Nothing Like the Holidays (2008)

The Rodriguez family is coming together for Christmas. Bodega owner Edy (Alfred Molina) and his wife Anna (Elizabeth Peña) are eager to see their three children back in their Chicago home.

Young Jesse (Freddy Rodríguez) is just returning from a tour of duty in Iraq and release from the Army. He's grappling with his guilt about the death of his best Army buddy in an attack upon both of them by the insurgents. He's also struggling with the fact that he still loves his former girlfried Marissa (Melonie Diaz) even though she is now happily married.

Son Mauricio (John Leguizamo) arrives with his Jewish wife Sarah (Debra Messing), a successful NYC career couple. Sarah feels the family pressure to get pregnant and Mauricio is eager to start a family.

Sister Roxanna (Vanessa Ferlito), an actress from LA, is trying to decide whether or not to continue acting. Her roles have been small and she can't seem to break through.

Mother Anna breaks the news to the family that she is leaving Edy because she is sure he has been having an affair. Meanwhile, Edy has his own secret that he's not ready to share with the family.

Also appearing are Luis Guzmán as Edy's nephew and Jay Hernandez as Jesse's best friend.

While this film is typically billed as a comedy, it is really a very tender drama about a loving family's dynamic. Rich in Puerto Rican culture and traditions. I'd like to see a sequel to this one as I came to care very much for these characters.

Directed by Alfredo De Villa.

Run time: 1 hour, 38 minutes

Rated PG-13 for thematic elements including some sexual dialogue, and brief drug references.

My personal rating: B

The Brothers Bloom (2008)

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"See, you've reached an unethical conclusion. You think you want out, but you don't. One last con. "

The quirky little tale of Stephen (Mark Ruffalo) and his brother Bloom (Adrien Brody), two life-long con men who decide to retire from the biz. But Stephen urges Bloom to join him in one last “big one” –- swindling money from heiress Penelope (Rachel Weisz). The only problem is, Bloom begins to fall in love with the wealthy young woman and appears to be torn in his allegiance.

The romp takes place all over the globe: Japan, Mexico, Prague, New Jersey.

Also appearing are Rinko Kikuchi as the beautiful but mysterious demolition expert Boom Boom; Robbie Coltrane as the curator; and Maximilian Schell as the evil Devil Dog.

Written and directed by Rian Johnson.

Run time: 1 hour, 53 minutes

Rated PG-13 for violence, some sensuality and brief strong language.

My personal rating: B

High Crimes (2002)

"You have no idea what it's like to see somebody you love killed right in front of you."

High profile San Francisco lawyer Claire Kubik (Ashley Judd) finds her world shattered when her beloved husband Ron (James Caviezel) is arrested and charged with the murder of Latin American vilages when he served as a Marine 12 years prior. He'd been living a lie with a false name and history ever since.

Claire persuades lawyer and former member of JAG Corp Charles Grimes (Morgan Freeman) to help with the case.

Eyewitnesses have died or disappeared mysteriously and the whole case seems to be a set-up.

Adam Scott appears as the young military lawyer first assigned to the case; Amanda Peet plays Claire's sister Jackie; and Bruce Davison appears as Brig. Gen. Bill Marks.

Directed by Carl Franklin.

Run time: 1 hour, 55 minutes

Rated PG-13 for violence, sexual content and language.

My personal rating: B

Dreamer (2005)

Inspired by a true story
”You're taking your kid and your horse to the Breeder's Cup tomorrow. 'Cause that's the dream of every real horseman.”
Ben Crane (Kurt Russell) has a Kentucky horse farm. Only problem is, he has no horses. He works as a trainer for horse businessman Everett Palmer (David Morse) who oversees the horses of Prince Sadir (Oded Fehr).

One day, Ben doesn’t feel a mare is quite up to a race but Palmer insists she runs. Half way through the race the mare’s cannon bone snaps. When Palmer orders the mare be put down, Ben fights back and is fired. He hauls the mare back to his farm intending to save her and make her a brood mare.

Soñador, the mare, becomes the love of Ben’s daughter’s life. Young Cale (Dakota Fanning) and serves as a way of mending the strained relationsip between Ben and Cale and the fractured relationship between Ben and his father (Kris Kristofferson).

Also appearing are Elisabeth Shue as Ben’s wife; Freddy Rodríguez and Luis Guzmán as the barnmen; Ken Howard as a fellow horseman; and Holmes Osborne as the vet.

Written and directed by James Gatins in his debut.

Run time: 1 hour, 46 minutes

Rated PG.

My personal rating: B+

Inventing the Abbotts (1997)

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Narrator: "The end of my innocence began in 1957. It is remarkable to me now just how little I knew then about the people around me. It took me years to figure out exactly what the truth was, especially given my brother's knack at inventing himself."
When two brothers (Joaquin Phoenix, Billy Crudup) from the wrong side of the track court three aristocratic sisters (Jennifer Connelly, Liv Tyler, Joanna Going) in the 1950s, fireworks fly.

The boys' mother is played by Kathy Baker and Will Patton appears as the girls' father. Shawn Hatosy also has a small role.

Directed by Pat O'Connor.

Run time: 1 hour, 52 minutes

Rated R for sexuality and language.

My personal rating: B-

25th Hour (2002)

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"You had it all, and you threw it away, you dumb ####!"

Brooklyn boy Monty Brogan (Edward Norton) is heading to prison for dealing heroin. He'll be locked up for at least seven years. The last 24 hours of his free life is spent with his girl friend Naturelle Riveria (Rosario Dawson), his two best friends, high school teacher Jakob Elinsky (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and bond trader Frank Slaughtery (Barry Pepper), his father James (Brian Cox), and his friend Kostya Novotny (Tony Siragusa).

Monty and others take a hard look at their lives as the twenty-fifth hour approaches.

Also appearing is Anna Paquin as Mary D'Annunzio.

Shows the rough, raw and racist reality many live daily. Intense.

Directed by Spike Lee.

Run time: 2 hours, 15 minutes

Rated R for strong language and some violence.

My personal rating: B

A Kiss Before Dying (1991)

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When Jonathan “Jay” Corliss (Matt Dillon) finds out his rich girlfriend Dorothy (Sean Young) is pregnant. He’d planned to use her to get to her wealthy daddy’s (Max von Sydow) money without the entanglement of a child. Jay murders Dorothy but makes it look like a suicide.

Soon Jay is wooing Dorothy’s identical twin sister Ellen (also played by Sean Young) even though Ellen is sure her sister was murdered and is actively trying to find out who Dorothy’s secret boyfriend was.

Diane Ladd plays Jay’s mother and James Russo as Dan Corelli, the cop and later private investigator who worked the case.

A thriller without a thrill. I didn’t care about any of these characters.

From a novel by Ira Levin. Screenplay and directed by James Dearden.

Run time: 1 hour, 36 minutes

Rated R.

My personal rating: C

Funny Bones (1995)

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"Why do all the best things in life belong to the past?" Comedian Tommy Fawkes (Oliver Platt) has a hard act to follow. His father, George (Jerry Lewis), is a zany comic beloved by all. At Tommy's debut in Las Vegas, he fails miserable and disappears. He's gone off to Blackpool, England, where he spent summers as a child, in search of funny material and a parter for comedy routines.

What he finds is his father's former comedy partners, the Parker brothers, and a whole bag of family secrets that suddenly frees him from the muck of being the son of a celebrity.

Also appearing are Lee Evans as a tragic young comic, Jack Parker; Leslie Caron as Jack's devoted mother; George Carl and Freddie Davies as Bruno and Thomas Parker; Richard Griffiths as the manager of the seaside resort; and Oliver Reed.

A strange, at times surrealistic, little film that often reminded me of some of the Coen brother's work.

Written and directed by Peter Chelsom.

Run time: 2 hours, 8 minutes

Rated R for some language and a scene of tragic violence.

My personal rating: B

Monk: 7:3 (TV Series)

Season 7
Episodes 9-12
Disc 3

My personal rating: B

Another Woman (1988)

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"I wondered of a memory is something you had or something you lost."
Marion Post (Gena Rowlands), director of undergraduate studies in philosophy at a women’s college, is on leave writing a book. Her husband Ken (Ian Holm) is an accomplished cardiologist.

Because of construction next to her home, Marion rented an office downtown to do her work. On the first day, she discovers that she can hear every word spoken in the psychiatrist’s office next door.

Over time Marion becomes enmeshed in the story one of the psychiatrist’s patients tells. The patient, Hope (Mia Farrow), a pregnant woman, is in deep despair and considering suicide. Pondering the young woman’s plight causes Marion to examine her own life.

Betty Buckley as Ken’s first wife Kathy; Blythe Danner and Philip Bosco as Marion and Ken’s friends Lydia and Sam; Sandy Dennis as Marion’s childhood friend Claire and Jacques Levy as her husband Jack; Gene Hackman as Larry who Marion had been tempted to have an affair with years before; John Houseman as Marion’s father as an old man; Martha Plimpton as Ken’s teenage daughter Laura; David Ogden Stiers as Marion’s father when he was young; Harris Yulin as Marion’s brother Paul and Frances Conroy as his wife Lynn.

Thought provoking. Terrific music. Subtle NYC background.

Written and directed by Woody Allen.

Run time: 1 hour, 21 minutes

Rated PG.

My personal rating: B

The Boys and Girl from County Clare (2005)

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"Ready, one, two..."
Growing up in County Clare, Jimmy and John Joe McMahon grew up learning ceili music. Now, forty years later, Jimmy (Colm Meany) lives in Liverpool and leads a ceili band. Brother John Joe (Bernard Hill) still lives on the family homestead in Ireland and also leads a ceili band.

With the big Ceili Championship at hand each brother attempts to sabotage the arrival of the other at the competition. But the bad blood between the brothers only intensifies when both arrive late -- but just in time to register.

John Joe's piano player Maisie (Charlotte Bradley) is the love of the old bachelor's life but she's very upset that Jimmy has come back to County Clare. Meanwhile, John Joe's angelic top fiddler Anne (Andrea Corr) and Jimmy's piper Teddy (Shaun Edwards) fall in love.

Also appearing is Patrick Bergin as the third McMahon brother, Padjo.

Terrific Celtic music all over the place.

Directed by John Irvin.

Run time: 1 hour, 34 minutes

Rated R for nudity, scenes of sexuality, and language.

My personal rating: B+

Such a Long Journey (2000)

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Twelve centuries ago, the Persian Empire was conquered by Arabs. When forced to choose between Islam and death, a small group of Persians fled to India, taking with them their ancient religion of the prophet Zarathustra. These Parsis peoples prospered and became leaders in Bombay under British rule.

This film, set in 1971 when India and Pakistan continued their conflict and Bangladesh became a focal point, follows the story of one devout Parsi –- Gustad Noble (Roshan Seth).

Gustad joyously sings his way through life as he deals with the day to day living and supporting his family as a bank clerk. He is asked by a dear friend (Naseeruddin Shah), a freedom fighter, to help transfer a parcel needed to battle the Pakistanis.

Also appearing are Soni Razda as Gustad’s wife Dilnavaz; Vrajesh Hirjee as his son Sohrab; Sam Dastor as Gustad’s office mate; Ranjit Chowdhry as the pavement artist; and Kurush Deboo as the mentally challenged neighbor Tehmul.

Based on the novel by Rohinton Mistry. Directed by Sturla Gunnarsson.

Run time: 1 hour, 53 minutes

Not rated by the Motion Picture Association of America.

My personal rating: B

Class (1983)

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Sophomoric
Jonathan (Andrew McCarthy), a naive country boy, earns a scholarship to a classy prep school. His roommate, the handsome prankster Franklin “Skip” Burroughs IV (Rob Lowe), decides that Jonathan needs to learn his virginity so he sends Jonathan to Chicago, where Jonathan meets Ellen (Jacqueline Bisset), a beautiful mature woman. They begin a passionate affair but when Ellen discovers Jonathan is only 17 years old, she disappears.

Skip invites Jonathan to spend Christmas break with his family and Jonathan discovers that Ellen is Skip’s mother.

Others in the cast include Cliff Robertson as Skip’s father; Stuart Margolin as Balaban who is investigating possible cheating on the SAT; John Cusack, Alan Ruck, Virginia Madsen, Deborah Thalberg, Anna Maria Horsford, and Joan Cusack as Skip and Jonathan’s friends; Lolita Davidovich as a wasted girl; and Dick Cusack as the chaplain.

Directed by Lewis John Carlino.

Run time: 1 hour, 38 minutes

Rated R.

My personal rating: C+, but fun to see the debut roles of several young actors who continue in the industry today

Don't Come Knocking (2005)

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"Where is Howard? Who is Howard? He's long gone, he's long gone." Howard Spence (Sam Shepard) is a washed up cowboy actor who probably has been given his last chance to shape up and fly right in a film. But he blows it. Big time. He disappears from the set. The director (George Kennedy) is instructed to continue shooting around Howard's scenes. The film's bonding company sends Sutter (Tim Roth) to locate Howard, drag him back to the set, and make him complete his contractural agreement.

Howard has wandered off with purpose, first to see his mother (Eva Marie Saint) who he's not been in contact with for many, many years, then to locate his old girlfriend (Jessica Lange), and then to find his son Earl (Gabriel Mann). Along the way he connects with a young woman named Sky (Sarah Polley) who is trying to decide what to do with her mother's ashes.

Also appearing in the cast in small roles are James Roday, Julia Sweeney, Tim Matheson, James Gammon, and Fairuza Balk.

All star cast but pretty much a wasted effort. Story was a missed opportunity. I didn't care enough about the characters to make this store work for me. But the music was interesting.

Story by Sam Shepard and Wim Wenders; screenplay by Sam Shepard; directed by Wim Wenders.

Run time: 2 hours, 2 minutes

Rated R for language and brief nudity.

My personal rating: C

All the Pretty Horses (2000)

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"I guess country lasts forever. People ain’t but for a little while."
All John Grady Cole (Matt Damon) ever wanted to do was ranch on his grandfather’s land in west Texas. But his father had signed over the future of the land to his ex in the divorce so when the grandfather died, John’s mother sold the land leaving John quite devastated.

John sets off with his friend Lacey Rawlins (Henry Thomas) set off for Mexico. Early in the journey, they hook up with young Jimmy Blevins (Lucas Black), a runaway who ends up going his own way.

ucas BlackJohn and Lacey find work on one of the last great ranches in Mexico, the 27,000 acres owned by Hector de la Rocha y Villareal (Rubén Blades). John wants to prove their worth by breaking 16 wild mustangs in four days –- a task accomplished with all the ranch hands and their families looking on and which impressed Hector. John is given the job of working with Hector on the program to breed fine Mustang mares to the new Thoroughbred stallion Hector has just purchased.

In the process, a romance blossoms between John and Hector’s daughter Alejandra (Penélope Cruz) but Hector’s sister Doña Alfonsa (Miriam Colón) does not approve. Alejandra is sent to live with her mother and John and Lacey are arrested and sent back to a little town north of the ranch. When the are thrown in the jail there, they find young Jimmy who is charged with three murders and apparently he’d implicated John and Lacey.

Also appearing are Sam Shepard as the lawyer who explains to John how the sale of the grandfather’s land can’t be blocked; Bruce Dern as the judge.

Beautiful cinematography in a beautiful land. Heartfelt music including Marty Stuart’s touching “Far Away.” And love those horses!

Based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy. Directed by Billy Bob Thornton.

Run time: 1 hour, 54 minutes

Rated PG-13 for violence and some sexuality.

My personal rating: B+

Chrystal (2004)

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Involved in a high speed chase, Joe (Billy Bob Thornton) loses control of his car and wrecks. In the process, his young son is killed and his wife Chrystal (Lisa Blount) is permanently disabled.

After serving 20 years in prison, Joe returns to the Ozarks to try to make amends with Chrystal.

Also appearing are Grace Zabriskie as Chrystal's mother Gladys; Kathryn Howell as Miss Mabel the spiritualist; Walt Goggins as Joe's slimy cousin Larry; Harry Lennix and Johnny Galecki as Kalid and Barry who came from Chicago to record the regional music; Colin Fickes and Max Kasch as Hog and Shorty, a couple of teenagers; James Intveld as Charlie the cop; Harry Dean Stanton as Pa Da; and Ray McKinnon (who also wrote and directed) as Snake who carries an old vendetta against Joe.

Some fine bluegrass pickin' and singin'.

Run time: 1 hour, 46 minutes

Rated R for sexuality, nudity, drug content, violence and language.

My personal rating: B-

Solas (1999)

Alone

Maria (Ana Fernández), a Spanish woman in her thirties, walks through life without passion or love. She'd left her parents home in a small village and now lives in the big city and works as a housekeeper, but she has trouble pulling her life together largely because of the after effects of her father's (Paco De Osca) drinking and brutality when she was young. Maria also lacks respect for her mother (María Galiana) for staying in the relationship.

When her father needs heart surgery in the city, Maria's mother comes to stay with Maria in her small apartment in a rough part of town. Maria displays bitterness toward her mother but in time, she finally begins to see her mother as fine, helpful, and caring woman. In turn, her mother gets a glimpse of what a good relationship with a man could be like when she befriends the elderly and lonely Vecino (Carlos Álvarez-Nóvoa) who lives downstairs from Maria.

Meanwhile, Maria is facing a big dilema heself -- an unwanted pregnancy and a boyfriend who she realizes is shockingly like her uncaring father.

Also appearing is Antonio Pérez Dechent as the doctor.

A very touching film about the need for loving relationships, this film garnered numerous top awards internationally.

Written and directed by Benito Zambrano. This was Zambrano's debut as both a scriptwriter and director.

Subtitled.

Run time: 1 hour, 41 minutes

Rated R for language and sexual content.

My personal rating: B

State of Play (2009)

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When the mistress and top research aide of Congressman Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck) dies on the train tracks, he recruits his old college chum, Cal McAffrey (Russell Crowe), an investigative reporter for the Washington Globe, to get the facts on what may have been a murder while protecting Collins’ name and career. With the assistance of Della Frye (Rachel McAdams), a Globe blogger, McAffrey delves into a complex scandal that stretches from the bed to the boardroom to beyond.

Also appearing are Helen Mirren as the Globe’s editor, Cameron Lynne; Robin Wright Penn as Collins wife, Anne; Jason Bateman as the slimy PR agent, Dominic Foy; Jeff Daniels as Congressional Majority Whip George Fergus; Harry Lennix as Detective Bell; Josh Mostel and Michael Weston as Globe reporters who run down leads; and Viola Davis as Dr. Judith Franklin.

Based on a BBC television series.

Directed by Kevin Macdonald.

Run time: 2 hours, 8 minutes

Rated R.

My personal rating: B

Good Bye Solo (2008)

."Who told you that you could get into my life?"
Elderly William (Red West) rides with a Senegalese taxi driver in Winston-Salem, NC, and ends up hiring the driver, Solo (Souleymane Sy Savane), for a longer trip than originally planned. But William is depressed and Solo suspects the old gent is going to off himself. They stike up a most unlikely friendship.

Others appearing are Diana Franco Galindo as Solo’s young stepdaughter Alex; and Carmen Leyva as Solo’s Mexican wife Quiera.

Written and directed by Ramin Bahrani.

Run time: 1 hour, 31 minutes

Rated R.

My personal rating: B-

Winchell (1998)

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"The man who is hated by everyone knows who his friends are. And the man who is loved by everyone has more enemies than most."
American’s insatiable appetite for scandal and dirt isn’t a new thing. From the 1930s into 1970s, columnist/radio personality Walter Winchell (Stanley Tucci) dished more dirt than nearly any other gossip monger. With the aid of his sidekick/ghostwriter Herman Klurfeld (Paul Giamatti), they got the scoops the country craved.

Based on Klurfeld’s book Walter Winchell: His Life and Times, the story begins with a brief view of Winchell as a child who loved the newspaper reports of his own nearly fatal accident, his efforts to promote gossip during his time in the Army, and the beginnings of his scurrilous efforts to affect a story.

But he spoke loudly about more than celebrity stews. Winchell stood up to his publisher, William Randolph Hearst (Kevin Tighe) by refusing to cease writing and talking about the scourge of Hitler in the ‘30s; faced up to the McCarthy Red Hunt; and generally fought for the common man all his life.

Also appearing are Glenne Headly as Winchell’s mistress Dallas Wayne; Megan Mullally as Winchell’s wife June; Xander Berkeley as Winchell’s editor; Christopher Plummer as FDR; Paula Cale as Klurfeld’s wife; Jason Huber as Winchell’s nemesis Ed Sullivan; Paul Mazursky (who also directed) as Winchell’s father; and Victoria Platt as Josephine Baker.

Wonderful music of the era.

Run time: 1 hour, 48 minutes

Rated R for language and one strong sexual scene.

My personal rating: B

Purpose (2002)

.Love and money in the internet age
John Elias (John Light) has a brilliant new concept for the internet in the booming late 1990s. He’s a bright college student (Sanford, Oxford) and he’s scared but determined to make this work, even though he really knows nothing about business. His realistic father (Peter Coyote), a successful business man, discourages Peter because he feels the young man isn’t ready for this. His college professor Ben Fisher (Paul Reiser) gives him some encouragement.

John’s seed capital comes from the crazy, crusty old cowboy Tom Walker (Hal Holbrook) with a weird sense of humor.

He hires a college friend, the arrogant, amoral, and cunning Robert Jennings (Jeffrey Donovan), as the business side due to Jenning’s father’s connections. John is quickly led down the path of celebrating big before the release of product and all the speed bumps, ditches, and unexpected curves of business –- brilliant concept or not. He nearly gets used to and complacent with the “high life” until he’s shaken into the reality his father warned him about.

Also appearing are Mia Farrow as Anna Simmons, their Chairman of the Board; Shaun Majumder and Archie Kao as Victor and Kiko, John’s old friends and code-writing partners; Megan Dodds as John’s girlfriend Lisa who doesn’t like the path she sees ahead; Concetta Tomei as John’s doting mother.

Written and directed by Alan Lazar, who also wrote the score.

Run time: 1 hour, 36 minutes

Rated R.

My personal rating: B-

The Golden Boys (2007)

."Well, seems to be a strong running for ‘vivacious brunettes,’ and over here, ‘blonds of tender and romantic dispositions’. Which one of these types are you suffering for? "
Set in 1905 Cape Cod, three crusty old retired sea captains –- Jeremiah “Jerry” Burgess (Rip Torn), Perez Ryder (Bruce Dern) and Zebulon Hedge (David Carradine) –- need a housekeeper and decided that one of them must sacrifice his bachelorhood in order to take on a mail order bride through The Nuptial Chime, the journal of matrimony. But when the potential bride, the lovely and sweet Martha Snow (Muriel Hemingway) arrives from Nantucket, each man develops strong feelings.

Others in the cast include Charles Durning as the righteous John Bartlett; Jason Alan Smith as Ralph Hazeltine, the new cable station engineer; Angelica Torn as the town gossip Melissa Busteed; John Savage as the barkeeper Web Saunders; with a special appearance by Julie Harris as the melodeon player.

An off-beat romantic comedy.

Written and directed by Daniel Adams.

Run time: 1 hour, 37 minutes

Rated PG.

My personal rating: B

Shall We Dance? (2006)

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“Sway me now.”
Beguiled by a face he sees in a window from his commuter train seat every evening, John Clark (Richard Gere) decides to get off the El one evening and go explore Miss Mitzi’s (Anita Gillette) Dance Studio where the lovely Paulina (Jennifer Lopez) often stares out in sad contemplation of what might have been.

Clark is a lawyer and by all standards, he lives “a good life,” but something is missing and he’s not been able to find anything that brings true happiness to his life other than his family. His wife
Beverly (Susan Sarandon) has a full life with her career, taking care of two teenagers, and lots of volunteer work.

With his fascination of Paulina, Clark decides to take ballroom dancing lessons and meets up with fellow students Link (Stanley Tucci), Chic (Bobby Cannavale), and big Vern (Omar Miller) plus another instructor, Bobbie (Lisa Ann Walter), and he finds himself in dance.

Beverly, sensing his newfound joy in life, is suspicious and hires a private investigator, Devine (Richard Jenkins), and his assistant, Scott (Nick Cannon), because she fears Clark is having an affair.

Directed by Peter Chelton.

Run time: 1 hour, 59 minutes

Rated PG-13.

My personal rating: B

Country (1984)

. “We’re caught in the middle of something we can’t control.”

An exploration of the farm crisis in America focuses on the Ivy family of Blackhawk County, Iowa.

Jewell and Gil Ivy (Jessica Lange, Sam Shepard) have worked the corn and livestock farm where her family has lived for generations. Her father Otis (Wilford Brimley) and their teenage son Carlisle (Levi L. Knebel) work hard with Jewell and Gil to make a place for them and the Ivy’s two young daughters.

But the FHA is now calling in the loans and demanding full payment within 30 days. It’s seriously affecting the Ivys, who owe nearly $100K, and many of their friends.

Also in the cast are Jim Haynie, Sandra Seacat, and Jim Ostercamp as the neighbors, the Brewers; Matt Clark as the heartsick local FHA officer; and Alex Harvey as the hardened bureaucrat.

Directed by Richard Pearce.

Run time: 1 hour, 50 minutes

Rated PG.

My personal rating: B

Sunshine Cleaning (2009)

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“We come into people’s lives when they have experienced something sad and profound… In some small way, we help.”
Rose Lorkowski (Amy Adams) busts her butt as a housekeeper in Albuquerque to support herself and her young son Oscar (Jason Spevack) and put herself through real estate school. Oscar has a penchant for getting into trouble at school and Rose needs to get him into a private school.

Rose’s married boyfriend Mac (Steve Zahn) is a cop who suggests that Rose earns some real money by running a biohazard cleaning business -- basically, cleaning up crime scenes and sites where suicides happened and where dead bodies laid for some time before being found.

Her sister Norah (Emily Blunt) can’t hold a job so Rose convinces Norah to join her in her new business –- Sunshine Cleaning.

Their dad Joe (Alan Arkin), an entrepreneurial salesman, takes Oscar off on his sales route as Rose and Norah head off to their first job –- the site of a homicide by gun. With no training and no awareness of the procedures that must be followed, the woman launch into cleaning the house.

Their next job introduces them to the reality of stench, maggots, flies, body fluids, and all the other nasty stuff. Winston (Clifton Collins, Jr.), who runs the cleaning supply business, gives Rose and Norah biohazard manuals and shows them the supplies they need.

In the process of cleaning up the debris of death, Rose and Norah also clean up their own lives and begin living anew.

Others in the cast include Paul Dooley as their family friend Sherm who sells them an Econoline van; Amy Redford as Mac’s wife Heather; Mary Lynn Rajskub as the daughter of dead woman whose house Rose and Norah cleaned.

Directed by Christine Jeffs.

Run time: 1 hour, 31 minutes

Rated R.

My personal rating: B+

Bobby (2006)

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“They share with us that short moment of life.”

The setting is the Ambassador Hotel in LA, June 8, 1968 –- the day Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Twenty-two lives intersect in the pantry of that hotel on that day at that time – and they are changed forever.

Written and directed, produced by Emilio Estevez, who also appears in the film along with Lawrence Fishburne as the sous chef; Freddy Rodriguez as the busboy; Anthony Hopkins and Harry Bellefonte as retired hotel workers; William H. Macy as the hotel manager; Christian Slater as the kitchen manager; Nick Cannon and Shia LaBeouf as campaign workers; Ashton Kutcher as a hippie; Martin Sheen and Helen Hunt as socialites; Elijah Wood and Lindsay Lohan as young newlyweds; Sharon Stone as the hairdresser; Demi Moore as a diva.

Music by Mark Isham. Final anthem written by Bryan Adams and sung by Aretha Franklin, Mary J. Blige, and the Harlem Boys Choir.

Run time: 1 hour, 52 minutes

Rated NR.

My personal rating: B+

Gray Gardens (2009)

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“It’s a fine line between past and present.”
Based on a documentary about the aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy.

Edith Bouvier Beale (Jessica Lange), former debutante and socialite, is not a terrible stable woman. When her husband Phelan (Ken Howard) has finally had enough, he moves their post-debutante daughter Edie (Drew Barrymore) to Manhattan and then he leaves Edith alone with her likely boyfriend, George (Malcolm Gets) in their East Hampton mansion.

Edie is in hopes of a life of an actress. Edith grows odder and odder, and tries to manipulate the young woman. It doesn’t take long for Edith to get Edie back to Long Island where the mansion is a mess. From then on, Edie is pretty much sucked into the depth of mental illness with her mother after her married boyfriend (Daniel Baldwin) breaks up with her.

By the 1970s, Edith and Edie are living in squalor in a decaying house filled with cats.

Others in the cast include Jeanne Tripplethorn as Jackie Kennedy; Joshua Peace and Ben Carlson as Edie’s brothers; Justin Louis and Arye Gross as the Maysles brothers who made the documentary.

Directed by Michael Sucsy. An HBO film for which Jessica Lange won an Emmy.

Run time: 1 hour, 43 minutes

Rated NR.

My personal rating: B

When Do We Eat? (2005)

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The greatest goal of a parent is to do half the damage to your children than your parents did to you.
Ira Stuckman (Michael Lerner) is a big, gruff, loud-mouthed guy, but when he's in the presence of his father, Artur (Jack Klugman), Ira becomes that broken child again. He has to listen to his father's stories of how Artur brought young Ira to the United States after losing his beloved wife, two young sons, and a young daughter in the Holocaust.

And now, Ira and his family are preparing for the Passover Seder. His wife Peggy (Leslie Ann Warren) is, for the first time ever, preparing a kosher seder because their son Ethan (Max Greenfield) has recently become orthodox, complete with Hassidic beard. Peggy has even had a ceremonial tent erected in the back yard for the feast.

Other family members attending the Seder are Ira's oldest daughter Jennifer (Meredith Scott Lynn) who is a lesbian and brings her partner Grace (Cynda Williams) to meet the family. Nikki (Shiri Appleby) is a sex surrogate who is the apple of Ira's eye. Ira accepts her career choice while Peggy detests it openly. Zeke (Jeff D'Agostino) is the druggy college son who skips classes and is a big disappointment to both of his parent. Lionel (Adam Lamberg) is the teenage son who is autistic. Cousin-once-removed Vanessa (Mili Avetal), a celebrity publicist, also attends, and as in past years, catches the eye of the now devout Ethan. Rafi (Mark Ivanir) is the Israeli Mosha Dayan-clone who rented them the tent and who Peggy invites to stay on for the feast.

Ira, though not a practicing Jew and the owner of Christmas ornament company, feels obligated to carry out the traditions in what he calls "the fastest Seder in the world." But when Zeke slips the psychedelic ecstasy into Ira's antacid, the rights and rituals take on a whole new meaning to Ira as he sees the dinner in slow motion and psychedelic colors.

In it's own way, the traditional Passover story from the Book of Malachai, complete with Ira's children playing out the roles of the legendary "four sons" -- the wise, the wicked, the simple, and the one who doesn't know how to ask.

A very funny and touching story with insights into Jewish culture and tradition, tradition! And ultimately how one family puts aside the hurt from the past to heal the family.

With some interesting bonus material that further explains the film. I found it interesting that one of the rabbis said, "Loving one's children is not using money to control them."

Written by Salvador Litvak with his wife Nina Davidovich, and directed by Litvak.

Run time: 1 hour, 40 minutes

Rated R.

My personal rating: B

Smilla’s Sense of Snow (1997)

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”The way you have a sense of God, I have a sense of snow.”
When Smilla Jasperson (Julia Ormond) discovers that a six-year-old Inuit boy, Isaiah (Cupper Miano), who lives in her apartment building in Copenhagen, fell to his death from the roof, she isn’t convinced that he fell accidentally. Despite the insistence of the police, Smilla grows more and more certain.

Smilla had built a bond with Isaiah for they were both from Greenland. She knew Isaiah was afraid of heights and wouldn’t go up to the roof to play. Besides, his footprints in the snow indicated he’d run right from the roof door to the edge of the roof – not a typical pattern of a child playing.

Smilla questions Johannes Loyen (Tom Wilkinson), the head of the Institute for Arctic Medicine, who conducted the autopsy. She is not content with the answers she is getting and feels there is some sort of cover-up going on based on information she got from the morgue tech Lagermann (Jim Broadbent).

At the boy’s funeral, Smilla sees a man (Richard Harris) approaching Isaiah’s mother to give her a package that Juliane refuses. Smilla questions Juliane about this and finds that Juliane is to be given a widow’s pension from Greenland Mining due to the recent death.

Smilla visits her father, Moritz (Robert Loggia) to find out what he knew about Loyen because the two had gone to school together. She also asks her father for money telling him she has to make right for letting a child down.

Smilla wrote to the district attorney who agrees with her that something is amiss with this case. She then goes to visit Elsa Lubbing (Vanessa Redgrave), the former chief accountant for Greenland Mining who had signed the pension notification Juliane received.

With diligence and stealth, Smilla begins trying to unravel the mystery of young Isaiah’s death, and soon finds herself being assisted by the Mechanic (Gabriel Byrnes) who lives in Smilla’s building and also had a friendship with Isaiah.

Directed by Bille August.

Run time: 2 hours, 5 minutes

Rating R.

My personal rating: C+

Do the Right Thing (1989)

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The Quintessential Truth, Ruth
Summer in the Bed-Stuy neighborhood of Brooklyn is sizzling. Blacks, Puerto Ricans, Italians, Koreans, and whites have to find a way to coexist but racism cuts all ways.

Sal Frangone (Danny Aiello) runs a pizzeria with his sons Pino (John Torturro) and Vito (Richard Edson). The young African-American Mookie (Spike Lee) is their delivery guy.

Tensions grow the temperature rises until the inevitable explosion.

Others in the cast are Samuel L. Jackson as the deejay Love Daddy; Joie Lee as Mookie’s sister Jade; Miguel Sandoval and Rick Aiello as the cops; Rosie Perez as Mookie’s baby mama; Giancarlo Esposito as Buggin’ Out; Martin Lawrence as Cee; Ossie Davis is “da mayor” of the neighborhood; Ruby Dee as Mother Sister; Roger Guenveur Smith as the developmentally disabled Smiley.

Written and directed by Spike Lee.

Run time: 2 hours

Rated R.

My personal rating: B

Liam (2001)

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"Bless me Father for I have sinned."
The Sullivans were struggling in the depression in pre-WWII Liverpool, but when the father (Ian Hart) lost his job as a laborer at the shipyard, he blames the nation’s woes on the Jews and the Irish Protestants. Emotion runs high and violence ensues.

Despite the intensity of the subject, there are some scenes of young Liam’s (Anthony Borrows) experiences in preparing for his first confession and first communion and learning about the fires of hell for eternity. Made me chuckle out loud with the memories it brought back.

Others in the cast include Claire Hackett as the mother; Megan Burns as Liam’s sister Teresa who works as a housekeeper for a Jewish family; David Hart as his brother Con who stands up to his father’s fascism; Russell Dixon as Father Ryan; Anne Reid as the school teacher Mrs. Abernathy; Julia Deakin as Aunt Aggie; Andrew Schofield as Uncle Tom.

Directed by Stephen Frears.

Run time: 1 hour, 31 minutes

Rated R.

My personal rating: B+

Factory Girl (2006)

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“She leaves only good wishes behind.”
Edie Sedgwick (Sienna Miller) came from a very prominent but deeply troubled New England family. Seeking to escape the punishing and uptight environment, moves to NYC and quickly becomes deeply enmeshed in the world of Andy Warhol’s (Guy Pearce) Factory – the studio where the artist developed his unmistakable style in the 1960s. The post-modern, deconstructionist artist surrounded himself with the most beautiful people, the quirky, outrageous people, artists, writers, musicians, dancers, models, busboys, and lots of drugs.

The ambitious starlet saw the opportunity to be noticed. Warhol, the legendary people user, saw the opportunity to live vicariously through Edie and to find art buyers from Edie’s high society background.

The film chronicles the beautiful but vulnerable young woman’s rise and tragic fall.

Also appearing are Hayden Christensen, the musician Edie falls in love with; Jack Huston as the artist Gerard Malanga; Jimmy Fallon as Edie’s college chum Chuck Wein; Armin Amiri as the artist Ondine; Tara Summers as Brigid Polk, another factory girl; Mena Suvari as Edie’s friend Richie Berlin; Shawn Hatosy as the musician’s friend Syd Pepperman; Beth Grant as the artist’s mother Julia; Edward Hermann as her trust fund banker James Townsend; Illeana Douglas as Diana Vreeland; and Don Novello as Mort Silvers.

Directed by George Hickenlooper.

Run time: 1 hour, 40 minutes

This film is not rated by the Motion Picture Association of America.

My personal rating: B

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (2008)

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” I thought about my fat uncle Lenny and the job he’d strong-armed for me that would start in the fall. Which meant I had exactly three months left to live.”
After graduating cum laude with a degree in economics, Art Bechstein (Jon Foster) just wanted a mindless summer job before starting into a career as a stockbroker – what his gangster father (Nick Nolte) wants him to be. Being a clerk at Book Barn gives him that opportunity. It also affords him the opportunity to have frequent sex in the stacks and storage room with his boss, Phlox (Mena Suvari).

One evening Art hooks up with Momo (Omid Abtahi), his first year college roommate. Momo introduces Art to Jane Bellwether (Sienna Miller) and soon meets her enigmatic – well downright weird – boyfriend Cleveland (Peter Sarsgaard). Jane and Cleveland show Art the Pittsburgh he didn’t know, and in the process, romance develops and takes Art to places he didn’t know before.

Based on Michael Chabon’s 1988 book. Directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber.

Run time: 1 hour, 35 minutes

Rated R.

My personal rating: B-

Rosenstrasse (2003)

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”I don’t know why religion has suddenly become so important.”
After her husband passes away, Ruth Weinstein (Jutte Lampe) begins to act strangely. Her daughter Hannah (Maria Schrader) feels this being caused by Ruth’s grief, but in reality, suppressed thoughts from World War II are surfacing and Ruth is haunted with the memories.

A mysterious woman, about Ruth’s age shows up as the family sits shiva in Ruth’s NYC apartment. This is her cousin Rachael (Carola Regnier) who urges Ruth to break the silence she has held for so many years.

After Ruth had been rescued from the holocaust as a child, she’d come alone to the United States to be raised by Rachael’s family. She’d fallen into silence about the incidents that most affected her life and now drove her to become a devout Jew.

Hannah journeys to Berlin to find 90-year-old Lena Fischer (Doris Schade) who had taken in eight-year-old Ruth (Svea Lohde). As a young Aryan woman, Lena (Katja Tiemann) stood watch at the synagogue on Rosenstrasse hoping for the release of her Jewish husband Fabian (Martin Feifel) and other Jewish spouses of Aryans who were being held by the Nazis in the temple. Young Ruth’s mother was also being detained there.

Directed by Margarethe von Trotta.

Mostly subtitled.

Run time: 2 hours, 16 minutes

Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material, some violence, and brief drug content.

My personal rating: B+

I Love You, Man (2009)

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Man Hunting
Real estate agent Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd) has always had females as friends so with his approaching marriage to Zooey Rice (Rashida Jones) he needs to figure out who to ask to be his best man and groomsmen.

Zooey’s best friends – Hailey (Sarah Burns) and Denise (Jaime Pressly) – are lined up quickly, but Peter really has a major task facing him. All his efforts to make man friends comes across as gay hustling and Peter’s leaving the wrong impression all over LA.

Also appearing are Jane Curtin and J.K. Simmons as Peter’s parents; Andy Samberg as Peter’s gay brother Robbie; Jon Favreau as Barry, Denise’s boyfriend; Rob Huebel as Peter’s sleazy coworker, Tevin Downey; Mather Zickel as Gil and Aziz Ansari as Eugene, guys from Peter’s fencing class; Thomas Lennon as Doug; Jason Segel as the straight Sydney Fife. Lou Ferrigno also appears as himself.

Directed by John Hamburg.

Run time: 1 hour, 44 minutes

Rated R.

My personal rating: C, that’s C for CRUDE, D for DUMB, F for FOUL!

The Big White (2005)

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Spinning a Web
Paul Barnell (Robin Williams) has a big problem in this dark comedy. He’s in debt up to his ears and in jeopardy of losing his home and his travel agency in an isolated Alaskan town. His wife Maggie (Holly Hunter) isn’t stable. She blames it on adult onset Tourrette’s Syndrome but their HMO says that’s not the case, nor does she have any of assorted other alphabet soup diagnoses. The Barnell’s medical bills are sky high as Paul and Maggie try to find the cause of her bizarre behavior and depression.

Barnell’s brother Raymond (Woody Harrelson) had disappeared five years before and Paul wants to collect on Raymond’s life insurance policy. But Ted Waters (Giovanni Ribisi), insurance investigator, holds firm to the accepted practice of waiting for seven years to pay off a policy when a person has disappeared.

In the meantime, two thugs, Gary (Tim Blake Nelson) and Jimbo (W. Earl Brown), have temporarily disposed of a man’s body in the dumpster behind Paul’s office. When Paul finds the body, he hatches a plan. Paul disposes of the body in a place where it will be found but assures that the body will be mutilated by wild animals so identification will be difficult.

Waters is very suspicious and sets about to disprove the death of Raymond Barnell.

Also appearing are William Merasty as Cam, Water’s co-worker; Alison Lohman as Water’s psychic girlfriend Tiffany; Ralph Adamson as Water’s boss Mr. Branch.

Directed by Mark Mylod.

Run time: 1 hour, 45 minutes

Rated R.

My personal rating: B-

Things To Do (2008)

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”Is this what you expected life to be like?”
Twenty-something Adam Stevenson (Mike Stasko) takes the bus to move back with his parents, Bert (Pat McManus) and Diane (JoAnn Nordstrom), in his small hometown. He’s been living in the big city and his folks aren’t really keen on having him back.

He hooks up with an odd old classmate, Mac (Daniel Wilson), who’s never really grown up. While watching television, Adam watches a talk show host challenge viewers to “make a to-do list because you have to be organized to reach total happiness. See, the list is a pathway and each step, a stepping stone on that pathway to reach that ultimate goal.”

Adam begins his list of things he always wanted to do and he and Mac embark on the adventure of fulfilling them. Things like skydiving, blowing up old report cards, be in a band, learn the world capitals, be in a movie, build a soapbox derby car, and more. Along the way they encounter Donovan “The D Man” (Santo D’Asaro), Adam’s arch-nemesis from high school.

Also appearing is Amy Ballantyne as Julie Bartly, the unfulfilled love of Adam’s life.

Dorkiness personified but this quirky indie shows how facing missed opportunities can lead to having the courage to do what you really want to do.

Written by Mike Stasko and Theodore Bezaire, who also directed.

Run time: 1 hour, 25 minute

Rated NR.

My personal rating: B

11:14 (2005)

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Intense
Buzzy (Hilary Swank), Mark (Colin Hanks), Cheri (Rachael Leigh Cook), Jack (Henry Thomas), and Eddie (Ben Foster) are connected in most unusual ways. At precisely at 11:14 p.m. their lives intersect in explosive ways.

You could say that they’re just dying to run into each other.

Also appearing are Barbara Hershey, Shawn Hatosy, Clark Gregg, Patrick Swayze, and Jason Segel.

Music by The Ramones, Jesse Jaymes, Dramarama, Endo, The Extreme, Stargunn, Bodie in Motion, Angry Johnny and the Killbillies, and Bree Sharp. Haunting themes by Clint Mansell.

I swear, Henry Thomas must be Dorian Gray’s son.

Written and directed by Greg Marcks – who looks all of teenager himself.

Run time: 1 hour, 28 minutes

Rated R for violence, sexuality, and pervasive language. This one’s pretty gross, folks! And some pretty perverse humor, too.

My personal rating: B+

Hush (1998)

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”Still love me?”
“I’ll love you, dear – I’ll love you till China and Africa meet…”
“And the river jumps over the mountain…”
“And the salmon sing in the streets.”
Jackson (Johnathon Schaech) brings his girlfriend Helen (Gwyneth Paltrow) home to Kilronan, the family’s Thoroughbred racing ranch in Virginia, to meet his mother, the sarcastic passive-aggressive, Martha (Jessica Lange). It’s clear that Martha feels no other woman is a good match for her baby boy.

Shortly after their return to their NYC loft, Helen realizes she’s pregnant. A luscious wedding follows at the ranch and the couple returns to NYC. When Helen is attacked in her own apartment, they decide the city just isn’t safe. They move to the ranch, but once there, Helen realizes that NYC is a safe haven compared to trying to live with Martha dominating her life.

Also appearing are Nina Foch as Jackson’s paternal grandmother who loathes the conniving Martha; and Hal Holbrook as the kindly Dr. Hill.

Gorgeous horses – and the ranch I’ll own when I win the lottery!
And why have I never seen this Johnathon Schaech before? Mighty easy on the eyes! I’m going to have to look for his other films.

Directed by Jonathan Darby.

Run time: 1 hour, 36 minutes

Rated PG-13.

My personal rating: B

Incendiary (2008)

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Rebuilding a Life
A young mother (Michelle Williams) had a tough life with an alcoholic mother and a rough go all the way around. The only reason she married Lenny (Nicholas Gleaves), a member of the London bomb disposal squad, was because she was pregnant. While she tolerated Lenny, she adored her four-year-old son (Sidney Johnston), but that didn’t keep her from having affairs with men she’d just met.

She met newspaper reporter Jasper Black (Ewan McGregor) and fell into bed with him when Lenny had taken their son to a big football (soccer) match. Unfortunately, a gang of terrorists hit the football stadium hard that day and more than a thousand people were killed – including her son and Lenny.

Stunned and depressed, she struggled to come to terms with their deaths. She also turned to the sexual comfort of both Jasper Black and Lenny’s boss, Terrence Butcher (Matthew Macfadyen). Jasper is upset with her dalliance with Terrence and in true reporter form, he investigates to find out Terrence’s place in the entire terrorist plot.

In the mean time, she becomes involved and cares for the innocent 12-year-old son (Usman Khokhar) of one of the six suicidal terrorists.
A complex story.

Written and directed by Sharon Maguire.

Run time: 1 hour, 36 minutes

Rated R for nudity, scenes of sexuality, and adult themes.

My personal rating: B

10th & Wolf (2006)

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Based on a true story

”We all grow up looking for somebody to believe in. For me, it was my father. He was my hero. The day after my twelfth birthday, I found out my father killed people for a living.”
An FBI agent (Brian Dennehy) offers Tommy (James Marsden) an out from the Army where he may face court martial if Tommy will return home to Philadelphia and help take down the mob boss who was responsible for Tommy fleeing to the Army in the first place. If he took the offer, he’d also be saving the necks of his brother Vincent (Brad Renfro) and cousin Joey (Giovanni Ribisi).

Also appearing are Leslie Ann Warren, Val Kilmer, Dennis Hopper, Leo Rossi.

Directed by Robert Moresco.

Run time: 1 hour, 54 minutes

Rated R for strong brutal violence, pervasive language, some drug content and sexuality/nudity.

My personal rating: C+

The Edge of Love (2008)

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”He dropped where he loved on the burst pavement."
When Welsh poet Dylan Thomas (Matthew Rhys) runs into his first love, Vera Phillips (Kiera Knightly), in London, his playful passion is aroused. Despite their rivalry for Thomas, his wife Caitlin (Sienna Miller) and Vera soon become fast friends. When Vera marries William Killick (Cillian Murphy) things grow even more complicated.

Stunning cinematography often in sepia tones with occasional bright splashes of color. Wonderful music reminscent of the era.

Directed by John Maybury.

Run time: 1 hour, 51 minutes

Rated R.

My personal rating: B+

Garbo Speaks (1984)

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Catch a Star
Estelle Rolfe (Anne Bancroft) is a strong woman who stands up for her principles – even if it means not crossing a picket line to attend her son’s wedding. Her son Gilbert (Ron Silver) has had his annoyances with her but when she is diagnosed with a terminal illness, he sacrifices all to fulfill his mother’s one wish – to meet the elusive Greta Garbo.

Also appearing are Steven Hill as Estelle’s ex-husband; Carrie Fisher as Gilbert’s wife; Catherine Hicks as Gilbert’s coworker who is trying to become an actress; and Betty Comden as Garbo.

Appearing in cameo roles are Hermione Gingold, George Plimpton, Harvey Fierstein, Howard Da Silva, Dorothy Lamour, and Adolph Greene.

Directed by Sidney Lumet.

Run time: 1 hour, 43minutes

Rated PG-13.

My personal rating: B

Obsessed (2009)

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”Whose legs are those?”
“I think she’s the new temp.”
”I think you mean temptress.”
Derek Charles (Idris Elba) has it all. The handsome young man is the executive vice president of a prestigious brokerage house. His gorgeous wife Sharon (Beyoncé Knowles) adores him. They have a precious baby boy. They have just moved into a stunning new house. And he has a new temp secretary, Lisa (Ali Larter), who is hot to trot with him and spares nothing to fulfill her obsession.

Christine Lahti appears as the investigating detective and Jerry O’Connell plays Derek’s co-worker.

Some pretty terrific music including songs by Norah Jones and Wyclef Jean, Crudo, Estelle, Wild Cherry, Tone-Loc, Ruben Studdard and Tamyra Gray, With the Quickness, Draque Bozung, and Patch. The theme song, “Smash Into You” sung by Beyoncé, will probably garner an Oscar nomination.

Directed by Steve Shill.

Run time: 1 hour, 48 minutes

Rated PG-13 for sexual material including some suggestive dialogue, some violence and thematic content. I have a real issue with this rating. The violence is vicious and graphic, and the thematic content is too mature and disturbing to most young teens. Certainly if two terrific films like The Hammer and 10 Items or Less got R ratings solely on the basis of one or two appropriate F-bombs, this film should also carry an R rating.

My personal rating: B

The Ice Storm (1997)

.”…a family is like your own personal anti-matter. Your family is the void you emerge from and the place where you return to when you die. And that’s the paradox. The closer you’re drawn back in, the deeper into the void you go.”
Over the Thanksgiving weekend in 1973, a Connecticut family slides into moral deterioration.

Benjamin Hood (Kevin Kline) drowns his troubles at work with too much booze and an affair with a family friend, Janey (Sigourney Weaver). His wife Elena (Joan Allen), sick of his lies and affair, pumps herself full of pop self-help books but her own moral code is tested when the couple attends a “key party” with many of their friends.

Their son Paul (Tobey Maguire) is home from his high school prep boarding school but goes back into NYC to pursue a teenage girl (Katie Holmes). Their younger daughter Wendy (Christina Ricci) is experimenting with liquor and teasing Janey’s teenage son Mike (Elijah Woods) while recklessly pursuing Mike’s little brother Sandy (Adam Hann-Byrd).

I question why the couple would go out in the middle of a pretty intense ice storm to a party and tell Paul to take a cab home from the train station late at night because the roads will be dangerous with the ice. But that’s the way the story went.

When a terrible tragedy hits, the family is jolted into reality and struggle to figure out what’s really important in life.

Jamey Sheridan appears as Janey’s husband. Henry Czerny also appears.

Directed by Ang Lee.

Run time: 1 hour, 52 minutes

Rated R for sexuality and drug use, including scenes involving children, and for language.

My personal rating: C

Merchant of Venice (2004)

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A classic and sumptuous telling of Shakespeare’s play set in Venice in 1596.

Starring Al Pacino as Shylock, Jeremy Irons as Antonio, Joseph Fiennes as Bassanio, Lynn Collins as Portia, Zuleikha Robinson as Jessica, Heather Goldenhersh as Nerissa, Kriss Marshall as Gratiano, Charlie Cox as Lorenzo, Mackenzie Crook as Lancelot Gobbo, David Harewood as the Prince of Morocco, and Norbert Konne as Dr. Bellario.

Directed by Michael Radford.

Run time: 2 hour, 11 minutes

Rated R for brief nudity.

My personal rating: A

The Soloist (2008)

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Based on a true story
”I don’t know how God works.”
Everyone has a story. As a columnist at the LA Times, Steve Lopez (Robert Downey, Jr.) quests for those stories to share with his readers. When he met Nathaniel Ayers (Jamie Foxx) on the streets of LA, he knew he might have a story. What Lopez didn’t know what that he’d soon have a good friend – and an amazing education.

Ayers, a mentally ill homeless man, lived out of his grocery cart full of only possessions. He was playing a stunning classical piece on his violin when Lopez heard and approached him. The violin only had two functional strings and yet Ayers made beautiful music with it.

Lopez pieced together Ayers’ story and found that he had attended Julliard for two years. The cello had been his first instrument but he lost his when he began living on the streets so he taught himself how to play the violin.
When Ayers played, he heard the applauding of the pigeons' wings urging him on. Nathaniel’s rambling dialogues and gibberish are splashed with sheer poetry at times. “Suspended between boy genius and lost travel,” as Lopez wrote.

Lopez’ column grew to several columns about Ayers and the newspaper readers responded. The columns opened the eyes of many ordinary people to the plight of the homeless and caused a wave of volunteerism and activism in getting LA’s skid row cleaned up, helping these people get the assistance they need.

A moving film that can’t help but affect people. Many, many homeless in LA were hired as extras in this film.

Also appearing are Catherine Keener as Mary Weston, Lopez’ ex-wife and his editor; and Lisagay Hamilton as Ayers’ sister Jennifer.

Directed by Joe Wright.

Run time: 1 hour, 49 minutes

Rated PG-13.

My personal rating: A

Shattered Glass (2003)

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Based on true incidents
”Did I do something wrong?”
Stephen Glass (Hayden Christensen), a hot young journalist, had amazing articles appear in The New Republic, Rolling Stone, Harper’s, George, and other prestigious publications. In his mid-twenties Glass was making over $100K a year.

His articles generated lots of attention and praise. But Glass was cunning. He wrote one lie after another after another. He fabricated notes, meetings, sources, interviews, and knew how to get his articles approved by the fact checkers.

The web of lies was split apart, card by card, by Adam Penenberg (Steve Zahn), a tech reporter for forbes.com.

Others appearing include Hank Azaria as Michael Kelly, Glass’ first editor at TNR; Peter Sarsgaard as Chuck Lane, a TNR reporter who took Kelly’s place; Chloe Sevigny as Caitlin Avey a fellow TNR reporter and as close to Glass’ girlfriend as he’d allow; Melanie Lynskey as Amy Brand, another TNR reporter; Rosario Dawson as Andy Fox, a reporter for forbes.com; and Ted Kotcheff as the senior editor at TNR.

Written and directed by Billy Ray.

Run time: 1 hour, 39 minutes

Rated PG-13.

My personal rating: B+

Fragments (2008)

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”We trust in whee things belong. Everything has a place. And believing in that makes us innocent. And through the days under the same sky, we hope, dream, and laugh.”
It was just an ordinary day in dinner. And then a shooter entered, shot several people dead, wounded others, and took his own life. Somehow the words “You are lucky – some kind of lucky” is of little solice to the survivors, those who witnessed the carnage.

The after effects, post traumatic stress, guilt, despair, loneliness, and faith take hold of the witnesses in different ways until each finds their own epiphany in the aftermath.

The masterful cast includes Forest Whitaker, Kate Beckinsale, Guy Pearce, Dakota Fanning, Jeanne Tripplethorn, Jennifer Hudson, Embeth Davidtz, Troy Garity, Josh Hutcherson, Jackie Earle Haley, Robin Weigert, Tim Guinee, James Legros.

Directed by Rowan Woods.

Run time: 1 hour, 36 minutes

Rated R for violent content, sexuality and language.

My personal rating: B

Rest in Peace - July 2009

Jul-19-2009
Frank McCourt, 78, Irish-American author (Angela's Ashes, which was made into a film), melanoma.

Jul-18-2009
Jill Balcon, 84, British stage and film actress (Nicholas Nickleby), mother of actor Daniel Day-Lewis and documentary filmmaker/television chef Tamasin Day-Lewis.

Jul-13-2009
Beverly Roberts, 96, American actress (China Clipper, The Singing Kid, Two Against the World), natural causes.

Jul-01-2009
Karl Malden, 97, American stage, film (A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront, One-Eyed Jacks, How the West Was Won, Patton, Birdman of Alcatraz) and television (The Streets of San Francisco), Academy Award winner (1952), natural causes.

My July 2009 Viewings

Recommended DVDs are marked with *. Most titles link to reviews.

* The Score 07/31/09 (B)
Two Lovers 07/30/09 (B-)
* Off the Map 07/29/09 (A-)
* Breaking and Entering 07/28/09 (B)
Afterglow 07/27/09 (D)
A Cool, Dry Season 07/26/09 (C+)
* The Quiet American 07/25/09 (B)
* The King 07/24/09 (B)
* Spring Forward 07/23/09 (B+)
Dark Streets 07/22/09 (B-)
* Down in the Valley 07/21/09 (B)
* The Last Time 07/20/09 (B)
* Ramen Girl 07/19/09 (B)
* Romance & Cigarettes 07/18/09 (B)
* The Boy in the Striped Pajamas 07/17/09 (A)
The Event 07/16/09 (B-)
* The Painted Veil 07/15/09 (B+)
* Jeeves & Wooster: 1:1 07/14/09 (B)
* Confidence 07/13/09 (B)
* Paper 07/12/09 (B)
* The Unsaid 07/11/09 (B)
Indiscretion of an American Wife 07/10/09 (B-)
Five Corners 07/09/09 (B-)
8 Women 07/08/09 (B-)
* Boys on the Side 07/07/09 (B)
* Phoebe in Wonderland 07/06/09 (B+)
Civic Duty 07/05/09 (B-)
* The Pink Panther 2 07/04/09 (B)
The Limey 07/03/09 (B=)
Introducing the Dwights 07/02/09 (C)
Laws of Attraction 07/01/09 (C+)

The Score (2001)

.”When was it you started thinking you were better than me?”
Nick (Robert De Niro) is a safecracker who is ready to retire from the racket and focus on his jazz nightclub. Max (Marlon Brando) is the flamboyant fence. Jackie (Ed Norton) is the incredibly talented but volatile young thief. The plan is to break into a safe that’s thought to be ultimately secure in the Montreal customs house and make off with a $30M gold and bejeweled scepter.

This score can make them – or break them.

Also appearing are Angela Bassett at Nick’s girlfriend Diane; Gary Farmer as Nick’s personal thug: Jamie Harold as Steve, the uber-geeky hacker Nick uses to break security codes; Paul Soles as Danny, the janitor.

Directed by Frank Oz.

Run time: 2 hour, 3 minutes

Rated R.

My personal rating: B

Two Lovers (2008)

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Making a Choice
Leonard Kraditor (Joaquin Phoenix) is bipolar. He lives with his parents Ruth (Isabella Rossellini) and Reuben (Moni Moshonov) in Brooklyn and works in their dry cleaning store. Since his engagement fell apart, Leonard finds himself trying to balance relationships with his self-destructive neighbor Michelle Cohen (Gwyneth Paltrow) and Sandra (Vinessa Shaw), the daughter of his father’s business associate.

While Sandra really loves Leonard, Michelle is really deeply in love with an older married man, Ronald (Elias Koteas) and wants Leonard just as a friend to pick up the pieces. Of course, it’s Michelle who Leonard is obsessed with.

Also appearing are Bob Ari as Michael Cohen and Julie Budd as Carol Cohen, Sandra parents.

Co-written and directed by James Gray.

Run time: 1 hour, 48 minute

Rated R.

My personal rating: B-

Off the Map (2003)

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It was inescapable, my father’s depression…like some fumigator’s mist filling our lungs. It seemed to be the focal point of our lives that summer. The geological center around which everything was defined.”
Twelve-year-old Bo Groden (Valentina De Angelis) longs for the life of a “normal” family with “a lawn and in-built sprinkler system.” Where she can be a Girl Scout, and have a phone. Instead, her father Charley (Sam Elliott) and mother Arlene (Joan Allen) live with Bo far off the road in the high mesa of northern New Mexico. They are 1970s refugees from the chaos of the city and live a very self-sufficient life by hunting and growing their own food, and scouring the dump and bartering for what they need or want. Bo is homeschooled but longs to go to school with other children.

But this story is about the summer Charley suffers a near catatonic depression. Arlene asks their friend George (J.K. Simmons) to go to a psychiatrist and pretend to be depressed in order to get medication for Charley.

In the midst of this, William Gibbs (Jim True-Frost), an IRS agent arrives to audit the family for tax evasion. Shortly upon arriving, William falls into fever that lasts for days and causes him to be delusional or sleep. Once he comes to his senses, the mysterious and tragic William turns to painting and never leaves the Groden farmstead.

Amy Brenneman also appears as the adult Bo reflecting on this difficult summer.

And I have to say, the stunning New Mexican landscape is just as much a character as any of the humans. The cinematography is often just breathtaking.

An exceptionally artistic, articulate and literate film with lines that remains memorable to me:

”…there is a hole in the day without you.”

“It has struck me to view the ocean as the past, the sky as the future, and the present as that thin, precarious line where both meet. Precarious because as we stand there, it curves underfoot, ever-changing.”

“Your life is yours.”

Directed by Scott Campbell.

Run time: 1 hour, 50 minutes

Rated PG-13.

My personal rating: A-

Breaking and Entering (2007)

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Lie. Cheat. Steal. Love.
Driven and successful architect Will Francis (Jude Law) must face his priorities and re-evaluate his life after his new London office is burglarized not once but twice by a team of Bosnian Muslim punks.

His wife Liv (Robin Wright Penn) is annoyed with his obsession with work while she seems to cope alone with their 13-year-old daughter Bea (Poppy Rogers) who is obsessed with gymnastics, hardly eats or sleeps, and is possibly autistic.

Meanwhile, Amira (Juliette Binoche), the widowed refugee mother of Mirsad (Eafi Gayron), one of the young thieves, is trying to get the boy to go back to school and stop his involved with the gang run Mirsad’s father’s brother.

Also appearing are Martin Freeman as Will’s business partner Sandy; Caroline Chikezie as Erika, a cleaning woman at their office; Ray Winstone as Bruno, an investigator on the case; and Juliet Stevenson as Bea’s psychotherapist Rosemary.

Written and directed by Anthony Minghella.

Run time: 1 hour, 59 minutes

Rated R.

My personal rating: B

Afterglow (1997)

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Three little words: Lame, lamer, lamest.
Lucky “Fix It” Mann (Nick Nolte), a self-employed handyman in Montreal, and his wife Phyllis (Julie Christie), a former grade B movie star, walk through what might be called a marriage. She’s obviously depressed and in a continual state of lamenting the estrangement from their only child, an adult woman. Lucky just shrugs and encourages Phyllis to forget the girl and he even denies that he has any offspring when talking to others.

Marianne (Laura Flynn Boyle) has hired Lucky to do some work in the posh 3,500 square foot penthouse she shares with her uptight, career-driven, neglectful husband, Jeffrey Byron III (Jonny Lee Miller). She wants a baby. He doesn’t.

Marianne is ovulating and horny as hell but Jeffrey, the cold fish, rejects her even though she looks alluring in her new sexy negligee. So Marianne falls into Lucky’s pants –- and Lucky doesn’t seem to mind at all.

While Lucky and Marianne arebscrewing around Phyllis is drinking at a restaurant when Jeffrey suddenly appears, allegedly to spy on his own wife who is nowhere around so he makes the moves on Phyllis.
Smarmy is as smarmy does. How Julie Christie managed to garner an Oscar nomination for this is beyond me?

With lines like: “I’m Jeffrey Byron III. There will not be a fourth. We Byrons quit when we get it right,” this is just flat out a film that bores me to death with its contrivances and annoys the heck out of me when I think about the waste of a sometimes stylish Mark Isham musical score. And dang it all, even Tom Waits singing “Somewhere” at the end can’t save this dog.

Other hideous lines are: “I like the sound of wet tires. Reminds me of the movies.” And “Come with me this weekend. Moonlight on the lake. Four stars on the menu. Someone like you deserves at least that.” And then there’s Nick Nolte laying in a bubble bath drinking Geritol out of the bottle. Not a pretty sight. There are also too many unseen barking dogs and neighing horses which proves what?
I guess I just didn’t get it.

Produced by Robert Altman and directed by Alan Rudolph.

Run time: 1 hour, 54 minutes

Rated R.

My personal rating: D

A Cool, Dry Place (1998)

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"I was thinking about the time, God, I don't even think Calvin was 6-months-old, when we were down at the lake. And it started to rain, and you put him in the ice chest, you covered him - you covered him with a blanket. And that's the way I always think of him when I think of him with you. Y'know, being safe and protected in a cool, dry place."
Russell Durrell (Vince Vaughn) moved from Chicago to Kansas when his ex-wife Kate (Monica Potter) abandoned him and their young son. Now, when little Calvin (Bobby Moat) is five years old, she comes waltzing back into their lives and tries to assert herself.

Russell, a lawyer who also coaches a high school basketball team, has built a life for himself and his son and doesn't need Kate to come in to mess it up. Besides, Russell is getting into a serious relationship with Beth Ward (Joey Lauren Adams) and is also contemplating a job opportunity in Texas.

Directed by John N. Smith.

Run time: 1 hour, 37 minutes

Rated PG-13 for sexuality and brief strong language.

My personal rating: C+

The Quiet American (2002)

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”And there was Alden Pyle. A face with no history, no problems. The face we all had once.”
American Alden Pyle (Brendan Frasier), a specialist in eye diseases with the Economic Aid Mission, is in Saigon during the French Indochina War in 1952. He meets London Times reporter Thomas Fowler (Michael Caine), who teaches Pyle about Vietnam’s battle for independence, Pyle swiftly falls in love with Fowler’s young lover Phuong (Do Thi Hai Yen). Phoung’s sister Hinh (Tzi Ma) favors Phoung’s relationship with the much younger Pyle, especially since Fowler is already married.

When Fowler heads to the battle zones in the north, Pyle follows to treat eye diseases in the villages. When they find the slaughter of an entire village, they know the French didn’t do this as it’s not in their best interest and realize some other faction is at work in the war torn country. Fowler realizes that Pyle is actually doing intelligence work.

As the war intensifies and Pyle’s involvement in the war on behalf of the US increases, both men are determined to win Phuong.

Based on a novel by Graham Greene. Directed by Phillip Noyce. Produced by Sydney Pollack.

The DVD bonus material provides an excellent timeline of Vietnam’s struggles beginning with the United State’s involvement supporting Vietnam as early as the early 1940s to the final withdrawal of American forces from North Vietnam in 1975. In all, more than 58,000 Americans died in Vietnam while 1.5 million Vietnamese lost their lives.

Run time: 1 hour, 41 minutes

Rated R.

My personal rating: B

The King (2005)

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The Desperate Need for Family
When 21-year-old Elvis (Gael Garcia Bernal, who bears a striking resemblance to a young Martin Landau) is discharged from the Navy, he goes in search of his father who abandoned Elvis before Elvis even knew him. He finds his father, David Sandow (William Hurt), a church pastor in San Antonio who lives with his wife Twyla (Laura Harring) and their two teenagers, Malerie (Pell James) and Paul (Paul Dano).

Despite his father’s rebuffs, Elvis is determined to find a place in this family – even if it takes drastic and bizarre measures.

Written and directed by James Marsh.

Run time: 1 hour, 45 minutes

Rated R for strong sexual activity involving a teen, violence, and language.

My personal rating: B

Spring Forward (1999)

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"Every day you open a new book. That way, it doesn't matter how old you are because you're always starting on page one."
On the first day on a new job ex-convict Paul (Liev Schreiber) is paired with Murph (Ned Beatty), a grizzled fellow nearing retirement from the county parks department in small town Connecticut. They have little in common but over the course of a year, they share confidences and draw close.

A touching story of new beginnings and closure.

Also appearing are Peri Gilpin, Scott Campbell and Ian Hall.

Written and directed by Tom Gilroy.

Run time: 1 hour, 52 minutes

Rated R for profanity.

My personal rating: B+