Tuesdays Top-Grossing Reviews: 2001

Year: 2001

Film: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Box Office Gross: $317, 557, 891

Awards: Nominated for 3 Academy Awards

Actors: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Maggie Smith, Richard Harris, Robbie Coltrane

Five of the top 50 highest grossing movies are the Harry Potter series, but only one was the highest grossing movie of its year. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is the first in the series and the highest grossing. I doubt there are any people who haven't seen the movie, or read the book, or at least know who Harry Potter is, but I like writing so here it goes. Harry Potter is an eleven-year-old, orphaned British boy who lives a fairly tortured existence with his aunt, uncle and cousin. On his birthday letters start arriving that freak out his family such that they run away to a cabin. The cabin door is knocked down and Hagrid, a half-giant, appears to wish Harry a happy birthday and make sure he received his letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry is of course a wizard. He arrives at school to find out his whole life is known to all wizards as he managed to survive an attack from the worst wizard ever - Lord Voldemort. Harry meets friends, Ron Weasley (Grint) and Hermione Granger (Watson) and they learn magic and attempt to survive Voldemort's return.

I love the Harry Potter books, and the movies do a terrific job of capturing the spirit of the world of Harry Potter. The first one has the optimism and hope that the first book is about, and as the books got darker as Harry grows up and the danger increases. There is of course debate about the two Dumbledores - Richard Harris (for the first 2 movies) and Michael Gambon (for 3-7). I think Harris captured the older grandfatherly role of Dumbledore better, but I'm not sure Harris could have pulled off the powerful wizard Dumbledore needs to be in later books, so perhaps its a fortunate coincidence that Gambon was able to take over the role. I think these movies won't be the epitome of film making that perhaps the LOTR series will be, or even the genre changing that the Star Wars movies are, but they're wonderful family movies that will definitely stand the test of time. Which of the 5 so far is your favorite movie? I love the 3rd one, Prisoner of Azkaban, with Gary Oldman as Sirius Black!

Tuesdays Top-Grossing Reviews: delayed

Sorry, abdominal surgery yesterday has put me behind a bit. This will be posted sometime this week. Hopefully tomorrow! Plus, reviews of the Dark Knight and Mamma Mia this weekend.

Swimming Upstream

I generally enjoy sports movies: the excitement, the underdog coming out victorious, overcoming obstacles, etc. There's a lot to like. So when Netflix recommended Swimming Upstream and I saw that it starred Jesse Spencer (from House), Geoffrey Rush, and Judy Davis, I thought I'd probably enjoy it. Oh, and did I mention I swam competitively for 6 years and can't wait for the Olympics. Swimming Upstream is the story of an Australian family with an abusive macho father (Rush) and 4 sons. The father is continually pitting his boys against each other, letting one box the other unfairly. Eventually, he sees his 2 middle sons (Spencer and Tim Draxl) racing in the local pool, and turning his attention away from his eldest son, he begins training the two swimmers. They train together for years, advancing through the ranks in Australian swimming competitions - luckily in different events, Spencer in backstroke and the other in freestyle. Because Rush seems to only have capricious affection for even his children, he devotes his training to the younger freestyler. However, he doesn't have the heart to compete that Spencer has and fails to live up to his father's expectations. You'd expect the father to turn his attention to the winning Spencer, but he doesn't seem to care, and returns to drinking and battering his family at home. Spencer begins to train on his own, and ultimately makes the Australian Olympic team to compete in Tokyo. There are many ups and downs along the way, but as it's an autobiographical story, it was easy to see that the ending would come out okay.

The acting is superb. Spencer plays a loving son, devoted to his mother, who works hard to succeed, and strives to lead a better life than his father did. He tries repeatedly to gain the approval of his father. Rush deftly denies all affection, while always holding out hope that it might be attained. It's a sad, strained relationship, but Judy Davis as the mother is terrific at making you believe there was enough love and hope in the house that the family would stay together. Most dramas like this of families lack that reason and thus you can't really believe the story. It's a terrific movie, particularly if you like swimming. Even if you don't, you can cheer for the winners.

Tuesdays Top-Grossing Reviews: 1994

Year: 1994
Film: Forrest Gump
Box Office Gross: $ 329,691,196
Awards: 6 Academy Awards, Best Picture, Best Actor for Tom Hanks, Best Director for Robert Zemeckis, Visual Effects, Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing
Actors: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Sally Field, Gary Sinise, and Haley Joel Osment

In 1994, I was in high school and many of the historical references in Forrest Gump went right past me. It's one of the reasons it holds up so well. It doesn't spend much time carefully explaining historical events, but rather explores how they affected or were affected by a single person. So as you learn more about history yourself, Forrest provides another glimpse at something you didn't notice before. It starts in the early 1950s, with a young Elvis Presley staying at Forrest's mother's boarding house and learning his signature move from Forrest dancing with leg braces. With the help of his best friend Jenny, Forrest navigates high school, and even college since he could run really fast on the football field. After college he joins up to fight in the war in Vietnam, and given that he only does what people tell him to do, he fits right in. He knows right from wrong and saves a whole bunch of people, including his CO, Lt. Dan (Sinise). There are a lot of effects where Forrest gets to meet with various president's too, from JFK, Johnson, and Nixon. Since social niceties escape Forrest, he doesn't notice much about them other than they're "nice young men". During his stint in the Army, Forrest meets Benjamin Beuford Blue "Bubba". Bubba teaches Forrest all about shrimping. And even though Bubba doesn't survive the war, Forrest goes into the shrimping business with Lt. Dan. Through all his adventures, Forrest thinks about Jenny. Finally, Jenny calls to Forrest to come see her and they end up together raising their son.

This was an incredibly creatively done movie that doesn't really try to judge history, but show funny intersections that might have happened. The performance by Hanks (one year after Philadelphia won him his first Oscar) is terrific. He's consistently innocent, polite, informative, loyal, and non-judgemental. The Oscar nominated score gets me every time. I love the intro and conclusion of the movie following the feather with the great music by Alan Silvestri. This is also one of the best soundtracks ever. It's strange to look back at 1994 and see that Forrest Gump competed with The Shawshank Redemption (No. 2 on IMDB's top 250) and Pulp Fiction (No. 5) with Forrest only making it to No. 51. Forrest Gump only outgrossed another 1994 movie, The Lion King, by $1million. It just goes to show how high-class 1994 was. The catch-phrases from this movie have also held up pretty well, "Run, Forrest, Run" and "Life is Like a Box of Chocolates" are pretty common around my house. Also, the Bubba Gump Shrimp company is now a franchised seafood restaurant. Not sure what that says about the movie itself, but the movie's definitely ingrained into our consciousness.

WALL E and Robot Love

Everyone's been writing about how great the new Pixar movie Wall-E is, and I won't be any different. It's sort of the animated love-child of Star Wars (only Episode 4) ET: The Extraterrestrial, that was raised by 2001: A Space Odyssey. Our hero Wall-E is left on Earth for 700 years to help clean up garbage left by a Walmart-esque explosion of consumerism. All the humans have left to tour the galaxy in a luxury space ship until all the WallEs are finished cleaning. Wall-E creates massive buildings of garbage and finds little treasures along the way (reminded me of Ariel in The Little Mermaid collecting her human thingymabobs and whatchamakalits). He particularly likes a video of Hello, Dolly and his greatest aspiration is to hold hands with someone he loves. Since he's alone on Earth with only a cockroach, he just continues dreaming. However, a space probe lands on Earth, and EVE gets out. She seems to be searching for something, and she and WALL-E meet and try to communicate (though in the constant struggle that is technology upgrading, they don't quite speak the same language). However, WALL-E falls for our giggly EVE. He shows her his treasures (a light bulb, a Rubik's cube, etc.) and even a plant he discovered. She shuts down and waits for transport, because she's obviously been looking for plant life again. They end up on the human space ship where people have stopped walking (they are carted around all day and waited on by robots). The robots haven't quite taken over, but you can feel HAL wanting to reprimand Dave from time to time. Of course since the movie is Pixar all things work out well, but the climactic fight scene is awesome. You want humans to figure out they've lost something, and you want Robots to find love. It's a great movie that everyone should see. Little kids will love it. My heart nearly melted toward the end when a very little kid in the theater wondered aloud to his mom, "Will WALL-E be okay?" It's a testament to the heart-warming qualities of the movie that I didn't want to kill the kid for talking at the theater. No special circle of hell for me...WALL-E saved me. 5 LAMBS/stars

Hancock is an original

There was a dilemma at the movieplex last night and my boyfriend won, so we saw Hancock. I'd been swayed by the mixed to bad reviews, and my own dislike for I Am Legend so I was pretty sure I wasn't going to bother with Hancock in the theater. I'm really glad I did. There is a lot more, for a change, to the movie than the previews even begin to reveal. The story becomes complicated, without becoming overly action based. I don't want to spoil the twists because not knowing what to expect actually made the movie that much better. Basically the previews reveal the first 20-30 minutes. Hancock is a rough, drinking, damaged super-powered a**hole. He resents having to take care of people and not knowing where he comes from. He damages more things than he saves when helping police and citizens. Then he saves Jason Bateman from a train. In the process of saving him, he derails the train. Bateman is in PR and decides he can help improve Hancock's image if he can make the people want him again instead of resenting him. Hancock spends some time in jail and of course crime increases and they want him back. There are quite a few laugh out loud moments. Lots of fairly standard superhero tricks, but since it's Will Smith, they're not quite as cliched as usual. It's also a love story of a sort with a little magic and history thrown in. I liked it and was surprised by its originality and the boyfriend really liked it. 4 of 5 stars from us.

PS - for Friday Night Light fans, you'll see two prominent characters in small roles.

Tuesdays Top-Grossing Reviews: 2005

Year: 2005
Film: Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith
Box Office Gross: $380,262,555
Awards: Hayden Christensen won a Razzie for worst supporting performance
Actors: Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman, Ewan McGregor, Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L. Jackson, Jimmy Smits, Christopher Lee, Anthony Daniels, Frank Oz



I didn't intend to review 2005 and 2006 back to back, but this year's movie was on TV in the past week and I was able to tape it rather than review from memory. The movie that linked the new Star Wars trilogy with the old was hugely anticipated, as it was hopefully going to show how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader. It starts with Obi-wan and Anakin trying to rescue the Chancellor and defeat General Grievous (a coughing robot leader). They do rescue the Chancellor, but Anakin is told to kill Count Dooku rather than prosecute him. Anakin starts to go over to the dark side and follow more and more of Chancellor Palpatine's (Darth Sidious) evil plans. Of course along the way we find out that Anakin's secret marriage to Padme has produced a child (children). They can't tell anyone or Anakin will get in trouble with the Jedi Council and Padme might get kicked out of the senate. Unfortunately, Anakin keeps having nightmares that Padme dies in childbirth and becomes obsessed with finding enough power to prevent that from happening, all leading to becoming Darth Sidious' apprentice and being known as Darth Vader. He has to initiate killing all the Jedi to remove the threat to the Republic. He kills lots of kids and eventually has to fight Obi-wan to the death, and he nearly dies in a lava field. The Emperor saves him, and gives him new arms and legs and such and the breathing mask that made him the Darth Vader we all know and love.

Overall, this movie doesn't disappoint as part of the series. It's leaps and bounds better than Episode 1, and though it doesn't quite reach the level of the original trilogy, it's close. The major problem I have with it is still Hayden Christensan. He's a dreadful actor throughout the movie. He doesn't play either the loving husband and future father nor the power hungry Sith with anything approaching real emotion. Ewan McGregor, Samuel L. Jackson and Jimmy Smits do a good job with occasionally schticky dialogue. Natalie Portman also suffers trying to act opposite Christensen and it makes her emotion seem overdone. Oh well, it was still a good movie and worth watching. There's a moment where a robot kicks R2D@ and he falls over. It's just a tiny little scene, but cracks me up every time.

Lara Croft is a better roommate than Batman!

Hey all, check out the new superhero roommate battle at the LAMB! Be sure to vote for Lara Croft!

This is just cool...

A friend put the post on her blog, so I thought I'd share with you all too. Check out this video - my favorite part is the scene in India. It's just amazing to watch.

Then, after you've seen the movie itself, check out its outtakes on YouTube.

It's even made an appearance at the New York Times!! This article describes more about it than I could ever have found out. Enjoy.

Tuesdays Top-Grossing Reviews: 2006

Year: 2006

Film: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Box Office Gross: $423,032,628

Awards: Oscar and BAFTA (Best Achievement in Visual Effects), People's Choice, Teen Choice,

Actors: Johnny Depp, Kiera Knightly, Orlando Bloom, Jack Davenport, Jonathan Pryce, Bill Nighy, Stellan Starsgaard, Tom Hollander

In the second week of this feature I watched Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, the highest grossing film (in the U.S. - clarification that I'm only using U.S. highest grossing, rather than global gross). I loved the first in this series, Curse of the Black Pearl, and was really excited for both the second and third installments. However, rewatching Dead Man's Chest was a little disappointing. It's just not as much fun as the first one. We meet up with our main characters as Knightly's wedding to Bloom is destroyed and they are arrested for trying to help Depp's iconic Jack Sparrow (sorry, Captain Jack Sparrow) escape from prison. In exchange for their freedom they have to track Jack down and retrieve the compass he carries and bring it back to the Dutch East India Company who are trying to rid the seas of pirates. They find Jack, but he's trying to remove a curse put on him by Davey Jones (Nighy). He's trying to find Davey Jones' heart. This involves looking for a key to unlock the chest that holds it, then finding the chest. Meanwhile Davey Jones is trying to kill Jack with the Kraken (a mythical octopus type sea creature that can destroy ships). They chase around for quite a while and ultimately we find out Jack has been sent to hell of a sort by jumping into the mouth of the Kraken to save the other ships. The rest of them mourn his loss with the crazy sorceress lady in the marshes. And in the last seconds Captain Barbossa returns and they all swear to get Jack back At World's End. There's also a subplot where Bloom is trying to free his father, Bootstrap Bill (Skarsgaard) from servitude to Davey Jones. Confusing and distracting for most of it, but building up for the final film. There was just too much set up in this film and not enough humor and careful plot direction. I liked it, and expect it grossed the most in 2006 because the first film was so good, and this continued the characters in a respectable, if not superior, way. Definitely didn't hold up to the high standard the first one did upon rewatching.

DVDs worth staying home for...

A lot of smaller movies, particularly if they don't get stellar reviews their opening weekend, never make it to my local movie theaters. So, I finally got to see In Bruges and Mad Money on DVD this weekend. Totally different topics though possibly flipsides of the moral question of what does it mean to be really bad. Definitely some spoilers below, but as neither are a mystery, it doesn't really make a difference.

In Bruges is the story of two British and Irish assassins who screwed up and were sent to the medieval town of Bruges in Belgium. I was actually in Bruges myself only 2 months ago, and loved seeing all the canals and parks, churches and hospital as well as the main square with the huge clocktower. The main characters played by Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell were awesome. Gleeson is a bit older and wiser and Farrell is coming to grips with his first assassination going wrong and ending with the death of a little boy as well as the target. They've been sent by their boss to Bruges to get away from the publicity and Gleeson really enjoys seeing the touristy sights, eating the chocolate and such. Farrell however is much more interested in the pub and the people in a moving being filmed there - a dwarf and a thieving woman. All kinds of hijinks occur, especially after Gleeson refuses to kill Farrell, even though Farrell has become suicidal trying to atone for killing the little boy. Their boss, played poorly by Ralph Fiennes, arrives and tries to carry out the jobs. Lots of tension and gun chases, but all ends as it should. I think Gleeson and Farrell were most believable because they were both using their natural accents, a rough British accent and standard Irish. However, Fiennes was doing a funny cockney lower class accent and it just wasn't consistent or natural, so it became distracting. That's my only problem with the movie. It's mostly lots of talking, about being in a old city, what it means to have killed a little boy, whether being an assassin makes you destined for hell or did some people deserve to die. They do a terrific job, and it's both funny and thoughtful, with some excellent chases at the end.

Mad Money on the other hand is mostly supposed to be funny. But it deals with how people tend to go bad. Their theory is that crime is contagious. Diane Keaton has to find a job when she realizes her husband (Ted Danson, perfectly supporting) lost his job a year ago. The only job she can get with benefits is as a janitor at the Federal Reserve Bank. She watches as all the money arrives, is transported around and ultimately shredded because it's worn out. She devises a really clever way to take out some of the money just before it's destroyed so it can't be missed. She brings in Queen Latifah and Katie Holmes as her accomplices and they steal hundreds of thousands of dollars. They initially wanted to get enough money just to pay off Keaton's debt, and send Latifah's kids to school, but of course they get greedy and that's where it all goes off the rails. However, it's still a clever movie and again, all ends as it should. There are excellent supporting characters, particularly Stephen Root (from Office Space and Dodgeball plus lots of other things, but those are my favorite) as the head of the bank. He constantly walks around and pointing to his eyes says, "Everyone, everywhere, every minute." Because of his determination that it would be impossible to rob the bank, the ladies get farther along with their stealing than they ever thought. It's a funny movie, with a surprising ending. It's nice to see Keaton not as a goody-two-shoes, and Queen Latifah in her traditional mom working hard role, and Katie Holmes as a dancing ditz. Both movies get 4 stars from me.

The Hulk, meh.

I'm not too far behind in seeing The Incredible Hulk, and the reviews I've read seem far and wide in their opinions of the movie. The LAMB averaged just 3.5 lambs in their various opinions. I'm afraid I concur with the average. It was nothing poorly done, but it felt more like a 30 minute episode of The Hulk stretched into 2+ hours with lots of chase and fight scenes. One of my fellow LAMB bloggers mentioned that the only reason to have the first act set in Rio de Janeiro was to have all the rooftops for Edward Norton to run across through the favelas. (Side note - if you want a great movie about the favelas, rent "Favela Rising"). Anyway, Norton has escaped to Rio to try to find an antidote, with the help of Mr. Blue, to the Hulkification of his cells. He gets chased, becomes the Hulk, fights for a while, and then returns to D.C. to get help from his love, Liv Tyler (who does a really good job, a little like her part in LOTR), they get chased, he becomes the Hulk, they escape to find Mr. Blue. Mr. Blue has a crazy Frankenstein kind of lab in Manhattan, he attempts to fix Norton, the bad guys find them, he becomes the Hulk in order to chase down the anti-Hulk, they fight, the Hulk escapes to fight another day. Considering I can sum up the entire movie in 3 sentences, there was too much fighting and not enough plot for my tastes. Plus, LOTS and LOTS of unbelievable elements. Fletch and company documented them, so I won't list them here. I liked it, but wasn't particularly entertained or infuriated. Meh. 3 LAMBS/stars

Random plug

Yesterday an amazing birthday gift arrived yesterday that I just can't not talk about. It's called a Roku and it'll allow you to watch movies from Netflix without even getting the DVDs. It connects to your Netflix account and then lets you watch instantly anything in the Netflix library of "instant" stuff. Lots of TV shows are available, and nearly all the PBS specials and most documentaries are available. Plus, many movies are becoming available. It works better than TiVo or DVR because you can see things you haven't taped or scheduled, you can just pick from a huge library. It was super easy to set up, you just need to have your internet connection near your TV or have a good wireless network as it connects to your Netflix library through the internet. It frees up your computer for use while you watch all kinds of things. Just a brilliant piece of magical technology. As my friend the Curmudgeon said, "I looooooove living in interesting technology times."

Tuesdays Top-Grossing Reviews

I'm always fascinated by which movies did well at the box office, and which ones only barely made it. Also, the stats the papers produce about how this year's box office totals compare to last year or the year before always seem a little fishy. So to combat this, I thought I would look at them a little differently. Each week I'll review the top grossing film of a particular year from the last 20 years. These are based on the year the film was released, and not necessarily the year all the money was made since a lot of movies are released at the end of the calendar year and make most of their money in the following year. It seems appropriate to start with the highest grossing film of all time, which was also the highest grossing film of 1997: Titanic.

Year: 1997

Film: Titanic

Box Office Gross: $600,799,824

Awards: 11 Oscars, including Best Picture and Director (1998)

Actors: Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio, Billy Zane, Frances Fisher, Gloria Stuart, Victor Garber, Kathy Bates, Bill Paxton

I saw this movie with my college roommate, and we both cried, and then we went home and she cried for hours like her best friend had died. While time has proven that this movie is too long, overly dramatic, and induces mocking and parody more often than praise 10 years after its release, it was still a movie that moved millions and introduced epic scale movie-making to a new generation. Just in case there are a few of you who don't remember or actually missed this movie, I'll recap, with spoilers! It's the story of Rose Dawson, nee DeWitt Bukater, a 90-year-old woman who sees a program on TV about Bill Paxton scavenging the "Titanic" wreckage. She goes to the scavenging ship and starts to tell the story of how she happens to be wearing an enormous blue diamond in a drawing the night "Titanic" sank. The rest of the film is in flashback, where we see a young society debutant Rose (brilliant Kate Winslet at only 22) boarding the ship with her controlling mother (Frances Fisher) and semi-crazy fiance (Billy Zane). She's calm, collected, perfectly dressed, and later we learn sick to death of it all. When she tries to escape all her perfect life will force her to do by jumping overboard, she meets Jack (DiCaprio) a happy-go-lucky artist who won his trip on "Titanic" in a poker game. They fall in love, Jack shows her what it means to be free (doesn't it mean having nothing left to lose?) and she pulls away from her rich, privileged life, ultimately having Jack sketch her naked with the diamond. However, getting in the way of their plans to run away and be free, "Titanic" hits the iceberg and starts to sink. Catastrophe ensues, Rose's fiance gets Jack locked up for stealing, so Rose has to brave the waters to save him, and then they don't make it on the life boats in time, but somehow survive the sinking. However, when the boats come back to look for survivors floating in the freezing water only Rose is still alive - Jack gave up the ghost to save her. It's a heartbreaking movie that you already know will end poorly given the setting, but it's still a classic. There's a lot of heavy acting, dramatic realizations, excessive effects and staging, but overall it's still a classic and has made more money than any other film by a lot. So to start off the Tuesdays Top-Grossing Reviews, I give you Titanic.

DVD Roundup

I've seen 3 movies lately on DVD - too much of a hassle to make it to the cineplex on time for movies right now. I was very disappointed by 2 of them, but found one I'd been avoiding surprisingly good. Coincidentally, Hillary Swank starred in two of them. P.S. I love you and The Nanny Diaries were both victims of the same problem - overly focused on a single main character that was too boring to want to watch for two hours. P.S. I love you had a clever gimmick - Gerard Butler, the love of Hillary Swank's young life, dies of a brain tumor. However, he's put in motion a series of letters to come to Swank after his death helping her deal. He plans a trip, some nights out, etc. and she still wallows in grief, despite her girlfriends' attempts to cheer her up and help her move on. There's even a totally unbelievable love interest in Harry Connick Jr. I rented the movie hoping to see more of Jeffrey Dean Morgan (from Grey's Anatomy) but he's only in it for a few minutes, and does a TERRIBLE Irish accent. So boring, uninteresting love story. 2 stars/LAMBS

The Nanny Diaries might have been more interesting if I hadn't read the book and hadn't lived in New York City. Scarlett Johansson plays "Annie" the Nanny of Laura Linney and Paul Giamatti's Upper East Side couple. Johansson wants to be an anthropologist so the movie is riddled with her voice-overs explaining the anthropological significance of the stupid parenting and anti-parenting maneuvers of the X's. It's basically Johansson acting shocked by the appalling behavior of rich people who should be parenting their kids and not cheating on their spouses, and Linney and Giamatti pretending their a good couple and great parents. They yell at each other and act shocked. The reason Johansson pretends to care is the well-being of their kid, Grayer, who the movie barely makes obvious as a good kid worthy of her fights. Another uninteresting, non-funny family drama. 2 stars/LAMBs

The movie I was surprised to find I actually liked was Freedom Writers, with Hillary Swank and Patrick Dempsey. Swank plays an idealistic new teacher in a school that seems to have only a single class for her to teach (I'm guessing she has others, but we only see one). She has to fight with Imelda Staunton (channeling her "Doloris Umbridge" character from Harry Potter) to get permission to teach the at-risk kids outside of the curriculum. She works with them to understand their lives of gang violence, racial threats and poverty. She realizes their overall education has suffered when she tries to relate a racist picture a student drew to the beginnings of the Holocaust. When they don't know what it is, she begins a curriculum to help them across their lives - from cultural education to history and writing. They read "The Diary of Anne Frank" and become inspired to meet one of them women who helped her - Miep Gies. It's a good movie that does more to follow and understand the lives of the students than most movies like this. Swank isn't particularly inspiring as she lets her own life fall completely apart to help her students, but the students and the actors portraying the students are all terrific. They find inspiration from school to help deal with their own lives and in non-cliched ways become better people. I liked it. Not terrific, but pretty great. 3.5 stars/LAMBs

The Lookout

A friend recommended the indie flick, The Lookout, a few weeks ago and I finally got around to watching it this weekend. It won an Independent Spirit award for best First Feature, and I concur. For a first film, it's an excellent story, well executed and very well acted. Joseph Gorden-Levitt (Third Rock from the Sun, and 10 Things I Hate About You) is a former star athlete, Chris, who now suffers from a brain injury that leaves him with a poor memory and the ability to organize certain ideas. He works as a night janitor at a bank, and lives with a blind roommate (Jeff Daniels) who helps him keep track of things. He hangs out at a bar after work drinking NA beer and overhears a great pickup line, but fails to get the right effect when he delivers it himself. He meets an old boyfriend of his sister's, Gary, who eventually brings Chris into his confidence and "gang" about their plans to rob a bank - specifically the one Chris cleans at night. Chris is happy just to have friends again, particularly ones who understand his condition. It's pretty obvious Gary is taking advantage of Chris, but it's hard to see exactly how he'll make him take the fall. Chris goes along with the gang, but at the last minute realizes he's being taken advantage of, and that they'll probably kill him or drop all the blame on him. And when they threaten both his roommate and a police officer friend, he starts making plans to outwit the gang. However, it's not clear whether he'll be able to retain his plan or figure out how to execute it when the time comes. It's a great mystery, and it's hard to see the plot twists coming, so I really enjoyed the movie. Jeff Daniels plays an excellent friend who only wants what's best for Chris, and works hard to point him in the right direction. Also, Isla Fisher plays a small role that helps Chris get into the gang. Oh, and throughout most of the movie, I kept being reminded of Heath Ledger. Joseph Gorden-Levitt is growing into a fantastic actor, and a strong resemblance to Ledger, both in acting style and in looks. I can't wait to see him make it big. 4 stars/LAMBs

Best Movie Dads

To honor Father's Day this weekend, I perused the IMDB 250 for the most memorable fathers in the movies. These are not all great dad's, or great people, but they are definitely some of the most memorable dads. Here are my top 10 (though one did not come from the IMDB list!)

1. Clark W. Griswold - National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation - This is one of my family's favorite movies. And very few of the lines we like are Clark's. However, I'm always struck watching it how much Clark loves his family and wants them to have a "Big Old Fashioned Christmas".








2. George Bailey - It's a Wonderful Life - George had his moments as a bad father, yelling at his daughter to stop playing the piano, but we all know that ultimately he came to appreciate his family and being a dad.








3. Don Corleone - The Godfather - He's not just a Godfather, he's also got 4 children of his own. He definitely has favorites and really shouldn't have spoiled his daughter the way he did, but he still puts family first.

4. Lester Burnham - American Beauty - Lester may not have realized he had the chance to be a good father until it was too late, but at least he realized that his daughter was pretty amazing and that the last images that when through his head as he died were about being a dad.

5. Henry Jones - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - Perhaps an uninvolved dad at the beginning, he helps his son find the Holy Grail and eternal life. What more can you ask for in a dad?

6. Marlin - Finding Nemo - Marlin swam the seas to save his son from an aquarium. He learned new things about himself and things that would interest his son (sea turtles live over 150 years!). He came through and ultimately proved he could be a good dad, without being too controlling or smothering.

7. Mac MacGuff - Juno - There aren't too many dads that would take in a teen pregnancy without yelling and being disappointed in the daughter he raised like Mr. MacGuff. He still asks how his daughter is doing and helps her choose people to take the child. I admire him each time I see the movie.

8. Darth Vader - Star Wars Episode IV,V,VI - Definitely one of the most memorable fathers, even if his part in raising the children was zero, he ultimately make huge sacrifices for his children.

9. Atticus Finch - To Kill a Mockingbird - Probably the best representation of a father that cinema has ever shown us. He's honest, caring, honorable, and intelligent. It doesn't get much better than Atticus Finch.

10. Richard Hoover - Little Miss Sunshine - I know this one is kind of a stretch, but I liked that the dad decided to support his daughter's ambition to be in the Little Miss Sunshine pageant. He even cares enough not to let her compete. He's the overzealous dad that supports even when he should be a better dad and say no from the beginning, but at least he gets there in the end.

Summer TV is the best candy...

The summer TV season has started and while the networks move to all reality or reruns, the cable channels bring out their big guns, or at least their funny ones. While I agree with my fellow blogger Fletch's take on their commercials, I still like their shows. And since they're all fairly randomly returning, I need at least one commercial to find out when they're arriving. Anyway, the first one to start has premiered already and I've seen the first two episodes, so I thought I'd review it. Here goes:

In Plain Sight (Sundays, 10pm on USA) stars Mary McCormack (who I really liked as a secretive NSA agent on The West Wing) as a U.S. Marshall with the Witness Protection Program. She works out of Albuquerque, NM and relocates people who have made agreements to testify against bigger criminals. Some of the people she protects are criminals themselves and seem to have a hard time leaving the business, so Mary (also her character name) has to step in to keep them from getting killed. Alternatively, she protects totally innocent people, like witnesses to crimes - accountants to drug dealers, or kids who saw their dad shoot their mom. It's really funny, but still a little dark and thriller like. Occaisonally they (Mary has a partner) actually have to solve little crimes to figure out who has found their protectee. It's a fun show that I DVR and watch while I work. It's not overly complicated and Mary is trying to survive living with her mother (Leslie Ann Warren still channeling her ditsy character from Will & Grace) and now her mysterious sister (Nicole Hiltz - on hiatus from The Riches). It'll be a fun series and promises not to disappoint.

Here are the shows I intend to watch and their advertised premiere date. Also, links to my reviews of previous seasons.

Weeds - June 16 Showtime

Burn Notice - July 10 USA


The Closer - July 14 TNT


Monk and Psych - July 18 USA


Mad Men - July 27 AMC

Sex and the City is Awesome!

Definite spoiler alert! I saw Sex and the City: The Movie last night with 2 girlfriends and we loved it. The theater wasn't particularly full, but it was nearly all women, as you'd expect. The ages of the women did surprise me - though given the other movie at our duplex theater is still Indiana Jones perhaps it was just the better choice. And it definitely was the better choice. It's a great movie. It's very true to the original series - they focus on fashion, men are plot devices not characters, and they travel all over New York City. However, the movie kicks it up a notch. They have the time to do mini-fashion montages (bad 80s dresses, fabulous wedding dresses, and clothes from the original series) which the TV show wouldn't have time for. They also have the time to develop a few stories a little longer than the show would have been able to - like Carrie's devastation and recovery. She is heartbroken and swept away by her friends to recover, and she really looks as broken as the rest of us feel - like the world should stop until you figure out how to live again. I cried twice during the movie, once in sadness when Carrie is hurt and once in happiness when Charlotte gets great news (sorry, I'm trying not to completely let the surprises out). The side story lines - Miranda's relationship struggles, Samantha's identity problems, and Charlotte's happy life - are all perfectly complementary. Isn't that always the truth - when one of your girlfriend's lives is falling apart another comes through and is getting everything she always wanted and you look at them both trying to figure out where you're stuck in the middle? I think Sex and the City does a great job creating characters that are compilations of people - there's no way any individual person could be all the things Miranda, Samantha or Charlotte are, but pieces of each of them are present in all of us all the time. I loved the movie, and highly recommend it to anyone who liked the series, even if you didn't know much about it you'll like the movie. Oh, and Jennifer Hudson's addition as Carrie's personal assistant is terrific. She's a little stereotyped as the modern 20-something add on who knows all the current best ideas for cheap fashion (Bag, Borrow and Steal anyone?), but she's a great actress and proves she can do comedy and hang with the big girls. Loved it!

Why I love Clive Owen

I think there comes a point with various actors and actresses where they've finally been in enough films and big enough films that their body of work starts to impress you. I previously found this with James McAvoy. Recently I rewatched Inside Man and felt the same way about Clive Owen. So here's my list of why I love Clive Owen, and hope for the best in the rest of his career.

I first watched and love Mr. Owen in a funny little British movie called Greenfingers. He plays a criminal in an experimental prison that is allowed to start a garden. He recruits some other prisoners to help him and their gardening skills are soon recognized and eventually they're allowed to compete in a huge national gardening competition. There are all the usual macho jokes about guys gardening, but of course our lovable heroes overcome the teasing and prove that success is the best revenge. Clive is quiet, but kind, and spends most of the movie trying to overcome something or another. For a long time afterward, whenever Clive appeared in something else, our family referred to him as the guy from the gardening movie.

Then Clive did a bunch of TV stuff, before landing one of the downstairs roles in Robert Altman's masterpiece, Gosford Park. Along with every other major British star (and Ryan Phillipe), Clive Owen plays a small but intricate role in this story of class lines and struggles with identity, all while solving the murder of the lord of the manor. His part was small, but I remember him walking around with guns and all the while thinking he's got a secret that will turn the whole house upside down. He plays secretive very well.

These small but memorable parts continued in The Bourne Identity. Clive plays the assassin trying to kill Bourne. They meet out in the field as they try to shoot each other, and of course Bourne wins and Clive is gunned down, but has that moment of revelation that perhaps being an assassin is not a great thing and that Bourne should try to save himself. Small role, but one that people tend to remember.

There was a series of movies Clive did next that I saw out of order, so I'll discuss them together. He and Angelina Jolie starred in Beyond Borders, the story of "star-crossed lovers" who are relief workers in various hotspots around the world. They meet in a war zone in Africa, and meet up around the world trying to bring medicine and relief to people struggling with war, famine and disease. The acting and love story are really secondary to the documentary sense of the wars and activism the main characters try to support. I mixed this with watching King Arthur, which was so dreadful I can't really even comment. Clive plays slightly dirtier characters in both of these movies, guys willing to buck the rules and save the people he loves. Not great films, but a bigger move for dear Clive.

Next, Clive hit the big time, a BAFTA and Golden Globe win and an Oscar nomination, with Closer. He's sexy, mysterious, a little mean, and hot as hell. He dates Julia Roberts character, but is incredibly drawn to Natalie Portman's broken ingenue. He fights for what he wants, but never really wins the girl because he can't let go of his suspicious nature. I love watching him in this movie and fast forward to the scene with him and Natalie Portman flirting and arguing and seducing and being sad. So great.

Since Closer, Clive has done some really big movies, including Sin City, Children of Men, Derailed, and Elizabeth: The Golden Age. I liked his character and the story in Children of Men, but I didn't really like the movie as a whole - it didn't achieve the book's apocalypse atmosphere very well, just dark and uninteresting. He almost pulled the movie together with his depressed yet optimistic (hard to pull off, but it's Clive Owen's bread and butter) brooding hero. He drops some of the optimism for Elizabeth: The Golden Age as he plays Sir Walter Raleigh, consort for the Queen. Still sexy, but doesn't quite run the movie.

I can't wait to see the next Clive Owen work in Sin City 2, but I hope he's able to play a few different roles. I love what he's done so far, and look forward to more of the same, but just like the secrets his characters have, I suspect Clive Owen, the actor, has lot of different roles left in him as well.

I know I'm alone, but I loved Indy's comeback!

I've been called a nerd or geek from time to time, deservedly so, and am often proud of that. Perhaps that's why I liked the new Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I liked that they took an established fictional character, in all his leather jacket, fedora and whip-wielding glory and moved him into a different set of circumstances and it still made for entertaining movie-making. Maybe it was just the setting they moved it into - a Cold War/Twilight Zone atmosphere that still has to use the tools of archaeology and "X marks the spot" logic to solve the mystery. The plot is ridiculous - but finding the Ark of the Covenant, the Temple of Doom, or the Holy Grail weren't exactly intellectual exercises. So this movie succeeded exactly where the others did, a great bad guy in Cate Blanchett's doctor seeking glory and knowledge, lots of chases and crafty escapes, a side-kick that makes Indy feel like he's "too old for this shit", and a heroine that can match Indy blow for blow. Basically, Indy gets kidnapped and made to find something in a government warehouse (Area 51!) for the Russians. He finds it, gets double-crossed and then followed by the feds for a while. The Russians keep looking for him and he meets a greaser Mutt (Shia LaBoeuf) who needs his help save his mom - Marion Ravenwood (the unforgettable Karen Allen from Raiders) lost in the Amazon. They leave to save the girl and of course get caught up in finding the actual treasure. The crystal skulls are a fairly ridiculous plot point, but create an interesting sci-fi background that doesn't actually make much difference to the story. Harrison Ford does a great job of trying to defeat the bad guys and keep the banter going, fighting with Marion, and trying to teach Mutt a thing or two. The effects are fun, and as a "Saturday matinee" type of film it works great. I love series of books, movies, etc. I love seeing characters in new situations but still being the same great character. That's what this movie delivers, incredibly well in my opinion. It's fun, ridiculous, entertaining, unbelievable, crazy, and a great time. Don't take it too seriously and you'll have fun.

I can't wait for Indy to come back!

There's been lots of talk about the new Indiana Jones movie, and I admit, I'm definitely one of those who can't wait. The Sci-Fi channel's been showing the first three movies in succession for a while, so I caught up on my favorite again - Last Crusade. The first one is classic - saturday matinee classic camp and hurrah with heroes and bad dialogue and unbelievable stories. But "Last Crusade" is a whole other level of ridiculous - mostly related to the awesome dialogue between Sean Connery and Harrison Ford. There are all kinds of lines that have permeated our family lexicon - "No ticket", and "I was the next man". And with the new characters they've introduced in the "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" there could be lots of great lines ahead. Here's hoping the new movie rocks as much as the others.

Robert Downey Jr. is awesome

Ever since he appeared on Ally McBeal I've loved Robert Downey Jr. He's funny, witty, takes control of scenes, he sings, plays the piano, and now is IRON MAN! The new movie isn't quite like other super hero movies, though there are the requisite explosions, good guy turns out bad, and long-suffering female love interest. However, there are also lots of really timely social messages. Tony Stark (Downey) is a genius who inherited a huge weapons manufacturing factory. Stark is in Afghanistan arrogantly showing off his newest weapon when he's kidnapped by a terrorist group who wants him to build them the weapon, from pieces of Stark weapons they've accumulated. So he's kept in a cave with another scientist, Yinsen, for months. Of course he builds the Iron Man suit and escapes, but the really cool thing the other scientist builds and he perfects. Stark was hit with tons of shrapnel when his Hummer was attacked. To prevent the pieces from traveling to his heart and killing him, Yinsen puts a magnet attached to a car battery into his chest to hold the shrapnel in place. Stark improves it and a glowing circle ends up permanently in his chest and ultimately acts as the power source for Iron Man. The concept is just cool. Of course when he returns Stark goes through the necessary moral questions of how to use this amazing power he's built and whether his company should still make weapons, but luckily Terrance Howard is a military officer who helps get him through those issues. And of course there's his assistant, Pepper Potts (Gwenyth Paltrow), who ultimately helps save the day, in many different ways, but I'll leave that for future viewers. It's obviously been set up to make the sequel more fun, but I still really liked it. The kids probably won't quite understand all the social implications they address, but it's still a very good movie for everyone. The banter is funny, and the effects are terrific. I can't wait for the sequel, although Indiana Jones opening this weekend will probably distract me!

James, and James, and James, oh my

I just got back from a long trip, so the best part was obviously watching lots of movies on the planes to and fro. The theme I found was James. On the way to Europe they were showing Becoming Jane and I was once again reminded of my love of James McAvoy (see here for a reminder). He's romantic, a playboy who converts for the woman he loves, honorable, and plays against Anne Hathaway perfectly (even if she's not British, she's a good Jane Austen). Then on the way home, they were playing 27 Dresses and Enchanted which I'm sure you'll remember that I liked both. James Marsden was even more arresting this time in both roles. He's cute, sexy, with a grin that doesn't end, and can play a fairy tale prince more convincingly than you'd expect. Oh, and since I spent most of the flight telling people that in fact James Marsden's name was James Franco, I will pay homage to him as well - he's awesome in the Spiderman movies and hopefully will be in lots more fun movies. Oh well, I definitely appreciate the James' in my movie-viewing experiences. Any others I've forgotten, I bow to you too.