Jaffa

Check out the faces in the picture above and you'll have the gist of nearly every film coming out of Israel these days: She's Jewish. He's Arab. They're in love.

History has been tough on the little nation formed by the Balfour Declaration back in '48. Israel has fought endless wars with its Arab neighbors. The big ones: The War of Independence of '48, the Six Day War of '67, and the Yom Kippur War of '73. And the terrible internal war: terrorism on the streets of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Clearly, Israel continues to struggle just to survive.

But the larger struggle is a social one. Nearly one fifth of Israel is comprised of Arab citizens. As bitterness erodes the chances for peace, individuals try to come to grips with the daunting social issues of two "enemies" living together. Arab has hurt Jew, and the Jew has hurt the Arab.

Enter the younger generation, less embittered than the elders, who believe that love between Arab and Jew is possible. This is the story of this film. No need to say much more, because the viewers know from the outset that the couple will face terrible opposition: from parents, peers, society at large.

Of the new Israeli films, this one is quite gripping. We were tense throughout the entire flick. Will the cross-cultural lovers of today survive? Will their love erupt into violence? How will they tell the world she's pregnant? If push comes to shove, will their love endure?

Check out this top-notch foreign goody to find out!

Salt

I've never been a great Angelina fan. Is it her lips? Her eyes? Her weird private life? The former tattoo on her shoulder of Billy Bob? Her adoption mania? Dunno.

OK, let's focus on her film work. Has she really done anything noteworthy? Oh, maybe the strange movie about the kid she is supposed to find who is not really hers. Or maybe the original coming out flick about the computer world. Or...maybe nothing?

Salt will not win her any points with this reviewer.

No spoiler, but let us simply say that the expression "suspension of disbelief" might well have been coined for this film. It's also possible that the adjective "convoluted" fits well.

Angelina plays Salt, a highly placed spy whose loyalties come into question. Enter the evil folks who plan on nuking the world. Somehow, only Salt can stop them. Do we really care?

A positive: Good action scenes. Car chases, shootouts, the works. But in an entirely meaningless context.

David the former teacher must get tough this time: Grade of D

Elizabeth Taylor: Remembering

We lost Liz yesterday. She was iconic, both as a movie star and in her personal life.

She won two Oscars, one for her role as a prostitute in Butterfield 8, and the other for her work as the embittered wife of a faculty member in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. I was never crazy about Butterfield 8, so I can't really address her work there. However, she was extraordinary as the bitchy, drunk, aggressive, dissatisfied wife of a professor (played by her real-life hubby, Richard Burton) in the latter film.

Liz rose to fame, I believe, because she was so darn beautiful. Check out the photo above. Her looks matched, or perhaps surpassed, all other beauties of her day. Hollywood back then did not promote females unless they were drop-dead gorgeous, and Liz filled the bill.

I remember her for her troubled private life. So many marriages. So much misery. The relationships followed a strange progression: She went with Eddie Fisher while he was married, and he left Debbie Reynolds for her. Then she took up with Richard Burton while she was married to Eddie Fisher, and Burton left his wife for her. It was like a game of marital tag: If Liz was involved, lovers would become spouses, and marriages would crumble.

In my view, the best way to pay homage to great actors is to go back and look at their best work. I advised viewers to see Hud when Patricia Neal and Paul Newman passed. I now advise readers to see Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. In the film, Liz was in top form.

Liz did great work to raise money for AIDS in her later years. Strangely, she was a close friend of Michael Jackson. I'd prefer to forget Liz as an elderly wheelchair patient and recall her as she once was: a powerful actress with looks beyond belief.

Stone

Oh my, how did this magnificent film slip by me previously unnoticed? This "noir" indie is as good as it gets. How could the flick be otherwise? With Robert DeNiro and Edward Norton at the helm, the movie soars.

No spoiler as usual, but the gist of the story is simple: DeNiro plays a parole officer, who, after nearly forty years, is nearing retirement. Norton is the con who faces daily sessions with the parole officer to see if he will get out of prison or not. And Milla Jovovich portrays Norton's wife on the outside, awaiting the outcome of the interviews.

OK, the scene is set...but not without potential incendiary (note the adjective) results! The parole officer is a man with no small amount of anger and potential violence in his past. The con is a man who finds God at the most convenient time. The wife is a flirt, who plays havoc with the parole officer's mind. Get the picture?

The plot is wound tightly as a drum. At any moment, violence can erupt. Or chaos. Or something worse. We, the viewers, just sit there astounded at the tone, plot, characterizations, and language, all of which work perfectly to effect a terse, tense piece. Wow!

Symbolism abounds. Fire images. Walls. So much more.

Want a really dramatic, taut film? RUN out and see this one. You won't be disappointed.

Rango

Loved it! Loved it!

By now, faithful readers, you know that I will see any movie that has certain players in it. Johnny Depp is in that league with Matt Damon (see most previous post).

Wasn't sure if I'd dig Rango, but a former student of mine, who knows me well, highly recommended it to me. All right-y.

Set in the Nevada desert, Rango, our Barney Fife-ish lead lizard (Depp) finds himself in an old western town where every one of its citizens is a desert animal (or hybrid). Faithful readers, you also know that I find the greatest flaw in a film to be unoriginality in story or character. Well, the exception lies in satire. This film is a loving parody of every western cliche, played out with exceptional technology in detail animation. It is masterful. No two characters are alike, physical and personality traits distinct. My favorite was the desert hare who was missing an ear.

Big theater stuffed with kids who actually were very well-behaved. Ah, but therein lies the rub. For you see, these innocents couldn't possibly get the majority of the gags. This movie succeeds because while it really is for adults, kids will go to see an animated movie and they won't be disappointed either. There is enough in this for them. But oh, the reward for age! Example: reference to a prostate exam as desert animal snaps on a rubber glove. Or the sudden appearance of an animated Clint Eastwood in Italian Western poncho, riding a golf cart with a box of Oscars in the back, as he makes a crack about "eating Pop Tarts with Kim Novak." hahahaha We got it. But even the young parents didn't. There were many moments when hubby and I felt like we were misbehaving because we were trying not to laugh out loud hysterically when almost no one else was.

(Note: Dastardly rattlesnake is sporting a Lee Van Cleef hat straight from those same spaghetti westerns.)

Think I'll go see it again.

The Adjustment Bureau

I sat down to watch this film knowing only one thing: Matt Damon is in it. That's it. And that's enough for me.

Not typical of me to have such little prior information. Actually, this was a nice way to watch a film, just letting it unfold, peel away as I tried to decipher this new reality. Hmm, much like our protagonist played by Damon.

I applaud this film for originality. It dared to tackle some pretty esoteric/existential themes. What, exactly is this three-legged stool of Life, balancing Free Will, Chance, and Divine Intervention? Love it.

I enjoyed the film. Found myself really absorbed by it, forgetting all time and place. Made me think. Certainly tested my suspension of disbelief. Made me examine my beliefs (whatever they may be today). Fed my need for Jon Slattery (of Mad Men); been a fan for a long time.

I've long been fascinated by the teeny, tiny forks in the road which we take every day without even thinking about it. Just last Sunday, Sunday Morning did a piece about this. It begs for Malcolm Gladwell to tackle it; truly a blend of his Blink and Tipping Point. For example, during JFK's senator years, he would have been assassinated if only he had answered his front door bell instead of Jackie. So we wonder: what if I hadn't taken that different route to work today?...

Now, this film became compressed into a nice, neat love story. This disappointed me. And I HATED the remark by a head angel bemoaning the very notion of poor Emily Blunt's character being reduced to merely "teaching dance to 4th graders." Yea, I get the point, but I detest those old cliches.

Anyway, a good (far from great) film that simply reminds us of questions we will never be able to answer. Torture.

Damon is still cute.

We recently saw a fine WWII piece. The setting is Denmark. The Nazis have moved in. The Danes are incensed, but in particular two young men: Flame and Citron. They become assassins of Nazis, and they are wanted men.

No spoiler, but the reader should know that there is more to the story than two men gunning down the Gestapo in Copenhagen. The men get their orders about whom to assassinate from on high: British and Danish intelligence. But who really gives the orders? Do the assassins kill the right people? Are the two assassins being used as pawns in a much larger plot?

Now add to these dicey questions a "femme fatale," a very dark, slinky, stylish Danish woman who seems to cavort with both assassins and bad Germans, and you have the makings of a very complex, and tense, story. We viewers wonder from one moment to the next if the two-timing lady is on the side of right or wrong and never get the final answer until the end.

The film has flavor. We feel as if we are in wartime Denmark, watching German soldiers socialize in restaurants, command road barriers, and spread their might-makes-right bravura everywhere. We squirm as the Nazis get closer and closer to catching the two Danish resistance fighters.

One of the two assassins looks so sweaty, down and out, hurt, mean, dour, and determined, that he steals the show. He is as believable as a killer can be.

Grade of A. Excellent history lesson and gripping story.

Restrepo

Restrepo recently won all kinds of awards for best documentary, so this reviewer had to watch it. The subject matter is not easy to view: We join a group of young men, many around 19, as they perch atop a mountain receiving and giving machine gun fire in endless battles with the Taliban.

The voices ring true: These are real soldiers eating, living, playing, and fighting together in the mountains of Afghanistan. We feel their fear, pain, courage, and misery. We grieve as they lose men who have become like brothers. Want to get a real sense of today's soldier fighting our wars? Then by all mean see Restrepo.

As I write this review, I cannot avoid the very controversial issue of politics. Whether readers are left or right of center, they will be proud of these kids who face danger every moment of every day. But as a child of the 60's, and as a protester against the Vietnam War, which today the majority of Americans feel was ill-conceived, I must question why we put our brave young soldiers in harm's way in Afghanistan.

The mountains seem to be inhabited by some very primitive folks whose lives resemble cave dwellers. These people do not want Americans there, at least from the footage offered in this film. They do not seem to have an army of their own to fight the "insurgents." They complain to the soldiers about losing a cow instead of caring about Americans losing their lives.

The Russians could not beat back the Taliban and left Afghanistan years ago. Why do we think we can? Why should we? Is this war really worth it? Worth losing valuable American lives? Is this really a war at all? What is the desired outcome?

This reviewer would like to see the American president, congress, and all others who support the war go up to the mountains to be with the soldiers. I would wonder how quickly old white-haired men would send our kids to battle, seemingly useless battle, if they were exposed to the hardships of war?

OK, enough ranting for one review. The film is excellent. Just wish I could watch it without getting furious.

Burlesque

Sometimes great gifts come in lousy packages. Such is the plight of Burlesque.

The story comprises the less-than-stellar package: An old-fashioned bar where men come to gawk at shapely young things wiggling their bottoms and pretending to be talented show-women. No spoiler, but there's a very stupid story: Cher, the owner of the club, is about to lose her lease...seems that even with all the men paying to stare at slinky dancers, the business is about to fold.

In walks Christine Aguilera. She's the gift. I should say, gifted. Wow, can she sing and dance! Eat your hearts out, wannabe American Idol amateurs! Christina, another Disney prodigy, is brilliant in every number she does: she bats out wonderful tunes and dances up a storm!

Yet she brings her talent to a setting where we, the viewers, think, uh, wouldn't you be better off not trying to be the burlesque queen of all time? Therein lies the rub: The film tries to rehabilitate burlesque, to give it some legitimacy. In fact, the dance, as it originated in France, was mostly about stripping and strip-teasing...and still is.

There's a nice love motif that offsets some of the tastelessness of the club scenes. Christina does a fine job of playing the sweet waif in the big city, lost, of course...and found by her prince charming who just happens to be her male roommate.

Then there's the matter of our dear Cher refusing to give up the limelight. Not quite as distasteful as ol' Kirk Douglas at the Oscars, but not so far off either.

Final recommendation? Did you like Elizabeth Berkeley's striptease? Or Demi Moore's? This viewer found both films distasteful. If you're looking for a charming remake of Cabaret, you won't find it here.

OK, grade of B for entertaining...at times.

The Fighter

I saw this film with a chip on my shoulder. Having witnessed Geoffrey Rush's brilliant acting in The King's Speech, and seeing him bested for Best Supporting Actor by Christian Bale, I went to The Fighter hoping to disprove Bale's worthiness. Was I wrong! Not only did Bale exhibit acting that was nearly perfect, his co-star Melissa Leo displayed almost equal valor as Best Supporting Actress. And Amy Adams was not far behind!

The Fighter is a beautifully crafted film. It is more about family than boxing. Without being a spoiler, I can say that the story centers on two brothers, and their complex relationship set against a background of failures. Both try to please their mother, a matriarch who fancies herself a boxing manager as well as parent of nine children!

Need a believable love interest for the boxer? Enter the ever-adorable Amy Adams, who plays the gritty, street-tough, no-nonsense girlfriend with amazing aplomb. How far she is from her nun role in Doubt! Amy and Mark Wahlberg have a certain chemistry that makes the love affair sizzle.

This reviewer lost his cynicism completely as he viewed the film masterpiece. Yes indeed, the flick is worthy of its Best Picture nomination... and the actors who won awards earned their stripes. Run out and see this fine movie...you'll be riveted to the screen and experience another world.

The Disappearance of Alice Creed

This reviewer loves to sift little-known "indie" films, especially foreign ones! Amidst the common wreckage, there is often a diamond in the rough. Hats off to this British wonder.

The story is tight, like a theatrical production. It involves only a cast of three. It's mostly shot indoors. The plot seems simple enough at the outset: two bad dudes kidnap a young woman and demand a two million pound ransom from her father. The kidnap scene is quite gritty and makes the viewer squirm a bit.

No spoiler here, but about fifteen minutes into the kidnap scene, the plot begins to twist, and twist again, and twist again! Who knows whom? What are their actual relationships? Will this well-planned crime turned into a debacle? Will violence prevail?

We were glued to the screen. When the movie was over, we said "whew!" It was that kind of tension. Then we talked about the extraordinary and unexpected turns, and we reflected on themes and symbolism.

So, if you're in the mood for a special kind of film that will nail you to your seat and get you thinking long and hard, try this little treat.