ROMANCE AND CIGARETTES

ROMANCE AND CIGARETTES AN UNUSUAL COMBINATION
What an unbelievably odd film John Turturro has brought to us. Literally, as it finished production back in 2005, but due to studio politics, Turturro chose to use his own money to distribute it here. I think that movies go through trends just like other media. It appears that the year 2007 was the year for off-beat musicals. If others were "off-beat" than this movie jumped the tracks and kept on running. Nick (James Gandolfini) will probably remembered best with his work on the Sopranos. Who better to play a crude and unpolished unhappily married man that he? His wife, Kitty (Susan Sarandon) delivers an unexpectedly range of character; from softness to nag. So, with him unhappy wedlock, he does what any man does, he has an affair. Her name is Tula (Kate Winslett) and to date, I have not seen her in a more slutty, raw and crass character. She was totally unrecognisable during the first few scenes of the movie as we only see her in the shadows, dancing. The whole movie is like that. Strange and unexpected. It does not take itself too seriously or over the top, like it could have easily been. The song and dance numbers are engaging. To see the policemen pirouette, the pregnant women in step using their bellies as props... so bizarre and surreal. Parts of the script even comes from song lyrics. There are so many outstanding performances, even those in short cameos that constantly keep you drawn to the film. Christopher Walkin is Bo, Kitty's cousin who helps her deal with the whore who has been seeing her husband. It is truly full of excellence and just plain craziness. Some of the musical numbers didn't fit well into a scene, but the others outweighed the difference. There is serious drama in the film as much as the serious absurdity. Some were randy and crude and some touching and insightful. Well worth a peak.

PICK: What a bizarre and engaging film/musical and a powerful cast of characters is delightful.

THE GOOD NIGHT

THE GOOD NIGHT WAS INDEED GOOD

"Sometimes I wish that you could just hit the sack and never wake up. If your favorite song never ended, or your best book never closed, if the emotions mustered from these things would just go on and on, who wouldn't want to stay asleep? The guy who discovers that perpetual dream, he's my man."

This is the theory taught by Jack-of-all-trades, Mel (Danny Devito) who teaches a 'class' in lucid dreaming at the community center. That is the movie, in a nutshell. Gary (Martin Freedman) is the epitome of the walking dead. He is a musician at heart, once a pop star, who is forced to dampen his creative spirit for the bill-paying world of commercial jingles. Gwyneth Paltrow is Dora, Gary's girlfriend but is is neither a girl or a friend. She could dampen the room by merely walking in to it. She is draining the life force from Gary one day at a time. The only one with genuine heart is seemingly Gary, but it is sad and lays dying in his chest like dead weight. Until one day... or should I say night, Gary meets a beautiful woman, Anna (Penelope Cruise). She is alluring, mesmerizing and above all, she likes him; perhaps adores him. It's like she was waiting for Gary to fall asleep so he could join her in this blissful dream world. Then he wakes up. He goes on a quest of sorts to figure out how to use lucid dreaming to spend as much time as possible with this woman, enter Mel (Danny DeVito). This film is lovely. In the same vein of Vanilla Sky (also with Penelope Cruise) the lines between real world and dream world are blurred.We are brought to a climax with the conventional ending, fooled intentionally and then like real life, BAM... I rarely flinch or gasp aloud, even with scary movies. This ending hits the audience upside the face and we never saw it comin'. Obviously I won't get into details. This movie is a lovely look at the human spirit and how basic our needs can be. It is a creative and well thought out original film. The characters are fresh and dynamic, but above all else, real.

PICK: Interesting look at the reality of relationships as well as the reality with ourselves.

WRIST CUTTERS

WRISTCUTTERS DARK EXISTENTIAL LOVE STORY
Welcome to the land of the dead, or more precisely, the land of those who have killed themselves. Needless to say this is a very dark comedy. It is an "indie" film and the cast is mildly recognisable. Patrick Fugit (Who was great in Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous) played the lead role of Zia. The lead actress, beautiful Shannyn Sossamon as Mikal coincidentally played a character from the bland film, Rules of Attraction, who suicides in perhaps the most graphic of suicide scenes. There is potential here for a great expressive film but it is just one one razor blade short of a pack of razor blades. It tries to address the theories on life after death, but it's almost too deep for its own good. When I thought I understood the symbolism and meaning of the plot and characters I was turned upside down and then everything looked pretty silly. It was an interesting story but after a while of not finding a traceable plot, I lost interest.
NOT a pick: Interesting but also tiresome. I might see it again for a dollar.

SOUTHLAND TALES

SOUTHLAND TALES FANTASTIC ROMP THROUGH THE UNIVERSE

"I am a pimp, and pimps do not commit suicide." From this moment on, I will be a Dwayne Johnson (Boxer Santos) fan. He was able to pull off that campy stylized balance of intended sarcastic humor and not-so-serious-seriousness. This was a mind bending, stylized campy excursion into the future where nothing is what anyone could predict. What a fantastic romp in the park this was. To attempt to explain the plot I would face too difficult a task. Basically, it is about "this is the way the world ends" and politics, government, eco-terrorism, cyberspace, and porn stars to say the very least. The cast (Sarah Micheller Geller, Justin Timberlake, Jon Lovitz, Sean William Scott, Mandy Moore, and a huge handful of current and former SNL cast) could not be more star studded than this one which surprisingly went to DVD way too quick. It is different, dizzying and compelling all at once. The characters are fabulous and larger than life but something about it just makes you more and more drawn in. If I were to enjoy a guilty pleasure, this would be it. You either really like it or really hate it. I really enjoyed this movie. http://southlandtales.com/

PICK: This film was fun and fabulous. Keep an open mind and hold on.

SWEENEY TODD: DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET

SWEENEY TODD DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET NEEDS A SHAVE "Narrator: This is the tale of an ordinary man, who had everything... Barker, his name was. Benjamin Barker. Narrator: Until a man of power stole his freedom, destroyed his family and banished him... for life. And in his sorrow a new man was born." I love Johnny Depp. I love Helena Bonham Carter and I love Tim Burton. There was a lot of love and anxious anticipation waiting for this film to release in December (but is now on DVD). Maybe I was tossed on my head as a child, but I did not love this film. There, I said it, the awkward truth comes out. 'Everyone' was nervous about the singing; could Depp and/or Carter sing well enough to make this movie magic. Once out, 'everyone' was shocked and amazed, yes they could sing, he more passably than she. The movie looked good, the dark images that Burton has been so skilled at perfecting. Yes, it was also lots of blood. There were lots of blood in the Kill Bill series, but since 'everyone' liked Burton more than Tarantino (and I see 'their' point) the violence and blood letting was okay. The acting was flawless. So where did it go wrong? I usually love those awkward movies and predicted that it would be accepted fondly or die a celluloid death. After much inward speculation, I finally got it down to Broadway. This film was a "Broadway" musical. It wasn't a musical like Across the Universe; it was a Broadway musical. That was the key that I did not anticipate. I loved Chicago and that was a "Broadway" musical, but there was something that just lacked in this film. There was a whole set up, everyone and everything was pretty, albeit dark. Yet, when the singing began it was tiresome. Perhaps I expected that Burton's take on musicals would be different. I wanted to love it so very much, but instead was terribly let down.
NOT a pick: Entertaining, but not sustaining enough for a full length film.

I AM LEGEND

I AM LEGEND WAS NOT LEGENDARY, BUT BETTER THAN EXPECTED "I can help. I can save you. I can save everybody. " as spoken by Robert Neville (Will Smith) and that's the movie in a nutshell. We are in the future, 2012, and a cure for cancer has been announced and it is a downward spiral from there. Neville is a scientist, immune to those who received the "cure for cancer" three years earlier, which turned into a deadly virus that makes you avoid the daylight (zombies only come out at night, rule #26 of movie plots), do bad things and hurt people. They like the dark, so we watch Neville and his dog Sam check for people, infected or not, and all the other stuff solitary scientists do. Note to self: Immediately turn off DVD when character is shown to have a loyal dog or cat. Aside from his work, he tries to find relief from the stress in comical ways. It isn't until the mid-point of the movie where 1) We learn about where his wife and daughter went during the evacuation of Manhattan, which explains his drive to find a cure and 2) We get a glimpse inside his mind (and outside, this guy is ripped!) where the stress of being alone the whole never ending search for the vaccine spits in his face each day, as both a man and a scientist. The visual effects in this film are stunning. Much like his buddy Tom Cruise in Vanilla Sky, the normally busy and lively streets are abandoned and eerily quiet. The plot pushed pretty hard at being any kind of believable, but it was still entertaining. Albeit the end of the film was a little too cornball/sappy, but overall Smith gave an outstanding performance. I ponder if Smith was too big an actor for this role. Then the movie could have tanked and be added to the Lohan hall of fame. But it didn't. They went in with a accomplished, commercial actor who was better than the script allowed and hoped for a smash hit. No need to place the blame. It was an interesting film, once it got going, not great, but absolutely much better than I previously thought.

PICK: Entertaining premise and strong performance by Will Smith.

KURT COBAIN, ABOUT A SON

KURT COBAIN, ABOUT A SON... A SON YOU NEVER KNEW
14 years ago, April 5th, a great mind, borderline genius musician, literally blew up. This is my generation; we all knew what we were doing when OJ had every LAPD going for a joy ride and perhaps a lesser group remembers where we were when Kurt was reportedly dead from a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. I was lucky enough to write for a local music publication and during a break from my "day job" I was able to join Jeff and Matt as we listened to the DJs reporting and trying not to choke on their tears. This is an audio film. Ever been to Aberdeen? You will. There were over 25 hours or interviews with Kurt, his words, his thoughts previously unreleased, by Michael Azzerrad who wrote the book, Come As You Are, about the band (Nirvana). We all joked about Kurt and Courtney being the next Sid and Nancy, and Kurt confesses when he met her he immediately thought of Nancy. Kurt makes some observations and insight about the band, the music, the media. All the while, the screen is busy with flashes of places Kurt lived, worked or hung out. It's a beautiful start to a Cobain coffee table book. Hearing his voice "beyond the grave" was both erie and comforting. He was honest and for once, sounded real. It's like all this time he kept himself hidden from the media and this film broke down any and all walls. He was a very smart man, soft spoken and funny, even if he didn't make the best of choices (heroin and Courtney), like many artists, he was misunderstood. Although even if it's too little too late, it was touching to hear his side of things. This film was touching but it served as too much of a reminder that it was post-mortem.
PICK: A must for any Cobain fans, melancholy and insightful. Bean has his eyes.

AWAKE

AWAKE NEEDS TO BE PUT BACK TO SLEEP

The "Exclusively available at Blockbuster"promo is where movies go to die. What a waste of Terrence Howard. In that vein, what a waste of time it took to watch this movie. Clay Beresford (Hayden Christensen) is a successful, yuppie financial banker who has a heart condition and a girl friend (Jessica Alba) . The only hope is for a miracle transfer. He butts heads with his mother who would rather someone else operate, but he has chosen his best friend Dr. Jack Harper (Howard). One thing leads to another and he (and we) discover that he is experiencing "anesthetic awareness," which leaves him awake but paralyzed throughout the operation. Through this, he is able to see things, hear people and finds that something wrong is going on. Christensen does a fine job as the walking dead. Law #47 in that people aren't always who you think they are. I'll leave the ending out, not that is climatic or shocking. It just isn't worth commenting on.

NOT a PICK: Far too many movies have tried a version of this and it still isn't working!

NOTE: This movie is so forgettable that I checked it out from the library a second time!

DAN IN REAL LIFE

DAN IN REAL LIFE IS REALLY NOT ENTERTAINING

Keep in mind that I love Steve Carell (Dan) as an all around talented guy. He is the reason I watch The Office religiously. However, in this movie, he should have left The Office at the office. This is a typical romantic comedy type of show where whoops, I fell in love with someone unobtainable. We've seen this plot line many times before and it was done much better many times before. There are moments, places that give you that "home with the family" feeling and the actors seemed to have bonded well enough for that general idea. Another however, that idea goes no where fast. Carell plays half of his Office character and half real-actor character. The two don't mix. Another un-mixable ingredient in this film was casting Juliette Binoche as Marie, the love interest. It's like taking a piece of jewelry from Tiffany's and putting in a plain brown wrapper. The two had no chemistry together and I looked at my watch constantly during the movie. There was a good cast, but no one stood out. Dane Cook (Mitch) was less irritating than usual, at least for most of the movie. Dianne Wiest and John Mahony (as the parents) were sadly underused. The writing was bad, the plot was bad, the movie, was bad.

NOT a PICK: One or two good scenes does not a good movie make. Skip it.

ANTHONY MINGHELLA: 1954 TO 2008

ANTHONY MINGHELLA: RIP
Talented director, writer and producer of some of the most grand movies to date, has died from complications during treatment for cancer at 54. His eye caught to big picture and made it more elaborate and twice as majestic than anyone could have imagined. He won accolades for his work on The Talented Mr. Ripley, Cold Mountain, the English Patient.

"He wasn't just a writer, or a writer-director, he was someone who was very well-known and very well-loved within the film community," Puttnam said. "Frankly he was far too young to have gone." Minghella is survived by his wife; his actor son, Max Minghella; and his daughter, Hannah. (From the AP)

INTO THE WILD

INTO THE WILD BREATHTAKING JOURNEY

This is not a film... this is a song, a painting, a poem... a magical ode to nature and the endless wonder in every day life. In our "celeb-reality" world, I think it hard pressed to find such a young man, from a privileged family who would take his own life to such an extreme in order to find meaning and spiritual fulfillment. Alexander Supertramp (Emile Hirsch) is Christopher McCandless, or rather who McCandless was. After graduation, he roamed the country, working at a variety of odd jobs, nothing too hard or too easy. He was quietly propelling himself to Alaska where he would take on mother nature on with both hands. When not exchanging views with a fellow traveler, he would talk to himself or his food or whatever amused him. This is one of those roles where the actor becomes the part. Hirsch is mesmerizing and his young face mirrors the splendor and glory of the world he discovered. His fellow actors took him in and gave back the same warmth and understanding, truly showing no part is too small; colorful charachters paving the yello brick road. His search for truth, his spiritual revolution to "kill the false being" unfortunately killed his physical being. In the end, the flora and fauna he drew life from also may have aided in his death. However, this film is not just about this young man's death, but rather the incredible life he lived before he left this world. The movie is not a biography. But when not compared to the real story, standing alone, it stands. The worst part of the film is that he finds the truth, but ironically, it isn't what he thought it would be. "Happiness is only real when shared".
BIG PICK: Perhaps my favorite of 2007. It touched my heart and soul. More than a movie.

THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE

THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE NOT ALL ASH AND SOOT
Audrey (Halle Berry) and Brian (David Duchovny) have a perfect life, with perfect children and a lovely perfect home; until one day. It is always that "one day" that changes the course of a lifetime, for either good or bad. Then there's Jerry (Benicio Del Toro), Brian's best friend since the second grade. Jerry fell off the path and fell off the wagon. He drank and used drugs and got in all sorts of trouble but Brian was always "there" for him. The one person that Audrey hated the most would end up being the one person who would walk her family through its grief and pain. He is not perfect. He may have a place in the healing, but it isn't always obvious. There was not one bad actor in this film. It was a real group participation and those ties show in the footage. Del Toro is at his best and shows one of the most ugly and painful detox scenes ever. No one jumps in to make a "pretty" film about an addict. The whole movie is like that; not always pretty and perfect. There is a lot of good in this film but it still seems to be lacking something... that something I can't describe. Some scenes get lost in the cinematography while others stand out for lack of production. At points it tries too hard, almost anticipating the tears. It is a good movie even if ingenuine at times.
PICK: Not a perfect film, but the strong performances outweigh the gaps. Del Toro rocks!

HITMAN

HITMAN WELL EXECUTED HIT
"Agent 47: Nika... Nika Boronina: Yes? Agent 47: Stop talking or I'll put you back in the trunk." Agent 47 (Timothy Oliphant) has literally been born and bred to be a top-notch assassin for the government (hense the bar code on the back of his head). One of his most risky assignments goes awry and suddenly he is the #1 target of choice for Interpol, the Russian Mob and other hitmen. So of course he must track down the people who set him up and make everything right in the world. He runs into Nika Boroina (Olga Kurylenko) when she is used as bait for a trap. They make a cute couple. What sets this story apart from the others, aside from it's tight choreography, is the banter of these two back and forth. He is on a fast track to accomplish his work and is surprisingly not the least bit interested in her romantically, although he does have a fondness for her. He doesn't have super-human powers, but he is so well prepared he should get a Scout patch for his efforts. This movie is slick and loud and stylish. There is something just a little off about Oliphant, but I liked him. I think Billy Zane would have been an interesting cast, but perhaps his show of emotion would have been too much for the character. It isn't the most original movie I've seen, however, it is still a good film and the characters and plot are interesting to watch. The way that he understands the reaction to something then he plans for that and uses it for his own actions. It's like he never reacts, he acts. Yes, it's a subtle note, but the one that kept this film above average.
PICK: Loved the characters, loved the action pace and scenes, nicely done.

LUST, CAUTION

LUST, CAUTION IS FEARLESSLY BOTH After directing one of the most groundbreaking films to date (Brokeback Mountain), Ang Lee has done it again. This is a breathtakingly brilliant film about everything: politics, betrayal, spies, love, adultery, romance, torrid sex, and struggle. As the Japanese move in and occupy China, many renegade forces form to fight the war on a smaller scale. A naive college girl Wong Chia Chi (Tang Wei) gets caught up with a group to produce politically forward, patriotic China plays with her classmates. Little does she know that she will use her acting skills in efforts to bring down the powerful Japanese "informant" Mr. Yee (Tony Leung). She enters the world of espionage, starting with a harmless game of maj jong with Mrs. Lee (Joan Chen) and her friends. To get access to his world, she and her fellow actors turned activists take on new character. She becomes Chia Chi, young and coy, but seductive and has to play a sneaky game of cat and mouse with Mr. Yee, forcing him to fall in love with her, against his own desire, and she in turn, also must choose to complete her mission or follow her desires. This is a bold and graphic movie where scenes of war and sex cross back and forth between each other. Sometimes there is love in their love making and sometimes there is hate and aggression. This is a story of war and the choices we make under duress and the consequences those choices bring. This was an intense and mesmerizing movie from the acting to the plot. Thank you Ang Lee for introducing us to worlds we would have never found on our own.

BIG PICK: Beautifully shot, well acted and a compelling story. Exquisite!

IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH

IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH HOLDS SADNESS AND GRIM REALITY
This movie was inspired by true events, which makes it all the more difficult to stomach. Tommy Lee Jones is Retired Sergeant Hank Deerfield, who has been notified that his son, also a service man, has gone AWOL after returning from Iraq. Deerfield leaves his wife, Joan (Susan Sarandon) and drives to the base where his son was last seen to find out what happened. This film is one of, if not THE best work of Tommy Lee Jones to date. Little by little, we are let into his mind and he proves to be sharp and skilled at seeing the items that both local law enforcement and the military police either don't see or are covering up. He finds an unlikely source of information from the new detective, Emily Sanders (Charlize Theron) who is able to bust through the good-old-boys network and gives the case the energy and commitment that it deserves. The whole cast is outstanding; not a bad performance in the bunch. At first I thought that casting Sarandon was a waste, but she owned ever scene she had down to the second. Theron was able to present that combination of naivete, hunger to prove herself and the fear or what she is doing. Note: Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin are both in this and No Country For Old Men. Small world.
PICK: Outstanding work by the whole cast honor the life of the man this was based on.