Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Just as Maggie Smith and Judi Dench are today's senior British actors "par excellence," Emily Blunt and Ewen MacGregor are the next generation of British acting afficionados.

They are brilliant in a very offbeat film.

What's the film with the crazy title about?  It's a light-weight romantic comedy about two young people saddled with the daunting dask of pleasing an Arab sheik's whimsy by stocking salmon in an artificial river in the Yemen.  Huh?  Yes indeed, that's the story!

No details, so as not to be a spoiler, but the fun of this film is in the spirit:  it's all about being an optimist.  Remember Field of Dreams?   The doubting farmer hears a voice:  "Build it and they will come."  Similarly, a sheik, with western leanings, thinks:  Build the river, and the salmon will survive!

Back to the actors:  Ewen charms as the nerdy scientist who becomes obsessed with the salmon project.  He eventually discovers a lot about life in the process.  To me,  his best role to date is in A Life Less Ordinary, where, opposite Carmen Diaz, he shines as an imbalanced but harmless kidnapper.  In Salmon, he plays the asocial, committed scientist to perfection.

Emily Blunt's most memorable film role for me is still in the film The Devil Wears Prada, where she plays the bitchy assistant to the even more bitchy boss.  In Salmon, she captivates audiences with her wit and charm as the government worker who must make the project a success.  She lights up the screen when she smiles.

Worth seeing?  By all means.  The film is basically a romance, with some profound themes intermingled.

So go view this film, and go fly fishing with those young stars in the Yemen!  You'll enjoy the sport of thinking outside of the box.

Silver Linings Playbook

Check out the dazzling actors in the picture above!  That's Jennifer Lawrence making an Eskimo kiss with Brad Cooper.  Aren't they the epitome of youthful love?

OK, there's a lot of charm to this film.

What's it about?  No spoiler ever from this reviewer, but here are the basics:  Two very imbalanced, out-of-the-box types have bombed out in life:  they're now living with their parents trying to hold on to what is left of their sanity.  The two meet.  Love happens.  But as the proverbial expression goes, s*** happens too!  (pardon my French, dear reviewers)

The plot can be described as a two-part structure:  In the first half of the movie, we get the impression that we are watching another Benny and Joon, a fine story of mental illness where two lost souls try to heal each other.  This part feels serious.  It is serious.  It's well done.  We're on our way to a masterpiece....

Then about halfway into the film, Hollywood kicks in.  There's a subplot about dancing, another about gambling, and before you know it, our two lost souls are creating comedy in a very light-hearted, frothy story.  What happened to their mental illness?  Why are they suddenly being comedians when we felt like they would make us cry earlier in the film?

Yeah, a bit of confusion.

Acting:  Absolutely superb.  Mostly it's about Jennifer Lawrence.  She impressed audiences in The Winter's Bone, for which she was nominated for Best Actress as a teen.  Later, she played Katniss spot-on in the gruesome, satirical Hunger Games.  Here, she is perfect as the volatile young widow who is trying to get back on track.

De Niro is just okay as the obsessive dad to Brad Cooper.  He's a sports crazy, but his character often goes beyond believability.  And Cooper?  He's sort of stereotyped in his career in these light love fests.

All in all?  A very entertaining film.  Worth seeing.  But try not to view the flick with too critical an eye!

Hitchkock

I've been on such a roll with lauding movies that I forgot that there are dogs out there too!  Hitchcock is a pure misfire.

A bit of positive:  Anthony Hopkins is an exquisite actor no matter how bad a film he's in.  His film credits are so extensive they are beyond belief, including leading roles in:  Howard's End, Remains of the Day, Shadowlands, Nixon, The Edge, Amistad, Meet Joe Black, Hannibal, and so many more.

Hopkins really becomes Hitchcock in mannerisms and style.  He is somewhat drole and slovenly like the master himself.

One more plus:  Hellen Mirren.  She dazzles as Hitchcock's highly influential and manipulative wife.  She plays the shrewish, yet dedicated, spouse with dignity and aplomb.  Like Hopkins, she can do no wrong when it comes to acting.

OK, on to the negatives, and how many there are!  First the script.  Stupid.  Thin.  Unbelievable.  Superficial.  No spoiler, as usual, but the story shows us little of the real Hitchcock.  It picks up little of his frothy, sly humor.  It says nothing of his brilliant long-running mystery theatre on TV, for which most folks remember him.

Then there's the stuff left out.  Nearly everything.  Who really is Hitchcock?  How did he become what he was?  Did he just appear out of nowhere?  What about his genius for presenting mysteries?  What about his later years after Psycho?  What about his true place in film history?

Even if we accept that for some crazy reason the makers of the film wanted to focus on the making of Psycho, we learn little to nothing about that great classic.  Sure, the audience was scared by the famous shower scene.  But that's so little of what the film was about.

Tony Perkins created all the tension with his crazy eyes and creepy smile.  There's barely mention of the fine actor.  Janet Leigh, portrayed imperfectly by the too-pretty and lady-like Scarlett Johannson, was really a minor player compared to Perkins.

And what about the setting?  The spooky house.  The weird circumstances of the female victim being alone in the big hotel.  Alas, barely a look at a single scene in Psycho.

The biop hints at Hitchcock the womanizer.  But so what?  Anyway, he hardly looked like a dashing young man for whom the ladies would swoon!  Why was this significant at all?  

The film is slow.  It can easily replace a sleeping pill.

Grade of D.   Not worth seeing.  Lest you wish to have a nice nap in the back of the theatre.

Best Laid Plans

Do you like Film Noir?  If so, locate this 1999 thriller, a little-known gem that attaches itself to you like a barnacle! (Hey, Valerie the English teacher, like my imagery?)

First, the actors.  Well, you all know Reese.  She's that talented young lady who has acted up a storm since she hit Hollywood as a kid.  She was dynamite as the sassy teen in Pleasantville.  She was extraordinary as the naive, snotty girlfriend in American Psycho.  She was comically brilliant as the seemingly ditsy brainiac law student in Legally Blonde.  And she just happened to snag a Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of June Carter in Walk the Line!

Then there's Josh Brolin.  He's just about everywhere you look now.  Who can forget how nobly he played our former intellectually-challenged president in W?  He was downright creepy as the man in pursuit of a crazy murderer in No Country for Old Men.  He was great as a scientist opposite Elizabeth Shue in Hollow Man.  And he was best, in my mind, in the outrageously fun Jonah Hex (go back a ways to find my review of that over-the-top imaginative masterpiece).

Terrence Howard is also on the menu.  He has been a fine supporting actor in so many well-known films:  Mr Holland's Opus, NYPD Blue (TV), Angel Eyes, Ray, The Brave One, and Law and Order (TV).  Terrence is always convincing, no matter what the role.

Finally, there's the very talented Alessandro Nivola.  Not well known to today's audiences, he was very popular in the movies of the 90s.  After graduating from Yale in 1994, he soared in the entertainment world and finally landed this lead spot opposite Reese.  Later, his career fizzled, probably because Hollywood can be so fickle.

The Plot?  Noir as noir can be!

No spoiler, but it's about a whole bunch of folks who are down on their luck and try to con each other.  Who's for real?  Who's not?  Will the "good guy", who's not that good, come up with the money for the gangsters?  Will the gangsters do him in?  And knock off his girlfriend?  Wait, are the gangsters for real?  What's the truth?

Haha!  What fun!  What a gripping, taut tale!

Enter the dark world of deception....as a viewer, you'll be glad you did!

Deadfall

Eric Bana wowed us in Munich.  Remember when he was assigned by Golda Meir to seek revenge against those who had committed the 1972 Olympics murders?

He was fantastic as the time traveler who reappears in a woman's life in the strange and sometimes eerie  love story, The Time Traveler's Wife.

But Eric is extraordinary when he steps out of his normal good-guy roles in Deadfall.  He is BAD!  He is EVIL!

Never the spoiler, I'll say only a few words about the story to entice my dear readers.  Actually, there are a few plots, and they converge nicely.  Plot one: Bank robbers on the run.  Plot two: Misguided boxer  kills someone by mistake.  Plot three: Bank robbers and boxer meet.  Plot Four: All hell breaks loose!

The movie, besides being absolutely gripping, is star-studded:  You will marvel at veteran actors such as Sissy Spacek and Kris Kristofferson.  You will be impressed by the up-and-coming starlet Olivia Wilde.  But most of all, you'll be creeped out by Mr Bana!

The setting is like Fargo:  Everyone tromps through snow drifts.  Out in the woods, anything can happen....

And it does!

Grade of A.   A solid, memorable, tense thriller.

Special Forces

In 2011, the French put together a whopper of a rescue film.  If you enjoyed Argo, this movie will have you clutching your seat with as much angst!  And in this case, you don't know how the film will turn out.

No spoiler, but here's the basic plot:

Diane Kruger, blonde, intelligent, and determined, plays a journalist who stays too long in Afhanistan.  She tries to expose the terrible treatment of women in the country.  The Taliban, ruthless as ruthless can be, kidnap her.  The French send in their most elite squad, six buddies who thrive on danger, to get her out.

The fun of this film:  When the French soldiers pry her loose, they have to go on the lam across treacherous mountains, chased by the Taliban who are never far behind.  So this is in fact one big chase film, with bad guys and good guys exchanging fire to see who will survive.

The photography will blow your mind:  you'll see shots of snow-capped peaks and desolate ranges that make the Alps seem tame.  You'll get a sense of how hard it is for folks to live in this environment, how primitive life is, and how easy it is for terrorists to rule.

The film never fails in its grip on reality.  Don't expect James Bond to ride camels to safety (remember that horrid 80's film, The Living Daylights, that took place in Afghanistan?).

This little-known film packs a punch!    Grade of A!

You will feel as if you're running for your life for more than two hours!

Enjoy the thrill....and fear!

Lincoln

Is that the real Lincoln or Daniel Day-Lewis?  Haha!  Only Steven Spielberg would cast Lincoln so perfectly!

Confession:  I'm a Lincoln nut.  I was one of those guys who used to take the kids to Disneyland and go straight to the Lincoln animatron, where I could watch the mechanical figure wax poetic and bring me back to the days of strife in our country.  The kids used to say, when will this stupid Lincoln tour be over?  I've seen nearly every Lincoln movie made.  If I could go back in time, I'd want first and foremost to meet big, tall, troubled, Honest Abe.

So Spielberg and Daniel D-L had me at the get-go.  Between the extraordinary acting and creative, poignant scripting, this film really brings the great president to life.  We get to know the man who struggled so deeply with ethics and who tried to do the right thing.  We admire Lincoln's courage in opposing slavery and we feel his pain over the human suffering and loss of life during the long, bloody war.

No spoiler, so I won't tell much.  But the film focuses on a very narrow aspect of the Lincoln period, the last few months of the presidency, when Lincoln was trying desperately to pass the 13th Amendment that bans slavery.  We learn all about Lincoln the politician who garnered votes through back doors to achieve his ends.

A drawback:  Lincoln crazies like me want more.  I would have enjoyed a much wider look at the great leader.  I would have appreciated a detailed review of the Civil War.  I wanted a big history lesson!

But who can really criticize such a fine work of art?

My prediction:  Best Actor for Daniel D-L, Best Supporting Actor for Tommy Lee Jones (as the  wonderful, sassy leader of the "Republicans"), and..... BEST FILM!

A+++++++    Yeah, about as superlative as this reviewer can get!

Flight

Hollywood has given us a long list of "airplane" movies, from John Wayne's classic The High and the Mighty (my sister and I would bawl every single year they'd show it on t.v.), to the farcical Airplane! series.

Flight, directed by the always-brilliant Robert Zemeckis, is not one of them, though many theatre-goers will sit down in a movie theatre expecting it to be.

Instead, it is a gripping story of sin, betrayal, redemption.  Put in the hands of the ever-skillful acting of Mr. Denzel Washington, we watch a man who is inadequately attempting his own metaphorical flight from what he is.  I will not elaborate here; you just simply should see it.

The story line is complex and intelligent, with a few surprises along with way.  The primary characters are multi-layered.  And I came as close to experiencing an actual plane crash as I ever care to.

The supporting cast will most likely earn Oscar nods (Kelley Reilly), for they truly SUPPORT in exemplary style, including, again, a scene-stealing John Goodman.

I really, really liked this film.  Mr. Washington, you should receive an Oscar nomination for your portrayal here, but don't make a place on your mantle just yet; I'm afraid there's an actor named Daniel Day-Lewis who will probably snatch hopes from you just because he chose this year to play President Abraham Lincoln.

Skyfall (James Bond)

Skyfall is a fitting title for a film that falls flat on its face...make that its back.  See James above?  He's flat on his back!  Run for cover, James, lest your Bond franchise begin to wane!

Am I not the most irreverent film reviewer on planet Earth?  Every single reviewer out there lauds this film.  Most call it the best Bond film ever.  I've seen nothing but the highest opinions of the film.

Do these gushing, sophomoric reviews tempt me to alter my opinion?  Yeah, maybe a bit.  OK, I'll try to be balanced.

First the good:  The series does need to move its characters forward.  We thus get a change in M, Bond's boss (which, without giving anything away, is the central thrust of the story).  I think you'll like the new M...I do.  You'll get a very weird change of profiles in Q, the master of Bond gadgets. More good:  Much less silly sexism than in the old days, with Bond cavorting about like a teen who has just come into puberty.  Bond is older and wiser.  He's a serious dude.   More multi-dimensional than the old days.    Even more good:  Javier Bardem is outstanding as the effeminate villain who has a joker-like quality about him, a la Jack Nicholson in Batman.  Javier might just get a best supporting role nomination for his work.  And Judi Dench, well, Judi is Judi...always fantastic.

On to the BAD:  The plot is so contrived that its laughable.  Oh, let's just meet up in the streets so we can have chase scenes!  Bond is way too old for the role.  If Ian Fleming could see his dashing young secret agent with a grey beard, he'd probably weep!  Q as a young kid is downright silly.  One of the Bond women is way too young to be a romantic interest, and the other, pretty and sexy, simply gets done in before she and James can get something going!  So James may no longer be a silly skirt chaser, but the film is so devoid of sex it's like living in Victorian times!  The weaponry is laughable.  In an age of high-tech automatic ARs and AKs, Bond's little Walther PPK (.380 caliber back in the Ian Fleming days, 9mm today) is like a BB gun.  Albert Finney's role as the old farm caretaker is a parody of itself.  Speaking of which: Why do all the bad guys face off with James in a remote mini-castle?  What ?  Huh?

Yeah, it's a mix.

See for yourself.

Great entertainment, no matter what....which might just be the bottom line.

Argo (and a bit of history)

Valerie, you're spot on in your review below about Argo.  You indicated that it's a nail-biter and a great film.  And you said that good ol' Ben is a better director than actor.  I could not agree more.

Like Valerie, I'd suggest that readers RUN out and see Argo.  It's a great history lesson.  And it makes us proud of some very brave heroes who saved lives back in the late 70s.

Just wanted to add an interesting bit of information.  I and others were very frustrated with the Carter administration, and this is a comment coming from a Democrat.  Carter was so lovey-dovey in his manner that the Iranians did not respect him.  Was it something about perceiving our president as weak?

Then the cowboy came along!  That's him above.  Ronald Reagan said and implied in his campaign speeches of 1979 that he'd get those hostages back...and pronto!  He spoke of NEGOTIATION THROUGH STRENGTH repeatedly.

Friends of Reagan quietly revealed his plan: he'd bomb Tehran daily until the hostages were returned.

Here was the result, and the quote is from the NY Times in 1980:

Reagan Takes Oath as 40th President; Promises an ‘Era of National Renewal’–Minutes Later, 52 U.S. Hostages In Iran Fly to Freedom After 444-Day Ordeal

Argo

I don't know what you were doing in 1979, but chances are, you were glued, for a time, to the Iran hostage crisis.  A lesser known, yet equally dramatic tale was unraveling at the same time, one that neither I, nor anyone I've asked knew anything about.

When the hostage take-over happened, six American Foreign Service personnel escaped and were hidden by the Canadian diplomat for months.

True to keeping my posts brief, I'll just say that the true life story of their ingenious, amazing, nail-biting rescue has been masterfully brought to film by Ben Affleck.  The boy isn't the greatest actor, but dang, he's been evolving into a major player as a director. 

This film has a strong cast, including Alan Arkin, Bryan Cranston (of Breaking Bad), and John Goodman.  the pacing barely allows the audience to breathe. 

A good, GOOD, solid movie, and its authenticity pays due reverence to those unsung heroes of American military life who risk all for no glory, as they are members of an invisible club.

Cloud Atlas

Can you read what's at the bottom of this image?  "Everything is connected."

Keep that in mind.

I am probably writing this blog too soon after having viewed this conundrum of a film, as we took a sabbatical from trick-or-treaters this year and went to see this instead.  MUCH more value-added.

I shall start with the math: 

     3 directors 

+ 15 major actors

+ each actor playing 5 or 6 roles

+ a plot spanning 6 historical eras

+ a film running 2 hours and 40 minutes (with not one moment of dragging).

= one head-scratching, soul-searching, mesmerizing tour de force that secondarily pays homage to the art of acting and whose protagonist seems to be the phenomenal make-up department.  

Based on an award-winning novel by David Mitchell (which I will promptly add to my Nook), it is most briefly synopsized this way:  "An exploration of how the actions of individual lives impact one another in the past, present and future."

Said of the novel:  "Mitchell combines flat-out adventure, a Nabokovian lore of puzzles, a keen eye for character, and a taste for mind-bending philosophical and scientific speculation....The result is brilliantly original fiction that reveals how disparate people connect, how their fates intertwine, and how their souls drift across time like clouds across the sky."

This film leaves this film-goer with SOOOO much to think about.  I like that.  I am also likely to go see it again; there is just so much to absorb.  Directing and acting were superb. 

David, this film has you written all over it.  Go see it so we can discuss.  

To everyone else reading this:  Please weigh in with your comments if you've seen any of the films we post.  We'd love to hear more voices!

The 19th Wife

Remember the great TV series Big Love?  It was one of my favorites!  The multi-year show was so unusual because it gave us a sympathetic portrait of Mormonism.  The 19th Wife does the opposite:  It skewers Mormons' treatment of women.  Wow.  What a scathing view!

Before lauding the LMN movie, which I intend to do (sans spoiler, of course!), we must be fair in our use of the word Mormon.  Every religion has its extremes.  The far right of Judaism and Christianity must not be confused with mainstream folks.  So, a priori, let's agree that the Big Love style of Mormonism is a very observant, highly regulated, rule-orieted sect that is a small segment of the Mormon population.

The 19th Wife portrays Mormons who live in a commune with a dogmatic leader (The Prophet) who dictates when 15  year old girls will become brides to much older men.  In this world, girls become slaves and young men are often kicked out of the family like young male lions expelled by the resident male.

Chyler Leigh, pictured above, plays a young woman happily married to a cop, who is a pariah because she and her husband have chosen not to be part of the multiple-wife culture.  Chyler's character is quite the rebel:  her best friend is a guy, she does what she wants rather than what her husband sys, and she is a liberal shining light in an otherwise dark and gloomy culture.

All is well in Mormonland until there's a murder!  Who committed the crime?  Why?  Someone who did not do the deed is sitting in prison awaiting trial.  She is innocent!  But she will take the rap for a man in order not to sully the Mormon world.

Sound interesting?

LMN is fantastic at mysteries.  I personally stay clear of the usual themes of cheating, abusive men and unhappily married women.  But when LMN does a whodunnit, it really does the theme well.  In my mind, not one channel matches the top LMN mysteries.

Chyler Leigh got her start in a corny parody movie called Not Another Teen Movie.  She was great in the flick that satirized the very popular She's All That with Freddie Prinze.  Chyler now stars in Grey's Anatomy.  She's a talented actress.

One last word:  The 19th Wife is a true story, based on a book written by one of Brigham Young's unhappy wives back in the 1800s.  She's pictured above.  Eliza Ann Young blasted the condition of Mormon women.  I will order the classic from Amazon.

A very gripping, well-done film.

Grade of  A+

Looper

Looper is going to make you think.  So, movie fans, brain-stress alert!  Why?  Well, the story centers on time travel in a very novel sort of way!

I must begin this review by giving a mild SPOILER warning.  I am usually quite cautious about giving away too much, but I believe I can help readers enjoy the film more if I put in more than my usual two cents.

My daughter, a philosophy prof who just happens to teach courses on time and space, cautioned me and declared that I, being of close-to-senile-mental function and not nearly as well informed on time travel concepts, might well misconstrue the story.  SO, yet another CAVEAT:  My opinion may well be wrong!

Haha!  Yes, sports fans, it's that kind of movie. Very, very convoluted and quite open to discussion.  Well, here goes!

First off, Gordon G-L and Bruce Willis are one and the same person. Gordon's character is the younger version in today's time, and Bruce's character is the grown-up character in future time.  Via time travel, the two meet, and young/old protagonist/s must have a meeting of the minds lest they kill each other!

You see, they are assassins.

Well, not assassins in the common understanding of the word.  The younger man, Gordon G-L, is paid to kill fellow assassins who have had a good life of killing, and now, grown men of the future, are being sent back to face their maker thirty years earlier.

Huh?  Hahahaha.  Exactly.  Weird.  The young assassin shoots the older, forcibly "retired" assassins, in the present, so the future powers-that-be won't have to worry about messy things like bodies.  In exchange for this service of dubious ethical worth, the young assassin gets blocks of gold.

Fine and dandy.

BUT:  What if the young assassin suddenly finds himself having to shoot the older version of himself????

Ouch!  Big problem.

Add to this already wildly imaginative story a few other plotlines:  A kid today who will turn into the world's worst super bad guy tomorrow must be found and eliminated.  Easier said than done.  The kid has super powers a la little Drew Barrymore in Firestarter.  When the boy gets upset, he can make folks float!  Wait, there's more.  Little evil boy's mother, played by the talented Emily Blunt, will protect her boy at all costs....even if she can't control his madness.

What a delightful mish-mosh!  Be sure to catch the moral dilemma:  young/old killer/s need to kill the child now to save the future world, yet younger version of assassin says no to killing the kid and older version of assassin says yes. Big conflict!   Hmmmm.......

All of the story makes sense to crazy time-thinkers like me ....until the end, when, in an effort to create an effective denouement, the writers commit a cardinal time-travel movie sin:  time paradox.

The paradox is simple to understand: if you go back and accidentally run over your grandfather, your parents don't exist and neither do you.  But what about the life you have just been leading?   And if you don't exist, how can you do in good ol' grandpa?

OK, I will say nothing more about the pathetically weak ending which, to me, disappointed all the more since most of the other time-travel issues had been resolved.

But I must recommend that my esteeemed readers RUN out and see this film.  SUSPEND your disbelief and enjoy!  It's truly one of a kind.  And among time-travel stories, it really pushes the envelope in a sometimes logical sort of way.

A+++

Scarred City

Stephen Baldwin used to be an amazing action actor.  Recently, he found religion and declared he would no longer act in films that offered sex and violence!  What a shame!

Baldwin has a certain swagger, an arrogance, that typifies his tough-guy roles.  Unlike brother Alec, who is more of a looker, Stephen walks bow-legged like a rugged cowboy and stares stoically like a fearless warrior at his enemies.

Scarred City is a very, very entertaining film.  It's about police corruption.  The bad cops, led by the always-effective-bully-type, Chas Parminteri, blackmail the good cop, Baldwin, into joining their vigilante hit squad.  Baldwin rebels....and then the fun begins!

No spoiler, but I might say that pretty Tia Carrere goes on the lam with Stephen.  Just watch 'em take on the baddies.  Great shoot-em-up scenes complement a stellar cast and some fine gangster grit.  Not for the faint-hearted.  There's no small quantity of folks succumbing to the barrages of bullets.

The city is indeed scarred.  But the film is not.  Except maybe the ending.  I'll leave that one up to you, dear readers.

Two Days in the Valley

Let's face it.  One of the reasons we love the movies is to look at the beautiful people:  we enjoy the eye candy as much as the plot!

When I go back and view a film like Two Days in the Valley, which was made 17 tears ago, I marvel at the actors and actresses who were so damn attractive way back then.  Of course, they're still pretty folks, but check 'em out when they were in their 20's!  I'll stay on this superficial plane just long enough to laud the dazzling looks of a very young Charlize Theron....and for you ladies, go back and see James Spader.  Wow, true Hollywood Good-Lookers!

OK, sorry, films are more than good looks, right?  (Should I ask that question??!!)

This flick is a fine piece of work.  In it, five or six plots unfold and eventually mingle to create a cogent, powerful story.  No spoiler, of course, but here's the basic gist:  Two gangsters, hit men, are hired to do a job.  Then one turns on the other.  Then one takes hostages and bonds with them. Then the other returns to his girlfriend.  Eventually, all become entwined in a very engaging and weird plot.

Just one more comment that might pique your interest:  Teri Hatcher and Charlize Theron get into a wicked girl fight that very nearly spoils their good looks!  Oh my!

Now add to a very creative story a cast of extraordinary actors:  Danny Aiello, Jeff Daniels, Teri Hatcher, Marsha Mason, Eric Stoltz, Keith Carradine, Louise Fletcher, and the beautiful ones, Theron and Spader.

Go back to 1996, where a film gem awaits!  You won't be disappointed.  And...if you don't like the movie, you can at least enjoy some very pretty faces!

Arbitrage

Just when I thought I had it all over Richard Gere, my dear spouse muttered, "Boy, is he handsome!"  So much for this reviewer's ego, or what's left of it!  Seriously, Gere seems to get more dashing with each film he does, but more importantly, I would argue, is how much his acting improves.

Richard Gere has earned his stripes:  he has been around Hollywood for a long time.  He has done some great work. I remember when he played the wayward bum in Breathless.  He swaggered his way through the streets, chasing a naive young thing with believable arrogance and eventually taking on a cop when he had no way out.  I remember when he played, with fine aplomb, the rich businessman who courts the sickeningly sweet prostitute in Pretty Woman (sorry, sports fans, I never liked this one.)  I remember when he portrayed a lawyer committed to saving a supposedly crazy client in Primal Fear.  Gere was outstanding as the gullible defense attorney. And then, when I thought, what can Richard Gere NOT do, he impressed me mightily with his singing and dancing in Chicago.

Ok, that's the buildup.  Does Gere live up to his rep in Arbitrage?  As a once-famous political candidate once quipped, "You betcha!"  In fact, Richard Gere is so darn good that I'd say he acts up to Best Actor standards.  Yes, readers, I would nominate him for an Oscar for this one.

What's his role?  He's simply, as one reviewer noted, a BILLIONAIRE WEASEL!  Yup, he's the guy you go the movies to hate.  He's chauvinistic, self-centered, corrupt, and scarily unethical.  Lest you think Madoff has something on Gere's character, you might go and see the film to judge for yourself!

As usual, I will refrain from offering details that might spoil the movie.  Let me say, however, that Arbitrage is sophisticated and makes us think.  It teaches us how a clever business icon can manipulate books, situations, and people in such a way that the bigger the lie, the greater chance of success there is.

Susan Sarandon is strong as the misled wife, and Tim Roth (who will never be as good as he was in Reservoir Dogs or Pulp Fiction), deftly plays a wily and determined detective.

Arbitrage is A+ entertainment.  The film grabs like a vice.  Not so sure I like the ending, but that's for you to weigh in on, dear readers.

Premium Rush

Print image just doesn't do here.  MUST SEE TRAILER BEFORE PROCEEDING:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcQibDNxHjI

So, anyone remember Kevin Bacon in Quicksilver (1986)?  He played a bike messenger in San Francisco.  Well, Premium Rush is Quicksilver on steroids!

Most movie FUN I've had in a long time.  I kept looking for a seatbelt in the theatre!  It is exhilarating, suspenseful, and breath-taking.  A bonus for me were all the NYC sites, particularly as our bike messenger, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt (who's evolved very nicely as an actor from early 3rd Rock From the Sun days), takes us through my daughter's old neighborhood on Upper B'way.

Fabulous camera work!!!  Amazing stunts.  Supreme athleticism on the part of the actors.

Michael Shannon (whom I don't know at all) was scene-stealing in the supporting role as Nasty Nemesis.  He combined just the right blend of very scary dude whom we can actually laugh at.  Go figure.

Go OUT to the movies and see this one in a dark theatre with a large screen.  You will think you are on a speed rocket in Manhattan.  It is, indeed, a premium rush for film-goers.

Enjoy!

Thinner

I'm a Stephen King nut.  I enjoy every mystery/horror book/film he has created.  My favorite was, and might always be, The Langoliers.  It loops quite often on TV.  If you have not seen it, go back and enjoy!  Like most of King's work, it's more scifi than horror.

Back in 1996, the gifted spook writer helped produce a film based on one of his short stories.  It's called Thinner.  The title grabs you.  Why?

Without giving away details, the unlikely hero of the film, an unscrupulous lawyer named Billy, is played by Robert Burke (who, after this starring role, seemed to go nowhere in his acting).  That's him above, next to the better known Joe Mantegna.  Burke's character is big...300 pounds!  He likes to eat!  His wife is trying to get him to diet.  To no avail.

Billy the Lawyer unintentionally gets on the wrong side of an old gypsy, who has the power to put curses on others.  He curses Bill.  How?  By making him thinner!

OK, isn't that good news for the fat man?  Well yes, to a certain point.  But what if there's no stopping the weight loss?  What if Billy just keeps getting THINNER?

Haha!  Interesting premise.

No more on the plot.  Kari Wuhrer plays the gypsy's granddaughter.  In one of her very best roles. she is slinky and scary as the mean-spirited image of temptation.  Joe Mantegna plays Billy's gangster friend who deftly leads a revenge motif.

The story really pulls you in.  It's a bizarre tale, but what else would you expect from the Great Master of Mystery?

I loved the film until the very end.  Somehow, the last few minutes let me down.  If you see this one, dear viewers, please weigh in on the ending.

Falling Down

Back in 1993, Michael Douglas made a whopper of a film!  I recently saw it again, and I was so impressed I thought my readers might like to know about one they might have missed.

Falling Down is about a guy going bezonkers.  Poor fellow.  He's divorced, unemployed, hot under the collar, and just downright mad at society!  That's all I'll say, because I don't want to give anything away.

Let me simply address the acting.

First, Michael Douglas.  He may well be one of the most talented actors ever.  Yes, this sounds a bit long on hyperbole.  But go back and look at some of his work.  He absolutely gripped viewers when he played the cop smitten with the slinky writer in Basic Instinct.  He just about outdid himself in The Game.  But in Falling Down, he IS the creepy, violent, weird, unbalanced man with a gun!

If that is not enough, Robert Duvall plays one his finest roles as the officer nearing retirement who feels out of place among his peers and senses a kinship, of sorts, with the killer he is chasing.  And watch for Tuesday Weld who plays a late-career, powerful role as the neurotic wife of the cop.  The former beauty shows she could always act.

WOW!  The plot is taut.  The acting is superb.

I have no idea why Michael Douglas was not nominated for Best Actor and Robert Duvall for Best Supporting Actor.

Falling Down is an overlooked masterpiece.

Happy Accidents

Back in 1999, prior to the Great Stock Decline and 9/11, both of which would soon occur, we entered the 2nd Millennium in a mild state of euphoria.  The stock market was at an all-time high, Bill Clinton was making us smile with his Monica Lewinsky capers, and the big question of the day was how would computers manage to function with the the BIG DATE change?  Not since the Roaring 20's did America seem so giddy.

Happy Accidents, made in 1999, reflects America at its frothiest best before the catastrophes of 2001.

Want a very light, and very funny, comedy?  With Marisa Tomei and Vincent D'Onofrio, you can't go wrong.  Remember Marisa in My Cousin Vinny?  She won a Best Supporting Actresss Oscar for that extraordinary role.

Here's the gist of the film, with no spoiler, as usual:  Sam Deed is from the future, and he has come back to the present to meet the pretty Ruby Weaver.   Sam is frank: he tells Ruby he is from the future.

Ruby, in therapy to quell her quirky neuroses about men, nearly flips when she hears such an outlandish story from a guy she sort of likes.  The humor, which is over-the-top funny, lies in her crazy reactions to his crazy tales.

So where will the romance go?  Will there be true love in the end?  What happens when she finally realizes he's telling the truth?  Will future-man and present-woman stay together?

And what about the psychiatrist?  Is she a player in this weird, offbeat movie?

Enjoy, dear readers.  This one is fun.

Little Traitor

Films teach so much history!  They take us back in time and throw us into a world that existed way back when.

The Little Traitor brings us back to Israel, that is, Palestine, as it was in 1947.  For readers who might not be acquainted with this past reality, here's the basic situation:

Jews and Arabs lived side by side in relative peace after WWII, because the British were assigned by the League of Nations to watch over Palestine.  The British were caught in the middle between two feuding people.  The Jews were trying to establish a place where the survivors from the Nazi death camps could live.  The British tried to stem the flow of Jewish immigrants, as related in the film Exodus (if you have not seen Paul Newman and Eva Marie Saint in that historical masterpiece, that's a must!)

In this very tense setting, a young boy of about nine, a member of a family of Polish Jewish immigrants who lost all their relatives in the Holocaust, grows up hating the British soldiers.  He defies the curfew every night.  He plots to drive out the evil British with the red hats!

NO spoiler, so I can't go much further.  Suffice it say that the hate-filled boy meets a very warm, father-like soldier, played brilliantly by Alfred Molina.  The friendship turns him around.  Soon, he finds a best friend in an older man who takes the boy under his wing.

What do fellow Jews think about a kid cavorting with the "enemy?"  Is the kid just friendly toward the British soldier or a traitor?

The film is taut.  We are on the edge of our seats for the majority of the story.  We fear the worst.  Then the plot takes a little different twist.  A good one?

For you to discover, dear readers!  If you want a great story and a fine history lesson about pre-1948 Israel, this film is for you.

The Ritchie Boys

After reviewing The Wave, my dear spouse and I happened upon another WWII-related movie, The Ritchie Boys.  The title did not particularly tempt me.  The description was also not too appealing, something about some soldiers who were trained in intelligence during the war.

Was I wrong!  This amazing documentary is powerful, jolting, and very, very uplifting.

Normally the non-spoiler, who hates to give details that might ruin a film for the audience, I will for once do otherwise, thus this rare David-caution:  SPOILER ALERT!

Why?  Because the story, which is gripping, requires an adequate description to convince my dear readers that this film is worth seeing.

Back in the late 30's, as Europe was watching Hitler and the Nazis gain in strength, and we stayed cautiously neutral, Jews who could see the handwriting on the wall and who had a spirit of adventure, left Europe for America.  Among the brave immigrants were young men who, wanting to fight the Nazis, joined American military forces.

The services, realizing the value of American boys who were fluent in German and who knew Germany well, recruited the brightest of the men for special intelligence work.  The military sent the chosen few to Camp Ritchie, an isolated rural area, for training.

What was the major task of the Ritchie Boys?  Simple.  They were to return to Europe, with their American units, to interrogate the Germans who were captured and to engage in anti-Nazi propaganda. The "boys" were just that: Generally between 18 and 24, anxious to serve their new country, and also to fight against the Germans who were slaughtering their people.

In order to be where the action was, the Ritchie intelligence units were actually present at almost every major WWII event:  The invasion of Normandy, the Battle of the Bulge, and the uncovering of the Nazi death camps.

So what is the film?  It's a series of interviews with the Ritchie boys as they are today, much older, somewhat wiser, and able and willing to share what they actually did.  The interviews, and the flashbacks to WWII, are captivating and often mind-boggling.

I had a connection of sorts with one of the Ritchie Boys.  He's shown in the picture above.  Who is he?  Victor Brombert.  As a graduate student many years ago studying 19th Century French Literature, I constantly came across the writings of the most famous literary scholar of French literature in America, and probably the world....none other than Professor Victor Brombert, of Yale University.

I recently wrote the great professor to thank him for what he did for both Americans and Jews.

I am touched by what the brave young soldiers did for all of us.

The Wave

The Wave is a German film that will knock your socks off!

What's it about?  This reviewer will never be a spoiler, so I think it best to focus only on the opening scene of the movie:

The film begins in a high school class in Germany.  Germany...pertinent fact!  The teacher is obviously a real favorite with the kids.  They actually call him by his first name!  Quite a marvel in the stodgy environment of the typical European classroom.

Mr Popular Teacher works his magic (the way we used to, Valerie) to settle the students down.  Once he gets their attention, he says that they will spend the next week studying a fascinating topic: autocracy!

Fascinating? the kids ask.  Who cares? they shout out.  The teacher of course tries to get them interested...the old teacher hook, so to speak.

The students say, "Oh no, not that German-guilt trip again!"  The kids are referring, of course, to the Holocaust, about which they have already learned.  They naturally declare, "That was another generation.  We weren't even born.  Germany is different.  We're different."

OH REALLY?  the clever professor asks.

What follows is an extraordinary experiment.  The teacher does not tip his hand.  But he will try to show the kids, over the course of the week, how he can turn them into good little Nazis!

Well, readers, the teacher has the kids' attention.  Do I have yours????

Enjoy this wonder of a film.  You'll get insight into authoritarianism like you've never had before.  You'll think Lord of the Flies is a walk in the park.

You may have your first real insight into how groups can turn evil.

Winter's Bone

OK, better late than never.  This amazing film came out more than a year ago, and Jennifer Lawrence was nominated for Best Actress at a disgustingly young age!  Jennifer is the star of The Hunger Games, which releases on DVD soon.  I lauded her work in the scifi dazzler a while back in this blog.

The Winter's Bone is so great, in my mind, that it defies superlatives.  The plot is threadbare, so I can reveal it without being a spoiler: a seventeen year old living in poverty (probably in the Appalachias) must find her father, who fled after he posted bond for a crime, putting up his house as collateral.

Not very interesting?  Wait!  This film is not at all about a plot. It's about flavor!  Not since Deliverance has a film taken us so convincingly into the backwoods, where disgruntled, coarse, illiterate folks struggle to make ends meet and interact with cold detachment.

With the "twang" of the midwest hills, and a vernacular replete with the word "ain't" and double negatives, the hillbillies (yes, the perfect use of the word) engage in dialogs that sear deeply into the viewer's psyche.

The destitute heroine, who valiantly steps into the role of mother to her two very young sibs, goes out in search of her father.  In doing so, she meets the inhumanity of neighbors and eventually experiences the brutality of life in a world where there's little food on the dining room table and everyone is desperate.

As in The Odyssey, the burdened teen ventures out and faces obstacles wherever she goes.  She's skilled at survival.  She's a tough, empowered girl who lives in a dog-eat-dog place where only the strong and thick-skinned can make it.

Oh, don't miss the very woodsy bluegrass scenes too.  As a banjo player, I loved those film moments.  BUT:  Please do not get the wrong view of bluegrass.  Between the music in Deliverance and this flick, folks might visit one of my banjo jams and deem me a "good ol' boy!"

Yes, this flick is a marvel.  It's one of a kind.  You will never, ever forget a backwoods world that exists right here in this rich country of ours.

If you see one film this year, this is it!

Ruby Sparks

If you've ever written a piece of fiction, even a short story, where you've created a character, this film is for you!  Think of the wonder of forming a person out of the written word:  in a sense, you give birth to a human being who becomes so real in your/our minds, that he/she seems to be real!

Isn't Emma real?  How about Jean Valjean?  Or Mme Bovary?  We actually SEE these characters.  They are real, in our minds.  So real, in fact, that we wonder if we might meet them in the street some day!

Ruby Sparks focuses on this wonder.  No spoiler, as usual, but the film centers on a writer who describes a character, Ruby, in his latest book.  Suddenly, the girl is in his dreams.   OK, no big suspension of disbelief so far.

Now imagine if the girl suddenly shows up in his kitchen!   She seems real enough.  But is she?

Cute idea.

The film takes us into a very deep realm.  To what extent do we, as humans, have the ability, or perhaps the right, to be promethean?  Can we truly "create" another person?  If so, do we have the right to control them?   Zola grappled with this concept.  He described forming characters who, once formed, became independent of the author and acted according to nature and nurture.  He tried to create personalities who moved about in the fictitious world of their own volition.

Is this possible?

The film abounds in humor, and it is lighthearted in spirit.  But do not for one second think you can see this flick and not ponder its very deep messages for a long time to come!

A MUST for an English teacher, Valerie!  A MUST for anyone who thinks creatively.

Grade:  A.    This one is a winner.

The Intouchables

See these two men?  They will make you glad you sat down in a cool theatre to watch them.  And, after all, as our temps. in Phoenix soar to 115* this week (pray for us), why would you need any incentive to go to the movies, hmmm?

This is a wonderful, wonderful French film.  Just overlook the lame title. Based on a true story, one of these men is an aristocratic quadriplegic, one is an urban soul going nowhere.  Guess which is which.  From there, all cliche and predictability end.  Masterful performances tell a story we should all hear.

I enjoyed every minute of this film.  Go see it and we'll talk more.


P.S. The fact that it takes place in Paris, including two scenes in the very cafe in which hubby and I recently had breakfast, leaves me positively giggling, but in no way influences my endorsement.  -smile-

Moonrise Kingdom

Beginning at the end, as the closing credits rolled, I turned to hubby and asked,  "Did you like it?"  "Yea, I did.  I thought it was..." "Enchanting?"  "Yea, enchanting."

If you like a camera the way Wes Anderson does, if you like quirky characters, bizarre plot twists, and a wink that says, "Don't take this too soberly," this film is for you.  Every scene is treated as an artist's palette.  Anderson uses color schemes and set design and positively PERFECT scoring to float us through a different time and place.  The strong, supporting cast of Anderson usual suspects along with a few casting surprises - Francis McDormand, Edward Norton, Bruce Willis (as a nerd!), Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Tilda Swinton, Harvey Keitel, Bob Balaban - and a cast of hundreds of boy scouts - do nothing to upstage two talented adolescents, Kara Heyward and Jared Gilman.

Won't tell you much more, except this:  to say this is a Lord of the Flies meets Blue Lagoon meets The Royal Tannebaums meets Rushmore would be unfair.  It is its own charming, engaging, entertaining, loving nod to an age of innocence, not just chronologically, but historically (c.1963).

I really liked this movie!  It's different.

Colombiana

Hollywood is offering so many "vengeance" films that we could say films based on the revenge motif form their own genre.  If so, Colombiana is high on the list of get-em-back flicks!

I won't say much about the plot so as not to give it away, but a little girl in Colombia grows up in a criminal environment.  When she witnesses the murder of her parents, she flees.  The baddies chase her to no avail.  Fast-forward about fifteen years.  The girl is now a young adult.  She is none other than Zoe Saldana!  And Zoe's character is out for revenge!

The fun of the movie is watching Zoe in action.  She has many ways of slaying the baddies, and while she's at it, she mopes and pouts like a truly troubled, out-for-revenge young woman.  Strange twist: her adopted father is the one who trained her to be a killer.

Zoe's fine acting makes the movie.  She's a toughie.  She's gritty.  She's distant.  She's a truly empowered assassin!

Wait!  There's more!  My own cousin, Julien Muller, who lives in Paris and has been a character actor for some thirty years, landed a small part in the movie.  He's the cop at the station with the bent nose (a la Depardieu) who mutters only a few words in English so you can't hear his French accent.  Julien told me he met Zoe Saldana during the shoot and found her quite affable.

So go and see my French cousin.  See Zoe!  Revel in a good revenge flick!  Enjoy!

Celeste Holm, brave actress of the 40's

Back in the 40's, anti-semitism was identified with Hitler, Nazis, and other fanatics who espoused racial hatred.

After the war, Americans who claimed they were not racists often joined country clubs where no Jewish folks were allowed.  They also made sure their sons or daughters did not marry Jews.  Many used the well known derogatory slur, "He jewed me down," to refer to a negotiation.

So when Gentleman's Agreement, a film about American anti-semitism, was proposed, not every actor was quick to jump on the bandwagon.  Gregory Peck did, and more power to him.  He was of course an upright man in both personal and public persona, later playing the lawyer who defends a black man  in the very race-sensitive To Kill a Mockingbird.

Celeste Holms, not an A lister of the 40's but well up there in rank, bravely joined Peck and Dorothy McGuire to act in the controversial Gentleman's Agreement.  Here's her most famous line from the movie, where she plays the liberal-minded Anne Dettrey:

Bert McAnny:  What?  Now, Green, don't get me wrong.  Why, some of my best friends are Jews.
Anne Dettrey:  And some of your other best friends are Methodists, but you never bother to say that.

We lost Celeste this week.  She was 95.  Hats off to a courageous actress who played in a film that opened many Americans' eyes.

Rock of Ages

The only hint of America that hit my eyes during my recent sublime visit to Paris, the City of Light, were posters in the subway promoting the new flick, Rock of Ages.  The power of suggestion:  had to see it upon my return.  (Besides, I had to re-unite with that American phenomenon of Harkins popcorn!) 

Ladies and gentlemen, this is my new guilty pleasure.  A musical that had its origin on Broadway, it's just so much fun, but only if you remember the 80s. Within the first five minutes, we figured out it's a satire; however, I suspect plenty of thicker film-goers won't realize that and leave the theatre saying, "Oh, wasn't that a sweet love story." Set in 1987 Los Angeles, Drew and Sherrie are two young people chasing their dreams in the big city. When they meet, it's love at first sight, though their romance will face a series of challenges. (IMDB)  Fraught with hilarious cliches and a plethora of groovy and corny 80s music, it follows that awkward musical era that brought us both Mega-Death and New Kids on the Block!

The cast is brilliant with Alec Baldwin, Paul Giamatti, Bryan Cranston, Mary K. Blige, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Russell Brand. But the scene-stealer is Tom Cruise, as a Van Halen/David Lee Roth composite.  Say what you will about Cruise's bizarre personal side, the man can act, and he does so fearlessly. 

'Nough said, but we laughed so much through this, and actually enjoyed tripping through the 80s again. I think I'll go see it again.

It's summer.  Have some escapist fun.  Go see Rock of Ages, dude!

Good Day for It (David's title: Rose's Cafe)

Good day for it?  Strange title!  The better title would have been Rose's Cafe.  For it's there that all the action takes place.  And there's a lot of great action!

Robert Patrick stars as the bad-guy father who, after abandoning his family years ago, returns to see his daughter.  Remember him as the liquid-man terminator in Terminator 2?  He's never achieved A-list billing as a movie star, but he's really skilled in acting.

The plot?  Never the spoiler, I'll say a few words to entice you:  Bad Dad was once a strong-arm for a gangster who has long done evil.  Jason Patrick's character has returned after fifteen years on the lam, seeking reconciliation with his embittered daughter.

The reunion takes place at Rose's cafe.  It would be a complex-enough family meeting, were it not for the old gangsters showing up at the cafe to square old debts!

Oh wait...now the ex-wife is there too!  And a cop!  And the nice couple in the kitchen!

Get the idea?  Like a taut stage play, the cafe serves as the focal point for all the emotional--and bullet-filled--action!

Lest I sound cynical, this movie really grabs you and holds on.  The tension never relents.  We root for the father and daughter, but we wonder how payback day will end!

Grade of A.  Well worth the visit to Rose's Cafe.

Seeking Justice

For those of us with a macabre taste for the thriller genre, vengeance plots hit the spot!  Viewers often wonder, what if a loved one were brutally attacked and the law could do nothing about it?  Would I seek my own brand of justice?  OK, you've got the basic premise of the film.

But there's a twist.  A secret group of justice seekers go around town finding guys who dream of revenge and do the job for them.   Never the spoiler, I'll only say that the hero finds himself sort of consenting, with the emphasis on SORT Of,  to let the splinter group do his dirty work for him.  But there's a price to pay!

OK, no more on the plot!

Let me say that the actors are great.  Nicholas Cage has never been a favorite of mine, but he steps up and delivers a fine performance as the guy who's wrapped up in something beyond his control.  Guy Pearce is wonderful as a bad dude, with snide looks and sly smiles that make him truly evil.  January Jones, stunning as usual, is a far cry from her nasty self in Mad Men.  She plays the victimized wife with skill and tact.

Final thought:  If groups of vigilantes were allowed to mete out justice as they saw fit, they'd no doubt bypass the expensive and often flawed legal system and sometimes get it right.  But vengeance films wisely point out that splinter groups develop into cults, with their own brand of despotism.  Laws protect us from the baddies...and from those who would take justice into their own hands.

If you see this flick, you'll be thinking about justice and the American Way well after the film is over.

Gone

With a spouse and daughter with modern feminist values, I am big on female empowerment movies.

Trouble is, they are few and far between.  Most Hollywood films still portray women as helpless underlings, dependent on males for protection.  This sad fact is most true of crime and thriller genres, where women find themselves the victims of ruthless attacks.

Recently, the Hunger Games gave us a nice new view of today's female: bold, cunning, wise, fearless, and above all, a warrior supreme!  Jennifer Lawrence...you go, girl!  We might have to go way back to Jennifer Lopez' portrayal of an abused spouse in Enough to find an equally empowered heroine.

Step aside, you wannabe female toughies!  Here comes Amanda Seyfried!

Amanda?  Isn't she the one who plays the sweet young rebel on Big Love?  Isn't she the one who does soppy love stories, like Mama Mia, Dear John, and Letters to Juliet?  Isnt' she the helpless victim in the wild sci-fi flick, Jennifer's Body?

NO, folks!  Here comes a new Amanda Seyfried!  Check her out in the picture above.  Doesn't she look tough?

OK, no spoiler, as usual, but here's the basic gist of the film:  The young female protagonist has been terrorized by a bad guy, and darn it, the police just don't buy her story!  So she has to take matters into her own hands.  And does she ever!  Can't give anything away, but suffice it to say that Amanda metes out justice in her own special way!

For viewers who like revenge motifs, and for those who seek strong female characters, this film is a must.  Don't expect profound messages or sophisticated dialog.

Mostly, the gun does the talking!  Haha!

Man on a Ledge

I'm not big on heights.  I could not watch Man on a Wire....so I had a tough time seeing a guy teetering for hours on a ledge high above Manhattan!  However, if you can stomach the many shots intended to give you vertigo, you might enjoy this action flick!

No spoiler, of course.  Suffice it to say that a man stands on a ledge and announces he will jump.  New Yorkers who enjoy a good street show gather below hoping for a bloody spectacle.  Good thing the beautiful blonde officer gets out there and tries to stop him!

Why does he threaten to jump?  Well, that's where the plot gets a bit convoluted.  See, he's an ex-cop and it appears he needs the audience to get folks to take him seriously!  The female cop, played by Elizabeth Banks, believes him...we think!

But there's more.  Can't give the plot away, but I can say that a very large amount of viewer "suspension of disbelief" is required to appreciate the twists and turns of the story.  Subplots take us inside a prison, a bank vault, and high up on rooftops!

I'd have to say this film is mostly mindless action, in spite of efforts to make it something more sophisticated.

Grade of A-.   It's a nail-biter if you don't throw up your popcorn!

Fahrenheit 450

This is my homage to Mr. Ray Bradbury, writer extraordinaire, whose contributions to American literature include The Martian Chronicles, Twilight Zone, and Something Wicked This Way Comes, and whose life ended this week at age 89. Of all his works, my favorite remains Fahrenheit 450, a horrifying (to this English teacher) look at a futuristic society that burns books. O.k., I trust you know this whole story. I had the pleasure of teaching the novel for many semesters, and showing this 1966 film, directed by Francois Truffault, with Oskar Werner and Julie Christie. Bradbury's sobering warning to us about the dangers and consequences of censorship and the squelching of individual thought, shocks the reader/viewer into a new appreciation, even reverence for intellectual and creative freedom. Heavy stuff. I also had the privilege of meeting Mr. Bradbury following a talk he gave in Scottsdale years ago. I treasure my signed copies of The Martian Chronicles and F450. Do yourself a favor this week: watch this film. It's a goodie. RIP, Ray.

Safe House

Check out the two major stars in the picture above, Ryan Reynolds and Denzel himself (he needs no last name!)  With these two power hitters in a flick advertised as an action movie, you'd think I would have rave reviews...NOT!

OK, before I turn critical, I'll try to be positive:   The film has lots of action sequences, including state-of-the-art car chases, shootouts, running pursuits, and more.  You'll get to see lots of cars squished and more than fifty baddies taken out....fun!  You'll no doubt enjoy Denzel's solid acting, which never disappoints.

But every film needs some kind of interesting plot, and scripting, and dialogue.  There was just very little story to support all the gunfire.  I am often one to view mindless violence...some of the really stupid films make no pretense about a good tale and just take you into back alleys for solid, old-fashioned violence with no redeeming value...I can handle, and enjoy, these works of "art!"

Safe House purports to be something else.  No spoiler, of course.

Basically, you've got good-guy CIA agent chasing allegedly bad guy CIA agent, and both on the run for their lives.  From whom?  How?  Why?  We eventually get our answers.  But the whole plot is so unbelievable that we feel hey, just give us violence and don't try to be so sophisticated!

Was it entertaining?  Yes.  Was it profound?  No.

Should you see it?

Ummmmmmm......

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Imagine Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, and Tom Wilkinson together...it's pure magic!  Dev Patel, the young star who rose to fame in Slumdog Millionaire, is also great.

The story?  Simple, really.

No spoiler, of course.  But it's about folks finding themselves in their twilight years.  A ragtag group of Brits and Americans face crises at home, either of a financial or personal nature, and all happen upon an ad for a cheap stay in India.  While there, the travelers interact and move forward with their lives.

The film centers on love themes and some very new and unusual friendships.  At the heart of it all, the characters must adjust to common living in a run-down hotel, as they seek answers to their various dilemmas.

As we viewers watch the protagonists move through the crowded streets of New Delhi, we get caught up in a struggle that we all share: the search for meaning in a sometimes confused world.

The dialog is delightful, and in this reviewer's opinion, Maggie Smith and Judi Dench steal the show, as you might expect.

Grade of A+.   A superb film for anyone who seeks a meaningful and memorable experience.