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!