April 26th, 2012 — 6:29am
****
Mamitas- sp This is a coming of age movie that takes place in East Los Angeles. Jordin Juarez (EJ Bonilla) is a bright defiant high school student living with his dad and brother and close to granddad (Pedro Armendariz, Jr.). His mother died at his birth and this “know it all guy†on the outside, with a lot of baggage on the inside, wasn’t sure where he was going but it wasn’t going to be college. The tagline of the movie is “You never know who will change your life forever and in this case it is Felipa (Veronica Diaz), visiting cousin of one of the local high school “chics.â€Â Felipa , big glasses and hidden good looks is hoping for a college scholarship but she too has her family secret. There is an interesting storyline but it isn’t as important as appreciating the slowly developing chemistry between these characters as well as the authentic East LA Latino setting. The movie was written and directed by first time feature filmmaker Nicholas Ozchki who met one of producers while they were both students at Chapman Film School. They subsequently have formed Right Brain Films, a group we are going to hear more about in the future. EJ Bonilla first came to our attention in another recent film where he magnificently played a completely different character, which was, that of a young man who danced with his girl friend who was in a wheel chair in Musical Chairs. His mannerisms, charm and angst in the current role in Mamitas is also a tour de force as is the entire movie. (2012)
Comment » | 4 Stars, Drama, Romance
April 22nd, 2012 — 6:48am
****
Darling Companion- sp This is a wonderful “ feel good “ movie that everyone can enjoy. It will be especially meaningful to anyone who has been part of a family when the last child is married off and the parents deal with their adult relationship with each other and other members of their families. It was directed and produced by Lawrence Kasden (Big Chill, Grand Canyon and many more big time hits) who also wrote the script along with his wife Meg Kasden . They put together an honest story that showed love, romance and every day comedy in a way that most people should be able to relate to and immensely enjoy. They assembled a cast of actors who were able to embody the characters they created in a skillful and very authentic manner. Beth (Diane Keaton) and Joseph (Kevin Kline) are the newly “empty nested†parents as their daughter Grace (Kate Moss of “Mad Men†fame) ,the youngest of their children, finally finds Mr. Right and gets married. Joseph is a spine surgeon whom Beth acknowledges may have always been a little full of himself but is shown to ultimately be a good guy. Penny is Joseph’s divorced sister (Diane Wiest) who has found her new love Russell (Richard Jenkins) who is a bumbling guy who wants to marry Penny and open an English pub in Iowa. Bryan (Mark Duplass) is Penny’s son who is also a spine doctor and has a touching flirtation with a gypsy like housekeeper (Ayelet Zurer) of the family’s vacation house in the beautiful Colorado mountains (which was filmed in the beautiful Utah mountains) . Sam Sheppard is Sheriff Morris who adds further warmth to the already tender story. What we haven’t told you yet is that the story is tied together by a loveable dog – that almost magically appears and then disappears ! The movie is the story about the search for the dog which occurs while the characters are finding themselves and their own bearings. The story is just right at 103 minutes . The acting is perfect-Diane Keaton is at her mature best, the country type music hits the spot and the film features a a dog! How can it go wrong? (2012)
1 comment » | 4 Stars, Drama, Romance
April 18th, 2012 — 9:53pm
***
The Deep Blue Sea- rm- This movie is set in about the 1950s in post World War II London. It focuses on the troubled personality of Hester Collyer  (magnificently nuanced performance by Rachel Weisz) who is unhappily married to a much older but caring British judge, Sir William Collyer (Simon Russel). After a chance meeting with Freddie Page, dashing former RAF pilot, (Tom Hiddleston) Hester moves out of her passionless, childless marriage to live with this new lover. She soon realizes that between his drinking and his self-centeredness, he has very little to offer her. On the other hand it becomes clear that she is obsessed with her neediness and passion for him. She is caught between a marriage that doesn’t work for her and an attraction and dependency that is equally doomed. This would seem to leave her with tremendous emptiness and a tumble towards a suicidal despair, which is emotionally enhanced by Barbe’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra op 14. The story is based on a play by Terrence Rattigan and is written and directed by Terrence Davies who uses various flashbacks to try to fill in the back-story. Any student of a psychological drama such as this one yearns to know the determinants of this troubled character. We are only told that her father was a Church Vicar who was quite demanding of her. We are also shown that she was a young woman of wartime London and all the insecurities that must have brought to her. One poignant scene in the subway during a bombing attack during the war and another of children playing in the rubble give us hints of what may have added up to her tremendous neediness and the fleeting attraction to this war hero. Even if all our intellectual understanding of this character were not fully satisfied, Rachel Weisz conveyed the emotional substance with which we could identify and by which we could be moved. (2012)
Comment » | 3 Stars, Drama, Foreign
April 16th, 2012 — 5:52am
***
Monsieur Lazhar– sp (French with English subtitles) This film was the Canadian nomination for the best foreign film in the 2011 Oscar race. The opening scene takes place in a middle school that is the setting for most of the movie. We see a young student peeking into an empty classroom where he sees his teaching dangling from a rope where she has hanged herself. Starting with this violent event the movie progresses with an examination of the emotional meaning to the young students and to the replacement teacher Monsieur Lazhar (Mohamed Fellag ) an immigrant from Algiers, where he had his own secret tragedies. The movie is a remarkable accomplishment in that it is mostly these children who are expressing in a subtle manner what this experience has meant to them as well as the nuances of the storyline (which one must follow carefully through the subtitles). Fellag was imported from France for this role, which he handles with great sensitivity and believability. He is able to synchronize the working of his own emotions with those of the children. Much of the credit belongs to writer and director Phillipe Falardeau who adapted this story which he originally saw as a one person play. He concludes the film with the antithesis of how he began it. (2012)
Comment » | 3 Stars, Drama, Foreign
March 27th, 2012 — 7:10pm
****
The Island President- sp – The producers gave this documentary film the tagline, “Can This Man Save the World “. In the Indian Ocean there are a series of small islands called the Maldives with a population of about 400,000. It is the lowest lying country in the world with literally no hills. There are some large building on at least one of the islands but the main industry is tourism with beautiful beaches and high-end hotels. Since 1978 the country had been under the iron rule of President Maaumoon Abdul Gayoom who was able to harshly suppress any opposition to his ruling party. One of the leaders of the opposition was Mohamed Nasheed who was thrown into jail and spent 18 months in solitary confinement. Eventually a new constitution was established in 2008 which allowed the country’s first multi-party presidential election which elected Mohamed Nasheed as President. This documentary is about this man and how he became a world wide symbol for environmental reform. Nasheed made it his mission to make the world aware of how his country is seriously threatened with extinction if global warming continues and if the water line rises another three feet, which it is on track to do. He made the case that eventually much of the world, even New York City will be threatened by the rising water which comes with carbon emissions and global warming. Despite opposition by developing countries such as China which feels it needs to use fossil fuels to continue its growth, Nasheed carried on an amazing, almost one man, campaign at the all important 2010 Copenhagen World Wide Environmental Conference attended by important representatives from most of the world nations including Secretary of State Hilary Clinton . This film used a very creative and effective approach by following this passionate, very likeable sincere man who pleaded individually and at the plenary sessions to save his country and save the world. In the end, while he couldn’t get full agreement on the exact number to which carbon emissions should be reduced over a period of time, he got members of this conference for the first time sign a document agreeing to reductions . The emotion of this accomplishment was quite palpable as the viewers felt close to this remarkable man as we followed him throughout his non-stop activities with a musical backdrop effectively provided by 14 songs from Radiohead and some other music by Stars of the Lid. The film was directed and photographed by Jon Shenk and Samuel Goldwyn Films picked it up for distribution. You come away from this movie quite informed and feeling good. It is scheduled for release at the end of March and President Mohamed Nasheed was supposed to help promote this movie in the US and elsewhere which would allow him continue to crusade for the environment. Unfortunately, a month before the scheduled release there was a coup d’edat in the Maldives and Nasheed was forced to resign and was thrown in jail again. The situation there is evolving and the “ end cards “ for the film are constantly being revised as the political situation changes day by day.(2012)
Comment » | 4 Stars, Documentary
March 23rd, 2012 — 4:21pm
***
Bully- sp The film makers Lee Hirsch and Cynthia Lowen have tackled a very difficult and important subject as they take on bullying in schools and its consequences. The value of this documentary and its message actually supercedes the quality of the production, which at times is uneven, drawn out, and does not always paint a clear story of each of its subjects. The movie does tell the story of several cases of bullying in school, which in some instances has led to tragic suicides. The movie shows children being bullied at school and on school buses. It captures some of the discussions at home between parents and children who are being bullied. The viewer follows some particular parents as they visit the school officials and in some cases sees them being told, “Children will be children etc.†The filmmakers have recorded an intimate portrait of families who have lost a child to suicide after being bullied. It shows their grief and how it is being transformed into a nationwide movement to address this issue. We are inspired as we see their determination to make a difference and save children so they don’t end up with such tragic consequences. We were quite touched, as was the audience with whom we screened this film. Much of the thrust of the film, which was restated by a family that was in the film and spoke at our screening, was that school authorities are not doing enough to stop and prevent bullying. Discussion from our audience brought out an example from India where school athletes are given the responsibility to speak out whenever they see bullying occurring in their school and another example from a local California school where every freshman in high school is given a big buddy or mentor of a senior who looks out for them. Part of the great value of this movie would be if it could be shown to the high school kids themselves who would see and appreciate the destructive nature of bullying. However, it is ironic that the movie is given an R rating because of a few “f words†heard in the background†which means that it can only be seen by those 18 years and older. There is a campaign to get the Rating Board to change the rating. This movement is getting the film quite a bit of publicity, which may be why the producers have not chosen to edit out those few words. (2012)
Comment » | 3 Stars, Documentary
March 6th, 2012 — 8:10am
**

Lorax: This is a well publicized blockbuster movie of a Dr. Seuss book which was just released on the author’s birthday. It is a high tech computer animated film directed by Chris Renaud and Kyle Balda starring the voices of Zac Efron, Taylor Swift , Danny DeVito and Betty White. When we arrived at our local multiplex with two grandchildren ages 8 & 10 to see this movie, ½ hour before show time we found that the 5pm show was soldout so we got tickets to the 7:40pm ( this was the regular HD –not the Imax or the 3D. )When we came back 40 minutes before show time we still had to wait on long line that snaked around the mall and had to sit up close and a little to the side. Both kids had read the book recently and knew the story, which was ancient history to us. Us grown ups found the movie, fair, not at all compelling as we recalled feeling about the Disney classics. The 10 year old agreed but said she didn’t expect more. The eight year old liked it a lot but agreed that the music wasn’t particularly appealing (It seemed splashy maybe even grungy to us). There were a lot of younger kids in the theatre who clearly didn’t have the slightest idea what was going on story wise but liked it when someone crashed down or perhaps when there was a nice furry animal but it wasn’t really a movie for those younger kids. The lesson of the movie is that one should not destroy trees. The young hero( who looks like a young kid-he is suppose to be 12, but rides a motorbike) of the movie leads us to this conclusion although his motivation is because he wants to please his girl friend so she will kiss him and marry him . It is not because he starts off believing trees are good for this earth and in fact it is only his grandmother who even remembers trees. What Dr. Seuss ever lacked in a plot, he always made up with his wonderful language and poetry. This movie didn’t use his language although it certainly tried to capture the spirit. It probably is going to be a big hit although we would suggest that you and the kids stick to the book. (2012)
Comment » | 2 Stars, Family / Kids
March 1st, 2012 — 8:14am
*****
Musical Chairs- sp   This is a movie from which you will learn something about people and about the heart. It is about music and it is about dance . It is about what can happen when a person suddenly finds him or herself in a wheel chair for the rest of their life. Director Susan Seidelman (Desperately Seeking Susan ) takes a screenplay by Marty Madden and somehow does a perfect casting job starting off with E.J Bonilla, a young actor who plays Armando with a flair for music, dance and the ability to project his intensity and his sincerity when he encounters Mia (Leah Pipes) a beautiful young dancer before and after her tragic accident. The story flows as smoothly as the music and the dance of this film. Most of the rest of the engaging cast is this young man’s New York Puerto Rican second generation family who owns a restaurant and especially his mother (Pricilla Lopez) who has to struggle with her aspirations for her son and her realization of his love for his new girlfriend. The other group of extraordinary colorful players in this film are the people in wheelchairs who find that they can express themselves in dance. In reality only one of the actors, Auti Angel, who plays Nicky is actually confined to a wheel chair. She was a promising professional dancer who has a true story that is not too far from the plot of this movie. Behind the scenes we understand that she assisted and inspired the actors in wheelchairs to take on their personas. We view this movie as fairy tales where things happen and people say and do things not quite the way they may happen in real life. It reminds us of a musical where it can be convenient to suddenly find a place to sing (or in this case a hospital gym at night to dance in a special way). The characters and some of the dialogue are somewhat clichéd. This doesn’t seem to really matter because the emotion and the message of the movie is very real. We think everyone should be able to relate to this film and learn something about the human spirit. We also think that it has the potential to live on by teaching young people in schools and be an inspiration for the thousands of people every year who find themselves in a place they never thought they would be. Part of the storyline of the movie is a dance contest being held in New York labeled “The First International Wheelchair Dance Competition†In reality, while wheelchair dancing is big in Europe it hasn’t quite caught on in the USA. It would not surprise us if after this film is released and gets around we will see this event in some major city. That is part of the great potential of this movie.(2012)
Comment » | 5 Stars, Drama, Musical
February 16th, 2012 — 8:14pm
**
Being Flynn- sp Paul Weitz (American Pie) directed and wrote the screenplay of this movie based a real book about real people. Robert DiNero plays Jonathan Flynn a crusty old self proclaimed great writer who left his wife and child at very young age. The mother (Julianne Moore) tried her best to raise her son with two jobs but ultimately couldn’t handle things and ends her own life. The son Nick Flynn (Paul Dano) in trying to find himself, takes a job in a homeless shelter where his dad shows up, down and out, but still spouting how he is about to write the next great novel. The film is a great vehicle for DiNero who captivates the screen and hold the audience with his great character interpretation. Despite this virtuoso performance we couldn’t figure out if this man is a self centered narcissistic character or a man plagued by mental illness demons and the ravages of alcohol. This uncertainty for us made it difficult to understand and empathize with what it was really like Being Flynn. Dano is excellent as the young man who falls into his own depravity during his struggle. His own attempt at resolution only was half the story so in the end we couldn’t raise two thumbs for the movie. (2012
Comment » | 2 Stars, Drama