Movies not to be missed ****

Hugo (Cabret) ****  This is a wondrous, luminous love letter to the origins and magic of filmmaking by the master himself, Martin Scorsese, via the adventures of an orphan boy living atop a bustling Parisian railroad station in the 1930s. There is cinematic history (remember George Méliès?), pathos, excitement, romance and 3D used to its fullest glory. It’s the essence of film itself, with the great Ben Kingsley.

The Guard ***1/2  Character actor Brendan Gleeson is simply amazing as a no-nonsense law officer in this quirky, tongue-in-cheek, brutally funny Irish thriller set in a small town where little happens, except this time, with a slew of loony characters. Director John Michael McDonagh starts it off sleepy but builds it up to gale force!

The Whistleblower  ***1/2  There are films that are important and this is one of them. This real-life story about the revelation of blatant sex-trafficking within the UN/private contractors organizations in Sarajevo will leave you moved and shocked, wanting to do something to put a stop to such injustice and brutality. But as the film shows, it’s easier said than done. Rachel Weisz is excellent as the concerned policewoman.

Intouchables  ***1/2 (vo French)  The true, unconventional story of an aristocratic quadriplegic and his completely-opposite caretaker has been transformed into a humorous and very human film which has broken all box-office records in France. François Cluzet and Omar Sy play perfectly off each other in this offbeat buddy film.

The Lady  ***1/2  Luc Besson is a passionate scriptwriter and filmmaker (Le Grand Bleu, Subway, Leon, La Femme Nikita, The Fifth Element) who has put his heart and soul into this biopic about the Burmese Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi. There is Burma’s recent political history intermingled with Suu Kyi’s private life and her heart-breaking sacrifices involving her British husband and two sons versus her struggle for freedom and justice in her home country. Beautifully portrayed by Michelle Leoh, she is the female version of such giants as Ghandi and Mandela.

Margin Call  ***1/2   A Lehman Brothers-like melt-down is the premise of this tightly-wound, twenty-four hour study of mega-money manipulations among the rulers of stock markets. J.C. Chandor’s astonishingly-polished (and multi-awarded) first feature stars Jeremy Irons, Kevin Spacey, Stanley Tucci and Demi Moore, showing it as it is and always will be – the powerful managing to save their own hide….most of the time…

The Descendents ***1/2  Director Alexander Payne is a master of in-depth films about people’s experiences and transformations in key moments of their lives as in About Schmidt or  Sideways. Here he takes us to the glorious sea and landscapes of Hawaii and a wealthy local family whose patriarch is facing a terrible accident of a loved one and his unruly daughters, while having to decide on a huge land deal on one of the islands. A slow start develops into a gripping drama of many layers and colors, with an excellent George Clooney and fine supporting cast. Oscars?

Et si on vivait tous ensemble?  ***1/2 (vo French)  If you want to laugh, cry and be utterly amused by the trials and tribulations of a group of aging, long-time friends, run to this film starring everyone: Claude Rich, Jane Fonda, Guy Bedos, Pierre Richard, Geraldine Chaplin and the young German star, Daniel Brühl (from Goodbye Lenin), who is writing his thesis on their plan to grow old together….. A pure delight!

Jane Eyre ***1/2   In the great BBC tradition of fine drama, here is the latest version of Charlotte Bronté’s classic about a mysterious and troubled aristocrat and the young governess with whom he falls in love. Starring Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland) and the multi-talented Irish/German Michael Fassbender, who seems to be everywhere these days, it is brilliantly acted and filmed like a work of art by Cary Fukunaga (Sin Nombre): a love story and melodrama captured in time.

50/50  ***1/2   Joseph Gordon-Levitt (rightly nominated for a Golden Globe) plays in the real-life story of a young man who finds out he has massive cancer of the spine and how he deals with the possibility of a 50/50 chance at life when you’re only in your twenties. The beauty of this film is the tenderness and humor that makes it not so much about the cancer but the relationships that become magnified when such tragedy strikes, whether they concern him, his buddy, mother or girlfriend. Quite unforgettable.

Mission Impossible 4 – Ghost Protocol  ***  Directed by Brad Bird, this is the best Mission Impossible to date. Tom Cruise and his astounding stunts are first rate, the script is tight and intelligent and the action is non-stop fun, from Russia to India and Dubai. This is grandiose popcorn entertainment with quality!

Reconciliation – Mandela’s Miracle ***  This fine documentary traces the oft-told story of Mandela’s decades-long imprisonment, his release and his honorable and peaceful rise to the presidency of South Africa. And above all, his amazing grace and forgiveness of his tormentors, which is the miracle of the title.

Le Havre *** (vo French)  Aki Kaurismäki has always had his own quirky style – 1950s formica decor in pastel-colored sets, frozen acting with lingering looks, and naive, simplistic stories. In this latest tale set in the port city of Le Havre, about a little black refugee and an aging shoe shine man who takes him in to protect him from the law, he has humanized his characters and given them depth and humor. A sweet, singular experience.

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Worth your While

Alice in Wonderland ***  The fantabulous team of Tim Burton, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter is back to enchant us once again, after such delights as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Sweeney Todd. It’s of course the classic tale of Alice, who is somewhat older this time, with a wonderfully dazed and touching Mad Hatter, as only Johnny Depp could portray.

How to Train your Dragon ***  Dreamworks is inching in on the brilliance of Pixar animation with exuberant tales like this one about a Viking village that is constantly attacked by dragons. But the son of the village chief just doesn’t feel like killing them, to his father’s shame. In fact he ends up befriending one of them …This is an invigorating and humorous tale of understanding those whom we have mistakenly come to fear and hate. Wonderful!

Men Who Stare at Goats (Les chèvres du Pentagone) ***  Don’t take this film seriously and just enjoy a super team of actors including George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Ewan McGregor and Kevin Spacey. You’ll laugh yourself silly at the antics of an “anti-war” unit in the U.S. Army. Weird, goofy and a hoot!

Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang ***  Set in the English countryside, this is a magical, feel-good film for the whole family, with a disguised Emma Thompson (who also wrote the screenplay) as an amazing nanny who is transformed with each good deed she teaches her young brood. The kids are great, as is the versatile Maggie Gyllenhaal as their mother, along with a woozy Maggie Smith. It’s a moving, funny and adventurous story of a family waiting for Dad to come home from war.

Les Invités de mon Père (vo French)   ***  With a super cast that includes Fabrice Luchini and Karin Viard as his sister, this is a film    about a close-knit family that wonders what’s up with their father when he takes in a dubious mother/daughter duo from an Eastern-bloc country. Anne Le Ny’s refreshing French comedy manages both to amuse and dissect a multitude of family quirks and prejudices.

Shutter Island ***  If this is not an homage to Hitchcock, I don’t know what is. There’s the twisted plot, the heightened colors and fake backdrops (especially at sea), the winding staircase in a lighthouse (Vertigo) and even a cliff-hanging scene (North by North West). Scorsese and DiCaprio give us the shivers until the brilliant ending, better than any of Hitchcock’s. I didn’t want to see the film, as it seemed so creepy, but it was finally well worth the chills.

The Ghostwriter **1/2  Here is Roman Polanski’s take on a Tony Blair-like British leader’s memoirs and intrigues – an interesting, austere political thriller with Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan.

Tetro **1/2  A young sailor from Europe arrives in Argentina to find his long-lost older brother. Francis Ford Coppola has turned to dramatic black & white to tell this tale of a family torn apart by an overbearing, illustrious father with some deep secrets. Intense and esthetically sumptuous, it’s a grand old melodrama set in Buenos Aires.

Precious **1/2  Highly acclaimed and Oscarized, this downer of a film is about a terribly abused black girl who gradually comes out of her shell through a caring teacher. Fine acting all around, especially by the abusive mother, but the whole tragic process leaves you feeling queasy.  Can any of this relentless scrutiny help somehow, somewhere?

Chloe **1/2  There are films that grab you from the outset and don’t let go. This is one of them, though it leaves you with a disturbing sense of guilt for having watched it. This slick psychodrama, about a wife who hires a call girl to get at the truth about her husband, is an intense observation of the twists of life by the renowned Canadian/Armenian director Atom Egoyan (Exotica). Julianne Moore is especially effective in this remake of the original French film, Nathalie, which starred Fanny Ardant and Emmanuelle Béart.

Les Aventures extraordinaires d’Adèle Blanc-Sec (vo French)  **1/2  Luc Besson (Le Grand Bleu,Subway, Angel) knows how to make films, even if critics regularly drub him – jealousy? This one is pure action/fun entertainment (in the genre of Indiana Jones or Romancing the Stone) based on a well-known comic-book series set in the Paris of the early 1900s. A feisty journalist, Adèle, goes off to Egypt and its pyramids to find a way to cure her comatose sister. It has great characters, exotic locations and cinematography, but it could have been shortened for better effect.

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]]> http://www.ageesteem.com/2010/04/19/at-the-movies-ii-april-2010/feed/ 0 http://www.ageesteem.com/2010/02/17/age-models/ http://www.ageesteem.com/2010/02/17/age-models/#comments Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:58:55 +0000 Bonnie http://almania.tchmachines.com/~gwfrvzlm/?p=928 Clint Eastwood

Isn’t it refreshing to see that this month’s top films include veteran actresses and actors? – And that they are starring in roles featuring their mature ages?

In these “Must See Films” we find Meryll Streep (60), Morgan Freeman (73),  Alec Baldwin (52), Steve Martin (65), with Colin Firth (50), and George Clooney who at 49 is bringing maturity to his charm.   Will he manage to cultivate the same charm that Clint Eastwood oozes at 80?

It takes AgeEsteem on the part of these icons of cinema to “act their age” on the screen, and to become real role models for us.  Thank you!

Movies – Films

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UNMISSABLES

Up In The Air ****     Suave, gliding through airports as though they were his home with his myriad privileged credit cards, George Clooney’s character flies around the country firing people for firms which don’t want to deal with the mess. He’s great at his job  and loves his unattached lifestyle.  Seamlessly directed by Jason Reitman (Thank You for Smoking and Juno), this deceptively subtle film is a metaphor for today’s modern, empty world – from a charged beginning to an uncertain end. Clooney is excellent, once again proving he’s not just a gorgeous guy. This is Oscar material all the way…

Brothers ****     Brodre, the gripping 2004 Danish film by Suzanne Bier has been transformed here into an American work and quite fittingly, as it concerns family tensions and the war in Afghanistan. With a strong cast including Natalie Portman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire and Sam Shepard, directed by the Irish/American Jim Sheridan (of Oscar winners such as My Left Foot and In the Name of the Father), this has proven one fine import. The “good” brother goes off to war, while the bad-boy brother stays home and becomes close to the former’s wife and children. It’s austerely modern; it’s Greek tragedy and also Shakespearean. Won’t tell you more, just go see it. And rent the Danish film too.

A Single Man ***1/2     We’re terribly lucky this season – deluged with one fine film after the other. Here’s another one, amazingly polished by first-time director, Tom Ford, who is the highly successful men’s fashion designer. Being gay and stunning-looking himself, he has made a film about a teacher mourning the loss of his lover, set in the early 60s when homosexuality was still under wraps. The mood and look of the era are impeccably captured and Colin Firth, who has perfected the art of being contained and reserved, has never been so moving. And he’s never been so trim and well attired either, all due to Ford, of course. This is quite an aesthetic work of art by a newcomer to the field. But then the painter Julian Schnabel also traversed careers brilliantly, directing Basquiat, Before Night Falls and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Once an artist, always an artist.

Invictus ***1/2     “I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul”. This quotation exemplifies the grandeur of Nelson Mandela’s life and his legacy for Africa (and in a smaller sense, the trajectory of director Clint Eastwood’s career). The film dwells mainly on Mandela’s efforts to unite his country behind its rugby team during the World Cup in 1994 and his strength and wisdom in going against the current. Morgan Freeman becomes Mandela and Eastwood does them both honor. From White Hunter, Black Heart and Bird to Bridges of Madison County and Letters from Iwo Jima, and now this tribute, Eastwood keeps proving his mastery of many genres, his understanding of diverse worlds and the control of his audience.

2 Brothers ***1/2  (vo Hebrew and English)  I’ve written this up before, but now it is finally being released in our area after garnering quite a few prizes in various festivals. It’s about two opposing brothers, this time in Israel. One is a peace activist living there and the other is a fanatic Orthodox Jew, who has moved back from New York. Their differences and struggles highlight the grave threat posed by the Orthodox community to peace in that region. Powerful and important, it is directed by Geneva-based Igaal Nidam.

It’s Complicated ***     Ah, to have a bit of fun in this sad and serious world! So here’s a film not to miss. First because it’s a love story about mature adults, second because it’s got such super actors as Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin and third, because a good romantic comedy is a rare thing. But director Nancy Meyers is an expert at the entertaining ones – such as What Women Want and Something’s Gotta’ Give. It’s a delight for the eyes and for many a belly laugh and it all makes giddy sense until the ending, which I personally did not like. But that’s only me – you and others may well think it should end in such a modern, egalitarian way….

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