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The Hurt Locker – rm – This movie is not about your typical US soldier in Iraq. It is about a young man who may not yet have been successful in life or in relationships but who finds himself very good at what he is doing in the Army. In this case it is in finding and detonating bombs that are left at the roadside to blow up US vehicles and soldiers, or are hidden in the ground or strapped perhaps to unwilling suicidal bombers. The movie focuses on one such soldier, played by Jeremy Renner, and his small group of comrades. He is smart, courageous but capable of being emotionally affected by what he is doing. If anyone had any doubts that a woman could capture the realism of a raw combat zone, Katherine Bigelow, who brilliantly directed this movie, has certainly shattered any such misconceptions. As the days scheduled to remain in Iraq are counted down for this group of soldiers, the viewer can smell the acrid air, feel the sand and most of all sense the almost continual apprehension. It may be hard to believe that in our voluntary army, some soldiers choose to be in this place but this film will make it hard to forget those that do. (2009)

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Julie and Julia – rm – Two women on separate continents also separated in time by more than a half of a century are both trying to find themselves. Once they see their goal they pursue it with dedication and determination. One of them is Julia Child (Meryl Shreep), wife of an American diplomat in Paris who becomes passionate about French cooking and becomes involved in trying to write book in English about it. The other is Julie Powell (Amy Adams), a young wife and government worker who becomes passionate about the now famous Julia Child and decides to try out all 524 recipes from her cookbook in 365 days while reporting regularly in a new blog that she has started. The film was directed and produced by Nora Ephrom who also wrote the film script based on a book recently written by Ms. Powell .It moves back and forth in time following the struggles of both of these women. The support and love of both their husbands, played by Stanley Tucci and Chris Messina are an important part of this story. We don’t usually hear the out loud laughter that we heard in the movie theatre several times during the humorous moments. We felt the tug of heart strings in the difficult trials and tribulations along the way of their journeys. The movie also conveyed the jubilation of their ultimate successes. Julia Child’s cookbook is now in its 49th printing and it has found a way on to the bookshelves of a few generations of young households. Many people have had a glimpse into Ms. Child’s personality by her pioneer TV cooking show where she showed everyone that it isn’t so terrible to pick your prize cooking off the floor when it accidentally lands there. This film will further humanize this American icon and give insight into her inspiring story. (2009)

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World’s Greatest Dad – sp – When comedian /screenwriter/director Bobcat Goldwait showed his script to Robin Williams, he thought that his friend might do a cameo part. Instead Mr. Williams obviously saw the potential of this project. He became the lead in this comedic satire which holds up a mirror to so many people today who are often not listening to each other. An unpleasant, unlikeable teenage son of a high school teacher ends up causing his own demise. The response of the grief stricken father is to put words in the mouth of his departed son through writings that his son never really wrote This triggers responses in everyone from his principal to the kids in school most of whom never cared for the teenager when he was alive. Their exaggerated love and identification with the now deceased young man becomes the vehicle for this movie to make it’s point about the lack of empathy and understanding which young people and grown ups often show to each other. So often film scenarios, which are dealing with these complex notions, have difficulty in coming up with a good ending. Not so in this movie, as the main character who was previously an unsuccessful writer in addition to being a barely passable school teacher has now cleansed himself of bearing false witness and we imagine would now write for the sake of telling what is true. Mr. Goldwait seems to have found a way of doing this with this movie, which may just resonate with enough people to be successful. It will be released in September. (2009)

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Mercy – sp – Did you ever know a guy who had lots of girl friends and one night stands but who seemed to have no intentions of ever falling in love? Johnny (played by the producer and screenwriter of this film, Scott Caan ) is a 30 year old successful author who writes about romance and women. Perhaps he is trying to understand what a real relationship is about since his parents split up when he was quite young and his father ( played by his own real father James Caan) tells him unequivocally that there is no such thing as love. Of course, he does fall in love with a book critic who doesn’t like his latest book and the story goes from there. The film is moderately successful in examining the impact of love on this young man. There are some insightful moments which will resonate with many young men struggling with this universal theme which has been depicted in many great movies. What seemed to be lacking was the opportunity for the audience to know Mercy (played by Wendy Glenn) well enough to also fall in love with her, or at least understand Johnny’s love for her as we had, for example understood Woody Allen’s feelings for Annie Hall or other cinematic romances. The scenes between Johnny and his father were well done. The younger Caen told our preview screening audience that these were particularly difficult for him since he actually has a close relationship with his dad as compared to the distant one they played in the film. The screenwriter/actor chose Patrick Hoelck, an old friend whom he trusted to be the Director and he was rewarded with a well-photographed movie, which captured the emotions and transformation of the main character. (2010)

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The Informant! – nf – This is another one of those stories where it turns out the truth is stranger than any fiction which a writer might dream up. The story is actually based on a non fiction book by Kurt Eichenwald which Steven Soderbergh has masterfully brought to the screen. Matt Damon plays Mark Whitacre, a scientist turned business executive who holds a high position at the Decatur Illinois Fortune 500 food company Archer Midland Daniels ( ADM) as well as being a dedicated husband and father of two children . The story revolves around how he presents himself to the FBI as an informant and has decided to tell the story of how his company is fixing world wide prices which effect just about every meal that we eat. Damon’s voice narrates most of the film so you get the impression that you really know what is going on in his head. He does a believable acting job in creating the strangely patriotic, naïve guy who also doesn’t really know how to tell the truth and seems to believe his own deceptions. A certain amount of tension and suspense is achieved as he does his undercover work with clandestine audio and video recordings. As the story evolves and the details fall in place, it is hard to believe that this all really happened or perhaps we should say, “only in America.”. This is a fast moving 108 minute movie which will be just right for those who like this genre. (2009)

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The Waiting City – sp – This is an unusual movie which combines the plight of an Australian couple trying to adopt a child with the enchantment of India. Fiona ( Radha Mitchell) is a high powered attorney who comes to India with her husband Ben ( Joel Edgerton ) a low powered musician who usually has his guitar nearby. They have come to Calcutta to pick up their adopted daughter and initially have to wait several days to make contact with her. They have their own issues between the two of them but are drawn to meet their daughter and also understand the prior short life that she has had. They meet Krishna ( Samrat Chakrabarti) who is on one hand the hotel worker who is serving them in his uncle’s hotel but on the other hand seems to be a symbol of the country of their new child. These are the ingredients, that pulls the viewer into a spiritual experience which goes beyond the plot of the story. Fiona and Bill undergo a transformation, which is easy to identify with. The characters appeared to have learned some important things about themselves and the viewers have had an insight into the marital relationship of this couple, the meaning of international adoption and the multifaceted nature of India. Screenwriter and director Claire McCarthy was drawn to India by her own travels there. The film that she has created is authentic, beautifully photographed with muted lighting in soft colors but penetrates below the skin of the country and the people in the story. (2010)

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Greenberg – rm – Screenwriter and Director Noah Baumbach (who gave us The Squid and the Whale) presents us with Roger Greenberg who is comfortably inhabited by Ben Stiller. This single guy in his forties, now a New Yorker, working as a carpenter, recently in a mental hospital, returns to Los Angeles to housesit for his brother who is taking his family on vacation in Viet Nam. He looks up some old friends who were members of his band back then and are at various places now in their lives. His reminiscence with them and his encounters with some younger generation guys and gals seem to be trying to tell a story of the difficulties that one goes through in trying to negotiate to a successful stable life and relationship. The problem is that there is very little back-story with Roger and it is near impossible to understand or get much of a feel why he is having so much trouble. We are left with a self centered, obsessive guy whom you imagine is suffering on some level. The story doesn’t really go any place and we are really not very enlightened about the characters. Greta Gerwig plays the personal assistant of his brother who also ran the household where Roger is staying and with whom he makes some tentative attempts to have a relationship. Her performance stands out as she creates a very sensitive, likable but sad young woman who desperately wants to be loved and have a relationship but doesn’t quite know how to do it. It is unclear if the title of the movie implies something Jewish, perhaps some stereotype of Jewish angst? The Stiller character mentions that that his father was Jewish but not his mother but we are not sure what that was supposed to mean. Perhaps in the future when Baumbach gives us characters who have figured out their lives, we will look back and realize this was an earlier phase of his work when things were more confused. (2010)

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Casino Jack – sp – Jack Abramoff was a very successful but very greedy Washington lobbyist who now sits in a federal jail serving out his 4 year prison term scheduled to released later this year. Director George Hickenlooper had the idea to tell his story and enlisted writer Norman Snider to put together the screenplay based on the facts of this true story.

Hickenlooper spent 30 hours visiting Abramoff in prison to gather as much information as possible to add to their study of the historical documents upon which this movie was based. Oscar winning actor Kevin Spacey who plays Abramoff participated in one of these five jailhouse visits and he apparently hit it off quite well with the protagonist despite their being at opposite poles of the political spectrum. If you know the widely reported story of how Abramoff took excessive fees from multiple Indian tribes, was involved with shady business deals and paid off congressmen, landing at least one in jail and causing Tom Delay majority leader of Senate to quit this position and his Senate seat, you may be a little bored as the details are played out. On the other hand, many viewers will be getting a great history lesson at the same time that they are seeing a very well done movie. Barry Pepper is sufficiently nefarious in looks and deeds as Michael Scanlon, Abramoff’s partner who deserved more than he got for punishment. Jon Lovitz plays an almost completely serious role as a not so smart and crooked enough to end up in jail, business associate of Abramoff. Political junkies will love this movie. You can’t help coming away from seeing it without wondering how can we let our political system continue to function without reigning in lobbyists. Hickenlooper related an incident, which he touches upon at the end of the film, where while in jail anticipating his release shortly before the upcoming 2010 elections Abramoff has expressed a desire to collaborate with the Democrats and reveal information that he knows about the Republicans in order to hurt them in this and future elections. While this film is scheduled for wide release and distribution prior to the November election, there is also another movie coming out at the same time about Abramoff, which is an actual documentary and may have the same name as this one. Instead of Kevin Spacey that one will star the real Abramoff. (2010)

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Phyllis and Harold – sp- Cindy Kleine undertook a project for 12 years where she interviewed her parents on film and put together the story of their 59 years of marriage with old movies, slides and letters. She originally felt the story was so interesting that she was going to transcribe the interviews and write a screenplay. However, she then realized that the real people saying their own words would be better than any actors she could get to recreate their story. So this filmmaker with the support of her husband Andre Gregory (well known theatre and film director best known for “Dinner with Andre”) put together a most unusual and successful documentary of the story of the marriage and subsequent life of Harold and Phyllis. Her father is shown as the dashing, handsome, confident young dentist who courts his future wife while he is in the army during World War II. He goes on to then develop a successful practice where he can take his wife on vacations all over the world providing all the comforts of life including a devoted nanny for his two children. However, the core of the story is how this marriage is experienced by his wife Phyllis, who is shown to have been a beautiful, articulate and poetic young woman. She shares in interviews with her moviemaker daughter on film her feelings and doubts about her marriage as well as her early secret romantic life, which blossomed again at age 70. Her grown children each find themselves becoming bold participants in a small but significant way in her mother’s secret life. The 84 minutes of this film seems to fly by reminding us that everyone’s life might be summarized in a well-kept photo album or in a thoughtful documentary if anyone was there to make it. Usually the children, let alone a discerning movie audience do not know parent’s innermost secrets. This is the exception and it is an exceptionally creatively edited, well-done documentary. It must have been somewhat therapeutic for Ms. Kleine to have made the film and for sure it will stimulate complicated emotions and discussion in many parents and grown children who view it. Expected to be released shortly and then on DVD. (2010)

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I Love You Phillip Morris – sp – One of the most remarkable things about this movie is that the outlandish events that are depicted really happened. Jim Carrey plays Steven Russell who realized at a young age that he is gay. He grows up and marries a women dedicated to him and to Jesus and he leads a life as a devoted husband and father up until a certain point. He then has a revelation which causes him to leave his family becomes a con artist and fully involved in a free wheeling partying gay life style. Ultimately his grandiose con games end him up in jail where he meets Phillip Morris played by Ewan McGregor. They fall madly and tenderly in love with each other. Russell’s ability to deceive allows them to be together in jail and amazingly (but true) he escapes from and reenters a Texas jail multiple times. The screenplay crafted and directed by Glen Ficarra and John Requa based on a true story is a combination of a romantic comedy with a little bit of the keystone cops thrown in. It has it’s serious side as the Carrey character has to sadly acknowledge that he doesn’t feel like a real person. There is a well described psychodynamic explanation for this state of mind in the psychoanalytic literature which is quite compatible with the sorrowful circumstances of Russell’s early childhood which was depicted in the movie.. The story provides no insight into Phillip Morris. We are left with the marvel over the cons and the deception, a few smiles from the comedy and at best, a little sadness for a mostly unfulfilled life. Movie scheduled for release in the Fall of 2010 in the U.S. (2010)