"an education" is a true story based on the lynn barber book about an episode in her teen years in which she and all around her learned many different lessons. nick hornby ("about a boy") wrote the screenplay and did a good job of keeping the movie sweet by rounding off some of the edges in barber's book. "an education" is set in provincial england, on a street of row houses, about a middle class family who's sole focus in life is to get their bright, talented, only daughter into oxford. the sad result of all this good education would be a position as a teacher, civil servant or a good marriage. but the girl has bigger dreams of a life in paris, listening to jazz, purchasing art, reading existentialism and smoking fancy french cigarettes- above all, having fun. all of which seem like pipe dreams until older man david comes along and makes all these dreams come true.
carey mulligan is perfect as, jenny, the little girl who plays at being a young woman only to find herself a little girl again yet more grown up than her parents. she wears all of it very well. peter skarsgaard is one of my favorite actors plays the predatory charmer who almost has himself under his own spell. alfred molina as the spineless father is a little over the top. rosamund pike does a scary believable job as the vacuous and decorous girlfriend of david's hip business partner played by dominic cooper- love him!. emma thompson is dead on as the dead end head mistress of jenny's all girl school and olivia williams is convincing as the favorite teacher who wants more for her.
the clothes are wonderful, the hair and makeup are 60's funtastic. what's not fun is the stark reminder just how limited women's options were in the 60's. and how in their eagerness to see jenny married, which would, of course, make oxford unnecessary and thus negating her whole life's purpose, her parents failed miserably to protect and guide her.
if you don't see this in the theaters, put it on your rent list.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
pirate radio
a friend and i went to go see "an education" this saturday and mistakenly arrived at the theater an hour early. we ducked into the theater for "pirate radio" instead. an hour later we went back to "an education."
"pirate radio" is a big mess. it's set in 1966, when england has banned rock and roll from british radio stations spawning a fleet of ships off the british coast who's inhabitants spend their days broadcasting rock and roll, getting high, and talking about getting laid- all in the name of freedom. the other set in the film is inside the british governmental offices where politicians all but curl their handle bar mustaches while plotting to curtail these offshore activities- all in the name of decency. there's a subplot of a young man being sent to live on the boat with his godfather (nighy) and his quest to lose his virginity (women are ferried in regularly) and a secret sub sub plot that the godfather might really be his father, so it's meant to be a coming of age film as well.
"pirate radio" aka "the boat that rocked" is a waste of such a highly regarded and awarded cast which includes phillip seymour hoffman (truman), bill nighy(underworld, love actually), kenneth branagh( hamlet, henry 5) and rhy ifans (notting hill). the characters are too broad and we have absolutely no chance to warm up to them. as an audience we are dropped on the the ship in the night during a storm and immediately are shown everyone's worst side. and after an hour we had yet to be shown anyone's good side. the script has anacranistic dialog which is very distracting, the editing is clumsy and the directing seems without purpose.
don't bother. spend your money on the soundtrack- great selection of 60's music.
"pirate radio" is a big mess. it's set in 1966, when england has banned rock and roll from british radio stations spawning a fleet of ships off the british coast who's inhabitants spend their days broadcasting rock and roll, getting high, and talking about getting laid- all in the name of freedom. the other set in the film is inside the british governmental offices where politicians all but curl their handle bar mustaches while plotting to curtail these offshore activities- all in the name of decency. there's a subplot of a young man being sent to live on the boat with his godfather (nighy) and his quest to lose his virginity (women are ferried in regularly) and a secret sub sub plot that the godfather might really be his father, so it's meant to be a coming of age film as well.
"pirate radio" aka "the boat that rocked" is a waste of such a highly regarded and awarded cast which includes phillip seymour hoffman (truman), bill nighy(underworld, love actually), kenneth branagh( hamlet, henry 5) and rhy ifans (notting hill). the characters are too broad and we have absolutely no chance to warm up to them. as an audience we are dropped on the the ship in the night during a storm and immediately are shown everyone's worst side. and after an hour we had yet to be shown anyone's good side. the script has anacranistic dialog which is very distracting, the editing is clumsy and the directing seems without purpose.
don't bother. spend your money on the soundtrack- great selection of 60's music.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
paranormal activity
"pararnormal activity" is an e-ticket scary ride. oren peli, an israeli director, had an idea, $11,000.00, 7 days, and 2 eager fledgling actors willing to both act in and shoot his film. he got his film premise from unusual activity he experienced first hand shortly after moving into a house in rancho bernardo, ca, a burb of san diego. he researched, wrote and edited it all himself. he then screened his product at 2 horror film fests with such success and buzz that dreamworks came knocking. speilberg fully intended to give the story the hollywood treatment and completely remake it, but after viewing it he realized it was the perfect horror film just the way it was. the story goes that while watching a copy of paranormal activity in his home, the door to an unused extra bedroom shut and locked itself and a locksmith had to be called. steven returned his copy of the dvd in a garbage bag presumably to protect himself from the demon posessed disc.
peli capitalizes brilliantly on the very accurate premise that what you can't see is far scarier than any cg monster. a profitable fact witnessed by the maker of "the blair witch project"- i was actually freaking out over oddly arranged sticks! my dad's favorite scary movie was the 1951, "thing from another world" in which a polar station is terrorized by something they never see. he was very disappointed in the 1982 remake, "the thing", that actually shows the monster. In 1942, Val Lewton made the crazy sucessful, "cat people", in which all the scary monsters are seen only in shadow. some of peli's other influences were "the entity", also one of my favorites, in which barbara hershey is harrassed by an invisible being with the single purpose of terrifying her and "the others" in which nicole kidman and her children are spooked by spooks or is it the other way around? he prefers the film in which the story starts simply and the suspense builds. and that almost never happens anymore. horror films have turned into gorefests that aren't scary, just disturbing when you think how many people pay to see bloodier ways to torture and kill other people, ie: "saw 1-12". that's the scary part about these films, that people out there actually think that they are entertaining.
if you want a good scare, paranormal activity is the film for you. when i saw it, there were some very talkative teenagers in the theater, but shortly into the movie, it was dead quiet. there are a few spots that were titling the cheesy meter and i knew that the backstory wasn't true. yet, it scared me so much afterward i was afraid to go into my car alone, i stopped by a friend's house because i didn't want to go to my house alone, and i still sleep with the lights on. plus i'm writing this revew from the library because i don't want to think about this film at home or i won't sleep at all.
this is a dark ride.
peli capitalizes brilliantly on the very accurate premise that what you can't see is far scarier than any cg monster. a profitable fact witnessed by the maker of "the blair witch project"- i was actually freaking out over oddly arranged sticks! my dad's favorite scary movie was the 1951, "thing from another world" in which a polar station is terrorized by something they never see. he was very disappointed in the 1982 remake, "the thing", that actually shows the monster. In 1942, Val Lewton made the crazy sucessful, "cat people", in which all the scary monsters are seen only in shadow. some of peli's other influences were "the entity", also one of my favorites, in which barbara hershey is harrassed by an invisible being with the single purpose of terrifying her and "the others" in which nicole kidman and her children are spooked by spooks or is it the other way around? he prefers the film in which the story starts simply and the suspense builds. and that almost never happens anymore. horror films have turned into gorefests that aren't scary, just disturbing when you think how many people pay to see bloodier ways to torture and kill other people, ie: "saw 1-12". that's the scary part about these films, that people out there actually think that they are entertaining.
if you want a good scare, paranormal activity is the film for you. when i saw it, there were some very talkative teenagers in the theater, but shortly into the movie, it was dead quiet. there are a few spots that were titling the cheesy meter and i knew that the backstory wasn't true. yet, it scared me so much afterward i was afraid to go into my car alone, i stopped by a friend's house because i didn't want to go to my house alone, and i still sleep with the lights on. plus i'm writing this revew from the library because i don't want to think about this film at home or i won't sleep at all.
this is a dark ride.
Friday, November 6, 2009
the men who stare at goats
George Clooney and Ewan McGregor star in the latest version of a buddy picture or a road movie- a buddies on the road movie. Crosby and Hope meet Falk and Arkin in "The In-laws On the Road to Iraq". (I kept expecting Clooney's Falk to yell out to McGregor's Arkin, "Serpentine!!") The film is funny and imaginative. While watching it, I thought, "this is a good movie, I'm enjoying this." But when it was over I was left thinking - "eh." The ending was flat. And yet I really can't expect more than that because any road picture is about the journey not the destination, so this picture can be forgiven for it's dead end. Who can remember why Bing and Bob went anywhere? The point was for them to go.
If you've seen the trailer than you know the plot: the army experiments with creating psychic soldiers-real life jedi warriors- with a variety of successes. As a history student I read about these episodes and know that this is based in some truth. For instance- the U.S. only began these experiments because they found out that the Russians had opened a military psychic research division which they began only because they read and believed an article the French wrote about the U.S. doing it. This is true and illustrates the mental capacity with which we are dealing. And then we've all heard about the military's LSD research.
But the story isn't really the point, it's a boys club having fun. Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey, Robert Patrick and Stephen Lang are other club members who play their very one dimensional parts with lots of relish. Clooney has carved out a niche for himself playing this kind of zealous nut job on a mission. I have to say, as much as I love Ewan McGregor, the choice of him in this role was distracting. In this movie there was a lot of discussion about jedi warriors and Clooney's charactor told McGregor's character to find the jedi inside of him. Ewan played Obi-Wan Kenobi for chrisstsake. You don't tell Obi-Wan to find his inner jedi. It diverted my attention and pulled me out of the movie. Maybe they thought it would be ironic or funny, but no, it was annoying. Maybe one reference with a big wink to the camera would have been ok, but Clooney kept trying to teach Obi-Wan how to do jedi mind tricks!!! Big mistake in casting.
So, as a movie, The Men Who Stare at Goats, is not great. But for a laugh it does the job.
PS- For my animal sensitive readers, there are some incidences in which animals are threatened with violence but nothing is done on camera- it's all in reference. What I found more disturbing was all the footage of George W. Bush- much scarier.
If you've seen the trailer than you know the plot: the army experiments with creating psychic soldiers-real life jedi warriors- with a variety of successes. As a history student I read about these episodes and know that this is based in some truth. For instance- the U.S. only began these experiments because they found out that the Russians had opened a military psychic research division which they began only because they read and believed an article the French wrote about the U.S. doing it. This is true and illustrates the mental capacity with which we are dealing. And then we've all heard about the military's LSD research.
But the story isn't really the point, it's a boys club having fun. Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey, Robert Patrick and Stephen Lang are other club members who play their very one dimensional parts with lots of relish. Clooney has carved out a niche for himself playing this kind of zealous nut job on a mission. I have to say, as much as I love Ewan McGregor, the choice of him in this role was distracting. In this movie there was a lot of discussion about jedi warriors and Clooney's charactor told McGregor's character to find the jedi inside of him. Ewan played Obi-Wan Kenobi for chrisstsake. You don't tell Obi-Wan to find his inner jedi. It diverted my attention and pulled me out of the movie. Maybe they thought it would be ironic or funny, but no, it was annoying. Maybe one reference with a big wink to the camera would have been ok, but Clooney kept trying to teach Obi-Wan how to do jedi mind tricks!!! Big mistake in casting.
So, as a movie, The Men Who Stare at Goats, is not great. But for a laugh it does the job.
PS- For my animal sensitive readers, there are some incidences in which animals are threatened with violence but nothing is done on camera- it's all in reference. What I found more disturbing was all the footage of George W. Bush- much scarier.
Friday, October 16, 2009
the invention of lying
the invention of lying is about a world without lies: people not only always tell the truth but they believe everything they hear and say because they know it is the truth. it is a land of no imagination. ricky gervais created this world, a feat which does take imagination, there's just not enough to make a whole movie. the invention of lying is a half of a movie. it has a funny premise that works for awhile and then goes nowhere for a long time. this movie is too long. there is a whole storyline that should have been edited out as it adds nothing but time and for a comedy that's death. timing is the key to anything funny. there are a lot of nice surprise cameos that i won't spoil for you if you decide to see it, but even they all happen in the first half of the film.
the invention of lying is also sometimes awkward. while i like ricky gervais, i have to remember that he is the creator of the office- the original british version, which i don't like because it's mean and has 30 minutes of awkward situations which for me is not a funny combination. some of this theory of comedy has spilled into this movie. not only does everyone tell blunt truths, but they do it compulsively as though the whole population has blunt truth turrettes- they constantly spit out awkwardly inappropriate things. sometimes it is very funny, but when it's not it's like someone throwing a log under the wheels of a car as it's going down the highway- very jarring and completely unnecessary. it ruins the flow of the film. with some good editing, this film could have been saved.
at 12.00 for a movie ticket nowadays, save your money for a whole movie. unless you find a bargain matinee for 6.00, then it might be worth it, laughs are precious and we need to grab them when we can.
the invention of lying is also sometimes awkward. while i like ricky gervais, i have to remember that he is the creator of the office- the original british version, which i don't like because it's mean and has 30 minutes of awkward situations which for me is not a funny combination. some of this theory of comedy has spilled into this movie. not only does everyone tell blunt truths, but they do it compulsively as though the whole population has blunt truth turrettes- they constantly spit out awkwardly inappropriate things. sometimes it is very funny, but when it's not it's like someone throwing a log under the wheels of a car as it's going down the highway- very jarring and completely unnecessary. it ruins the flow of the film. with some good editing, this film could have been saved.
at 12.00 for a movie ticket nowadays, save your money for a whole movie. unless you find a bargain matinee for 6.00, then it might be worth it, laughs are precious and we need to grab them when we can.
Friday, September 25, 2009
rentables
can't think of what to rent? these days there is a dearth of hollywood product that makes renting movies frustrating and often fruitless endeavors. i have compiled a list of movies that you might have missed over the past years but are still worth seeing. i will continue to update this list as i find or think of movies to add, so keep checking this entry out as it gets pushed down the line into the archives due to newer blog new entries. feel free to offer suggestions of your own. i have organized my choices according to genre.
action
romeo is bleeding-1993- gary oldman (i love him!) plays a new york detective with questionable morals who makes questionable choices involving the mob, roy scheider, and 3 women- his wife, annabella sciorra, his mistress, juliette lewis, and an insane assassin, lena olin. very violent, very edgy, but very original.
boondock saints-1999-willem dafoe is genius as a detective determined to find out who's behind a spree of violence, and the irish brothers, sean patrick flanery and norman reedus, who unwittingly stumble into the mix and come out, well, saints. i'm very much looking forward to the sequel this winter.
true romance-1993- awesome and fun shoot 'em up written by quentin tarantino and directed by tony "the only way i like women in my movies is naked or dead, preferably both" scott starring christian slater, patricia arquette, christopher walken, brad pitt, samuel l. jackson, gary oldman (love him!), val kilmer, dennis hopper, saul rubinek, james gandolfini, tom sizemore and bronson pinchot. with all the above how could you lose?
the professional-1994-gary oldman (still love him) is and an insane bad guy/cop/drug dealer hunting down a 12 year old witness(natalie portman) to a massacre who enlists the aid of a neighbor/professional assassin (jean reno). very violent and bloody. oldman really gets into this role and proves, once again, that he can sweat with the best of them.
i'm assuming you've seen reservoir dogs
action that goes in a lot of different directions but makes sense in a way you never saw coming in the end
lock, stock and 2 smoking barrels-1998- guy ritchie's first film and it's genius and violent- jason statham(love him!) in this british film about a high stakes card game that doesn't go as planned.
go- 1999- katie holmes, jay mohr, scott wolf, taye diggs and many more. different perspectives of a drug deal. comedy and violence.
shallow grave- 1994- ewan macgregor in a british film about how you never really know your roommates- violent and funny.
snatch- 2000-guy ritichie again, with brad pitt who needs subtitles- violent- not quite as good as his first, but few movies are as good as guy ritchie's first. includes jason statham, dennis farina and benecio del toro.
i'm assuming you've seen pulp fiction
comedy
you've probably all ready seen all the funny movies but this british one tickled
hot fuzz- 2007- simon pegg, martin freeman and bill nighy. an uptight city cop gets sent to a rural beat and chuckles ensue.
ghost town-2008- ricky gervais is a genius. this movie has some laughs so rent it why don't cha? tea leoni, greg kinear and various funny people star in a story about a dentist who doesn't like people and cherishes his alone time. after he dies for 7 minutes during a procedure, he is constantly surrounded by dead people who want him to finish their unfinished business for him. and he has to...
Costume/period pieces
age of innocence-1993-one of martin scorsese's best. edith wharton's story narrated by joanne woodward starring michelle pfeiffer, daniel day lewis and winona ryder. fits all my criteria for a good film- beautiful people in beautiful clothes and beautiful settings behaving not so beautifully (even the food is beautiful!)
the wings of the dove-1997- helena bonham carter, linus roache (love him), michael gambon, elizabeth mcgovern, and charlotte rampling. henry miller's tale of a dependent woman trying to have love and independence together no matter who it hurts until it hurts her. and then it's a matter of watching to see who cries uncle first.
portrait of a lady-1996-jane campion directs this henry miller book. nicole kideman, john malkovich, barbra hershey, martin donovan, johm geilgud, shelly winters, richard e. grant, christian bale, mary-louis parker, viggo mortenson and shelley duvall. this has one of my favorite lines, when describing viggo mortenson's character, mary louise parker's character says, "i've never seen an ugly man look so handsome." don't let the offbeat opening credits chase you away, watch it and then tell me what you think the ending means...
lady jane-1986-helena bonham carter and carey elwes play lady jane grey and gilbert dudley, the hapless children of dangerously ambitious parents during the scramble for power in post king henry viii's court. helena and carey were the same ages of the characters they played, 15 and 19. there are some historical inaccuracies (gilbert dudley was really a waste of space asshole who never redeemed himself) but since when does history get in the way of a good story?
an ideal husband-1999-oscar wilde's play starring rupert everett, jeremy northam, cate blanchette, julianne moore and minnie driver about secrets, lies and blackmail in the perfect (?) marriage and what it really takes to be the ideal husband.
white mischief- 1988- greta saachi, charles dance, joss ackland, sarah miles, geraldine page, and trevor howard star in this true story of a love triangle and murder in an affluent 1940's kenyan circle of british ex-pats. again, a perfect combination of beautiful people, beautiful settings, beautiful clothes, and bad, bad behavior...
i'm assuming you've seen all the jane austens-pride and prejudice (bbc and hollywood versions) sense and sensibility, mansfield park, emma and persuasion.
drama- lightish
the lookout-2007-joseph gorden levitt, jeff daniels and isla fisher. really good and not nearly as depressing as any synopsis would suggest: a high school star athelete is permanently brain damaged in an accident, becomes a janitor at a bank and finds himself in the middle of a robbery plot. and yet not depressing...
i've loved you so long-2008-kristin scott thomas in a french film, yes with subtitles, about a women who after serving a prison term goes to live with her sister. much lighter than it sounds and there is no cirque de soleil french film weirdness. it's quite entertaining.
dear frankie( aka the stranger)-2004- scottish film- gerard butler (love him). i suggest using the english subtitles because of the accents. sweet romanctic story of a little boy who believes in the existence of a loving yet absent merchant marine father because his mother writes letters and has them posted from around the world to him. and of course the day comes when pretend daddy's real ship comes to town. the mommy, not wanting her son to be disappointed, enlists the help of "the stranger"(butler). we never get to know his name, but what happens next is worth watching- well, the whole movie is worth watching.
what the ?- reality benders
donnie darko-2001-high school new boy in town jake gyllenhaal follows a rabbit down a hole and comes up with his own version of life. includes sister maggie gyllenhaal, drew barrymore, holmes osbourne, and mary mcdonnell. i almost didn't adopt my cat because he looked too much like this spooky bunny...cult classic and a must see.
the lathe of heaven-1980- bruce davison plays george orr, a man who goes to a psychiatrist for sleep issues. the doctor discovers that when george dreams, things happen. he tries to use this power for good, but the results are often more than he bargained for. but then it's easy for us to say what's what, because we've seen the world after april...
brainstorm-1983- natalie wood's final film, in fact she died before principle filming was completed so they had to rewrite it. i can't imagine what it was supposed to be becuase this version is pretty good. also stars christopher walken (that's why he was on that boat with her, they were working together at the time) as her scientist husband who invents a virtual reality machine that proves to be too real. louise fletcher and cliff robertston also star.
action
romeo is bleeding-1993- gary oldman (i love him!) plays a new york detective with questionable morals who makes questionable choices involving the mob, roy scheider, and 3 women- his wife, annabella sciorra, his mistress, juliette lewis, and an insane assassin, lena olin. very violent, very edgy, but very original.
boondock saints-1999-willem dafoe is genius as a detective determined to find out who's behind a spree of violence, and the irish brothers, sean patrick flanery and norman reedus, who unwittingly stumble into the mix and come out, well, saints. i'm very much looking forward to the sequel this winter.
true romance-1993- awesome and fun shoot 'em up written by quentin tarantino and directed by tony "the only way i like women in my movies is naked or dead, preferably both" scott starring christian slater, patricia arquette, christopher walken, brad pitt, samuel l. jackson, gary oldman (love him!), val kilmer, dennis hopper, saul rubinek, james gandolfini, tom sizemore and bronson pinchot. with all the above how could you lose?
the professional-1994-gary oldman (still love him) is and an insane bad guy/cop/drug dealer hunting down a 12 year old witness(natalie portman) to a massacre who enlists the aid of a neighbor/professional assassin (jean reno). very violent and bloody. oldman really gets into this role and proves, once again, that he can sweat with the best of them.
i'm assuming you've seen reservoir dogs
action that goes in a lot of different directions but makes sense in a way you never saw coming in the end
lock, stock and 2 smoking barrels-1998- guy ritchie's first film and it's genius and violent- jason statham(love him!) in this british film about a high stakes card game that doesn't go as planned.
go- 1999- katie holmes, jay mohr, scott wolf, taye diggs and many more. different perspectives of a drug deal. comedy and violence.
shallow grave- 1994- ewan macgregor in a british film about how you never really know your roommates- violent and funny.
snatch- 2000-guy ritichie again, with brad pitt who needs subtitles- violent- not quite as good as his first, but few movies are as good as guy ritchie's first. includes jason statham, dennis farina and benecio del toro.
i'm assuming you've seen pulp fiction
comedy
you've probably all ready seen all the funny movies but this british one tickled
hot fuzz- 2007- simon pegg, martin freeman and bill nighy. an uptight city cop gets sent to a rural beat and chuckles ensue.
ghost town-2008- ricky gervais is a genius. this movie has some laughs so rent it why don't cha? tea leoni, greg kinear and various funny people star in a story about a dentist who doesn't like people and cherishes his alone time. after he dies for 7 minutes during a procedure, he is constantly surrounded by dead people who want him to finish their unfinished business for him. and he has to...
Costume/period pieces
age of innocence-1993-one of martin scorsese's best. edith wharton's story narrated by joanne woodward starring michelle pfeiffer, daniel day lewis and winona ryder. fits all my criteria for a good film- beautiful people in beautiful clothes and beautiful settings behaving not so beautifully (even the food is beautiful!)
the wings of the dove-1997- helena bonham carter, linus roache (love him), michael gambon, elizabeth mcgovern, and charlotte rampling. henry miller's tale of a dependent woman trying to have love and independence together no matter who it hurts until it hurts her. and then it's a matter of watching to see who cries uncle first.
portrait of a lady-1996-jane campion directs this henry miller book. nicole kideman, john malkovich, barbra hershey, martin donovan, johm geilgud, shelly winters, richard e. grant, christian bale, mary-louis parker, viggo mortenson and shelley duvall. this has one of my favorite lines, when describing viggo mortenson's character, mary louise parker's character says, "i've never seen an ugly man look so handsome." don't let the offbeat opening credits chase you away, watch it and then tell me what you think the ending means...
lady jane-1986-helena bonham carter and carey elwes play lady jane grey and gilbert dudley, the hapless children of dangerously ambitious parents during the scramble for power in post king henry viii's court. helena and carey were the same ages of the characters they played, 15 and 19. there are some historical inaccuracies (gilbert dudley was really a waste of space asshole who never redeemed himself) but since when does history get in the way of a good story?
an ideal husband-1999-oscar wilde's play starring rupert everett, jeremy northam, cate blanchette, julianne moore and minnie driver about secrets, lies and blackmail in the perfect (?) marriage and what it really takes to be the ideal husband.
white mischief- 1988- greta saachi, charles dance, joss ackland, sarah miles, geraldine page, and trevor howard star in this true story of a love triangle and murder in an affluent 1940's kenyan circle of british ex-pats. again, a perfect combination of beautiful people, beautiful settings, beautiful clothes, and bad, bad behavior...
i'm assuming you've seen all the jane austens-pride and prejudice (bbc and hollywood versions) sense and sensibility, mansfield park, emma and persuasion.
drama- lightish
the lookout-2007-joseph gorden levitt, jeff daniels and isla fisher. really good and not nearly as depressing as any synopsis would suggest: a high school star athelete is permanently brain damaged in an accident, becomes a janitor at a bank and finds himself in the middle of a robbery plot. and yet not depressing...
i've loved you so long-2008-kristin scott thomas in a french film, yes with subtitles, about a women who after serving a prison term goes to live with her sister. much lighter than it sounds and there is no cirque de soleil french film weirdness. it's quite entertaining.
dear frankie( aka the stranger)-2004- scottish film- gerard butler (love him). i suggest using the english subtitles because of the accents. sweet romanctic story of a little boy who believes in the existence of a loving yet absent merchant marine father because his mother writes letters and has them posted from around the world to him. and of course the day comes when pretend daddy's real ship comes to town. the mommy, not wanting her son to be disappointed, enlists the help of "the stranger"(butler). we never get to know his name, but what happens next is worth watching- well, the whole movie is worth watching.
what the ?- reality benders
donnie darko-2001-high school new boy in town jake gyllenhaal follows a rabbit down a hole and comes up with his own version of life. includes sister maggie gyllenhaal, drew barrymore, holmes osbourne, and mary mcdonnell. i almost didn't adopt my cat because he looked too much like this spooky bunny...cult classic and a must see.
the lathe of heaven-1980- bruce davison plays george orr, a man who goes to a psychiatrist for sleep issues. the doctor discovers that when george dreams, things happen. he tries to use this power for good, but the results are often more than he bargained for. but then it's easy for us to say what's what, because we've seen the world after april...
brainstorm-1983- natalie wood's final film, in fact she died before principle filming was completed so they had to rewrite it. i can't imagine what it was supposed to be becuase this version is pretty good. also stars christopher walken (that's why he was on that boat with her, they were working together at the time) as her scientist husband who invents a virtual reality machine that proves to be too real. louise fletcher and cliff robertston also star.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Documentary summer
there just hasn't been many good movies out there this summer. and the only ones i've enjoyed lately have been documentaries. i hope that doesn't mean i'm getting very old...nah, hollywood is just putting out a lot of crap. even good old standbys like harry potter were disastrous disappointments.
i have seen 2 very good documentaries, "it might get loud" and "the september issue" and am looking forward to two more, "good hair" and "capitalism, a love story".
it might get loud follows jimmy page, the edge and jack white and is totally worth the trip. put it on your rental list.
the september issue documents the creation of the largest vogue issue of the year from start to finish. it's the real devil wears prada and i will see it again.
good hair is by chris rock and he takes us into the world of black hair- what black women have to go through to get - good hair. watch the trailer, it's more entertaining than it sounds-. opening oct 2.
capitalism: a love story is by michael moore as he goes after aig. i love him and am looking forward to seeing his take on this economical disaster we're living through. also opening oct 2.
i have seen 2 very good documentaries, "it might get loud" and "the september issue" and am looking forward to two more, "good hair" and "capitalism, a love story".
it might get loud follows jimmy page, the edge and jack white and is totally worth the trip. put it on your rental list.
the september issue documents the creation of the largest vogue issue of the year from start to finish. it's the real devil wears prada and i will see it again.
good hair is by chris rock and he takes us into the world of black hair- what black women have to go through to get - good hair. watch the trailer, it's more entertaining than it sounds-. opening oct 2.
capitalism: a love story is by michael moore as he goes after aig. i love him and am looking forward to seeing his take on this economical disaster we're living through. also opening oct 2.
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