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)