My July 2008 Viewings

Includes my personal ratings.
Recommended DVDs in bold.
Underlined titles are direct links to reviews

The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn 07/30/08 (B-)
The Grand 07/29/08 (B)
The Band's Visit 07/28/08 (B)
Monk 6:2 07/27/08 (B)
Monarch of the Glen 6:2 07/26/08 (B)
Sliding Doors 07/25/08 (B-)
A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints 07/24/08 (B)
Spitfire Grill 07/23/08 (B)
Off the Black 07/22/08 (C+)
The Darjeeling Limited 07/21/08 (B-)
Monarch of the Glen 6:1 07/19/08 (B)
Skipped Parts 07/18/08 (C+)
Telling Lies in America 07/17/08 (B)
Checking Out 07/16/08 (B-)
Monk 6:1 07/15/08 (B)
My House in Umbria 07/14/08 (B)
The Monarch of the Glen 5:3 07/12/08 (B)
The Tiger and the Snow 07/11/08 (B+)
Honeydripper 07/10/08 (B)
Sleepwalking 07/09/08 (B-)
The Tracey Fragments 07/08/08 (F)
He Was a Quiet Man 07/07/08 (B)
Love in the Time of Cholera 07/05/08 (B-)
Monarch of the Glen 5:2 07/03/08 (B)
Cousin Bette 07/02/08 (A-)
Slipstream 07/01/08 (B)

The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn (1999)

Noah Dearborn (Sidney Portier) is a simple man living a simple life on the farm where he was born. Everything about him belies his 90-plus years. He's energetic, hard working and keeps to himself with the exception of doing carpentry work for others.

Greedy developer Christian Nelson (George Newbern) wants Dearborn's land and is angry when Dearborn rebuffs his offer for $400K cash. Nelson sets about to have Dearborn declared incompetent so he can seize the land for his project.

Nelson's girlfriend, Dr. Valerie Crane (Mary-Louise Parker) is a psychologist so he calls her to come to Georgia to help get Dearborn committed, but Crane is taken under the spell of this charming Dearborn and sees that he's quite competent -- and determined to keep his land.

Dianne Wiest plays the cafe owner who has always admired -- and even loves -- Dearborn.

This CBS made-for-tv film was directed by Gregg Champion.

Run Time: 1 hour, 27 minutes

Rated PG for some mild language.

My personal rating: B-

The Grand (2007)

.

Poker:
Metaphor for Life

Of all the mockumentaries I've seen (a la Christopher Guest), this is, by far, my favorite! While there was a short outline of what was to happen, the film is basically improv, through and through. And it's easy to see that the big cast had lots of fun with it.

The setting is the Grand Championship of Poker in Las Vegas and the contestants and how they made it to the final table of players. The action at the final table was filmed just exactly as it played out. Now deals were pre-set nor expected and the actors themselves had free reign to fold or bet, and could bet as high as they were able to bid with the chips they had. So basically the end of the film was totally unknown even to the cast and crew until the final hand was played.

Contestants include:

Uber-addict One Eyed Jack Faro (Woody Harrelson), who has borrowed against Lucky's Rabbit's Foot, the casino he inherited from his deceased grandfather and needs to repay the debt or lose the property to billionaire developer Steve Lavisch (Michael McKean)

Lainie Schwartzman (Cheryl Hines), wife and mother of six from Long Island, whose husband Fred Marsh (Ray Romano) stays at home with the children and runs a Yahoo! Fantasy Football League.

Lainie's twin brother, Larry Schwartzman (David Cross) -- siblings who have always been fiercely competitive with each other thanks to the encouragement of their father Seth (Gabe Kaplan), who also shows up at the poker tournament. Larry is a pretty vicious player who works hard to psych out competitors.

The social inept genius Harold Melvin (Chris Parnell) who takes every opportunity to lecture and berate his competitors and his mother (Estelle Harris), who Harold still lives with and who provides him with everything he needs.

The German (Werner Herzog) who feels the need to kill something every day to energize himself -- thus the many cages of hamsters and other small mammals and collection of ants he brings to his hotel room.

The cantankerous Deuce Fairbanks (Dennis Farina) who has been coming to Vegas since the early years and is fairly annoyed with what it's become. He's there for the poker and prostitutes and nothing more.

The Wisconsin school teacher Andy Andrews (Richard Kind), a real rube who earned his chair at the table after he'd won it on online poker when he discovered the game whilst googling for "fireplace pokers." Andy's devoted wife (Judy Greer) accompanies him to Vegas.

Others in the huge cast include:

Jason Alexander, Mike Epps, and Hank Azaria, who compete in the semifinals with an array of real professional poker players including Doyle Brunson, Phil Laak, Mitzi Woodward and others.

Andrea Savage as the billionaire's assistant.

Julie Claire as One Eyed Jack's psychiatrist.

Shannon Elizabeth as one of Jack's 74 former wives.

Directed by Zak Penn, who also cowrote the basic and brief script with Matt Bierman.

Run Time: 1 hour, 44 minutes

Rated R for language and some drug content.

My personal rating: B

The Band's Visit (2007)

Bikur Ha-Tizmoret

This is the sweet and simple story of an Egyptian police ceremonial band that is to play at the opening of the Arab Cultural Center in Petah Tiqva, Israel. Only problem is, they end up in the wrong town -- Beit Hatikva -- a little Israeli town where the Egyptians and Israelis discover that each or just people like them.

The repressed Lieutenant-colonel Tawfiq Zacharya (Sasson Gabai) runs a tight group of eight band members. Despite the goof-up, he maintains dignity and doesn't want to be a burden on the townspeople until they can leave on the next day's bus.

Haled (Saleh Bakri) is a bit of a flirtatious rebel and matchmaker while Simon (Khalifa Natour) is a talented musician who is frustrated that he hasn't completed his concerto yet he loves to play what he's written for others.

Dina (Ronit Elkabetz), the lovely and worldly cafe owner, offers the band food and arranges lodging for the for the evening, with Tawfiq and Haled staying with her. Avrum (Uri Gavriel) takes Simon and two others to his home where his wife is not happy about the situation and his father is fascinated by the band members.

Papi (Shlomi Avraham), a social inept young man who lives in the back room of Dina's cafe, offers floor space to the other band members.

This is really a charming story and, I wish, one that reflected constant reality and acceptence of others around the world.

In some future film, Sasson Gabai needs to play Ben Kingsley's brother!

Written and directed by Eran Kolirin.

While most of the dialogue is in English, the asides in Hebrew and Egyptian are subititled.

Run Time: 1 hour, 27 minutes

Rated PG-13 for brief strong language.

My personal rating: B

Sliding Doors (1998)

.

Two Sides to the Story

When Helen Quilley (Gwyneth Paltrow) gets sacked from her job one morning, she heads back to her London flat where she expects her boyfriend Gerry (John Lynch) is hard at work on his novel.

If she makes the train in time, she'll meet a rather flirtatious stranger, James Hammerton (John Hannah) and she'll get home in a timely manner to discover Gerry been sacked, too -- right there in their own bed by his ex-girlfriend, Lydia (Jeanne Tripplethorn).

But if Helen misses that train, she'll go back up to the street to hail a cab and get mugged. A trip to the hospital means she is delayed long enough to get home after Lydia has left.

In this curious film, Helen lives these two parallel experiences in a series of cuts back and forth.

Zara Turner appears as Helen's friend Anna; Douglas McFerran is Gerry's pal Russell; Paul Brightwell is James' friend Clive; and the venerable Virginia McKenna is James' mother.

Written and directed by Peter Howitt.

Rated R for some sexuality and language.

Run Time: 1 hour, 39 minutes

My personal rating: B-

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006)

.

"I want to remember

who these people were.

And what they meant.

And that they were real."

Dito Montiel lived this life -- growing up on the mean streets of Queens, a teenager in the mid-1980s. He saw his friends brutalized and brutalizing. He saw friends die. He saw friends imprisoned. He experienced the vengence of gangs. He survived. And he escaped. And he wrote a little memoir. With the assistance and urging of the Sundance Insitute, Robert Downey, Jr., Sting, and others, he also went on to put this story on film -- his first directorial experience.

The cast is absolutely outstanding:
Shia LaBeouf as the teenage Montiel, Robert Downey, Jr. as Montiel, the adult.
Chazz Palminteri as his father Monty and Dianne Wiest as his mother Flori.
His friends, Channing Tatum as teenage Antonio, Eric Roberts as the adult Antonio; Adam Scarimbolo as Antonio's brother Guiseppi; Martin Compston as Mike; Peter Tambakis as the teenage Nerf, Scott Campbell as the adult Nerf; Melonie Diaz as Montiel's teenage girlfriend Laurie, Rosario Dawson as the adult Laurie.

The powerful soundtrack contains meaningful work by John Sebastion, Cat Stevens, Elton John and Kiki Dee, Lou Reed, KISS, and others.

Rated R for pervasive language, some violence, sexuality, and drug use.

My personal rating: B

Spitfire Grill (1996)

.

A New Start

When Percy Talbott (Allison Elliott) is released from prison after serving five years for manslaughter, the warden helps her connect with Sheriff Gary Walsh (Gailard Sartain) in the tiny town of Gilead, Maine, and Gary encourages Hannah Ferguson (Ellen Burstyn) to take on Percy at her Spitfire Grill and give her lodging upstairs.

Hannah is hesitant at first as she mostly doesn't want to admit that she's getting old and running the cafe alone is taking a toll on her, but when her nephew Nahum Goddard (Will Patton) becomes very suspicious of Percy and her background, fiesty Hannah digs in her heels and takes on the young woman.

Together they bond in their own way -- each spitfires themselves.

Nahum sends his wife Shelby (Marcia Gay Harden) over to the cafe to help out and keep and eye on Percy, but she, too, forms a bond with Percy and Hannah and enjoys her freedom from her disparaging and demeaning husband.

When Percy realizes that Hannah has been trying to sell the cafe for several years, the three women hatch a plan to run an essay contest to find a new owner. Nahum becomes even more suspicious and is certain that Percy will abscond with the entry fees, leaving Hannah high and dry.

Kieran Mulroney plays Joe Sperling who is immediately smitten with Percy. John M. Jackson is the mysterious and elusive Johnny B. who lives in the woods and finds food left for him by the woodpile by Hannah.

Sam Lloyd Sr. has a tiny role as a cafe regular, Meeshack Boggs; Lloyd is unmistakenly the brother of actor/director Christopher Lloyd!

Written and directed by Lee David Zlotoff.

Run Time: 1 hour, 57 minutes

My personal rating: B

Off the Black (2006)

In the Name of

the Father and Son

Lonely alcoholic Ray Cook (Nick Nolte) is a high school baseball umpire. When he makes a marginal call in an end-of-season game, pitcher Dave Tibbel (Trevor Morgan) Is livid because it cost his team the chance to go to state championships. In anger, Dave and his pals Paul (Johnathan Tchaikovsky) and Todd (Noah Fleiss) trash Cook's yard one night.

Awakened from his stupor by a noise, Cook dashes outside with a gun but is only able to collar the terrified Dave. Rather than calling the cops, Cook tells Dave he can work off the violation by cleaning up the yard and by posing as Cook's son at Cook's upcoming fortieth high school reunion.

Dave agrees and they are lead into a strange nearly father-son relationship -- something they both desperately need as Cook has had no contact with his own son for many years and Dave's father (Timothy Hutton) is a walking zombie since Dave's mother abandoned the family. Dave and his sister Ashley (Sonia Feigelson) are basically left to tend to themselves.

Written and directed by James Ponsoldt.

Run Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Rated R for a crude sexual remark.

My personal rating: C+

The Darjeeling Limited (2007)

"I wonder if the three of us would've been friends in real life."

Brothers Francis (Owen Wilson), Peter (Adrien Brody) and Jack (Jason Schwartzman) have apparently never been really close and haven't even had contact with each other since they missed their father's funeral together a year before.

But after Francis has a near fatal motorcycle accident, he calls his brothers to join him in India for soul-searching, brother-bonding spiritual journey.

The interaction between the brothers is both humorous and poignant as they struggle to reconcile issues from their past. Of course, the fact that they are traveling with thirteen pieces of their father's luggage doesn't go unnoticed -- it's hard to not notice! -- as they come to terms with the baggage they carry in their lives.

The trip through India via train prompts the boys to also go search in Tibet for their mother (Anjelica Huston) who has always given more of herself to others than she can possibly ever give to her sons.

Wallace Wolodarsky appears as Brendan who is facilitating the trip for Francis. Rita, the beautiful Indian train hostess, is played by Amara Karan while the train steward is richly played by Waris Ahluwalia. Irfan Khan as the father of a little boy who the brothers tried to save but failed.

Cameo roles include Natalie Portman as Jack's ex-girlfriend, Bill Murray as a traveling American businessman, and Camilla Rutherford as Peter's pregnant wife
.
The wonderful soundtrack draws from Beethoven, Debussy, The Kinks, Rolling Stones, several Merchant-Ivory films, and several Bollywood films.

Directed by Wes Anderson, who also cowrote the script with
Roman Coppola and Jason Schwartzman.

Rated R for language.

My personal rating: B-

Skipped Parts (2000)

Lydia Callahan's (Jennifer Jason Leigh) daddy (R. Lee Ermey) is planning a run for governor of North Carolina so he's banished Lydia and her 14-year-old illegitimate son Sam (Bug Hall) to Wyoming so they won't be a liability to him.

Sam's only new friend is a girl his age, Maurey Pierce (Mischa Barton), who wants to experiement with sex. Lydia, loose woman that she is, actually encourages them but warns them they must stop when Maurey gets her first period. Of course, pregnancy happens before the period so they family is left to deal with it -- with Lydia's dictatorial father keeping tabs on the situation.

Others in the cast include Brad Renfro as Dothan Talbot, Maurey's boyfriend who harasses Sam; Drew Barrymore as the Fantasy Girl; Peggy Lipton as Maurey's mother; and Michael Greyeyes as Lydia's Native American lover Hank Elkrunner.

Directed by Tamra Davis.

Run Time: 1 hour, 40 minutes

Rated R for sexual situations, some involving young teens, and for language.

My personal rating: C+

Telling Lies in America (1997)

.

1961

Cleveland, Ohio

Payola

Karchy Jonas (Brad Renfrow) and his father Dr. Istvan Jonas (Maximilian Schell) are Hungarian immigrants who are striving to become citizens.

Karchy struggles to be popular at the parochial school overseen by Father Norton (Paul Dooley) and learns how to flirt with an older girl, Diney Majeski (Calista Flockhart), who he works with at a market egg counter owned by the stern Henry (Luke Wilson).

When a new deejay hits the airwaves in Cleveland, Karchy runs his own little campaign to be "elected" to the scheming Billy Magic's (Kevin Bacon) High School Hall of Fame. Though he's lied to win the honor and Billy Magic questions him about it, Karchy is precisely the sort of underage ally Magic needs to collect payola.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers also appears.

Directed by Guy Ferland. Written by Joe Eszterhas.

Run Time: 1 hour, 41 minutes

My personal rating: B

Checking Out (2005)

"Of course he knows how to push our buttons.
He installed them."

As octogentarian and former thespian Morris Applebaum (Peter Falk) approaches his ninetieth birthday, he calls together his estranged children -- Flo (Laura San Giacomo), Ted (David Paymer) and Barry (Judge Reinhold) -- to come to his NYC apartment for a birthday party.

His ulterior motive is to announce that once the party's over, he's ready to "check out" of life. His career is over, he misses his beloved wife, and while sharp of mind and wit, he sees no reason to continue living and perhaps endure future suffering.

This is a dark comedy about family, dysfunction and love, based on a Broadway play by Allen Swift.

Jeffrey Sams appears as the psychologist Dr. Sheldon Henning who is called in to help the family dissuade Morris from his decision. Shera Danese plays Barry's wife Rhonda, and Gavin MacLeod is the doorman.

Directed by Jeff Hare.

Run Time: 1 hour, 34 minutes

Rated PG-13 for language, some sexual material and thematic elements.

My personal rating: C+

My House in Umbria (2003)

An elderly English well-to-do writer, Mrs. Emily Delahunty (Maggie Smith), leaves her lovely home in the Umbrian hills for her monthly shopping trip via train. Her traveling compartments include an American couple and their charming young daughter, a young German man with his girlfriend, and a retired British military officer traveling with his daughter.

A sudden explosion in their compartment leaves four dead and the others with varying degrees of injury. Mrs. Delahunty invites the four to her villa to recuperate as they need to remain in Italy while Inspector Girotti (Giancarlo Giannini) continues the investigation.

The General (Ronnie Barker) has lost his daughter and suffered leg injuries. The young German (Benno Fürmann) lost his girlfriend and suffered severe burns to his arm. The precious child Aimee (Emmy Clarke) while sustaining no injuries to her body, has not not only been left an orphan by the bomb but also has become mute.

They are all released from hospital on the same day and are driven to the villa by Mrs. Delahunty's longtime driver-handyman-bookkeeper-confidante Quinty (Timothy Spall).

In the ensuing days, the survivors bond together and help each other through the difficult challenges and try to understand the reason for what appears to have been a terrorist attack on their train compartment. In time, the Italian officials find Aimee's American uncle (Chris Cooper), a childless and emotionally distant scientist who comes to claim the child.

Directed by Richard Loncraine for HBO-TV.

My personal rating: B

The Tiger and the Snow (2005)

La Tigre e la neve

What would you do for love?

In his inimitable way, Roberto Benigni (writer, director, lead actor) presents yet another humorous view of one of the challenges of life.

Attilio de Giovanni (Benigni), an absent-minded poet in Italy, is completely obsessed with his fantasy woman and dreams (and daydreams) about them being together and getting married. On the days he has his two charming young daughters, they encourage him.

This fantasy woman is, in fact, a friend of Attilio's poet friend Faud (Jean Reno) who has gone to Iraq with that the woman, Vittoria (Nicoletta Braschi, Begnini's real life wife) at the beginning of the American invasion. Attilio feels he must rescue Vittoria and bring her back to Italy.

After much searching, he finds her but she's already been nearly fatally injuried in a bombing. Can he protect her in this unsafe place? Can he get the needed medication and equipment to assure she'll survive?

Suspend your disbelief and just let this story wash over you. It's charming and witty and frenetic a la Begnini.

Wonderful music including appearances of Tom Wait performing his terrific ballad "You Can Never Hold Back Spring."

Run Time: 1 hour, 54 minutes

My personal rating: B+

Honeydripper (2007)

1950
Rural Alabama

and

the Birth of Rock 'n Roll

Tyrone "Pine Top" Purvis (Danny Glover) owns the Honeydripper Lounge, a roadhouse just outside the town of Harmony, and operates it with the help of his best old friend Maceo (Charles S. Dutton). Purvis is dedicated to acoustic blues and his regularly featured singer is the venerable old Bertha Mae Spivey (Dr. Mable John).

But the folks from town and the nearby Army base plus the itinerate cottonpickers don't want that old style music. Instead they flock to the roadhouse across the way where the jukebox rules.

Purvis, in debt to his landlord, the liquor supplier, and the chicken supplier, feels he has one last chance to make his lounge viable again and books the electric guitar player Guitar Sam. Purvis spends the week making arrangements and promoting the gig but when Saturday arrives and Purvis goes to the train station to pick up Guitar Sam, he finds that ol' Sam hasn't been released from prison yet.

Purvis has no choice but to take a big chance on Sonny (Gary Clark, Jr.), a very young man with a homemade electric guitar who has just wandered into town and is quitely flirting with Purvis' beautiful daughter China Doll (YaYa DeCosta).

There are several substories running in this film, too, and all are interesting and well done. And the music is just generally fabulous!

Others who appear in the film include:
Lisa Gay Hamilton as Purvis' wife Delilah; Stacy Keach as Sheriff Pugh; Vondie Curtis-Hall as Miss Bertha Mae's younger companion/lover; Mary Steenbergen the lonely woman who employs Delilah as a domestic; Keb' Mo' as the ethereal Possum; Sean Patrick Thomas as Dex, Eric Abrams as Ham, and Kel Mitchell as Junebug, bickering cottonpickers; and a host of fabulous old blues musicians.

Written and directed by John Sayles.

The DVD's bonus material and director's voice-over are well worth the investment of time, in my opinion.

Rated PG-13 for brief violence and some suggestive material.

My personal rating: B+

Sleepwalking (2008)

.
"You have to face the past before you can let it go."
Joleen (Charlize Theron) loves her 12-year-old daughter Tara (AnnaSophia Robb) and wants to be a good mother, but she doesn't really know how. And she's a wild child still trying to cope with abuse issues from her own childhood.

One day Joleen and Tara show up at the apartment of her brother James (Nick Stahl). James takes them in and tries to help them on his limited income and when Joleen eventually ups and leaves, James is fearful that Tara will be taken away from him, so they hit the road in his old car.

With nowhere else to go, they end up at the farm of James and Joleen's abusive father (Dennis Hopper) and James must decide whether to stay there or spare Tara this tension.

Matthew St. Patrick is the detective who has worried about and tried to help Joleem. Woody Harrelson plays Randall, Joleen's latest boyfriend.

Directed by Bill Maher.

Run Time: 1 hour, 40 minutes

Rated R for language and a scene of violence.

My personal rating: B-

The Tracey Fragments (2007)

Perhaps it's unfair of me to so dislike a film when I didn't see it through the whole 77 minutes to completion, but when technique so drastically overwhelms story, I really have a hard time sticking with it.

At any given time, anywhere from two to 20 scenes are on the screen, sometimes swirling around on the screen. Granted, this fragmentation is one way to show 15-year-old Tracey's (Ellen Page) schizophrenia and angst, but it was too distracting and annoying for me to follow whatever story may have been there.

Directed by Bruce McDonald, Based on a novel by Maureen Medved.

Run Time: 1 hour, 17 minutes

Rated R for strong language throughout, some sexual content and violence.

My personal rating: F

He Was a Quiet Man (2007)

.

"He seemed like a nice man."

Bob Maconel (Christian Slater), a loner who hears his goldfish speak to him, is truly a disgruntled employee in a cubicle office environment. He's taken verbal and psychological abuse from a couple of his coworkers. He's generally just fed up with his life.

One day Bob takes a revolver to work intent on shooting several coworkers, the ones he's grown to despise, and then turn the gun on himself. But he accidently drops a bullet and when he crawls on the floor to find it, all hell breaks out in the office. The worker in the cubicle next to him had the same plan but Bob becomes a hero by shooting the other shooter.

In the frenzy, Bob realizes that Venessa (Elisha Cuthbert), a young woman he likes, was shot and seriously injured. He sets about to help her.

Meanwhile, his boss (William H. Macy) makes Bob VP of Creative Thinking -- complete with an office with window and art and plant.

Bob continues caring for the paralyzed Vanessa but she wonders if life is worth her continued living.

Others in the cast include: Jamison Jones, Sascha Knopf, Cristina Lawson, K.C. Ramsey and David Wells as coworkers and Michael DeLuise as Detective Soresonan.

This dark, dark comedy was written and directed by Frank A. Cappello.

Run Time: 1 hour, 35 minutes

My personal rating: B

Love in the Time of Cholera (2007)

.

How Long Does Love Last?

Young Florentino Ariza (Unax Ugalde) fell deeply in love with Fermina Daza (Giovanna Mezzogiorno), the beautiful daughter of mule trader Lorenzo Daza (John Leguizamo) in Cartagena, Colombia in the mid-nineteenth century.

While still teenagers, the two carry on secret letter writing between them with Florentino pledging his forever and devoted loved. But Fermina's father is not pleased as Florentino is just a common telegraph clerk with no money or place in society -- and this is what Lorenzo wants most for his daughter. Lorenzo orders Fermina to forget about Florentino.

While cholera rages in the city, Fermina becomes ill and her father sends for the most renown cholera specialist in the city -- Dr. Juvenal Urbino (Benjamin Bratt) -- who swiftly falls in love with Fermina. Soon a wedding is held and Florentino (played as an adult by Javier Bardem) continues to pine for his lost love.

He is so miserable, his mother, Tránsito Ariza (Fernanda Montenegro) fears he has cholera. When she finds he doesn't, she sets about matchmaking in hopes of finding a wife for Florentino and helping him forget about his beloved Fermina.

But Florentino loves no one except Fermina, and despite 50-plus years of pining for her and engaging in hundreds of carnal encounters, Florentino cannot heal his broken heart.

Hector Elizondo plays Florentino's uncle, Don Leo, who has financially supported Florentino and his mother since they were deserted by Don Leo's brother before Florentino was born. Liev Schreiber is Florentino's longtime friend and confidant, Lotorio.

Based on the beloved South American novel by Gabriel García Márquez and directed by Mike Newell.

Rated R for sexual content/nudity and brief language.

My personal rating: B

Cousin Bette (1998)

Deception, Treachery and Revenge
Paris, 1846

Mlle Elisabeth "Bette" Fisher (Jessica Lange), a theatre seamstress, made many sacrifices in her life to assure that one female in her family "married well and successfully." When the Baroness Hulet (Geraldine Chaplin) summons Bette to her deathbed, Cousin Bette agrees to take care of the Baroness' family "as they deserve to be taken care of."

Bette assumes she will be married to the dashing Baron Hector Hulot (Hugh Laurie) but discovers instead that he wants her to be the housekeeper and surrogate mother to his nearly adult daughter, Hortense (Kelly Macdonald). Bitter Bette, however, continues with her seamstress work but becomes frequent companion to Hortense and hopes to share in the Baron's wealth.

Bette seeks to prove to Hortense that she is not a lonely spinster by telling Hortense of her young lover, Count Wenceslas Steinbach (Adan Young) who is actually a starving artist who lives in Bette's shabby apartment building in the theatre district. Bette literally saved his life, nourished him, nurtured him, and loaned him money so he could persue his sculpting.

Meanwhile, Bette discovers that the Baron has squandered his wealth on his constant affairs, the most recent of which is with the lovely actress and famed courtesan Jenny Cadine (Elisabeth Shue). Seeking to gain wealth again, the Baron looks to marry off Hortense to a rich man.

In the course of this process, the lustful, middle-aged Cesar Crevel (Bob Hoskins), the wealthiest man in Paris, desperately tries to woo Hortense into marriage -- or at least have her agree to let him see her naked for a very large sum of money. But Hortense doesn't want this leacherous man; she's decided she wants Cousin Bette's young lover instead.

As the years pass leading up to the French Revolution, it's time for Cousin Bette's sweet revenge!

This is an ambitious and truly funny film with a fabulous soundtrack with original music by Simon Boswell and excerpts from Vincenzo Bellini's opera "Adelson e Salvini."

Terrific direction by Des McAnuff. Based on a timeless novel by Honoré de Balzac.

Rated R for sexuality.

My personal rating: A-

Slipstream (2007)

Felix Bonhoeffer (Anthony Hopkins, who also wrote, directed, produced, financed and composed music for this film), an aging screenwriter, is struggling with a murder mystery script when he reaches a point of near implosion as his personal life, past history, interior life, script and film cast and crew all whirl in a vortex in his head..

This is definitely a like-it-or-hate-it film and I have to to admit, I didn't like the first hour that much until I got into the flow -- whatever flow there might possibly have been. And upon viewing a second time, much fell into place for me. Hopkins himself has said that he knows how confusing this film is but he did it for himself and not really for anyone else.

Others in the cast include: Michael Clarke Duncan, Fionnula Flanagan, Christopher Lawford, John Turturro, Christian Slater, Jeffrey Tambor, Camryn Manheim, Lisa Pepper, Kevin McCarthy, William Lucking, S. Epatha Merkerson and Stella Arroyave (Hopkins' real life wife).

Rated R for language and some violent images.

My personal rating: B