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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Bonnie Au Cinema 3D, 50/50, at the movies, Aung San Suu Kyi, Ben Kingsley, Brendan Gleeson, Burmese Nobel Peace Prize, François Cluzet, George Clooney, Hugo, Intouchables, Jane Eyre, John Michael McDonagh, Luc Besson, Margin Call, Martin Scorces, Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, Michelle Leoh, Neptune Ravar Ingwersen, Omar Sy, Reconciliation - Mandela's Miracle, The Descendents, The Guard, The Lady, The Whistleblower, Tom Cruise

WORTH YOUR WHILE

When you’re Strange ***1/2   Narrated by Johnny Depp, this illuminating documentary by Tom DiCillo (the cool director of such films as Johnny Suede and Living in Oblivion) once again opens up the world of the Doors and their charismatic lead singer Jim Morrison, who played so hard with life, music, women and drugs that he was dead by age 27. It’s as though he wanted to reach for immortality through fame cut-short, like Dean, Hendrix and Joplin. Moving and exhilarating.

Copacabana *** (vo French)    Isabelle Huppert often plays cold, twisted characters, but here she is terribly human and simply fun-loving. A caring but basically irresponsible mother who realizes that she has to change to gain back her daughter’s respect, she decides to take a job up in Belgium, selling apartments in a god-forsaken coastal town. Amusing and touching, Huppert is at her most vulnerable in years in this tongue-in-cheek film by Marc Fitoussi.

Frontier Blues *** (vo Farsi)   This languid, strangely poetic film from Iran features various characters living in the northern Turkman region of that country. With very little dialogue, we encounter an uncle who runs a deserted boutique and his weird nephew who loves a donkey. There’s a photographer from Tehran who has come to capture the mood of area through a local musician and his entourage of four kids. And there’s also a young man who works on a poultry farm and is learning English so he can leave to the city, maybe with the pretty girl he desires but has not yet spoken to nor convinced to marry him. Slow, contemplative and quite hypnotic, Babak Jalali’s film pulls you into this lonely, Jim Jarmusch-like universe with gentle humor. But you must have patience to savor it fully.

Knight and Day **1/2   If you like action, thrills and charm, you can’t miss with this wild and funny ride starring Tom Cruise as a super spy on the run and Cameron Diaz as his unwilling but talented sidekick, directed by James Mangold of Walk the Line. Don’t listen to the sour critics who may still be negative about Cruise – the man has talent, presence and charisma. And these two make an exciting pair.

Inception **1/2   “Pure creation” is what Ellen Page’s character calls these illusions of dreams and reality mixed in various layers. Leonardo DiCaprio, playing an expert at invading others’ dreams – whether planting an idea or stealing one – is on a mission to instill a germ of an idea in a magnate’s mind. But he and his crew may have misjudged the many dream levels and the dangers of descending too deeply into this strange limbo of possibilities… Are you following this? Director Christopher Nolan makes smart, intricate films (such as Memento, in which the story goes backwards, or the powerful Dark Knight) but this one is too convoluted for its own good.  It gets lost in mind-bending special effects which serve no purpose but to inflate the director’s ego and often lose the audience in the process. Do we really need the lengthy James Bond-like snow chases and all those blown-up grocery stores or foldable buildings in Paris? Give me clever mind games rather than exaggerated pyrotechnics any day.

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Bonnie Au Cinema, Entertainment & Fun Cameron Diaz, Christopher Nolan, Copacabana, Frontier Blues, Isabelle Huppert, James Mangold, Jim Morrison, Johnny Depp, Knight and Day, Leonardo DiCaprio, Marc Fitoussi, Tom Cruise, Tom DiCillo, When You're Strange, worthwhile movies