***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)

**

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