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Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel – sp – Filmmaker Brigitte Berman won an Oscar for her documentary film about iconic musician Artie Shaw. Hugh Hefner is a great jazz aficionado and founded the acclaimed Playboy Jazz Festival which is how they had occasion to meet and get to know each other. Berman then decided that she wanted to make a documentary about Hefner but one, which shows the largely unknown side of the man who in most people’s minds represents the Playboy lifestyle of beautiful women and lots of sex. Hefner liked the idea of such a film and gave Berman free access to his vast archives as well as participating in extensive interviews with her. Friends of Hefner such as James Caan, Tony Bennett, Dick Cavett, Joan Baez, Jessie Jackson, Jim Brown, Bill Maher, Dick Gregory and others also gave very fascinating interviews. What emerged in the two hour and 4 minute film was a picture of a hardworking man who was determined to be a success. He loved women (many women) and did not believe that he was demeaning them by making them sexual objects. More to the point of the documentary, he had a sense of fairness and acceptance that was completely color blind at a time when much of the country and certainly the entertainment industry was not. He did not allow discrimination towards blacks to occur in his Playboy Clubs and commonly showcased black entertainers on his after hours TV shows. Interviews with Jessie Jackson, Jim Brown and Dick Gregory were extremely clear on this point. Hefner also did not hesitate to have writers, who were blacklisted as communists or communist sympathizers by the nefarious Senator Joseph McCarthy, to continue to write for Playboy magazine under their own name, which was unheard of at that time. This film is not only enlightening about these contributions of this man but it also is quite entertaining as it includes wonderful clips of Sammy Davis Junior performing as well as adlibbing on the Hefner TV show. There was a young Tony Bennett performing in his relaxed style. We saw a beautiful Joan Baez singing and youthful Pete Seeger doing his thing with some injected clips of the craggy older Seeger reflecting on the significance of Hefner’s support of him and his causes. James Mark Stewart provided an excellent original score for the background of most of the movie There are a few counterpoints to the Hefner’s views about sexuality and the Playboy life style which are periodically presented in the film by such people as Susan Brownmiller, Pat Boone and others. They are shown as weak rebuttals, at times almost humorous. It is clear that this film is an admiring tribute to Hefner now in his 80s. Ms. Berman director, producer, writer and editor told us that Hefner was extremely pleased and touched after seeing the documentary. The filmmaker said that she wanted to show him objectively as he really was which led me to ask her if there was anything in the film that Hefner didn’t like? She said no. The film comes to an end with Hefner being true to his philosophy and reinventing himself after two marriages by now having seven intimate girlfriends which he then cuts down three. There is a very revealing statement by this older guy reflecting on his life. He indicated that he understands that his outgoing life style of loving and enjoying many women has to do with the fact that his parents were very cold and rejecting. In fact as a child he says he was never hugged. Even though he has had a very successful life, it is sad to see the lingering effects of what has been missing from his childhood. 2010

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The Hangover – nf – We know that this movie won a Golden Globe for the Best Comedy. We also know that young people ( probably mostly guys ) about to get married or those who just got married find this film really cool and quite funny. We even laughed and thought some parts were quite creative and amusing! However we can’t really recommend that you spend 96 minutes with this movie unless of course you just want to chill out and fantasize a bachelor party – out on the town in Las Vegas! The premise here is that 4 guys from LA take a car ride to Vegas because one of them is getting married in a few days. They get wasted and drugged. When three of them wake up in their hotel suite they can’t remember what happened the previous night, find a tiger and a baby in the room but the groom to be is missing. And that is not the half of it. !! The three guys ( Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis and Bradley Cooper) bounce all over Las Vegas trying to find their buddy and they end up finding out a couple of other things that they have no idea had happened to them while they were whacked out of their minds.. Maybe at least one of the characters discovers something worthwhile about himself that he didn’t realize before. Unless this storyline is really up your alley, we suggest that you pass on it. 2009

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Toy Story 3 – rm – Since we had missed the opportunity to take our grandkids to this animated movie we were going to pass on it. However several of our friends went out of the way to tell us that this was a good adult movie even without youngsters – so we decided to see it in our local theater. The master of the toys is about to go away to college so he has to pack them up for the attic, donate them or send them to the trash and maybe take one to school with him. The toys themselves are divided on what to do and the story goes from there. Needless to say the story is quite touching . It was also suspenseful and at times more scary and violent than we expected – the kind that where toy characters get bopped around or are just a hair away from being pulverized by some big machine. The youngsters in the theater seem to handle these emotions quite well and reacted very positively about the whole movie. There is the requisite moral of the story and that is if you work together and are loyal that is a good thing and you will get rewarded. As expected the animation was superb and, of course, the voices of the characters who were mostly familiar actors and actresses who were at their best. Tom Hanks was the voice of Woody the leading character. A partial list of the outstanding other voices include Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Michael Keaton, John Razenberg , with Don Rickles and Estelle Harris playing Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head. The movie was directed by Lee Unkrick who also directed Toy Story 2. It met our expectation but we still think we would have enjoyed it more with our youngsters. On the other hand we didn’t see the 3D version although we doubt that would have made us up our rating. We would imagine it is a don’t miss movie for any kid over 4 or 5 or anyone really young at heart 2010

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Countdown to Zero – sp – When I was a youngster I was keenly aware of the eminent threat of nuclear disaster that could wipe us out at any moment. We had drills in school where we would duck under our desks and run away from the window, as if that could protect us from a nuclear blast. But once the cold war ended, the idea that an Atomic or Hydrogen Bomb could destroy our cities or end our lives was not a concern. Even when the news reported that Iran was trying to become a nuclear power, my anxiety was not raised and I never thought that my life, the safety of my family or our country’s well being was in jeopardy. That is until I saw this documentary film written and directed by Lucy Walker and produced and edited by a crackerjack experienced team. They skillfully build the film around the words of John F. Kennedy who proclaimed in a speech in 1961, “Every man, woman and child lives under a nuclear sword of Damocles, hanging by the slenderest of threads, capable of being cut at any moment by accident or miscalculation or by madness.” The filmmakers then show us dramatic movie clips of such events as near nuclear accidents where five of six safety devices failed, lost atomic weapons, both American and Russian governments misinterpreting data and being seconds away from launching a retaliatory nuclear strike against an imagined attack on their country. There are interviews with former CIA agent Valerie Plume, Mikhail Gorbachev, Jimmie Carter, Tony Blair, and Robert MacNamara in the last interview before he died, which all discuss the serious dangers that nuclear weapons pose today. The film shows how easy it is to make a nuclear bomb, how destructive it can be and how terrorists are very hot to make one and use it. The film pulls no punches and certainly can scare the living daylights out of you. The goal of this documentary and the various sponsors of the film are encompassed in the title, “Countdown to Zero” with the subtitle ” Demand Zero”. It is worth noting that JFK followed up the quote mentioned above with the statement, “The weapons of war must be abolished before they abolish us.” The filmmakers believe that if the people all over the world demand nuclear disarmament, it will happen. This documentary certainly makes their point and one of their principle producers, Participant Media makes suggestions on their web site: http://www.takepart.com/countdowntozero as to how to get this conversation started. This film will also eventually be shown on the History Channel, which is one of the backers of it, and I also hope it will end up in many schools to pass on this message to new generations who will have to finish the job of nuclear disarmament. (2010)

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Cyrus – sp – Brothers Jay and Mark Duplass are the screenwriters/directors of this movie which is their first relatively big budget independent film and it has been picked up by Fox for distribution. This skillful duo has a knack for providing interesting characters with very realistic dialog. They discourage rehearsal and let their actors work using the script but improvising to bring out their interpretation of the their characters. In this case they had John C. Reilly and Marisa Tomei playing two somewhat awkward people in their mid 40s who seem to be falling in love shortly after meeting and hopping into bed. Tomei’s character has a 22 year old son, Cyrus well captured by Jonah Hill who appears to be a regressed mama’s boy who is joined at the hip with his mom but yet has a cold calculating almost evil side who will do whatever he can to prevent John played by Reilly from taking her away. This is essentially the plot . As John gradually becomes aware of the intense relationship between his new girl friend and her son he seeks the advise of his ex-wife played by Catherine Keener . He ultimately tries to confront Cyrus which leads to some intense and comedic moments. The Duplass brothers acknowledge that they do not provide much back story so we see these weird but appealing characters as they are, without knowing how they got to be this way or why they undergo some change. Therefore the result is a “Johnny one note” film with a simple story. Despite the talented expressions and sensitivity of the actors, we are not greatly moved or enlightened. There were a few somewhat disorienting brief scenes in the movie where the characters were talking without moving their lips but yet it did not appear to be a representation of internal thinking. When we asked the directors about this, they acknowledged that in one case they were trying to correct and shift the dialog which they were doing in the editing room. They then decided to use this motif in a few other scenes. While we did not feel the net result of this film merited our recommendation, we will look forward to future work by these talented brothers. (2010)

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The Blind Side – nf- A few months after the Academy Awards we decided to see this movie since it was nominated as one of the 10 best pictures of year and of course Sandra Bullock was named Best Actress. While it was a good performance by Bullock who had a fine southern accent for her character, we decided that she probably was given the Oscar for “her body of work”. The movie was a predictable “feel good” story that in our opinion was not in the same league as the other nominees for best picture. It is based on a true story of Michael Oher, an oversized black teenager from the wrong side of the tracks ( Quinton Aaron), who gets “adopted” by a rich Memphis couple ( Sandra Bullock and country music star Tim McGraw) with two kids of their own. The school football coach drools over his potential as a offensive lineman but it is not until his new Mother knowing that he has tested to have high aptitude in the “protectiveness” scale encourages him to “protect” the quarterback or the running back as he would protect his own new found family does he show his stuff. He now is able to use his size and power and become a great football player who is recruited by many colleges including his new parent’ s alma mater “Ole Miss”. In order to play football and stay in the game he had to be tutored by a teacher who also went to Ole Miss played by Kathy Bates. There are a few mild twists and subplots in the story line but no big surprises. You come away from the movie with a warm feeling, especially as you look at the closing credits interspersed with photos of the real Michael Oher and the family that adopted him, as well as confirmation that he eventually made the NFL. (2009)

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Jack Goes Boating – sp – It is not surprising that when Academy award winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman decides to direct his first movie in which he will also star, he chooses a script with great depth and character development. This movie is about two couples and each of their relationships. In the case of Jack and Connie ( Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Ryan) we see the construction of their chemistry and how they make an endearing connection. In the case of the other couple Clyde and Lucy (John Ortiz and Daphne Rubin-Vega) we see the deconstruction of their relationship as it slowly but surely falls apart although the dynamics for the breakup are not as clear as the mutual attraction of Jack and Connie. The screenplay by Bob Glaudini was originally produced on the stage by Hoffman’s Theater Company and was very well received with all but Ryan playing the same roles as in the movie although the storyline was slightly different.

We can imagine that this story focusing on these four characters might play better on the stage. It was the talking heads and their words which held the attention and drew in the audience rather than the few authentic but not really necessary New York City location scenes. The intensity and some of the unraveling which occurs in climatic scene reminded me of that old classic Who is Afraid of Virginia Wolf although time did not fly by as quickly as I recall it did with that play/movie. Also the degree in which drugs were used in this important scene in our judgment wasn’t necessary as the characters were strong enough to create the mood and emotions which were needed. The film will be released in the Fall of 2010 and might receive an Oscar nod or two for the acting. (2010)

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Please Give – rm – This Woody Allanesque movie set in New York City written and directed by Nicole Holofcener deserves more than the nearly empty movie theatre that we saw it in on weekend evening. It is a slice of life movie that doesn’t go anywhere except that some of the characters seem to be a little better off at the end of the movie than they were at the beginning and the viewer has had an insightful 90 minutes into these people laced with some humor. A husband and wife own an upscale furniture store in Manhattan where they buy furniture of deceased people at low prices and sell high. The wife (Elizabeth Keener) is a do gooder by nature and tries to slip twenty dollar bills to street people or those that look like street people much to the chagrin of their 15 year old daughter ( Sarah Steele) who is struggling with her acne and her desire for expensive jeans. Oliver Platt is the teddy bear type husband who while devoted to his family does have a slight itch. There is a crabby elderly woman next door played by veteran actress Ann Morgan Guilbert, who is nearly 80 herself, in a standout performance. She has two contrasting granddaughters who visit regularly to take care of her. Mary ( Amanda Peet) is the older by five years who makes no bones about the factthat she is waiting for her grandmother die and insensitively will say so as well as other things that are best left unsaid. Rebecca (Rebecca Hall) is the sweeter grandchild who is good and loyal to her grandmother. As noted the story really doesn’t go any place but we felt good when it was over as we walked out of our empty movie theater. (2010)

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John Rabe – sp – Most American have either never heard about the Rape of Nanking or certainly know very little about it. Probably almost nobody in this country has heard of John Rabe. This German film tells the true story this man who felt he was a loyal Nazi working for Hitler and his government in Nanking as the Director the German Industrial Siemens factory, when the Japanese decided to invade China in 1937. This ultimately brings the Japanese forces led by a relative of the Emperor to Nanking. Rabe found himself having to take actions and make decisions which would effect the lives of over 200,000 Chinese. This is a personal drama, a war story with thousands of extras, an accurate history lesson founded on diaries and the book, The Good Man of Nanking as well as an extremely well done movie which will keep you on the edge of your seat for more than two hours. There is a seamless blend of brutal scenes with touching human moments interspersed with black and white authentic newsreels which reminds you although this is a fascinating story, it is reflecting all too true events. Usually when we see a World War II movie showing the murder of prisoners and civilians, it is the Germans who are doing the killing. However this time it is the Japanese who are murdering the Chinese. In one unforgettable ironic scene, Rabe is outraged at acts of the Japanese who are, of course, allies of the Germans. Therefore he sends a fruitless telegram to Hitler asking and expecting him to insist that the Japanese stop murdering innocent people. Ulrich Tukur plays Rabe and won the equivalent of the German Academy Award as did the movie. American actor Steve Buscemi superbly plays Dr. Robert Wilson the American doctor who actually founded the hospital in Nanking and worked very closely with Rabe. The screenwriter and Director is Florian Gallenberger who took a couple of years researching and writing the movie. He told us of the conflicts that he had with the Chinese government during the preparatory phase of the movie. You should see this movie in your local theatres if you can. However, if you end up watching it on Netflix, hopefully there will be a director’s narrative or interviews with Florian Gallenberger. Despite his relative young age he was a major player in this very large endeavor. He is extremely articulate in English, his second language and relates a fascinating account of the making of this movie. (2010)

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Bottle Shock – nf – We finally caught up with this movie that we had been wanting to see since we missed it at the local movie theatres. As new Californians the pride we have in California wines is nothing compared to the passion that Napa valley vinters had in their local wines which 35 years ago were hardly recognized world wide as compared to French wines. This movie, which is based a true story, centers on Steven Spurrier (Alan Rickman) a Brit living in Paris who had a wine store there and his pal and confidant (Dennis Farina). Spurrier decided that he would stimulate interest in buying wine by showing that in the 1976 bicentennial anniversary year, the upstart Americans still could not make wine, which could hold a candle to the established French products. He travels to America and meets Jim Barrett (Bill Pullman) owner, but deeply in debt, of the Montelena Chateau and his son Bo (Chris Pine) as well as a group of other California vintners. He convinces 12 of them to give him two bottles each to enter into a French wine tasting event in which the wine would be blindly judged. The California group knew that “if one wins, they all would win.” As they say, the rest is history. There are a few subplots which include Sam (Rachel Taylor) the beautiful graduate student wine intern, Bo, Barrett’s son who gets boxed around by his father and Gustavo (Freddy Rodriquez), the Mexican-American farm hand who is owner of a small wine maker operation with his father (Miquel Sandoval). The movie also stars the beautiful green California grape yards, the spirited Napa Valley Wine growers and the very French wine guys in Paris. There is the expectable dramatic blind wine tasting contest in Paris which has subsequently come to be known as Judgment in Paris. There were no big surprises although you do come away from the movie feeling good and also having learned an important history lesson about a product many people love and revere. (2008)