Saturday, March 30, 2013

White Oleander

White Oleander (2002) starring Alison Lohman, Robin Wright Penn, Michelle Pfeiffer, Renee Zellweger. After her mother Ingrid (Pfeiffer) murders her lover, Astrid (Lohman) is chucked into the foster care system and has a variety of experiences, all bad. Ingrid remains a strong influence in her daughter's life, and she is not a good influence. Astrid's struggle to find herself and escape her mother's influence makes up most of the plot of this movie. It's a surprisingly good film, with good acting throughout. (Subtitles in English are offered, as well as closed captions.) Grade: B+ 

Friday, March 29, 2013

White Heat

White Heat (1949) starring James Cagney, Myrna Loy, Edmond O'Brien. Cagney plays a gangster named Cody Jarrett with serious mommy issues. When he goes into the joint, his ma gets killed trying to protect him. But he escapes and continues his life of crime. Pretty standard hard-boiled gangster movie has a historical place on the cusp of the '50s, but offers little beyond the rantings and ravings of Cagney as the unhinged bad guy who suffers from serious headaches. This film didn't really do much for me, and seems to have lost something with the passage of time. (Subtitles in English are available for the hearing-impaired, as well as closed captions.) Grade: B-  

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Argo

Argo (2012) starring Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, John Goodman. When Iranian revolutionaries take over the American embassy in 1979, six Americans manage to escape to the Canadian ambassador's house, where they are sheltered. But Canada decides that they must leave, and CIA agent Tony Mendez (Affleck) is called on to concoct a plan to get the Americans out of Iran before they are caught and executed by the Revolutionary Guard. The idea he comes up with is so crazy it might work: Pose as a Canadian film producer, and have the six American refugees pose as Canadian members of the movie production team. This film is great fun, while at the same time supplying many moments of electrifying tension. Even though we know from history that the Americans will escape, the movie is a real nail-biter and provides both moments of high comedy and moments of high suspense. The acting is great, and this film really deserved the Best Picture Oscar which it won for 2012. (Subtitles in English are available, but not closed captions.) Grade: A

Monday, March 25, 2013

Holiday Inn

Holiday Inn (1942) starring Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Marjorie Reynolds, Virginia Dale. Flimsy plot has Crosby and Astaire rivals for same woman's heart. Upshot is that Crosby sets up a country inn in Connecticut which will be open only on holidays -- the rest of the time he'll be able to goof off. The Holiday Inn forms the setting for a series of Irving Berlin holiday songs, including the classic "White Christmas," which won an Academy Award. The main attraction of this movie is the pairing of Crosby and Astaire on screen, which only happened in one other movie. They play off of one another pretty well, and this film makes for an acceptable, light evening's entertainment. (The DVD includes good subtitles for the hearing-impaired. Closed captions are not offered.) Grade: B    

Sunday, March 24, 2013

The Flat

The Flat (2011) by Arnon Goldfinger. After his grandmother dies in Israel, filmmaker Goldfinger takes part in the task of sorting her possessions. Among the many things she has saved he finds a relic of his grandmother's life in Germany before World War II. She and her husband were good friends with a Nazi official named von Mildenstein who, during the war, worked for Goebbels' propaganda ministry. Incredibly, the Tuchlers and the von Mildensteins renewed their friendship after the war. Goldfinger is puzzled by this, and troubled. How could his Jewish grandparents have been friends with a Nazi official? In this film he tries to answer the question, but at the end he is not able to get anyone in von Mildenstein's family to confirm that he was a pretty high-ranking Nazi. This is certainly an interesting movie, though it will prove somewhat sedate for many tastes. It's in a variety of languages with good English subtitles. Grade: B

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Three Colors: White

Three Colors: White (1993) starring Zbigniew Zamachowski, Julie Delpy, Janusz Gajos. Hapless Pole name Karol (Zamachowski) is divorced and humiliated by his beautiful French wife Dominique (Delpy). Returning to Poland, he makes good and becomes a rich man. Then it occurs to him: He can get revenge on Dominique. Dark comedy works most of the time, although in totality the plot doesn't hold up. Good entertainment for the most part. In French, with English subtitles. Grade: B 

Friday, March 22, 2013

Rust and Bone

Rust and Bone (2012) starring Marion Cotillard, Matthias Schoenaerts. A woman named Stephanie (Cotillard) loses her legs in an accident at Marineworld, and a man named Ali (Schoenaerts) befriends her and "helps" in her recovery. Ali is a street fighter with a five-year-old son whom he doesn't really know how to relate to. The portions of the movie where Stephanie are featured are compelling, but the ones with Ali are less so. Somehow the two of them come together and fall in love. I found the movie less than satisfying. The two main characters just didn't mesh in my mind. (In French, with English subtitles.) Grade: B-   

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Zero Dark Thirty

Zero Dark Thirty (2012) starring Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Jennifer Ehle. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow. Dogged CIA agent Maya (Chastain) spends ten years hunting down the location of Osama Bin Laden, and a Navy Seal team goes in to take him out. The first half of the movie kind of drags, but in the second half it picks up momentum and the actual take-down of Bin Laden is pretty darn exciting. This movie would have been better viewed in a theater on a big screen, especially the night scenes when the Seal team is going into Bin Laden's compound. But it plays OK on TV. At over two and a half hours, it's a bit long, but you could argue that you get your  money's worth. (Subtitles in English for the hearing-impaired are available on the disc, and are very legible. Closed captions are not included.) Grade: B+ 

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Anna Karenina

Anna Karenina (2012) starring Kiera Knightley, Jude Law, Aaron Taylor-Johnson.  Anna Karenina (Knightley), a married woman, falls in love with Count Vronsky (Taylor-Johnson) and has an affair with him. Her husband (Law) is willing to forgive her at first, but she is not willing to give up Vronsky -- and besides, she has Vronsky's child. The result is that Anna is disgraced and shunned by polite society. I haven't read Tolstoy's book Anna Karenina, but I understand that it is about a thousand pages long. It would seem that any attempt to condense it into a two-hour movie would be doomed, and in my opinion this movie has not succeeded. It's a dreary affair, and Anna and Vronsky are not sympathetic figures that we can cheer for. The ending is, ultimately, just depressing. (English subtitles for the hearing-impaired are supplied.) Grade: C

Monday, March 18, 2013

Where Eagles Dare

Where Eagles Dare (1968) starring Richard Burton, Clint Eastwood, Mary Ure. As World War II rages, a British commando unit, led by Burton, with Eastwood as the only American member of the team, parachutes into the Bavarian Alps to rescue a captured American general from a German fortress. Things start going wrong right from the start, and it soon becomes evident that this mission is not all it's cracked up to be. The movie is full of slam-bang action from start to finish, with scarcely ever a dull moment. It suffers only from the improbability factor -- the success of the mission is dependent on split-second timing and luck, and there's so much of it that it's just not believable. But that needn't stop you from enjoying this movie. Burton and Eastwood are real stars, and the film features top-notch  production values. (Subtitles in English are available, as well as closed captions.) Grade: B+

Sunday, March 17, 2013

When We Were Kings

When We Were Kings (1996) starring Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Don King, Norman Mailer, George Plimpton. Documentary about the "Rumble in the Jungle" in 1974 between Ali and Foreman. The fight was held in Zaire, the former Belgian Congo, and much is made about the black fighters returning to clash in Africa.  More than anything, the movie is a tribute to Muhammad Ali, who used the "Rope-a-Dope" strategy to defeat Foreman and reclaim the heavyweight title. Although many thought Ali was over the hill and would retire after the Rumble in the Jungle, the film reveals that he would go on to fight 22 more professional fights, damaging himself in the process. This is a very entertaining movie, and it shows enough of the actual fight to leave the viewer satisfied. (Closed captions are available on the disc.) Grade: B+  

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Skyfall

Skyfall (2012) starring Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Judi Dench. Agent 007 (Craig) is back in action, with bad guy Bardem trying to get even with M (Dench) for giving him up to the enemy years earlier in a spy-world maneuver. The movie builds gradually, with plenty of action throughout, up to a rip-roaring finale at Bond's boyhood home, Skyfall. The series has been freshened up a bit, with the villain's main method becoming computer hacking, but otherwise there's nothing terribly new -- it's just 007 for a younger generation, and I suppose it works within those parameters. I certainly felt that I had gotten plenty o' entertainment for my buck. My only cavil is that Craig just doesn't seem like the best choice of actors to play James Bond. He seems too small and blond. But that's a minor complaint. (The disc offers subtitles for the hearing-impaired, as well as closed captions.) Grade: B+ 

Friday, March 15, 2013

What's Your Number?

What's Your Number? (2011) starring Anna Faris, Chris Evans. Single woman named Ally (Faris) realizes that her "number" (number of men she's slept with) is nearing 20, decides it's time to revisit some of those guys rather than ratchet up the number any further. She hires her neighbor Colin (Evans) to help her hunt down the old lovers, to find out if she's overlooked Mr. Right. Would it be a big surprise if she ends up falling in love with Colin? The movie carries us to the conclusion with some amusing scenes, but there's really no new ground covered here. The film asks us to fall in love with a slut, and it's not easy. Faris just seems to lack the star power to carry a movie. (Subtitles for the hearing-impaired are offered on the disc, and closed captions are also available.) Grade: B   

Thursday, March 14, 2013

When Harry Met Sally...

When Harry Met Sally... (1989) starring Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher, Bruno Kirby. Directed by Rob Reiner. Written by Nora Ephron. A modern classic in which Harry (Crystal) and Sally (Ryan) meet right after college and begin a long struggle to see if they can be friends without sleeping with each other. This is the movie famous for the deli scene, in which Sally shows Harry how a woman can, indeed, fake an orgasm. The movie's weak point is Crystal, who is an acquired taste, and who clearly ad-libbed some of his dialogue. I though this film made him likable enough that the ending was satisfying. The script by Ephron is quite sharp, and the movie is expertly directed by Reiner. A real winner. (Subtitles in English are not furnished on the disc, but closed captions are available.) Grade: A-         

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

The Sessions

The Sessions (2012) starring John Hawkes, Helen Hunt, William H. Macy, Moon Bloodgood. A disabled man named Mark (Hawkes), who at some point had polio, hires a sex surrogate named Cheryl (Hunt) to help him experience sex for the first time. At 38 years of age, he has never even masturbated, because his muscles are useless  -- even though he has full sensation in his entire body. Rarely do I complain about a movie being too short, but this one felt like it could have been a little longer. At 94 minutes, it's about the length I like in a movie, but it seems to end rather abruptly; it seemed like the film still had some territory to explore. Nevertheless, I was moved by the ending, and ended up feeling that this was practically a perfect little movie. The acting is very good, and the fact that it's based on a true story doesn't do any harm. Mark O'Brien was a real person, and the film rings true. (Subtitles in English are offered on the disc for the hearing-impaired, and closed captions are also available.) Grade: B+

Monday, March 11, 2013

What Just Happened

What Just Happened (2008) starring Robert De Niro, Sean Penn, Catherine Keener, John Torturro, Robin Wright Penn, Stanley Tucci, Bruce Willis.  Hotshot movie producer (De Niro) must deal with crazy directors, agents, movie stars, studio heads and -- oh, yes -- his ex-wife. The movie is based on a memoir by a real-life Hollywood film producer, so we can guess that it is a pretty accurate portrayal of what they go through -- and it is wild. The only problem I had with this movie is that a critical plot point has a director changing the ending to his film in a bad way, and the film doesn't show us the logistics of how he was able to sneak the changes past the studio bosses. It just doesn't ring true. But the rest of the film is entertaining to watch, and it gets a mild thumbs up. (Subtitles in English are not offered on the disc, but closed captions are available.) Grade: B

Sunday, March 10, 2013

The Lady

The Lady (2011) starring Michelle Yeoh, David Thewlis. This movie tells the story of Aung San Suu Kyi (Yeoh), the woman who is a powerful political force in Burma and was only recently (in 2010) released from house arrest after 15 years. Daughter of Burmese founding father Aung San, she was married to a British professor (Thewlis) and had to choose between her country, Burma, and the professor when he fell ill while she was staying in Burma. She chose to stay in Burma, fearing correctly that the military rulers would not ever let her back in if she left to be by her husband's side. She also won the Nobel Peace Prize while under house arrest in Burma. This movie dramatizes her story, and it's a pretty good film, although it doesn't add anything new. It's just a straightforward telling of the events of her life, and the script is uninspired. The subtitles, when someone speaks in Burmese, are very hard to read. Grade: B

Friday, March 08, 2013

Whale Rider

Whale Rider (2003) starring Keisha Castle-Hughes. A Maori girl (Castle-Hughes) is born, but her twin brother and her mother both die in the birthing process. The girl, Paikea, is in line to be chief of the tribe, but she must struggle with her grandfather's disapproval because she is not male. Even when he gives lessons in the old ways to the males of the tribe, he refuses to let her participate. But Paikea hears the call of the whales, and what's more, they hear her. You will like the way things work out in this movie, and you will like the movie. It's fine, and good for family viewing. (Subtitles in English are available, as well as closed captions.) Grade: B+

Thursday, March 07, 2013

Warlock

Warlock (1959) starring Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda, Anthony Quinn, Dorothy Malone, Dolores Michaels, DeForest Kelley. Fonda is hired to be "marshal" of a wild west town called Warlock, and his style of keeping order involves a lot of bloodshed. Widmark steps in as the official sheriff's deputy, and tries to maintain law and order while preventing a wild gang of cowboys from riding into town and fighting it out with Fonda. This is a complicated Western with several subplots, and it makes for interesting viewing. The only complaint I have is that the script seems a little muddled -- as if the film is just too ambitious, trying to tell too complex a story, and it falls short in places. But still, I recommend this movie to anyone who likes a good Western. Kelley, known now as the doctor on "Star Trek," plays one of the bad guys who turns out to be more good than bad. (Subtitles in English and closed captions are both available on the disc.) Grade: B

Tuesday, March 05, 2013

Wet Hot American Summer

Wet Hot American Summer (2001) starring Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde-Pierce, Paul Rudd, Christopher Meloni, Molly Shannon, Bradley Cooper, Amy Poehler, Elizabeth Banks. The only summer-camp movie I've ever seen was Meatballs, so I don't have much to go on, but this film is said to be a parody of summer-camp movies. It involves a bunch of young campers and their immature counselors at a summer camp in 1981, so maybe it could function as a nostalgia piece for some viewers of a certain age. There is a lot of off-the-wall humor, a lot of jokes that really push the envelope of taste, a lot of attempts to be funny. Some of them succeed. This is by no means a great movie, but it's a harmless way to spend an evening; plus, you get to see a lot of today's comedy stars back before they made it big. (Subtitles are not furnished on the disc, but it does have closed captions.) Grade: B

Monday, March 04, 2013

West Side Story

West Side Story (1961) starring Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, George Chakiris, Rita Moreno, Russ Tamblyn. Directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. Romeo and Juliet story is brought up to date, with story set in 1950s in New York City. Wood plays Maria, a Puerto Rican girl, who falls in love with Tony (Beymer), a Caucasian-American. The songs and the dancing are stylized, and totally involving. The movie won ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and deservedly so. Even though it's 50 years old, the film still holds up today, with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and choreography by Robbins. Subtitles in English are available on the disc, as well as closed captions. Grade: A-

Saturday, March 02, 2013

The Conformist ("Il Conformista")

The Conformist (1970) starring Jean-Louis Trintignant, Stefania Sandrelli. Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci. In the 1930s, an Italian man named Marcello (Trintignant) seeks "normalcy" by becoming a Fascist. He becomes a member of the secret police and is assigned to assassinate a former teacher of his, an anti-Fascist who lives in Paris. Much of the story takes place in flashback as we see past traumas Marcello has suffered. The movie is so gorgeously filmed and the set design is so splendid that there is a tendency to not worry too much about the story. It's a solid story, though. To my surprise, Marcello never personally carries out the assassination of his former teacher, although he is present to witness it and doesn't do anything to stop it. The DVD offers a variety of language options; I chose to hear it in Italian with English subtitles. Grade: A-

Friday, March 01, 2013

Weekend

Weekend (1967) starring Mireille Darc, Jean Yanne. Directed by Jean-Luc Godard. Experimental-feeling '60s-era movie has little relevance today, is more interesting as an artifact of a time than as a film to watch and enjoy. The fact that it's in French with English subtitles really doesn't help, and the subtitles are scarcely adequate. Grade: D+