In Her Shoes, good girly movie

I caught a movie on TV the other day that I sneaked into when it was first in theaters and thus have still never paid to see. In Her Shoes (2005) is worth paying for though. It's not a typical movie, given that the love story is barely secondary to the relationships within a family, particularly two sisters. Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette are sisters raised by a father they adore and a step-mother they hate. The mystery behind their mother's death is kept hidden for a long time. We see Diaz's character falling apart, unable to hold a job because she never really learned the things in school you need to actually hold a job (like reading and math). Thus, she's always ending up at her parent's or sister's house drunk and stealing from their dressers. They finally kick her out and she finds a long-lost grandmother (Shirley MacLaine) living in a retirement home in Florida. However, MacLaine won't take her crap (she obviously recognizes the personality from her deceased daughter) and helps her get a job and actually supports her. MacLaine is perfect as the grandmother who has resigned herself to accept what life has given her and taken away - she's not bitter, but calm and accepting, very unlikely role for MacLaine. Meanwhile, back in Philly, Collette has quit her high-powered lawyer job to walk dogs (her sister sleeping with her lawyer boyfriend soured her on the law?), but a lawyer at her firm (a nerdy, self-assured guy) keeps pursuing her and finally wins her over. However, she keeps the secret of her sister's insanity a secret. Her little speech about why she can't tell him about her sister is terrific and explains family devotion pretty well, that no matter how awful Diaz is, she'll always help her and take her back, and she can't bear it if her boyfriend hates her sister, so she's kept Diaz a secret. Collette finds out Diaz has gone to Florida and they reunite at MacLaine's house and learn the secrets about their mother and how she died and why MacLaine was kept from her grandchildren. It's a touching movie that never goes too far with its family love, and makes real relationships appear normal and yet the movie is fun, interesting, well crafted, and worth watching repeatedly.

Easter Parade

I was finding it hard to summon the requisite spring-like feelings this Easter Sunday as there are still a few feet of snow on our porch. However, I was flipping the channels and Easter Parade just started on Turner Classic Movies, and Fred Astaire and Judy Garland have done just what movies do - bring us into a world we remember and long for. Check it out again soon - just a cute spring-in-your-step kind of movie.

Jane Austen Book Club

I read the book first, and hated it, so I was a little wary of seeing this movie too. The book had all kinds of details that lept out at you without warning (a rape, abuse, lesbian relationships with people you weren't aware were gay). These details made it hard to follow the lives of the 6 main characters of the book club. However, the movie, The Jane Austen Book Club totally washed over all the annoying and surprising details to create what I hoped the book was going to be. The movie starts with Jocelyn (Maria Bello) mourning the loss of her top breeding dog. Her friends decide that what she needs to get over the loss is to belong to a new book club that reads the 6 novels of Jane Austen. The concept that a monthly book club can help you get over a loss is more than a little silly, but it still works as the premise for the rest of the movie. The oft-married Bernadette (Kathy Baker) is the matriarch of the group and brings in Prudie (Emily Blunt), a disillusioned high-school french teacher who's never been to France and can't relate to her husband anymore. Jocelyn's best friend Sylvia (Amy Brenneman) and her gay daughter Allegra (Maggie Grace from Lost) also join the group. Sylvia's hot husband, Jimmy Smits, has just left her, and to cheer her up Jocelyn has invited cutie boy Grigg (Hugh Dancy - who was so cute in Ella Enchanted) to join the group. He's never read Jane Austen, but his enthusiasm for Jocelyn makes up for his lack of feminine experience. We see how the elements of each Austen work (Northanger Abby, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Mansfield Park, and Emma) are revealed in the lives of our characters. There are moments of humor, lots of girl-power drama, and friendly banter about Austen's books. If you have read a few of Austen's books (or seen the movies or Masterpiece theater versions) you'll enjoy this movie too. If not, some of the subtle references to the book will go around you. Either way, I enjoyed it very much - 4 of 5 stars.

Sirens of the LAMBs

Over at the Large Association of Movie Blogs, SOME AWESOME AND CREATIVE GUYS have put together a March Madness-type battle between 15 femme fatales. The first one was posted today - a show down between "The Bride" from Kill Bill and "River Tam" from Serenity and Firefly. Very cool writing already, and I'm sure it's going to continue to be awesome. Check it out. I was away when the decisions were made and passed on this showdown, but I'm sure I'll be part of the next one! Being part of the LAMB is awesome and if you're a movie blogger - go join.

DVD Vacation Extravaganza

I confess, I did not work last week and went on vacation. I saw 3 movies in the theater (as mentioned below), but I also saw 3 movies on DVD, all recent releases too. Two were very good entertainment, and one we actually turned off and didn't finish. First was Death at a Funeral. A British farce that's centered around the death of a patriarch. The two sons have returned to bury their father. The elder, Daniel (Matthew Macfadyen, Mr. Darcy from the recent Pride and Prejudice), lives in the family home with his fiancee, and the other, Robert, is a successful author living in New York. Daniel is distraught and trying to figure out how to eulogize his father, while everyone arriving is disappointed that Robert won't be doing the eulogy. Their cousins arrive, one complainingly bringing Uncle Alfie in his wheelchair, and the other bringing her fiancee (Alan Tudyk - from Firefly) to introduce to her father. They stop to pick up her drug-dealing brother (Kris Marshall from Love Actually) on the way, and a mix-up in drug bottles occurs. Ultimately, Alan Tudyk ends up really high on ecstasy, convinces people the coffin is movie, and then is naked on the roof. and Peter Dinklage shows up to blackmail the brothers with photos of him and their father in compromising positions. They fight with Dinklage, who is hysterical fighting for his rights to the inheritance and he ends up in the coffin. I won't give away the rest, and believe me there's a lot more and it's a constant chase between scenes to figure out who lives, who dies, and who gets away with what. It's terrific, and I highly recommend checking it out. 4 of 5 stars.


Second, I also liked a straight to DVD movie, I Could Never Be Your Woman, with Michelle Pfeiffer and Paul Rudd, and recent Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan as Pfeiffer's daughter. Pfeiffer is a screenwriter for a Saved by the Bell-type TV show, using language her daughter says in the script. She meets Rudd when casting the "geek" character, but because they hit it off so well (and Rudd is a really terrific comedic actor) the character becomes to popular he gets a spin-off. Pfeiffer and Rudd play back and forth, calling it off because of their age difference, getting back together because it doesn't really matter. Jon Lovitz plays Pfeiffer's ex-husband in the least annoying role he's EVER played. He's convincing as the man-child she dumped who's constantly getting plastic surgery, but never actually getting the younger girl he craves. There's a bit where he constantly tries to steal something from her house whenever he picks up their daughter. Anyway, Rudd helps Pfeiffer realize she's not as uptight as she thought, and she helps his career really take off. It's a fun little movie, nothing particularly amazing, but it does show the Hollywood scene with humor. And there's a great scene where they're comparing themselves to Ashton and Demi, and Lovitz walks in and says that would make him Bruce Willis, and everyone turns to stare in disbelief. It's very funny. Oh, and Ronan is a wannabe guitar player and re-writes all the pop songs with stupid lyrics that are infinitely funnier. Good fun, and great entertainment. 4 of 5 stars.


And the movie we turned off, 2 Days in Paris. Perhaps it got a lot better, but I doubt it. Adam Goldberg plays Julie Delpy's American boyfriend. They've just returned from a tour of Italy and are visiting her parents in Paris. Basically he's an idiot, xenophobe who can't be bothered to learn his girlfriend's (of 2 years) first language, so there's lots of misunderstanding of the parents crass behavior and his stupid comments on their lives. He's annoying and the movie didn't suit the entertainment we were looking for. Any comments that prove this was a good movie would be appreciated.

The Other Boleyn Girl

There were lots of things I liked about The Other Boleyn Girl. The two lead actresses - Natalie Portman as Anne, and Scarlett Johansson as Mary - are terrific. They have the right amount of sisterly love and competition going throughout and it's easy to see why one wins over the other (competition more often wins over sisterly love until just at the end). The movie as a whole shows a terrific "bodice-ripping" period with just the right amount of intrigue and "bodice ripping". Anne and King Henry VIII (without his ruddy historically painted looks) are meant to be together to lift up the status of the Boleyns. However, Anne is a little too kooky and powerful for the King, and he takes a like to Mary. I believe they actually had a long relationship with several children produced, but it's very condensed in the movie to less than a year. Then Anne returns from being punished and has acquired lots of feminine wiles to charm the King while in France. This is understated in the movie, as she's basically the same before and after, but with a new green dress (from the movie posters) and a new hairstyle. Ultimately, as history recorded, Henry accused her of treason - most likely because she couldn't produce a male heir, and he wanted a different woman, and since he'd already split from Rome it was possible to just get rid of Anne - and she was beheaded. Overall, it's a movie that fudges the edges of history to tell an interesting story that's often kept in the background. However, I'd recommend Showtime's The Tudors if you're actually interested - it's much more graphic and detailed (since it's a series it has the time to tell a better story), and the actress who plays Anne, Natalie Dormer, is much more subtle in her portrayal, you believe she might have some witchcraft going on (which is what she's later accused of along with treason). Finally, the thing about The Other Boleyn Girl that drove me nuts was the costumes, specifically the women's headdresses. They changed too frequently to be accurate for the rest of the timeline, and were incredibly distracting. Kristin Scott Thomas, who is pretty terrific as the mother watching her daughters be moved around like chattel, wears the same one throughout the movie and in one scene it even catches the light and looks like a complicated electronic birdhouse displayed on her head.

First Impressions

I don't have time right now to post my reviews of the movies I've seen this week, but here are my first impressions:

Fool's Gold: 3 of 5 stars. Not terrible, fun treasure hunting story, pretty bad acting, and little chemistry between the stars.

The Other Boleyn Girl: 4 of 5 stars. Very well done, excellent acting, great story, very distracting costumes, and terrible cinematic quality (they keep shooting through holes or behind screens, every thing was out of focus).

Definitely, Maybe: 3.5 of 5 stars. Not wonderful, but good entertainment. The storytelling is excellent, but not funny enough for a romantic comedy.

I'll write more about these movies, but wanted to record my first impression.

Frozen in Grand Central

This is one of the most creative and amazing things I've ever seen. I honestly don't know how I'd react to this happening if I walked upon it. Totally check out this video.

TV shows I watch

The writer's strike is finally over and February sweeps held very little that was worth watching, but there are still some fun shows on TV until the general much-loved shows return. Here's my list of what's been worth watching. If you can recommend other shows, I'm all for trying them out.

Monday: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I found this show a little silly during the pilot, but it's becoming more and more interesting as the background story gets more fleshed out and the characters stop hopping through time. They just added Brian Austin Green (Beverly Hills, 90210) to the cast as John Connor's uncle come back from the future. Overall, I like the mystery and uncertainty of whatever will happen.

Oh, and I still watch all the re-runs of How I Met Your Mother. Enough goes on in every episode that it's worth rewatching. Next week is the "Slapsgiving" episode which was one of its best ever.

Tuesday: Until recently Boston, Legal was still running new episodes so I was watching those. Now, not much is on as I won't watch American Idol until after the majority are eliminated.

Wednesday: For the past few months, Wednesday has been saved by Project Runway, but we only get another week of that and it's over! So sad - I hate waiting.

Thursday: Lost has been terrific this season, reinventing its appeal with mysteries about their future rather than just the mystery of the island that defies explanation. And following Lost, the new show Eli Stone has been really terrific. I LOVE the creator - Greg Berlanti (Everwood, Brothers & Sisters) and the show is as "wholesome" and straightforward as Everwood. It's fun to watch, if a little simple in its storytelling.

Friday: Friday Night Lights had more new episodes to show than practically anything (supposedly it comes from shooting in Texas and not having the distractions of LA or New York) so I've been loving keeping in touch with my friends in Dillon. Hopefully this show will return and keep going strong. Also, I love Monk and Pysch, but they run two short seasons a year, in January/February and July/August and this season is now over. I was liking Women's Murder Club but there haven't been any rumblings about bringing it back since the strike. It had potential.

Saturday/Sunday: The new version of Masterpiece Theater has been showing the works of Jane Austen and so far they've been fantastic. They showed a new version of Persuasion and Northanger Abbey, neither of which I'd seen, but both were excellent BBC-type renditions of Austen's lesser-known works. They also showed the wonderful Jennifer Ehle/Colin Firth Pride and Prejudice. They show Mansfield Park this week, and will finish up with a new version of Sense and Sensibility. The quality of the programming has been really terrific.

Oscars relived...

I was counting the number of Best Picture Oscar winners during the broadcast on Sunday - and I've seen 46 of the now 81 winners. My current favorite is still Out of Africa, but there are many I've seen lots of times. Gone with the Wind is always a masterpiece, and I'm one of the few who loves Shakespeare in Love. I don't like Million Dollar Baby or The English Patient, but I can appreciate their quality. I'm also a fan of the musical age, with My Fair Lady, Oliver!, The Sound of Music and West Side Story. There's a great theater in Times Square that often shows Oscar winners on the big screen just before the Oscar ceremony and it was wonderful to see so many the way they premiered, or close to it.

New on DVD

To catch up on my Oscar viewing I have been watching lots of DVDs (that and new TV hasn't started yet) and Gone, Baby, Gone and Michael Clayton were some of the best I've seen this year. Gone, Baby, Gone was touted as Ben Affleck's directorial debut and it really is very well put together, well directed, and well shot throughout. However, the only thing you remember after watching it is how awesome Casey Affleck has become as an actor. I just rewatched Good Will Hunting and Casey is a skinny, sniveling, side-kick at best. And played a similar character in the Ocean's series, basically annoying and forgettable. He probably could have played character roles for the rest of his career, but this year has transformed him, both physically and his career. His roles in Gone, Baby, Gone and as Robert Ford in The Assassination of Jesse James have definitely given him the credentials to play leading men. In G,B,G he plays a private detective hired by the family of a kidnapped little girl. He and his girlfriend/partner are torn about taking the case because they don't want to find a dead little girl, and they're not sure they have the ability to actually find her. However, the personal connections he has to the low-lifes in the Boston neighborhood are ultimately his biggest strength. He works with two older cops, one is Ed Harris in all his good guy/bad guy complexity, and the chief of the kidnapping division - Morgan Freeman. All kinds of standard kidnapping/cops scenes go on - negotiating with a bad guy with innuendo and metaphor ("if I did have the kid, she might be okay if I was given a lot of money"), the money exchange going really badly, and all the people being devastated and not really knowing what should have/could have been done. However, most movies end there and nothing new would have been brought to the genre. This movie was based on the book written by the same author as Mystic River. It goes on to find connections with other kidnapping cases and reveal a great mystery that I knew was coming, but totally didn't see the whole thing unraveling the way it did. The supporting cast is terrific, particularly Oscar-nominated Amy Ryan playing the kidnapped girl's mother. She's crass, lying, stupid, and doesn't really care about her daughter, but somehow you still hope things work out for her. The first half of the movie is sad and you don't really want the little girl to be returned to these people. However, Affleck's partner played by Michelle Monaghan, voices our concerns about how ugly and horrific some of the people connected to the little girl really are. I found that without her character voicing my own issues with the neighborhood, I'd have been screaming at the screen and not able to watch such a terrible place. But Affleck attempting to defend the status quo in his childhood neighborhood and her arguing the moral high ground gives the movie the depth it needs to make you care. I really liked the movie and can't wait to see Jesse James just to watch Casey Affleck on screen again. Nearly 5 of 5 stars (like 4.75, only diminished by the horrors of the story being difficult to watch, though very cleverly shot to avoid imprinting grisly images on our psyche).

Michael Clayton, on the other hand, makes it pretty clear throughout who is good and who isn't. But like G,B,G it doesn't make it clear that all good things come to good people. Oscar-nominated (and previous winner for Syriana) George Clooney is a lawyer with a huge firm, whose main job is to fix problems quickly. He describes his position as a janitor, not a miracle worker. It seems he calls in favors and provides favors to make sure his clients get what they need. He also seems to manage Oscar-nominated Tom Wilkinson's manic character who's gone off his meds and is sabotaging his career. The movie follows Clooney figuring out how far Wilkinson has gone to sabotage a case protecting a huge polluting mega-company. On the flip side, Oscar-nominated Tilda Swinton is also following the sabotage and as the head lawyer for the mega-company making sure they're protected. Swinton is good as a unsure, high-ranking female lawyer who is always conscious of the company she works for and protecting it. It's an interesting story, well acted, and with terrific twists throughout. It's good, but I didn't think it added a lot to the concept or the genre. Erin Brockovich does a better job representing the legal case of lots of nobodies fighting a big company for polluting, and the legal thriller is covered by all John Grisham's work. It was a good movie, but not a favorite. 4 of 5 stars.

Oscar Predictions

I feel like I've been hearing so much information about the Oscar predictions that I only have about a 50/50 shot on any of these. Usually I feel a little more confident, but obviously ignorance was bliss. Anyway, here are my predictions for better or worse:

Spiderwick Chronicles is great fun

I saw The Spiderwick Chronicles yesterday with a theater full of kids off from school, and both they and I loved it. It's a simple story with lots of recognizable features: kids from a broken home move to a creepy old house, discover something left by a previous inhabitant and have to solve a mystery and save themselves and the world. This variation on a theme is very well put together and uses lots of unqiue features to stand out without trying too hard. Freddie Highmore plays twins, a nerdy science twin Simon, and the bad boy twin Jared. He's a British actor and his accent was good, but not quite like his sister or mother, and thus a little distracting. Otherwise, he's terrific as both twins. Jared finds the old lab in the house of his great-relative Arthur Spiderwick who wrote a field guide describing all the secrets of the fairy world. This book is being persued by Malgarath (played occaisonally by Nick Nolte, he morphs into a huge monster too) who wants it to gain all the power and rule the world. He sends his minions to attack the house which is protected by a circle of toadstools through which only humans can pass. There are good goblins/fairies/creatures too - Thimbletack helps protect the book (voiced by Martin Short perfectly, in picture), and Hogsqueal is a Hobgoblin who helps the kids "see" the fairies. Hosqueal is voiced by Seth Rogan (from Knocked Up) and provides all kinds of light-hearted humor as he attempts to aid the kids, but gets distracted by birds constantly. The climax is perfectly done with some humor, some suspense and quick wrap-up with a non-traditional explosion (spaghetti sauce can destroy the creatures). The monsters are fun, but it's easy to see the good vs the bad just from their appearance, but unlike other fantastical stories (The Dark Crystal) these goblins aren't scary, just evil. Overall, I really liked the movie, it has a lot of humor, a lot of fun mystery explaining a new fantastical world, and really good acting from all the characters. Definitely 4 of 5 stars.

Addendum: Also, I forgot to mention the music. Usually in these kiddie-branded movies the music is sweet and treacly and manipulative. This movie felt more fresh and fun rather than sinister from music alone. The music complements the movie really well.

The Bucket List

I'm really behind in seeing this movie, and I think it's actually been playing in a local theater for weeks and weeks, but we missed the showing of Spiderwick Chronicles, and the other options this weekend weren't good locally (I'm not a fan of horror), so The Bucket List was it. And for good entertainment, it hit the spot. Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman do a great job fighting and traveling and philosophizing about death. They're both handed a sentence of a few months to live, and Freeman starts writing a "bucket list" to record what he might want to do before he "kicks the bucket". Nicholson jumps on board, and luckily comes with the money, private jet, and personal assistant to do almost anything. They put some obscure things on the list (like observe something majestic) but also lots of easy to check of off kinds of things - get a tattoo and sky dive. The rest of the movie is them traveling around the world doing all kinds of things, and luckily deciding NOT to do some things - like hunting a big cat. I thought their dialogue was fun and witty, and it was the first movie where the co-stars could really hold their own against each other. Nicholson seemed on edge and unsure of how Freeman will respond, but it makes their characters more believable. Nicholson owns a huge company and has always been deferred to on everything, and while Freeman was a mechanic for 45 years (which they repeat a little too often) his "death sentence" has given him the freedom to do whatever he wants, including leaving his family to experience some of life he gave up for the family. It's a cute movie, with obviously sad overtones, but you can't really predict where it will all go. It's definitely cheesy, but for pure entertainment, it works really well. 4 of 5 stars.

Simpsons Movie

I liked The Simpsons Movie (which I just caught on DVD) more than I've liked catching new episodes lately. It's a funny story where Homer of course does something ridiculously stupid that ends up getting the whole family in trouble. They escape a dome put over Springfield and move to Alaska. Of course they decide to come back and save Springfield. I won't tell you the end cause that would spoil it. There are tons of really funny jokes throughout - "Clap for Alaska" causing an avalache - that are exactly what makes the Simpsons unique unto itself. It's nothing bigger than the average episode, but it's great entertainment if you're a Simpsons fan. It's so chock-full of little jokes that I think it'll stand up well to repeat viewing. I don't think it deserved the Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature - there were surprisingly lots of other animated movies that were much better. 3 of 5 stars, but if you already like the Simpsons it's about a 4.5.

Blood is Boring

First, I loved Daniel Day-Lewis' performance in There Will Be Blood. He's brilliant, totally encompassing the role, such that I looked at him a few times thinking I recognized him from something else, which obviously I did because he's Daniel Day-Lewis. But I was looking at the character he created and not seeing DDL. He's sinister, creepy, a little ruthless, and at times strangely violent. His fights, mostly slap fights with Paul Dano are painful. You almost want to look away because you're not sure what DDL is going to do. Those were the valuable things about the movie. As a whole I didn't like it and am pretty surprised it's nominated for best picture. There was no dialogue for the first 25 minutes of the movie - you just watch DDL dig oil wells, break his leg, and then set up news ones. One of the men on his rig has a baby he's carrying around. Then the guy dies and DDL takes the kid, H.W., as his own. This kid is actually a good actor, and his story was the most interesting element in the movie. Then it was about another 30 minutes before something that actually seemed like "plot" appeared, when DDL snubs Paul Dano at the blessing of the new oil derrick. DDL arrives at a new place in California after a tip by Paul Dano's twin. He arrives, buys up tons of property, sets up a new rig and convinces the community, except Dano, that he's a good guy and good things will happen. DDL becomes rich and gets his big house and becomes a totally crazy old man. Overall it's a pretty boring movie, that could have used about an hour closer editing, and some actual dialogue. Barely 2 of 5 stars. I know I must be missing something, but this just wasn't a movie for me. Daniel Day-Lewis should and will win the Oscar though.

The Bard's Arcade

I admit I have been influenced by award winners and just overall buzz in my DVD picks recently. So yesterday I saw King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters and the HBO film As You Like It. Kong was getting good buzz, and Kevin Klein won the SAG award and Bryce Dallas Howard was nominated for a Golden Globe for the Shakespearean update. I'll talk about the one I liked first. In general Kenneth Branagh has not been particularly successful bringing Shakespeare to the screen. Personally, I think he's only batting .250 (which I know is a good batting average, but it's bad for film quality). Hamlet, Love's Labours Lost, and As You Like It weren't successful in achieving his reinterpretation of classic Shakespeare. The one I really like and will watch repeatedly is Much Ado About Nothing, but that's barely reinvented and is probably the reason it still works. The newest, As You Like It, tells the story of a duke overthrown by his brother and sent to live in the forest. As the new duke fears his niece, Rosalind (played brilliantly by Bryce Dallas Howard), she is banished as well. The new duke's daughter, Celia (Atonement's Romala Garai) decides she will leave the court as well. Just before leaving, Rosalind falls in love with Orlando, the youngest brother of a bad guy in cahoots with the new duke. Rosalind, Celia, and the court jester (Alfred Molina) flee to the forest to find the overthrown duke. Rosalind pretends to be a man (often called "pretty youth") and convinces Orlando that she/he can help him woo Rosalind. As in all Shakespeare, mistaken identity and chance meetings often result in love and marriage, so Celia marries Orlando's older brother, the real Rosalind comes out from her man clothes and marries Orlando, and Alfred Molina marries a woman they find in the woods. The original language is very well spoken throughout and the acting is incredible. Howard is wonderful, which is good as she's the leading character and speaks the most. The one thing that puts this play in league with the bad Kenneth Branagh pics is that it's set in feudal Japan. There seems to be NOTHING adding to the story or being more interesting by being set in Japan. Rather than just wrestling, Orlando sumo wrestles for a minute. Otherwise it could be set in any forest anywhere, and the dresses could be standard English fare rather than pseudo kimonos. Finally, where does Kevin Klein's SAG award fit into this? He plays "Mr. Melancholy", the character that mixes all the stories together as he travels between them. He's very versatile, and integrates the stories with his knowing nod to all the characters that tells us that all will work out fine in the end. He's great, but I'm not sure award winning. Overall 3 of 5 stars. Good, but not great. If you like Shakespeare, it's terrific, if not, skip it, there's nothing new to see.




Now, here's why you should really think through why you rent movies. Renting something only because the hype is good should not supercede your inner monologue that says "will I like a movie about Donkey Kong?" My answer was probably not, but some reviewers had said there were great things about it, so I decided to give it a shot. It's about a man who dedicated his leisure life to setting the high score in Donkey Kong arcade game. It means overthrowing a 20 year old record held by a strangely unappealing guy. They have to get scores approved by an "independent" agency that doesn't seem to like having long-term scores reset, which is an odd trait in an independent agency. Basically the previous record holder plays a little dirty beating the new high score by sending in a tape of his really high score after it's been reset by our underdog. The underdog never gets to go head-to-head in public with the "bad" guy and then the film ends. It's boring, slow and never really appeals to a general audience. It definitely appeals to anyone particularly interested in video games, but the people involved are carefully pigeon-holed into good guy and bad guy. It's so artificially done that you start feeling sympathy for the "bad" guy because he just wants his high score to stand and make his real business successful. I didn't like it at all, and don't recommend it. 2 of 5 stars.

Why I love James McAvoy

There are many reasons James McAvoy is a terrific actor and will someday win his Oscar nomination (and eventually the award). I thought I'd been seeing him for ages, but it turns out not to be as long as I thought. The first movie he's really memorable for a US audience was Wimbledon, as Paul Bettany's bumbling, gambling brother who wears a cycling cap the whole time, and inexplicably wears cycling clothes the whole time. He's not all that memorable, but neither is the movie, so that's hardly his fault.

However, he's incredibly memorable in Rory O'Shea Was Here, a film about two physically disabled young men who want to get the most out of life. McAvoy plays Rory O'Shea, a bad-ass Irish guy who can move his head, face, and hands, and is completely confined to a wheelchair. He'd love to live a real life in his own apartment taking care of himself, which is nearly impossible. He befriends another man, Michael, in the home for the disabled who can barely speak due to cerebral palsy, but thanks to a lifetime of living with other disabled people, Rory can understand him just fine. The two of them manage to get an apartment and an aid to help get them into and out of bed. Rory introduces Michael to all that life has to offer, but still can't protect him from the jeers and stares nor the inaccessibility of so much of Dublin for the disabled. They get stuck in various places and find it harder than expected to care for themselves. McAvoy plays the fast-talking, womanizing, quadripelgic with so much spunk and spirit that you're sure everything will work out great, which is rarely the case. It's a really terrific movie, 4.5 of 5 stars.

I didn't even realize that McAvoy was in Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe until I started looking at his resume. Then I remembered Mr. Tumnus, the faun and it totally clicked. He's perfect, bringing the literary character to life so well. He's physically retiring, but wants to fight the witch and is nice enough to Lucy to spark the entire adventure as she seeks to rescue the nice Mr. Tumnus. He creates a character so vividly that I totally forgot it was McAvoy, and just remember the faun. The movie isn't wonderful, but I thought his performance was. There are elements that work throughout the movie, but overall, it wasn't my favorite. I'm sure it'll end up on TV often in the not too distant future and you can check out just McAvoy's performance.

The Last King of Scotland is worth skipping, if only because it gives a dead dictator the chance to poison more peoples' souls. Forest Whitaker is brilliant, transforming his unassuming teddy bear demeanor into a sociopath with moments of clarity and humor. James McAvoy plays a doctor who supposedly falls under Amin's spell, but it doesn't play that well - McAvoy comes across as a weaselly guy trying to get ahead by getting cozy with the President. He follows Amin through the insanity and spends a lot of time trying to balance the dual goals of having a positive impact on the world by advising the leader, and saving his own butt from being killed too. There are movies that portray horrific events with compassion and sensitivity, but this is not one of them. The violence become gratuitous and more than a little scary. Forest totally deserved his Oscar, but McAvoy deserved more recognition for his role too.

Becoming Jane stars Anne Hathaway doing a credible job playing Jane as a witty woman who knew she wasn't going to live a wealthy life, but thought she could buck convention and marry the man she loved. James McAvoy plays a lawyer sent to live in the country to end his frivolous lifestyle and meets Jane. He teases her about her writing and of course she gets her hackles up and she whacks him back. Their banter is really good, and McAvoy has succeeded where Jude Law never made it - as a love interest that isn't smarmy but cunning and deserving of adoration. The costumes and settings are perfect. Oh, oh, oh, and Dame Maggie Smith plays a rich neighbor who gets angry when Jane spurns her nephew's proposal. It's clearly the inspiration for P&P's Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Overall, it's a terrific historical romantic comedy. It's not overly complicated, but if you're an Austen fan, you'll see all the elements of her books represented, and you'll know that Jane's love of McAvoy's character drove most of her future writings.

And finally, Atonement was really an amazing performance by McAvoy. He's slowly moving up the scale of the love interest possiblities. He played the young man who was able to cross class lines because he was smart and know how to play by the rules. He deserved his Golden Globe nomination, and really should have made it to the Oscar pool - I'm guessing he was 6th or 7th on the list of nominees, so didn't make the show. He'll get called up eventually and it'll be terrific. His next movie with Angelina Jolie (Wanted) shows he'll be able to be the leading man/action star too. Such a great actor and finally getting the roles and attention he deserves.

Oscar Predictions: Best Animated Feature

This was posted on the LAMB website today as part of the series of movie bloggers predicting the Oscars.

The Oscar nominations came out last week, and I for one was pleasantly surprised about most of the actor nominations and movies. I'll probably be disappointed by the actual winners because they won't be the ones I want, but I doubt I'd be surprised. Anyway, one category I was particularly surprised to see such a small selection and relatively odd choices was best animated feature, which I was assigned to discuss for the LAMB Oscar Event. As expected Ratatouille was there. However, I was not expecting the other two, because other awards events hadn't included either of them. First, Persepolis was probably just not quite on the radar of the other awards, but the buzz and importance of it obviously penetrated the Oscar voters. The second one was Surf's Up, which I thought was just another penguin movie that had missed the year of the penguins (I loved March of the Penguins and thought Happy Feet was good, but I think penguins have been done now). The movies I expected to be there beyond Ratatouille were not, including The Simpsons Movie, Bee Movie, and Shrek the Third, which had all been nominated for other awards.

Since I do not live in a major metropolitan area, Persepolis will not be coming to my theater before the Oscars. However, a fellow movie blogger (Ferdy on Films)has written an extremely thorough review of the movie, which I draw on for my description. Persepolis follows the story of a woman reminiscing about her childhood in Iran and then in Europe. She wants to be modern and likes many things from outside Iran - Bruce Lee, punk music, ABBA, etc., all of which are forbidden after the rise of Islamic law. She is sent to live with family in Vienna, which doesn't work out. She grows up and still feels like an outsider, so she returns to Iran, but still doesn't find what she's looking for. It's described as a coming of age tale of an outsider who can't find a home to belong. It's based on graphic novels and the animation is obviously derived from the feel of graphic novels, being mostly black and white with a comic-feel of the animation. I think it's a remarkable story, and a new kind of animated movie to be made, but I'm not sure it's worthy of the Oscar. The animation is not spectacular or particularly nuanced, and holds on to the graphic novel and never really leaves the 2-dimensional space.

I was very pleasantly surprised watching Surf's Up. First, it's not a traditional cartoon story about penguins. It's an animated, (obviously) fictional, documentary about surfing penguins. There are interviews about the main character, a surfer named Z who died in a tournament a while ago. The main interviewee, Cody (voiced by Shia LeBoeuf), idolized the lost Z and is coming to compete in the tournament. He comes from Antarctica and has never been able to prove how good a surfer he is. The documentary people follow his journey to get to the Z memorial tournament. Cody arrives, gets hurt on the big waves on Pen Gu Island. Luckily there is a life guard, Lani (Zooey Deschanel) around to save him and then take care of him with the help of a washed up surfer (Jeff Bridges - perfectly channeling "The Dude" from time to time). The washed up surfer shows him how to make a new surf board that will help win the whole thing. Of course the washed up surfer turns out to be Z, who faked his death so as not to lose to the younger Tank. Cody and Tank compete, along with Chicken Joe (perfectly voiced by Napoleon Dynamite's Jon Heder), and of course I won't tell you who wins. Cody and Lani fall for each other and Z re-emerges to save the day. The reason this movie really struck me is both the style and the animation. The mockumentary could easily have been done by Christopher Guest and his recurring cast of kooky characters, but it happened to be animated penguins. So the script is really sharp with lots of funny bits, though most of it being as predictable as a Christopher Guest mockumentary. They did a good job creating a diverse cast of characters using many different species of penguins. It was the animation that really awed me - it was animated such that it was a camera capturing the images - with only one thing being in focus at a time. The person talking would be in focus, but the background would be blurry. It really came into a 3-D perspective and kept the idea that it was a documentary going throughout. Excellent choice by the Oscar committee, and probably overlooked by many in the theaters. However, I don't think it will win either.

I do think the Oscar will go to Ratatouille, and for a change, I think it also deserves it. The animated offering from Pixar, Ratatouille, was notoriously hard to sell - it's about a rat and the title is a stew that most people have never heard of. There are a hundred titles that would have made the movie easier to sell - "Underground in Paris", or "The Little Chef" (a phrase even used in the film). However, people flocked to this movie and loved it. Basically, it's a terrific story about being true to yourself, but trying to realistically find yourself at the intersection of different worlds. It's everything the Disney/Pixar movies have always been about - with the addition of pretty exceptional animation. This is the first CGI-animated movie I've ever seen that creates people with realistic facial expressions and twitches. Unfortunately, that skill extends to creating too-realistic shots of a very nice family of rats swarming out of a man-hole, or across a floor. That's where the heebie jeebies came in - I actually had to look away twice. It's the story of a young rat, Remy, who knows he could make better food than the garbage his kind are stuck with. He seeks out the restaurant of his favorite chef in Paris, the deceased Gusteau (who comes to him in hallucinations to tell him what to do). Of course a rat is not allowed in a restaurant kitchen, so he teams up with a lowly garbage boy and they start creating magnificent dishes that raise the declining status of the restaurant, making everyone happy. Ultimately, Remy's family accepts him for his "foodie nature" and Remy and the garbage boy create wonderful food in a kitchen no one is allowed to see. It doesn't cater too much to any one demographic, and is easy to enjoy by all - particularly if rats don't give you the heebie jeebies. I think it has spectacular animation, a fun storyline, and will win the Oscar.

10 Best "Friends"

It's been a while since new Friends went off the air, but thanks to the wonder of re-runs it might never be gone. Being snowed in today, I watched a few of my favorite episodes and thought I'd share them. There's very little in Season 1 or Season 9 that ranks high, but both seasons do a good job to set up the others. Here are my favorites:

10. Season 5, Episode 24: The One in Vegas: Part 2
The whole group has arrived in Vegas to see Joey. Rachel has ink drawn on her face and refuses to leave the hotel room, so she and Ross get drunk, and they draw on Ross's face too. They get REALLY drunk, and leave the room to get married. Monica and Chandler think they should get married, but are stopped when Ross and Rachel come out of the chapel.
"Hello, Mrs. Ross. Hell-ooo Mr. Rachel"

9. Season 7, Episode 10: The One with the Holiday Armadillo
Ross wants to introduce Ben to Chanukah, but all the Santa costumes are rented, so he arrives dressed as the Holiday Armadillo. Joey arrives as Superman, and finally Chandler is Santa. They all sit down to discuss Chanukah.
"Can I talk to Superman and the Holiday Armadillo over here? Now there's a sentence I never thought I'd say."

8. Season 8, Episode 4: The One with the Videotape
Ross and Rachel tell the friends about the night they were together when she got pregnant. Ross tells that he has a tape from that night and proves that Rachel hit on him, with lines she got from Joey.
"I went backpacking through Europe..."

7. Season 10, Episode 12: The One with Phoebe's Wedding
Monica plans Phoebe's wedding, which all falls apart when NYC is snowed in. Joey marries Phoebe and Mike, and Chandler gets to walk her down the aisle. It's just a pretty episode where everyone fights about how to do everything (best man, etc.)
"Joey, Chappy's heart rate has slowed way down" - as Mike's dog dies in the cold.

6. Season 2, Episode 7: The One Where Ross Finds Out
Rachel claims to be over Ross, but goes on a date and gets really drunk Rachel then calls Ross and leaves him a message saying she is over him. Of course it works out and they kiss for the first time.
"When were you, when were you...under me?"

5. Season 8, Episode 13: The One Where Chandler Takes a Bath
Considering baby names, parents to be Ross and Rachel had no word in common except 'veto!'. Chandler was unable to understand why Monica loves taking an elaborate bath, but falls for them and keeps stealing hers (but with his boat). They all end up in the bathroom with Chandler when Rachel and Ross find out they're going to have a baby girl.
"Little baby Ruth"

4. Season 4, Episode 8: The One with Chandler in a Box
Joey won't forgive Chandler for kissing his girlfriend Cathy. To make up for it, Chandler spends Thanksgiving Day in a box. Monica gets ice in her eye and goes to see the eye doctor - Richard's son (hot Michael Vartan) who she invites to Thanksgiving Dinner.
"Fine! Judge all you want to but, [points to Ross] married a lesbian, [points to Rachel] left a man at the altar, [points to Phoebe] fell in love with a gay ice dancer, [points to Joey] threw a girl's wooden leg in a fire, [points to the box Chandler's in] live in a box!"

3. Season 6, Episode 9: The One Where Ross Got High
The Gellars come over for Christmas and Rachel makes trifle but accidentally adds beef with peas and onions. Phoebe dreams about Jack Gellar fighting Jacques Cousteau. And Ross and Monica out each other on all the secrets of their childhood.
"What's not to like, Jam:good, Custard: Good, Beef: Gooo-od"

2. Season 3, Episode 2: The One Where No One's Ready
Ross becomes very frustrated with his friends when they fail to be ready on time for a speech that he is giving at the museum. Joey and Chandler fight over the chair and end up putting on all kinds of each other clothes.
"You hide my underwear, I'm wearing everything you own"

1. Season 4, Episode 12: The One with the Embryos OR the one where they play a game to win the apartment.
Phoebe is being impregnated with her brother and his wife's embryos. She chats with them in one of the cutest scenes from friends. But the best part of the episode is the game Rachel and Monica play against Joey and Chandler to prove who knows who better. Ross makes up the questions and Joey and Chandler win the apartment. I LOVE this episode.
"That's Miss Chanandeler Bong"