dull if it were only about her. But Vogue’s creative director, Grace Coddington, also has a large role in the movie, and she is the more interesting of the two. A former model, she appears to care less about fashion and more about art. At least, that is what her photo shoots (and her appearance) seem to imply. And she gives the movie insight into Wintour. The movie really doesn’t explain how a magazine is put together, nor does it try to explain why or if fashion should be important. But the contrast between the two women made it moderately interesting to me.
ADAM. The movie opens as Adam (Hugh Dancy) attends his father’s funeral. He seems to be a bit unemotional about it all. He goes back home and finds a pretty girl (Rose Byrne) named Beth is moving into his apartment building. They chat, but although he is extremely bright she realizes something is a little off about him. After a few meetings, he finally tells her – he has Asberger’s Syndrome, and as a result has great difficult connecting with people. But nevertheless, he has a charming way about him, and they actually fall in love. In a side story, Beth’s parents (Amy Irving and Peter Gallagher) are worried about her, and keep Dad’s impending indictment a secret from her. I thought this was a lovely love story. Unlike most movie relationships, this one doesn’t involve initial loathing and/or overpowering sexual attraction. The couple get to know each other, work through issues, have ups and downs, etc. I really liked it.
THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX. The German nominee for best foreign movie last year follows the history of the Red Army Faction terrorist group in Germany beginning in the late 1960s. Like much of the western world, youth are becoming very disenchanted with the way things are (Vietnam, imperialist aggression…) , and in Germany there is the extra impulse to make sure something like Nazism never happens again. So young people unite to fight the power through violence (something like the Weather Underground in the U.S.). Baader appears to be a charismatic psychopath while Meinhof was a leftist journalist who becomes a member of the gang. They use Marxist-Leninist ideology and even when things go horribly wrong, they justify their actions, which continued though the 1990s. The movie does not take a position on the group, but merely recounts their actions and words, leaving the viewer to try to understand them. Although politics were their reason for coming into being, they got more and more violent, bombing establishments, robbing banks, and killing not only politicians and businessmen, but innocent bystanders as well. And being self-righteous about it. I enjoyed the movie, and found it interesting, and apparently it is very factual. I wanted to know more about the group after seeing the movie (even at 144 minutes). It’s a big story.
MY ONE AND ONLY. Ann (Renee Zellweger) is married to a NYC band leader (Kevin Bacon), and when she finds him cheating one more time, she takes her two teenage sons and hits the road. Her goal is to find another man to take care of her (it’s the 1950s), but she is middle aged now, and it’s not going to be as easy as it was when she was a young Southern belle. So there are a series of men, and some ups and downs on the road. I have seen several versions of this story (self-centered moms taking their kids on road trips of one kind or another), but this is apparently loosely based on George Hamilton’s childhood, and the personalities were well-drawn. A fun two hours.
STILL WALKING. This Japanese movie begins with a couple and son on the train. They are heading to a family reunion at his parents. During the reunion, it becomes clear that an older son has died, and that has had negative affects on the both son and the parents. The father is bitter because the son that was following in his footsteps (as a doctor) died, and his younger son can’t fill the older son’s shoes. (A daughter doesn’t seem to be as traumatized.) Mom does all the work, Dad stays in his office and his cranky. It’s just a realistic day, with normal familial tensions, in the life of this family. Except they haven’t seemed to have moved on at all after the son’s death, which happens some years ago. There is still a lot of bitterness and recriminations, to the extent that it makes the family seem kind of hateful. As far as I can tell, all families have ups and downs, and this movie didn’t do anything special for me. I think critics like this movie because there is no fake drama, but it was so understated, I didn’t much care.
EXTRACT. This comedy is Mike Judge’s follow-up (in a sense) to OFFICE SPACE. This time he is telling a story from the boss’s point of view. Jason Bateman runs an extract factory, and everybody who works on the factory floor is an idiot. One worker has illusions of grandeur because he has moved up, another pays more attention to how other people are performing (or not) rather than doing her job, one can barely drive the forklift (that’s his job), etc. At one point, one of the idiots is hurt on the job because of the actions of another idiot, and the boss is in danger of being sued and losing the business. Things aren’t so great at home either, as Jason’s marriage is sexless, and friend Ben Affleck gives him some bad advice on how to deal with that. JK Simmons plays the manager who reports to Jason (he never even bothers to learn the employees’ names, just calls them all “dinkus”), and JK is always good. But I found the movie only occasionally amusing (I am mystified by a 62% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.) A real disappointment after OFFICE SPACE.
WORLD’S GREATEST DAD. Robin Williams is Lance, a high school poetry teacher who is a failed novelist, and not all that popular a teacher either. He is also a single father to a truly vile adolescent boy named Kyle. Kyle is just a hateful punk, but Dad does his best to connect, to support, to do what he can for the kid. (This is Robin Williams in his depressed mode, not his manic mode.) When tragedy strikes, Dad goes even further in helping his son, re-writing Kyle’s story to make the kid seem deep and not such a loser. Kyle then becomes the hero of the high school. Lance, however, becomes a little uncomfortable with the lie he is is living. This is a really odd little movie, but I can’t say that I am sorry I saw it.
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS. Quentin Tarantino brings two WWII stories together. Chapter One opens in a farmhouse in rural France. Nazis, led by the unctuous Colonel Landa, drive up. Immediately you feel foreboding about the fate of the farmer and his daughters. In Chapter Two, a group of American soldiers (led by Brad Pitt) make it their mission to hunt down and terrorize Nazis. There are three more chapters (including Revenge of the Giant Head), and the Colonel, the Basterds, and a young woman from the farmhouse will eventually meet in Paris. That’s all the plot I will give away, but this is the ultimate revenge fantasy. If you liked PULP FICTION, I would think you would like this. It’s classic Tarantino – sudden violence, unpredictable turns of events, great dialog, humor, acting, cool music. I liked it a lot.
DISTRICT 9. This is a science fiction action movie with a brain. Here, a spaceship hovers over Johannesburg for months. Finally the humans break in to the ship, only to find all the aliens weak and dying. So, in a humanitarian gesture, they bring the aliens down and settle them in a relocation camp. But it quickly becomes a violent slum and the humans start stereotyping the aliens. (Humans refer to the aliens as prawns, although I think they are more lobster-like.) So the humans attempt to move the aliens to a camp further out of town. Apartheid, anyone? Anyway, stuff happens when the humans try to relocate all the aliens. There were lots of explosions, and an evil corporation, but still pretty smart for an action movie. Pretty entertaining stuff.
FUNNY PEOPLE. Ira Wright (Seth Rogan) works in a deli and does stand-up comedy during open mike nights. He really isn’t very good yet. He has one roommate (Jonah Hill) who is becoming more successful at stand-up, and another (Jason Schwartzman) who has gotten a lowbrow cable TV show. On a whole other level is mega-successful George Simmons (Adam Sandler), a former stand-up comedian who has become very rich and famous making movies (like Merman and Re-do, where he reverts to being a baby). One day George gets bad news from the doctor – he has leukemia and only a slim chance to live. So as a way to cope, he goes back to doing stand-up, where he meets Ira, and asks Ira to write some jokes for him and be his assistant. George has alienated most of the people in his life, so in his time of need he and Ira become friends. Ira convinces George that Ira should bring his former friends and family back into his life. He does, and he contacts the “girl who got away”. This Judd Apatow-directed movie (KNOCKED UP, 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN) has some really serious themes (death, friendship, infidelity) but because it revolves around the lives of comedians (lots of cameos, too), it is also very funny. Well worth seeing.
AFGHAN STAR. This documentary follows four finalists in Afghanistan’s version of American Idol. Two are women, two men, and all four from different ethnic groups. One of the women isn’t traditional enough for many Afghans, and singing on the show will get her on the conservatives hit lists. The two boys, it seemed to me, were like boy-band teen idols. The show’s producer was a man on the make. Quite an entertaining movie. What really struck me was how, despite all the hardships they have been through (being at war for nearly 30 years, more or less), most of the Afghans were seeking to join the modern world. And the TV show was bringing Afghans together on some level, because people would vote for favorites who weren’t in their ethnic group. Interesting.
FLAME AND CITRON. The movie, based on fact, follows two members of the Danish Resistance in WWII. Flame (a redhead) is younger and more impetuous. Citron is older and more aware of the chances for things going wrong. He is trying to maintain his relationship with his wife, but given that he is mostly in hiding, his marriage is falling apart. Their job is killing Nazi collaborators. It’s not an easy job, and is having a psychological toll on them both. Then a woman, who claims to be a courier between the Danes and the Swedes appears, and Flame starts getting really paranoid. Are people they work with actually infiltrators? Flame even starts to suspect that their manager is misleading them, and having them kill people he wants eliminated. And the Nazis are closing in. Because these aren’t famous people, I didn’t know what happens to them, and found it a gripping movie, very good. In Danish.
PRESSURE COOKER. Documentary about high school kids in an inner city school in Philadelphia who are studying culinary arts in hopes of getting scholarships and getting out of the ghetto. One is a football star, one is a girl who immigrated from Mali and needs to get away from strict parents who won’t let her do anything, and the third takes care of her blind sister (who she loves), and wants to go to college so she can live her own life) . Their teacher is a tough task master, because she is committed to helping the kids. She is also, as one of the students says, somewhat lacking in social skills. She can be a hoot. I like most documentaries, and although this one isn’t a great movie, I liked the kids and teacher enough to enjoy the movie.
JULIA AND JULIE. The movie beings with Julie (Amy Adams), a failed writer with a job that is drudgery. All her college friends have passed her by, success-wise, and she isn’t happy about it. She gets the idea of writing a blog while she cooks all 500-plus recipes from Julia Child’s MASTERING THE ART OF FRENCH COOKING. Then the movie switches to showing Julia Child (Meryl Streep) in 1949 Paris, where she is the at-loose-ends wife of a diplomat. The movie then moves back and forth between the two stories, and tries to show parallels between the two lives. The Julia Child story is more interesting, as Julia faced quite a few obstacles in her journey from housewife to cook to writer. Although Amy Adams is adorable as usual, Julie’s story is less compelling, because she basically is just writing a blog and having periodic meltdowns, which doesn’t make her all that attractive. Julie says that Julie saved her life, but I am not quite sure how, other than the blog got her a book deal and made her famous. But regardless, this is a good movie, nothing monumental, but an OK way to spend two hours.
TAKING WOODSTOCK. Demitri Martin stars in this Ang Lee movie about how the Woodstock festival came to be in Bethel, New York. Demitri has failed as an artist/designer in New York City, and has come home to help his parents run their rundown (really rundown) hotel. His dad is pretty beat down, and his mother is flat-out a horrible person. But he tries to help them out, and the town, and becomes head of the local Chamber of Commerce. When he hears that the first venue has backed out of hosting the concert, he works to bring it to his town. You probably know the rest. Honestly, this movie just fell flat for me. None of the characters (Vietnam vet with PTSD, drag queen, hippie chick) has much depth. The horrible mom is probably the most interesting character. I wouldn’t even rent this movie, although I might watch it for free on TV.
YOO HOO MRS. GOLDBERG. This documentary is about Gertrude Berg, a pioneer on early television. She started writing and acting on radio doing a show about a Jewish immigrant family. When TV started, she created what was essentially the first family sitcom on TV. (She had the I Love Lucy time slot before Lucille Ball was on TV.) She also was tangentially involved in the McCarthy blacklisting of the 50’s. A well done documentary, with lots of interviews of people who were there skillfully interwoven with clips from the times. I had never heard of the woman, and since I am interested in history/pop culture, I thought it was worthwhile to see.
YOUSSOU NDOUR. I BRING WHAT I LOVE. This documentary on African singer Youssou Ndour briefly touches on his background, and then revolves around his decision to make a record celebrating his religion. He is from Senegal, where 90% of the population are Sufi, a mystical version of Islam. He makes the album, but it is not a real success in his country, although it is more so in Europe (it appears). There is also some controversy from people who feel one shouldn’t sing pop songs about Islam. Anyway, he gets nominated for a grammy, etc,, etc. He is a fascinating person, because he has done a lot of work for human rights in Africa, but I found the movie way too long, with clips of his singing the songs at the concerts repetitive. It didn’t help that I didn’t care for the music (to my untrained ears it sounded like a mix of some African rhythms, but more a Middle Eastern vibe). And the lyrics, for someone not into Sufisim, not very enlightening. So, no. But well-reviewed by the critics.
(500) DAYS OF SUMMER. Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is the kind of guy who believes in and is waiting for true love, while Summer (Zooey Deschanel) is more of a enjoy life today, no-commitment kind of girl. They meet at work, and the movie follows the 500 days of their relationship. And tells you right off the bat that this is “not a love story”. It’s a more realistic look at a relationship, with the highs and lows, ups and downs. Here are two people that are both good, likeable people, but just not meant for each other. And the movie does something else very interesting by not following the story in chronological order: there’s their meeting, breakup, fun times, bad days, shown in non-chronological order. It’s an interesting tactic. It’s a funny movie, well-acted, with a plot line you don’t often see. Very enjoyable.
THE HURT LOCKER. The movie begins with a quote about how addictive war can be. The story follows the work of a bomb demolition team in Iraq as they go from threat to threat. One of the sergeants is bold and remains calm even during the most stressful situations, the second sergeant is cautious and by the book, and the third soldier is a young recruit who is afraid, admits he is afraid, and just wants to get out alive. And just like the characters, we know at any moment that their world could explode. But the movie’s not about stuff exploding, it’s about the men who do the work and how it affects them. This is terrific movie making, maintaining a high level of tension throughout the entire movie. Really good.
HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE. This one has Harry continuing to fight the evil forces of Voldemort (with Dumbledore’s assistance) while Draco Malfoy appears to be going over to the dark side. The Death Eaters are threatening Hogwarts; things are looking grim all over. And both Harry and Hermione have unrequited crushes on schoolmates. There is a new teacher, and more mysteries. I don’t read the books, and I missed the last movie, so I have to admit I sometimes haven’t a clear idea on all the nuances of what is going on. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this movie, the kids’ growth into teenagers, and the especially the special effects. Although I could live without another Quidditch match.
HUMPDAY. This indie comedy begins with a young couple in bed. From their realistic conversation you immediately get the feeling that they are a really cool couple. In the middle of the night, a old friend of the husband’s knocks on the door and crashes at their place. The friend is more the free-spirit, an artist who has been traveling the world. The next night, the husband and the friend end up at an bohemian party, where they hear about Humpfest, a movie festival of amateur porn. The two guys are getting quite drunk, and they start talking smack to each other, eventually each saying that they would have sex with each other (even though they are both straight), and make a very arty porn movie for the festival. When they sober up, neither wants to back down on their commitment to make the movie. The husband doesn’t want to back down because he doesn’t want to be seen as all traditional and ruled by his wife, and the friend doesn’t want to back down because he doesn’t want to be seen as someone who maybe isn’t as free as he purports to be. So they keep talking about how they are actually going to make this movie. And talking about it, because neither wants to back out. Not a knee slapper, but a pretty amusing movie.
PUBLIC ENEMIES. The movie opens with John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) escaping from jail. The crime wave sweeping the county is making the FBI look bad, so J. Edgar Hoover appoints Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) to track Dillinger (and others) down. The movie follows the two as their paths criss-cross until their final meeting. There are several loud gun battles. John apparently loves his coat-check girlfriend (Marion Cotillard). But other than that, I didn’t learn much about the characters. And there is a large cast of characters that I found confusing (both all the FBI men and all the people in Dillinger’s gang). To the movie’s credit, it is well-researched and doesn’t try to make Dillinger out to be a hero. But the movie was too long and for me, except for the girlfriend, lacked any emotional component. Not a bad movie, but with such a great cast, I guess I was expecting more.
IN THE LOOP. This British movie follows a group of British and American politicians and their toadie aides in the run up to an unnamed war in the Middle East. Things are moving very quickly before a U.N. vote. Some don’t want war, some do, but most just want to make sure they keep their jobs and power. This political satire reminded me in some ways of a very fast paced Dr. Strangelove. Very smart movie, although at times the Brit slang lost me. But there are still plenty of funny lines, to be sure. Probably I would get even more out of it through a second viewing, but I am not sure I want to see it again anytime soon. The fast pace was pretty intense, actually. I need a breather.
THE HANGOVER. Four guys head to Vegas for a bachelor party. One is the future groom, one is a mild-mannered dentist, one is a morally challenged teacher, and the fourth is the future brother-in-law, who is a more than a little on the odd side. The morning after arrival, three of them wake up in their totally trashed hotel suite with no memory of what went on the night before. They also can’t find the groom-to-be. So begins their quest to figure out what they did the night before and where their lost friend is. They follow clues to a hospital, Mike Tyson’s house, a wedding chapel… Although politically incorrect at times, this movie has wildly funny parts if you aren’t particularly sensitive with regards to how crass men have the potential to be. You definitely want to see an unedited version of this one.
MOON. A couple of decades from now, Sam Rockwell is working on a mining operation on the far side of the moon. He has signed a contract where he works at the job for three years, for the most part just doing routine maintenance. He is the only worker there. He gets the occasional video from his wife on Earth (no live feeds) and his only company is a robot (voiced by Kevin Spacey, who sounds very HAL-like). It’s near the end of Sam’s contract, and he is going a little stir crazy. He starts seeing things, and one day he sees himself. Is he hallucinating? Is he dead? Not a lot of science fiction movies get made these days. At least, not ones that don’t revolve around battles and loud explosions in space. This was a good example of a sci-fi thriller. Although it had some slow pacing at the beginning, in the end I really enjoyed it.
AWAY WE GO. Burt and Rona are a 30-something couple living in a ramshackle place in the country. She is pregnant and they are happy, although she is a little concerned that they aren’t living up to their potential. They go to visit his parents (hers have passed away) to share their joy, only to find out the parents plan to go live in Europe, and won’t be around to help them with the baby. Without the parents’ help, they realize they are free to live anywhere. So they take off to visit friends and family around the country to try and decide where they should settle down and raise their child. The movie is mostly short vignettes of each visit (Phoenix, Miami, Montreal, etc.). It doesn’t appear that Burt and Rona will find a great place to settle based on their visits – all have some problems. This is an amusing movie (especially the visit with Burt’s cousin in Madison), and a sweet story. Burt and Rona have real personalities, complete with flaws and quirks (Bert believes he can create an ideal family life; Rona is more realistic). And they clearly love each other. No fake fights or ridiculous conflicts. The movie isn’t a must-see, but it is a pleasant diversion.
DEPARTURES. A young man plays the cello for a city orchestra. But the orchestra doesn’t have a big enough audience, and he loses his job. So he and his adorable wife go back to his hometown to live in the house his mother left him. To find work, he answers a vague ad in the paper for work in “departures”. It turns out the work isn’t in the travel industry but instead concerns the rituals for preparing the dead for burial. At first he is appalled, but he begins to understand how much the ceremony respects the dead and helps the survivors. But the townspeople and even his wife are repelled. Of course, the movie isn’t about death, but about respecting life. I would say this is like a Japanese Six Feet Under episode. It’s a little long, but only because of some beautiful visuals and music. Wonderful movie; it was the winner of this year’s Best Foreign Film Academy Award.
WHATEVER WORKS. Larry David stars in this Woody Allen movie. He plays the Woody Allen-like role, a grumpy misanthrope who was “almost nominated for the Nobel Prize in physics”. A young woman (Rachel Evan Wood) is homeless on the streets, and against his better judgment, he takes her in for a few days. Though she is none too bright, they meet each others’ needs, and they become more than friends. Then her parents arrive (Patricia Clarkson and Ed Begley, Jr.), and of course they are appalled by their daughter’s choice in a man. I haven’t liked most Woody Allen movies in years, although critics often do. And I really hate his obsession with May-December romances. But I did really like VICKI CHRISTINA BARCELONA last year, so once again, I give him a try… But this is a real comedown from his last movie. Supposedly this is a movie in his old mold (funny), but I thought it barely amusing. Although I appreciate the theme of the movie, in the end, I think this was a poor knock-off of HANNAH AND HER SISTERS. Not worth it.
UP. This is the latest animated feature for Pixar, and it’s wonderful. It begins with a young boy who wants to be an adventurer. He finds the adventurous girl of his dreams, and they marry, but then they settle into a life not filled with the adventures they dreamed of. Still, they are happy. When she passes away before they can fulfill their dreams, he becomes a grumpy old crank (voiced by Ed Asner, who is great at it). When a major development is being built all around his house, he decides that it is time for him to seek adventure and follow in the footsteps of the explorer he idolized as a child. So he ties a bunch of helium balloons to his house and (along with the young scout that inadvertently was on his porch), off he goes. Beautifully animated, with a heartwarming story and humor (hysterical talking dogs!), this movie has it all for the whole family. (P.S. I saw it in 3D, but I would have preferred 2D, I think.)
STAR TREK. The first “summer” movie of 2009 tells the story of how the USS Enterprise crew first came together. There is a battle with the Romulans, but I think that is secondary to the great job the movie does introducing and staying true to each of the major characters (although one makes a surprising choice that differs from his personality in the original TV show). Lots of fun for most anybody, I would think, and especially for fans of the original TV show, as there are a lot (a lot) of references to that earlier show that make it even more entertaining for those in the know.
AMERICAN VIOLET. Based on an actual event, this movie revolves a Texas single mother of four. One day while she is working at her waitress job at a diner, she is arrested and dragged off to jail. To her surprise, she is charged with selling drugs near a school. She knows she is innocent, but the best her attorney can do for her is to offer her a plea deal. She’ll avoid prison time, but with a felony conviction she’ll lose the government benefits she needs to take care of her kids. She bravely fights the establishment, even though the District Attorney (an evil Michael O’Keefe) does what he can to make her life miserable. (In their small town, everybody is too scared to hire her after she loses her job). She toughs it out, though, and agrees to allow the ACLU (led by Tim Blake Nelson) to bring a suit in her name, fighting the drug task forces that sweep up innocent individuals in order to get plea-bargain convictions (which win local enforcement agencies money). As a result of her case, informants can no longer be used in Texas as the sole evidence in criminal cases. This is an OK movie, but I saw a terrific PBS documentary on the small Texas town where this really happened to more than 40 people (almost all black) who were rounded up and had their rights trampled. I thought that documentary was more powerful than this movie, but my opinion of the movie might have been skewered a bit because of my previous knowledge of the story based on that documentary.
IS ANYBODY THERE? The movie begins with William, a preteen who is living with his parents in an assisted care facility with his parents. He is not happy about it and wants his room back. At the same time, he is obsessed with death and finding out what happens after we die. So much so that he sticks a tape recorder under dying people’s beds to hear their last moments. That’s pretty creepy. Into the house moves Clarence (Michael Caine), a retired magician who is a pretty hostile character. William and Clarence crab at each other a bit, but eventually become kind of buddies. William doesn’t quite realize that Clarence has moved in to the home because he has dementia. So yeah, this is a cheery movie. Although the acting is fine, I just didn’t buy the premise, especially the young boys’ obsession with what comes after death. Not that interesting.
EVERY LITTLE STEP. This documentary follows a group of mostly young dancers / singers / actors as they audition for a part in a 2006 Broadway revival of A CHORUS LINE. Since that play is about the hopes and dreams of young performers as they audition, the real life story mirrors the fictional play. There are also clips from the creators of the play when it first opened in the 1970s. I am a fan of documentaries about the movie making or theater process, so I enjoyed this movie. It didn’t have much dramatic tension, though, I think because there are so many auditioners that it is hard to be terribly involved in any one story. So I would guess this has somewhat of a limited audience.
RUDO Y CURSI. Rudo and Cursi are the nicknames of two bickering brothers, working on a banana plantation in southern Mexico. Their lives are pretty limited. One day a soccer scout drives through their town and discovers the brothers’ talent for the game. Eventually they both end up playing in the big leagues in Mexico City. Only slightly about soccer, the movie is more about how two unsophisticated men adapt (or not) to sudden wealth and fame. One tries to use his fame to follow his true passion – being a musician. I have seen reviews that say the movie is a comedy, but I didn’t find it particularly amusing. I just thought the two guys were dolts. Usually subtitles don’t bother me, but in this movie there is a lot of dialog, and it’s quite possible that a lot was lost in the subtitles. (Same writer and stars as in Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN.)
BROTHERS BLOOM. Adrian Brody and Mark Ruffalo are two brothers, going through life conning others out of their money. Adrian wants out, because he wants to live a real life, not one scripted by his brother. But Mark is not ready to quit. Of course, in all movies of this sort, there is going to be one last Great Con. This one involves Rachel Weisz, a very wealthy and eccentric orphan. The movie isn’t awful, but for some reason the movie never grabbed me. I was too busy wondering who was conning who, and there were too many twists that seemed to me to be there just for the sake of having twists, not because they were particularly clever.
EASY VIRTUE. This is an updated version of a Noel Coward play. Jessica Biel plays Larita, an American Grand Prix driving divorcée, rather wild, who marries a British boy with a wealthy background. When he takes her home to meet his parents (Kristin Scott Thomas and Colin Firth), Mom is not pleased. Mom is staid and old-fashioned, and wanted her son to marry the neighbor’s daughter. Dad is emotionally wounded by his experiences in WWI, and pretty much checked out. There are also two sisters that have issues (one appears to be obsessed with death). Larita brings some vivaciousness into the house, but Mom hates her on sight and would love to break the young couple up. Kristin Scott Thomas and Colin Firth are great, but I just found something not quite right about the movie. I think it was Biel – I didn’t quite get the character. But still, this is a decent lightweight movie, OK for TV watching or renting.
ADVENTURELAND. This is movie is set in the 80’s and is about a group of people in their early 20’s, still trying to figure out life as adults. James has just been told that his parents can’t afford to give him his college graduation gift (a trip to Europe), and in fact, he will have to find a summer job if he wants to go to grad school. Since he was a liberal arts major, he finds he is not qualified to do anything, and ends up working at the local carnival running arcade games. There he meets a cast of characters, including a girl who he falls for. Emily has more life experience than he has (James is a romantic, and still a virgin), but it’s not like she has everything figured out either. They are both smart, well-developed, believable characters. Despite some of the ads, this is not a gross-out comedy. The early part of the movie is pretty amusing as James learns the ins and outs of his job and dealing with customers, and the second part is very sweet, as he and Emily get to know one another. It was an enjoyable two hours.
SIN NOMBRE. This movie from Mexico follows a teenage Honduran woman, Sayra, as she tries to immigrate to the United States with her father (who has lived in the US for years, but has been deported and is trying to get back). A parallel story follows Casper, a member of a vicious gang in Chiapas (southern Mexico) that preys on the Central American immigrants as they try to pass through their territory on freight trains. Sayra and Casper meet on one of those trains, and they help each other overcome some of the obstacles in their path. The director actually filmed in southern Mexico, and used some gang members as actors, so there is a real feeling of authenticity to the movie. It brings home the idea that illegal immigration is a risky and challenging task, certainly not something undertaken lightly. This movie is terrific use of film making, showing the realities of these journeys.
SUGAR. When the movie opens, Sugar is a young Dominican living in a baseball camp, kind of a training ground for the major and minor leagues in America. First the movie shows his life in the Dominican Republic, where his family is hoping that he will move up in baseball and support them. Then it follows him to the minor leagues, and his life both as an immigrant, and a up-and-coming baseball player. The movie is not really about baseball at all; it is about one man’s experience coming to America. And I liked it quite a bit. One reason I like movies is because they can introduce you to people you will never meet and take you to places you will never go – and this movie does a wonderful job of both.
ANVIL. THE STORY OF ANVIL. In the early 1980’s, Anvil was poised to take the heavy metal scene by storm. But for some reason, despite early successes, they never caught on to become stars. Although interviews with other rockers give them their props for being groundbreaking, present-day Anvil is reduced to playing small gigs in near obscurity. When they can get them. But the boys, now in their early 50’s, just keep on plugging away hoping for their big break, and this documentary tells their story. Reviews are calling this a real-life Spinal Tap, and it really is, complete with cranking it up to 11 and Stonehenge. Now, I don’t care for heavy metal, and I probably couldn’t spend more than 5 minutes with these guys (they don’t appear to be any too bright), but their incurable optimism actually makes you root for them to someday make it. It was worth the ticket price.
LYMELIFE. Alex Baldwin and his wife Jill Hennessey live unhappily on Long Island in the early 80’s. Their neighbors Timothy Hutton and Cynthia Nixon aren’t doing so well either, because Timothy is suffering the neurological effects of Lyme disease. Their teenage kids (one of the Caulkin boys, and Emma Roberts, Julia’s niece) have their own growing pains to cope with. This is one of those all-too-common unhappy suburbanite stories, but well written and acted, so it never goes off the rails. So although it isn’t anything original (man, it seems like there are a lot of Long Island kids that became filmmakers!), it was a well-done movie.
STATE OF PLAY. Russell Crowe is a grizzled newspaper reporter. Ben Affleck is an up-and-coming Congressman. When Ben’s aide is killed, it is revealed that Ben was having an affair with her. While working on another murder story, Russell discovers that all is not what it seems with the aide’s death, and that the deaths seem to have a link. The pieces of the puzzle aren’t adding up. So he and the paper’s political blogger (Rachel McAdams) start investigating a story that turns out to involve a Blackwater type company. Since Russell was college roommates with Ben (and slept with his wife, Robin Wright Penn), he is perhaps more personally involved in the story than he should be. This is a pretty good thriller with nice twists. Lots of good acting, including Helen Mirren as the newspaper editor determined to keep the newspaper alive and Jason Bateman as a sleazeball. Until the very last twist, which I thought unnecessary and ultimately made the story make less sense. But it was still a fun movie up until then.
EVERLASTING MOMENTS. This Swedish film takes place around WWI, and follows a couple’s marriage over the years. He works hard on the docks, but drinks too much and becomes more and more abusive. She feels stuck in the marriage, although admittedly she loves him quite a bit when he is not drinking. She is the rock that holds the family together (and she is always getting pregnant), and works whatever job she can when her husband isn’t providing for them. One day she finds a camera she forgot she had, and takes it to a shop to get some money for it. The owner of the camera shop takes pity on her, teaches her to use the camera, and fronts her the cost of supplies. And taking pictures becomes something she does. It seems to save her on some level, giving her something of her own, other than being a beat-down wife and mother. I really liked the story this movie told, which appears to have been inspired by a true story.
GOODBYE SOLO. Solo is an immigrant from Senegal driving a cab in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He is studying to be a flight attendant. One day he picks up an older gentleman, who wants to make a deal with Solo. If Solo will drive William to Blowing Rock in two weeks time, and just leave him there, no questions asked, then William will pay Solo $1000. Solo thinks he is joking, and tries to return the down payment. Then we follow the two for the next two weeks, where Solo becomes convinced that William wants to commit suicide, and does what he can to get William to appreciate life. Solo is an interesting guy, with a huge heart and a nearly always cheerful personality, but the old guy is just a cranky pain in the ass. The movie never explains him; for no understandable reason, he is just determined to not allow anyone in his life. Although there are some interesting visuals in the movie, because I couldn’t find anything about the old man to care about, I couldn’t care about the movie. Critics are loving it, though…
HUNGER. Based on the true story of the Irish hunger strikers of the early 1980s, this movie takes place in a prison holding Irish Republican Army prisoners in Northern Ireland. They have lost their status as political prisoners, so they start a series of protests, led by Bobby Sands. They refuse to wear prison uniforms and instead go naked. They smear the walls of their cells with their shit. They pour their pee out into the hallways. Finally, they go on a hunger strike. The movie is mostly scenes of violence and incredible degradation. There is really only one scene with much dialog, between Sands and a priest, where they discuss the moral and ethical ramifications of a hunger strike for political reasons and whether it is suicide or murder. (I admit I missed some of the dialog because of the Irish accents). I had to look up a little of the background to better understand what the prisoners’ point of view was. Because this move literally made me gag a couple of times, I could in no way recommend that anyone see it. The only way it could be worse if it had smell-o-vision, not because it is a bad movie, but because it is so disgustingly realistic. I am pretty strong stomached, but this was too much for me.
DUPLICITY. Julia Roberts is ex-CIA, and Clive Owen is ex-MI6, and they have a past together (she seduced him and stole some documents). Now ex-spies, they are currently employed by two competing personal-care (lotions, creams, shampoos) corporate giants (headed by Tom Wilkinson and Paul Giamatti, who are always good). Julia and Clive are working together to try to pull off a scam stealing corporate secrets. Or are they working against each other? They don’t really trust each other. This is a typical “sting” type movie, where you don’t know who is playing whom, and who will be the recipient of the final double-cross. I was surprised a little at the end, but I didn’t find the original sting to be all that interesting. I mean, really, who cares if one corporation steals a product from another corporation? I also didn’t get any sparks between Clive and Julia, and to me their patter seemed very forced (not to mention it’s repeated about four times!). So I thought the movie not terrible, but just OK.
I LOVE YOU, MAN. Sydney (Paul Rudd) is getting married, and when announcing the engagement to his family it comes out he has never really had any guy friends. Who will be his Best Man? So he goes on a quest to find male friends. He is a really nice guy, but kind of a dweeb, so it’s gonna take time. He has some disastrous matches with guys he just doesn’t connect with. But eventually he meets Jason Segel (from Forgetting Sarah Marshall), and they really do hit it off. Jason introduces Paul into the ways of male friendship (metal music, fart jokes, talking about sex…) Good supporting cast, too (JK Simmons, Jane Curtin, Jaime Pressley Jon Favreau). This is a pretty amusing movie, not a gut-buster, but funny enough to be worth seeing.
THE GREAT BUCK HOWARD. If you are not old enough to remember The Amazing Kreskin, he was a guy on 1960’s talk shows (I remember him from Mike Douglas) who did memory, psychic, and magic tricks. The character Buck Howard (played by John Malkovich) is based on him. Here, Buck is down and out, touring cities like Bakersfield and Wausau. Colin Hanks quits law school, and ends up being Buck’s road manager. (The movie was written by a guy who was the Amazing Kreskin’s road manager, and the movie is dedicated to him.) Buck is a challenge to work with, because he doesn’t seem to realize that his time in the sun has come and gone. He keeps wanting to get back on the Tonight Show. But he lacking the people skills that might get him back in the limelight. Plus, he has some bad luck. This is an inconsequential little 90-minute movie, but Buck is a great character, and there are quite a few laughs (“I don’t drink distilled water. I am not an iron.”). Produced by Tom Hanks, who is also in it, with cameos from Jon Stewart, Conan O-Brian, Martha Stewart, Regis, etc. Worth a rental.
SUNSHINE CLEANING. Amy Adams plays a single mother having hard times. She cleans houses for a living, relying on her slacker sister (Emily Blunt) and get-rich-scheming dad (Alan Arkin) to help out. She is also having an affair with the father of her son, who married someone else. He is a cop, and one day he suggests that she do crime scene cleanup to make more money. So she does, and finds a place for herself that builds her self-esteem. There will be ups and downs, though. This movie is being promoted as a comedy, which I don’t think it is. It’s more like life; sometimes it is funny, and more times it is not. But Amy Adams is really wonderful, and the supporting cast is great, including the man who runs a local cleaning supplies shop who helps her out. The movie has a lot of heart, and I would recommend it.
TWO LOVERS. Leonard (Joaquin Phoenix) is suicidal, apparently after a bad break-up with a fiance. He has gotten out of the hospital, and is living with his parents and working at their dry cleaning business. One night, the family of his father’s potential business partner comes to dinner, and they have an attractive daughter. Despite his depression, Leonard can come to life and be quite charming. And he and the daughter enjoy each other’s company. She is a very nice girl, and part of his social milieu. She would be a good match. But Leonard meets another woman in his building (Gwyneth Paltrow) and although, or maybe because, she has obvious problems, he is instantly attracted to her. She is exciting and pretty and probably everything his ex-fiance wasn’t. . Clearly the first girl is a better fit for him, but he yearns for the excitement of the second. But mostly what he desperately wants is to be loved. So he’ll end up with one of them, but will he choose the right one? An original movie, with realistically flawed grown-ups (not caricatures) looking for romance; I liked it.
CORALINE. An animated film, directed by the same guy who did NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS. This one is about a little girl who feels somewhat neglected by her busy parents. They move into a new house, and she discovers a door that leads her to a parallel dimension, where her parents dote on her and everything seems wondrous. But of course, there is a dark side to the “perfect” world, and the little girl will find herself having to save herself and her real parents from the alternate reality. This movie is too dark for little kids. I am not sure who the audience is…. I enjoyed the fantastical visuals, but was not that taken by the story. (I did not see the 3-D version.)
GOMORRAH. The Camorra is to southern Italy what the Mafia is to Sicily. This Italian movie follows the stories of several people living in town, mostly in the housing projects controlled by this organized criminal gang. There’s a man who delivers payoffs to people in town, another running a garment factory, one (politician or businessman, I wasn’t sure), signing contracts to manage toxic waste (which is dumped in quarries), a child who delivers groceries to townspeople, drug dealers and and two teenagers who are enthralled by the movie SCARFACE. The stories aren’t connected at all, except that the characters mostly live grim lives pretty much controlled by the Camorra. There is certainly no glamour (rightfully so) in the lives depicted here, just intimidation and murder. Because there isn’t any kind of connection between the stories, I wasn’t that carried away by the movie. It won the grand prize in Cannes, however.
MEDICINE FOR MELANCHOLY. Micah and Jo wake up in bed the morning after a wild party. They’ve slept together, but they don’t even remember each other’s names. Jo lives with her boyfriend, and Micah is still trying to get over a past girlfriend. So after coffee and breakfast and some awkward conversation, they go their separate ways. But Jo leaves her wallet in a cab, and Micah tracks her down. And so he convinces her to spend the day together. They don’t really talk much, just a little here and there, kind of feeling each other out. The most interesting aspect of the movie was their discussion of the challenges of being black (and a tiny minority) in San Francisco. That, and checking out the neighborhoods they walk around in (including Yerba Buena), sort of kept me interested. But realistically perhaps, you only get to know so much about someone in 24 hours, and it’s hard to know them well or root for them. I certainly didn’t dislike the movie, but I can’t say I really enjoyed it either.
HARVARD BEATS YALE 29-29. One of the all-time great college games happened between Harvard and Yale in 1968. This documentary goes back and forth between the taped game and comments by the players (including Tommy Lee Jones!) As depicted by the movie, the Harvard team was full of middle-class and working-class kids on scholarship, most of whom were against the Vietnam war. The Yale team appears to have been composed of upper class establishment types. Yale was led by an unbelievable talented quarterback (the inspiration for B.D. in Garry Trudeau’s DOONESBURY), and was expected to win handily. And they were ahead 22-0 at the half. As you can tell by the title (which was a headline in the HARVARD CRIMSON newspaper after the game), the momentum changed. What an exciting game! This is a great movie for football fans, very entertaining.
THE INTERNATIONAL. Clive Owen stars as a former Scotland Yard investigator who is now working for Interpol. He has teamed up with Naomi Watts, a district attorney with New York City. They are both somewhat obsessed with trying to get evidence against a Luxumbourg-based bank that is laundering money for organized crime, involved in arms deals, etc., etc. But it is a powerful bank whose tentacles are everywhere. And it appears the bank officers are willing to kill anyone who gets in their way. Back and forth – will the investigators get the evidence they need to make their case? This political thriller isn’t a true action film, and some of the explanation of what’s going on was lost on me, but it is fun in this day and age to have a bank be the villain. There is a climactic scene with terrific visuals in the Guggenheim Museum in New York that made the movie worth the price of the ticket for me.
WALTZ WITH BASHIR. The filmmaker in this animated movie is talking with a friend about the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon when he realizes that although he served in the army during that time, he has no memory of the war itself. So he travels around interviewing people who were with him, to see if he can recover his memories. Because it is animated, the movie can shows each person’s perceptions of the war as he or she remembers it. In watching this movie, it may help to remember/know a little history of that time, which includes the assassination of a Lebanese leader, and a massacre of Palestinians in refugee camps. Animated, in that way of WAKING LIFE or POLAR EXPRESS. Sometimes it seems real, sometimes more dream-like. Very intense documentary – it would have been unwatchable (I think) if not animated. Nominated for Best Foreign Film (Japan won).
TAKEN. Action thriller starring Liam Neeson as a former CIA agent who has quit his job so he can be closer to his teeange daughter. He’s divorced, and the daughter lives with her now-remarried mother and wealthy step-father. With all that money, she’s a bit of a spoiled brat. Still, she doesn’t deserve to be kidnapped, which is what happens when she goes to Paris for the summer. Dad goes into overdrive to bring his daughter home safely. Because of his background, he can do anything. This isn’t a especially original movie for the action genre, but it’s not horrible. If you don’t want to commit to something deep, and don’t care about whether it’s believable or not, this is the movie for you, and it’s only 90 minutes long.
REVOLUTIONARY ROAD. Leonardo DiCaprio is Frank, a WWII vet. Kate Winslet is April, a young woman looking for an exciting life as an actress. They meet post-war, and April is enchanted by Frank, because he had been in France and talks about how “alive” the people were. Flash forward to 1955, and they are married, have two children, and live in the suburbs. Frank has a job he hates, but it comes out that, in fact, he doesn’t have the adventuresome spirit. April truly does, though, and she feels stuck in her boring life. She wants to believe they still have the chance to be the couple she envisioned when they got married. But it is becoming clear to her that Frank is not her man. So the movie goes back and forth between the two of them having screaming arguments, and her trying to be content with her lot in life. It is the 1950’s, when women didn’t have a lot of options. Very well-played and written, but not the kind of movie I particularly enjoy. Very “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”, where a couple’s disappointments in their partners come out in vicious ways.
LAST CHANCE HARVEY. Harvey (Dustin Hoffman) writes commercial jingles for a living. He lives in New York, and as the movie opens, he is going to London to be at his daughter’s wedding. It is obvious he is somewhat estranged from the daughter and his ex-wife. Kate (Emma Thompson) works at the Heathrow airport collecting statistics for some reason or another. She gets set up by a friend, but it doesn’t work out, and it’s pretty obvious she has been hurt many times. She also has a mother who is very needy, always calling. Harvey and Kate’s paths eventually cross, and they reach out to each other. And spend some time getting to know each other, sort of. They are both nice enough people, I guess. So the movie is not horrible, but I didn’t really get what they saw in each other, especially Kate. It was more like she was so desperate for anyone to be nice to her, as opposed to the two really having a meaningful connection. Just OK.
Filed under: Comedy, Documentary, Drama, Foreign | Leave a comment »
The Holloway Monitor 