Love Happens

Love Happens is an indecisive film. I wasn’t sure if it was trying to be a drama, or a romantic comedy. I feel it worked best as a drama. The tonal shift towards comedy seemed out of place and when the film traveled into romantic territory, it often went off the map all together.

Aaron Eckhart plays an author and motivational speaker who wrote a book on dealing with loss. He challenges other people to be honest with their emotions and to force themselves to work through their pain. But when his own father-in-law (Martin Sheen) buys a ticket for his seminar in order to call him out on his own hypocrisy, he is shaken. Once confronted, a chink develops in his armor, which soon turns into a crack. And as he starts to unravel, in the city where his own loss occurred, he is forced to deal with his emotional baggage.

Being committed to stay and finish his seminar, Aaron’s character takes a piece of his own advice and asks Jennifer Aniston out on a date, his first in over 3 1/2 years. She shoots him down, but he recovers and perseveres, eventually wearing her down. I don’t feel that the film ever gives us a complete portrait of Jennifer’s character. All we know about her is that she makes poor decisions concerning men and that she plans really awesome dates. To be consistent within the film, I think that she should have been more flawed. Her character was too quirky to be real, and it was strange when she displayed the position of strength.

My two favorite performances in the film were John Carrol Lynch as Walter and Dan Fogler as Lane. John plays a grieving father dealing with the loss of his son. His whole live was destroyed by his son’s death and in order to heal, he must make himself vulnerable to others. I also admired Dan Fogler who plays Aaron Eckhart’s manager. He is so excited about brokering Aaron’s next deal that he acquires tunnel vision about it, yet he is still enough of a friend to realize his client is in turmoil and puts his feelings first.

There are some really nice moments in this film, but overall I believe that the movie is just as flawed as the characters in it. A stronger identity for the film was required. Mixing genres is tricky at best, and when you do, the tone and balance must be just right. This film was a little off and weighed in on the side of maudlin.

Rating: Rent It Some nice little moments worth seeing

Fame

I was curious about the movie Fame. I was curious why someone felt it was necessary to make the movie again. With all the High School Musicals, Camp Rock, Glee and other incarnations, it was hardly a void that needed filled. When the original Fame came out in 1980, it created a sensation. It was so dynamic and inspirational, that high school students everywhere were breaking out in song and dance. A TV show soon followed and then a stage production. But why another film version, and why now?

I attended Fame (2009) with the expectation of seeing something new. Something to explain the need for a fresh take, but what I found was a well constructed film that was entertaining and full of talented young people. What I didn’t find was anything new. With theatre performers such as Bebe Neuwirth, Charles S. Dutton, Debbie Allen, Megan Mullally and Kelsey Grammer, there was a real weight, a respect for the craft of performing arts. But what the film lacked was electricity. With all the dance shows and talent shows on the air today, it would take a lot to blow us away.

The young performers in this film were good. They were talented, they were awesome. But for some reason the screen did not ignite. That spark never happened and no one performance really blazed. Now don’t get me wrong. This film is worth seeing. But I was hoping for something more. After this film I left the theatre smiling, but in 1980 I left the theatre signing and dancing. And that is all the difference in the world.

Rating: Second Run A respectful take of a previous sensation

Surrogates

We live in a time of fear. We fear terrorism, we fear violence, we fear disease, we even fear our own image. We fear that we aren’t attractive enough, or strong enough, or that we are not as perfect as commercials tell us we should be. In today’s age of fear we also have technology. A technology that allows us to communicate with the world in an instant. We have computers, where for entertainment, we can create alter egos and participate in video games with other people anywhere on the planet. Our avatars play out our fantasies, while we sit snugly at home in our anonymity. This is the premiss that is being explored in Surrogates.

Bruce Willis plays a cop in the future where 90% of the population is living in surrogate form. While the operators are safely at home plugged in, their alter-egos, their Surrogates, go to work, run errands, go to parties, while they sit by and observe. When a murder takes place that kills a Surrogate and its operator, Bruce Willis’ character must abandon his surrogate form and enter the world as a man experiencing life first-hand.

I found this movie very intriguing. Bruce Willis, no stranger to science fiction (The Fifth Element), is effective as a robot, as well as in his human form. His face, which can be quite stoic naturally, is put to good use, when the only real emotion you can see, comes from his eyes. All the lead actors had to play two versions of themselves, the polished, plastic beautiful one, as well as the sun deprived, blemished one. It was really an interesting comparison. Rosamund Pike, who plays Willis’ wife, Radha Mitchell, who plays his partner, and Boris Kodjoe who plays his boss, are all attractive in their own right, but when seen in their robot form, you can understand the appeal of having a perfect, idealized, you.

The other side of this equation is the resistance. A small group of people who find these robots an abomination. Bound together by their common values this group of stand-outs are lead by Ving Rhames. They have chosen to exist in a machine free zone and experience life in its natural form. They preach contact, interaction, and they have claimed a part of the city where they may exist without the aid of machines. In these isolated compounds, surrogates are not allowed. In fact they are seen as the enemy.

James Cromwell, who invented the technology, now regrets his creation when its use has been expanded beyond his intent. Like any technology, his original purpose was noble, but commercial and military applications took the technology to a whole new place. This film explores the moral implications while taking us through a mysterious who-dunit in science-fiction form.

Surrogates is an entertaining film, but what keeps it from being great, is that I’m still not deterred. As a cautionary tale, this film failed. I still think it would be kind of cool to have a robot me. If this film was completely effective, I should be put off. I should have seen the errors of my ways, and rejoiced in being just me. Instead I’m still find the idea kind of titillating and I will continue to spend a lot of time thinking about how to have the best of both worlds. I’m mean really, a young, skinny, perfect me, running around doing all my work while I get to stay home in my pajamas, not a bad idea. At least this film got me to think, and that, in itself, is worth the price of admission.

Rating: Second Run We are all watchers

The Burning Plain

A woman is sitting next to the ocean. She is fingering a sharp rock in her hand. All of a sudden she lifts her dress and carves a long straight line into the skin of her inner thigh. There are scars there, she’s done this before. Her reasons are myriad, but they are unknown to us. In order to understand the source of her pain, and unravel her mystery, we must travel back in time to its source.

This woman is beautiful, she’s excellent at her job, and she has a good, loyal, faithful friend. But something is driving her to hurt herself. Whether it is the pain that she inflicts on her body, or the pain she causes herself by sleeping with unworthy men. This woman hates herself and we as an audience need to understand why.

As we follow two additional story-lines, this woman’s past is slowly revealed to us. We are intrigued, curious, and compelled, as we put the pieces together one by one. Charlize Theron, (Monster’s Ball) plays the mystery woman with a vulnerability beneath her icy exterior. Her finely crafted performance, drives us to seek answers. Eventually they are revealed to us. The Burning Plain is the first directorial effort of screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga, (Babel, 21 Grams).

Rating: Second Run A slowly unraveling, mystery, of a woman’s self-hatred

Phil Lord and Chris Miller- Like Spaghetti and Meatballs, A Partnership In Comedy

There are many famous directing teams in Hollywood, the Coen brothers, the Wachowski brothers, the Farrellys, and each team has its own dynamic, but Hollywood’s newest directing team are not family, they are friends. Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs is the writing and directorial debut of Phil Lord and Chris Miller. Having met at college, they founded a friendship based on humor, sarcasms, sardonic wit, and the love of a children’s book named Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs.

Both with an animation background, Chris Miller received the attention of the Walt Disney Company when an over-exaggerated college newspaper article regarding his accomplishments, caught the eye of Dartmouth alumnus Eric Eisner, Michael Eisner’s son. “I got this call in my dorm room saying hey, we want to fly you out for a meeting,” says Chris. “But I said, naaah, I got midterms; because I’m a total idiot.” Chris did, however, send them his student films along with those of his friend, Phil Lord. Upon graduation, they took that meeting and Disney assumed that they were a team, so they went with it. The rest, as they say, is history.

Their first animated project together was Clone High, a High School comedy where all the students are clones of famous people like Abe Lincoln and Gandhi. This series brought them to the attention of Sony Entertainment who was looking to do an animated film. When Sony offered to develop a project with them, they learned that Sony had the rights to Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs. Chris explains, “Once we heard that they had the rights, we commandeered the meeting.” He adds, “We forced them to let us do this film.”

Being fans of the children’s book they loved the tone and whimsical, tongue in cheek quality it presented, but as animators they were excited about creating a world where anything was possible. They saw Cloudy as a fantastical disaster movie. To prep for the film, Phil Lord said they watched every disaster movie there was. “We rented Armageddon, and Earthquake, we watched every Irwin Allen movie that’s ever been made.” And to refine the comedic aspects they studied the master Buster Keaton. When they saw this slapastick genius dodging giant boulders in Seven Chances, they could instantly imagine their character, Flint Lockwood, dodging giant peas, or meatballs.

During pre-production it was interesting studying the many aspects of food falling from the sky. Every food lands differently and creates its own unique sound. “On a scale from one to awesome,” says Miller, “The most fun was dropping action figures into giant vats of Jell-O to see how they bounced.” When Phil was asked if playing with food was fun, he recalled a time when the cast and crew had to experiment with the effects of talking while eating cheeseburgers. Of course that meant, “We gotta get cheeseburgers for every buddy, right?” Phil goes on, “We’re all eating them because we needed to know how to direct them. It was like, now, put more burgers in your mouth. Now, say it again. It was a lot of fun”

When asked what the most difficult part of making this film was, the answer was the script. To flush out this story in order to create a feature length film, Lord and Miller created an entire back-story for the town of Chewandswallow and developed several new characters. As television writers for How I Met Your Mother, they were accustomed to television writing, which is loosely structured and based on gags and one-liners. But in a feature length film you must have a tighter structure and an emotional through-line. This was difficult for them because they had never done it before.

Chris and Phil have a partnership based on mutual respect and a compatible sense of humor. They’ll riff off of each other, make sarcastic remarks and are often self-deprecating. But when one, or the other, gets off track, the other one will gently put him back on course, or fill in a missing detail. The cast members all agree that they were a lot of fun, and great to work with. But they also added that they had a real strong sense of purpose, vision, and direction.

When adding to the story of Cloudy With The Chance Of Meatballs, Lord and Miller created a young scientist by the name of Flint Lockwood. Flint desires to be the greatest scientist in the world, but so far, all of his experiments have gone terribly wrong, thus we have food falling from the sky. The writers wanted to explore the loneliness of being a creative, under-appreciated outcast in a small town. A sentiment they both understand. They also believe it is important to follow your passions and embrace your inner geek. In contrast, when creating their female character Sam, they gave her a reverse makeover. She begins the film as a cute, perky TV personality, but as the film progresses, and she becomes more comfortable being herself, she stops hiding her intelligence and no longer fears being caught on camera looking anything but perfect.

To bolster their comic sensibilities for the film the directors had the privilege of casting friends and other people that they admired. When asked if the duo were big fans of Bruce Campbell, their reply was, “Of course, yeah, are you kidding?” But then true to form they joked, “We were super popular and didn’t watch movies like Evil Dead. But if we did, if we weren’t so busy dating cheerleaders, and being cool, well yeah, of course.” They also admitted to being huge fans of Mr. T., and they really loved what he added to the film.

Considering their television sit-com background, don’t expect this film to be another kid’s cartoon. Where working on a sit-com can be very dictatorial, this movie had a real collaborative process. Phil and Chris consider themselves contrarians and whenever something started to look familiar or cliché, they worked real hard to go in the opposite direction. “It wasn’t so much bringing a live-action sensibility to the film,” says Chris, “It was more about adding more comedy.” One fun thing about this film is all the details in the background. According to Phil Lord, you’ll have to watch the film multiple times to catch them all, hopefully a hundred times, and then buy the DVD. The cast and crew were encouraged to submit all ideas and the wackier the better. Many of these jokes made their way in to the film.

Once the film was completed, Miller and Lord were a little nervous about showing it to the books’ author and illustrator. They were very cooperative and supportive in the pre-production process, but now they were going to see the completed film in 3-D. When the filmmakers were asked what the Barretts thought, they said that they loved it. They were then asked what the biggest change was to the Barrett’s original work and their reply was, the color blue. The original artwork in the book was done in a three-color process; this film is exploding with color.

With spaghetti tornadoes, cheeseburgers falling from the sky and ice cream snowball fights, this is not your average animated film and this is not your average directing team. With Miller and Lord, expect a fantastical world with castles made out of Jell-O, monkeys with thought translators, shoes that grow with your feet, and an army of rotisserie chickens. Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs opened September 18th.

Voice Over Work-A Lot Harder Than You Think

Animation voice over work is a lot harder than you think. When Anna Faris was cast as the voice of Sam Sparks in Sony’s Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs, she reveals, “I thought it was going to be a total cakewalk. Animation movie? Easy! But it was so hard.” Bill Hader chimes in. “Yeah, it was really tough.”

Although Bill has done voiceover work before, he volunteers that he usually just did different voices. This film required him to use his normal voice. Bill adds, “I wasn’t sure how to do that and they had to scrap my entire first day of work.” The directors said that they hired Bill based on the quality they heard in his voice from a behind the scenes clip from the movie Superbad. They said he displayed the voice of a nerd with just the right amount of cool.

Both Anna and Bill found the pace of animation work insanely draining. “For four hours you are working at the level of ten, screaming and yelling into a microphone” explains Bill, “And then when you think you are done, they ask you to do Efforts.”

Efforts, is the industry term for the sounds that go with movements, like panting, gasping, moaning, sighing, etc. Each sound must be recorded a minimum of three times and in various levels of intensity. The director is looking for specific reactions for the imagined animation that hasn’t even been drawn yet. Anna describes a particular example she got from a director, “Now she’s hoping from one french fry to the next through a river of hot, boiling oil, now make that noise.” Anna goes on to add that the directors had a very specific vision of what they wanted to do.

Bill and Anna were asked if they approached their roles any differently than they would for a live-action film. Bill said that this film was very different for him. In the past he would be doing little character parts using accents and such, but in this film he had to think of the emotional part, especially in the relationship with the father. There was a real emotional through-line that needed to be consistent throughout the film.

Anna said that it was difficult sometimes to remember to connect with the realistic aspect of the action. Without the animation to work from the directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller had to walk them through the scene and describe what was happening to them. Sometimes they would get so caught up in trying to visualize what was happening with their characters that the directors would have to remind them to keep it real.

Bill explains that even if the tornado that was approaching them was made out of spaghetti they were still expected to react as if it were a real twister. When asked what the most difficult part was, Bill answered, the two-minute gasp. “Film has the ability to splice takes together and you can make Golem and you can make food fall from the sky, but apparently you can’t do a gasp for two minutes. So Phil and Chris were like, so Bill, yeah, give it to us, two minutes. I thought I was going to die.”

For two days Anna and Bill had the luxury of recording together. This is unusual in animation but both of them found it very useful and they were comforted in knowing that they were both coming from the same place. When Bobb’e J. Thompson did his voiceover work, all he had was a recording of Mr. T. to work with. But Bobb’e finds that voice work is particularly easy for him, this being his second animated film and all, and he looks forward to doing many more. Bobb’e previously performed in the animated movie, A Shark’s Tale.

Bill Hader and Anna Faris are both happy with the end result. “I love the way my character looks.” says Anna. And when Sam Sparks shapely appearance is commented on, with her generous hipline, Bill Hader adds in a deep sexy voice, “Oh, Yeah!”

The Informant!

Is this guy for real? The Informant is based on the true-life case of FBI informant, Mark Whitacre. Mark Whitacre, an AMD executive, cooperated with the FBI when he wore a wire, recording hundreds of hours of tape, exposing his company, who was participating in an international price fixing scheme. The pressure of being undercover starts to get to Mr. Whitacer, and the authorities try desperately to keep their case together until they can get all the evidence they need to prosecute.

Matt Damon does an amazing job playing the man under-pressure and his subsequent meltdown. Scott Bakula plays FBI Special Agent Brian Shepard, who forms a bond with Mr. Whitacre, until he gets caught up in his tangled web of lies. Once Agent Shepard realizes there is more to the case than imagined, he is too invested to shut the operation down.

Although this is an authentic case, director Steven Soderbergh decided to play up the comedic element within it. With actual video footage chronicling the absurdity of the case. Mark Whitacre became so caught up in his role as a spy that he actually called himself 0014 because he was twice as good as 007. This was a man who was loosing his grip.

The Informant is a quirky, funny, ironic tale with a central character who is so odd, that you can’t believe he’s real. With an amazing score by Marvin Hamlisch, a supporting cast full of comedy’s best, and an outstanding performance by Matt Damon, this bizarre film will not likely soon be forgotten.

Rating: First Run Stranger than fiction

The Informant Previews At The Aero Theatre

On Thursday September 17th, American Cinematheque members were treated to a sneak preview of Warner Brother’s The Informant. In attendance at the Aero Theater were writer Scott Z. Burns (The Bourne Ultimatum), producer Gregory Jacobs (Ocean’s Thirteen) and actor, Scott Bakula (TV’s Quantum Leap).

The Informant, directed by Steven Soderbergh (Sex, Lies and Videotape), is based on the true story of a whistleblower who cooperated with the FBI to expose his own company’s part in an international price fixing scheme. Writer Scott Burns states, “It’s based on a true story, but there are a lot of liberties taken with Mark Whitacer.”

After viewing hundreds of hours of video tape, it was realized that this case kind of lent itself to comedy. Producer Greg Jacobs, “The briefcase scene with the malfunctioning tape recorder was real. We saw the tape. It really happened.” Writer Burns adds, “A lot of the dialogue came straight from the video tapes.”

Scott Bakula reveals that the Chinese restaurant conversation actually happened and that the humor in the film is a natural bi-product of the absurdity of the situation. When asked what the hardest part of the film was for Bakula, he answered, “Keeping a straight face.” Apparently Matt Damon had a lot of mustache and hair issues.

After attending the premiere, real-life subject Mark Whitacer said that he loved the movie. Then he admitted to the writer, “I was even crazier than that.” Scott Burns points out that, ”A lie requires two people. One to say it, and another to believe it.”

The Informant opens in theaters September 18th.

White Out

White Out is a locked room mystery where a body is found in the snow of the Antarctic without any apparent idea of how it got there. US Marshall, Carrie Stetko, played by Kate Beckinsale, must find the solution before the last plane leaves, or the investigation team will be stuck in the dark for six months, without any means to escape.

When a second body is found, raising the Antarctic’s murder rate by 200%, a UN representative is sent to aid in the investigation. This mysterious officer, played by Gabriel Macht, is the only new comer to the South Pole, so his presence is considered mighty suspicious. A woman who already has trust issues, Officer Stetko must then decide whom to trust, while the real murderer is flushed out into the open.

What I liked about this film is how the environment added tension to an already tense situation. When a snowstorm becomes so thick that you can’t even see your own hand in front of your face, only a lifeline, and a carabiner, is keeping you from sudden death. The ice also adds another element to the mystery. When human survival is only a matter of minutes when left unprotected in the snow, how can a killer survive unless it is someone you already know?

On the light side of the situation, this movie makes living in an artic ice station look like one big party with drinking games, music, and bowling in the corridors. It looks like so much fun that you might even consider signing up. That is, until you see your first case of frostbite. That will sober you up real quick. But it also adds another element to the story line. What kind of person would willingly come to the most inhospitable place on earth, and what rewards are they hoping to find there?

Another thing that I liked about this film is that a man or a woman could have played Marshall Stetko. With the exception of a shower scene in the beginning of the film, not once was Kate Beckinsale asked to be gratuitous. She got to be a Marshall first and a woman second. As a woman myself I appreciate these details.

White Out is not the best thriller I’ve seen in ages, but it does entertain. The unusual location adds interest, and the performances are solid. So, if you are looking for a little diversion, grab a sweater and head out. This icy chiller will nicely fit the bill. And when you get home you can take a good hot shower to recover.

Rating: Second Run A nice, chilly, thriller

Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs

Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs is an imaginative, humorous, entertaining, three-dimension spectacular. I throughly enjoyed this film. Not being familiar with the source material, I trusted that directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller would only add whatever was necessary to flush out a feature length script from a beloved children’s book, written by Judi Barrett and illustrated by Ron Barrett. This fantastical tale has been a children’s book favorite since 1978.

Developing a new visual style and creating a back story for the town of Chewandswallow, directors Lord and Miller give us a young inventor named Flint Lockwood, who is obsessed with becoming the world’s greatest inventor. Voiced by Bill Hader, this young man invents a machine that causes the clouds to rain food. The town’s mayor, voiced by Bruce Campbell, sees this as an opportunity to save their small island after their chief industry, sardines, has gone bust because sardines are gross. He convinces young Lockwood to rig his machine to rain three meals a day, while the mayor invites the world to come see the phenomenon.

Anna Faris voices Sam Sparks, a young news station intern, who happens to be covering a local news conference when the first food-rain occurs. Having exclusive footage to the event and a secret passion for the science of weather, Sam and Flint become fast friends and join forces when the raining food problem becomes out of control. Additional cast members include James Caan, as Flint Lockwood’s tecnophobic father, Mr. T. as the local policeman, Bobbe’ J. Thompson as Cal, the policeman’s son and Andy Samberg as Baby Brent, a grow man still living off of the fame he achieved as a child model for the now defunct sardine company. Additional voice actors include Benjamin Bratt as Manny, Neil Patrick Harris as Steve The Monkey, and Al Roker as an anchorman.

When watching a film, I usually don’t focus on the technical aspects, I try to just enjoy the story. But in this film I was so impressed with the sound engineering that I can’t help but point it out. Imagine the monumental task of recording all the different sounds involved when food of all types hits the ground. In addition there was some very clever effects involved when sound had to be filtered through foreign objects. For example, when Flint Lockwood has a giant fishbowl land on top of him. The angry shouts of the community are muffled for comic effect until the glass breaks. Then Flint must hear the mob in their full voluminous roar.

I was also intrigued with the lighting effects. I don’t know who gets the credit for this in an animated film, but I was fascinated by the way the light played on reflective surfaces and through translucent materials. The three dimensional effects also severed this film well. As a adult, we often view animated films as a guardian to a small child, but I really enjoyed this film as a work of art. I found it visually stunning, interesting and most of all, entertaining. Even if you don’t have a child to bring to this film, go anyway. Let it bring out the child in you.

Rating: First Run Be ready to be amazed

The Final Destination

At first I wasn’t going to write a review for The Final Destination. I didn’t want to admit to anyone that I actually went to see the film. But if I am being honest, I’ve seen all four Final Destination films. I have a strange attraction to the macabre and I enjoy the creativity of the death sequences. The plots are very straight forward and do not vary at all. Each movie is exactly the same; a group of people cheats death by escaping a major accident because one of them has a premonition. Then they are picked off one by one in the same order they would have died. The films are simple, direct and titillating.

With Final Destination 4 they added a “the” in front of the title. This makes me wonder if this will be the final “Destination” film. But they also added another new thing to the series; this time they added 3D, which in my opinion was a big waste. I know that 3D is the big thing right now, but I really don’t think it added anything to the film. But since this movie has made lots of money at the box office, it is obvious to me it was a marketing decision, and not an artistic one.

I feel that this film is the weakest of the series and I wonder, if after 10 years, if the franchise is finally running out of steam. But if you look at the numbers, I could be wrong. A lot of people, including me, are still willing to go. These films are shot in Canada, with no stars, and the profits are huge. But hopefully next time, they’ll skip the 3D and just concentrate on creating some awesome, grisly deaths.

Rating: Bargain Matinee The theaters are charging more for 3D, balance it out by going to a matinee.

My One And Only

The fictionalized story of actor George Hamilton’s adolescence, My One And Only focuses on George Hamilton’s mother and the road trip that eventually ends them up in California. When Anne Devereaux returns home early and finds her band leader husband auditioning a new singer in their marital bed, she calls it quits, cleans out their safety deposit box, and heads off to Boston in search of a new husband.

Renee Zellweger as Anne Devereaux uses all her feminine charms as she visits old boyfriends, old acquaintances and even estranged relatives in hope of finding a better home for her two boys. As they move across country, she goes through one loser boyfriend after another, while her sons tire of the adventure and long to settle in one place.

Logan Lerman plays George Devereaux who grows up to become Hollywood’s George Hamilton. After witnessing a dramatization of his young life it is easy to see where he got his charm and flair for drama. Mr. Lerman captures the innocence of a young man of the time, while showing us glimpses of a star in the making. Mark Rendall is also good as George’s older half brother. It is his dreams of stardom that drive the family to California, only to discover that his talents lay elsewhere.

This film uses Renee Zellweger to great effect, as her Pollyannish attitude keeps her moving forward instead of slipping into lonely despair. After each failed attempt she begins to realize that her charms as a Southern Belle are waning. This film is interesting on two levels. It is a look into the psyche of a woman of the 50’s who is learning how to become independent and no longer rely on men, and also as a biographical look into the background of one of Hollywood’s memorable icons. This is a pleasant road trip, well worth the taking.

Rating: First Run A pleasant road trip into the past of George Hamilton

The Headless Woman

Oftentimes when I go to a movie with a friend, they will turn to me at the end of the film and ask me to explain something to them. They are relying on me to notice something they may have missed, or perhaps they are relying on my foreknowledge of the film. Most of the time I can help them out and then we’ll discuss the film together. But when I saw The Headless Woman, I was so thoroughly confused, that I regretted not having a friend to turn to.

At first I wasn’t sure what was causing my confusion. I suspected the language barrier, that I was missing something in the translation, but I also thought that the film’s style added to the vagueness. After a good night’s sleep, I still wasn’t sure about what I saw, so I decided to do a little research.

I found a review of the film written in the New York Times. It was one of those reviews that regurgitates the entire movie so you don’t even have to go see it, a practice I try vehemently to avoid. It this case though, it was exactly what I was looking for. As I read the review and the critic went through each point of the movie scene by scene, I was checking myself for understanding. As I read I was saying to myself, “Got that, yeah, saw that, good, okay, missed that one, got that, got that,” and so forth. When I was done with the article, I had only missed three details, so I’ve come to the conclusion that the film was purposely vague.

Stephen Holden, who reviewed the film, goes on to propose that the film is an allegory to the political situation in Argentina. I’m sorry people; I’m out. If I wanted a civics lesson, or a treatise on the historical denials of Argentina’s dictatorship, I would go back to school. This film is too much work. I stuck it out, I paid attention, but the payoff left me wanting. I received no satisfaction from this film. And, at the risk of being considered unsophisticated, I didn’t understand this film. Try it if you want, but I don’t recommend it.

Rating: Don’t Bother Too complicated to be fun

All About Steve

Sandra Bullock has developed a comedic style where her misfit characters are slightly exaggerated, but so emotionally grounded, that in spite of her slapstick antics, we find ourselves caring for her. It is while we are laughing at her and with her, that she sneaks in little moral messages. And, when implemented correctly, we come out a little better and wiser in the end.

Sandy is very likable, and when matched with the proper co-star, she’s endearing. However, in All About Steve, she spends so much time chasing Bradley Cooper, a behavior I completely understand, that we never really see them together longer enough to see if their chemistry works.

This movie is not as emotionally satisfying as her last film, The Proposal. I found All About Steve to be less of a romantic comedy and more of a social satire. The film questions the integrity of our news media and asks the question, what’s normal? For me the culminating scene is when Thomas Hayden Church, playing a vain, glory seeking, news reporter, approaches a group of protesters who have now become well wishers and supporters of Mary, Sandra Bullock’s character. When one of the well wishers steps up to him, the well wisher points to the news media and all the chaos and frenzy that surrounds them. He then says, “That is what you created.” Then he indicates the crowd behind him holding a silent vigil and says, “This is what Mary created.”

Throughout the entire film the news media mocked the very people that they were exploiting. Without hitting us over the head, the movie asks us, which is crazier, the people making the signs and burning candles, while standing out all day showing their support, or the news media, who interviews, features them, and feigns mock sympathy?

Throughout all the laughter, this film gave me a lot to think about. I enjoyed the humor, but I appreciated the message as well. To quote Bradley Cooper’s imperative to Ms. Bullock, “Stay as you are, don’t change a bit.”

Rating: First Run I may be crazy, but I liked it

Orphan

Sometimes, you just have to listen to people you trust. I had no intention of seeing Orphan, it was released six weeks ago and I could have contently waited until it came out on DVD. But based on the recommendation of two people I trust, I decided to give the film a try, and I really liked it. It was good, and I am becoming a big fan of Dark Castle Entertainment.

Back in the late sixties and early seventies, my brother and I were big fans of horror films. We enjoyed the suspense, the thrills and the mind games. But in the late seventies with the advent of Halloween and subsequent slasher films, the genre changed and I no longer enjoyed the films. However, in 1999, Dark Castle Entertainment was formed and their goal was to bring back the style of horror that thrived in the fifties and sixties when master William Castle reigned. Now that I don’t have to watch torture porn, I can enjoy the genre again.

Orphan tells the story of a family who adopts a charming Russian girl from a Catholic Orphanage and school. Soon after arriving home, the family, one by one, begins to realize that something is wrong with Ester. As Ester’s secrets are slowly revealed, as well as those of the family, we are treated to a very satisfying twist and a thrilling conclusion. In the tradition of all classic horror films, there is always a moral. And in Orphan, the moral is, that sometimes, you just have to listen to people you trust.

Rating: First Run A very satisfying thriller with a brava performance by child actress Isabelle Furhman

The Open Road

When you go to a preview or a test screening the organizers will often give you a questionnaire to fill out. One question that you will always be asked is, “What drew you to this movie?” Then it will give you some choices such as, genre, plot, subject matter, stars, etc. If I were to fill out a questionnaire before seeing The Open Road, my answer would have been the stars.

Prior to seeing this film I saw no previews or advertising to promote this movie. What got me to this movie was a brief description, and its two stars, Justin Timberlake and Jeff Bridges. Jeff Bridges can always be counted on for good work, and I’ve liked a lot of what I’ve seen lately by Justin Timberlake. But overall, this movie disappointed me.

When I saw Justin Timberlake in Alpha Dog, I was really impressed by his intensity and the grasp on his character. And his work over the past year on Saturday Night Live has been remarkable. But in this film I felt like he was a little lost. From what I could tell from the dialogue, he was supposed to be a young ballplayer growing up in the shadow of his father who was never there for him. His father was now an old man who makes a living telling amusing stories to awestruck baseball fans and regaling tales of his past glories. I could never tell if Justin’s character pitied, feared, or resented his father. And it was never clear if he knew his father too well, or not at all.

Jeff Bridges was very good as a man who created a persona that could entertain, inspire and sell products. He was the perfect pitchman. But he was also a man who has become so wrapped up in his creation, that he has a hard time turning it off. And again, it was unclear whether Jeff’s character is just a self-centered, egotistical, father, or a man with a limited set of skills, who is trying to do the best that he can with the talents he has.

Going back to the questionnaire, I didn’t go see this movie because of the genre, and the subject matter has been done many times before; estranged father-son road trip. There wasn’t enough baseball in this movie to call it a sports film, so the success of the film relied on the relationships. This road trip had three participants, the father, the son, and the girl who is on the verge of getting away. The expectations are high and the communications are poor, this is just like any other family road trip. I expected better.

Rating: Rent It Jeff Bridges performance is worth seeing