Rest in Peace - January 2009

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REST IN PEACE
Jan-14-2009
Ricardo Montalbán, 88, Mexican actor (Fantasy Island, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan), heart failure.

Jan-12-2009
Claude Berri, 74, French Academy Award-winning film director (Jean de Florette, Manon des Sources), stroke.

Jan-03-2009
Pat Hingle, 84, American actor (Splendor in the Grass, Hang 'Em High, Batman), blood cancer.

My January 2009 Viewings

Recommended DVDs marked with *. Underlined titles are links to reviews.

* The Contender 1/31/09 (A)
Snow Angels 1/30/09 (C+)
* The Legend of 1900 1/29/09 (A-)
* Grafters: 1:1 1/28/09 (B)
* Coast to Coast 1/27/09 (B)
* Hudson Hawk 1/26/09 (B)
* Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys 1/25/09 (B+)
* Maldeamores 1/24/09 (B)
* Four Rooms 1/23/09 (B)
* Mikey & Nicky 1/22/09 (B)
Chaos Theory 1/21/09 (B-)
* Shakespeare Retold: Macbeth 1/20/09 (B+)
* Shakespeare Retold: Much Ado About Nothing 1/19/09 (B)
* Burn After Reading 1/18/09 (A-)
Autumn Hearts 1/17/09 (B-)
* Straight Time 1/16/09 (B)
* Ambulance Girl 1/15/09 (B)
* Midnight Run 1/14/09 (B)
* White Palace 1/13/09 (B)
* Towelhead 1/12/09 (B)
* Righteous Kill 1/11/09 (B)
* Iron Man 1/10/09 (B)
* The Other Boleyn Girl 1/09/09 (B)
* Traitor 1/08/09 (B)
Wanted 1/07/09 (B-)
* The Big Tease 1/06/09 (B)
* Snow Falling on Cedars 1/05/09 (B+)
* The Virgin Suicides 1/04/09 (B)
* Unconditional Love 1/03/09 (B)
Sexy Beast 1/02/09 (B-)
* Happy Accidents 1/01/09 (B)

The Contender (2000)

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"...principles only mean something if you stick by them when they're inconvenient."

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When the Vice-President dies, Democratic President Jackson Evans (Jeff Bridges) must appoint a replacement. Approaching the end of his second term, he wants to leave an important legacy and therefore nominates Senator Laine Hanson (Joan Allen), D-OH, a former Republican.

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But Congressman Sheldon "Shelly" Runyon, R-IL, (Gary Oldman), a major Republican opponent of the President, leads a McCarthy-esque witch hunt guised as the Congressional confirmation hearing. Runyon is set to discredit Senator Hanson on the basis of reports of her sexual indiscretion when she was in college. Fact of the matter is, the very conservative and disingenuous Runyon is opposed to all of Senator Hanson's positions on the abortion issue and religion, and his obvious disdain for powerful women. He seeks to humiliate her in whatever way he can.

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Some very interesting twists that made it a real keep-watching political thriller. Interesting, too, in the comparisons to President Clinton's indiscretions, references to Chappaquiddick. and a certain prophetic tone that hit home in terms of the 2008 presidential campaigns, the election of a fresh new attitude in Washington in 2009, and the national embarrassment of the gubernatorial scandal in Illinois.

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Also appearing are Christian Slater as the young senator and rising Democratic star from Delaware, Sam Elliott as a President's Chief of Staff, William Petersen as the Virginia governor who had been the preferred vice-presidential contender but was by-passed by the President, Saul Rubinek as the President's press secretary, Mike Binder as Senator Hanson's legal counsel, Philip Baker Hall as Senator Hanson's father and former Republican Governor of Ohio, Robin Thomas as Senator Hanson's husband and former campaign manager, Mariel Hemingway as Senator Hanson's former college chum and ex-wife of Hanson's current husband, Kathryn Morris as the FBI agent who thoroughly investigates the Virginia governor and Senator Hanson, Noah Fryrear as the Hanson's six-year-old son.

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Jeff Bridges and Kim Carnes sing the opening song -- "Ring of Fire" -- which all just seems so right!

Some of my favorite quotes from the film:

President Jackson Evans: "It pains my soul to tell you that you have brought blood and shame under this great dome. Your leadership has raised the stakes of hate to a new level where we can no longer separate the demagogue from the truly inspired. And believe this, there are traitors among us."

Senator Laine Hanson's closing statement at her confirmation hearing: "...and, Mr. Chairman, I stand for the separation of Church and State, and the reason that I stand for that is the same reason that I believe our forefathers did. It is not there to protect religion from the grasp of government but to protect our government from the grasp of religious fanaticism. Now, I may be an atheist, but that does not mean I do not go to church. I do go to church. The church I go to is the one that emancipated the slaves, that gave women the right to vote, that gave us every freedom that we hold dear. My church is this very Chapel of Democracy that we sit in together, and I do not need God to tell me what are my moral absolutes. I need my heart, my brain, and this church."

Written and directed by Rod Lurie.

Run time: 2 hours, 7 minutes

Rated R for strong sexual content and language.

My personal rating: A

Snow Angels (2007)

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"Each step is an anticipation of the next."

The life of teenager Arthur Parkinson (Michael Angarano) is interwined with the life of his former childhood babysitter, Annie Marchand (Kate Beckinsale), as they work together at a Chinese cafe in a small western Pennsylvania town.

Annie, who is estranged from her fragile husband Glenn (Sam Rockwell), has been having an affair with Nate Petite (Nicky Katt), the husband of her friend and co-worker Barb (Amy Sedaris). When Barb finds out, Annie blames Nate for giving Barb her name. While fighting over this, Glenn arrives at Annie's house, drunk, and angry that Nate is with his wife. Annie tells both of them to go away.

Later, when Annie and Glenn's four-year-old daughter Tara (Gracie Hudson) goes mising, both Glenn and Nate are suspects. Arthur and his classmates participate in the search. All of their lives are forever changed by the outcome.

Also appearing are Jeanetta Arnette and Griffin Dunne as Arthur's recently separated parents, and Olivia Thirlby as Arthur's new girlfriend.

Screenplay and directed by David Gordon Green.

Run time: 1 hour, 50 minutes

Rated R for language, some violent content, brief sexuality and drug use.

My personal rating: C+

The Legend of 1900 (1998)

La Leggenda del pianista sull'oceano

"I think land people waste a lot of time wondering why."

An infant was found laying in a wooden TD Lemons box atop a grand piano on a transatlantic steamer ship, The Virginian, on the morning of January 1, 1990. The coal stoker who found him, Danny Boodman (Bill Nunn), named the baby boy Danny Boodman TD Nineteen Hundred. Hidden away by the hard working engine room workers in the bowels of the ship to prevent the child from being from being taken from them, he is nurtured and educated and grows to be an adult.

As a child (Cory Buck), 1900 crossed the Atlantic back and forth many, many times. He never stepped foot on land because officially, he'd never been born. He had no birth certificate, no visa, no passport, no family, no country.

His infatuation with the piano grew into a passion, as did his talent at playing it. As a young man (Tim Roth), he began playing with the ship's band where he met Max Tooney (Pruitt Taylor Vince), a trumpeter from New Orleans, who is the narrator of 1900's story with a few embellishments.

1900's talent was legend aboard the ship. He wrote all styles of music himself, but was particularly attracted the jazz. He "listened to appearances and actions" of various people he saw on board to create his music. He's challenged to a jazz duel by King of the Blues, Jelly Roll Morton (Clarence Williams III).

He never left the ship, though once he tried. He'd fallen in love with a beautiful immigrant (Mélanie Thierry) who invited him to visit her on Mott Street in NYC. After several more crossings and with her always on his mind, he determines to go ashore on the next NYC landing, but despite his overwhelming desire, fear overwhelmed him.

Years later, when Max recounts the story of 1900 to a pawnbroker (Peter Vaughan), he discovers that the Virginian had been used as a hospital ship for many years and now is to be demolished. Max has a terrible fear. Is 1900 still aboard?

An utterly charming and touching story by the director who brought us Cinema Paradiso, Giuseppe Tornatore.

Run time: 2 hours, 1 minute

Rated R for language.

My personal rating: A-

Grafters: 1:1 (TV Series)

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Brothers Joe (Robson Green) and Trevor (Stephen Tompkinson) Purvis, a couple of Newcastle blokes, set up a construction company and win a contract to totally remodel an old, broken house in London.

Trevor, a sweet innocent, has a wife and baby son. He's been pushed into this partnership by his brother due to rough economic times and is eager to return to Newcastle to his family. Joe, a con man, wants to become a big contractor in London. He's slick, manipulative and a playboy. He also has an ex-wife he still loves and a young daughter he seldom sees.

The story mostly revolves around the brothers' work on the big old house and their relationship with the couple (Neil Stuke, Emily Joyce) who own it.

Also appearing are Maurice Roëves as the boys' widowed father Lennie and Darren Morfitt as Simon, their cousin who comes to help with the project.

Not rated by MPAA. Originally aired on BBC-TV beginning in 1998.

My personal rating: B

Coast to Coast (2003)

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"Every time we get together, we kick holes in each other's lives. Why do we do that?"

"Maybe it's the only pleasure we have left ."

Comedy writer Barnaby Pierce (Richard Dreyfuss) and his homemaker wife Maxine (Judy Davis) have a strained marriage. After raising three children and the death of a son, they really seem to have little in common any more.

They've put their home in Maine up for sale and set out in their old Thunderbird heading to California for their son Benjamin's (David Julian Hirsh) wedding. The car is to be a gift to him. But from Maine to California, they have many stops to make.

First it's to Maxine's sister's (Kate Lynch) and her husband (Richard Fitzpatrick) to drop of their dog. There they see the teenaged nephew (Owen Rotharmel) and get a glimpse at his mental illness. Then on to Maxine's college town where she is subcousiously looking for approval for her divorce from her beloved professor Casimir (Maximilian Schell) only to find that he's now divorced his formerly beloved wife and has been married to one of his young graduate students for three years.

From there they head to Chicago to see Barnaby's former writing partner Stanley (Paul Mazursky, who also directed the film) and his second wife. Barnaby talks with Stanley about Stanley's divorce and reasons for them and how is life is now with a younger trophy wife.

Their daughter Stacy (Selma Blair) awaits in Minneapolis where Stacy has strong suspicions about her parents' situation and also springs her own big news.

Onward to Denver to see Hal Kressler (Fred Ward), an old friend of Maxine's. In Beverly Hills, Berry (James Kee), a producer who stiffed Barnaby on a deal years ago.

Along the way, the couple considers why they married in the first place, what they meant to each other, and how they can move on in their lives.

An interesting study in relationships.

Rated R for language including sexual references, and for a scene of sexuality.

Run time: 1 hour, 47 minutes

My personal rating: B

Hudson Hawk (1991)

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"I can't tell you how happy I am that we covered our tracks."

Just prior to his release from Sing Sing after 10 years, cat burglar Hudson Hawk (Bruce Willis, who wrote the story) his parole officer (Burtt Harris) tries to get Hawk to do one more heist -- steal the Leonardo da Vinci Sforza, a machine for creating bronze from lead -- from an auction house. Hawk refuses and blithly walks free determined to be an ordinary honest person.

But he's met at the gate by his old pal Tommy Five-Tone (Danny Aiello) who also wants him to do the heist. All Hawk wants is a cappaccino. But he and Tommy hatch a plan and before long, the Sforza is liberated.

The next day Hawk is forced to steal the da Vinci's codex by the financiers, Darwin and Sandra Mayflower (Richard E. Grant, Sandra Bernhard). He has no choice. He has to do it or Tommy dies. The codex theft leads to one more theft that will complete the information needed to make the Sforza work.

Andie MacDowell, James Coburn, Don Harvey, David Caruso, Lorraine Toussaint, Frank Stallone also appear. William Conrad narrates.

Silly and busy and fast-paced and totally implausible, but fun.

Directored by Michael Lehmann.

Run time: 1 hour, 40 minutes

Rated R for language.

My personal rating: B

Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys (2008)

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"Sometimes you gotta let them go for them to get it."

Wealthy construction company owner Charlotte Cartwright (Kathy Bates) and cafe owner Alice Pratt (Alfre Woodard) -- two strong, luminous Southern matriarchs -- have been friends for 30 years. Charlotte even paid for and hosted the wedding for Alice's daughter Andrea (Sanaa Lathan) to Christopher (Rockmond Dunbar).

When Charlotte's only child, William (Cole Hauser), attends the wedding, it's obvious that Charlotte has a lot of contempt for him and loathes his wife Jillian (KaDee Strickland). William works for the family construction business Charlotte inherited from her first husband, but Charlotte, who owns controlling interest, doesn't promote him even though he's working hard. Instead, she hires the well educated and experienced Abby (Robin Givens) as Chief Operating Officer of the company.

Andrea, a finance major, and her husband Chris, a construction worker, are both given jobs at the company by William. Her brother-in-law Ben (Tyler Perry, who wrote, directed and produced this film) also works construction for Cartwright while his wife Pam (Taraji P. Henson) works with her mother in the cafe.

Greed, infidelity, and unsavory business practices tear each family apart.

Sebastian Siegel also appears in a small but pivotal role.

The closing song, "I Hope You Dance" sung by Gladys Knight, captures the meaningful moral of the tale.

Run time: 1 hour, 49 minutes

Rated PG-13 for thematic material, sexual references and brief violence.

My personal rating: B+

Maldeamores (2007)

Maladies of Love

Set in Puerto Rico, this is a collection of three stories that tell of the irony, complexity, and fragility of love.

On the way to her aunt's funeral with her husband (Luis Guzmán) and son (Fernando Tarrazo), a grief-stricken woman (Teresa Hernández) discovers that her husband has cheated on her with her cousin.

An old man (Miguel Ángel Álvarez) who abandoned his wife 40 years before now comes to live with her (Silvia Brito) despite the fact that she has lived with another man (Chavito Marrero) for many, many years.

A love-struck bus rider (Luis Gonzaga) announces that the bus driver (Dolores Pedro) is to marry him and he holds the passengers hostage with a gun until a priest is brought to the bus by the police to marry them.

Directed by Carlos Ruíz Ruíz and Mariem Pérez Riera.

Subtitles.

Run time: 1 hour, 23 minutes

Rated R for language, some sexual content and a violent situation.

My personal rating: B

Four Rooms (1995)

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"Don't move a nose hair!"

The collaborative effort of four writer/directors, this is the story of several guests and four outrageous requests on New Years Eve in the fading Mon Signor Hotel in Hollywood. In the course of the night, four strange requests are made of Ted the bellhop (Tim Roth).

"The Missing Ingredient"
Written and directed by Allison Anders

Six witches gather in the honeymoon suite and send Ted to get a list of "ingredients." Their are trying to reverse a spell that had been placed on a woman in that room 40 years before. When Ted returns with the ingredients for their potion, he is set up to give them one more important ingredient.

"The Wrong Man"
Written and directed by Alexandre Rockwell

Ted delivers ice to the wrong room and unwittingly becomes involved in a strange argument between a husband and wife.

"The Misbehavers"
Written and directed by Robert Rodriguez

Ted is ordered to supervise the unruly children of a mobster in yet another room. The gangster and his wife are going out to celebrate the New Year.

"The Man from Hollywood"
Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino

In his final escapade of the night, Ted ends up refereeing a horrendous bet.

Others in the cast include: Jennifer Beals, Madonna, Ione Skye, Lili Taylor, Alicia Witt, Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Kathy Griffin, Marisa Tomei, Russell Vossler, Bruce Willis, and many others

Run time: 1 hour, 38 minutes

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

My personal rating: B

Mikey & NIcky (1976)

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What Price Friendship?

Mikey (Peter Falk) and Nicky (John Cassavetes) have been friends from childhood. It's clear that Mikey has been there for Nicky through thick and thin, and Nicky's had a lot of both.

Loud-mouthed and obnoxious Nicky has now called Mikey to rescue him because Nicky is scared, terrified. There's a mob contract out on his life and he has nowhere to turn, nowhere to run.

Can Mikey help Nicky? Or not?

Also appearing are Ned Beatty as the hitman, Carol Grace as Nicky's girlfriend, Joyce Van Patten as Nicky's ex-wife, and M. Emmet Walsh as the bus driver.

Directed by Elaine May.

Run time: 1 hour, 45 minutes

Rated R.

My personal rating: B

Chaos Theory (2007)

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"Don't forget it's chaos out there. We conquer that by taking control, setting priorities. Life cannot be based on whim. Those who fail to control whim are destined to be controlled by it."

Efficiency expert Frank Allen (Ryan Reynolds) lives every moment of his life by the lists and index cards he writes out. When his wife Susan (Emily Mortimer) tries to do a good deed by setting the clock ahead so he'd have a few more minutes before he has to leave for an important lecture, she accidentally sets the clock behind, this making Frank late catching the 8 a.m. ferry he needs to be on.

This sets poor Frank on a disastrous course for the rest of the day and for many days to come as he learns about himself and the value of his family.

Also appearing is Stuart Townsend as Frank's best old pal, Buddy.

Directed by Marcos Siega.

Run time: 1 hour, 27 minutes

Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material, sexual content and language.

My personal rating: B-

Shakespeare Retold: Hamlet (TV Series)

A contemporary adaptation

Joe Macbeth (James McAvoy) is a brilliant young chef who works in a three-star restaurant owned by mega-celebrity chef Duncan Docherty (Vincent Regan). Macbeth's wife, Ella (Keeley Hawes) also works there as maitre d'.

Macbeth and his friend and fellow chef Billy Banquo (Joseph Millson) are angry that Duncan claims credit for Joe's creations and work and that Duncan's son Malcolm (Toby Kobbell), who is destined to own the restaurant some day, is so incompetent.

When three supernatural trashmen (Nick Malinowski, Shaban Arifi, Ben Enwright) predict that Macbeth will someday own the restaurant, Macbeth and his wife hire an hitman to kill Duncan. But beware head waiter Peter Macduff (Richard Armitage)

Originally aired on BBC on Nov-14-2005.

Screenplay by Peter Moffitt. Directed by Mark Brozel.

Run time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.

No MPAA rating.

My personal rating: B+

Shakespeare Retold: Much Ado About Nothing (TV Series)

A contemporary adaptation

"Remind me.

What are we here for again?"

"I have no idea."

Beatrice (Sarah Parish) is a news reader who is very unhappy to see that a former lover, Benedick (Damian Lewis) is returning to the station and will be her co-anchor. The bickering and snipes begin right from the start.

Meanwhile, Hero (Billie Piper), the weathergirl and daughter of the station manager Leonard (Martin Jarvis), is engaged to Claude (Tom Ellis) the sportscaster. Don (Derek RIddell), an effects manager is jealous and connives to break up Hero and Claude.

The station's other staff members conspire to get Beatrice and Benedick back together again.

Aired on BBC on Nov-07-2005.

Screenplay by David Nicholls. Directed by Brian Percival.

Run time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Not MPAA rated.

My personal rating: B

Burn After Reading (2008)

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"You are part of a league of morons. Oh, yes. You see you're one of the morons I've been fighting my whole life."

Oy! Morons is right. Idiots, fools, paranoids, adulterers, vain people, unscrupulous twits, and those with just enough information to be dangerous all cross paths in Washington, D.C., to make one of the zaniest Coen brother films ever.

A CIA employee (John Malkovich) loses his job and his stern pediatrician wife (Tilda Swinton) kicks him out of the house because she no longer needs him as she is having an affair with State Department marshall (George Clooney) whose wife (Elizabeth Marvel) is a children's book writer currently on a book tour.

Meanwhile, a gym worker (Frances McDormand) wants liposuction, lifts, tucks, and augmentations but her insurance won't pay for the surgeries so she recruits a gum-popping co-worker (Brad Pitt) to help her blackmail the former CIA employee when a CD full of information is found in the locker room. Another co-worker (Richard Jenkins) tells them this is dangerous but the woman gets a Russian diplomat (Olek Krupa) involved.

The former CIA agent's former boss (David Rasche) takes what information he's gathered to a superior (J.K. Simmons) who tries to figure out what the heck is going on with all these people.

"Report back to me when...I don't know, when it makes sense."

Written and directed by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen.

Run time: 1 hour, 36 minutes

Rated R for pervasive language, some sexual content and violence.

My personal rating: A-

Autumn Hearts: A New Beginning (2007)

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Closure

The emotionally fragile Melanie Winters (Susan Sarandon) invites an elderly man, Jakob Bronski (Max von Sydow), to spend time at her Canadian farm with her husband David (Christopher Plummer), son Benjamin (Roy Dupuis), and grandson Timmy (Dakota Goyo). What Melanie didn't expect was that Bronski would bring along Christopher Lewis (Gabriel Byrne).

The American Melanie and Christopher from Ireland had been captured as children without their parents and Bronski had taken care of them at Drancy, a German internment camp outside of Paris during World War II. He'd encouraged them to keep records of the events at the camp so that it would be known and no one could ever forget.

Ultimately, Bronski had made the sacrifice to save the children; he'd offered up himself to be shipped to Auschwitz instead of them. Afterward, he'd spent years in a Russian mental institution where he'd had electroshock and had lost many memories from the time in the camp.

The experience of having these three people together after 45 years helps explain Melanie's decades of depression and mental breakdowns, and rekindles the love Melanie and Christopher had for each other. A powerful story with haunting music and cinematography.

Based on the novel Emotional Arithmetic by Matt Cohen. Directed by Paolo Barzman.

Run time: 1 hour, 39 minutes

Rated PG-13 for thematic elements and brief strong language.

My personal rating: B-

Straight Time (1978)

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"All I need to do is get a job."

After his release after spending 10 years in Sing Sing, Max Dembo (Dustin Hoffman) really wants to go straight, get a job, and succeed in life. His parole officer, Earl Frank (M. Emmet Walsh), lays down the rules for him to follow.

Dembo had been involved in crime since he was 12 years old and his history made it hard for him to find work, but he does! Until his parole officer busts him for something he didn't do. It isn't long before Dembo reverts to a life of crime.

Also appearing are Gary Busey as Willy, Dembo's old prison friend, Kathy Bates and Jake Busey as Willy's wife and son, Harry Dean Stanton as Dembo's heist partner, Rita Taggart as the parole officer's wife, Theresa Russell as Dembo's girlfriend, and Sandy Baron as another of Dembo's buddies.

Based on the novel No Beast So Fierce by Edward Bunker, a convicted criminal and drug addict who served time in San Quentin, Folsom, and Terminal Island, but who took up fiction writing while incarcerated. After his final release, he appeared as an actor in 25 films including Reservoir Dogs, The Longest Yard, and Runaway Train. He had a bit part in Straight Time and served as a dialog writer and consultant on the film.

Directed by Ulu Grosbard.

Run time: 1 hour, 54 minutes

Rated R

My personal rating: B

Ambulance Girl (2005)

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"Fear is like a hologram. It seems real, filled with substance. And then, when you go beyond it, you realize it is just an illusion."

As a long-time fan of food writers Jane and Micheal Stern, this was a most fascinating story for me to see. Based on Jane's autobiographical novel, this is a frank revelation of the stresses in the the successful couple's lives and marriage well after they are established and loved in their field.

After Michael (Robin Thomas) had maintained his sobriety for three years, Jane (Kathy Bates, who also directed the film) experiences growning anxiety and depression. He's spending more and more time away at AA meetings and with his horse while she wallows in her misery.

She feels useless now, after 33 years of marriage, because she feels Michael doesn't need her anymore. An incident on an airplane when Jane was terribly anxious but helped a young man who was nearly paralyzed with anxiety led her to feel that she had much to offer others and she needed to do something about it. Despite being overweight and out of shape, Jane enrolls in and passes an EMT class and with great joy, becomes deeply involved in paramedic work.

Instead of helping to make their marriage better, Jane's new preoccupation drives them further apart. Jane isn't as involved in writing their new book which is under contract. They need to keep up a false front in public because everyone perceives them as such a loving couple.

Can this marriage be saved? Can these lives be saved?

Also appearing is Gorden Pisent as the barn owner who is a good friend to both Jane and Michael.

Originally aired on Lifetime-TV.

Run time: 1 hour, 27 minutes

Not MPAA rated.

My personal rating: B+

Midnight Run (1988)

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"You guys are the dumbest bounty hunters I've ever seen. You couldn't deliver a bottle of milk."

Mob accountant Jonathan "Duke" Mardukis (Charles Grodin) is in deep doo-doo. He embezzled millions from his boss, kingpin Jimmy Serreno (Dennis Farina) and turned Robin Hood, giving much of the money to worthy causes. Now he's jumped bail and LA bail bondsman Eddie Moscone (Joe Pantoliano) needs to assure that the Duke reports to court on Friday but the Duke is nowhere to be seen and Moscone will lose $500K if the Duke is a no-show.

Moscone dispatches former Chicago cop Jack Walsh (Robert De Niro) to track down the Duke. But it isn't long before the FBI, lead by Agent Alonzo Mosely (Yaphet Kotto) is also after the Duke. And there's a snitch (Jack Kehoe) in Moscone's office so the mob is after the Duke, too. And when Moscone worries that Walsh isn't going to get the job done, he sends out another bounty hunter, Marvin Dorfler (John Ashton) which only compounds the riotous ride from NYC back to LA.

Think planes, trains, a stolen FBI car, a taxi cab, a bus, a cropduster, an old pickup truck, a 4x4, a box car, a helicopter and a less than scenic tour of the USA.

Also appearing are Wendy Phillips and Danielle DuClos as Walsh's ex-wife and daughter, and Philip Baker Hall as the mob kingpin's counsel.

Big, bold, brassy Danny Elfman music.

Directed by Martin Brest.

Run time: 2 hours, 6 minutes

Rated R

My personal rating: B

White Palace (1990)

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A Younger Man
A Bolder Woman

Uptight 20-something advertising executive Max Baron (James Spader) is compulsively organized, personally disciplined, and still grieving over the death of his wife two years before.

Nora Baker (Susan Sarandon), a 40-something waitress at the White Palace burger joint in St. Louis, is disorganized, spontaneous, and mouthy.

They have a confrontation at the White Palace one evening over burgers missing from a large order he'd place to take to a friend's bachelor party. Later that night, Max runs into Nora at a bar and they talk. Max offers to take her home but he's sloshed and ends up staying the night. Of course, it becomes a one-night stand that leads to Max's infatuation with Nora.

The infatuation leads to more sex and eventually love but can they overcome the prejudices against the differences in the age, class, and personality, and the social standards his family and friends expect of him?
Others in the cast include Steven Hill, Jason Alexander and Jeremy Piven as Max's friends, Kathy Bates as Max's boss, Renee Taylor as Max's mother, Eileen Brennan as Nora's mother.

Directed by Luis Mandoki.

Run time: 1 hour, 43 minutes

Rated R

My personal rating: B

Towelhead (2008)

When thirteen-year-old Jasira Maroun's (Summer Bishil) mother (Maria Bello) moves in with her boyfriend (Chris Messina), Jasira is sent from Syracuse to live with her rigid, Lebanese father, Rifat Maroun (Peter Macdissi) who is a NASA engineer living in Houston and an American citizen.

Rifat is cold and distant from Jasira but very controlling and demanding. Their redneck neighbor Travis Vuoso (Aaron Eckhart) considers Rifat to be a Hussein-lover even though Rifat is diametrically opposed to Hussein's position against the United States. Despite this, Rifat arranges for Jasira to babysit for Vuoso's eight-year-old son so she can earn money for college; Rifat has decided Jasir will be an engineer.


Between the ethnic slurs Vuoso's son and her classmates throw at Jasir, she learns all about racism but must also face the fact that her own father is racist, too. While he has an American girlfriend (Lynn Collins), he totally disapproves of Jasir's African-American friend Thomas (Eugene Jones III).

When the Maroun's new neighbor Melina (Toni Collette) is concerned about the pressure Jasir's is under from her father and also suspects that Vuoso may be sexually harassing the girl, she offers friendship. In her darkest days, Jasir takes refuge with Melina and her husband Gil (Matt Letscher).


An intense and disturbing story of a girl finding herself and finding what those around her mean to her life.

Screenplay and directed by Alan Ball and based on a semi-autobiographical novel by Arab-American Alicia Erian.

Run time: 1 hour, 56 minutes

Rated R for strong disturbing sexual content and abuse involving a young teen, and for language.

My personal rating: B

Righteous Kill (2008)

"Think of me as a street sweeper."

NYC cop partners Turk (Robert De Niro) and Rooster (Al Pacino) are best friends. They play ball together, work out together, take target practice together, play chess together. The pair becomes involved in investigating a series of murders apparently committed by a poetic vigilante.

But does one have a secret? And does one just want suicide by cop?

Others in the cast include Carla Gugino as Detective Karen Corelli, John Leguizamo as Detective Simon Perez, Donnie Wahlberg as Detective Ted Riley, Brian Dennehy as Lieutenant Hingis, Trilby Glover as a female lawyer who does some undercover work for Turk and Rooster, and 50 Cent (nee Curtis Jackson) as the drug dealer Spider.

Directed by Jon Avnet.

Run time: 1 hour, 42 minutes

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

My personal rating: B

Iron Man (2008)

"...I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero-accountability."

Boy genius Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) has become an adult and finally takes over the industrial arms manufacturing company his deceased father had built. He's also become a super rich, wise-cracking, playboy.

His gal Friday Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) is exasperated as she tries to keep him on task. Rhodey (Terrence Howard) is Stark's old friend and a military officer who escorts Stark to displays of Stark Industries missles.

After one such display, Stark's Hum-Vee is blown up and he's patched back together by the mysterious Yinsen (Shaun Toub) who must develop a mechanism that keep Stark alive. In the midst of all this, Stark is being forced by his Middle Eastern captors to create a powerful missle for them.

After Yinsen is killed by the captors and Stark escapes, he decides to turn Stark International from a weapons industy into an industy to create good. And the start of this is to create sophisticated technology to replace the make-shift device that Yinsen created to keep Stark alive in captivity. The new technology also leads Stark to develop an iron suit which gives him super human abilities.

Jeff Bridges (barely recognizable in this role) is the evil Obadiah Stane, a company executive who is double dealing under the table. Stark must go into stealth mode to rectify the situation.

Bill Smitrovich as General Gabriel, Jon Favreau as the chauffer Hogan, Peter Billingsley as William Ginter Riva, and Samuel L. Jackson in an uncredit role as Nick Fury.

Directed by Jon Favreau.

Run time: 2 hour, 6 minutes

Rated PG-13 for some intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, and brief suggestive content.

My personal rating: B

The Other Boleyn Girl (2008)

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"Everyone improves the standing of their family with their daughters."

This is the story of how the Boleyn family's blind ambition caused them to sacrificed their daughters -- Anne (Natalie Portman) and Mary (Scarlett Johansson) -- to the hedonistic King Henry Tudor (Eric Bana) and produce his male heir. The intensity of their greed lead to seduction, deceit, betrayal, disgrace, tragedy, and death. And also the establishment of the Church of England.

Others in the cast include Jim Sturgess as the girls' brother, Mark Rylance and Kristin Scott Thomas as their parents, David Morrissey as their conspiring uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, Benedict Cumberbatch as Mary's husband William Carey, Oliver Coleman as Anne's husband Henry Percy, and Ana Torrent as Katherine of Aragon.

Directed by Justin Chadwick.

Run time: 1 hour, 55 minutes

Rated PG-13 for mature thematic elements, sexual content and some violent images.

My personal rating: B

Traitor (2008)

"The truth is complicated."

Born in the Sudan of a Sudanese man and an American woman from Chicago, Samir Horn (Don Cheadle) was given her last name and was raised and educated in the United States. His father lived all over the Middle East, had ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, and died in a car bombing in 1978. Samir was a member of the U.S. Army Special Forces, an engineering and explosives specialist, and was sent by the Army to Pakistan in 1986 to train Afghan rebels. It was in Pakistan that Samir got in touch with his Muslim roots and he stayed behind after his discharge and joined the Mujahideen.

When FBI agent Roy Clayton (Guy Pearce) leads an investigation into a international terrorist plot, all signs point to Samir, who is now a devout Muslim selling explosives to terrorist bands in Yemen. With the aid of two other agents (Neal McDonough, Jeff Daniels) Clayton determines that Samir is at the heart of terrorist action set to strike in the USA around Thanksgiving. Samir must be stopped at all costs.

But where do Samir's loyalties lay? With the terrorists, with the United States, or with his faith?

Also in the cast are Saïd Taghmaoui as Samir's friend Omar and Archie Panjabi as Samir's girlfriend.

Directed by Jeffrey Nachmanoff who also wrote the screenplay based on a story by Steve Martin (yes, that Steve Martin!).

Run time: 1 hour, 54 minutes

Rated PG-13 for intense violent sequences, thematic material and brief language.

My personal rating: B

Wanted (2008)

"It's a choice, Wesley, that each of us must face: to remain ordinary, pathetic, beat-down, coasting through a miserable existence, like sheep herded by fate - or you can take control of your own destiny and join us, releasing the caged wolf you have inside."

All Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy) really knows about himself is that he lives a boring life that necessitates regular use of anti-anxiety drugs to survive and that his father abandoned him when Gibson was an infant.

Nearly at his wits end at his job as an accounts manager in Chicago, Gibson is suddenly drawn into a mysterious 1,000-year-old Fraternity of super-assassins thanks to a violent, shooting chase through town in a car driven by Fox (Angelina Jolie). He is taken to the sage Sloan (Morgan Freeman) where he is aggressively tested to see if he has inherited the cunning ability his own father had. When it was determined that he did, Gibson was educated about violence such as fighting, knifing, shooting, speed and evasive driving, escape and any other talent a super-assassin might need.

Gibson's goal, according to Sloan, is to take out Cross (Thomas Kretschmann) rogue former member of the Fraternity who supposedly had murdered Gibson's father. What follows is intense chaos and confusion and results no one could expect.

Also appearing is Terence Stamp.

Directed by Timur Bekmambetov.

Run time:1 hour, 50 minutes

Rated R for strong bloody violence throughout, pervasive language and some sexuality.

My personal rating: B-