New Release: Rango and The Adjustment Bureau

There's not a lot to say about either because both benefit from only knowing what the trailers showed you.    So there won't be any spoilers.

Rango is the story of a terrarium chameleon who has to survive for himself and wanders into a town called Dirt that is experiencing a water shortage.  He gets deputized to keep the peace, and of course wanders into the corruption going on, but wants to rise above it and do something important.  They add all of the elements you'd expect with a chameleon in the desert - escaping bit predators, the sun, heat, water, etc.  But what makes this movie something more than just another kids animated feature comes in 2 ways.  First, the animation is a jump above.  The detail in all the scales and whiskers and whatnot on all the desert creatures bests anything that's come before.  And second, the story is more complex than necessary for just a children's movie - it approaches many of the old westerns without going into cliche.  The dialogue is sharp with Johnny Depp's standard delivery reigned in a bit.  My only problem with it was the strange use of props.  In an early scene Depp is escaping an eagle by hiding in a standard glass bottle.  Then later, each of the desert creatures carries a bottle or can or vase perfectly scaled to their own body size.  It left an odd feeling for me - it would have been one thing if all the items they use are really "human" sized things OR the creatures are considered human size and their possessions equivalent.  Just  bothered me. Overall, a really good movie that can only be appreciated with multiple viewings.  4 of 5 stars/lambs

The Adjustment Bureau also felt a bit like a throwback to an older version of cinema (and maybe it was just the fedoras - Fletch said the Adjustment Bureau guys should team up or face off against the bowler hat guys from The Thomas Crowne Affair and I finally got the joke seeing the whole movie!).  The movie starts us with David Norris (Matt Damon) screwing up his first NY Senate bid, and conceding the election.  He meets straight talking Elise (Emily Blunt) in the bathroom before the speech and he realizes he's become a little different than the man he intended to be.  There are also these guys in fedoras following them around,

Anthony Mackie (from The Hurt Locker) and John Slattery (from Mad Men) seems to know something about what's going on.  And from the trailer we know they having something to do with controlling people's destinies.  And, it is NOT David and Elise's destiny to be together - though they have other plans.  The movie explores whether we have free will and our life is made up of only an accumulation of our choices or if there's a predestined plan that you cannot escape from.  The Adjustment Bureau makes sure to keep you on their boss's plan.  It's a terrific love story, with a really well paced plot and doesn't overdo it on the details of how the Adjustment Bureau really works.  I liked that it makes you think about your own life if there really might be a group of people attempting to get you to a particular destiny and therefore, everything you do or people you meet will help you get there.  It kind of explains why my clumsiness hasn't killed me already - I must have more of a plan ahead.  4.5 of 5 stars/lambs

Valentine's Day New Release: No Strings Attached

I was feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the quality of the movies I've been watching lately, so I had to go clear my head and laugh and cheer, so I went to watch my girl-crush Natalie Portman hang out with Ashton Kutcher.  No Strings Attached is a predictable romantic comedy.  A pair of acquaintances (they met at camp when they were kids, and have only hung out once since) decide they really need to be having more sex, and decide they should have it with each other.  However, it's meant to be an emotion-free "relationship" with no claims on one another. But pretty much anyone could predict how that will go, and it totally does, but the ride is worth it. 

This movie doesn't break new ground on the "sex leads to feelings and possibly a relationship" cliche, but that doesn't mean it's not great fun to watch.  A lot of movies that take on the "sex only" storyline and flip it that the guy falls in love with a cold disinterested girl (500 Days of Summer - sort of), so that it's not the mushy girl falling for the  player guy all the time.  Alternatively, they attempt to tell the story by being really raunchy (The Sweetest Thing, My Best Friend's Girl) which often falls flat or just goes too far into gross.  No Strings Attached attempts to ride the line between both with some raunch, but Ashton Kutcher is also able to be manly and sensitive at the same time (usually the male lead in rom-coms is too much of one or the other) - he makes Portman a "period mix-CD" full of inappropriate, but really funny songs.  Portman attempts to be the emotion-less one, but of course gets jealous when she pushes him away to other girls.

Basically, I just liked this.  There are a lot of really funny moments, the trailer didn't give anything away you wouldn't get from the first 10 minutes (or from hundreds of other rom-coms). I honestly laughed out loud a dozen times (thanks to Kevin Klein and Mindy Kaling - oh, and a weird tiny role by a fat Cary Elwes?), and it had to be one of the best movie-going experiences in the last month.  The theater was full of women and couples and just about everyone seemed to be having a great time.  4 of 5 stars/lambs

New Release: The Tourist (really)

I will confess, I had no expectations going to see The Tourist.  I knew it took place in Venice and it starred Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie.  Oh, and it was butt of many, many jokes (including at the Golden Globes).  However, I think I was a beneficiary of those low expectations.  I actually thoroughly enjoyed The Tourist.  Having read several reviews from bloggers I read regularly, most of them start off hating it, but then back track to say it's not bad.   Jolie plays Elise Ward, a beautiful, sophisticated woman being watched and followed by the police.  There's very little explanation about why she's under surveillance for quite a while, and it adds to her mystique.  She gets a note that tells her to get on a train from Paris to Venice and pick someone who looks like her old boyfriend, Pearce, and convince the police (French and British) that it IS him.  That's where Depp comes in.  He's an American math teacher who cannot believe his luck that someone like Jolie would pay him any attention.  However, we find out there are some mobsters after Pearce (which means they're now after Depp).  That leads to chases, racing around Venice, escapes, jumping into the canals, boat chasing, mistaken identity and of course, Jolie keeping up the charade for those watching that Pearce has returned.  Well, she does that until she realizes the danger it puts Depp in.  Then the movie goes in many different directions - and I loved 'em.

I found it a very romantic thriller, very much a throwback to the pacing and thriller nature of Charade or To Catch a Thief or the whimsy (definitely not comedy) of Roman Holiday.  I don't think it deserved  nominations necessarily (though definitely if Anne and Jake got 'em Jolie and Depp were on par).  There were many movies and many performances more deserving, but that doesn't diminish what The Tourist was able to pull off.  Venice was beautiful and Jolie was the perfect ice queen for 90% of it, trying to convince the police that Pearce is back but that she doesn't know she's being followed.  But she pulls off her two big twists perfectly.  I couldn't see the big twist coming until just before and then I hoped that was what was going to happen.  Paul Bettany does a good job as the crotchety, frustrated Scotland Yard officer willing to stop at nothing to bring in Pearce (often a role that goes to someone like Harvey Keitel or another older actor, Bettany's relative youth made more sense here).    Depp's accent (which I've heard maligned) was a decent mid-western American accent.  His hair did bother me a bit, but someone's always does.  But I think Depp and Jolie were just as sexy and compatible as Cary Grant and either Audrey Hepburn or Grace Kelly.  Gotta admit I'd love to see it again already. 4 of 5 stars/lambs

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Who Played with Fire: Some Spoilers

Salander with her evil Guardian

I feel like I've discussed this series a lot with quite a few different movie geeks, and I haven't actually written a review of anything.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire are the first two films based on books in The Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larrson.  The third Swedish film was just released in theaters here in the States (though I'll have to wait until Netflix gets it).  The first two movies are intense drama/thrillers with many murders and violence thrown in.  They're definitely some of the best story-telling to have come out recently.  Noomi Rapace plays Lisbeth Salander, a petite bad ass computer hacker who had an epically terrible childhood.  She's required to check in with a "Guardian" (kind of like a probation officer here in the States), and when her former Guardian has a stroke, she's stuck with a terrible guy who does unspeakable things to her (one of the most violent scenes on screen I've ever seen).  She does get her revenge, thankfully.  But you can't unring a bell.  So that's the understory.  The overarching story involves Mikael Blomkvist, a journalist who has been found guilty of libeling a megamogul.  Since he's heading for jail, he gets hired by a wealthy guy, Martin Vanger, to investigate a family mystery - the disappearance of his niece.  Salander and Blomkvist cross paths after she investigates him for Vanger before he hires him.  She hacks into Blomkvist's computer and watches as he tries to find the niece.  Eventually, she has to join him to try to find the truth.  Again, they find some unbearably disgusting facts from decades ago and the whole mystery does get solved, but man is it way out in left field.  At the end, Salander does her computer genius thing to prove that the megamogul actually did the things Blomkvist said he did, clearing him.  She steals a ton of the guy's money -secretly of course.  And this leads us to the next film.  Brilliant first entry - amazing acting by Rapace, and terrific thriller action sequences.  Once I got around the extremely violent scene, it's a wonderful movie all around.  5 of 5 stars/lambs

Blomkvist coming to the rescue, but Salander has it in hand

In The Girl Who Played with Fire Blomkvist is back at his magazine and a fellow journalist and his assistant are killed.  As is Salander's "Guardian".  She is accused of the crime, but since she has tons of money now, she moved and can't be found.  Blomkvist, who has a soft spot for Salander, knows she didn't do it and goes about trying to figure out who might have.  He stumbles upon a den of human trafficking, prostitution and murders going back a long time, with links to Salander's terrible childhood.  Not nearly as thrilling as the original, but still a brilliant story told with great acting and an interesting plot that will keep you on the edge of your seat.  Less violent, but more mystery and a few gory scenes that almost make you want to look away.  Less edgy, but an excellent return to terrific characters.  4 of 5 lambs/stars

New Release: The Town

I saw The Town a few days ago, and my review has been slow in coming because I'm not exactly sure what to say.  It was better than I expected based on the trailer, which didn't reveal too much.  It was face paced, but had good characters, and character development.  There were a few moments where they telegraphed things that would obviously become important - the things that might give away the bank robbers' identities, like tattoos or voices.  Ben Affleck, Jeremy Renner, and two guys I didn't know and were never really identified are friends from the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston.  They're carrying on the family business of crime by robbing armored cars and banks.  At their most recent heist, they take Rebecca Hall hostage for a little while and then let her go.  Except for Renner, they're not particularly violent guys, just seem to feel this compulsion to rob.  Jon Hamm is the FBI agent, along with Titus Welliver (a "that guy" from lots of TV shows, currently "The Good Wife") investigating all the robberies in the area.  They manage to figure out how they're all connected to these guys (unclear how they deduced this - movie cops are really smart), and then have to watch them to get enough evidence. 

Affleck is put in charge of figuring out if Rebecca Hall can identify them, and they start dating, since she obviously can't identify him.  Of course, falling for her makes Affleck rethink his criminal ways, and he tells Renner he'll only do one more job, which he doesn't want to do because the FBI agents have "brought the heat down".  Of course, things don't go well on the last job but they get away after a pretty great car chase through the windy Boston streets. This is where other heist movies tend to end with someone getting shot and either the rest being led away in handcuffs or escaping.  However, The Town adds a pretty great final act. 

Affleck's incarcerated father (Chris Cooper) used to work for "The Florist" - brilliantly played by Pete Postlethwaite.  Now he wants Affleck and his crew to rob Fenway Park.  The details in the final heist are complicated and it doesn't end well for just about anyone, but it's probably the best finale of a heist film I've seen in ages.  They made it bigger, without making it more complicated than a simple heist.  Overall, I enjoyed the movie, particularly Affleck's acting and directing.  Jon Hamm does a good job, but he's the least developed character of the bunch.  I guess that's one of the failings of even good heist movies, you have to make either the cops or robbers the good guys and give them the storyline.  The love story is left on the side of the movie, and looses some of the believability when she helps them in the end.  However, it doesn't bring the story down.  Enjoy my discussion of The Town on an upcoming episode of "The Matineecast"!!!   4 of 5 stars/lambs

Stories of Coco Chanel: Two reviews

In the past 2 years there have been as many adaptations of the life of fashion designer and icon "Coco" Chanel.  One, a Lifetime movie Coco Chanel, starring Shirley MacLaine as Coco in her later years and Barbora Bobulova as the young Coco.  The second, Coco avant Chanel (Coco Before Chanel), is a French language film and stars Audry Tautou as Coco the whole time.  Both stories describe her early days as a seamstress by day and cabaret/saloon singer at night in the turn of the century in France.  She decides the only way to overcome her humble beginnings (she was dropped off with her sister for the nuns to raise after her mom died) is to become a mistress to a wealthy aristocratic man.  She meets girlfriends of her lover and they love the hats she makes.  She starts working harder, making hats and becoming better known for it, as well as the clothes and style she wears herself.  It's more of a mens-wear inspired fashion (the Tautou version show's her cutting up men's shirts to sew into her dresses to change the look) and wears pants and looser fitting clothes without corsets.  She eventually falls in love with a guy named Boy, who can't marry her, but he helps set her up with her own stores and her fashion ideas increase. ** Spoiler -  Eventually Boy is killed in a car crash - End Spoiler ** and yada, yada, yada, she becomes Coco Chanel.  That's the story told by both versions.  The Tautou story ends there with a quick look at her much later watching her own fashion go down the stairs at her couture house (also an image repeated in the MacLaine version).


However, I thought the MacLaine version superior because it doesn't just give us a short glimpse into the salty beginnings of a legend, but alternates with her at the end of her career, after she's becoming a household name with the suits and the little black dress.  Tautou is good, as the moody, determined, ambitious Coco, but we see very little of her inspiration and why she bothers to become a fashionista.  Bobulova does a better job making it clear she was mining one of the few avenues open to women and using the only skills she possessed besides her body.  They show how her style evolved, and why she went the directions she chose (expensive fabric wasn't available during the war years so she wanted to make clothes women could afford and replicate - jersey became fashionable and corsets were done).   

However, both films fail to give a clear picture of the woman.  Wikipedia adds a lot more about her involvement with both sides during WWII, and her decline as a French designer due to perceived collaborations with the Nazis, and her fan base switching to British and American audiences.  She also had affairs with many famous people, and I guess a new film opened at Cannes last year about her time with Igor Stravinsky, but it's not on DVD yet.  Both are good films, but whitewash a much more complicated woman.  If you're only going to watch one of these, I'd watch Coco Chanel for the more interesting characters.  Coco Avant Chanel - 3 stars/lambs, Coco Chanel - 4 stars/lambs

New Release: Iron Man 2

I won't bore you all with a long review of Iron Man 2, as almost everyone reading this review will already have seen it.  So I'll skip right to what I liked and what I didn't. 

Liked:

1. The fight scene with Jon Favreau
2. Scarlett Johannson as the bad ass who helps save the day (her role in the next installment should be more substantial, though then I probably won't like her as much)
3. The aside at the beginning when Don Cheadle arrives and says, "I'm here, it's me, get over it" as a small nod to the fact that he replaced Terrance Howard.  I thought he did a good job, particularly when he got his own suit.  He learned to fly it awfully fast. 
4. Stan Lee as Larry King
5. The effects were good, and inventive, without being totally over-the-top-sequel-esque. 
6. RDJ was good playing the self-destructive/self-pitying guy, but it went on too long. 

Disliked:

1. While the dialogue was good, they spent way too much time talking/fighting over each other.  Normally that kind of banter from RDJ is terrific, but it was hard to get all the jokes and to figure out what was going on.  It was usually 2+ people talking almost all the time.  
2. Mickey Rourke's affinity for birds.  Change it to a chihuahua and it would have been watching cuckoo Mickey Rourke playing himself (though with crazy physics skills)
3. Too long, a large chunk of the middle could have been chopped down. 
4. I would have liked more explanation of who the heck Nick Fury was and how he knew Stark Sr.
5. Sam Rockwell is wholly unbelievable as any part of the character he was playing.  Just Sam Rockwell playing himself again? 

Overall, the good outweighed the bad, and it was entertaining. A good stand alone movie, not dependent on the original, and broke new ground, but as with many sequels that already plan to be a trilogy, it spent too long setting up the next film.  4 of 5 stars/lambs

An Adrian Brody Two-fer: The Brother's Bloom and Cadillac Records

I'm not a fan of Adrian Brody, yes he did a good job in the Pianist and deserved his Oscar, I'm sure all can agree that doesn't automatically make one a good actor. I saw The Brothers Bloom because I do like Mark Ruffalo, and Cadillac Records for Jeffrey Wright and the music. Luckily, Brody does nothing to prevent either movie from being really terrific entertainment.

The Brothers Bloom finally puts Mark Ruffalo into a character different from others he's played - a scummy not so great guy, and he obviously revels in it. He plays Brody's older brother, Stephen, and the pair of them have been con men since childhood. However, now Brody, called Bloom - I never figured out the title, since they have no last names, one is Stephen (Ruffalo) and one is Bloom (Brody), but it doesn't seem important. Anyway now Bloom wants out of their life, and Stephen talks him into one more con with their silent partner in crime, Rinko Kikuchi (Oscar nominee from Babel). They decide to try to con a rich lonely eccentric woman, Rachel Weisz, who learns hobbies of all sorts and falls into their con with ease. However, this is the last time I fully understood what was going on. A complicated series of cons take place, some with Penelope's (Weisz) help and some for other reasons. It's a great movie with funny dialogue and a morose looking Brody all the way through. Ruffalo and his ideas for cons are funny, and the supporting cast is terrific - Rinko is wonderfully funny while saying almost nothing (maybe she doesn't speak English well, but they used it to perfection. 4 of 5 stars/lambs

The other movie I enjoyed despite Adrian Brody's presence was Cadillac Records the story of real-life Chess Records and its artists. Started by Leonard Chess, a Jewish man in Chicago in the 1950s trying to make a better life for himself, he starts a club where black musicians play, and he meets Muddy Waters and Little Walter, and goes on to set up a recording studio and does all he can to get their blues music on the air. It's mostly the story of Muddy Waters and the evolution of music from blues to rock and roll. Jeffrey Wright is Muddy, recording music and learning to love the life it provides. Chess does take some advantage of his artists, but placates them by providing new a Cadillac constantly. Chuck Berry (Mos Def) and Etta James (Beyonce) sign with Chess Records and obviously become stars. There's competition between artists for attention from the small studio and who makes the most money. It's really interesting from a historical perspective as I didn't know Chuck Berry spent so much time in jail, and how badly taken advantage of and abused many black musicians were (the Beach Boys stole an entire song from Berry and changed the lyrics, only compensating him later after he sued). The music is wonderful and all the acting is terrific. Even Beyonce stretches her acting chops a bit - not in who she plays, Etta James was a terrific singer, but had tons of attitude and a huge hurdle to overcome her start in life (a prostitute and white politician). Nearly all the characters are eventually inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but there's an obvious tone of too-little-too-late when it comes to really appreciating artists from the beginning as human beings not just commodities. Excellent movie. 4.5. of 5 (and available on Netflix Watch Instantly for those interested).


Oh, and a PS - Don't watch Two Lovers with Joaquin Phoenix and Gwenyth Paltrow - it's awful. Worst movie of 2009.

Inglorious Basterds: DVD Review (with minor spoilers)

I was definitely worried that Inglorious Basterds wouldn't live up to the hype, or that it would just be another incredibly violent movie from Quentin Tarantino. Thankfully, it totally lived up to the hype and also was a very violent movie, though not as gratuitously as some of his others. It returns to a lot of the strengths that he brought to Pulp Fiction, with strong story-telling, with different characters ultimately arriving at the same place and the story coming full-circle. The analogy that kept coming to mind to describe the connection between the two movies was Pulp Fiction is to crime movies as Inglorious Basterds is to war films. That is to say, it's only vaguely related to their larger genres. Basterds follows a group of Jewish-American soldiers led by Brad Pitt who will be dropped into occupied France to "kill Nazis". They build up a reputation of brutal slayings, pissing off the Nazi higher ups, specifically, Col. Hans Landa (Christopher Waltz in his Golden-Globe nominated performance) who has built up his own reputation as "The Jew Hunter". The story is told in chapters, each small story adding up to the complete and final chapter. The first chapter shows Waltz trying to find out if a family is hiding a Jewish family in their farm. He's jolly, and friendly and ultimately scares the crap out of you with his cruelty, which is what you remember every time he reappears. You're never sure if he'll be evil or jolly (sorry, that's an odd word to describe him, but it's what he seems to me). Meanwhile, we meet a French cinema-owner who strikes the eye of a German war hero (Daniel Bruhl). He convinces Goebbels to move the premiere of the new German propaganda movie to her theater. She decides to blow up the theater to trap them all inside. At the same time our Basterds have reached Paris and also plan to blow up the theater, though they need help getting in from a film star (Diane Kruger). She meets the Basterds in a bar, which ends in a pretty great gun fight as other German soldiers are there and they blow their secret identities. Ultimately, their scheme succeeds, but I won't tell you how or who survives.

Overall, I really liked the movie. It was long, (158 minutes) but it doesn't drag very often, and each new chapter brings in new characters. Also, and I vaguely remember this being an issue when it came out, all the characters speak the language they're meant to speak based on their character and the conversation taking place (i.e. Brad Pitt speaks English when he's talking to his troops, Landa speaks German to soldiers, but French to the local people). They actually justify, very subtly, the language being spoken at any moment. All the acting is terrific - particularly Waltz and Melanie Laurent (the French Cinema owner), both pictured. Also, by just setting the story during WWII and using the same characters, but letting the story run however he wants, Tarantino maintains the tensions in ways most war films couldn't. You can't assume anyone lives or dies just because history says they did (or didn't). Very good movie, definitely deserving of a spot in the top 10 movies of 2009. 4 of 5 stars/lambs

Random round-up!

Last weekend, it was snowing and cozy by the fire, so I watched a bunch of movies, the first from a Netflix DVD, and the others from the Netflix Watch Instantly feature on Roku. All were surprisingly good movies, perfect for a quiet weekend.

Away We Go stars SNL alum Maya Rudolph and The Office's John Krasinski as expectant parents. They've moved to be near his parents for the birth of their baby, only to be told his parents - Catherine O'Hara and Jeff Daniels - are moving to Belgium. Untethered by either family or jobs, they decide to find a new place to live near people they know. Thus begins a journey of some of the most extreme characters ever. Allison Janney is a vulgar ex-boss in Tuscon, Maggie Gyllenhaal is an over the top mother in Wisconsin, and Melanie Lynsky is a perfect mom of lots of adopted kids in Montreal. We watch Rudolph and Krasinski's voyage to find a place to live, as well as discover what kind of parents they want and DON'T want to be. Their dialogue provides most of the humor of the movie, quick and sharp, as they discuss the crazies they thought they might want to live near. I thought it was a really good, very original movie, carefully constructed to avoid cliche, but almost misses the mark. It could easily have been really boring, but the strength of the cast makes the movie thoroughly enjoyable. 4 of 5 stars/lambs

The next movie we watched is How About You, a movie Netflix recommended to me and they were right and I enjoyed it. It's about an Irish assisted living facility run by Kate. She's struggling to keep it together when her long-term residents scare off any potential new clients coming to visit. Her ne'erdowell sister Ellie, comes to mooch off of her and gets a job helping clean the home. When their mom gets sick at Christmas, Kate has to leave to take care of her, but can't find a place for 4 residents who have nowhere else to go (they've been banned from other homes). Ellie says she's stay and take care of them for the holidays. The residents are a hoot. Vanessa Redgrave plays an aging actress who remembers a terrific career that never was, and dances around demanding more olives for her martinis and making people jump to her whim. Two sisters - Imelda Staunton and older sis Brenda Fricker - live at the home to escape their childhood struggles (slowly revealed during the movie) and harp on any perceived slight from the staff. Fricker even makes Staunton wear an eye patch after Ellie throws a piece of toast at her. The final person to complete their holiday quintet of lonely hearts is well known British actor Joss Ackland (I spent most of the movie trying to remember where I'd heard his voice before), a widowed, former alcoholic judge. None of them are friends and none of them will give an inch to make life easier for Ellie. Ackland insists on breakfast in his room at 6 am, the others want specific foods at the regular breakfast time. They all run around making life hard for Ellie, but as it takes place at Christmas, you can figure out that all will end well, and it does. A small heartwarming movie with lots of character. 3.5 of 5 stars/lambs

To follow up this sweet charming movie, we watched a French film about a former prisoner trying to find her way in the world after her release. I've Loved You So Long (Il y a longtemps que je t'aime) stars Kristin Scott Thomas as Juliette, just getting out of prison after 15 years and moving in with her sister's family. I won't spoil anything about what she was in prison for, which is slowly revealed throughout the movie, as other people reveal what they think they know about what happened and how they treat her because of their misconceptions. However, the movie isn't really about her reintroduction to society, but to her family and friends. She has been silent for so many years that they don't know her or anything about what happened to send her to prison. The movie is terrific - you'll just have to believe me. The story they tell will sit with you and make you think a lot about what you might have done differently if you'd been in Juliette's situation. 4.5 stars/lamsb

The final movie I only saw to try to prove that Emma Watson (Hermione from Harry Potter) can act. Sadly, she can't act any differently than Hermione's personality allows, even in a non-Harry Potter movie. Ballet Shoes is based on a children's chapter book that follows three orphaned little girls who grow up in 1920s London and to help the family that raised them they join a theater academy and each go on to different fields, acting, dance, etc. It was a decent movie for little girls, but not terrific acting or a good story. 2.5 stars/lambs

Ballet Shoes
I've Loved You So Long
How About You
Away We Go

Movies rarely live up to or deserve the hype: Reviews of The Soloist and State of Play

I've been wanting to see The Soloist since I found out Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx would be staring. However, I'd barely noticed the appearance (and disappearance) of State of Play until it was recommended on my Netflix queue. I was sadly disappointed by The Soloist and very pleasantly surprised by State of Play.

The Soloist is based on a true story about LA Times columnist Steve Lopez (Downey), who would write about all kinds of issues, shining light on issues around LA. One day he's looking for a topic for his next column and meets Nathaniel Anthony Ayers (Foxx) playing a two-string violin and rambling about his love for Beethoven. He writes a column about Ayers, which starts an uneven, often dangerous friendship. One of Lopez' readers, upon reading about his former excellence as a cellist at Julliard, donates a cello for Ayers. However, Ayers is homeless, and owning something as valuable as a cello on the streets of LA could get him killed, so Lopez arranges for the cello to be kept at the LA homeless center (LAMP). Lopez continues to attempt to restore some of Ayers' talent and sanity by getting him housing, and exposing him to concerts in the city. However, the movies doesn't want to be a story of redemption, and there's no happy ending, or even a very good ending. The director, Joe Wright, also directed Atonement, which I loved, and his style permeates both films. While Atonement's story could benefit from a more artistic style of movie making - long takes of the beach at Dunkirk, swirling floods of the tube station, bombings with music in the background, the snap of the typewriter as music - The Soloist, while a story about a musician, does not. The story is slow, with very little character development. Somehow, it's supposed to be enough that Ayers is schizophrenic and homeless and Lopez is a wry columnist, and thus we know everything we need to know about them. While I LOVE Robert Downey, Jr. he was the only reason I even watched it to the end. 2 lambs/stars
This movie did not live up to the hopeful hype surrounding it.

In contrast, I hadn't heard much hype, good or bad, about State of Play, except that Ben Affleck was in a political thriller and he played a congressman. For the past few years, Affleck's movies haven't always been received very well (though his directorial effort, Gone Baby Gone, is a masterpiece). State of Play really stars Russell Crowe as a Washington Globe reporter, seeking a story about two murders in downtown DC. His old-school reporting style is in conflict with his fellow reporter, Rachel McAdams, online blogging style, but he needs another reporter to help him when he finds the story connects to the recent death of Congressman Collins' (Affleck) aide on a subway platform. Crowe's reporter and Affleck's congressman were college roommates. High political drama ensues with corruption, congressional hearings on private military contractors, affairs, marital intrigue, murder, and high-pressure reporting. Helen Mirren plays Crowe's editor, Robin Wright plays Affleck's put upon wife. It's a great film to see on your comfy couch as it does take a little while to build up the story, but once it gets going, it also helps to have someone to watch with, so you can confirm what you think has been going on, and what the big twist at the end really means. Crowe does a terrific job trying to maintain his integrity getting at the truth without destroying his friend's career, and McAdams does his precocious assistant perfectly. 4 of 5 lambs/stars

Phoebe in Wonderland: Review

If you think of film as working at revealing the human experience and as there are several billion people on earth, there should be several billion different experiences. Yet, the genius of film is that every film will reach more people because of shared experiences. So, when I see a film that brings to life a new experience and in a new way, I feel the need to applaud the film (even if I didn't like it, which I did very much in this case) and when I can relate to that new experience, though it's one I've never had myself, I have to praise the film to whomever will listen. Phoebe in Wonderland stars Felicity Huffman and Bill Pullman as academic parents raising two daughters, the elder played remarkably well (and refreshingly unlike her sister) by Elle Fanning (Phoebe). When Phoebe auditions for the school play, "Alice in Wonderland" it seems like the best opportunity to escape many of her bullying classmates. The theater teacher, Patricia Clarkson, inhabits the story and wants the children acting in it to do the same. When each child arrives for his audition she says, "no room, no room, move down, move down" to see what the child will respond with. Most of them don't get it, but a brilliant little boy who arrives to audition for the White Queen asks for some tea, and she's transformed. This sort of look at life embodies each of the characters - how do they relate to the world, how do they fit into it, and what do they bring to it. Our main character Phoebe suffers from all kinds of behavioral problems that baffle her parents, particularly her mom, Felicity Huffman, who blames herself for her daughter's problems and by doing so lengthens the time until she's properly understood. It's a magical story without actually being a fairy tale, or having a particularly happy ending. I really liked it and won't reveal all the twist the movie goes through. 4 of 5 lambs/stars. PS - It's available on Roku or Netflix streaming right now!

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

I fully admit to really liking the first Transformers movie as you can see from my review a year ago. And, now I admit to liking the second one, though not quite as much. First of all, you HAVE to have seen the first one to get anything going on in this version, but I'm guessing if you didn't bother with the first one, you're not going to bother with Revenge of the Fallen. The new movie starts 2 years later just as our hero Sam (Shia LaBeouf) is heading off to college and wants to be free of his protection and obligation to the Autobots (the good guys, followers of Optimus Prime). That would be fine, except the Autobots have been routing out Decepticons (the bad guys) who have been dormant all over earth for centuries. It turns out our previous superbad guy Megatron in fact only worked for the REALLY bad guy "The Fallen" who wants to take over earth again (see the play on words in the title, yes, I like crap like that). Sam, his girlfriend Mikaela (Megan Fox), and his new college roommate (Leo, a conspiracy nut played by Ramon Rodriguez) have to help the Autobots prevent The Fallen gain control of an ancient power source they'll use to destroy the sun. It's a lot of action, with a lot of slow motion fighting between the robots, but the story is fun, non-stop and a great summer blockbuster kind of entertainment. Shia is not a terrific action movie, but he plays the unlikely hero really well. The supporting characters are all good and do a good job being funny. There are even a few new Autobots that add funny one-liners throughout the film. My only problem with it is that it's a bit long, a few trimmed fight scenes would have made it just right. 4 of 5 stars/lambs!

New Releases: The Hangover AND The Proposal

Okay, there are some spoilers in these reviews, mostly because pretty much everyone who is going to see them already has, and those who haven't might find a few spoilers funny. First, The Hangover. Four guys head to Las Vegas for a bachelor party for Doug (Justin Bartha from National Treasure). However, everything goes terrible off kilter when Doug's slightly strange future brother-in-law Alan (scene stealing Zach Galifianakis) gives them all roofies and when they wake up the next morning, they can't find Doug. The spend the day retracing their steps and talking to people they saw, including the new wife of Stu (Ed Helms), Mr. Wong (the always hysterical Ken Jeong) and Mike Tyson. The comedy appears in both the activies that are re-enacted and in the dialogue of Alan. He's just strange and says things that his slightly cooler pals can only stare at. Overall it's a funny movie, but I still think most of the other movies of the same genre are funnier (Role Models, I Love you Man, Step Brothers). It really doesn't have anything new, except actors who are given their chance to be stars and funny (I've loved Bradley Cooper since his time as Will on Alias). 3.5 stars/lambs

The current number one film (The Hangover is second this week) is The Proposal. I was expecting very little going into the movie. I enjoy Sandra Bullock's movies, but Ryan Reynolds' romantic comedies haven't been wonderful (good, but not great). So possibly I enjoyed this movie so much more because I didn't expect much from it. I'd waited a little to see The Hangover, and it has been much hyped (and deservedly so) but I thought it only just lived up to the hype, it wasn't any more. The Proposal follows Sandra Bullock's Margaret as she bribes her assistant (Reynolds) to marry her to avoid deportation. Because of the timing of the wedding, they're investigated by INS and to prove the legitimacy of their love, decide to go home to his parents' house in Sitka, Alaska for his grandmother's (Betty White) 90th birthday. She's an uptight publishing executive and arrives in the rural town in her Christian Louboutin stilletos and is afraid of the water (his family "the Alaskan Kennedys") live in a huge house on an island in the Sound), but she does a good job to try to fit in an keep the charade going. Andrew (Reynolds) hasn't seen his family in 3 years (it's not easy being Margaret's assistant) and has struggled with being the son of the weathly family. The two of them do a good job of pretending to be engaged and of course end up learning more about each other and ultimately falling in love. It's a very funny movie, both from Bullock's pratfall type humor and Reynolds dry wit commenting on it. I really liked it. 4 of 5 stars/lambs

Angels and Demons: review

There are a lot of movies out there that need not be the next greatest film of all time. There are many reasons to go to the movies. Since I began writing this blog, I've added another reason I go to the movies, so I can think about them and write about them more when I get home (it extends the procrastination of a single movie viewing by hours). The opening of "summer blockbusters" so early in May in an effort to jump start the season and not to compete directly with each other has given us more movies to see, for little reason that they're new and famous for one reason or another. I've happily kept up with the huge openings thus far, Star Trek, Wolverine and now Angels and Demons. I've also taken in 17 Again and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. I'm willing to bet none of these movies will achieve any awards for acting (though Zachary Quinto was really good), and likely few for special effects (though Star Trek could make the cut, it's still early). The real reason (in my opinion) to see all these movies is for the shear entertainment they provide. In that respect, Angels and Demons delivers big.

I've read the books of Dan Brown and appreciate the details he uses and the nerdy semi-historical facts he hinges his thrillers on, so I went into this movie thinking I knew what I was getting. It's now been about 5 years since I read the book, which is incredibly complicated and I'd forgotten most of the important twists and turns, and thoroughly enjoyed the movie. So as not to ruin your viewing pleasure, I'll just explain the basics. A pope has died, and thus all the cardinals must meet in the Vatican to elect a new pope. This has provided the chance for an anti-church (fictionalized) group call "the Illuminati" to wage war by kidnapping the 4 cardinals most likely to win the election, and also to steal a fictionalized substance called "anti matter" to blow up the Vatican. (now I don't mean that either the Illuminati or antimatter are fictional, but artistic license has made them both into something they are not for the purpose of the story, like Opus Dei in The Da Vinci Code). Our hero, Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks, in a much better performance than DaVinci Code) has been called in to interpret symbols sent to the Vatican with the warning of impending doom. There's a lot of chasing around Rome and Vatican City which looks amazing and really complicated, too many whirling shots for me. The supporting cast is terrific, each giving off the "I could be the bad guy" vibe all the way through, Ewan McGregor (as the pope's assistant, the Camerlengo and interim in charge), Stellan Skarsgard (head of the Swiss guard who protect his Holiness) and Armin Mueller-Stahl (the cardinal Strauss in charge of conclave). Also, I must say the female lead, Ayelet Zurer (a huge deal in Israel and really making a splash on US audiences now) was terrific, neither cloying nor saccharine like Audrey Tautou's character in Da Vinci. Overall, it was a great thriller, violent, but constantly changing heroes. 4 of 5 stars.

Star Trek: Revew

I freely admit to being a Trekker (by which I mean, I've seen all the movies with Star Trek in the title and all the episodes of "The Next Generation" series, though I've never been to a convention nor dressed up in any sort of costume). This is to say I was excited to see the new Star Trek movie, but more in the way of reading the next book in a series you love, it doesn't matter how unique or special it is, just as long as it provides familiar comfort. However, the new delivers on BOTH fronts of unique and familiar. If you've never seen a single moment of previous Trek video, you'd still be in for a great story with excellent action, terrific acting and wonderful special effects. However, if you're already a fan, there's an even greater level of terrific familiarity, filling in the gaps of previous stories and fully creating characters. It is what Wolverine should have (could have) been. Here's what I think the story was about (time travel usually confuses me, so I've thought about it, but could be wrong). *Spoiler Alert* (though given that it's a prequel you know who survives). James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) is at the Star Fleet Academy, where Spock (Zachary Quinto) has been an instructor. A great problem arrives that necessitates the cadets to help on star ships. Basically, far into the future the planet Romulus is destroyed by a super nova. A Romulan, Nero (an unrecognizable Eric Bana) who feels it was Spock's fault manages to come back in time with a super-future awesome ship and manages to destroy Vulcan and is on the path to destroy Earth (given that Spock is half human, he has two home worlds). Star Fleet has to figure out a way to stop him. With the help of the people we'll all recognize as the future Enterprise crew (Uhura, "Bones", Chekov, Sulu, and eventually Scotty - a terrific Simon Pegg). With each character there's a little bit of the original character, but not a parody or exact duplicate, just a recognizably familiar character. Overall, it's a great movie, with really terrific acting and directing from a new set of actors and directors. My one pet peeve was the "red matter" (something that can create a black hole) appears as a large, unexplained red ball remarkably similar to the bad stuff in "Alias" (another J.J. Abrams creation). Great film, will probably see it again in theaters. 4 lambs/stars

Vacation catch-up: Taken

I was nervous going in to see Taken. The ads made it look full of violence and torture, and while that was definitely present, it was more like Bourne than Sin City. Liam Neeson has given up his career as a CIA spy to be closer to his 17-year-old daughter (Maggie Grace). She's still not sure if she can forgive him, but when she asks him to sign papers allowing her to follow U2's European concert tour (he thinks she's going to visit museums in Paris), he relents, and off she goes. She meets a guy at the airport who is obviously scoping them out. When people break into the apartment to kidnap the girls to sell into prostitution, Grace is on the phone with Neeson and he uses all the information to start looking for her. The rest of the movie is Neeson using all his CIA tricks, which are substantial, to dig into the world of Parisian human trafficking. There are quite a few gun fights, a knife fight and a car chase, but it's a terrific thriller. Neeson is incredibly sympathic as the terrified father searching for his daughter, and while surprised and sickened by what he finds, he just keeps going. I really liked it. There were a few moments when it seemed Neeson avoided bullets, by shrugging his shoulders away from them, but that was fine. Overall, 4 Lambs/stars

DVD Round up - really random collection

Just before the Oscars I got really sick again so I managed to post about everything I'd seen, but haven't see anything in the theater since Doubt but caught quite a few DVDs lately, and if I feel like it I'll write more later, but typing's not really easy so this will be short.

Changeling - Angelina was good and the other detective (Michael Kelly) was good. Though I love him on "Burn Notice" (LOVE HIM!) I didn't think Jeffrey Donovan was terrific as the person who convinces us of the insane corruption of the LAPD. Overall, it was a really slow movie that didn't tell a very compelling story once you know what happens with the kid. 3 stars/Lambs.


Made of Honor - When you're sick, cheesy movies win out. This wasn't bad. A vehicle for Dr. McDreamy, Patrick Dempsey is good, charming, a little ridiculous but fun to watch. Plus, the other Dr. from Grey's, Kevin McKidd (also from short-lived Journeyman) is Scottish and very cute. Michelle Monaghan is a little ditzy and oblivious to the fact that her wedding planning is actually impossible, but if everyone's really really rich maybe you can plan a wedding in another country in 2 weeks. Very fun, cute, and worth watching when you're sick. 3.5 stars/lambs


Ghost Town - I love Ricky Gervais. This movie is him through and through. Kristin Wiig adds fun bits as his doctor - who has to explain that he died. He's a wonderful curmudgeonly misanthrope who has to reach out to dead people. Tea Leoni is better than usual, laughing at Ricky throughout. Very predictable, but consistently funny in Gervais' style. 4 stars/Lambs

The Tudors: Season 2 - This is just awesome. Everyone should see this show. You don't have to see the seasons in order if you're at all familiar with history. Watch the second season to see the fall of Anne Boleyn! 5 stars!

The Visitor

The Visitor came out earlier this year, and was such a great little movie that Richard Jenkins managed to get a SAG nomination for Best Actor. He plays a widowed professor, Walter Dale, who has given up on finding something new to like about his field of work. He heads to NYC to present a paper a colleague wrote, and finds a couple living in his apartment. Tarek and Zainab are illegal immigrants from Syria and Senegal, respectively, and thought they'd legitimately rented an apartment. When Walter arrives they realize the scam and start to leave, but Walter offers them a few days to find something new. Tarek plays the African drum and Zainab makes and sells jewelry. Since Walter doesn't care about anything in his own life, he hangs out with Tarek quite a bit, and Tarek even teaches him to play the drums. While trying to get on the subway with their drums one day, Tarek gets caught and jumps the turnstile to escape, but the police see him jump and arrest him, finding out he's illegally in the U.S. He's sent to a detention center in Queens. Walter gets involved in trying to help Tarek, who is a really good person caught up in a few bad bureaucratic snafus. The director and writer, Thomas McCarthy, also directed The Station Agent, one of the best movies ever. He likes characters who don't mind the silence that many people find uncomfortable. Now with The Visitor, he's examined another character and how he interacts with strangers. Just a terrific film, 4 stars/Lambs

DVD Roundup: The Good, The Innocent, and the Ugly

It's time again for a really random group of DVDs I've watched recently. All the movies came out this past year, to mixed reviews, but since they all starred people I like, I rented them through Netflix. I'll review them in the order I saw them: Get Smart, Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, and Over Her Dead Body.

Get Smart, based on the 1960s TV show, starred The Office star Steve Carrell and Anne Hathaway. The supporting cast wasn't bad either, with Supporting Actor Oscar winner Alan Arkin, Dwanye Johnson, and Masi Oka. Carrell longs to be a field agent, his agency gets destroyed and only he and Anne Hathaway can inconspicuously infiltrate the bad guys group and save the world. That's about all I understood of the main storyline, but it didn't really matter. The action is only slightly better than a TV series would put together, kind of like a funny Alias. Mostly it's about silly jokes and Carrell hurting himself with weapons. Decent entertainment, but nothing ground-breaking. 3.5 LAMBS/stars

I rented Kit Kittredge because I like Abigail Breslin (see Nim's Island and Little Miss Sunshine) and I'm kind of a sucker for kids movies, and it got decent reviews in the theaters. Based on a doll (The American girl series, which I had when I was a kid) and the books written about her character, Kit lives in Cincinnati during the Great Depression. She wants to be a writer when she grows up and keeps submitting her stories to the newspaper (edited by Wallace Shawn!) and keeps trying to write stories they might publish. Her father (Chris O'Donnell) loses his job and moves to Chicago to find work and Kit and her mom (Julia Ormond) open their house to borders to help make the mortgage. A mix of people move in, helping create fun stories, quirky characters and a good mystery. It was a strangely pertinent story as our own economy struggles that our society's view of poverty might not have changed much since the Depression. They treat "hobos" as criminals, and since few weren't susceptible to unemployment, anyone could become a hobo. I'll admit while watching it I got kinda nervous as they were echoing things that have been appearing in the papers lately. But since it's a kid's movie, it all worked out in the end and Kit solves the mystery and saves the day. It's still fun entertainment. 4 LAMBS/stars.

And finally, the ugly. Over Her Dead Body is a bad redo of Just Like Heaven (with Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo) which wasn't a good enough movie to do again. Basically, a woman dies, can't accept it, haunts someone, and there's a love story. Lake Bell is the main character and isn't interesting enough to carry a movie. That's my first problem with it. The second was that someone convinced Eva Longoria Parker (who I love in Desperate Housewives) that she should both tan extensively and dye her hair blond so she's the same color all over. Plus, half the story is about how Paul Rudd can't get over the death of his fiancee and thus won't smile anymore. Most of Paul Rudd's appeal is his humor and his smile. So basically this movie stinks. The reviews weren't good, but they were kind. It's worse. 1 LAMB/Star. Don't watch this movie.