****

The Descendants-rm  This movie immediately puts you into the life crisis of a man(George Clooney) as he come to grips with the fact that his wife who on life support in a  coma after a water skiing  accident is about to die. He is confronted with the question of what kind of a husband has he been, as well as the nature of his relationship with his two children. His learning something about his wife that would be devastating to any man then complicates things and sets the trajectory of the story. Clooney out does himself with one of his finest performances where he starts off as an insensitive, somewhat awkward husband who also obviously has not been a very good father and is now overwhelmed with what he is facing. He evolves throughout the movie to connect to his daughters, as they become a team with a mission with a 4th member (Nick Krause) who is the older daughter’s boyfriend and provides some help in understanding his plight as well as a comedic touch. Clooney emerges as a now likeable guy who appears to have accepted his tragic circumstances and you believe is going to make the best of it.  Aside from Clooney there are two standout performances. One is by Shailene Woodley as the 17-year-old daughter who goes from a bratty teenager to a caring sister and daughter who is wise beyond her age. This is her first major role and is clear that she has a great future. The other star is the beautiful state of Hawaii with its magnificent vistas and breathtaking coastline as well as it’s unique history which are all part of the storyline of this movie. However, much of the credit of the success of this move should be given to director Alexander  Payne (Sideways) who brought out excellent performances by his two younger cast members (Woodley and Amara Miller) . There also was the every effective Hawaiian musical background provided by Dondi Bastone and Richard Ford. The film is based on a novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings  and the screenplay is by Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash.  Payne probably could have worked with many other very fine male leads and ended up with an excellent film as this one is. However, the presence of Clooney will assure it the attention which it deserves and demonstrates once again the versatility of this great actor.

****

Terribly Happy- nf-  ( In Danish with English subtitles) It is not surprising that this film and cast has won numerous international awards. The direction, acting, photography, lighting is all on the mark and the story is suspenseful and gripping. This film project got started when two men who were friends in their youth growing up in rural Denmark and now were achieving success in their respective fields were able to reconnect. Dunja Greg Jensen a writer, shared a story he was writing, based on some true events in his family, with film director  Henrik Rubin Genz who then collaborated with him in the screenplay for this movie. It is the story of a Copenhagen policeman Robett (Jakob Cedergren) who  is reassigned to small isolated town. The people here are a tough somewhat odd group and John gets drawn into a situation with  a married couple, where the man, by the name of Jorgen (Kim Bodnia)  has been abusing his wife Ingerlise (Lena Maria Christensen). Ingerlise appears to have what we psychiatrists call a Borderline Personality and she succeeds in seducing our policeman Robert. Things then begin to have serious twists and turns which makes this movie a very exciting thriller. The movie succeeds in that the viewer is able to identify and feel empathy with Robert despite the fact that he works  his way into some “deep shit” and does some things that are not very nice. This is not so much of a “who dunnit movie” as it is a “what is he going to do now movie” which, will keep you on the edge of your seat and give you a good ride. (2008)  

***

My Father’s Glory – nf  (In French with English voiceover or subtitles). The movie is based on the best selling memoirs of French novelist and filmmaker Marcel Pagnol and is directed by Yves Robert. If we had known the story of the movie, we probably would have passed on it. Somehow it ended up on our Netflix queue, which meant someone, or some publication recommended it highly, so we let it roll (so to speak). It is a beautifully framed picturesque film set in the early 1900s. It is seen through the eyes of an older Frenchmen who is the narrator recalling his childhood especially, his view of his father. Most of the movie shows his family’s summer vacation, which includes his mother, sibs, uncle and aunt and their small children in the countryside and mountains in southern France. Being a city boy he is intrigued with  nature and the wide open country experience with mountains, birds and game . He idolizes his schoolteacher father and has some problems with seeing his uncle, an experienced woodsman who is more knowledgeable in shooting and hunting. He encounters a young local boy his age with whom he becomes friendly and even considers sneaking off and staying by himself in the countryside. Aside from being magnificently photographed, it is a touching, heartwarming film with some comedic moments. I think it probably is the perfect movie to watch with a preadolescent son or grandson. (1990)

****

Ides of March– rm-  It is not a coincidence that this movie opens in the US as there is a hotly contested primary race in one of the political parties prior to the 2012 Presidential Election.The stories that emerge from behind the scenes of these campaigns usually mesmerizes the public. The people running these campaigns have to be the brilliant tacticians who understand politics and the power of the press. They encounter nosey reporters exemplified in this story by NY Times reporter Ida Horowicz (Marisa Tomei). They play a complicated chess game as they present their candidates. Everything and everybody is expendable including the campaign leaders themselves. Steven Myers (Ryan Gosling) is  the idealistic very smart staffer working for Governor Mike Morris (George Clooney) under very wise campaign director Paul Zara (Phillip Seymour Hoffman). The campaign manager for the oppositional candidate is a very crafty (Paul Giamatti). The Governor while politically very principled has some Clintonesque weaknesses and we should mention there is a pretty young intern (Evan Rachel Wood). Mix these ingredients together and you get a suspenseful fast moving screenplay by Grant Heslov with contribution from Clooney who also directed the film. It was based on a play, Farragut North,  by Beau Willimon which having seen it in Los Angeles, we felt the suspense and surprises of the story were slightly muted. In real life, reading the newspapers and various biographies, we get snippets that makes us understand that in big time politics  there can be  deception, lying and compromising of principles. This movie gives us a depressing view how it might go down. This isn’t a pretty picture but it is a great story and an effective movie (2011)

****

Remember Me- nf  – This is a haunting film which will grab you at it’s beginning and will penetrate your heart at it’s ending.  We are introduced to one of the main characters in a tragic New York moment. We then meet the main focus of the film Tyler Hawkins (Robert Pattinson) whose parents have split up in the wake of his brothers’s suicide. He obviously has not found himself as he struggles with his anger, his alienation from his father ( Pierce Brosnan) and yet we see  his devotion to his kid sister, wonderfully portrayed by Ruby Jerins).  The relationship bewtween Hawkins and Ally Craig (Emille de Ravin) the now grown up 21 year old young women  who was a  participant in that earlier mentioned tragic moment 10 years previously, is the centerpiece of the film . During their first date at dinner Ally wants dessert because you can never tell when you will suddenly be facing death and wish you had that last dessert and another person would have such guilt if they talked you out that dessert. In one sense that is the story of this movie – unexpectedly life can be ended  with lasting consequences to the people to whom they are close.  This is something that many New Yorkers know so well and this movie is a New York movie. Director Allen Coulter has captured it’s feel whether it be a college apartment around NYU, a house in Queens, a private school on the upper east side , a high rise office overlooking the city, or a taxi that might not want to go to Queens.The characters all have depth which is as real as the grit of the city. There is humor, drama  romance, great acting and a very good screen play by Will Fetters. This movie will stick to you and it will be hard to forget it. (2010)

***

Anonymous– sp- John Orloff, as an undergraduate was always interested in the question of whether or not William Shakespeare really wrote the masterpieces that have been attributed to him. Orloff pondered this concern during his time in film school and has been pitching various versions of this screen play for the past 15 years. Finally Columbia Pictures put up 30 million dollars (a relatively small sum) for this movie to be made under the direction of Roland Emmerich who is best known for elaborately staged blockbuster films such as Independence Day, Godzilla, The Patriot, 10000 BC and 2012. This movie as you might imagine is a period piece with lots of 16^th century costumes and filled with Shakespearian dialog (or dialog from whomever actually may have written it back then). The setting which encompasses  many streets, buildings including the famed Globe Theater and hoards of people appears quite authentic although they were mostly produced by the magic of computer technology and digitalization. The storyline is that Edward De Vere, the Earl of Oxford, (Rhys Ifans) was the original author but in his royal position he couldn’t acknowledge the nature of his writings. He secretly gave his written works to a young writer named Ben Johnson (Sebastain Armesto) who was too involved in his own budding literary works to want to take ownership or produce them. He instead passed them on to William Shakespeare (Rafe Spall), a journeyman actor  who also was sworn to secrecy but gladly took credit for them. Shakespeare who was far from a writer himself began to stage the plays which immediately received great acclaim. Vanessa Redgrave played Queen Elizabeth I and Redgrave’s own daughter (Joely Richardson) had the role of the Queen at a younger age. There of course were subplots and various intrigues including flashbacks in time.   Many fine Shakespearian actors were cast in this film which were a great showcase for their talents. At times we lost track where in time we were or who was who in the secondary characters. History buffs of this period of time as well as Shakespearian aficionados will enjoy the storyline and dialog respectively. Rather than solve  the age old authorship conundrum, in the end this movie made an all out effort to entertain us with a fanciful dramatic well acted story.

****

Margin Call sp     Early in this movie, we see that a brilliant junior member of a Wall Street brokerage team has pieced together information that allows him to realize that derivatives that they had put together from which lots of money had been made for their firm have fallen apart. After taking the information to their bosses up the line, the head honcho has to make a decision whether to try to sell everything although they know it has little value. To execute this would mean that supervisors and brokers alike would have convince other brokers to buy what they had figured out was essentially “garbage”. This fairly succinct plot has captured the Wall Street debacle which involved a few brokerage houses, the results of  which we are still struggling with today. J.C. Chandor, whose father apparently had been a big time broker, pulled together the story and wrote the brilliant script. It was the strength of this story and the vision which Chandor had for the film which convinced Zachary Quinto who also acted in  the movie to sign on with his first time producing team to make the movie . The plot is really actor driven as the overwhelming majority of the film takes place in one floor of an office building with a good deal of talking. However, the actors obviously liked the opportunity that the script gave them as they couldn’t have signed on for the money. The total budget to make this independent film was about 3 million dollars and it was done in 17 days facilitated by the use of digital photography and the “Red Camera.”.  J.C. Chandler executed his story quite well in his first feature film. The all star cast who joined him consisted of  Kevin Spacey, Paul Betany, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Penn Badgley , Simon Baker, Stanley Tucci and Demi Moore. The photography, lighting and the subtle musical score complements the undercurrent of the story. You may not understand some of the financial issues which brought about the crisis but the ethical and personal decisions  that emerged were crystal clear and makes for a riveting movie.  (2011)

****

Moneyball- rm  A major movie which deals with the complexities of baseball stands a good chance of capturing a big piece of the American pie. When you add a star such as Brad Pitt you have the recipe for a perfect dessert. However, this film which emerges on the scene as major league baseball is gearing for the playoff season, deals with more than just our national pastime. It is a metaphor for the problems facing so many businesses today as they realize that in order to win in today’s competitive world, you have to be more than the biggest guy around with most bucks. You have to be smart, understand modern technology and be creative. That is exactly what Billy Beane, General Manager of the Oakland Athletics and his trustworthy Assistant Manager and computer nerd, Yale graduate Peter Brand (Jonah Hill)  set out to prove when he realized that the meager salary cap that his owner gave him for his team couldn’t hold a candle to the one that the  New York Yankees had available to them. Baseball fans, most of whom understand the fine points of the game will appreciate the logic of the idea that three guys who all together get on base as often as the big gun who makes several times all their salaries combined might be better value to draft or hold on the team. This thesis based on real events is played out with drama, humor and much realism assisted by very realistic actors playing baseball, real baseball video clips and the voices of real baseball announcers. Brad Pitt infuses into Billy Beane the determination, inner confidence and likeability that holds the attention of the audience. We shouldn’t forget a very strong  (as usual) supporting role played by Phllip Seymour Hoffman as Art Howe, the A’s manager. The movie is directed by Bennett Miller and the screenplay co-written by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, the latter being  well known for producing riveting dialog which also characterized this production.  (2011)

***  

I Don’t Know How She Does It- rm– Remember the main character of the Sex and The City TV series and subsequent films? Well, imagine that instead of  being Carrie the writer, she was Kate Reddy a financial analyst and try to picture what her life might be like 10 or 15 years after she was running around Manhattan trying to find Mr. Big. Imagine that she is now married with two children living in Boston struggling to be the perfect working mother, trying to meet the needs of her kids as every morning she says hello to her nanny while saying goodbye to her husband before rushing off to her high powered job. We hear the narration voice of Kate (Sarah Jessica Parker  of course) reflecting her thoughts as she  ponders and explains her problems. We meet Richard, her husband  (Greg Kinnear) who is a lovely guy just beginning to get his big break at his job but is beginning to feel frustrated and deserted as Kate is taking trips out of town. She  is on the verge of closing a great deal working with Mr Big (Pierce Brosnan) of the stock portfolios. Her home life is best summed up by her late talking 2 year old finally saying his first words , “Bye Bye mommy” and her mother-in-law suggesting that the kid may have talked earlier if she had been around more. This movie will give at least two generations of working women a great deal to identify with. Maybe if Kate closes her deal she will have enough clout at her job so she can stay home when she wants to be with her kids, make a snowman with them when it snows and take her kids for landmark haircuts etc. But this is certainly not your middle class working family and what about the situation where such couple is forced to work long hours to make ends meet.?  Writers Arline McKenna (screenplay) and Allison Peason (novel) and director Douglas McGrath seem to have mixed feelings on their view of the role women and family today. On one hand despite her loving her career, Kate does strive towards ultimately putting family first. But the stay at home moms seen in this film (Busy Phillipps, Sarh Shahl and others ) are depicted in a self indulgent very unflattering manner which some are bound to find offensive.

If you are inclined to see this film because you are looking for some kind of validation of what your family has been through or is going through now, most probably you will find it fun to watch. Kelsey Grammer will add to the fun as one of her bosses as will Seth Myers as Kate’s nemesis at work. But be advised there is nothing ground breaking or really stimulating that is going to be found in this very light comedy. (2011)  

**** 

Puncture-sp– Imagine if a simple modification, costing a few cents per item, in the manufacture of a syringe and needle used for medical injections could have saved 800,000 lives in the United States and probably many times that all over the world. But what if there is tremendous resistance to doing this because changing this system would disrupt the scheme where only certain manufactures are allowed to sell their products to hospitals and there is an elaborate kick-back system in place worth at least mutli-millions of dollars. This is the storyline of this movie based on a true story that the Kassen brothers decided that they wanted to make once they learned of the details from the writings of attorney Paul Danizer one of the participants of this unbelievable situation.  Mark and Adam Kassen grew up in a family that had some connection to the medical supply business so they knew how controlling the large companies could be. They got Chris Lopate to come up with a great screen play which the two brothers made into this film

Mike Weiss (Chris Evans) and Paul Danizer (Mark Kassen, also co-director) were high school buddies who now have a small personal injury law firm in Houston, Texas.  Mike is a drug addict but brilliant and Paul is a family man but they work well together. They come across Vicki (Vinessa Shaw), an ER nurse, who suffered a needle stick while injecting a thrashing patient that lead to her developing AIDS. She brings them to Jeffrey Dancort (Marshall Bell) who is the inventor of the safe syringe/needle device that hospitals don’t even want to look out even though it is obvious to all nurses and others that it would save lots of lives. The next thing they know they are battling the big guys with their big lawyers and lots of money. If the story sounds familiar, think Erin Brockovich. It is David versus Goliath except David is busy much of the time sniffing cocaine.  We would like to say that this is a complete fairy tale and nothing like this really happens in the U.S. Obvioulsy however it really does happen. If a lawyer has a good case they can become very wealthy as there are many variations on successful class action lawsuits that we read about all the time. But as we see in this story, it isn’t easy to pull it off and the big guys often do win the day. This film was engrossing, bold, realistic, powerful and a little scary when you realize that things like this happen all time.(2011)