Fellow Movie Lovers
CHLOE
Not every movie experience should resonate with the profound and phenomenal; some should just look good and simply entertain at the superficial level. “Chloe” fits into the latter! Loosely based on the 2003 French film “Natalie” which seemed more plausible, and depicts the simple scenario of a gorgeous, fortyish Doctor (Julianne Moore) who suspects her equally charismatic Professor husband (Liam Nesson) of having sexual proclivities beyond the marriage boundaries. So instead of hiring a private detective with a state of the art camera she procures the services of a young, magnificent professional, Chloe (dangerously, beautifully portrayed by Amanda Seyfried, a quarry leap from the ingénue in Mamma Mia); tantamount to placing Dracula in a blood bank!
Visually the movie is polished to a fine veneer; every frame glows flawlessly. The actors rise to the level they were given, somewhat higher than a puddle but boots are not required. Enough sexual titillation to prevent napping and a rather sensational climax.
It will fare better on Netflix in the comfort of your home, in the room of your choice.
TWO STARS!
GREENBERG
Another single title that was billed and drilled by many critics to flirt with the profound, but alas, this critic went with great expectations only to be sadly disillusioned with this, at best, sophomoric depiction of a pathetic forty year old searching for the essence of life and love in all the wrong places.
Ben Stiller (who might eventually actualize his potential) plays Roger Greenberg, fresh from a mental institution, recovering at his absent brother’s home in Los Angles. In one of the first scenes he claims his lack of Jewishness, because his mother is of Italian descent; lost on many, but delectable fodder for the neuroses of Woody Allen and the Coen brothers.
Greenberg establishes a tenuous relationship with Florence Marr (Greta Gerwig) the housekeeper and dog walker. Mahler, the dog, has the most intriguing role in the film and is the emotional catalyst for the bonding of Roger and Florence. Gerwig is interesting to look at but her diction replicates someone on life support or drugs. She is a talented 26-year old filmmaker and screenwriter and worth watching as a flowering actor.
Viewing this film and listening to the droning monologues as Greenberg (who has most likely spent thousands on physiatrists’) tries to convince himself and the world that he is on the road to recovery by doing nothing; he cannot even complete the doghouse for the deserving Mahler; wondering if this is a generational dilemma but subsequently reminding myself of all the accomplished forty year old adults I am privileged to know.
A shimmer of substance are the letters Greenberg composes and submits to the New York Times; they spark of intelligence and complacent ingenuity.
Greenberg’s only salvation lies in finding a job, at minimum wage and realizing that only by Doing can one Become…
Those who loved “A Serious Man” might find something endearing in a less serious boy!
ALMOST TWO STARS! (OUT OF FIVE)
For Now……….Peneflix
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Fellow Movie Lovers
Fellow Movie Lovers
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON
Another three dimensional visual experience and a delightful one for all ages. Even the concept of having a dragon as a pet was original. Based on the book by Cressida Cowell, directed by Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders tells the story of the scrawny Hiccup, the physically unfit son of the chief Viking on the island of Berk; where slaying a dragon commemorates the dawning of manhood or womanhood (very twenty first century concept) and acceptance into a society plagued by constant strife between man and beast.
This enchanting story, gorgeously filmed, centers on the relationship between Hiccup and Toothless an elusive, terrifying nighttime dragon, maimed by Hiccup’s ingenious weaponry; what is absent in physical attributes he more than compensates with mechanical entrepreneurship. The friendship develops in tandem with his acceptance in dragon training school.
The anthropomorphic wizardly is stunning and truly beautiful. No matter your chronological number the message, so powerful, yet so elementary deserves its place in the sun. What we fear might actually with understanding become the key to growth, wisdom and love.
THREE&1/2 STARS!
MOTHER
This why we go to the movies! This Korean film by Bong Joon-ho (The Host, 2006. Do not see it alone!) is extraordinary in garnishing every ingredient we long for in a film: a unique and captivating story, intrigue and suspense at the highest decimal, intricately woven plot evolvement and splendid acting.
Watching the movie with two highly intelligent friends, never casting our eyes away from the screen, knowing without a doubt that this was an experience so rarefied and precious, one that we can only pray happens again in this millennium; leaving and barely breathing, having met a Mother, never, ever again to be duplicated or replicated in celluloid. Kim Hye-ja as the mother of Do-joon (Won Bin) a mentally challenged twenty something miscreant, gives a performance that borders on the sublime. She loves, protects and exceeds all boundaries in her quest to save her son. He is her magnificent obsession and we never know her name.
“Mother” twists, wrings and lacerates our every emotion; just as we triumphantly solve the dilemma, another angle emerges and pulverizes our smugness until even at the conclusion we are left with confusion and wonderment.
In filmography there have been a myriad of memorable mothers: Julie Andrews in “The Sound of Music”, Anne Bancroft in “The Graduate”, Mary Tyler Moore, “Ordinary People”, Glenn Close, “The World According to Garp”, Faye Dunaway, “Mommie Dearest”, Linda Hamilton, “Terminator 2”, Frances McDormand, “Almost Famous”.
But Kim Hye-ja is to coin a colloquialism the “mother of all mothers”; we meet her as she performs a ritualistic, solitary dance bathed in the lushness of the Korean landscape, we join her crusade and become fierce disciples in her mission to save her son, and finally, with clarity and incisiveness know if circumstances allow our paths to intersect with Do-joon we tread gingerly and treat him with kindness.
FOUR&1/2 STARS!
For Now……………Peneflix
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON
Another three dimensional visual experience and a delightful one for all ages. Even the concept of having a dragon as a pet was original. Based on the book by Cressida Cowell, directed by Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders tells the story of the scrawny Hiccup, the physically unfit son of the chief Viking on the island of Berk; where slaying a dragon commemorates the dawning of manhood or womanhood (very twenty first century concept) and acceptance into a society plagued by constant strife between man and beast.
This enchanting story, gorgeously filmed, centers on the relationship between Hiccup and Toothless an elusive, terrifying nighttime dragon, maimed by Hiccup’s ingenious weaponry; what is absent in physical attributes he more than compensates with mechanical entrepreneurship. The friendship develops in tandem with his acceptance in dragon training school.
The anthropomorphic wizardly is stunning and truly beautiful. No matter your chronological number the message, so powerful, yet so elementary deserves its place in the sun. What we fear might actually with understanding become the key to growth, wisdom and love.
THREE&1/2 STARS!
MOTHER
This why we go to the movies! This Korean film by Bong Joon-ho (The Host, 2006. Do not see it alone!) is extraordinary in garnishing every ingredient we long for in a film: a unique and captivating story, intrigue and suspense at the highest decimal, intricately woven plot evolvement and splendid acting.
Watching the movie with two highly intelligent friends, never casting our eyes away from the screen, knowing without a doubt that this was an experience so rarefied and precious, one that we can only pray happens again in this millennium; leaving and barely breathing, having met a Mother, never, ever again to be duplicated or replicated in celluloid. Kim Hye-ja as the mother of Do-joon (Won Bin) a mentally challenged twenty something miscreant, gives a performance that borders on the sublime. She loves, protects and exceeds all boundaries in her quest to save her son. He is her magnificent obsession and we never know her name.
“Mother” twists, wrings and lacerates our every emotion; just as we triumphantly solve the dilemma, another angle emerges and pulverizes our smugness until even at the conclusion we are left with confusion and wonderment.
In filmography there have been a myriad of memorable mothers: Julie Andrews in “The Sound of Music”, Anne Bancroft in “The Graduate”, Mary Tyler Moore, “Ordinary People”, Glenn Close, “The World According to Garp”, Faye Dunaway, “Mommie Dearest”, Linda Hamilton, “Terminator 2”, Frances McDormand, “Almost Famous”.
But Kim Hye-ja is to coin a colloquialism the “mother of all mothers”; we meet her as she performs a ritualistic, solitary dance bathed in the lushness of the Korean landscape, we join her crusade and become fierce disciples in her mission to save her son, and finally, with clarity and incisiveness know if circumstances allow our paths to intersect with Do-joon we tread gingerly and treat him with kindness.
FOUR&1/2 STARS!
For Now……………Peneflix
Monday, March 22, 2010
Fellow Movie Lovers
Fellow Movie Lovers
THE RUNAWAYS……..
Has certainly proven worthy of its R rating. It is the tale of Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart) and Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning) and the formation of the first female rock band.
The year is 1975. The Vietnam War finally concludes; Gerald Ford has inherited the presidency; Bill Gates and Paul Allen launch Microsoft and the birth of the computer comes forth with a wail; David Bowie and Bob Dylan are the Titians in the music industry; Alex Haley’s “ Roots” was a tour de force and the commencement of the television mini series. “Jaws” the movie box office bonanza. Born in 1975 are Tiger Woods, Angelina Jolie and Kate Winslet.
Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning are rough, raw and ravishing as Joan Jett and Cherie Currie; they portray the two talented and disenfranchised teenagers with remarkable guts and courage; they sizzle and shock and plummet the audience with their audaciousness and iconoclastic behavior. Thirty five years ago they were pivotal in destroying barriers between male and female bands, “women don’t play electric guitars”! Their revolution, their experimental sexuality, drug use, and riveting performances did destroy the band and almost themselves; they rebel against the world and eventually each other. Currie does annihilate her body and soul. Jett’s metal is stronger and prevails.
The movie is based on the autobiography of Cherie Curie, Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway; whose drug and alcohol addiction almost kills her. Joan Jett is one of the executive producers. This is the product of two reflected and desperately led lives; it is also a love story and a perfect rendition of the middle 70’s: a time of mourning, the Vietnam War killed our idealism and chauvinism; no longer the age of Aquarius but the dawning of postmodernism: art can no longer be our salvation just our soulful revelation.
Michael Shannon (Academy Award nominee, Revolutionary Road) with powerful alacrity depicts the audacious, foul mouthed Kim Fowley, the manager who with meteoric speed and abusive dedication has The Runaways on the stage and recording studio; their flame, like a supernova, destined for extinction.
You do not have to like this movie, but appreciate it you must!
THREE STARS!
For Now………Peneflix
THE RUNAWAYS……..
Has certainly proven worthy of its R rating. It is the tale of Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart) and Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning) and the formation of the first female rock band.
The year is 1975. The Vietnam War finally concludes; Gerald Ford has inherited the presidency; Bill Gates and Paul Allen launch Microsoft and the birth of the computer comes forth with a wail; David Bowie and Bob Dylan are the Titians in the music industry; Alex Haley’s “ Roots” was a tour de force and the commencement of the television mini series. “Jaws” the movie box office bonanza. Born in 1975 are Tiger Woods, Angelina Jolie and Kate Winslet.
Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning are rough, raw and ravishing as Joan Jett and Cherie Currie; they portray the two talented and disenfranchised teenagers with remarkable guts and courage; they sizzle and shock and plummet the audience with their audaciousness and iconoclastic behavior. Thirty five years ago they were pivotal in destroying barriers between male and female bands, “women don’t play electric guitars”! Their revolution, their experimental sexuality, drug use, and riveting performances did destroy the band and almost themselves; they rebel against the world and eventually each other. Currie does annihilate her body and soul. Jett’s metal is stronger and prevails.
The movie is based on the autobiography of Cherie Curie, Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway; whose drug and alcohol addiction almost kills her. Joan Jett is one of the executive producers. This is the product of two reflected and desperately led lives; it is also a love story and a perfect rendition of the middle 70’s: a time of mourning, the Vietnam War killed our idealism and chauvinism; no longer the age of Aquarius but the dawning of postmodernism: art can no longer be our salvation just our soulful revelation.
Michael Shannon (Academy Award nominee, Revolutionary Road) with powerful alacrity depicts the audacious, foul mouthed Kim Fowley, the manager who with meteoric speed and abusive dedication has The Runaways on the stage and recording studio; their flame, like a supernova, destined for extinction.
You do not have to like this movie, but appreciate it you must!
THREE STARS!
For Now………Peneflix
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Fellow Movie Lovers
Fellow Movie Lovers
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
It is rare when a movie is equal to or surpasses the challenges facing it’s creators when it follows the success of a best selling book. Here is a mighty exception. “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, based on the novel by Stieg Larsson, one of the longest reigning best sellers in Sweden, achieving matching notoriety in the United States. The first in a trilogy, submitted in its entirety, followed shortly by the untimely death of Mr. Larsson, at the age of fifty.
Their have been many screen pairings that transcend the story: Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh in “Gone With the Wind”; Ali McGraw and Ryan O’Neal in “ Love Story”; Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty in “ Splendor in the Grass”; Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty in “ Bonnie and Clyde”; Julie Christie and Warren Beatty in “McCabe & Mrs. Miller”; Julie Christie and Warren Beatty in “ Shampoo”; Annett Bening and Warren Beatty in “ Bugsy”.
Stieg Larsson has conjured up the most unique couple of the twenty- first century: Mikael Blomkvist (played by Michael Nyqvist) and Lisbeth Salander (the girl with the dragon tattoo, Noomie Rapace). In the world of fiction they are formidable and unforgettable. A pair so disparate in age, background and skills but unlike oil and water the differences blend into a galvanizing and exhilarating partnership. He champions in his prescient investigative skill and she is inscrutable, inexorable, incorrigible, but has yet to meet a computer that can withstand her hacking genius. This is a mystery and thriller that will sear the memory forever and is not for the squeamish or faint of heart.
Whether you have read the novel or not this movie with its cacophony of thrills and chills will keep you emotionally pulverized throughout its incredulous duration; and lusting for the sequel.
FOUR & ½ STARS!
THE ART OF THE STEAL
Dr. Albert Barnes (1872-1951) amassed one of the most massive and pristine collections of art in modern times. It is housed in his home in Merion, Pennsylvania and was meant to stay there in perpetuity. This is a documentary about the bastardization and travesty of his legal (and supposed unbreakable) will. A crime so heinous, yet perpetrated by those whose Foundations exist for the betterment of society. They stole and destroyed the wishes of a man who came from poverty, rose to Horatio Alger heights, by inventing Argyrol, an antiseptic, that did benefit mankind. At thirty-five he was a millionaire and dove headlong into a passionate pursuit of art. This was the 1930’s and he fearlessly bought what he loved; he broke all the rules and bought the unknown and unrevered.
He was criticized, scolded and maligned by the press for his choices; but he never wavered from his vision and kept acquiring. And those indulgences include 181 Renoir’s, 69 Cezanne’s, 59 Matisse’s. No museum in the world can match this.
There are over 2,500 objects in his home, his museum. Viewing them can cause vertigo; masterpiece piled on masterpiece, such beauty rampantly assaulting one’s senses; my daughter and I rendered speechless (miraculous in itself) by the privilege of the experience. Matisse felt that his works found their perfect resting place in Dr. Barnes home. Cezanne said “Monet is only an eye, but my God what and eye”; the same can be said of Albert Barnes; his first Picasso cost one hundred dollars!
His will written in 1922 pledged forever that his property, his works of art (valued in today’s market between 25-30 billion dollars) exist solely for the education and artistic enlightenment of children. He felt that art history stifled self expression and appreciation of art, yet he became an art historian of his own individualistic, iconoclastic invention.
The documentary “fair and unbalanced” is exceptionally made; there is no hand held camera affect. Why was the will slowly expunged by the Trustees (Lincoln College); the Politicians the Foundations? Some of these questions are answered, others unresolved.
Appropriately titled, this film focuses on the true masterpiece, the subterfuge perpetrated by those who artfully stole a man’s legacy!
FOUR STARS!
For Now………..Peneflix
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
It is rare when a movie is equal to or surpasses the challenges facing it’s creators when it follows the success of a best selling book. Here is a mighty exception. “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, based on the novel by Stieg Larsson, one of the longest reigning best sellers in Sweden, achieving matching notoriety in the United States. The first in a trilogy, submitted in its entirety, followed shortly by the untimely death of Mr. Larsson, at the age of fifty.
Their have been many screen pairings that transcend the story: Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh in “Gone With the Wind”; Ali McGraw and Ryan O’Neal in “ Love Story”; Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty in “ Splendor in the Grass”; Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty in “ Bonnie and Clyde”; Julie Christie and Warren Beatty in “McCabe & Mrs. Miller”; Julie Christie and Warren Beatty in “ Shampoo”; Annett Bening and Warren Beatty in “ Bugsy”.
Stieg Larsson has conjured up the most unique couple of the twenty- first century: Mikael Blomkvist (played by Michael Nyqvist) and Lisbeth Salander (the girl with the dragon tattoo, Noomie Rapace). In the world of fiction they are formidable and unforgettable. A pair so disparate in age, background and skills but unlike oil and water the differences blend into a galvanizing and exhilarating partnership. He champions in his prescient investigative skill and she is inscrutable, inexorable, incorrigible, but has yet to meet a computer that can withstand her hacking genius. This is a mystery and thriller that will sear the memory forever and is not for the squeamish or faint of heart.
Whether you have read the novel or not this movie with its cacophony of thrills and chills will keep you emotionally pulverized throughout its incredulous duration; and lusting for the sequel.
FOUR & ½ STARS!
THE ART OF THE STEAL
Dr. Albert Barnes (1872-1951) amassed one of the most massive and pristine collections of art in modern times. It is housed in his home in Merion, Pennsylvania and was meant to stay there in perpetuity. This is a documentary about the bastardization and travesty of his legal (and supposed unbreakable) will. A crime so heinous, yet perpetrated by those whose Foundations exist for the betterment of society. They stole and destroyed the wishes of a man who came from poverty, rose to Horatio Alger heights, by inventing Argyrol, an antiseptic, that did benefit mankind. At thirty-five he was a millionaire and dove headlong into a passionate pursuit of art. This was the 1930’s and he fearlessly bought what he loved; he broke all the rules and bought the unknown and unrevered.
He was criticized, scolded and maligned by the press for his choices; but he never wavered from his vision and kept acquiring. And those indulgences include 181 Renoir’s, 69 Cezanne’s, 59 Matisse’s. No museum in the world can match this.
There are over 2,500 objects in his home, his museum. Viewing them can cause vertigo; masterpiece piled on masterpiece, such beauty rampantly assaulting one’s senses; my daughter and I rendered speechless (miraculous in itself) by the privilege of the experience. Matisse felt that his works found their perfect resting place in Dr. Barnes home. Cezanne said “Monet is only an eye, but my God what and eye”; the same can be said of Albert Barnes; his first Picasso cost one hundred dollars!
His will written in 1922 pledged forever that his property, his works of art (valued in today’s market between 25-30 billion dollars) exist solely for the education and artistic enlightenment of children. He felt that art history stifled self expression and appreciation of art, yet he became an art historian of his own individualistic, iconoclastic invention.
The documentary “fair and unbalanced” is exceptionally made; there is no hand held camera affect. Why was the will slowly expunged by the Trustees (Lincoln College); the Politicians the Foundations? Some of these questions are answered, others unresolved.
Appropriately titled, this film focuses on the true masterpiece, the subterfuge perpetrated by those who artfully stole a man’s legacy!
FOUR STARS!
For Now………..Peneflix
Monday, March 15, 2010
Fellow Movie Lovers
Fellow Movie Lovers
GREEN ZONE…..
Is the guarded and protected area in central Baghdad which contains the palaces of Saddam Hussein. Currently referred to as The International Zone.
If your political persuasion lies far to the left, you will love this film; if on the other hand you are at the diametrical opposite pole of the political spectrum, you will detest it.
This review is for the vast population constantly vacillating or wandering in the field of moderates, libertarians, philistines or dreams.
Iraq, 2003, searching for the WMD’s, weapons of mass destruction; great concept, portraying the disillusionment of one Chief Warrant Officer, Roy Miller (Matt Damon) as each site proves fruitless and his frustration with his superiors and the US government
escalates; unfortunately this worthwhile and innovative idea was saturated with sensationalism, half truths, fiction clothed as nonfiction. The audience for two hours was battered and bound by manipulation and proselytism.
On the heels of the academy award winning “ The Hurt Locker” one could not help but draw comparisons. The intrinsic brilliance of “The Hurt Locker” was that is was a movie about war, totally devoid of politics. The audience watched and learned without having to judge, or vote; regardless of the “whys” we were in Iraq, and we breathlessly lived every perilous second as each bomb was successfully or unsuccessfully defused. The bravery and selflessness of these soldiers was monumental and forever redefines the meaning of the word Hero!
Director Paul Greengrass and his cinematographer Barry Ackroyd (who also shot “ The Hurt Locker”) and actor Matt Damon (immensely flawless and believable as Roy Miller) have birthed at the marathon level action unseen since the “Bourne” films. Napping, anathema, during its entirety, so if it is action you crave, you’ll be over indulged.
Greg Kinnear is credible as the pusillanimous Pentagon lackey, prodigiously spinning the WMD’s fallacy. Brendan Gleeson as the CIA analyst, Martin Brown, does a passable job of making the CIA uncharacteristically, look good.
This is an uncomfortable film. There has not been enough time or history to look with passionless perspective at the catalytic events of the last nine years. The film and its creators flavored the fantasy with enough truth for the audience to ask, “ haven’t we seen enough of these actual devastating events in the media?.” “Do we need this?” A resounding NO!
TWO STARS! (Out of Five)
FOR Now…………Peneflix
GREEN ZONE…..
Is the guarded and protected area in central Baghdad which contains the palaces of Saddam Hussein. Currently referred to as The International Zone.
If your political persuasion lies far to the left, you will love this film; if on the other hand you are at the diametrical opposite pole of the political spectrum, you will detest it.
This review is for the vast population constantly vacillating or wandering in the field of moderates, libertarians, philistines or dreams.
Iraq, 2003, searching for the WMD’s, weapons of mass destruction; great concept, portraying the disillusionment of one Chief Warrant Officer, Roy Miller (Matt Damon) as each site proves fruitless and his frustration with his superiors and the US government
escalates; unfortunately this worthwhile and innovative idea was saturated with sensationalism, half truths, fiction clothed as nonfiction. The audience for two hours was battered and bound by manipulation and proselytism.
On the heels of the academy award winning “ The Hurt Locker” one could not help but draw comparisons. The intrinsic brilliance of “The Hurt Locker” was that is was a movie about war, totally devoid of politics. The audience watched and learned without having to judge, or vote; regardless of the “whys” we were in Iraq, and we breathlessly lived every perilous second as each bomb was successfully or unsuccessfully defused. The bravery and selflessness of these soldiers was monumental and forever redefines the meaning of the word Hero!
Director Paul Greengrass and his cinematographer Barry Ackroyd (who also shot “ The Hurt Locker”) and actor Matt Damon (immensely flawless and believable as Roy Miller) have birthed at the marathon level action unseen since the “Bourne” films. Napping, anathema, during its entirety, so if it is action you crave, you’ll be over indulged.
Greg Kinnear is credible as the pusillanimous Pentagon lackey, prodigiously spinning the WMD’s fallacy. Brendan Gleeson as the CIA analyst, Martin Brown, does a passable job of making the CIA uncharacteristically, look good.
This is an uncomfortable film. There has not been enough time or history to look with passionless perspective at the catalytic events of the last nine years. The film and its creators flavored the fantasy with enough truth for the audience to ask, “ haven’t we seen enough of these actual devastating events in the media?.” “Do we need this?” A resounding NO!
TWO STARS! (Out of Five)
FOR Now…………Peneflix
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Fellow Movie Lovers
Fellow Movie Lovers
ALICE IN WONDERLAND
Enchanting! This is a movie that will please all audiences, even those gallivanting at Olympic speed into their dotage. Alice as a young adult, trapped in a stilted Victorian world tumbles once again into Wonderland, where she finds her old friends and nemesis.
She blossoms in three dimension; the glasses, unlike Avatar, stimulated the experience, enhancing not hindering the process.
The unparalleled imagination of Tim Burton (you can trace its origins at his exhibition at MOMA, in New York City) takes Lewis Carroll’s (Charles Dodgson 1832-1898) Alice into unchartered waters, the surreal magical world of Wonderland is unchanged only Alice has matured. Mia Wasikowska (gone are the days of generic “stage” names) an Australian actress is beguiling and believable as Alice; Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter is masterful as the disenfranchised, raffish but charming catalyst for the coming of age Alice. Depp the most recognized actor of the twenty first century adds another level to his monument of courage and genius of interpretation. Edward Scissorhands (1990, directed by Tim Burton) was the first flicker of magnitude, a glimpse of his preciousness yet to be unveiled.
Helena Bonham Carter (Burton’s significant other) is fabulous as the Red Queen; even her “off with his head” has not staled; she reigns supreme as the Queen of the Weird!
Anne Hathaway, a fine actress, was as the role required, too saccharine as the White Queen; her characterization reached the tooth ache level.
Alice Liddell (1852-1934) was the exquisite muse for Lewis Carroll’s Alice. She was one of ten children, her father Henry, was Dean of Christ Church. Lewis Carroll, a photographer, mathematician, Anglican clergyman and author was a friend of the family and succumbed to the blitzkrieg of story requests from the engaging children, Alice in particular.
Lewis Carroll said that “everything’s got a moral, if only you can find it”. Tim Burton should allow us to follow Alice in this quest: as a wife, a mother (a tumble into Wonderland might help her survive the teenage years) into the declining years, where unlike Peter Pan and more like Wendy she discovers and achieves the prophesy so propitiously predicted; wisdom comes from recognizing, embracing life’s vicissitudes and victories, learning and aging with equanimity.
THREE 1/2 STARS! (Out of Five)
For Now …………Peneflix
ALICE IN WONDERLAND
Enchanting! This is a movie that will please all audiences, even those gallivanting at Olympic speed into their dotage. Alice as a young adult, trapped in a stilted Victorian world tumbles once again into Wonderland, where she finds her old friends and nemesis.
She blossoms in three dimension; the glasses, unlike Avatar, stimulated the experience, enhancing not hindering the process.
The unparalleled imagination of Tim Burton (you can trace its origins at his exhibition at MOMA, in New York City) takes Lewis Carroll’s (Charles Dodgson 1832-1898) Alice into unchartered waters, the surreal magical world of Wonderland is unchanged only Alice has matured. Mia Wasikowska (gone are the days of generic “stage” names) an Australian actress is beguiling and believable as Alice; Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter is masterful as the disenfranchised, raffish but charming catalyst for the coming of age Alice. Depp the most recognized actor of the twenty first century adds another level to his monument of courage and genius of interpretation. Edward Scissorhands (1990, directed by Tim Burton) was the first flicker of magnitude, a glimpse of his preciousness yet to be unveiled.
Helena Bonham Carter (Burton’s significant other) is fabulous as the Red Queen; even her “off with his head” has not staled; she reigns supreme as the Queen of the Weird!
Anne Hathaway, a fine actress, was as the role required, too saccharine as the White Queen; her characterization reached the tooth ache level.
Alice Liddell (1852-1934) was the exquisite muse for Lewis Carroll’s Alice. She was one of ten children, her father Henry, was Dean of Christ Church. Lewis Carroll, a photographer, mathematician, Anglican clergyman and author was a friend of the family and succumbed to the blitzkrieg of story requests from the engaging children, Alice in particular.
Lewis Carroll said that “everything’s got a moral, if only you can find it”. Tim Burton should allow us to follow Alice in this quest: as a wife, a mother (a tumble into Wonderland might help her survive the teenage years) into the declining years, where unlike Peter Pan and more like Wendy she discovers and achieves the prophesy so propitiously predicted; wisdom comes from recognizing, embracing life’s vicissitudes and victories, learning and aging with equanimity.
THREE 1/2 STARS! (Out of Five)
For Now …………Peneflix
Monday, March 8, 2010
Fellow Movie Lovers
Fellow Movie Lovers
The global response to the Academy Award Contest was thrilling and kept me fully alert through, at times a tedious telecast. As the ballots dwindled with each awarded Oscar and the realization that my IRA was not threatened, I relaxed and thoroughly enjoyed the
fever of anticipation. Here are the three that triumphed. Congratulations!
Zach Overley
Gerald Rogers
Nicole Steiner
Everyone loves (or loves to hate) Oscar night; Hollywood’s Super Bowl! We watch in our most comfortable clothes, eating pizza, drinking wine, beer or diet coke, all the while critiquing the most recognized people on the planet; their designer attire, jewelry, their weight (or lack of), their hair color or style. This is our right and privilege, we know them, we have created them; they are in our debt; without us where would they be?
So they better be beautiful and this year they were, without exception, magnificent!
The WOW factor was electric, atomic: gowns were resplendent, jewelry sedate and elegant; it was a subdued, gentler Hollywood. (Although I missed the sensational; Bjork, resembling the Purdue Chicken; Barbra Streisand and Cher in their outrageous halcyon days, Sally Field’s “you really like me” or Jack Palance doing a cartwheel). Also, nostalgic for hosts of the past: Bob Hope, Johnny Carson, Billy Crystal. Try as they might these entertainers are irreplaceable.
Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin did the best with what they were given; too many ‘inside jokes’ lost on us outsiders.
The brightest moments of the evening were the acceptance speeches. It has always been irksome and annoying when the winner gets to the podium, speechless or blabbering about their shock at winning; they have known for months that they have a twenty percent chance of victory, they are actors, so prepare a script. 2010, no one disappointed; they were the quintessential stars.
It is always a long evening, doused with too many commercial breaks; but Hyundai garnishes the Oscar for the most innovative advertisement since Wendy’s “Where’s the beef?”
The camera pans the catastrophic bedroom of a teenager while playing “I am sixteen going on seventeen” from “the Sound of Music”; the message unequivocal.
Because of you this Oscar evening will forever be carved in granite. To the winners, I will see you at the movies!
For Now………Peneflix
The global response to the Academy Award Contest was thrilling and kept me fully alert through, at times a tedious telecast. As the ballots dwindled with each awarded Oscar and the realization that my IRA was not threatened, I relaxed and thoroughly enjoyed the
fever of anticipation. Here are the three that triumphed. Congratulations!
Zach Overley
Gerald Rogers
Nicole Steiner
Everyone loves (or loves to hate) Oscar night; Hollywood’s Super Bowl! We watch in our most comfortable clothes, eating pizza, drinking wine, beer or diet coke, all the while critiquing the most recognized people on the planet; their designer attire, jewelry, their weight (or lack of), their hair color or style. This is our right and privilege, we know them, we have created them; they are in our debt; without us where would they be?
So they better be beautiful and this year they were, without exception, magnificent!
The WOW factor was electric, atomic: gowns were resplendent, jewelry sedate and elegant; it was a subdued, gentler Hollywood. (Although I missed the sensational; Bjork, resembling the Purdue Chicken; Barbra Streisand and Cher in their outrageous halcyon days, Sally Field’s “you really like me” or Jack Palance doing a cartwheel). Also, nostalgic for hosts of the past: Bob Hope, Johnny Carson, Billy Crystal. Try as they might these entertainers are irreplaceable.
Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin did the best with what they were given; too many ‘inside jokes’ lost on us outsiders.
The brightest moments of the evening were the acceptance speeches. It has always been irksome and annoying when the winner gets to the podium, speechless or blabbering about their shock at winning; they have known for months that they have a twenty percent chance of victory, they are actors, so prepare a script. 2010, no one disappointed; they were the quintessential stars.
It is always a long evening, doused with too many commercial breaks; but Hyundai garnishes the Oscar for the most innovative advertisement since Wendy’s “Where’s the beef?”
The camera pans the catastrophic bedroom of a teenager while playing “I am sixteen going on seventeen” from “the Sound of Music”; the message unequivocal.
Because of you this Oscar evening will forever be carved in granite. To the winners, I will see you at the movies!
For Now………Peneflix
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Fellow Movie Lovers
Fellow Movie Lovers
A PROPHET
Defined by Webster as “a religious leader regarded as, or claiming to be, divinely inspired or one who predicts the future”. We recognize from the first scene who is the Prophet in training; another An Education.
Living in a city that receives many films after they have been previewed in New York or Los Angeles (highly unfair in my pejorative estimation); before arriving at our humble shores, try as we may, we cannot escape the prophetic, gargantuan hymns of praise. A Prophet was heralded by film critic Peter Travers, Rolling Stone as “A knockout of a thriller. A Triumph of the highest order! A new crime classic.” Or Lisa Schwarzbaum from Entertainment Weekly, “Grade :A ! Riveting! A Stunning Saga!” Or KennethTunan of The Los Angles Times, “The Movie that reminds you of why you like the movies. Especially movies like this one!” Honored by the Academy in the best of the foreign film category; it was a slim year.
These words of praise kept resounding in my consciousness for the longest two and one half hours of theatre captivity since Avatar. And usually the longer the movie or novel the more satiated I am. So why wasn’t I swept into this dark, brutal world of prison politics?
There was little doubt as to where the process or plot was heading and the protagonist, Malik (realistically portrayed by Tahar Rahim) grows over a three year time frame from a naïve petty criminal to the ultimate professional. Trained by the king of convicts Cesar Luciani (Niels Arestrup gives a brilliant performance); a tyrant demanding and receiving supreme loyalty: a savior and protector for the disciple, Malik.
The theme is universal, most prisons have a hierarchy; a caste system; religion, ethnicity, race, and always the ubitiquous mantra, the survival of the fittest.
It was not lost on the audience that Malik after forty days and nights in solitary confinement emerges, like Christ from the desert, a transformed man.
Giving in to the supreme no-no for movie audiences; the overwhelming lure of my Blackberry (even spam was welcome) kept me nailed to my seat! But absolution was mine and I was rewarded with my favorite song, Mack the Knife, while viewing the credits; a song popularized by Bobby Darin but written by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht for the 1929 The Threepenny Opera, featuring Mackheath, a nefarious German criminal.
A graceful conclusion to a crucifying filmatic experience.
TWO STARS!
For Now………….Peneflix
Countdown ………Eight Hours To See Who Wins the Peneflix Contest. My biggest fear is that I made this far too easy, resulting in bankruptcy, and my future role as the ticket seller in the theatre of my choice.
A PROPHET
Defined by Webster as “a religious leader regarded as, or claiming to be, divinely inspired or one who predicts the future”. We recognize from the first scene who is the Prophet in training; another An Education.
Living in a city that receives many films after they have been previewed in New York or Los Angeles (highly unfair in my pejorative estimation); before arriving at our humble shores, try as we may, we cannot escape the prophetic, gargantuan hymns of praise. A Prophet was heralded by film critic Peter Travers, Rolling Stone as “A knockout of a thriller. A Triumph of the highest order! A new crime classic.” Or Lisa Schwarzbaum from Entertainment Weekly, “Grade :A ! Riveting! A Stunning Saga!” Or KennethTunan of The Los Angles Times, “The Movie that reminds you of why you like the movies. Especially movies like this one!” Honored by the Academy in the best of the foreign film category; it was a slim year.
These words of praise kept resounding in my consciousness for the longest two and one half hours of theatre captivity since Avatar. And usually the longer the movie or novel the more satiated I am. So why wasn’t I swept into this dark, brutal world of prison politics?
There was little doubt as to where the process or plot was heading and the protagonist, Malik (realistically portrayed by Tahar Rahim) grows over a three year time frame from a naïve petty criminal to the ultimate professional. Trained by the king of convicts Cesar Luciani (Niels Arestrup gives a brilliant performance); a tyrant demanding and receiving supreme loyalty: a savior and protector for the disciple, Malik.
The theme is universal, most prisons have a hierarchy; a caste system; religion, ethnicity, race, and always the ubitiquous mantra, the survival of the fittest.
It was not lost on the audience that Malik after forty days and nights in solitary confinement emerges, like Christ from the desert, a transformed man.
Giving in to the supreme no-no for movie audiences; the overwhelming lure of my Blackberry (even spam was welcome) kept me nailed to my seat! But absolution was mine and I was rewarded with my favorite song, Mack the Knife, while viewing the credits; a song popularized by Bobby Darin but written by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht for the 1929 The Threepenny Opera, featuring Mackheath, a nefarious German criminal.
A graceful conclusion to a crucifying filmatic experience.
TWO STARS!
For Now………….Peneflix
Countdown ………Eight Hours To See Who Wins the Peneflix Contest. My biggest fear is that I made this far too easy, resulting in bankruptcy, and my future role as the ticket seller in the theatre of my choice.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Fellow Movie Lovers
Fellow Movie Lovers
There has been an amazing response to the Academy Award Contest, with so many variables. If there is more than one winner the prize will be the same for each one of the victors: ten movies for two at the theatre of your choice. Your names will not be published unless the pleasure of gloating cannot be resisted. If I win there will be a billboard boasting my success at every overpass, train and bus station, the Post Office, and the closest airport! Good luck! Final entry date: Friday, March 5th.
AJAMI
Nominated in the Best Foreign Film Category this Israeli/Pakistani movie is of Herculean intentions but with Lilliputian results. First time filmmakers Yaron Shani (Israeli) and Scandar Copti (Palestinian, from Israel) concentrate the action in the town of Ajami, a multi-ethnic section of Jaffa. The events partially based on the co-directors experiences are not enlightening; we see the hatred, destruction of innocent lives, prejudice and its lethal consequences on television, in newspapers and the internet every day, it is inescapable.
The filming technique is reminiscent of a hand held camera creating a quasi documentary
aesthetic; using unschooled actors (this was a major mistake); a professional would have given some depth and passion that was so absent from the neophytes. The audience trapped in this dark, disjointed and disillusioned world, felt the hopelessness and the never to be resolved solution, just an eternity of despair. Here Copti and Shani have a brief brush with success.
The only glimmer of light was shed by the performance of Copti as Binj, the Palestinian chef who courageously and briefly loves a Jewish girl.
This anecdotal film reflects the lives of two men who dared to deify their differences, ignore the prejudices of their respective religions and cultures and form a partnership, still rocky, but with tenacity might thrive well into the laurels of film history. I pray so!
TWO & 1/2 STARS!
For Now…………Peneflix
Next Review THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
There has been an amazing response to the Academy Award Contest, with so many variables. If there is more than one winner the prize will be the same for each one of the victors: ten movies for two at the theatre of your choice. Your names will not be published unless the pleasure of gloating cannot be resisted. If I win there will be a billboard boasting my success at every overpass, train and bus station, the Post Office, and the closest airport! Good luck! Final entry date: Friday, March 5th.
AJAMI
Nominated in the Best Foreign Film Category this Israeli/Pakistani movie is of Herculean intentions but with Lilliputian results. First time filmmakers Yaron Shani (Israeli) and Scandar Copti (Palestinian, from Israel) concentrate the action in the town of Ajami, a multi-ethnic section of Jaffa. The events partially based on the co-directors experiences are not enlightening; we see the hatred, destruction of innocent lives, prejudice and its lethal consequences on television, in newspapers and the internet every day, it is inescapable.
The filming technique is reminiscent of a hand held camera creating a quasi documentary
aesthetic; using unschooled actors (this was a major mistake); a professional would have given some depth and passion that was so absent from the neophytes. The audience trapped in this dark, disjointed and disillusioned world, felt the hopelessness and the never to be resolved solution, just an eternity of despair. Here Copti and Shani have a brief brush with success.
The only glimmer of light was shed by the performance of Copti as Binj, the Palestinian chef who courageously and briefly loves a Jewish girl.
This anecdotal film reflects the lives of two men who dared to deify their differences, ignore the prejudices of their respective religions and cultures and form a partnership, still rocky, but with tenacity might thrive well into the laurels of film history. I pray so!
TWO & 1/2 STARS!
For Now…………Peneflix
Next Review THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
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