Fellow Movie Lovers
Because I have yet to pass my son’s technology 101 course, I inadvertently deleted the second section of my Blog yesterday! I also see movies that appeal to me on a certain level but I do not review in depth……….
LA DANSE
Frederick Wiseman’s documentary of the Paris Opera Ballet will entertain those who are fascinated with the agility and liquidity that the human body can attain with years of practice. A marvelous testimonial to the fact that women and men can challenge gravity and touch the sky.
FOUR STARS!
FANTASTIC MR. FOX
There are not enough adjectives in Webster’s Dictionary to describe this spectacular, enchanting, whimsical animated film. All ages will be transported and rejoice in the incredible anthropomorphic characters; they become our friends and we root for their escapes and conquests.
The Fantastic Mr. Fox will live comfortably with Wall-E and Ratatouille in the echelons of iconic twenty first century film animation.
Hats or “tails” off to the incomparable Wes Anderson and Roald Dahl for this lusciously magical screen gem!
FIVE STARS!
THE MESSENGER
We have all heard the expression, “don’t kill the messenger” and have grasped its meaning but this raw and intestine wrenching tale brings our understanding to the highest level. Who considers the emotional status of these harbingers of death? The victim’s pain is accepted but the men and women who deliver the life altering blow have escaped our empathy. Due to the noble and stunning performances of Ben Foster, Samantha Morton and the ubiquitous Woody Harrelson these envoys have risen to the forefront of our consciousness; never, ever to recede.
FOUR STARS!
For Now
Peneflix
Monday, November 30, 2009
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Fellow Movie Lovers
Fellow Movie Lovers
Many of you have asked if I review every movie I see. The answer is a resounding NO!
Some are totally non reviewable. Viewing them falls into the category of self flagellation. Case in point………
LAW ABIDING CITIZEN
There is not enough chocolate in the universe to induce me to waste a precious brain wave on this atrocity.
THE BAD LIEUTENANT
Having read of Nicholas Cage’s financial debacles; aggravation with his money manager and the trials of divesting a myriad of castles, sprinkled around the globe. His quest for the material has imprisoned his common sense. Here we have a prime example of the Peter Principle as his character deteriorates his rank accelerates; hopefully he can blame a petit mal seizure on this despicable display of over acting. It is modern tragedy to see a talent so divine plummet to such depths.
(UNTITLED)
As I sat in the theatre with seven other people I wondered what the rest of the movie goers knew that we didn’t.
As a major contemporary art aficionado I looked forward to this ironic parody of today’s art world. But alas what could have been a major entertainment was an exercise in excruciating dullness and boredom.
Adam Goldberg (oh, he with the perpetual scowl) plays a musician who decides to commit suicide if his talents and skills were not recognized within three years; in my estimation six months would have been sufficient. His scores (with a bucket as a major instrument) imitate John Cage, but totaling lacking his brilliance. His equally ungifted brother is a bland decorative art painter.
The only reason I suffered through this worthless exercise of endurance was the performance of the gallery owner, Madeleine, wonderfully played by Marley Shelton.
She had the “art speak” down to a science; she looked at a pin stuck in a wall and took it to the Zen level.
I read that a work of art has a soul; this film was artless, heartless and unequivocally soulless.
Three out of eight left the theatre in wonderment that less than two hours seemed like an eternity!
THREE STARLESS MOVIES
For Now……………..
Peneflix
Many of you have asked if I review every movie I see. The answer is a resounding NO!
Some are totally non reviewable. Viewing them falls into the category of self flagellation. Case in point………
LAW ABIDING CITIZEN
There is not enough chocolate in the universe to induce me to waste a precious brain wave on this atrocity.
THE BAD LIEUTENANT
Having read of Nicholas Cage’s financial debacles; aggravation with his money manager and the trials of divesting a myriad of castles, sprinkled around the globe. His quest for the material has imprisoned his common sense. Here we have a prime example of the Peter Principle as his character deteriorates his rank accelerates; hopefully he can blame a petit mal seizure on this despicable display of over acting. It is modern tragedy to see a talent so divine plummet to such depths.
(UNTITLED)
As I sat in the theatre with seven other people I wondered what the rest of the movie goers knew that we didn’t.
As a major contemporary art aficionado I looked forward to this ironic parody of today’s art world. But alas what could have been a major entertainment was an exercise in excruciating dullness and boredom.
Adam Goldberg (oh, he with the perpetual scowl) plays a musician who decides to commit suicide if his talents and skills were not recognized within three years; in my estimation six months would have been sufficient. His scores (with a bucket as a major instrument) imitate John Cage, but totaling lacking his brilliance. His equally ungifted brother is a bland decorative art painter.
The only reason I suffered through this worthless exercise of endurance was the performance of the gallery owner, Madeleine, wonderfully played by Marley Shelton.
She had the “art speak” down to a science; she looked at a pin stuck in a wall and took it to the Zen level.
I read that a work of art has a soul; this film was artless, heartless and unequivocally soulless.
Three out of eight left the theatre in wonderment that less than two hours seemed like an eternity!
THREE STARLESS MOVIES
For Now……………..
Peneflix
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Fellow Movie Lovers
Fellow Movie Lovers
It was a coincidence that I saw two movies revolving around nonfictional subjects. Both movies should be seen. Both share differences and similarities.
THE BLIND SIDE
My entire life has been surrounded by men and women who are addicted to anyone or anything that moves competitively: football, baseball, basketball, wrestling, roller skating, beach volleyball, ice hockey, floor hockey, Indy 500. You get the picture. I prefer the movie versions of these spectacles; they are shorter and sans commercial breaks!
Here Sandra Bullock (Miss Congeniality) stars as Leigh Anne Touhy, the wealthy crusader who champions the cause of Michael (Big Mike) Oher, sensitively depicted by Quinton Aaron. This is Bullock’s finest performance in years; she is back on the radar screen as a performer to watch.
Michael Oher, at six feet eight inches and three hundred and seventy-two pounds, was homeless and living on the streets of Memphis, Tennessee when he was rescued by Leigh Anne Touhy; she transforms him into a giant in the world of football. He was the first round draft pick of the Baltimore Ravens (intriguing that so many teams have sobriquets of predatory animals: bears, lions, tigers, bulls, diamondbacks) in 2009. He is an offensive tackle, protecting the blind side of the quarterback.
This is a feel-good movie, a love story and easy to watch. Particularly entertaining were the coaches playing themselves: Nick Saban, Lou Holtz, and Phil Fulmer. But the movie soared when Jay Head (playing S.J. Touhy, the precocious and youngest member of the family) negotiates his perks with each coach; he is gifted and his timing prodigious.
In conclusion, I feel all films relating to athletics should be reviewed by sport reporters; those educated in the “picks” and “plays” of the game. So many of these intricacies are lost on us neophytes. In gratitude to Leigh Anne Touhy (and my husband) I grasp “The Blind Side” and recommend that this is a movie worth SEEING!
THREE STARS
SKIN
A fascinating account of Sandra Laing, born in the 1950’s in South Africa to Afrikaners. They are white, Sandra is black. Her troubles commence when she was enrolled at ten in a private Christian school; during apartheid one was classified according to race or color. Her parents battled the courts to have her classified as white; this classification earns devastation and pain to all parties.
Lacking current technology her heritage was never tested; she chose to live in a black world, a decision rejected by her parents.
Beautifully acted by the dimpled Sophie Okonedo, as Sandra: Sam Neill, as her dominating and oftentimes cruel father: Alice Krige, as her devoted but weak mother.
I was troubled and found hard to accept the naïveté or color blindness of Sandra’s parents. Afrikaners were of Dutch, German or French ancestry who ventured to Africa with the Dutch East India Company in the seventeenth century; somehow in all those centuries a dash of color invaded the gene pool. Cause for celebration not castigation. In fairness it is challenging to imagine a world where “color” completely defines the quality of one’s existence. Reminiscent of pre-Civil War days in this country.
William Kentridge, the South African artist, has dedicated his life and talents to keeping the world aware of the egregious crimes perpetrated by apartheid. “Skin” adds another dose of consciousness to this dead—but always remembered—travesty.
FOUR STARS! (Out of a possible 5)
For Now
Peneflix
It was a coincidence that I saw two movies revolving around nonfictional subjects. Both movies should be seen. Both share differences and similarities.
THE BLIND SIDE
My entire life has been surrounded by men and women who are addicted to anyone or anything that moves competitively: football, baseball, basketball, wrestling, roller skating, beach volleyball, ice hockey, floor hockey, Indy 500. You get the picture. I prefer the movie versions of these spectacles; they are shorter and sans commercial breaks!
Here Sandra Bullock (Miss Congeniality) stars as Leigh Anne Touhy, the wealthy crusader who champions the cause of Michael (Big Mike) Oher, sensitively depicted by Quinton Aaron. This is Bullock’s finest performance in years; she is back on the radar screen as a performer to watch.
Michael Oher, at six feet eight inches and three hundred and seventy-two pounds, was homeless and living on the streets of Memphis, Tennessee when he was rescued by Leigh Anne Touhy; she transforms him into a giant in the world of football. He was the first round draft pick of the Baltimore Ravens (intriguing that so many teams have sobriquets of predatory animals: bears, lions, tigers, bulls, diamondbacks) in 2009. He is an offensive tackle, protecting the blind side of the quarterback.
This is a feel-good movie, a love story and easy to watch. Particularly entertaining were the coaches playing themselves: Nick Saban, Lou Holtz, and Phil Fulmer. But the movie soared when Jay Head (playing S.J. Touhy, the precocious and youngest member of the family) negotiates his perks with each coach; he is gifted and his timing prodigious.
In conclusion, I feel all films relating to athletics should be reviewed by sport reporters; those educated in the “picks” and “plays” of the game. So many of these intricacies are lost on us neophytes. In gratitude to Leigh Anne Touhy (and my husband) I grasp “The Blind Side” and recommend that this is a movie worth SEEING!
THREE STARS
SKIN
A fascinating account of Sandra Laing, born in the 1950’s in South Africa to Afrikaners. They are white, Sandra is black. Her troubles commence when she was enrolled at ten in a private Christian school; during apartheid one was classified according to race or color. Her parents battled the courts to have her classified as white; this classification earns devastation and pain to all parties.
Lacking current technology her heritage was never tested; she chose to live in a black world, a decision rejected by her parents.
Beautifully acted by the dimpled Sophie Okonedo, as Sandra: Sam Neill, as her dominating and oftentimes cruel father: Alice Krige, as her devoted but weak mother.
I was troubled and found hard to accept the naïveté or color blindness of Sandra’s parents. Afrikaners were of Dutch, German or French ancestry who ventured to Africa with the Dutch East India Company in the seventeenth century; somehow in all those centuries a dash of color invaded the gene pool. Cause for celebration not castigation. In fairness it is challenging to imagine a world where “color” completely defines the quality of one’s existence. Reminiscent of pre-Civil War days in this country.
William Kentridge, the South African artist, has dedicated his life and talents to keeping the world aware of the egregious crimes perpetrated by apartheid. “Skin” adds another dose of consciousness to this dead—but always remembered—travesty.
FOUR STARS! (Out of a possible 5)
For Now
Peneflix
Monday, November 23, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Fellow Movie Lovers
FELLOW MOVIE LOVERS
AGORA
On a recent trip to Spain I opted to succumb to my addiction and went to a movie. I was thrilled to discover that Alejandro Amenabar’s (The Sea Inside, a classic favorite) Agora with the magnificent Rachel Weisz had just premièred in Madrid.
Unfortunately, the movie fell far short of my expectations! What I did admire was the courage of Amenabar and Weisz in tackling one of antiquities most inimitable women, Hypatia. Hypatia, the beautiful, brainy mathematician and astronomer living and teaching in Alexandria, Egypt in approximately 400 A.D.
She was the daughter of Theon also a mathematician who encouraged her intellectual poweress. She became the head of the Neoplatonist school of philosophy in Alexandria. She symbolized learning and science which the early Christians identified as pagan. Hence the challenge and essence of the movie; she refuses to convert and her fate is inevitable.
Always loving and lusting after the spectacle; there can never be enough plagues, chariot races, sea partings to satisfy my cravings but a little knowledge is a dangerous thing; so many of the battle scenes looked digitally produced. Only the sacking of the Alexandria library, a citadel of knowledge, proved realistic.
The religious conflicts and conquests: pagans killing Christians, Christians sacrificing and murdering pagans and Jews became at times tedious and tiresome. Only the personal aspects of Hypatia’s life held my attention. She taught some of the greatest male minds of the period but rejected their advances, more inclined to study the movement of the earth and planets and whether or not the earth is round or flat.
There have always been women of vision and wisdom, real or mythological: the artist Anselm Kiefer in his book Women of Antiquity ranks Hypatia along with Lilith, Pandora and Queen Zenobia as a foremost member of these visionaries.
Amenabar and Weisz have resurrected Hypatia and her remarkable mind, and instead of
Antiquity proves that she is indeed a woman for all centuries.
TWO & ½ STARS
PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL ‘PUSH’ BY SAPPHIRE
It is always stimulating and refreshing to see a totally unique, untold topic on the screen: Precious exceeded all of my expectations! This is a brutal, bestial, painful, one of the worst “man’s inhumanity to man” ever portrayed but yet a resplendent tale of survival. Survival of the soul.
Gabourey Sidibe as Precious gives a performance that rivals any first time actor I have witnessed in years; she is riveting. Precious is treated as a slave by her mother and father;
castigated, maligned, humiliated; their cat is cherished, she is hated. They want to keep her fat, illiterate and worthless; she is there to serve, in every degrading category.
Lee Daniels genius is that he never allowed the script to sink into sentimentality; even the fantasy sequences where Precious sees herself romanced, wrapped in fame and adoration adds levity and laughter to an audience inebriated with pain.
Precious’s salvation commences with her being admitted to an alternative school; she is at sixteen pregnant with her second child. Here she is treated with respect, not imagined but real by her teacher Blu Rain (sensitively acted by Paula Patton); who prodigiously plods Precious to write and to read; she is the angel tantamount to Mary’s (Precious’s mother) Satan: evil so tangible it hurts to watch. Mo’Nique is astounding in the role.
Maria Carey shines in a cameo role as a social worker; the most pivotal scene takes place in her office between her, Precious and Mary. The content so virulent, it is beyond comprehension.
Above all Precious, no matter how battered and shamed she was at home; no matter her physical and mental vicissitudes (she did have an aptitude for math); she took time with her appearance, always accessorizing and styling her hair; this poignancy was so pure and such an indication of the beauty within that yes, if beauty is in the eye of the beholder, Precious will live forever as a screen icon!
FOUR STARS!
AGORA
On a recent trip to Spain I opted to succumb to my addiction and went to a movie. I was thrilled to discover that Alejandro Amenabar’s (The Sea Inside, a classic favorite) Agora with the magnificent Rachel Weisz had just premièred in Madrid.
Unfortunately, the movie fell far short of my expectations! What I did admire was the courage of Amenabar and Weisz in tackling one of antiquities most inimitable women, Hypatia. Hypatia, the beautiful, brainy mathematician and astronomer living and teaching in Alexandria, Egypt in approximately 400 A.D.
She was the daughter of Theon also a mathematician who encouraged her intellectual poweress. She became the head of the Neoplatonist school of philosophy in Alexandria. She symbolized learning and science which the early Christians identified as pagan. Hence the challenge and essence of the movie; she refuses to convert and her fate is inevitable.
Always loving and lusting after the spectacle; there can never be enough plagues, chariot races, sea partings to satisfy my cravings but a little knowledge is a dangerous thing; so many of the battle scenes looked digitally produced. Only the sacking of the Alexandria library, a citadel of knowledge, proved realistic.
The religious conflicts and conquests: pagans killing Christians, Christians sacrificing and murdering pagans and Jews became at times tedious and tiresome. Only the personal aspects of Hypatia’s life held my attention. She taught some of the greatest male minds of the period but rejected their advances, more inclined to study the movement of the earth and planets and whether or not the earth is round or flat.
There have always been women of vision and wisdom, real or mythological: the artist Anselm Kiefer in his book Women of Antiquity ranks Hypatia along with Lilith, Pandora and Queen Zenobia as a foremost member of these visionaries.
Amenabar and Weisz have resurrected Hypatia and her remarkable mind, and instead of
Antiquity proves that she is indeed a woman for all centuries.
TWO & ½ STARS
PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL ‘PUSH’ BY SAPPHIRE
It is always stimulating and refreshing to see a totally unique, untold topic on the screen: Precious exceeded all of my expectations! This is a brutal, bestial, painful, one of the worst “man’s inhumanity to man” ever portrayed but yet a resplendent tale of survival. Survival of the soul.
Gabourey Sidibe as Precious gives a performance that rivals any first time actor I have witnessed in years; she is riveting. Precious is treated as a slave by her mother and father;
castigated, maligned, humiliated; their cat is cherished, she is hated. They want to keep her fat, illiterate and worthless; she is there to serve, in every degrading category.
Lee Daniels genius is that he never allowed the script to sink into sentimentality; even the fantasy sequences where Precious sees herself romanced, wrapped in fame and adoration adds levity and laughter to an audience inebriated with pain.
Precious’s salvation commences with her being admitted to an alternative school; she is at sixteen pregnant with her second child. Here she is treated with respect, not imagined but real by her teacher Blu Rain (sensitively acted by Paula Patton); who prodigiously plods Precious to write and to read; she is the angel tantamount to Mary’s (Precious’s mother) Satan: evil so tangible it hurts to watch. Mo’Nique is astounding in the role.
Maria Carey shines in a cameo role as a social worker; the most pivotal scene takes place in her office between her, Precious and Mary. The content so virulent, it is beyond comprehension.
Above all Precious, no matter how battered and shamed she was at home; no matter her physical and mental vicissitudes (she did have an aptitude for math); she took time with her appearance, always accessorizing and styling her hair; this poignancy was so pure and such an indication of the beauty within that yes, if beauty is in the eye of the beholder, Precious will live forever as a screen icon!
FOUR STARS!
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Fellow Movie Lovers
Fellow Movie Lovers
Questions asked and hopefully answered:
Sequence of reviews. I review them as I view them: there is no hierarchy.
I will address the sensitive issues in An Education.
AMELIA
Amelia Earhart was born in 1897 as the Victorian Age was waning and she vanished in 1937 days before her fortieth birthday. She was a crusader a visionary and a feminist before the word was coined. She rebelled against a male dominated world; she could not vote until she was twenty-three because the nineteenth amendment, giving women the right to vote was not passed until 1920. She lived through the rise of Gandhi, Mao, Hitler and the Empire State Building. But it was the Wright Brothers and their glider (airplane) that touched her soul and inspired her passion for flying; flying for freedom and fun. She never deviated or was deterred from her quest.
Mira Nair (The Namesake, Monsoon Wedding) portrays this icon of aviation with a keen eye and the sensitivity Amelia so richly deserves.
Hilary Swank, two time Academy Award winner (Boys Don’t Cry and Million Dollar Baby) climbs into the mind, heart and imagination of Amelia and creates one of the greatest screen biographies of this century. Her physical resemblance to Amelia is uncanny; she captures her voice (Amelia’s gifted prose), mannerisms and ambition without sinking into the sentimental or sensational. It is a performance worthy of the highest accolades.
Richard Gere as George Putnam, Amelia’s publicist, lover and eventual husband is credible, but lacking the strength and depth required of the role. Fortunately the camera still loves this aging charismatic star.
The music, especially Cole Porter’s You Do Something to Me and the luscious cinematography tug at one’s heartstrings and tear ducts, adds an audio and visual dimension to this beautiful film.
Amelia Earhart, thanks to the talents of Mira Nair and Hilary Swank, will forever inspire both women and men to fight for and actualize their visions and dreams!
Four Stars!
AN EDUCATION
Based on the real life memoir of British journalist Lynn Barber and written for the screen by Nick Hornby (About a Boy) is brilliantly acted and crafted.
Peter Sarsgaard (Dead Man Walking) is David Goldman the deliciously charming con man who woos his way into the life and family of sixteen year old Jenny; it is magical to watch him accomplish his mission. He is the proverbial snake oil salesman; he can and does sell and steal at whim. He is amoral to the core, and Sarsgaard’s portrayal is riveting.
But Carey Mulligan as Jenny is the star; she, like the mythical goddess Athena, springs fully grown and magically wonderful on the wide screen. She plays the gifted and bored, Jenny sharing with her father the dream of “reading” English at Oxford.
This is 1961 and no matter her intellectual skills she is emotionally incapable of withstanding the onslaught of David’s campaign for her affections. She “dresses up” and laps up the titillating nightlife of London; drinking, smoking and joking with David and his friends Danny (Dominic Cooper, History Boys) and Helen (Rosamund Pike). She is experiencing a world and its vicissitudes well beyond her maturity level. Hence, an education.
Alfred Molina gives a deft and poignant performance as her father.
The disturbing factor was the movies depiction of David as a Jew and the headmistress’ ignorance in denying that Jesus Christ was Jewish. After much contemplation I felt that David was a feckless cad, who happened to be Jewish; not a Jew who was a cad.
The headmistress (played by Emma Thompson) typified many who shared her erroneous theory. But Jenny never considered David’s religious background and at seventeen loved unequivocally and with her entire being.
The movie belongs to Carey Mulligan and we anxiously await her continued meteoric ascent.
Four Stars!
MICHAEL JACKSON THIS IS IT
A compilation of over one hundred hours of taped rehearsals for Michael’s come back concert that never occurred. Kenny Ortega creates a homage that should be seen by all.
Michael Jackson’s elasticity, liquidity, and luminosity flirts with the sublime; he is truly the epitome of “poetry in motion” and we in the audience had to be bolted to our seats for the entire two hours; we still thirsted for more.
Michael Jackson, part of the Jackson Five, was denied a childhood by achieved fame and sought forever answers to questions that others discover in the growing up process. He was a genius but failed to find his true essence.
Nonetheless he will rank with the greatest of the great: Nijinsky, Nureyev, Baryshnikov, Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, in defying gravity and touching the celestial.
The ultimate tragedy is that his spiritualism and love of God and man could not conquer his demons.
So sad that This Was It.
Four &1/2 Stars!
LONDON DREAMS
This is almost as good as it gets in a typical Bollywood film; comprised of all the ingredients demanded by an Indian audience: rags to riches heros; loves won and lost; conflict and redemption all cloaked in glorious songs, dances, gorgeous stars and scenery.
Two powerful players in the Bollywood scene star, at their best, in this movie.
Ajay Devgan (Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha, Raincoat, Omkara) plays Arjun, whose devotion to music pushes him beyond reason and Salman Khan (Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, and my favorite Maine Pyar Kiya) as Manu, his sycophant and more talented best friend. Similar to the American film Amadeus. Arjun is Salieri to Manu’s
Mozart.
London Dreams is the name of the band Arjun forms in London. Eventually bringing from Punjab his closest, and most irresponsible buddy, Manu. As their reputation takes flight and Arjun’s jealousy intensifies the plot reaches its pinnacle, culminating with a major catharsis for all involved.
The enchanting and leggy Asin (Ghajini) is the love interest and definitely a talent worth watching.
The concert scenes are magnificent (worthy of an Andreas Gursky photograph ); the energy palatable, and anyone would be hard pressed to choose a favorite.
Devgan and Khan have shared the screen in the past, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam; this collaboration really works and hopefully holds another pairing in the future.
Three &1/2 Stars!
For Now……………….Peneflix
Fellow Movie Lovers
Questions asked and hopefully answered:
Sequence of reviews. I review them as I view them: there is no hierarchy.
I will address the sensitive issues in An Education.
AMELIA
Amelia Earhart was born in 1897 as the Victorian Age was waning and she vanished in 1937 days before her fortieth birthday. She was a crusader a visionary and a feminist before the word was coined. She rebelled against a male dominated world; she could not vote until she was twenty-three because the nineteenth amendment, giving women the right to vote was not passed until 1920. She lived through the rise of Gandhi, Mao, Hitler and the Empire State Building. But it was the Wright Brothers and their glider (airplane) that touched her soul and inspired her passion for flying; flying for freedom and fun. She never deviated or was deterred from her quest.
Mira Nair (The Namesake, Monsoon Wedding) portrays this icon of aviation with a keen eye and the sensitivity Amelia so richly deserves.
Hilary Swank, two time Academy Award winner (Boys Don’t Cry and Million Dollar Baby) climbs into the mind, heart and imagination of Amelia and creates one of the greatest screen biographies of this century. Her physical resemblance to Amelia is uncanny; she captures her voice (Amelia’s gifted prose), mannerisms and ambition without sinking into the sentimental or sensational. It is a performance worthy of the highest accolades.
Richard Gere as George Putnam, Amelia’s publicist, lover and eventual husband is credible, but lacking the strength and depth required of the role. Fortunately the camera still loves this aging charismatic star.
The music, especially Cole Porter’s You Do Something to Me and the luscious cinematography tug at one’s heartstrings and tear ducts, adds an audio and visual dimension to this beautiful film.
Amelia Earhart, thanks to the talents of Mira Nair and Hilary Swank, will forever inspire both women and men to fight for and actualize their visions and dreams!
Four Stars!
AN EDUCATION
Based on the real life memoir of British journalist Lynn Barber and written for the screen by Nick Hornby (About a Boy) is brilliantly acted and crafted.
Peter Sarsgaard (Dead Man Walking) is David Goldman the deliciously charming con man who woos his way into the life and family of sixteen year old Jenny; it is magical to watch him accomplish his mission. He is the proverbial snake oil salesman; he can and does sell and steal at whim. He is amoral to the core, and Sarsgaard’s portrayal is riveting.
But Carey Mulligan as Jenny is the star; she, like the mythical goddess Athena, springs fully grown and magically wonderful on the wide screen. She plays the gifted and bored, Jenny sharing with her father the dream of “reading” English at Oxford.
This is 1961 and no matter her intellectual skills she is emotionally incapable of withstanding the onslaught of David’s campaign for her affections. She “dresses up” and laps up the titillating nightlife of London; drinking, smoking and joking with David and his friends Danny (Dominic Cooper, History Boys) and Helen (Rosamund Pike). She is experiencing a world and its vicissitudes well beyond her maturity level. Hence, an education.
Alfred Molina gives a deft and poignant performance as her father.
The disturbing factor was the movies depiction of David as a Jew and the headmistress’ ignorance in denying that Jesus Christ was Jewish. After much contemplation I felt that David was a feckless cad, who happened to be Jewish; not a Jew who was a cad.
The headmistress (played by Emma Thompson) typified many who shared her erroneous theory. But Jenny never considered David’s religious background and at seventeen loved unequivocally and with her entire being.
The movie belongs to Carey Mulligan and we anxiously await her continued meteoric ascent.
Four Stars!
MICHAEL JACKSON THIS IS IT
A compilation of over one hundred hours of taped rehearsals for Michael’s come back concert that never occurred. Kenny Ortega creates a homage that should be seen by all.
Michael Jackson’s elasticity, liquidity, and luminosity flirts with the sublime; he is truly the epitome of “poetry in motion” and we in the audience had to be bolted to our seats for the entire two hours; we still thirsted for more.
Michael Jackson, part of the Jackson Five, was denied a childhood by achieved fame and sought forever answers to questions that others discover in the growing up process. He was a genius but failed to find his true essence.
Nonetheless he will rank with the greatest of the great: Nijinsky, Nureyev, Baryshnikov, Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, in defying gravity and touching the celestial.
The ultimate tragedy is that his spiritualism and love of God and man could not conquer his demons.
So sad that This Was It.
Four &1/2 Stars!
LONDON DREAMS
This is almost as good as it gets in a typical Bollywood film; comprised of all the ingredients demanded by an Indian audience: rags to riches heros; loves won and lost; conflict and redemption all cloaked in glorious songs, dances, gorgeous stars and scenery.
Two powerful players in the Bollywood scene star, at their best, in this movie.
Ajay Devgan (Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha, Raincoat, Omkara) plays Arjun, whose devotion to music pushes him beyond reason and Salman Khan (Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, and my favorite Maine Pyar Kiya) as Manu, his sycophant and more talented best friend. Similar to the American film Amadeus. Arjun is Salieri to Manu’s Mozart.
London Dreams is the name of the band Arjun forms in London. Eventually bringing from Punjab his closest, and most irresponsible buddy, Manu. As their reputation takes flight and Arjun’s jealousy intensifies the plot reaches its pinnacle, culminating with a major catharsis for all involved.
The enchanting and leggy Asin (Ghajini) is the love interest and definitely a talent worth watching.
The concert scenes are magnificent (worthy of an Andreas Gursky photograph ); the energy palatable, and anyone would be hard pressed to choose a favorite.
Devgan and Khan have shared the screen in the past, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam; this collaboration really works and hopefully holds another pairing in the future.
Three &1/2 Stars!
For Now……………….Peneflix
Questions asked and hopefully answered:
Sequence of reviews. I review them as I view them: there is no hierarchy.
I will address the sensitive issues in An Education.
AMELIA
Amelia Earhart was born in 1897 as the Victorian Age was waning and she vanished in 1937 days before her fortieth birthday. She was a crusader a visionary and a feminist before the word was coined. She rebelled against a male dominated world; she could not vote until she was twenty-three because the nineteenth amendment, giving women the right to vote was not passed until 1920. She lived through the rise of Gandhi, Mao, Hitler and the Empire State Building. But it was the Wright Brothers and their glider (airplane) that touched her soul and inspired her passion for flying; flying for freedom and fun. She never deviated or was deterred from her quest.
Mira Nair (The Namesake, Monsoon Wedding) portrays this icon of aviation with a keen eye and the sensitivity Amelia so richly deserves.
Hilary Swank, two time Academy Award winner (Boys Don’t Cry and Million Dollar Baby) climbs into the mind, heart and imagination of Amelia and creates one of the greatest screen biographies of this century. Her physical resemblance to Amelia is uncanny; she captures her voice (Amelia’s gifted prose), mannerisms and ambition without sinking into the sentimental or sensational. It is a performance worthy of the highest accolades.
Richard Gere as George Putnam, Amelia’s publicist, lover and eventual husband is credible, but lacking the strength and depth required of the role. Fortunately the camera still loves this aging charismatic star.
The music, especially Cole Porter’s You Do Something to Me and the luscious cinematography tug at one’s heartstrings and tear ducts, adds an audio and visual dimension to this beautiful film.
Amelia Earhart, thanks to the talents of Mira Nair and Hilary Swank, will forever inspire both women and men to fight for and actualize their visions and dreams!
Four Stars!
AN EDUCATION
Based on the real life memoir of British journalist Lynn Barber and written for the screen by Nick Hornby (About a Boy) is brilliantly acted and crafted.
Peter Sarsgaard (Dead Man Walking) is David Goldman the deliciously charming con man who woos his way into the life and family of sixteen year old Jenny; it is magical to watch him accomplish his mission. He is the proverbial snake oil salesman; he can and does sell and steal at whim. He is amoral to the core, and Sarsgaard’s portrayal is riveting.
But Carey Mulligan as Jenny is the star; she, like the mythical goddess Athena, springs fully grown and magically wonderful on the wide screen. She plays the gifted and bored, Jenny sharing with her father the dream of “reading” English at Oxford.
This is 1961 and no matter her intellectual skills she is emotionally incapable of withstanding the onslaught of David’s campaign for her affections. She “dresses up” and laps up the titillating nightlife of London; drinking, smoking and joking with David and his friends Danny (Dominic Cooper, History Boys) and Helen (Rosamund Pike). She is experiencing a world and its vicissitudes well beyond her maturity level. Hence, an education.
Alfred Molina gives a deft and poignant performance as her father.
The disturbing factor was the movies depiction of David as a Jew and the headmistress’ ignorance in denying that Jesus Christ was Jewish. After much contemplation I felt that David was a feckless cad, who happened to be Jewish; not a Jew who was a cad.
The headmistress (played by Emma Thompson) typified many who shared her erroneous theory. But Jenny never considered David’s religious background and at seventeen loved unequivocally and with her entire being.
The movie belongs to Carey Mulligan and we anxiously await her continued meteoric ascent.
Four Stars!
MICHAEL JACKSON THIS IS IT
A compilation of over one hundred hours of taped rehearsals for Michael’s come back concert that never occurred. Kenny Ortega creates a homage that should be seen by all.
Michael Jackson’s elasticity, liquidity, and luminosity flirts with the sublime; he is truly the epitome of “poetry in motion” and we in the audience had to be bolted to our seats for the entire two hours; we still thirsted for more.
Michael Jackson, part of the Jackson Five, was denied a childhood by achieved fame and sought forever answers to questions that others discover in the growing up process. He was a genius but failed to find his true essence.
Nonetheless he will rank with the greatest of the great: Nijinsky, Nureyev, Baryshnikov, Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, in defying gravity and touching the celestial.
The ultimate tragedy is that his spiritualism and love of God and man could not conquer his demons.
So sad that This Was It.
Four &1/2 Stars!
LONDON DREAMS
This is almost as good as it gets in a typical Bollywood film; comprised of all the ingredients demanded by an Indian audience: rags to riches heros; loves won and lost; conflict and redemption all cloaked in glorious songs, dances, gorgeous stars and scenery.
Two powerful players in the Bollywood scene star, at their best, in this movie.
Ajay Devgan (Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha, Raincoat, Omkara) plays Arjun, whose devotion to music pushes him beyond reason and Salman Khan (Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, and my favorite Maine Pyar Kiya) as Manu, his sycophant and more talented best friend. Similar to the American film Amadeus. Arjun is Salieri to Manu’s
Mozart.
London Dreams is the name of the band Arjun forms in London. Eventually bringing from Punjab his closest, and most irresponsible buddy, Manu. As their reputation takes flight and Arjun’s jealousy intensifies the plot reaches its pinnacle, culminating with a major catharsis for all involved.
The enchanting and leggy Asin (Ghajini) is the love interest and definitely a talent worth watching.
The concert scenes are magnificent (worthy of an Andreas Gursky photograph ); the energy palatable, and anyone would be hard pressed to choose a favorite.
Devgan and Khan have shared the screen in the past, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam; this collaboration really works and hopefully holds another pairing in the future.
Three &1/2 Stars!
For Now……………….Peneflix
Fellow Movie Lovers
Questions asked and hopefully answered:
Sequence of reviews. I review them as I view them: there is no hierarchy.
I will address the sensitive issues in An Education.
AMELIA
Amelia Earhart was born in 1897 as the Victorian Age was waning and she vanished in 1937 days before her fortieth birthday. She was a crusader a visionary and a feminist before the word was coined. She rebelled against a male dominated world; she could not vote until she was twenty-three because the nineteenth amendment, giving women the right to vote was not passed until 1920. She lived through the rise of Gandhi, Mao, Hitler and the Empire State Building. But it was the Wright Brothers and their glider (airplane) that touched her soul and inspired her passion for flying; flying for freedom and fun. She never deviated or was deterred from her quest.
Mira Nair (The Namesake, Monsoon Wedding) portrays this icon of aviation with a keen eye and the sensitivity Amelia so richly deserves.
Hilary Swank, two time Academy Award winner (Boys Don’t Cry and Million Dollar Baby) climbs into the mind, heart and imagination of Amelia and creates one of the greatest screen biographies of this century. Her physical resemblance to Amelia is uncanny; she captures her voice (Amelia’s gifted prose), mannerisms and ambition without sinking into the sentimental or sensational. It is a performance worthy of the highest accolades.
Richard Gere as George Putnam, Amelia’s publicist, lover and eventual husband is credible, but lacking the strength and depth required of the role. Fortunately the camera still loves this aging charismatic star.
The music, especially Cole Porter’s You Do Something to Me and the luscious cinematography tug at one’s heartstrings and tear ducts, adds an audio and visual dimension to this beautiful film.
Amelia Earhart, thanks to the talents of Mira Nair and Hilary Swank, will forever inspire both women and men to fight for and actualize their visions and dreams!
Four Stars!
AN EDUCATION
Based on the real life memoir of British journalist Lynn Barber and written for the screen by Nick Hornby (About a Boy) is brilliantly acted and crafted.
Peter Sarsgaard (Dead Man Walking) is David Goldman the deliciously charming con man who woos his way into the life and family of sixteen year old Jenny; it is magical to watch him accomplish his mission. He is the proverbial snake oil salesman; he can and does sell and steal at whim. He is amoral to the core, and Sarsgaard’s portrayal is riveting.
But Carey Mulligan as Jenny is the star; she, like the mythical goddess Athena, springs fully grown and magically wonderful on the wide screen. She plays the gifted and bored, Jenny sharing with her father the dream of “reading” English at Oxford.
This is 1961 and no matter her intellectual skills she is emotionally incapable of withstanding the onslaught of David’s campaign for her affections. She “dresses up” and laps up the titillating nightlife of London; drinking, smoking and joking with David and his friends Danny (Dominic Cooper, History Boys) and Helen (Rosamund Pike). She is experiencing a world and its vicissitudes well beyond her maturity level. Hence, an education.
Alfred Molina gives a deft and poignant performance as her father.
The disturbing factor was the movies depiction of David as a Jew and the headmistress’ ignorance in denying that Jesus Christ was Jewish. After much contemplation I felt that David was a feckless cad, who happened to be Jewish; not a Jew who was a cad.
The headmistress (played by Emma Thompson) typified many who shared her erroneous theory. But Jenny never considered David’s religious background and at seventeen loved unequivocally and with her entire being.
The movie belongs to Carey Mulligan and we anxiously await her continued meteoric ascent.
Four Stars!
MICHAEL JACKSON THIS IS IT
A compilation of over one hundred hours of taped rehearsals for Michael’s come back concert that never occurred. Kenny Ortega creates a homage that should be seen by all.
Michael Jackson’s elasticity, liquidity, and luminosity flirts with the sublime; he is truly the epitome of “poetry in motion” and we in the audience had to be bolted to our seats for the entire two hours; we still thirsted for more.
Michael Jackson, part of the Jackson Five, was denied a childhood by achieved fame and sought forever answers to questions that others discover in the growing up process. He was a genius but failed to find his true essence.
Nonetheless he will rank with the greatest of the great: Nijinsky, Nureyev, Baryshnikov, Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, in defying gravity and touching the celestial.
The ultimate tragedy is that his spiritualism and love of God and man could not conquer his demons.
So sad that This Was It.
Four &1/2 Stars!
LONDON DREAMS
This is almost as good as it gets in a typical Bollywood film; comprised of all the ingredients demanded by an Indian audience: rags to riches heros; loves won and lost; conflict and redemption all cloaked in glorious songs, dances, gorgeous stars and scenery.
Two powerful players in the Bollywood scene star, at their best, in this movie.
Ajay Devgan (Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha, Raincoat, Omkara) plays Arjun, whose devotion to music pushes him beyond reason and Salman Khan (Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, and my favorite Maine Pyar Kiya) as Manu, his sycophant and more talented best friend. Similar to the American film Amadeus. Arjun is Salieri to Manu’s Mozart.
London Dreams is the name of the band Arjun forms in London. Eventually bringing from Punjab his closest, and most irresponsible buddy, Manu. As their reputation takes flight and Arjun’s jealousy intensifies the plot reaches its pinnacle, culminating with a major catharsis for all involved.
The enchanting and leggy Asin (Ghajini) is the love interest and definitely a talent worth watching.
The concert scenes are magnificent (worthy of an Andreas Gursky photograph ); the energy palatable, and anyone would be hard pressed to choose a favorite.
Devgan and Khan have shared the screen in the past, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam; this collaboration really works and hopefully holds another pairing in the future.
Three &1/2 Stars!
For Now……………….Peneflix
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