Georgia Rule - Available on DVD

I’m not sure what I was expecting when I went to see “Georgia Rule,” but with Jane Fonda and Felicity Huffman, I thought it couldn’t be bad. What I got instead was an annoying movie with the confused director and a miscast actress. Gary Marshall (“Pretty Woman,” “Runaway Bride,” and “Princess Diaries 1 & 2”) doesn’t seem to know what kind of movie he wanted – a comedy with some drama or a drama with some comedy. In any case, the movie is uneven in tone and the light and dark don’t work together. And give me a break! Lindsey Lohan playing a bad girl? Is that art imitating life or life imitating art? She is a total distraction for the story Marshall is trying to tell. Save your money and rent it from Netflix. (5/11/07)

Mr. Brooks - Available on DVD

“Mr. Brooks,” starring Kevin Costner, isn’t a movie for everyone. It has an interesting premise – one of pitting good against evil by creating a central character with an alter ego. However, it’s not really an original premise; Robert Louis Stevenson wrote Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in 1886. Costner plays Earl Brooks, Portland’s Man of the Year, a man with a gruesome secret. You see, Earl is the Thumb Print Killer and he’s a very, very smart serial killer. To create audience sympathy for Earl, there’s Marshall (William Hurt), Earl's alter ego, ever goading Earl to murder and mayhem. Earl’s foil, the police detective (Demi Moore) investigating the Thumb Print Killer’s crimes, would have been more effective if she had been a genuine threat to Earl. Both Costner and Hurt are effective, but Moore’s role lacks credibility. The movie has a few twists, but I’d wait until it’s out on DVD. (6/8/07)

Dan in Real Life

Typically, I don’t see comedies because the humor is often based on the stupid - you know, stupid people doing stupid things. So it was with some trepidation that I went to see “Dan in Real Life.” After all, the previews do show Steve Carell getting caught in a shower with his clothes on, falling off a roof into the flowers, and doing a really stupid dance. However, most of the humor in this appealing story about life, loss and love is gentle and thoughtful. Dan (Carell), a widower with three daughters, is an advice columnist, one who gives good advice, but is often not an understanding or compassionate father. As his youngest says, “You’re a good father, but not a very good dad.” During a family gathering, Dan falls for Marie (Juliette Binoche), his brother Mitch’s (Dane Cook) new girlfriend. This makes for a lot of awkwardness before things are straightened out at the end. The one jarring note is Binoche at 43 is supposed to be near in age to Carell and Cook and while Binoche is radiant, it’s hard to believe that her character would be interested in the younger Mitch. Nonetheless, “Dan in Real Life” is a pleasant surprise. (10/28/07)

Talk to Me - Available on DVD

“Talk to Me” explores the symbiotic relationship between Ralph Waldo “Petey” Greene (Don Cheadle), an ex-con turned radio talk show host in Washington DC during the late 60s – early 80s, and Dewey Hughes (Chiwetel Ejiofor), an upwardly mobile black man who gives Petey his first job. “You say what I’m afraid to say,” says Dewey at one point in the movie, “and I do what you’re afraid to do.” This statement pretty much sums up director Kasi Lemmons’ (“Eve’s Bayou”) perspective; she doesn’t force her audience to choose one man over the other. Both Cheadle and Ejiofor are effective as men who are seemingly polar opposites yet develop a strong bond of friendship. The soundtrack, full of vintage pop music, is also another plus. (7/18/07)

Things We Lost in the Fire

“Things We Lost in the Fire” deals with two heavy topics: overcoming grief over the loss of a husband and overcoming a drug addiction. Audrey (Halle Berry) loses her husband Brian when his Good Samaritan instincts backfire and he’s killed. She resented Brian’s loyalty to his boyhood friend, Jerry (Benicio del Toro), a heroin addict, but in her grief, she latches onto him as a way to keep Brian alive. Audrey’s two children accept Jerry as a surrogate father and this gives him the strength to turn his life around. Paradoxically, it causes Audrey to become angry with Jerry and things fall apart. Berry and del Toro are excellent, especially del Toro, but Danish-born director Susanne Bier has an odd habit of doing too many close ups of their eyes. Sometimes this works as it promotes a sense of intimacy with the characters, but most of the time it’s just annoying. And to put grief and addiction on a collision course means that the journey for the two protagonists is going to be full of anguish….and just as difficult for the audience, perhaps too difficult. (10/21/07)

Gone, Baby, Gone

In “Gone, Baby, Gone,” director Ben Afflick explores the difference between what is right and what is morally right. And as the consequences demonstrate, the decisions the main character Patrick (Casey Afflick) makes, while right, might not have been morally right. Private investigator Patrick Kenzie and his girlfriend/partner Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan) are hired by Lionel and Beatrice McCready to help with the investigation of the disappearance of their young niece, Amanda. At odds with the situation is Amanda’s drug addict mother, two police detectives (Ed Harris and John Ashton) and their captain (Morgan Freeman). Nonetheless, Patrick and Angie continue to pursue neighborhood leads and discover that nothing is as it seems. For the audience this results in a few red herrings and some twists along the way. Ben Afflick does a surprisingly good job behind the camera and brother Casey is very effective as a man truly caught on the horns of a dilemma. The movie is worth seeing; however, if you don’t catch it in the theaters, be sure to see it on DVD. (10/20/07)

Elizabeth: The Golden Age

Cate Blanchett is the film’s biggest asset, picking up where she left off in the 1998 version of “Elizabeth.” Her Elizabeth is bold, wily, and confident, but she is also growing weary of the ongoing court intrigues that threaten to end her reign as queen. Her biggest challenger is her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots, who conspires with Phillip, the king of Spain, to put a Catholic ruler on the English throne. Phillip has a three-pronged attack: Mary and assassins who are already in England, and his vast Armada that will attack England from the sea. Also in this soap opera of a story we have adventurer Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen), who catches both Elizabeth’s attention and that of her handmaiden Bess (Abbie Cornish). The first two-thirds of the film is interesting with its intrigues, betrayals and character interactions. The last third of the film condenses the sea battle and the defeat of the Armada into so little time that it denigrates that whole effort. The sets and costumes are quite spectacular as you might expect from a historical drama; however, the story, while engaging, isn’t that memorable once you leave the theater. (10/13/07)

Michael Clayton

“Michael Clayton,” starring George Clooney, is about a man who moves in the gray areas of life and who is forced to do the right thing. Michael Clayton (Clooney), an attorney for a large firm, is their fixer, the ‘go-to’ man when there are problems. He is most comfortable moving in the shadows and finding solutions that are just short of illegal, not to mention unethical. Michael’s friend Arthur (Tom Wilkinson), who has spent several years creating a defense for a giant agrichemical company, has a giant meltdown. As Michael investigates, he discovers that Arthur, instead of building a defense, has been building a case that supports plaintiffs’ claims that the company is responsible for several deaths. The chief counsel for the company (Tilda Swinton) maneuvers behind the scenes to smooth the way for her client. She embodies evil, but Swinton plays her with such bland ordinariness that it is hard to see that behind her mask lurks a woman with no soul. Clooney is at his best when his character struggles with his contradictions. Michael Clayton is not unaware of what is right and what is wrong, but somewhere along the way, he became so good at walking the line between that he has lost his way. So in a sense, this movie is about one character’s redemption “Michael Clayton” is a well-written and well-acted drama that pulls you in and makes you think, even after the final credits have finished. (10/16/07)

The Last Season

I had to conduct a pretty diligent search through the movie section to find where “The Final Season” is playing. Contrary to the LA Times ad, it’s not playing in theaters everywhere. However, it is playing in a theater nearby and at $3.50 a ticket. What a bargain. “The Final Season,” starring Powers Boothe and Sean Astin and based on a true story, is your typical underdog sports story. It’s 1991 and the Norway high school baseball team, winners of 19 out of 24 Iowa state championships, is playing its last season before the school closes. What’s remarkable about Norway’s record is the size of the town, 586 people, and the size of the school, 100 students. Yet year after year, the baseball team captures the state title under Coach Jim Van Scoyoc (Boothe). With pressure from the state to combine smaller schools into larger schools, the Norway school board allows the team its last season, to play for its 20th championship, not under Van Scoyoc, a vocal critic of the board’s decision to merge but under the guidance of novice coach Ken Stock (Astin). If you like baseball, you’ll like this feel-good movie although it’s nowhere near the caliber of “Field of Dreams” or even “Major League.” (10/14/07)

We Own the Night

“We Own the Night,” starring Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Wahlberg, and Robert Duvall, is about family and life’s choices. Burt (Duvall) and his son Joseph (Wahlberg) are New York policemen, chasing a Russian drug dealer. Bobby (Phoenix), Burt’s other son, who has turned his back on his family and changed his name, manages a club for a Russian family. Bobby’s extreme and carefree lifestyle ultimately crashes around him when, after Joseph leads a raid on Bobby’s club, Joseph is shot in the face by someone Bobby knows. Wahlberg and Duvall are effective, but their roles are small; the movie is about Bobby and Phoenix, offering a less than stellar performance, seems to be sleepwalking through most of the film. Nonetheless, “We Own the Night” offers convincing drama and enough tension to keep the audience involved to the end. (10/12/07)

MPAA

I will never understand why the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) gives graphic violence in a movie an R rating and gives graphic sex an NC-17 rating. Case in point is the R “Eastern Promises” received and the NC-17 for “Lust, Caution.” Certainly a case can be made for the very graphic violence in “Eastern Promises” being integral to the plot and the point director David Cronenberg wants to make about evil. And the violence, while abhorrent, should be there. However, because the violence is so graphic (two throats being slit and two fully dressed men being killed by an unarmed, naked man), the movie should have received an NC-17. On the other hand, “Lust, Caution” received a deserved NC-17 for graphic sex scenes that are integral to the plot and character development. The two main characters, living lives full of deception, can only be honest when they are having sex. Director Ang Lee was adamant about maintaining the integrity of the script and holding to his vision for the film so he did not re-edit to get an R. The bigger question here is why is violence more acceptable than sex?

Gracie - Available on DVD

“Gracie” is a fairly predictable film about a girl dealing with her grief over her brother’s death and overcoming odds to play on the boys’ soccer team. What adds another dimension to this movie is that it is based on many elements of actress Elizabeth Shue’s life: Shue played soccer on the boys’ soccer team for three years, starting in the sixth grade and her beloved older brother William, a soccer star himself, died at age 26 in an accident. Shue plays Gracie’s mother and her brother Andrew has a small role as the varsity soccer assistant coach. They, along with their other brother John, produced “Gracie.”

"It is a personal film, and the memories in it are a little bit sacred to us. But it was a family decision, and it is important for us to tell the story," [Andrew] Shue, who lives in Princeton Township, told The Times of Trenton for Monday's newspapers.

Elizabeth Shue has been in many of my favorite movies. Among them:

• Opposite Ralph Macchio in “Karate Kid”
• Starred in “Adventures in Babysitting”
• Opposite Michael J. Fox in “Back to the Future”
• Won an Academy Award for “Leaving Las Vegas”
• Opposite Val Kilmer in “The Saint”

(6/3/07)

The Seeker: The Dark is Rising

“The Seeker: The Dark is Rising,” to be blunt, is a dud. The plot is redundant: a young boy, Will, must fight the forces of evil. (Harry Potter does it so much better.) The special effects are pedestrian. (See the Trilogy of the Rings, or "Stardust," a movie on a smaller scale.) And the young lead (Alexander Ludwig) is not charismatic enough to carry a movie. I like fantasy-type films, but this one just doesn’t make the grade. (10/6/07)

Into the Wild

“Into the Wild,” directed by Sean Penn and based on a true story captured in a book by Jon Krakauer, is about an idealistic young man, Chris McCandless, who decides to turn his back on civilization and return to nature by living in the Alaskan wilderness. Half of the movie is Chris’s trip to Alaska and the pleasure he takes in the journey and the people he meets along the way. The other is his solitary existence in Alaska where he discovers that happiness is meaningless unless it is shared with someone. Unfortunately for Chris, this lesson comes at a high price. Emile Hirsch, as Chris, is very effective as he portrays a young man who is both likeable and a jerk, adventuresome and crazy. Hirsch is ably supported by Catherine Keener, Vince Vaughn (in a serious role), Hal Holbrook, William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden. Penn successfully weaves together both parts of Chris’s journey, cutting back and forth in time and using portions taken from Chris’s journal. And the cinematography by Eric Gautier is spectacular. I had mixed feelings about Chris McCandless’s story before I saw this movie and I still have mixed feelings. Chris was both brave and foolish and it’s the foolish part that I’m having trouble understanding. (10/9/07)

The Kingdom

Director Peter Berg tries to do too much with his latest movie, “The Kingdom,” starring Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper, and Jennifer Garner. Part CSI-like crime procedural, part revisionist scenario, part Rambo-blow-‘em-up, part buddy movie – there are just too many parts to be effective. Terrorists attack an American compound in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, killing men, women, and children. After some political posturing, an FBI forensics team of four, headed by Ronald Fleury (Foxx), is given five days to investigate the crime scene. They dig through the rubble, looking for evidence of the kind of detonators and chemicals used in the explosion. The fact that this team is able to solve the crime and catch the terrorists harkens back to the days when America had an image of the good guys in white hats. The high octane final 30 minutes puts any Rambo movie to shame with a spectacular car crash, a heated gun battle and a knock-down-drag-out fight between Jennifer Garner’s character and a terrorist. Finally, there’s the growing respect between Fleury and a Saudi police colonel, both emphasizing the different cultures of these men and the bond that policemen share in catching the bad guys. And Berg uses the shaky hand-held camera way too much. All in all, I know that “The Kingdom” has been getting mostly positive reviews from the press; however, it just didn’t work for me. (9/30/07)

Four Movies to See

I usually consider a movie successful if it engages my attention and I am transported, albeit for a short time, to another place and, perhaps, to another time. Then all of the other elements of movie making come into play: script, acting, directing, maybe setting, music, and special effects. The movies that have my highest recommendation so far for 2007 include: “Eastern Promises,” “3:10 to Yuma,” “Shoot ‘Em Up” and “Ladrón Que Roba a Ladrón.” These movies are not necessarily Academy Award quality, but they are certainly worth seeing. However, I would like to see “Eastern Promises” nominated for script, director, actor, and supporting actor.

“Eastern Promises” takes us into a world so removed from our reality that the brutality is difficult to watch at times. Steven Knight’s intelligent script poses the innocent Anna (Naomi Watts) as a foil for the sadistic Russian mafia leader (Armin Mueller-Stahl), his disturbed son (Vincent Cassel) and violent gangster Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen). Their thought-provoking interactions illustrate that it takes violence to fight evil, that good is not vicious enough to be an effective adversary. Mortensen and Mueller-Stahl are superb and David Cronenberg’s taut directing adds another dimension to the film, especially the steam bath fight scene where a nude and unarmed Nikolai fights two thugs intent on doing major bodily harm.

“3:10 to Yuma” is a worthy remake of the 1957 original strarring Van Heflin and Glenn Ford.. This new version, pairing Christian Bale and Russell Crowe, explores good and evil and the various shades of gray in-between. And there are enough differences between the two movies that seeing the current “3:10 to Yuma” does not have the feeling of watching a re-run.

One reason to see “Shoot “Em Up” is its tongue-in-cheek tone . After all, how can you not laugh when Clive Owen’s character, Mr. Smith, goes out of an airplane without a gun or a parachute and he not only survives, but he manages to shoot the dozen or so armed men who follow him out of the plane. There isn’t a credible moment in the film and that’s part of the fun. The other reason to see this film is Clive Owen. He’s just too gorgeous for words.

I’ve already written two pieces on “Ladrón Que Roba a Ladrón” so I suggest you read those. However, at this point, I’m not sure this movie is still playing in theaters. You may have to wait until it’s available on DVD.