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!