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Iron Cross – sp – Screen writer and director Joshua Newton said that his father, a holocaust survivor who lost most of his family at the hands of the Nazis, had a great deal of bottled up anger for most his life. His son often fantasized what his father would do if by some coincidence he ever encountered any of the murderers of his family. He also wondered what he himself would do if his father asked him to help him revenge their deaths in such a situation. Newton then recognized that these thoughts could be the nucleus of just the kind of movie he wanted to create which would help to fill in the lack of education that the current generation has about the holocaust. He was able to convince Roy Scheider to star in what would be Mr. Scheider’s last film and he makes his final bow with very fine performance. In addition the director has cast his own teenage son to play the younger version of the Scheider character. The setting starts off in modern day Germany as an older survivor is visiting his son who is now living in Germany. The movie is filled with powerful and poignant flashbacks to his youthful journey of encountering the Nazis, surviving them and then returns to his modern day quest for revenge. The film has suspense, drama and the powerful emotion that this subject matter usually brings forth. Newton’s use of music and sound provides explanation points at every turn. The edits and the merges are at times unexpected and a few scenes are perhaps a little too drawn out. However the characters, their dilemma’s and actions become quite clear and unforgettable. This movie will be released in May and it was our first preview of 2010, If it is indicative of the quality of films that we will see this year, we are in for quite a treat. (2010)

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In the Company of Men – nf – Early in the movie the premise of the story line is made clear. Two Yuppie businessmen away on a project in a branch office are discussing their relationships with women. They tell each other how badly they have been treated by them and how downtrodden they feel. This leads one of them to come up with a plan, which he convinces the other fellow to join in with him. They will find an unsuspecting, susceptible young woman during the six weeks that are away. They will each wine, dine and romance her simultaneously and then both will dump her and leave town. As one of them puts it, in the future no matter how badly they are treated by girlfriends, their wives or even their bosses, they will look back and know that nobody treated them as badly as they were going to treat this women. Nice guys? Now what does this movie show us? What insight into the human mind or into the mind of some subtype of men can we glean? Well, they carry out the plan albeit with some complications. When she realizes what was done to her, the young woman says to one of the men, “Why did you do this?” He answers, “Because I could?” Does that line sound familiar? Although the line became famous a few years after this movie was made Bill Clinton is the person who immortalized those words in response to a question from Dan Rather in a 60 Minute TV interview as to why he had his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Clinton replied,

“I think I did something for the worst possible reason-just because I could. I think that’s the most, just about the most morally indefensible reason that anybody could have for doing anything. When you do something just because you could… I’ve thought about it a lot. And there are lots of more sophisticated explanations, more complicated psychological explanations. But none of them are an excuse.”

Those psychological reasons may vary from person to person and there were two male characters in the movie and of course Clinton is a character himself. In some there is a core of self-centeredness or narcissism, some of which may make you a good leader or a boss but too much of it will be a disaster. Then in some individuals there is a great insecurity, which can include jealousy and aggression. We saw a mixture of these in our characters in the movie. Director Neil LaBute made the six week time span move quickly and actors Aaron Eckhart and Matt Malloy were excellent. Although the performance of Stacy Edwards was also top notch, there was controversy in some circles who thought that a real deaf actress should have played the part. We should have mentioned that the character of the susceptible attractive young women who was to be dumped had lost her hearing at age 8 and had a speech impairment. Some may find this movie very thought provoking. Hopefully it won’t be too close to home. (1997)

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The Bishop’s Wife – nf – As part of our continued attempt to take a close look at some of the classic films we viewed this oldie starring Cary Grant as an angel, David Niven as the Bishop and Loretta Young as the Bishop’s wife. The Bishop’s attempt to get a great Cathedral built brings into play an examination of his values of not only of how to address poverty in society but how to achieve happiness with his wife and child. This all comes about when the Bishop is visited by an angel who while doing his good deeds has great chemistry with his wife. It is a delightful film which couldn’t compete with today’s best movies but actually was nominated for best picture in 1948. 1947

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The Class – rm – This is a French movie about a classroom of 14 and 15 year old teenager’s children and their interaction with a teacher. It is a slice of life of a country where immigration and different cultures influences the relationships in a classroom as does the usual teenage conflicts with authority. Perhaps something was lost in the translation on us but we didn’t get drawn into this movie although it appears to be very well done and actually won some film awards. (in French with subtitles) 2008

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The Closet – nf – A middle aged accountant is about to be fired from his job, people at work think he is a nerd, his teenage son living with his ex-wife thinks he is a bore which leaves our main character about to end it all by jumping off his apartment balcony. A new neighbor who is an older gay man convinces him that he can save his job by spreading a rumor with some doctored photographs that show he is homosexual. This premise changes everything! Suddenly he is considered an intriguing person and the boss doesn’t want to fire him since it wouldn’t look good if he fired a gay man. The plot moves from here with all sorts of comedic developments with co-workers, women and even his son which also is a clear commentary on society’s attitudes about this situation. The film was released in 2000 and the point which it is making is somehow not quite as relevant as it was nearly a decade ago. It is in French with subtitles and has excellent acting. However we don’t think it makes our “must see” list which reminds us how much we liked the French films Tell No One (a mystery) and Paris 36 (a delightful musical comedy) 2000

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The Diving Bell and the Butterfly – nf – What was an extraordinary book of the thoughts, fantasies and memories of a man who had been an editor at “Elle” magazine who then suffered from a stroke and “locked in syndrome”, is a creative film which ended up being a bit long and arduous. That it was produced at all, given the nature of the story, was quite a marvel. However, it lacked the overwhelming emotion of the book. 2007

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The Fog of War – nf  – We had always wanted to see this 2003 Documentary about former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. It won an Oscar and is directed by Errol Morris who used a special technique (Michael learned about it during a documentary about documentaries) where McNamara talks to the interviewer while looking at a monitor directly under the camera that is filming him so he speaks directly into the camera. McNamara was 85 at the time of the filming and is intent on giving the story of lessons learned through his experience with the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Viet Nam War (about which we were most curious) as well as during his time as head of Ford and later the World Bank. The film was interesting, held our attention, made McNamara more likeable than we expected and showed him acknowledging he made mistakes. However at the conclusion we still didn’t really understand exactly where he felt he went wrong in Viet Nam or where he substantially disagreed with Lyndon Johnson. Political junkies will want to see this especially if you lived through this period of time. 2003

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The Great Buck Howard – sp – We don’t think this is for everyone. It is a charming movie loosely based “ Kreskin” a mind reader/magician of sorts who made many appearances on the Johnny Carson Show as well as other well TV shows in the past. The movie makes the point that people should do what they really enjoy doing and do well even if it isn’t what you are expected to do. It stars Colin Hanks and John Malkovich who demonstrates his somewhat comedic ability as he fills the shoes of the protagonist of the film. Tom Hanks does have a small role as father of the character played by his real life son and was also one of the producers of the film. It is quite enjoyable but we are not sure how long it will stay with you. 2008

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The Last Kiss – nf – This is a movie that tries to examine the nature of love as well as marital and impending marital relationships in young people close to turning 30. The main focus is a couple confronting parenthood and the need to get married. Michael (played by Zach Braff who is a perfect younger Ray Romano look alike) realizes he is frightened about his future prospects with Jenna his lovely girlfriend (Jacinda Barrett)of three years who is now pregnant. He allows himself to get drawn into a brief affair with younger very tempting college student. His close buddies are dealing with their own variations of the relationship theme. One can’t get over a breakup, another married guy with small child ( played by Casey Affleck) walks out on his wife and still another can’t figure out what to do even though he is successful in seducing women. At the same time Jenna’s parents (played very well by Blythe Danner and Tom Wilkinson) are examining their 30 year marriage. All the main characters ultimately confront their vulnerabilities, are insightful and try to be honest with their partners and themselves. That is the strength and the somewhat refreshing component of the film. However, the movie is a cliché. The storyline is shallow and old hat. The comedy component is average TV sitcom material. We liked the characters but weren’t moved by them. It probably isn’t worth your time unless perhaps you are under 30. 2006

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The Perfect Game – sp – This “Rocky” movie is for dyed in the wool baseball fans. It is the true story of 1957 odyssey of some poor Mexican kids in Monterrey, Mexico who formed a Little League baseball team and went on to win the Little League World Series in the U. S. The movie is interspersed with actual documentary footage which confirms the authenticity of the movie. Cheech (of Cheech and Chong of earlier days) does an excellent job of playing a Priest who is connected to the team. The child actors are outstanding. The producer confirmed to us that just about every theme and story in the movie is based on actual events. If you like baseball, you can’t miss this movie. (Although they are Mexican players the movie is in English) 2009