Month: October 2009

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Amelia

Amelia

Starring Hillary Swank, Richard Gere, and Ewen McGregor
Directed by Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding)
Rated PG for some sensuality, language, thematic elements and smoking
Appropriate for ages 10+

    In the 1920’s and 30’s daring female pilot Amelia Earhart (Swank) attempted to break several flying records including a trip across the Atlantic and a journey around the world from which she never returned.  This film attempts to chronicle her life, loves and struggles.

    As expected, this film is beautiful to look at with stunning cinematography by Academy Award nominee Stuart Dryburgh (The Piano).  To add to the sweeping landscapes is the lush score by Academy Award winning composer Gabriel Yared (The English Patient).  From start to finish, there is no doubt that the production of the film is first rate all the way.

    And the acting from Swank is exactly what you would expect.  She looks the part exactly and she was very convincing in the role. If only she had a better script to work from. 

    There was something off about the story that I couldn’t exactly put my finger on.  Many will say that the film is just boring, and I do think that the pacing and directing could have been better, but I think with a better script we would have been a much more satisfied audience.  First off, I never got the importance of Amelia’s trips.  I know why she said she wanted to fly across the ocean or around the world, but I never felt or understood it.  I never got into the heart of the character.  I don’t blame this on Swank, but rather on the writing failing to bring me in touch with the heroine.  So what happens when the audience gets disconnected?  They get bored.  They lose focus.  In a two hour movie this can be devastating. 

    There were other faults throughout, such as a failure to fully explain the love stories and the suddenness of the drinking problem of the navigator, but those little things can’t bring down a film like an audience that can’t cheer for its heroine, even if they know she’s going to die in the end.  C-

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New on DVD

New on DVD

Whatever Works
Rated PG-13 for sexual situations including dialogue, brief nude images and thematic material
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Larry David, pretending to be Woody Allen in this Allen film, is an old curmudgeonly man with a negative disposition and a terrible outlook on life.  One night he meets a young naive girl from the south played by Evan Rachel Wood who convinces him to let her live in his house until she can get up on her feet.  The two are polar opposites but have an almost neutralizing effect upon one another as the relationship goes from unfriendly to friendly to fatherly to possibly something else.  Starting out you could swear that this was going to be nothing but an uncomfortable yet funny comedy about a jerky old man set in his ways, but over the course of the film it lightens up rather quickly and turns a direction that you just don’t see coming.  At the very least it’s unpredictable.  At the most it’s rather funny and at times hilarious.  Larry David doesn’t have to be anyone but himself here and that’s just fine for this character.  While none of the acting is outrageously great, Wood and her mother, played by Patricia Clarkson, are both a hoot.  And for those of you that insist that you can’t put up with more than thirty minutes of Larry David at a time – good news – he disappears in the second act for a very large chunk of the movie.  And with this ensemble you don’t even miss him.  B+

Orphan
Rated R for disturbing content, some sexuality and language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
When a couple loses their third child during birth, they decide to adopt a young Russian girl to make up for the loss.  Unfortunately for them, the new addition is a saint to their face, but a demon behind their backs and a real danger to their family.  I was hesitant to see this one after star Vera Farmiga’s last creepy child movie Joshua was such a let down.  I have to admit that this one is a much better attempt at the genre though.  While the husband, played by Peter Sarsgaard is annoying in his ignorance, Vera and the little girl, played by Isabelle Furhman put on a nice little show with plenty of scares and chilling scenes.  Please take note of the R on this one though as this is a very violent, dark film with a little child doing things she shouldn’t be doing.  I can easily see folks grabbing it off of the shelves thinking it to be a PG-13 and wondering what they got themselves into.  B

Prisoner: The Complete Series
Available on Blu-ray
This popular British series follows a former top-secret operative who is abducted and thrown into a place known only as “The Village.”  Village residents are given numbers instead of names and each is held captive because of the knowledge they possess.  Now known only as Number Six, he battles to protect himself, discover the identity of Number One, and hopefully escape.  The convoluted plot and innovative style earned this TV show cult status in the 60s and now that it is being released on Blu-ray with a transfer from the original film elements and a newly remixed 5.1 surround track, it stands to attract its audience back and maybe pick up some new fans along the way.  The five-disc set includes way more special features than I had time to dive into, but should make any fan very happy.  Overall, I can see why folks liked this show and I’m actually anxious to see what AMC does with the new miniseries The Prisoner it is premiering in November.  A-

Dogfights: The Complete Series
Available on DVD
The History Channel recreates some of the most famous aerial dogfights from past, present and future in this 10 disc box set.  In Season One, they take a look back at the sky battles that took place in Guadalcanal, Korea, and Vietnam.  In Season Two, they take a look back at the great fights of World War One, where dogfights began, through Desert Storm.  Finally in Dogfights of the Future, they take a look at what our boys in uniform will have in store.  Overall, this is 23 hours of time-killing guilty pleasure that will have you glued to your TV in fascination.  It’s almost weird the addictive power this show has, and how fun it is to watch, even if you are like me and know nothing at all about planes.  A-

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New on DVD

New on DVD

Drag Me to Hell
Rated PG-13 for sequences of horror violence, terror, disturbing images and language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Writer/director Sam Raimi (Spiderman/Evil Dead) brings us this tale about a young girl so desperate to become an assistant manager at her bank that she turns down an old woman who requests some more time to pay back her loan.  The woman does not take the act kindly and puts a curse on the young girl essentially unleashing a demon on her to haunt her and eventually drag her to hell.  It might sound horrifying, and the trailer doesn’t look good at all, but the movie itself is actually both scary and funny at the same time, filled with many over-the-top gory set pieces, terrific acting, and a really great script from Raimi.  And while it sounds like a hard R pic, it’s actually just an edgy PG-13 that most audiences with a twisted sense of humor will get a lot of enjoyment from.  B+

Cheri
Rated R for some sexual content and brief drug use
Available on DVD
Michelle Pfeiffer stars in this tale of an older courtesan that spends years with a young man, teaching him the ways of love, only to lose him when his mother arranges an unwanted marriage for him.  I’m not sure what director Stephen Frears (The Queen) and writer Christopher Hampton (Atonement) were thinking with this one.  The film is beautifully shot, and the acting is good enough, but the subject matter is just plain drull.  Period dramas can be wonderful, for example Hampton’s Atonement was an amazing motion picture, but this is the kind of subject matter that kills the genre.  I’m sure the book is lovely and poignant and the thought of an aging courtesan and the boy who can’t get over her is sad, but if there are only a handful of people willing to shell out the bucks to watch it, then Hollywood declares “period dramas are dead” and in reality it’s just another case of no one wants to see a boring stuffy movie.  I hope Frears and Hampton got it out of their systems and are ready to tackle movies people are willing to pay for again.  C-

Top Chef: New York (Season 5)
Unrated
Available on DVD
There is a huge advantage of watching a reality cooking show on DVD instead of on TV: you get to skip those annoying suspenseful commercial breaks.  Bravo’s hit show makes its DVD debut this week and even though I still can’t cook worth a crock pot, I still love watching all the delicious food being prepared by these intense and nervous wrecks on screen.  The biggest highlight was watching the group prepare Thanksgiving for the Foo Fighters where the winners got the best seats in the house to the concert that night.  Unfortunately the losers had to clean up after the winners.  How cruel.  While it still doesn’t stack up to my favorite cooking reality show, Throwdown with Bobby Flay, it still provides for quite a lot of kitchen fun.  B

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Where the Wild Things Are

Where the Wild Things Are

Starring Max Records, Catherine Keener, and James Gandolfini
Directed by Spike Jonze (Adaptation)
Rated PG for mild thematic elements, some adventure action and brief language
Appropriate for ages 10+

    Based on Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s story, Wild Things follows an unruly little boy named Max that runs away from home one night and ends up on an island inhabited with dangerous but lovable monsters that at first want to eat him, but then choose to be ruled by him.

    Under the control of a more normal individual this film would have been a cute and fuzzy little picture with zero vision and very little life.  After all, when imagining a movie of this story, most would automatically think of an animated film, but Spike Jonze saw something completely different.  That is why author Sendak allowed him to make it where he forbid so many before him.  To create such life-like monsters in such a beautiful manner and put them in a world where each new step is an unprecedented adventure is exhilarating.  The choices of style, music, costumes, facial features, and every other little detail make this one of the most breathtaking productions I’ve seen all year. 

    What impresses most though is that the spirit of the film truly represents that of a wild little boy.  It’s almost as if Jonze himself has not grown up and is able to represent those crazy feelings in sight, sound and emotion on screen.  Just like a little boy, the film is a little annoying at times, but you are always kept on your toes. 

    One of the biggest questions I have gotten is how acceptable it is for children.  I’m not sure if I would let small children into this one, especially if they were mine.  That being said, there were a lot of little kids at my screening and they were enthralled.  I was worried that there would be a lot of crying and “daddy I’m scared” talk, but instead it seemed like the kids were having more fun than me.  Go figure.  A-

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Capitalism: A Love Story

Capitalism: A Love Story

Directed by Michael Moore (Bowling for Columbine)
Rated R for some language
Appropriate for ages 13+

    Documentarian Michael Moore is back in this whistle-blowing look at what the banks and our government are up to while we aren’t paying attention.  While the main focus of the film deals with the infamous bailout that took place late last year, he also finds a huge amount of sins committed against those with less by those with more. 

    Some of the scariest findings are the “dead peasant” policies that major corporations like Amegy bank and Wal-Mart take out on employees so that they can cash in when they die.  Realizing that your average employee is worth more to the corporation dead than alive, they play a twisted game of Life that is so sick it is hard to believe.

    Taking an angle he hasn’t used before, he points out the Christian view of capitalism.  He interviews several clergy and makes a very convincing argument that Jesus would have never supported our capitalist system. 

    With Moore’s dry wit and cynical sense of humor, uncomfortable laughs abound.  And his style of adding archival footage behind dialogue is as clever as ever.

    As usual with some of his movies, some of his arguments aren’t completely convincing.  I’m not so sure that pointing a finger at “the man” and putting all of the blame there is completely responsible.  Some of the fault has to lie with the people for buying houses they couldn’t afford, even if the government and banks convinced them they could.  Maybe Moore should have used this platform to try to teach some fiscal responsibility rather than simply present an “off with their heads” argument. 

    Also, if he really wanted this film to get out, he should have cut out the couple of F-bombs in it and opened up the movie for a much wider audience. 

    That being said, I do think that this is an important film.  It’s not as vital or well-made as Sicko or Bowling for Columbine, but it shows America in a state of disrepair that is truly horrifying.  He says in the movie “I refuse to live in a country like this – and I’m not leaving.”  Love him or loathe him, I don’t think you can doubt his patriotism.  A-

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New on DVD

New on DVD

The Proposal
Rated PG-13 for sexual content, nudity, and language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds costar in this smash hit rom com about an overpowering Canadian boss (Bullock) that forces her assistant (Reynolds) to marry her in order for her to be able to stay in America.  To prove to immigration that the relationship is one based on love and not citizenship, she must travel with him to Alaska to spend a weekend with his family.  While extremely contrived, the movie does provide some good laughs and occasional decent chemistry between the two leads.  There’s not much authenticity to be found as much of the film is extremely over the top, but the characters are likable enough that most of the time you don’t care.  Still, it’s not the kind of romantic comedy I prefer and while I think that Reynolds is one of the most talented actors working today, I also think that the Bullock is so over utilized in this genre that it hurts.  As for the extras, I’m thankful they chose the ending they did and not the dreadful alternate ending on the special features.  C+

Adoration
Rated R for language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
A high school student creates a story of his dead parents, linking them to a terrorist plot that they had nothing to do with, just to see what fellow student reactions would be.  This complex and twisted tale by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter) shows a mix of Muslim and Christian cultures in a very different and original way.  By becoming lost around the story, I found myself becoming attached to the boy, his French teacher, and his uncle which brought the film together in a very special way for me.  While I didn’t really care much for the multimedia dynamic Egoyan tries to introduce here, I found the main narrative very moving.  A-

American Violet
Rated PG-13 for thematic material, violence, drug references and language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Set a few years ago in Melody, TX, American Violet follows the true-life events of a town shaken up by a District Attorney that attempted to keep the black citizens down by raiding their projects and making them plead guilty to felony charges to get out of prison.  This would help the DA get more federal dollars for drug prosecutions as well as keep the black people in the town from voting him out of office since much of the community would be felons, even if they were innocent.  With a stellar cast including Charles Dutton, Alfre Woodard, Will Patton, Tim Blake Nelson, and Nicole Beharie, the acting is top notch for an indie.  More importantly though is that the movie is a shock to the system and shows how ugly America can be and how much it still needs to be fixed.  B+

The Wizard of Oz: 70th Anniversary Edition
Rated G
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
It’s hard to believe it’s been 70 years.  OK.  I know I can’t say that since I’m only half that age, but looking at this newly remastered edition, it really is hard to believe that the film looks so fresh.  Maybe it’s because the movie is one of the most cherished of all time, so the print has been babied, but this new edition, even more so than the last edition released, looks and sounds exquisite.  The new set includes several new features, among them a new sing-along track, new documentaries, and if you get the Blu-ray box set, you’ll get more extras than any movie I’ve ever seen before.  A+

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
Rated R for pervasive vulgar language and crude sexual humor and for some violent images
Available on Blu-ray
Making its Blu-ray debut is the Oscar-nominated South Park musical that proved to the world that animated films weren’t just for kids anymore.  When Cartman, Stan, Kenny and Kyle are caught going to see the latest Terrence and Phillip movie, their parents launch a war against Canada in order to prevent that kind of smut from hitting America.  While crude and vulgar, the movie is also a brilliant political and social satire and contains some darn good tunes as well.  To help us better remember the impact of the movie, as well as hear lots of cynical diatribe, there is a brand new commentary by filmmakers Trey Parker and Matt Stone.  A

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Paranormal Activity



Paranormal Activity

Starring Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat
Rated R for language
Appropriate for ages 18+

    When a young couple starts to hear noises at night in their San Diego home, the boyfriend buys a camera to film their sleep and check for any disturbances.  Sure enough, strange things are afoot in the bedroom while the lights are out and the couple discovers that their is an invisible demon that is after the girlfriend, and the camera at night is capturing everything.

    Shot on a shoestring budget, this indie is causing quite the sensation nationwide.  By demanding the movie to come to their towns on the official website, www.paranormalactivity-movie.com, audiences are slowly bringing this movie across America, only to be shown at midnight.  Houston obviously has some loyal horror fans because the AMC 30 Dunvale got it almost immediately.  This is impressive because it’s not showing in most other markets yet.  I was lucky enough to catch it at the New York City Premiere last Thursday night at midnight and the line for ticket holders was around the block. 

    But besides the hype, the real question is – is it as scary as folks are saying?  The answer – flippin yes.  Sleep is when you are your most vulnerable and to witness this kind of documentary style footage, real or not, told in this context, is as scary as I’ve ever seen.  I am getting the chills just writing this review.  My head and neck start pulsating every time I tell someone about the film.  I was uncomfortably scared for 90 minutes.  My saving grace is that my wife and I were staying in a hotel next door to the theater, because our house looks exactly like the one in the film and I don’t think I could have gone home that night.  Oooh.  Chills again.  

    So is the movie without problems?  No.  There is one major logic flaw: if you are haunted by a demon – get your butt to a church!  Even Bill Maher would change his tune and kiss the Pope’s ring if a demon was attacking his wife, so why did this couple not at least give it a serious thought?  And if there isn’t a good reason for the couple not to try to get some sort of clergy involved, with the exception of the perhaps the world’s only demonologist who happens to be out of town, then go sleep in a chapel for a night.  But then again – there probably wouldn’t be much of a film then if this scenario played out, and that terrific ending, which just gave me another chill, would have never been caught on camera.  A-