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Pirate Radio – nf – This is just the type of movie we don’t mind having missed in the movie theatre and then catching at home on the couch while we eat our favorite treat.

It is a feel good movie that is fun to watch. We are introduced to the premise in the opening as we are told that in the year 1966 British Rock and Roll is on the music scene scene …but no one in Great Britain was allowed to listen to it on the radio…even though approximately half of the people there, 25 million people, were listening to it on sea going pirate radio stations. Then we are introduced to a great ensemble of characters who are the DJs on this boat Rock Radio floating in the North Sea and beaming music back to Great Britain. The movie grows on you as you get to know the personalities on the boat and a few little subplots- the most significant one being that the British government is planning to shut them down. The DJs reflect the exuberance and rebelliousness of the music of the time. There is a great soundtrack throughout the film which matches the mood of the events being depicted. The acting was excellent by mostly British actors with a standout performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman . It was written and directed by Richard Curtis who also did Four Weddings and A Funeral. Billed as a comedy, we found it a charming film which will touch a nostalgic button in many rock and roll fans. (2009)

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We Live In Public – sp – This is documentary that followed the main character and his activities for about 25 years. Josh Harris as an awkward young man realized the potential of the Internet and became a multimillionaire before the dot com crash. He was also obsessed with how the coming generation would display themselves in public through the potential of the Internet. In the 1990s in New York he set up The Bunker which was an experimental underground living arrangement where people would live in an elaborated constructed set up with a multitude of video cameras which would allow them to view each other at will in every private and public aspect of their lives. Subsequently Mr. Harris offers his own living arrangement with his girl friend to be totally accessible to the Internet Documentary maker Ondi Timoner is given access to all this footage plus interviews with Mr. Harris, his family, friends and associates. What emerges is picture at man who may be a prophetic genius who has understood and predicted the social changes that the Internet with Facebook, My Space, You Tube and Twitter is now demonstrating. The film also shows the origins that made this man a troubled not very well liked individual who had great difficulty with relationships and perhaps led to his at times bizarre behavior which was never fully explained Also, people shown in the film were not exactly typical representations of that generation. For example just about all the people shown to be willing to live in the Bunker were identified as “Performance Artists” but yet the film seemed to be implying that was a new trend in this generation. Ms Timoner who wrote, directed, produced and edited this film had a clear vision of what she wanted to say about this man and his own vision of modern technology. We may need several years to see if she and he are correct. It is films such as this one that makes us realize that our rating system for the usual films we have screened may not be applicable for documentaries. The quality of the film was OK and it is possible that significance of the film may turn out to be very great.

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Rails & Ties – nf – You take two great actors and provide an unusual painful but simple story and the result is a touching but difficult movie to watch. A women suicides by planting her car on the tracks in front a speeding railroad train. Her 11-year-old son ( Miles Heizer) barely escapes from the car. The train engineer (Kevin Bacon) and his wife (Marcia Gay Harden) who just found out that she has metastatic cancer take in the young boy into their childless home. They both bond with him and for a moment in time, some good has come from all this tragedy. Not bad for the directing debut of Allison Eastwood who is the daughter of Clint. (2007)

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The Cove – sp – Rick Barry , the man who trained the original Flipper the dolphin and made it into a successful TV show which ultimately led to Dolphin Aquarium Shows and Swim with Dolphin Exhibits all over the world, has had a change of heart. He now believes these intelligent creatures greatly suffer by being in captivity and should be allowed to run free. He has identified a cove near Taijii, Japan where thousands of dolphins are both regularly captured and sold into captivity or are slaughtered and their meat which has toxic mercury levels are shipped all over the world for food consumption, often labeled as whale meat.

Mr. Barry has connected with film maker Louie Psihoyos to make this documentary film which features a clandestine, dangerous undertaking in which the secret activities of capture and murder of the dolphins in this cove are recorded. They used a team of a man and a woman, who have the ability to free dive without scuba equipment, to plant listening devices and video cameras hidden in artificial rocks. The result was a heart wrenching and bloody film sequence which Barry then dramatically presents at an international meeting. While somewhat disjointed and repetitious at times, the story is unique and compelling. The film makers hope that this documentary (which won Audience First Choice at Sundance Film Festival) to be released 7/31/09, will influence world public opinion leading to changes of these terrible practices. (2009)

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500 Days of Summer – sp – Boy meets girl and both like each other. Boy falls in love with girl but girl doesn’t believe in true love and just wants to let the relationship happen. The film crisply directed by Marc Webb in his first feature film, weaves some of older Los Angeles architecture into the story. It is focused completely on this charming young women played by Zooey Deschanel but through the eyes of a love struck and terribly disappointed guy played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It should resonate with the modern 20s and 30s crowd going through the trials and tribulations of trying to find true romance when both parties always aren’t on the same page. Other than a good music background sound track, it doesn’t have much more to offer although the off-beat take on the familiar well told story may be enough for many viewers. (2009)

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Cold Souls – sp – This is one of most unusual movies that we have seen in a long time. We are not sure if it is science fiction, new age, deeply metaphorical or just a ridiculous comedy.

A tortured actor by the name of Paul Giamatti (sic) played by Paul Giamatti can’t stand himself anymore so he goes to a place on Roosevelt Island in New York City that he read about in the New Yorker magazine in order to have his soul removed and put in cold storage. Will he like the one that he chooses to replace it with? How does this affect his acting or his relationship with his wife? What will happen when shady people from Russia are trafficking souls on the black market? Giamatti is on the screen at least 90% if the time and he almost makes everything in this fanciful movie quite believable. It was written and directed by Sophie Barthes in her first feature film produced by Liz Giamatti, Paul’s wife, along with a few other people. While the movie did not hold Susan’s attention and interest as well as it did Michael’s, we both agreed that it ultimately had some flaws in the script and fell short of a great movie. Paul Giamatti should get special recognition for his performance in this difficult role. To be released in August. (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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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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North Face – sp – If you are at all interested in mountain climbing – dangerous mountain climbing, or if you think you might want to learn more about risk taking mountain climbing this movie is for you. This is an award winning German film with English subtitles, set in Germany in 1936. The government has encouraged German mountain climbers to show the world how brave and strong they are by climbing this most difficult mountain. The chilling (and we do mean ice cold and freezing) attempt to do this feat is the main plot of this film. It is based on a true story. Most of it, including all the life and death parts of the movie, are based on known facts of an actual occurrence. One of the guests at our film course was a young alpine mountain climber who not only had heard of the actual events shown but verified that all the situations on the mountain , pitfalls and climbing techniques with pitons and ropes etc were quite authentic. This was a period piece nicely depicting the lavish hotel setting at the base of the mountain. However, most of the two hours and one minute of this film take place in the outside bitter cold. We also learned that this movie is in the tradition of some great German mountain climbing movies which we haven’t seen. While we were caught up with the suspense and adventure, we did feel there was too much time up there in the mountain with snow continually falling or alternating between flakes to avalanches. The movie was very skillfully done. The story line was interesting and painful, but wasn’t complex and stimulating enough for all we had to bear in watching it. (2010)