13 Conversations About One Thing, 2002 (Grade B)

Director:  Jill Sprecher
Awards? 2003 Independent Spirit Award to Alan Arkin
Starring: Matthew McConaughey; John Turturro; Clea DuVall; Amy Irving; Alan Arkin; Brian Smiar; Frankie Faison; David Connelly; Eliazbeth Reaser


sez says: this is a refreshing story that openly asks and explores the answers to philosophical questions while it is weaves together the lives of a number of characters: What do people want? What is happiness? Does anyone's life have purpose? Can a small kindness make a difference? Can a big mistake ever be overcome? How much does a person's predisposition have to do with their life?  What has happened is irreversible and every action may have more results than you can ever know about.  Great cast.. fun to watch. 

The Secret In Their Eyes, 2010 (Grade A)

Director: Juan Jose Campenella
Awards: Academy Award Best Foreign Film
Starring: Ricardo Darin; Guillermo Francella; Soledad Villamil; Paso Rago; Javier Godino; Jose Lusi Gioia; Carla Quevedo; Rudy Romano; Mario Alarcon

sez says: this is a perfectly crafted film. It is some mix between a mystery and a romance and a suspense-thriller and a drama: It contains elements of each but is not any one of these things.  And while it is a wonderful amalgam of all those genres, it is also about bigger issues. For instance: It looks at what gives life meaning to individuals, suggesting that it is never the same for anyone but that  everyone is animated by some passion that can not be escaped.  It also asserts that our past is not 'some other life' but rather it is the same life we have now -- but if we let ourselves linger in the past we will give up any hope for a future.  That connecting of how we become who we are and suggesting it is never to late to regain a path that seems lost has tremendous power in the hand of this crew--remarkably well done all round.  (Grade A)

Iron Man, 2008 (Grade D)

Director:  Jon Favreau
Awards?  Nope --nor would you expect it to
Starring: Robert Downey Jr.; Jeff Bridges; Gwyneth Paltrow; Terrance Howard

sez said: I often find myself enjoying this kind of old time comic book hero made into film story--but not this one.  The sexism was not comic --the violence was too graphic and not comic -- the fast cars and posing as cool guys was obnoxious. STARK'S (aka Downey) supposed transformation to a 'good guy'  from being a 'rich jerk' was frail and tepid. Really disappointing was that  Bridges had the opportunity to ham it up and be a bad guy--but he didn't do the job. He played it much too straight.  It was an all round Big D-Disappointment (Grade D)

Ali, 2002, (Grade A)

Director: Michael Mann
Awards? Nominated for Academy Awards and Golden Globes
Starring: Will Smith; Jamie Fox; Joh Voight; Mario Van Peebles; Ron Silver; Jeffrey Wright; Mykelti Williamson, Jada Pinkett Smith, Nona M Gaye, Michael Michele, Giancarlo Esposito.

sez says: fabulous--I could watch this movie two times in a row just to enjoy the camera work. The shots of the boxer's feet brings the viewer in close to the reality of what it takes to 'fight': You've got to move fast and without good legs you'll never make it in the ring. And Ali's chant "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" is given a visual understanding.  Will Smith and John Voight could not have done better jobs of creating Ali and Howard Cosell... and that they didn't win awards is mind boggling. What I liked most about this depiction of Ali's story is its historical placement: The intensity of the civil rights movement and the refusal of blacks to accept the various forms of discrimination and evils that befell them as a race were raging and Ali can not be understood separate from that time. And..interestingly, this story is told with only a moderate amount of dialogue. The view is given a certain amount of information --and then left to watch Ali think about it --then you see his right-on responses to the situation. This is a great story and wonderfully made movie.  (Grade A)

Inglourious Basterds, 2009 (Grade D-)

Director:  Quentin Taratino
Awards?  .. Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and nominated for other awards
 Stars: Brad Pitt, Christopher Waltz, Melanie Laurent, Eli Roth, Michael Fassbender, Diane Kruger, Daniel Bruhl; Til Schweiger, B J Novak, Samm Levine, Paul Rust, Mike Myers.

sez says-- Using hatred for Nazi as an excuse to ramp up the violence is par for the course for Taratino. I wonder if he could even make a movie that anyone would watch if he abstained from being grotesque--he seems to only want to outdo his last spree of blood and gore. He doesn't ring my bell. I watched this to see the Christopher Waltz's award winning performance --I was told it was really good--and it is. So this is not a total loss --and actor with Waltz's skill has now been recognized --so we will probably get to see him again. Hopefully not in another Taratino flick. Being a 'bad boy' is nothing more than boring and doesn't produce good stories. (Grade D-)

Coco Before Chanel, 2009 (Grade B)

Director: Anne Fontaine
Awards: Nominated for some
Starring: Andrey Tautou, Benoit Poelvoorde, Alessandro Nivola, Marie Gillain, Emmanuelle Devos, Regis Royer, Etinne Bartholomeus, Yan Duffas, Fabien Behar, Roch Leibovici

sez says: lovely to look at-- interesting to think about.  Here is a story we do not often get to see. A woman sleeps with powerful men to gain security and

eventually a position of power for herself.  Not new in reality--but not a story that often is told without the woman having to suffer for her sins.  So BRAVA for a little truth telling--and for making it such a lovely movie to watch too.
 But, there is a point that isn't discussed explicitly, and which I am wondering about.  Coco is shown to be a major force in changing in women's clothing fashion: from the turn of the century 'all trussed up buxom woman' to the lose fitting clothing ' mystery of what is underneath' style that she introduced.  That is presented as being a liberating transformation--from tight constraining garb to relaxed comfortable--(and less gaudy styles). But did that not also start the move toward women's mania with being ever and ever thinner? Moving us on to anorexia and the unobtainable 10" waist that a woman would have to have to look like a Barbie Doll? If you are trying to hide your body under your clothes..than it might be best to not have too much body. The 'mystery body-French Style' works for naturally small thin women (like Coco) --but it might not be so healthy for full bodied women.