****

Still Mine – sp  The population is aging and many movie goers are ready for a good, interesting, tough, moving but heartening story about relationships towards the end of life. This is one such film which will get you behind the main characters, allow you to root for them, feel their anguish, appreciate their caring for each other and share their successes. Michael McGowan read about the Canadian man who was trying to personally build a house that could accommodate his wife when she returned from the hospital. He investigated the details behind this news story and ended up writing directing and co–producing this film. Veteran actors James Cromwell and Genevieve Bujold play Craig and Irene Morrison who live on farm not too far from their grown children. They find themselves in a changing world but Craig more than amply demonstrates that he has the skills and knowledge to build a new home for he and his wife. His quest to do this reflects a familiar theme that makes a great subject for this movie to examine. The execution is almost faultless as is the great acting which matches this excellent screenplay. (2013)

****

Before Midnight– We didn’t see the two prequels of this movie, Before Sunrise (1995) and After Sunrise (2004) and don’t believe it is necessary  in order to appreciate this superb examination of the relationship of the couple Celine (Julie Delpy) and Jesse (Ethan Hawke)  now in their early 40’s. Director Richard Linklater reunites with his two stars and they collaborated in writing this  sequel which they filmed on the Greek Peloponnesian peninsula. The movie opens with  Jesse saying good-bye at the airport in Greece  to his 14 year old son who is returning to Chicago after a summer visit with his Dad. The parents divorced many years ago . Jesse now lives with Celine and their twin 9 year old daughters. He is a  successful novelist  clearly very happy with French born Celine and their family, but  obviously feels guilty that he will not be able to regularly see his son during his high school years. In the subsequent car ride back to where they are staying as invited guests for the summer at the home of a Greek author, as well as at a dinner with two other couples, we learn more about their back story. This dinner conversation unfolds and reveals the values and attitudes of three different generations. The main focus now spotlights Celine  and Jesse as they walk through the magnificent Greek location to a quaint hotel and then spend a special planned  evening together without their children. They become engaged in what turns out to be a no holds barred examination of their overt and hidden feelings. While the interesting specifics of their circumstances were unique to this couple, we recognized the conflicts, dilemmas and angst were universal and we could extrapolate them to familiar issues in many couples of different ages and generations. The unsolved and continued exploration of how a couple will raise children in this post feminist era is laid out in the back and forth recriminations of this couple. How do couples make decisions about where to live and which careers to support when both have career opportunities and there are children involved? How do you distinguish between being true to yourself and your love for your partner ? Does love and loyalty trump all and overcome an extramarital attraction or a fling? What will a couple say in the heat of an argument and can they forgive each other for what they might say? There were many long uninterrupted scenes which underscored the chemistry between  this trio (We have to include the unseen director). The subtle facial expressions which included anger and tenderness  added to our identification with Celine and Jesse. In the end we are left with a very stimulating movie to discuss. It becomes our challenge to also ponder how the next sequel will turn out. (2013)

***1/2

New Year’ Eve –nf  This is a movie that is perfect to see with your lover, young or old and might be especially nice to curl up with this person on New Year’s Eve. It is also a New York film  and a good part of it includes Times Square, getting ready to watch the ball drop on New Year’s Eve as well as Mayor Bloomberg. The screen play, by Katherine Fugate, consists of several stories that show people’s various romances and loving situations  which is brought out in anticipation of the new year. So this a romantic film  in the traditional sense  with the usual clichés but it also includes the love between a mother and her young daughter and a daughter and her older father. The new year brings new beginnings and also new chances for the future. However, the film is also a comedy which should not be surprising since the Director is Garry Marshall. Part of the fun of this movie is to identify this amazing cast which is somewhat characteristic of a Marshall film. It  includes Hilary Swank, Zac Efron, Ashton Kutcher, Michelle Pfeiffer, Katherine Heigel, Robert DiNero, Halle Berry, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jessica Biel, Seth Meyers, Sophia Vegara, Mathew Broderick, Josh Duhamel, Jim Belushi  and others. These stars don’t just have walk on parts, as each one plays an important role in his or her mini-story. There are also acting and singing roles for Jon Bon Jovie and Lea Michele (of Glee fame). In the film you can also find Garry Marshall’s sister Penny, his wife Barbara, his granddaughter and a couple other people named Marshall. There is a small role for Hector Elizondo, a veteran actor and friend of the director  who     is in many of his films. The movie offers several surprises and in the end you should feel satisfied. If you stay for the credits you get a bunch of out takes which adds to the fun experience of seeing this film. (2011)

***

Celeste and Jesse Forever-nf  Two best friends Celeste (Rashida Jones) and Jesse (Andy Samberg)  get married and although they are still good buddies, after a little while decide to get divorced. Maybe it is because he can’t get his art career going and she is a successful trend forecaster. He lives in the garage studio behind the house and eventually moves out but they still feel very close as they evolve to the singles scene. Even when one of them finds someone that seem right for him, the old feelings are still there.  In many ways this theme reflects what sometimes happens when first loves feel they need to move on  (hopefully even before they have tied the knot). Sometimes the separation is easier for one than the other and sometimes it goes back and forth. Maybe they will always love each other. Andy Samberg conveys the exuberance and youthfulness of the character he plays and only in subtle manner does he draw upon his comedic skills. Rashida Jones seems very comfortable in her role (perhaps because she co-wrote the script with Will McCormack who has a secondary role as one of her friends in the film). She seems a tad older and more mature than the Jesse character  but she struggles as she realizes what  is ultimately happening to her relationship with her soon to be divorced husband and best friend.  This film directed by Lee Toland Krieger is filled with an almost continuous musical wallpaper of  the contemporary setting which it portrays. It successfully highlights the theme of lovers forever even if they may have to move on. (2012)

****

The Great Gatsby-rm– When a film comes out with a hundred million dollar budget and is based on  one of the great novels of the 20^th century, plus it has Leonardo DiCaprio (and also has a 3D version –which we didn’t see), there are too many expectations to live up to. Putting all this aside, there is a very intriguing storyline (thank you Mr. F. Scott Fitzgerald, as well as director and co screen writer Baz Luhrmann (who also directed  Moulin Rouge). Jay Gatsby (DiCaprio)  is offered to us as a combination  of an obsessed,  eternal optimist, somewhat unbalanced and a tragic figure. The object of this intriguing and complicated figure’s attention is another man’s wife and that is Daisey Buchanan (Carrie Mulligan). The other man is the truly very rich Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton) who has one of those thin mustaches which make a person look evil but he turns out to be much more multifaceted. Then there is Nick Carraway (Tobey Maquire), the guy through whose eyes we are seeing the story and in fact has written it all down at the behest of his psychiatrist (Can’t forget to mention the importance of a shrink.) Maguire’s perplexed and concerned facial expression contrasts with the the range and intensity which DiCaprio emotes throughout the film. So where did this big budget go? Aside from perhaps in DiCaprio’s and the other all star cast’s pockets, it paid for the  magnificent scenes of extravagant parties in the estates on the Hamptons in Long Island,  period costumes and  rich interiors, expensive  autos, realistic NYC skyline and bridges all of the 1920’s, all  perhaps a little overdone. Some of it must  have been CGI as there were probably hundreds if not 1000 artists listed in the credits. There was also a 3D version. One of us had the thought that this could have effectively been done as a much less expensive film noir version in black and white and still captured the drama and clever turnabouts in the plot. Interestingly, the music background was contemporary with lots of stuff by Jay Z rather than the jazz or flapper music of the 1920’s. In the end a lot of people are going to see this film, enjoy it and remember it. (2013)

****

Stuck – sp   What happens when a serial monogamist, a gal who just has long term relationships that don’t work out, meets a serial datist, a guy who has one night stands where there is never any follow up? This interesting premise put forth by screen writer, director, producer and editor Stuart Acher takes place in Los Angles mostly stuck in traffic on the 405, probably the busiest highway in the country. The interaction between Holly and Guy (Madeline Zima and Joel David Moore) the two main characters  was essentially the entire movie with most of it in the front seat of their car standing still on the clogged artery of this major city, some of it in bed in his apartment or in the pick-up nightclub where they met. Archer used flashbacks from their stranded auto chronically going back in time to the  past two days leading back to where they met. So as things unfold backwards we come to understand where they came from and we know where they are now. We also get a hint of where they might be going. The success of this movie is clearly the chemistry between these two strangers who are getting to know each other quite quickly. We believe they have captured some real aspects of the dating scene in this big city and perhaps some universal facts about contemporary relationships among many of the 30ish crowd of singles. You would never guess that this independent film was shot on a shoestring budget, using matchbox cars superimposed on the actual scenes of the highway unless you realize that the vehicles are much too colorful than the silver, black and white that predominate in real life. This film probably won’t be in theatres or on DVD until 2014 but there is no rush as things are not going to change and unfortunately neither are the traffic tie ups on the 405. (2013)

***

Love Is All You Need- sp  This is a mostly romantic and somewhat comedic film. It is mostly a Danish film with  English subtitles when needed, but a somewhat English film with Pierce Brosnan. The Screenwriter and director is two time Oscar nominee  Susanne Bier who directed the  2011 Academy Award winning Best Foreign Film In a Better World . This current film opens with Ida  (Trine Dyrholm) having just completed her course of cancer treatment hoping that she is cured. She is about to travel to Italy for her daughter’s wedding in a beautiful mansion on the Italian Mediterranean where the two families will get together for the ceremony. On the way she bumps into Philip (Pierce Brosnan) the father of the groom. Everyone but Ida seems to be dysfunctional in some way or have some interpersonal and personal conflicts. As family and friends prepare  for the wedding their interactions reveal their  conflicted lives and relationships. The storyline is engrossing despite the fact that most of the characters are cardboard stereotypes which does allow for some good comedic moments. Nevertheless, you cannot help but be drawn to the heroine Ida whose inner and outer beauty shows through despite the results of her treatment for cancer, personal affronts suffered and even losing her suitcase on her trip to Italy. There are easily predicted outcomes, some surprises and an unanswered question. The photography of the beautiful setting is magnificent by Morten Soborg which compliments Ms Biers very fine directing. Dean Martin provides the familiar musical themes of Italy. (2013)

***

Renoir- rm  – This movie becomes an enjoyable stroll through a museum filled with the paintings of French Impressionist Pierre- Auguste Renoir. However, instead of looking at the beautiful colorful paintings of this master you are watching a film about him and the people around him living on his picturesque farm on the French Riveria. The photography and the lighting , so often during the magic hours preceding sunset along with the delicate colors and the characters gracefully moving through the French countryside or  in the period living quarters, transport the viewer into so many of Renior’s paintings. The screenplay is written by writer/director Gilles Bourdos and is based on the writing of the painter’s great grandson Jacques Renoir. The movie takes place in 1915 during World War I and opens as Andree (Christa Theret) a young beautiful girl with red hair comes to work as a model for the aging Pierre-Auguste Renoir (Michel Bouquet). His wife having recently died, he is surrounded by women of various ages who act as his housekeeper, cook and assistant with the suggestion that some may have been previously his models or even more than that. Shortly thereafter his oldest son Jean Renoir (Vincent Rottiers) returns from the WW I battlefield to recuperate from a leg injury. We also meet young Coco Renoir (Thomas Dorot) the sulking youngest son of Renoir and learn of another older son who is also in the military. The story revolves around the role of Andree becoming the inspiration of the elder Renoir and his appreciation of her beauty and velvety skin, which is amply framed in the movie. At the same time there is her connection to son Jean and we get glimpses of them planning their possible future together. But alas, while Andree has aspirations to be an actress and plants the seed that Jean should become a filmmaker (which of course he did but beyond the time frame of the film), this young man is determined to return to fighting in the Great War. Whether you did or did not know the reality not exactly shown in the film that Andree was actually the muse for both father and son, will not influence your appreciation of this film. The almost 2 hour movie was easy to digest and the storyline mattered very little as the true effect of this movie was a visceral sense of this old master mixing colors, putting down his whirling brush strokes  and capturing the beauty of the people and the countryside surrounding him. (2013)

****

The Perks of Being a Wallflower-nf.  Stephen  Chobosky wrote  the book in 1999 and it became #1 New York Times Best Seller for Children’s Paperback Books. 3 years later in September 2012 this PG- 13 movie was released with Chobsky as Director and Screenwriter with ensemble of young actors including Logan Lerman, Emma Watson (fresh out of Harry Potter ), Mae Whitman (from the TV hit Parenthood), Ezra Miller, Johnny Simmons along with some veteran grownups such as Paul Rudd, Dylan McDermott and Joan Cussick. They all seem to hit it out of the ballpark and come through with a very successful movie. It certainly is a film that appeals to teens and beyond. In fact, anyone who can remember his or her high school life or even more important appreciates the serious struggles, and at times traumas that young people may go through, will relate to this film on many levels. It would  be over simplifying to describe this as a coming of age film which of course it is . However, it captures the ability of young people to connect with each other, understand, empathize and help each other through the  normal traumas of life as well as the some real bad ones that nobody should have to experience. The storyline on one hand is not typical. Charlie (Logan Lerman), a high school freshman with more baggage than most, is dreading the four years in front of him. He befriends  two high school seniors  Pat and Sam ( Ezra Miller and Emma Watson, who completely loses her British accent for this movie) and hangs around mostly with them and their friends. The setting is a high school in Pittsburgh (the author, screenwriter and Director’s town) and the time would seem to be early or mid 1980s as judged by the music, type of telephone and cars and even the typewriter on which the main character writes his story. There is the requisite lonely time in the lunch room, going to your first party, getting high on a marijuana brownie, truth or dare game, first kiss, the struggle of a gay friend, a lunchroom fight, applications to college etc,. But at the same time these milestones of high school are shown, there is a painful plot and character development with meaningful relationships, which you know, are never forgotten no matter how and where we grow up. Chobosky is writing and directing a film about the 1980s and the music will help bring those of that generation back to their high school days. However, the themes are universal enough to attract today’s youth ( as indicated by the success of the book and movie today) Even us old timers give it a “thumbs up” (with a nod to the movie critic Roger Ebert who died last week.) It would not surprise us if the movie moves towards a cult status and as these young actors make names for themselves, it will be especially interesting to look back at these youthful performances. Any such retrospective should include the Netflix commentary special feature where the actors comment on how it felt making this film about typical teenagers when they admit their teenage life was far from typical. (2012)

****

Admission –sp   When a movie starts with Tina Fey playing an Assistant Dean of Admissions at Princeton  and Paul Rudd as a teacher bent on getting one of his students accepted who has poor grades but near perfect scores on all the tests, you might imagine we are going to see a great comedy and satire of the whole admissions process. And that it was. Who among you is not familiar with dance of students, their parents and their counselors as they try to present the applicant in his or her best light whether it be some special kindergarten class, school or class for “ the gifted”, most private schools and “ the best college” possible.  When it is a Princeton multiply the frenzy by at least ten. Add to this mix the unforgettable character actor Wallace Shawn as the Dean of Admissions and Lily Tomlin playing the feminist mother of Tina Fey’s character with a tattoo on her arm saying “ Bella” (Abzug we presume). But actually the film was much more than a satiric comedy. It very poignantly dealt with issues of children out of wedlock , wanted and unwanted. It examined how people establish relationships, fall in and out of love and how parents sometimes have to choose a path which may be best for themselves or their child.

One of us writes a blog on psychiatry and mental health topics. The most popular piece by far in regard to readership in the past three years was one on the topic of unknown family members. It discussed the need to find a biological parent and how people respond when they meet a previously unknown parent or child. This topic has been the subject of other films in the recent past and was one of the central themes of this movie. Director and Producer Paul Weitz who is an  unlisted script contributor, along with Karen Croner who  wrote the screen play,  very skillfully and successfully weaved comedy and satire at the same time that they presented a very sensitive study of these real human conflicts.(2013)