Spy Game, 2001 (Grade B+)

Director: Tony Scott

Any Awards? none I know of

CAST: Robert Redford: Brad Pitt; Catherine McCormack;  Larry Bryggman; Marianne Jean-Baptiste; Stephen Dillane; Matthew Warch; Michael Paul Chan

Plot Outline: this espionage thriller places veteran spy Nathan Muir (Robert Redford) on the verge of retiring from the CIA when he learns that his one-time protege and close friend, Tom Bishop (Brad Pitt), is a political prisoner sentenced to die in Beijing. Although their friendship has been marred by bad blood and resentment, Muir decides to use his knowledge to rescue Bishop--from the Chinese and from the CIA

sez says:  well who doesn't like to watch Robert Redford?  Toss in Brad Pitt and you can double the fun--and here this pretty twosome engage in a 'real politics' thriller., in which it is sometimes hard to tell the good guys form the bad guys.  From Viet Nam to East Germany to the Middle East and on to China--and back to Washington the bad guys seem to outnumber the good guys in a world where people are expendable and governments ulterior motives run amok.  Lots of action..good story telling.

mjc says:   Redford and Pitt raise questions with their performances --is this spy stuff just a game, or is it really a struggle to find a way to a more civilized world.

Wendy and Lucy. 2008 (Grade B-)

Director: Kelly Reichardt

Any Awards? nominated for Independent Spirit Award

CAST:  Michelle Williams; Will Patton: Will Oldham; John Oldham; John Robinson;  Wally Dalton;  Larry Fessenden;  Ayanna Berkshire;  John Breen; Deneb Catlan

plot summary: Looking for a new start Wendy (Michelle Williams) is headed to Alaska to get a hope for high-paying job in the canneries.  She and her dog (Lucy) get stopped in Portland, Oregon (where this is filmed) when Wendy attempts to steal some dog food, gets arrested and then, once she is released by the police, can't find Lucy.  Things head down hill from there--as her car breaks down and her cash if growing short. 

sez says: this is a worthwhile looks at how alone a person can become--and how even small kindnesses can make all the difference in another person's life.  Success is creating a drama about trying to find a lost dog deserves credit:  Good work there, it is not such an easy assignment .  And the acting was first rate.   

mjc says:  familiar sites of Portland drive a simple story

The Milk of Sorrow, 2009 (Grade D)

Director Claudia Llosa

Awards: Nominated for and Academy Award

Cast: Magaly Solier; Susi Sanchez; Efrain Solis;  Barbara Lazon; Delci Heredia; Karla Heredia; Fernando Caychol  Miller Revilla Chengay; Spencer Salazar

Plot summary--spoiler alert:  Fausta is the child of a woman who was raped during Peru's Civil Wars--Her mother was pregnant with Fausta when this happened and she spent her life singing to Fausta about the event. Fausta knows her mothers songs well.  Fausta has thus been stricken with a pathological fear that she "contracted from her mother's breast milk" which is the title: The "milk of sorrow,"  Fausta (Magaly Solier) inserts a potato in her vagina to protect her own sexuality and safety. She is a sick young woman--afraid  of the world.  When her mother dies she is driven to take a job to earn some money in order to take her mother's body home "to her village' to be buried.  Her new employer is a wealthy woman who is a musician who hears Fausta sing -- and we watch the woman steal (and take credit for) Fausta's music --and we are shown that there is more than one way the rich and powerful rape the poor.

sez says:  really rather slow and boring--and the potato is a bit too much-- I am sympathetic and generally support--and find vitality in stories that try and deal with the issues of abuses of power and how common people resist. but this was just the story of a disturbed girl...with no exit. or solution to her problem.  Sweet family she came from, running a wedding business was the saving grace.

mjc says: life goes on so best not to stash your dead mother under the bed--better to bury the dead and their horrors

Riding In Cars With Boys, 2001 (Grade B)

Director: Penny Marshall
Any Awards?  none that I know of
Cast:  Drew Barrymore; Steven Zahn; Brittany Murphy;  Adam Garcia;  Sara Gilbert; James Woods; Mika Boorem; Lorraine Bracco; Skye McCole Bartusiak; Maggie Gyllenhaall VIncent Pastore; Rosie Perez

story summary:  smart youg girl gets pregnant at 15 -- marries a good-hearted, but dim-bulb of a boy and thus has her life's ambitions challenged by having to attend to mother hood and supporting a family. Eventually she does succeed at her greatest ambition--and her son finally learns what what he needs to know--taht is to ask for help--from his father.

sez says; this is a sleeper of a movie--I had heard it was good when it came out but had never followed-up. I had taken it for a female coming of age flick.  It is much more that that. It is about female friends, and it is about coming of age...but it is also about life altering mistakes, facing adversity without being heroic, about plans going awry, about moving forward, inch by inch, and about family sticking together even when individuals are not getting what they want. It is about people not being able to see themselves as others see them.   It is a whole lot of real life happening.  It is an appealingly little move with lits of big issues being considered. And the acting is adequate to the task.


mjc says:  Her husband proves that sorry isn't enough

Waking Life (Grade A)

Director: Richard Linklater

Any Awards? Nominated for Independent Spirit Awards

Cast: Wiley Wiggins; Peter Atherton; Steve Brudniak; John Christensen; Julie Delpy; Charles Gunning; Ethan Hawke; Nicky Katt; Kim Krizan; Richard Linklater; Steven Soderbergh

 PLOT: animated film follows a young man (Wiley Wiggins) as he floats in and out of philosophical discussions with a succession of eccentrics and passionate thinkers, all the while uncertain whether he's conscious or dreaming. Thanks to each character's oddball charm, the ethereal conversation is as dynamic as the animation, resulting in an innovative film that is by turns droll, disturbing and provocative.

sez says: great animation--every shifting perspectives and colors and wobbly reality. You find in the end our protagonist is dead and his brain is still function via a lucid dream during the last minutes before his consciousness evaporates into the either. At first he just listens to the conversations and ramblings of others, then he begins to interact with the ideas that are being espoused-- which are early 21st century thoughts about the meaning of existence, human capacity,  free will, evolution, the nexus of science and religion, and the like. Hopeful ideas and angry ideas, wild rants and profound thoughts all have their moment. Not for someone who is looking for a traditional storyline and linear thinking. But fun for those who enjoy a little brain exercise once in awhile.

mjc says: fascinating animation weave together stretches of cosmology and philosophy allowing the viewer to absorb the words more forcefully.

The Secret Life Of Words, 2005 (Grade B+)

Director: Isabel Coixet

Any Awards?  None that we know of

Cast: Sarah Polley; Tim Robbins; Javier Camara; Julie Christie; Eddie Marsan; Steven Mackintosh; Leonard Watling; Daniel Mays; Dean Lennox Kelly; Danny Cunningham

PLOT: After physically surviving the war in Yugoslavia, the psychologically damaged  nurse Hanna (Sarah Polley) is forced to take time off her numbing factory job and is sent on vacation. She heads to Ireland and is lost and anxious until she hears about an oil-rig accident off the coast and she agrees to go to th rig and tend heroic burn victim Josef (Tim Robbins). She encounters various personalities on the derrick: Josef, a Russian soldier (Sverre Anker Ousdal), a lively Spanish chef (Javier Cámara), a caring and committed oceanographer and other oddballs who have found reasons to separate themselves from society.  Slowly people on the rig reveal their stories...Hannah's being the last, and most difficult.  And we, the audience are left to wonder about all of the 'forgotten' victims of war.

sez says: Bravo -- this is a great story, well told, brilliantly acted.  It is slow paced but even so it has a tension that builds, and a mystery to be solved.  Not 'who done it'  but 'what happened' and in the end, what is humanities responsibility in a case such as this--which is only one case in a million.   

MJC Says:  the depth and engagement that good actors can achieve even in roles with limited action is demonstrated brilliantly in this film of the range of humanity

Five Minuites of Heaven, 2009 (Grade B)

Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel

Any Awards?  None we know if

Cast: Liam Neeson;  James Nesbitt;  Anamaria Marinca;  Luliet Crawford;  Niamh Cusack;  Mark David;  Gerry Doherty;  Richard Dormer;  Paul Garret; Katy Gledhill;  Jonathan Harden

plot summary:  a meditation on guilt, forgiveness and reconciliation, this drama presents two men on opposite sides of Northern Ireland's political struggle: one a killer, the other the brother of the man he killed.  We meet them at the point of their being brought together years after the killing, to see if they can find peace with the past.

sez says: good stuff here...a thriller without any bombs or car chases.  Neeson & Nesbitt both do fabulous jobs with their characters.  And, ultimately the story is about much more than The Troubles in N. Ireland.  It is about the how and why people can get recruited to an extremest  group and how and why they will do anything --including the most heinous types of violence-- for the sake of there group. 
And even more it is about the real price and consequences of violent acts, which, once committed, take on a life of their own..both for the one who commits the violence and for the victim.  And without reconciliation--however that may take place -- there is no end to the original act of violence itself -- it takes over the lives of perpetrators and victims alike and can not be escaped without forgiveness.

mjc says:  always like watching Liam Neeson. Took on a very big topic here--and didn't quite make it.

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Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, 2008 (Grade B+)

DIRECTOR LEE DANIELSAwards? nominated for lots of awards, Independent Spirit, BAFTA, Golden Globes Sundance and Academy Awards, Int Won many awards for best supporting actress (Mo'Nique).
CAST: Gabourey; Mo'Nique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey, Lenny Kravitz, Sherry Shepherd, Nealla Gordon. Xosha Roquemore, Chyna Lane, ANgelic Zambrana, Stephanie Andujar, Amina Robinson, Nia Foster

sez says, this story provides a window on a world that most of us would like to never look into.  It is about a girl who is terribly abused by her family and the path she finds to get away from that life and hopefully to move into a new life.  It is horrific--and hopeful. The hope comes out of believing anyone can escape, even to a small degree, the imprint that is left on someone who has been so totally and absolutely beaten down and violated.  It does not end with Precious having solved all the problems she faces. Rather, it ends with her decision to take her life, and the lives of her children, out of the situation they have lived in. The strength that is required to do that is enormous. But we are shown that she has the strength to do that--and thus we can imagine and hope she will be able to continue to move forward. I loved that the public employees are depicted as caring and tireless in their efforts to open doors for abused kids.  And, equally important is the fact that they can not do anything to help these children unless the kids open the doors themselves.  Add to the powerful story outstanding acting and it is is clear why this won so many awards.


MJC Says:  hard to watch, which is a tribute to the actors who presented a potentially sentimental story with enough grit and reality to stop the maudlin and invoke the hope

Pirate Radio, 2009 (Grade B+)

Director: Richard Curtis

Awards? none that we know of but is worthy of consideration 

Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Rhys Ifans, Nick Frost, Kenneth Branagh. Tom Sturridge, Rhys Darby, Talulah Riley, January Jones, Emma Thomposn. Gemma Arterton, Tom Wisdom,  Jack Davenport

sez says: what a great cast....esp Bill Nighy is a stand-out, and that is a real accomplishment with so many great performances in this movie to compare it to.  This is a fun. If you like rock and roll you can't help but enjoy this movie.  It is not esp profound.. Its main message is that creativity is good and it can not be legislated away -- or suppressed.  Creativity and in this case music feeds our souls and it will always find a conduit to seep back into the world whenever and wherever it is threatened.  It will survive because people -- everyday people--need it, love it and support it.  There are good guys in the story (our wild disc jockies --and associates) and bad guys (Kenneth Branagh does a brilliant job as the bad bureaucrat--he disappears into his role) who want to outlaw rock and roll.  And you have a boy in search of his father..and costumes right out of the wilder part of the 1960s... It is a fun fun fun romp --  Grade B+

mjc says: pure fun, just what we needed as a transition from the British Isles to the USA.

Yes Man, 2008 (Grade D+)

Director: Peyton Reed

Cast:  Jim Carrey;  Zooey Deschanel; Sasha Alexander,  Terence Stamp,  Molly Sims, Danny Masterson, Bradley Cooper, Patrick Labyorteaux.  Fionnula Flanagan, Rhys Darby

SEZ: Jim Carrey relies on physical comedy and it's not so easy to find a story in which his physicality can be employed successfully especially as he gets older. In this story he is a depressed divorcee with low self esteem and a zero life.  He goes to a seminar learning about the power of "YES" and, of course, he learns to say yes to everything.  This, of course, takes him on a topsy-turvy ride of fun. And, Of Course, he finds the girl of his dreams and makes many people happy but things get complicated -- but never fear, of course, he works it all out. There are a few scenes which would probably make anyone smile but he is trying for hilarious and that's not happening. ANd there are too many "Of Courses"  in the story. Good luck to you Jim-Bo in finding some new ways to be funny that transcend the need to be twenty-something years old. You are not 20 any longer and you need to start acting your age.

MJC:  I am a sucker for feel good books & movies etc.  This made me feel good so I let go of all it's faults. There was one clarifying moment when the hero gets the girl and Jim Carrey really looks his age and the sweet young thing he is embracing at the Griffith Park Observatory looks like his daughter and that tells the tale of where he has ended up. Time to find a way to be his age and still use that fabulous plastic mug of his to give us the laughs we so desperately wish for and need. 

The Chorus, 2004 (Grade C+)

Director:  Christophe Barratier 

Cast:  Gerard Jugnot; Francois Berleand, Kad Merad, Jean-Paul Bonnaire, Marie Bunel, Jacques Perrin. Didier Flamand, Paul Charieras, Carole Weiss, Philippe Du Janerand, Erick Desmarestz, Jean-Baptiste Maunier, Maxence Perrin, Thomas Blumenthal, Cyril Bernicot

 SEZ SAYS: In the 1930s Bing Crosby taught the bad boys in his neighborhood to sing and everybody loved it. In this case we have a schoolteacher teaching dispossessed and orphan boys to sing after WW2. When our hero-teacher arrives at his new job he find  a lot of very bad boys but he teaches them to sing and meanwhile he fills our hearts with joy as we see the boys turn their lives around and become  little angels -- of nearly so. As hooky as this sounds it was actually acceptable fare when nothing better is around to watch. At least the music was better in this version then in the Bing Crosby version.  ANd who doesn like a little well done UP-LIFT from time to time.

MJC SAYS:  there was a Very cute kid in this singalong version of the old Bing Crosby singing priest movie. Here at least the hero teacher was bald which made for a slightly more realistic version of life.  Still we rooted for the kid we already knew was going to be a big time philharmonic conductor and sure enough he made it.

My Life In Ruins, 2009 (Grade D-)

Director: Donald Petrie
Cast: Nia Vardalos, Richard Dreyfuss, Alex Georgoulis; Rachel Dratch; Harland Williams; Maria Adanez; Macarena Benites, SHelia Bernette, Heather Blair, Maria Botto, Jareb Dauplaise, SImon Gleeson, Caroline Goodall.

sez says: Tour guide is a failure because she is really an academic who would like to teach people about what they are seeing in their tour. She would like to have a university job but her she is leading tours and boring the be-jeeses out of the tourists. Richard Dreyfuss who plays the widowed tourist helps the hapless tour guide to find happiness with the Greek bus driver. Does this sound bad or what? Well it is bad.

MJC:  the Parthenon had more animated verve than this this whole film. However, it was better toward the end than I expected it to be--but still it is a dog. 

Angels and Demons, 2009 (grade D)

Director: Ron Howard

Awards?  None that I know of and would be shocked if it got any.

Cast: Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor, Ayelet Zurer, Stellan Skarsgard, Masasa Moyo, Victor Alfieri. Yan Cui, Shelby Zemanek, Jonas Fisch, Kristof Konrad, Curt Lowens

SEZ SAYS ... One part mystery, one part brutal thriller, and one part boring. The boring being the biggest part. Formulaic in the worst sort of way. Four cardinals must be saved and one time bomb must be stopped and the least likely person turns out to be the criminal. Have we seen this before?  Way too many times.  Tom Hanks did a Tom Hanks sort of job, which is always appreciated but you have to wonder why he got involved in such a worthless enterprise... Maybe it was because Ron Howard was directing. But then you also have to question Howard's decision making skills since he sees to have selected this loser. Come back to your senses Ron we miss you!  You should not waste your talent on the likes of this.

MJC:  Ron what were you thinking!  With all that could be dramatized about the catholic church and it's history this was a shot that missed the mark. Only plus I can come up with, after hearing PhDs disparaged so often, it is nice to see the hero is an academic in the humanities.

Away We Go, 2009 (Grade C+)

Director: Sam Mendes
Studio: Awards? None I know about
Starring: John Krasinski; Maya Rudolph; Jeff Daniels; Carmen Ejogo; Jim Gaffigan; Maggie Gyllenhaal; Josh Hamilton; Cheryl Hines; Allison Janney; Melanie Lynskey; Catherine O'Hara

Story Line:  News that they are expecting their first baby causes mom and dad to be (John Krasinski) Bert and Verona (Maya Rudolph) to embark on a journey to locate the perfect place to live and to raise their child. Their quest inevitably yields unexpected surprises.

sez says: I expected more from Sam Mendes--You can put this movie in his :"I am not perfect' bucket. It was overall mildly entertaining.  But it just didn't have an adequate story to hold it together. And while Krasinski and Rudolph portrayed a 'nice young couple' -- they were also boring. He was just a little too stupid, She was just a little to flat. Ther was not apparent reason they were together.   The acting was fine..but the concept was weak. Granted there were a couple laugh-out-loud moments--and they are few and far between in life so they should never be dismissed.  For instance Alison Janney is over the top funny.  And Carmen Ejogo an Jeff Daniels do a grand send-up of Bert's parents who are embarking on their own life and not sitting about waiting to be babysitters. Then Maggie Gyllenhaal couldn't have been any better as an anti-stroller mom.  -- but even with the fun bits, this is a case of the whole not being as good as some of its parts.  Grade C+

BUG, 2006 (Grade C+)

 Director  William Friedkin
Awards? none that I know of as a film --but the Play may have won some
Cast: Ashley Judd; Lynn Collins; Harry Connick Jr., Brian F O'Byrne, Michael Shannon


Story line: this is a screenplay based on a play by Tracy Letts: It is a claustrophobic thriller that takes place in a small motel type apartment. It tells how an unstable man (Michael Shannon) conveniences a very needy woman (Ashley Judd) that the government is implanting insects in its citizens.The real question is, is Shannon's character sane--is what he is saying true, How can we tell for sure?  Is his is a paranoid fantasy- or a cry against a dystopia.

sez says:  We originally saw this on stage. It works wonderfully well as live theater..  Scott Coopwood played the role on stage that Harry Connick Jr plays in the movie. Coopwood brought dread into the room just by walking on stage.  Connick did a stand up job as an unpredictable and violent ex-husband--but Coopwood made you understand that Judd's character already had one foot in the nut-house before her new love-interest, Shannon, wonders into her life.

What are we willing to believe in order to not be left alone?  What are we cabable of doing to have and to keep another person in our life? Judd's character is a lonely older woman (she is suppose to be in her 40s--not so in the movie) and she has suffered terrible loss (a dozen year earlier her child disappear never again to be found). She is not doing well--but she gets by on the margins.  Enter a young stranger.  He finds her attractive and makes love to her. This is happening at the same time that her violent, ex-husband has been released from prison and is menacing her. She is happy to bring this new young maninto her life.

Then the new lover begins to tell her his story and his secrets: Bugs are everywhere, they have even been implanted in your body and you must get them out (Michael Shannon did this character on stage all over the country and his rendition is very well developed)    She/Judd gets pulled into his reality with apparently horrifying results.  BUT-there is always the possibility that what he is saying is true. The story moves along giving you hints of information that might prove his reality to be true--or prove ti false. But it never tells you which it is.  And that is the magic of this tale -- becasue we, the audience, have to decide. Can we tell the difference between a crazed nutcase and someone desperately trying to tell us an awful truth?  The story leaves just enough room for either to be the case..and it never tells us what is real.   In the end we are given no clear answer-but we sure know something is dreadfully wrong.  The question is: What is real and what isn't?

The movie plays heavily toward this being a descent into madness--the play works better, leaving the question to be answered by the audience--as unsettling as that is.   (Movie Grade C+, the Play was a B+)

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, 2009 (Grade C+)

Director - Terry Gilliam
Awards? -- none that I know of
Cast: Christopher Plummer; Lily Cole; Heath Ledger; Andrew Garfield; Tom Waits; Verne Troyer; Colin Farrell; Johnny Depp; Jude Law; Richard Riddell

 

sez says: this was fun-- Gilliam is trustworthy when it comes to employing his imagination--and in this case he also employed a fabulous cast. The worlds of Dr Parnassus come alive when a person walks through his magic mirror and their imagination takes control --and it is then that you must decide if you will follow the light (and do the right thing) --or will you be lured to the dark side...where Tom Waits awaits you (he provides a grand version of The Devil--maybe one of the best ever).
I have to admit that the story is weak--(is there even a coherent story here? Just barely.) But the worlds are wonderful surreal, fanciful, exotic, unpredictable and a gas to watch. So if Mr G makes a movie I will get in line to watch it--and we can hope someday he manages to hit gold again like he did with Brazil -- This doesn't live up to that stellar accomplishment but it was still fun. (Grade C+)

Kite Runner, 2007 (Grade A)

Director: Marc Forster
Awards? BAFTA & GOLDEN GLOBES nominated it for best foreign language film
Starring: Shaun Toub; Khalid Abdalla; Atossa Leoni; Homayoun Ershadj; Nai Tanha; Sayed Jarar Mashihullah; Gharibzada Zekeria Ebrahimi; Ahmad Khan Mahmidzada; Mir Mahmood; Shah Hashimi

story summary:  Years after immigrating to the US from Afghanistan during the Russian Invasion, a once privileged Afghan boy has grown to manhood (Khalid Abdalla) in an insular ethnic community.  He returns to his war-ravaged homeland to discover the terror that set in after the Russians left and the Taliban took control.  He is there to try to repay his debt to a loyal childhood friend whose trust he betrayed.

sez says: this is a great movie-the backdrop of which tells the story about what has happened to Afghanistan over the last  50 years.  It also tells other tales: A psychological tale about a boy who wants his father's approval--but has a father who is a bigger than life person.  And a tale of childhood friendship that is destroyed by the racism and class-bound nature of the society. A tale about being an immigrant in America. Well done, moving and educational--what more can you asks from a mere-movie.  Grade A  

Tell No One, 2006 (Grade C+)

DIRECTOR: Guilaume Canet
Awards: none that I know of
Cast: Francois Cluzet; Marie-Josee Coze; ANdre Dussollier; Kevin Scott Thomas; Francois Berleand; Nathalie Baye; Jean Rochefort; Marina Hands; Gilles Lellouche; Phillip Lefebvre; Florence Thomassin; Oliver Marchal; Bridgitte Catillion; Samir Guesmi



story line: Eight years ago, pediatrician Alexandre Beck (François Cluzet) was the prime suspect in his wife's murder. He's put all that behind him, but now that two dead bodies have been found near his home, he's suspected of wrongdoing once again.

sez says: a diverting mystery -- easy to get involved and wonder who did it -- a little convoluted in the end-- but over all well done. And a romantic ending to boot! Certainly not a great film--not a magical story--even a little disappointing with all the twists at the end-- but still fully diverting.  You won't walk away from it once you step in--it keeps you engaged and wondering--how did this happen. It has some good characters, like the hoodlum who helps the doctor. the lesbian sister, the good cop --and as always, France looks like a nice place to live. Grade C+

 

 

Sunshine Cleaning, 2008 (Grade C+)

Director: Christine Jeffs

Awards? non that I know of

Starring: Amy Adams; Emily Blunt; Steve Zahn; Alan Arkin; Mary Lynn Rajskub; Eric Christian Olsen; Clifton Collins Jr.; Maddie Corman; Kevin Chapman; Amy Redford

 

Story Line: Rose Lorkowski (Amy Adams) teams up with her unreliable sister, Norah (Emily Blunt), to start a new company that specializes in biohazard removal and crime scene cleanup.

sez says: this is a simple something film -- not a nothing film. It is not brilliant--but it is not a waste. It deals with the economic struggles of young women in an honest fashion --which is a breath of fresh air. Young women need to see the reality they face in real stories. It also deals with emotional challenges of sisters who lost their mother early in their lives and who have a loving but incompetent father.  There is something deeply honest in all of this --and yet it also edges up to contrived to keep the a story going.  Grade C+

I Am Love, 2009 (Grade B)

Director Luca Guadagnino
Awards: none known
Cast: Tilda Swinton; Flavio Parenti; Edoardo Gabbriellini; Aba Rohrwacher; Pippo Delbono; Diane Fleri; Maria Paiato; Marisa Berenson; Waris Ahluwalia; Gabriele Ferzetti.

sez says: this ultra rich family may look like they have everything anyone could ever want -- but there is no such thing as a trouble free home. In this case, we learn that mom/Emma (played by Swinton) was brought home from Russia when her husband had gone there looking for beautiful art to purchase --he found a beautiful woman  and brought her home too.  He gave her a new name when they arrived in Italy (He named me Emma: I've forgotten my Russian name she says).  So we learn she is just one of the many possessions of the rich family.  Not that her husband does not care about her -- but she was 'purchased' every bit as much as her son's new acquaintance (the chief) is purchased to cook for the family parties. (ie: he sells his skilled labor--she sold her beauty to the family). One result of having been purchased was an abandonment of a part of herself.


Ah, but then the chief's cooking awakens her suppressed erotic desires and she abandons propriety and follows her forgotten Russian-self into the arms / and into the kitchen of the chief.  This get complicated when her son (the chief's friend) figures out whats up. Meanwhile mix in a daughter who has discovered she is a Lesbian--and how Emma handles that.   Layer all of that with a musical score that vigorously  guides your emotions and you've got an idea of what this is all about. Indeed, I am not sure how well the movie would have worked with out the powerful musical score... It was a character all on its own.  (Grade B)

NINE, 2009 Grade B

Director: Rob Marshall
Awards?  Nominated for lots of Golden Globes and P Cruse nominated for a best supporting actress

Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis; Marion Cotillard; Penelope Cruz; Judi Dench; Kate Hudson; Nicole Kidman; Sophia Loren; Fergie; Elio Germano; Giuseppe Spitalri; Martina Stella

 sez says-- Broadway to film-- songs and dances--and great acting led by Daniel Day-Lewis (I am more impressed by him all the time) and company --(a great star line up!) -- but there is not much of a story-- It is nothing but  "oh woe is me -- I don''t know what matters in life cause I am too caught us in my sexual fantasies"  But that shallow topic does allow for a lot of sexy costumes and dancing.  There are some entertaining numbers--but it also drags at times. It was better than I expected it to be: I will certainly give it that. (Grade B)