Life as a House (Grade C+)

Director: Irwin Winkler
Starring:  Kevin Kline, Kristin Scott Thomas, Hayden Christensen,Jena Malone, Mary Steenburgen, Mike Weinberg, Scotty Leavenworth, Ian Somerhalder, Jamey Sheridan, Scott Bakula, Sandra Nelson, Sam Robards, John Pankow, Kim Delgado, Barry Primus

Relatively well done. Divorced man (Kline) has cancer and not much time to live.  His son is a punk who is hunting and alienated and presents a challenge to his family. Kline takes him for the summer to tear down an old house (that his much hated father built had left for him) and to build a new house together (heavy handed metaphor here).   Story is entirely predicable. But for what it is it is tolerable.  .

Code Unknown (2000) Grade B

German director Michael Haneke's  drama carefully interweaves the stories of a promising actress, her photojournalist boyfriend, a young teacher of African descent and a Romanian illegal immigrant.

 

Starring:  Juliette Binoche, Thierry Neuvic

Director: Michael Haneke 

sez says -- interesting structure for story telling-- small snip-its of action --maybe 2 to 3 minutes each-- some scenes seem entirely inconsequential, until they are added up. They eventually are tied together -- but often you watch them wondering what is this?  but then the appearance of a character previously seen makes the connection.  This has the effect of feeling more like life than a traditional liner storyline--where everything is connected, and all the pieces must be resolved by the end.  Rather there are tings that are floating in and out of our lives--and around us, that may never get resolved, and that can be in or out of our consciousness without our bidding. In the midst we make decisions that alter our lives and have no idea how they will boomerang..or how they will touch and effect a multitude of others.  Fascinating structure..so well done.. that you can forgive the fact that the story (what story?) is a bit obtuse   

After the Wedding, 2006 (Grade B)

Director Susanne Bier

Cast Mads Mikkelsen, Rolf Lassgard, Sidse Babett, Knudsen Stein, Fischer Christensen, Mona Malm, Christian Tafdrup, Niels Anders-Thorn, Rita Angela, Erni Arneson

Plot: to save an orphanage in India, Jacob Petersen (Mads Mikkelsen) reluctantly returns to his homeland (Denmark) to meet a self indulgent businessman / philanthropist --who wants Jacob in Denmark for his own, personal reasons.   What those reasons are is the power behind this very unlikly plot--but it works anyway as an entertainment

sez says: great acting, hard to believe story, but diverting.

mjc says: good movie, good acting, interesting story about What Is A Family.

Goodbye Solo, 2008 (Grade A-)

Director: Ramin Bahrani
Awards? Independent Spirit Best Make Lead nominee -- well deserved
Starring: Souleymane Sy Sayane; Red West; Diana Franco Galindo; Lane Williams; Mamadou Lam; Carmen Leyfa; Viktor Hernandez; Nayanj Reyes; Virgilio Tix

plot outline: cab driver Solo (Souleman Sy Sayane) lives with his Mexican girlfriend and her bright young daughter and they are about to have a child together.  She wants him to be steady in his work to support his family and he dreams of being an airline attendant and is studying hard to fulfill his dream. One night he picks up Walter who offers Solo $1000 to drive him to a famous mountain overlook in a date in the near future.  Solo is an accommodating and caring man--he knows there is something fishy about the request and tries to befriend Walter and to dissuade him from moving forward in what appears to be a plan for suicide.

sez says: Solo is one of the most appealing characters I've meet in the movies for a long while.  I recommend him to you. This is not a fast paced Hollywood mainstream movie-- rather it is a nicely paced mystery of sorts, populated with people who do not tell all. It is about real people--not superheros--and the world as it is lived--and not just the presentation of a fantasy

Red Road, 2006 (Grade B)

Director: Andrea Arnold

any awards? recognized at  Toronto Film Festival; Sundance and won 2006 Cannes Jury Prize

Cast: Kate Dickie; Tony Curran; Martin Compston; Natalie Press; Paul Higgins; Andrew Armour

sez says:  In this slow moving thriller Jackie (Kate Dickie) uses her job as a security surveillance monitor to zoom in on her little corner of Glasgow, Scotland, via cameras placed throughout the city. Her narrow and depressed life is swamped by obsession when one evening she sees a familiar face: Clyde (Tony Curran), a man who figures prominently in a dark episode of Jackie's past. We watch as she circles round him and the pain he is associated with, until in the end she faces a decision: will she remain captive to the desire for revenge or find release in some kind of forgiveness...all of which is done while her libido simmers.

I like this movie and I liked its ending but be warned:  It doesn't have any 'fast action' and could be hard on folks who want to see a story unfold a fast pace.--and I do have one complaint: the ascents are too hard to understand by us American-English speaking folks-- it needs subtitles.

Starting Out In the Evening, 2007 (Grade D)

Director: Andrew Wagner

Any Awards -- none I know of and would not think it is a candidate for any

Cast: Frank Langella; Lauren Ambrose; Lili Taylor; Joel West; Jessica Hecht; Adrian Lester; Sean T Krishnan

plot:   Leonard Schiller (Frank Langella) is an aging writer, with all his books out of print, he continues to write; he knows no other way to live.   An enterprising graduate student Heather Wolfe (Lauren Ambrose) wants to makes his novels the topic of her master's thesis and raises his hopes for a literary comeback...and revives his libido.  Meanwhile, Leonard's middle-aged daughter (Lili Taylor) faces challenges regarding her own prospects for long-term happiness.  Will she have a child on her own--or stay with the man she loves who is determined to not have children.

sez says: with the exception of Langella this was pretty poorly acted. The story might have been able to make it if there was a different cast.

mjc says: good story, Langella did a fine job, the women didn't seem up to the task especially Lili Taylor

LES SAIGNANTES / THE BLOODETTES, 2005 Cameroon Film, (Grade C-)

Directed by Jean-Pierre Békolo 
Cameroon, 2005 , 97 min.
Shown at the 21st Annual African Film Festival, 2011 in Portland Oregon


Per the Film Festival Notes:  Jean-Pierre Békolo is unique in African filmmaking. Like his previous films, Quartier Mozart and Aristotle’s Plot (CFAF 1999), Les Saignantes is a post-modern, non-realistic, genre-bending film that blends social satire with a longing for change. It is set in 2025, and today’s corruption, cronyism, and sexual exploitation have only gotten worse. Two young women decide to seize the power of their own sexuality to combat those in power. The film won the second-place Silver Stallion award at FESPACO in 2007.

In French with English subtitles.

sez says: some wonderful images -- surreal, smokey, using lots of contrasting colors, blue light with bright yellow clothing etc.  and creative sets..this is a weird story of two young women who try and dispose of a body of a government official (who died in the bed of one of the young women) --they have his body chopped up to dispose of it, then decide to get a new body attached to the remaining head, so they can throw a wake and get access to the rich and powerful who will show up at the W.I.P. (ie Wake of Important Person).  They are very sexy and they know their sexual attractiveness is power.   It is a little choppy --and certainly off-beat--but it is creative and weirdly compelling.


mjc says: this film has style and verve but not as much of a glimpse into he culture and society of Cameroon as other film have given us of their countries of origin.

Arugna, 2008 Nigerian Film (grade D)

Directed by Tunde Kelani
Nigeria, 2008 , 97 min.

Per the festival notes:  Serving as an allegory for contemporary Nigeria, Arugba is the latest film by Nigerian filmmaker Tunde Kelani, know for his entertaining blend of social commentary, romantic comedy, and traditional moral tales:  Arugba continues in this vein. Add singing and dancing, some health lessons, a little Barack Obama, and even a bit of kung fu, and you’ve got what Kelani calls a “Nollywood” production.  

PLOT: Adetutu, a university student and the niece of a provincial king, has been chosen to be the “ceremonial virgin” in the traditional masquerade festival. She is beautiful, intelligent, courteous, talented, and courageous. But will she be able to save her people from the pervasive corruption and intrigues in the king’s palaces?  In Yoruba and English with English subtitles.

sez says--this film has weak production values, poorly shot scenes, and very hard to follow story.  Yet, you can't help but realize that we know very little about African Culture and this IS an opportunity to discover, if by osmosis, something about Nigeria.  Some of the best materail was in the song lyrics, and the fascination with Obama.  I am glad I saw it --but would be hard pressed to recommend it to anyone as entertainment.  

mjc says: more information that I could absorb about the cultural setting of the film but hard to watch because it was so poorly crafted.

The Shape of Things, 2003 (Grade D)

Director: Neil LaBute

Awards? None I know of

Cast: Paul Rudd; Rachel Weisz; Gretchen Mol; Fred Weller

plot summary:  When shy, insecure English student Adam (Paul Rudd) begins a relationship with radical art student Evelyn (Rachel Weisz), she takes charge of his life and brings about extreme  changes in him. Evelyn's motivations finally are revealed and they are shocking in this adaptation of a play by writer-director Neil LaBute about the lengths to which people go for acceptance and for love

sez says:  We saw this play and felt if didn't do a good job getting to the real points that the story held--so we rented the movie to see if the playwright (LaBute) did sometime different with the story on film than we had seen done on stage.  To our disappointment, we found the movie to be weak. The acting was off; the story barley came through at all. Why?? It is an interesting, challenging story,,,but you'd have to work hard to find the serious questions it is asking in the movie. Maybe LaBute should stick to writing and back off from directing. 

mjc says: it is hard to evaluate the movie having seen the play and thus already knowing the plot.  But the transformation of Adam is better executed in the movie than it was in the play --but the art student actress in the movie was no where as good as the actress we say in the play.

Heaven, 2002 (grade D)

 Director: Tom Tykwer

Awards: None I know of

Cast: Cate Blanchett; Giovanni Ribisi; Remo Girone; Stefania Rocca; Alwssandro Sperduti; Mattia Sbragia; Stefano Santospago; Alberto Di Stasio; Giovanni Vettorazzo; Gianfranco Bara; Mauro Marion

plot summary: outraged by law enforcement's non-investigation following her husband's drug-related death, Philippa Paccard (Cate Blanchett) takes the law into her own hands--and kills innocent people by mistake.  She ends up imprisoned and accused of terrorism by police who are in cahoots with the drug dealers.. Filippo (Giovanni Ribisi), a police officer involved with Philippa's questioning, falls in love with her and helps her escape. Then the story turns down some strange roads --and all the things that it might have been about disappear into the sky.

sez says: I really like Cate Blanchett so I will watch most anything that she is is--but this...well, what was she thinking. At first it seemed like it might be a typical cop drama--but it went off on some spree about love at first sight, and bed wetting, and romantic surrealism. Not my cup of tea.  And it is rather annoying all of this acting talent got used up in such a farce.

mjc: stupid movie --inane plot leads nowhere leaving one to wonder what Blanchett was thinking when she agreed to participate.

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.