Recommended DVDs are marked with *. Most titles link to reviews.
* Hart's War 05/31/09 (B+)
* Boston Legal: 5:3 05/30/09 (B)
Prick Up Your Ears 05/30/09 (B-)
* Wendy and Lucy 05/29/09 (B)
* New in Town 05/28/09 (B+)
* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button 05/27/09 (B+)
* Boston Legal: 5:2 05/27/09 (B)
* Last Chance Harvey 05/26/09 (A-)
* Boston Legal: 5:2 05/26/09 (B)
* The Cake Eaters 05/25/09 (B)
* Boston Legal: 5:1 05/24/09 (B)
* Uncle Nino 05/24/09 (B)
* Brooklyn Rules 05/23/09 (B)
* The Italian Job 05/22/09 (B)
* The Cooler 05/21/09 (B)
* Modigliani 05/20/09 (B)
* The Year My Parents Went On Vacation 05/19/09 (B)
* Nothing But the Truth 05/18/09 (B)
* Ownng Mahowny 05/17-09 (B)
* Harold 05/16/09 (B)
* What Doesn't Kill You 05/15/09 (B)
Welcome to the Dollhouse 05/14/09 (C)
* The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada 05/13/09 (B)
* Forever Young 05/12/09 (B)
* The Mirror Has Two Faces 05/11/09 (B)
* Lantana 05/10/09 (B)
Charlie Bartlett 05/09/09 (C+)
Silent Fall 05/08/09 (B-)
* Husbands and Wives 05/07/09 (B)
* Frozen River 05/06/09 (B+)
Copying Beethoven 05/05/09 (B-)
Crossroads 05/04/09 (C+)
* Quills 05/03/09 (B+)
* A History of Violence 05/02/09 (B+)
* The Whole Wild World 05/01/09 (B+)
5/31/2009
Rest In Peace - May 2009
.
May-15-2009
Bud Tingwell, 86, Australian actor (The Desert Rats, Breaker Morant, The Castle, The Dish), prostate cancer.
May-13-2009
Frank Aletter, 83, American stage, television, and film character actor (Mr. Roberts, Tora! Tora! Tora!), formerly married to Miss America and actress Lee Meriwether, cancer.
May-07-2009
Mickey Carroll, 89, diminutive American actor (in seven of the Our Gang films, The Wizard of Oz)
May-04-2009
Dom DeLuise, 75, American actor (Blazing Saddles, The Cannonball Run, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Silent Movie), writer, children's book author, chef and cookbook author, father of actors Peter, Michael and David DeLuise, renal failure.
May-15-2009
Bud Tingwell, 86, Australian actor (The Desert Rats, Breaker Morant, The Castle, The Dish), prostate cancer.
May-13-2009
Frank Aletter, 83, American stage, television, and film character actor (Mr. Roberts, Tora! Tora! Tora!), formerly married to Miss America and actress Lee Meriwether, cancer.
May-07-2009
Mickey Carroll, 89, diminutive American actor (in seven of the Our Gang films, The Wizard of Oz)
May-04-2009
Dom DeLuise, 75, American actor (Blazing Saddles, The Cannonball Run, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Silent Movie), writer, children's book author, chef and cookbook author, father of actors Peter, Michael and David DeLuise, renal failure.
Rest In Peace – May 2009
.
May -28-2009
Mort Abrahams, 93, American film (Planet of the Apes, Dr. Dolittle, Goodbye Mr. Chips) and television (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) producer, natural causes.
Terence Alexander, 86, British film (The Day of the Jackal, Run a Crooked Mile, The League of Gentlemen) and television (The Avengers, The Forsythe Saga) actor.
May-18-2009
Carole Cole, 64, American film (The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, Promise at Dawn, The Mad Room) and television (Sanford and Son, Grady) actress, daughter of Nat King Cole, lung cancer.
May-15-2009
Bud Tingwell, 86, Australian actor (The Desert Rats, The Avengers, Breaker Morant), prostate cancer.
May-13-2009
Frank Aletter, 83, American character actor in film (Mr. Roberts, Tora! Tora! Tora!) and television (Bringing Up Buddy, Rich Man Poor Man, numerous other tv dramas and comedies), cancer.
May-07-2009
Mickey Carroll, 89, American actor (The Wizard of Oz, Our Gang films), natural causes.
May-04-2009
Dom DeLuise, 75, American actor (The Cannonball Run, Fail-Safe, The Glass Bottom Boat, Blazing Saddles, Silent Movie, ), comedian, childrens book and cookbook author, and chef, kidney failure.
May-01-2009
Marc Rocco, 46, American film director, screenwriter, produce (Murder in the First, Where the Day Takes You).
May -28-2009
Mort Abrahams, 93, American film (Planet of the Apes, Dr. Dolittle, Goodbye Mr. Chips) and television (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) producer, natural causes.
Terence Alexander, 86, British film (The Day of the Jackal, Run a Crooked Mile, The League of Gentlemen) and television (The Avengers, The Forsythe Saga) actor.
May-18-2009
Carole Cole, 64, American film (The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, Promise at Dawn, The Mad Room) and television (Sanford and Son, Grady) actress, daughter of Nat King Cole, lung cancer.
May-15-2009
Bud Tingwell, 86, Australian actor (The Desert Rats, The Avengers, Breaker Morant), prostate cancer.
May-13-2009
Frank Aletter, 83, American character actor in film (Mr. Roberts, Tora! Tora! Tora!) and television (Bringing Up Buddy, Rich Man Poor Man, numerous other tv dramas and comedies), cancer.
May-07-2009
Mickey Carroll, 89, American actor (The Wizard of Oz, Our Gang films), natural causes.
May-04-2009
Dom DeLuise, 75, American actor (The Cannonball Run, Fail-Safe, The Glass Bottom Boat, Blazing Saddles, Silent Movie, ), comedian, childrens book and cookbook author, and chef, kidney failure.
May-01-2009
Marc Rocco, 46, American film director, screenwriter, produce (Murder in the First, Where the Day Takes You).
Hart's War (2002)
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For the Better Good
Lt. Thomas Hart (Colin Farrell) is stationed behind the lines when the Battle of the Bulge is taking place. As the son of a congressman, he's put in a safe position. But when he and another officer are ambushed by Nazi soldiers while driving in the snowy woods of Czechoslovakia in December 1944, Hart becomes a prisoner of war and is sent to a stalag next to a munitions plant. Komandant Werner Visser (Marcel Iures) runs a tight encampment but has some benevolence toward the Americans there because, like Hart, he was Yale educated.
The highest ranking US officer at the stalag -- Col. McNamara (Bruce Willis) -- also runs a tight site. When two Tuskegee Institute-trained African-American pilots -- Lt. Lincoln Scott (Terrence Howard) and Lt. Lamar Archer (Vicellous Shannon) -- are brought to the camp, racism among the GIs rears its head leaving Hart completely disgusted. McNamara does little to quell it. But when one of the most foul racists, Staff Sgt. Vic Bedford (Cole Hauser), is strangled in the yard in the middle of the night, Scott is accused of the murder. Rather than allowing the Komandant to execute Scott on the spot, McNamara demands a court martial hearing to be conducted by by the Americans with McNamara as judge and jury.
Hart is appointed defense attorney for Scott because he's had two years of law school. Convinced of Scott's innocence, Hart has an uphill battle and is not encouraged by McNamara. Getting madder by the minute, Hart wonders why McNamara is willing to sacrifice this innocent man.
Also appearing are Linus Roache, Maury Sterling, Sam Jaeger, Scott Michael Campbell, Rory Cochrane, Sebastian Tillinger, Rick Ravanello.
Intense and at times brutal with some stunning attack scenes and, according to former real-life POWs, a great degree of authenticity.
Directed by Gregory Hoblit.
Run time: 2 hours, 5 minutes
Rated R for some strong war violence and language.
My personal rating: B+
Lt. Thomas Hart (Colin Farrell) is stationed behind the lines when the Battle of the Bulge is taking place. As the son of a congressman, he's put in a safe position. But when he and another officer are ambushed by Nazi soldiers while driving in the snowy woods of Czechoslovakia in December 1944, Hart becomes a prisoner of war and is sent to a stalag next to a munitions plant. Komandant Werner Visser (Marcel Iures) runs a tight encampment but has some benevolence toward the Americans there because, like Hart, he was Yale educated.
The highest ranking US officer at the stalag -- Col. McNamara (Bruce Willis) -- also runs a tight site. When two Tuskegee Institute-trained African-American pilots -- Lt. Lincoln Scott (Terrence Howard) and Lt. Lamar Archer (Vicellous Shannon) -- are brought to the camp, racism among the GIs rears its head leaving Hart completely disgusted. McNamara does little to quell it. But when one of the most foul racists, Staff Sgt. Vic Bedford (Cole Hauser), is strangled in the yard in the middle of the night, Scott is accused of the murder. Rather than allowing the Komandant to execute Scott on the spot, McNamara demands a court martial hearing to be conducted by by the Americans with McNamara as judge and jury.
Hart is appointed defense attorney for Scott because he's had two years of law school. Convinced of Scott's innocence, Hart has an uphill battle and is not encouraged by McNamara. Getting madder by the minute, Hart wonders why McNamara is willing to sacrifice this innocent man.
Also appearing are Linus Roache, Maury Sterling, Sam Jaeger, Scott Michael Campbell, Rory Cochrane, Sebastian Tillinger, Rick Ravanello.
Intense and at times brutal with some stunning attack scenes and, according to former real-life POWs, a great degree of authenticity.
Directed by Gregory Hoblit.
Run time: 2 hours, 5 minutes
Rated R for some strong war violence and language.
My personal rating: B+
5/30/2009
Prick Up Your Ears (1987)
.
"The whole point about irrational behavior is that it IS irrational!"
The life and death of English playwright Joe Orton (Gary Oldman) as told in retrospect by his friend and agent Peggy Ramsay (Vanessa Redgrave) to Orton's biographer John Lahr (Wallace Shawn).
Also appearing ar Alfred Molina as Orton's jealous long-term lover Kenneth Halliwell; Frances Barber as Orton's mother; Julie Walters as Orton's sister; and Janet Dale as the landlady.
Directed by Stephen Frears.
Run time: 1 hour, 51 minutes
Rated R.
My personal rating: B-
The life and death of English playwright Joe Orton (Gary Oldman) as told in retrospect by his friend and agent Peggy Ramsay (Vanessa Redgrave) to Orton's biographer John Lahr (Wallace Shawn).
Also appearing ar Alfred Molina as Orton's jealous long-term lover Kenneth Halliwell; Frances Barber as Orton's mother; Julie Walters as Orton's sister; and Janet Dale as the landlady.
Directed by Stephen Frears.
Run time: 1 hour, 51 minutes
Rated R.
My personal rating: B-
5/29/2009
Wendy and Lucy (2008)
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Two Hankies
It's apparent that Wendy (Michelle Williams) only has one being in the world she really cares for and who cares for her -- her "medium-sized yellow gold dog" Lucy.
Driving from Indiana to Alaska to find work in the canneries in a 20-year old Honda, Wendy hits hard times in a small town in Oregon. With scant money, the car breaks down and needs probably $2,000 worth of work. Wendy has no choice but to leave it with the mechanic (Will Patton) but with desperate need for money for repair or replacement or other transportation, Wendy is caught shoplifting dog food for Lucy. She's hauled off by the cops but when she returns to get Lucy where the pup had been tied to a bike stand outside the store, she finds Lucy is gone.
With the help of a kindly security guard (Wally Dalton), Wendy visits the animal shelter, puts signs up around town, and searches everywhere for a few days. In the end, Wendy must make perhaps the toughest decision she's ever had to make in her life.
Also appearing is Will Oldham as Icky, a homeless many who previously worked in the Alaskan canneries and who gives Wendy advice about where to go and who to talk with to get a job there.
A touching little slice-of-life story.
Co-written and directed by Kelly Reichardt.
Run time: 1 hour, 20 minutes
Rated R for language -- which is really pathetic as the language is minor but the story is one that should be seen by youngsters. PG-13 would have been more reasonable. Most children hear this "language" daily from those around them.
My personal rating: B
It's apparent that Wendy (Michelle Williams) only has one being in the world she really cares for and who cares for her -- her "medium-sized yellow gold dog" Lucy.
Driving from Indiana to Alaska to find work in the canneries in a 20-year old Honda, Wendy hits hard times in a small town in Oregon. With scant money, the car breaks down and needs probably $2,000 worth of work. Wendy has no choice but to leave it with the mechanic (Will Patton) but with desperate need for money for repair or replacement or other transportation, Wendy is caught shoplifting dog food for Lucy. She's hauled off by the cops but when she returns to get Lucy where the pup had been tied to a bike stand outside the store, she finds Lucy is gone.
With the help of a kindly security guard (Wally Dalton), Wendy visits the animal shelter, puts signs up around town, and searches everywhere for a few days. In the end, Wendy must make perhaps the toughest decision she's ever had to make in her life.
Also appearing is Will Oldham as Icky, a homeless many who previously worked in the Alaskan canneries and who gives Wendy advice about where to go and who to talk with to get a job there.
A touching little slice-of-life story.
Co-written and directed by Kelly Reichardt.
Run time: 1 hour, 20 minutes
Rated R for language -- which is really pathetic as the language is minor but the story is one that should be seen by youngsters. PG-13 would have been more reasonable. Most children hear this "language" daily from those around them.
My personal rating: B
5/28/2009
New in Town (2009)
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Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!
Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!
Lucy Hill (Renée Zellweger), an ambitious young executive with a food production company in Miami, is assigned to go to northern Minnesota to restructure a plant and eventually shut it down. When she arrives at the airport in her short designer skirt and expensive high heels she walks out into the arctic blast and snow and wonders what in the heck she's doing there. The experience goes down from there when she encounters scrapbookers, tapioca, flannel, driving on the frozen lake, hockey, ice fishing, "hidey-ho," crow hunting, middle American values, and one "ass truck driver" who turns out to be Ted Mitchell (Harry Connick Jr.), the union rep she has to deal with in the whole transition.
Also in the cast are Siobhan Fallon as Lucy's secretary; J.K. Simmons as the plant foreman Stu Kopenhafer; Frances Conroy as townie Trudy Van Uuden; Ferron Guerreiro as Ted 13-year-old daughter.
I had some serious laugh out loud moments watching this chick flick but I think even guys would get a kick out of it.
Directed by Jonas Elmer.
Run time: 1 hour, 37 minutes
Rated PG for language and some suggestive material.
My personal rating: B+
5/27/2009
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
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"I've never seen anything like it. Blind from cataracts. I'm not sure if he can hear. His bones indicate severe arthritis. His skin has lost all elasticity, and his hands and feet are ossified. He shows all the deterioration, the infirmities, not of a newborn, but of a man well in his 80s on the way to the grave."
Suspend your disbelief right from the start of this intriguing fantasy drama.
On the night of WWI Armistice, an infant is born but his mother dies in childbirth. Stunned and depressed, the baby's father abandons him on the streets of New Orleans where he is found by Queenie (Taraji P. Henson) who works and lives in an old folks home. She takes the infant in and raises him as her own. Despite the prediction of his early demise, the old man in the baby's body grows and flourishes among the old folks and with the love of Queenie.
As his body gets larger, Benjamin (Brad Pitt) becomes less frail -- and younger.
The story is told as a diary read aloud by Caroline (Julia Ormond), the daughter of Daisy (Cate Blanchett), an elderly woman who is dying in New Orleans whist Hurrican Katrina heads toward Louisiana.
Others in the cast include: Elias Koteas as the clockmaker; Mahershalalhashbaz Ali as Queenie's husand Tizzy; Elle Fanning as a young Daisy; Jason Flemyng as Benjamin's father; Tilda Swinton as Elizabeth, the married woman Benjamin has an affair with.
Directed by David Fincher.
Run time: 2 hours, 48 minutes
Rated PG-13 for brief war violence, sexual content, language and smoking.
My personal rating: B+
Suspend your disbelief right from the start of this intriguing fantasy drama.
On the night of WWI Armistice, an infant is born but his mother dies in childbirth. Stunned and depressed, the baby's father abandons him on the streets of New Orleans where he is found by Queenie (Taraji P. Henson) who works and lives in an old folks home. She takes the infant in and raises him as her own. Despite the prediction of his early demise, the old man in the baby's body grows and flourishes among the old folks and with the love of Queenie.
As his body gets larger, Benjamin (Brad Pitt) becomes less frail -- and younger.
The story is told as a diary read aloud by Caroline (Julia Ormond), the daughter of Daisy (Cate Blanchett), an elderly woman who is dying in New Orleans whist Hurrican Katrina heads toward Louisiana.
Others in the cast include: Elias Koteas as the clockmaker; Mahershalalhashbaz Ali as Queenie's husand Tizzy; Elle Fanning as a young Daisy; Jason Flemyng as Benjamin's father; Tilda Swinton as Elizabeth, the married woman Benjamin has an affair with.
Directed by David Fincher.
Run time: 2 hours, 48 minutes
Rated PG-13 for brief war violence, sexual content, language and smoking.
My personal rating: B+
5/26/2009
Last Chance Harvey (2009)
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It's never too late to take a chance.
Hapless Harvey Shine (Dustin Hoffman) is on his way to London for his daughter's wedding. Vulnerable at work, he's made the decision that going to the wedding is more important than keeping his position as a jingle writer for an advertising company. But the impending marriage of his daughter and loss of his job are scary for poor Harvey. Meanwhile, Kate Walker (Emma Thompson), a survey taker at Heathrow Airport, finds herself tired of blind dates, tired of her Mum's (Eileen Atkins) constant urging to get married already, and sad about having never found the right person to share her life with.
Harvey always felt that his awkwardness had been an embarassment to his daughter (Liane Balaban) and her mother (Kathy Baker) and had caused the divorce. He'd not been very involved with his daughter since then but he's crushed when she tells him that her stepfather (James Brolin) will walk her down the aisle.
The next day, after the wedding ceremony, Harvey begs off the evening reception saying he has to get back to NYC for work. But he's delayed by traffic and misses his flight so he heads to the airport bar to drown his sorrows. Kate is sitting at a nearby table having lunch and after slinging a few arrows at each other, they end up in conversation. Kate encourages him to go to the reception and he agrees -- but only if Kate attends with him. Harvey is empowered by his connection with Kate and is able to appropriately speak his piece in a toast he gives at the reception.
Having endeared themselves to each other and finding some degree of confidence in themselves, Harvey and Kate move on to consider their future.
Also appearing are Richard Schiff as Harvey's boss and Daniel Lapaine as Harvey's new son-in-law.
Written and directed by Joel Hopkins.
Run time: 1 hour, 33 minutes
Rated PG-13 for brief strong language.
My personal rating: A-
Hapless Harvey Shine (Dustin Hoffman) is on his way to London for his daughter's wedding. Vulnerable at work, he's made the decision that going to the wedding is more important than keeping his position as a jingle writer for an advertising company. But the impending marriage of his daughter and loss of his job are scary for poor Harvey. Meanwhile, Kate Walker (Emma Thompson), a survey taker at Heathrow Airport, finds herself tired of blind dates, tired of her Mum's (Eileen Atkins) constant urging to get married already, and sad about having never found the right person to share her life with.
Harvey always felt that his awkwardness had been an embarassment to his daughter (Liane Balaban) and her mother (Kathy Baker) and had caused the divorce. He'd not been very involved with his daughter since then but he's crushed when she tells him that her stepfather (James Brolin) will walk her down the aisle.
The next day, after the wedding ceremony, Harvey begs off the evening reception saying he has to get back to NYC for work. But he's delayed by traffic and misses his flight so he heads to the airport bar to drown his sorrows. Kate is sitting at a nearby table having lunch and after slinging a few arrows at each other, they end up in conversation. Kate encourages him to go to the reception and he agrees -- but only if Kate attends with him. Harvey is empowered by his connection with Kate and is able to appropriately speak his piece in a toast he gives at the reception.
Having endeared themselves to each other and finding some degree of confidence in themselves, Harvey and Kate move on to consider their future.
Also appearing are Richard Schiff as Harvey's boss and Daniel Lapaine as Harvey's new son-in-law.
Written and directed by Joel Hopkins.
Run time: 1 hour, 33 minutes
Rated PG-13 for brief strong language.
My personal rating: A-
5/25/2009
The Cake Eaters (2007)
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Secrets
After his wife's (Melissa Leo) death, Easy Kimbrough (Bruce Dern), a small town butcher, grieves his loss but also keeps secret the affair he's been having for many years. His son, 20-something Beagle (Aaron Stanford), works in a high school cafeteria and had been his ailing mother's primary caretaker. He resents the fact that his older brother, Guy (Jayce Bartok), abandoned the family three years before and left Beagle with so much responsibility. When Guy returns to town, too late even for his mother's funeral, Easy is just happy to have his boys together again, but Beagle needs to work out his anger.
Guy finds his old girlfriend Stephanie (Miriam Shor) has moved on with her life without him. Beagle strikes up a secret relationship with a high school girl, Georgia (Kristen Stewart), who has a terminal neuromuscular disease. Her bizarre mother (Marylouise Burke) is very controlling and overprotective of Georgia and yet has exploited Georgia's illness for artistic and and financial gain. With the encouragement of her mother's boyfriend (Thomas Cavanagh), Georgia becomes he aggressor in the relationship with Beagle. Meanwhile Georgia's supportive grandmother (Elizabeth Ashley) has her own secret revealed.
A quirky ensemble piece set in rural upstate NY.
Directed by Mary Stuart Masterson.
Run time: 1 hour, 35 minutes
Rated R for some language and sexual material involving a teen.
My personal rating: B
After his wife's (Melissa Leo) death, Easy Kimbrough (Bruce Dern), a small town butcher, grieves his loss but also keeps secret the affair he's been having for many years. His son, 20-something Beagle (Aaron Stanford), works in a high school cafeteria and had been his ailing mother's primary caretaker. He resents the fact that his older brother, Guy (Jayce Bartok), abandoned the family three years before and left Beagle with so much responsibility. When Guy returns to town, too late even for his mother's funeral, Easy is just happy to have his boys together again, but Beagle needs to work out his anger.
Guy finds his old girlfriend Stephanie (Miriam Shor) has moved on with her life without him. Beagle strikes up a secret relationship with a high school girl, Georgia (Kristen Stewart), who has a terminal neuromuscular disease. Her bizarre mother (Marylouise Burke) is very controlling and overprotective of Georgia and yet has exploited Georgia's illness for artistic and and financial gain. With the encouragement of her mother's boyfriend (Thomas Cavanagh), Georgia becomes he aggressor in the relationship with Beagle. Meanwhile Georgia's supportive grandmother (Elizabeth Ashley) has her own secret revealed.
A quirky ensemble piece set in rural upstate NY.
Directed by Mary Stuart Masterson.
Run time: 1 hour, 35 minutes
Rated R for some language and sexual material involving a teen.
My personal rating: B
5/24/2009
Uncle Nino (2003)
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"I'm awesome!
Robert Micelli (Joe Mantegna) is intense in his job working hard and long hours to earn a significant promotion. His wife Marie (Anne Archer) longs for her husband to be home more and be more involved in family life. Teenage son Bobby (Trevor Morgan) is wracked with angst and just wants to be accepted at his new high school in an uppity Chicago suburb. Pre-teen daughter Gina (Gina Mantegna) loves animals and longs for a dog of her own but her father says no.
When Robert's elderly Uncle Nino (Pierrino Mascarino) arrives without the Micellis even know he's come from his home in a small Italian town, the Micellis lives are to be forever changed.
Duke Doyle and Daniel Adebayo play Bobby's hoodlum friends who are in a garage band with Bobby.
Written and directed by Robert Shallcross.
Run time: 1 hour, 50 minutes
Rated PG for language and some teen smoking.
My personal rating: B
Robert Micelli (Joe Mantegna) is intense in his job working hard and long hours to earn a significant promotion. His wife Marie (Anne Archer) longs for her husband to be home more and be more involved in family life. Teenage son Bobby (Trevor Morgan) is wracked with angst and just wants to be accepted at his new high school in an uppity Chicago suburb. Pre-teen daughter Gina (Gina Mantegna) loves animals and longs for a dog of her own but her father says no.
When Robert's elderly Uncle Nino (Pierrino Mascarino) arrives without the Micellis even know he's come from his home in a small Italian town, the Micellis lives are to be forever changed.
Duke Doyle and Daniel Adebayo play Bobby's hoodlum friends who are in a garage band with Bobby.
Written and directed by Robert Shallcross.
Run time: 1 hour, 50 minutes
Rated PG for language and some teen smoking.
My personal rating: B
5/23/2009
Brooklyn Rules (2007)
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Love, Loss, Loyalty
Three boys -- brainy Michael Turner (Paulo Aranjo), cheapskate Bobby Canzoneri (Daniel Tay) and vain Carmine Mancuso (Ty Reed) -- grew up on the tough streets of Brooklyn learning the power of the mob.
By 1985, the boys are young men still live in Brooklyn and are still best pals. Michael (Freddie Prinze, Jr.) is studying pre-law at Columbia, working for a butcher, and becoming involved with classmate Ellen (Mena Suvari). Bobby (Jerry Ferrara) is still living with his folks, has a girlfriend, Amy (Monica Kenna), and is trying for a job with the post office. Carmine (Scott Caan) is getting involved with the mob via Philly Cabrese (Chris Caldovino) who has connections with the Gambino family and local thug Caesar Manganaro (Alec Baldwin).
Can their friendship endure?
Directed by Michael Corrente.
Run time: 1 hour, 39 minutes
Rated R for violence, pervasive language and some sexual content.
My personal rating: B
Three boys -- brainy Michael Turner (Paulo Aranjo), cheapskate Bobby Canzoneri (Daniel Tay) and vain Carmine Mancuso (Ty Reed) -- grew up on the tough streets of Brooklyn learning the power of the mob.
By 1985, the boys are young men still live in Brooklyn and are still best pals. Michael (Freddie Prinze, Jr.) is studying pre-law at Columbia, working for a butcher, and becoming involved with classmate Ellen (Mena Suvari). Bobby (Jerry Ferrara) is still living with his folks, has a girlfriend, Amy (Monica Kenna), and is trying for a job with the post office. Carmine (Scott Caan) is getting involved with the mob via Philly Cabrese (Chris Caldovino) who has connections with the Gambino family and local thug Caesar Manganaro (Alec Baldwin).
Can their friendship endure?
Directed by Michael Corrente.
Run time: 1 hour, 39 minutes
Rated R for violence, pervasive language and some sexual content.
My personal rating: B
5/22/2009
The Italian Job (2003)
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"I trust everyone. It's the devil inside them I don't trust."
Mastermind Charlie (Mark Wahlberg), veteran safecracker John (Donald Sutherland), inside man Steve (Edward Norton), computer guru Lyle (Seth Green), wheelman Rob (Jason Statham), and explosives expert Left Ear (Mos Def), pulled off an amazing gold bullion heist from a Venice palazzo. But little did four of them know that one of them had his own plan to end up with all the profits.
Hatching a plan to recapture the gold and payback the turncoat, they add the beautiful Stella (Charlize Theron) to the team and set LA on its ear.
Directed by F. Gary Gray.
Run time: 1 hour, 51 minutes
Rated PG-13 for violence and some language.
My personal rating: B
Mastermind Charlie (Mark Wahlberg), veteran safecracker John (Donald Sutherland), inside man Steve (Edward Norton), computer guru Lyle (Seth Green), wheelman Rob (Jason Statham), and explosives expert Left Ear (Mos Def), pulled off an amazing gold bullion heist from a Venice palazzo. But little did four of them know that one of them had his own plan to end up with all the profits.
Hatching a plan to recapture the gold and payback the turncoat, they add the beautiful Stella (Charlize Theron) to the team and set LA on its ear.
Directed by F. Gary Gray.
Run time: 1 hour, 51 minutes
Rated PG-13 for violence and some language.
My personal rating: B
5/21/2009
The Cooler (2003)
.
Luck Be a Lady Tonight
Bernie Lootz (William H. Macy) is a perpetually unlucky man. He's so unlucky that he has to repay a big gambling debt to the operator of the Shangri-La Casino in Las Vegas, Shelly Kaplow (Alec Baldwin), by becoming the house "cooler" -- the jinx called in to majorly ruin the good fortune of big gamblers who are winning at the Shangri-La.
Kaplow is an "old school" mobster -- he believes in keeping things the way Vegas was in the day when violence and intimidation was how the casinos stayed in business. He resists the pressure from the big mob to update, upgrade the Shangri-La, to modernize it, remodel, get rid of the old school methods in favor of mental manipulation and technology. Despite urging to get rid of the cooler, Kaplow feels he owns him. But with seven days left on his contract to Kaplow, Lootz tells Kaplow that in a week, he's gone.
Determined to not let Lootz go, Kaplow tries ways to retain him. But then Lady Luck comes Lootz's way in the form of a beautiful bar waitress, Natalie Belisario (Maria Bello) and Lootz becomes the luckiest man in town. He's no longer effective as a cooler as he brings good luck to every table he passes by in the casino. This does not, of course, please Kaplow.
Also appearing are Shawn Hatosy as Lootz's son Mikey; Estella Warren as Mikey's pregnant girlfriend; Paul Sorvino as the aging lounge lizard; Joey Fatone as the young lounge lizard; Arthur J. Nascarella as the mobster Nicky Fingers Bonnatto who wants Kaplow to change modernize the Shangri-La; Ron Livingston as Nicky's VP, Larry Sokolov; Richard Israel as Sokolov's numbers man Marty Goldfarb; Ellen Greene as the bartender; and MC Gainey as the highway patrolman.
Written and directed by Wayne Kramer.
Run time: 1 hour, 41 minutes
Rated R for strong sexuality, violence, language and some drug use.
My personal rating: B
Bernie Lootz (William H. Macy) is a perpetually unlucky man. He's so unlucky that he has to repay a big gambling debt to the operator of the Shangri-La Casino in Las Vegas, Shelly Kaplow (Alec Baldwin), by becoming the house "cooler" -- the jinx called in to majorly ruin the good fortune of big gamblers who are winning at the Shangri-La.
Kaplow is an "old school" mobster -- he believes in keeping things the way Vegas was in the day when violence and intimidation was how the casinos stayed in business. He resists the pressure from the big mob to update, upgrade the Shangri-La, to modernize it, remodel, get rid of the old school methods in favor of mental manipulation and technology. Despite urging to get rid of the cooler, Kaplow feels he owns him. But with seven days left on his contract to Kaplow, Lootz tells Kaplow that in a week, he's gone.
Determined to not let Lootz go, Kaplow tries ways to retain him. But then Lady Luck comes Lootz's way in the form of a beautiful bar waitress, Natalie Belisario (Maria Bello) and Lootz becomes the luckiest man in town. He's no longer effective as a cooler as he brings good luck to every table he passes by in the casino. This does not, of course, please Kaplow.
Also appearing are Shawn Hatosy as Lootz's son Mikey; Estella Warren as Mikey's pregnant girlfriend; Paul Sorvino as the aging lounge lizard; Joey Fatone as the young lounge lizard; Arthur J. Nascarella as the mobster Nicky Fingers Bonnatto who wants Kaplow to change modernize the Shangri-La; Ron Livingston as Nicky's VP, Larry Sokolov; Richard Israel as Sokolov's numbers man Marty Goldfarb; Ellen Greene as the bartender; and MC Gainey as the highway patrolman.
Written and directed by Wayne Kramer.
Run time: 1 hour, 41 minutes
Rated R for strong sexuality, violence, language and some drug use.
My personal rating: B
5/20/2009
Modigliani (2004)
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"You can't change destiny."
In 1919 Paris, the talk of the cafe society was Salone des Artiste, a competition for artists. Amedeo Modigliani (Andy Garcia) and Pablo Picasso (Omid Djalili) become enmeshed in their rivalry for the prize. Modigliani needs the money to rescue and raise the illegitimate child he fathered with Jeanne Hébuterne (Elsa Zylberstein), a young and beautiful Catholic girl. Her bigoted parents (Jim Baker, Michelle Newell) have sent the child away to be raised by nuns because Modigliani is a Jew.
Modigliani is intent on painting a masterpiece that will secure the prize.
Also appearing are Eva Herzigova as Picasso's wife Olga; Peter Capadli as Jean Cocteau; Dan Astileanu as Diego Rivera; Miriam Margolyes as Gertrude Stein; Ion Siminie as Claude Monet.
Written and directed by Mick Davis.
Run time: 2 hours, 8 minutes
Rated R for some language and drug use.
My personal rating: B
In 1919 Paris, the talk of the cafe society was Salone des Artiste, a competition for artists. Amedeo Modigliani (Andy Garcia) and Pablo Picasso (Omid Djalili) become enmeshed in their rivalry for the prize. Modigliani needs the money to rescue and raise the illegitimate child he fathered with Jeanne Hébuterne (Elsa Zylberstein), a young and beautiful Catholic girl. Her bigoted parents (Jim Baker, Michelle Newell) have sent the child away to be raised by nuns because Modigliani is a Jew.
Modigliani is intent on painting a masterpiece that will secure the prize.
Also appearing are Eva Herzigova as Picasso's wife Olga; Peter Capadli as Jean Cocteau; Dan Astileanu as Diego Rivera; Miriam Margolyes as Gertrude Stein; Ion Siminie as Claude Monet.
Written and directed by Mick Davis.
Run time: 2 hours, 8 minutes
Rated R for some language and drug use.
My personal rating: B
5/19/2009
The Year My Parents Went on Vacation (2006)
O Ano em Que Meus Pais Saíram de Férias
In 1970. while a military coup was raging in Brazil, the Brazilian team was also in the World Cup competition in soccer. When 12-year-old Mauro's (Michel Joelsas) Communist parents (Simone Spoladore, Eduardo Moreira) must flee for their lives, they drop off Mauro at his grandfather's apartment building where he will be safe until they can return for him.
Little did his parents know that Mauro's grandfather had just passed away. Suddenly the grandfather's neighbor, Shlomo (Germano Haiut) becomes Mauro's guardian in the old Jewish district of São Paulo.
Mauro must begin a whole new life but his passion for football (soccer) helps him through the difficuly times. He is also befriended by the neighbor girl, Hanna (Daniela Piepszyk).
This film was nominated for and won many prestigious international film awards.
Directed by Cao Hamburger.
Subtitled.
Run time: 1 hour, 44 minutes
Rated PG for thematic material, mild language, brief suggestive content, some violence and smoking.
My personal rating: B
In 1970. while a military coup was raging in Brazil, the Brazilian team was also in the World Cup competition in soccer. When 12-year-old Mauro's (Michel Joelsas) Communist parents (Simone Spoladore, Eduardo Moreira) must flee for their lives, they drop off Mauro at his grandfather's apartment building where he will be safe until they can return for him.
Little did his parents know that Mauro's grandfather had just passed away. Suddenly the grandfather's neighbor, Shlomo (Germano Haiut) becomes Mauro's guardian in the old Jewish district of São Paulo.
Mauro must begin a whole new life but his passion for football (soccer) helps him through the difficuly times. He is also befriended by the neighbor girl, Hanna (Daniela Piepszyk).
This film was nominated for and won many prestigious international film awards.
Directed by Cao Hamburger.
Subtitled.
Run time: 1 hour, 44 minutes
Rated PG for thematic material, mild language, brief suggestive content, some violence and smoking.
My personal rating: B
5/18/2009
Nothing But the Truth (2008)
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"Now for some reason, you don't reveal your source, you'll be held in contempt. And that means jail time. And we're not talking about some sort of a Martha Stewart cell with a butler nonsense."
When a Washington, DC, journalist, Rachel Armstrong (Kate Beckinsale) refuses to give up her source when her article naming a CIA operative who recently went on a fact-finding mission to Venezuela is released, she is imprisoned on contempt charges for an indefinite period. But after a year, will Armstrong continue to keep her secret? And why?
Others in the fine cast are Vera Farmiga as the CIA agent Erica Van Doren; Matt Dillon as the prosecuting attorney Patton Dubois; Angela Basset as Armstrong's editor; Alan Alda as Armstrong's attorney Alan Burnside; David Schwimmer as Armstrong's husband, Noah Wyle as the newspaper's legal council; Floyd Abrams as the judge; and Preston Berry as Armstrong's young son.
Written and directed by Rod Lurie.
Run time: 1 hour, 48 minutes
Rated R for language, some sexual material, and a scene of violence.
My personal rating: B
When a Washington, DC, journalist, Rachel Armstrong (Kate Beckinsale) refuses to give up her source when her article naming a CIA operative who recently went on a fact-finding mission to Venezuela is released, she is imprisoned on contempt charges for an indefinite period. But after a year, will Armstrong continue to keep her secret? And why?
Others in the fine cast are Vera Farmiga as the CIA agent Erica Van Doren; Matt Dillon as the prosecuting attorney Patton Dubois; Angela Basset as Armstrong's editor; Alan Alda as Armstrong's attorney Alan Burnside; David Schwimmer as Armstrong's husband, Noah Wyle as the newspaper's legal council; Floyd Abrams as the judge; and Preston Berry as Armstrong's young son.
Written and directed by Rod Lurie.
Run time: 1 hour, 48 minutes
Rated R for language, some sexual material, and a scene of violence.
My personal rating: B
5/17/2009
Owning Mahowny (2003)
Based on a true story.
"I've got a financial problem. A shortfall."
Take one seemingly unassuming man -- Dan Mahowny (Philip Seymour Hoffman) -- with a gambling problem plus access to millions of dollars because of his job as a banker. What do you get? The biggest case of bank fraud perpetrated by a single person in Canadian history.
Also appearing are Minnie Driver as Mahowny's girlfriend; Maury Chaykin as Mahowny's bookie; John Hurt as the astute casino manager.
Directed by Richard Kwietniowski.
Run time: 1 hour, 44 minutes
Rated R for language and some sexuality.
My personal rating: B
5/16/2009
Harold (2008)
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"A suggestion: Wear Fruit-of-the-Loom underwear. It hurts less when they give you a wedgie."
Thirteen-year-old Harold (Spencer Breslin) loves his little hometown. He knows everyone and everyone knows him. He's a leader in school. When his Mom (Ally Sheedy) tells Harold and his older sister (Stella Maeve) that she has a great job offer in another town, Harold doesn't want to leave, but he has no choice.
Most of the kids and some of the teachers in the new school simply aren't nice to a 13-year-old nurd with serious male pattern baldness, bunions, dorky clothes, old man attitude. Life is only made a little easier thanks to a school janitor (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) who befriends Harold.
Others in the cast include: Fred Willard as the doctor in the new town; Nikki Blonsky as Rhonda who has a serious crush on Harold; Nicky Katt as a policeman; Chris Parnell as Coach Vanderpool; Suzanne Shepherd as the sex-starved old woman next door; Elizabeth Gillies as Evelyn who Harold persues; Robert Gorrie as his sister's boyfriend.
Written and directed by T. Sean Shannon.
Run time: 1 hour, 45 minutes
Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content, language and teen drinking.
My personal rating: B
Thirteen-year-old Harold (Spencer Breslin) loves his little hometown. He knows everyone and everyone knows him. He's a leader in school. When his Mom (Ally Sheedy) tells Harold and his older sister (Stella Maeve) that she has a great job offer in another town, Harold doesn't want to leave, but he has no choice.
Most of the kids and some of the teachers in the new school simply aren't nice to a 13-year-old nurd with serious male pattern baldness, bunions, dorky clothes, old man attitude. Life is only made a little easier thanks to a school janitor (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) who befriends Harold.
Others in the cast include: Fred Willard as the doctor in the new town; Nikki Blonsky as Rhonda who has a serious crush on Harold; Nicky Katt as a policeman; Chris Parnell as Coach Vanderpool; Suzanne Shepherd as the sex-starved old woman next door; Elizabeth Gillies as Evelyn who Harold persues; Robert Gorrie as his sister's boyfriend.
Written and directed by T. Sean Shannon.
Run time: 1 hour, 45 minutes
Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content, language and teen drinking.
My personal rating: B
5/15/2009
What Doesn't Kill You (2008)
Based on a true story.
Choices and Consequences
Two teenage pals -- Paulie (Ethan Hawke) and Brian (Mark Ruffalo) -- grew up together making pocket money as runners for a low level thug in South Boston. Fifteen years later they're tired of getting the small cuts from the jobs Pat Kelly (Brian Goodman, who also co-wrote and directed this film which is based on his own life) and decide to strike out on their own and call their own shots.
They get involved with drug supplier Jay (Brian S. Goodman) and his hyped up brother Sean (Brian Connolly) in dealing cocaine and steroids.
Also appearing are Donnie Wahlberg ans the determined detective tracking Paulie and Brian; Amanda Peet as Brian's long-suffering wife, Stacy; Angela Featherstone as Stacy's best friend Katie;
Run time: 1 hour, 40 minutes
Rated R for language, drug use, some violence and brief sexuality.
My personal rating: B
Two teenage pals -- Paulie (Ethan Hawke) and Brian (Mark Ruffalo) -- grew up together making pocket money as runners for a low level thug in South Boston. Fifteen years later they're tired of getting the small cuts from the jobs Pat Kelly (Brian Goodman, who also co-wrote and directed this film which is based on his own life) and decide to strike out on their own and call their own shots.
They get involved with drug supplier Jay (Brian S. Goodman) and his hyped up brother Sean (Brian Connolly) in dealing cocaine and steroids.
Also appearing are Donnie Wahlberg ans the determined detective tracking Paulie and Brian; Amanda Peet as Brian's long-suffering wife, Stacy; Angela Featherstone as Stacy's best friend Katie;
Run time: 1 hour, 40 minutes
Rated R for language, drug use, some violence and brief sexuality.
My personal rating: B
5/14/2009
Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995)
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"Why do you hate me?"
"Because you're ugly."
In this NY Cupcake Land suburban satire, seventh-grader Dawn Wiener (Heather Matarazzo) must endure a bully (Brendan Sexton, Jr.), a nerdy older brother (Matthew Faber), an adorable little sister (Daria Kalinina) who is clearly Dawn's parents' (Angela Pietropinto, Bill Buell) favorite child, her best friend (Dimitri DeFresco) who is also a social reject, and a sexy high schooler (Eric Mabius) who is in her brother's garage band.
Written and directed by Todd Solondz.
Run time: 1 hour, 28 minutes
Rated R for language.
My personal rating: C
Written and directed by Todd Solondz.
Run time: 1 hour, 28 minutes
Rated R for language.
My personal rating: C
5/13/2009
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)
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When Pete Perkin's (Tommy Lee Jones, who also directed) best friend, Melquiades Estrada (Julio César Cedillo) is found shot to death in the Texas desert near his little goat farm, Pete makes it his business to both find whoever shot Melquiades and to take Melquiades home to his small Mexican village for burial.
What follows is one man's determination to do the right thing and another man's forced and violent journey to redemption.
Also appearing are Barry Pepper as the new, overly aggressive border patrolman Mike Norton; January Jones as Mike's beautiful wife Lou Ann; Dwight Yoakam as Sheriff Belmont; Melissa Leo as a loose woman who befriends Pete, Lou Ann and services the sheriff; Levon Helm as an old blind man on the high mesa; Mel Rodriguez as Captain Gomez of the border patrol; and Vanessa Bauche as Mariana, the herbalist.
Not for the weak stomached!
Run time: 2 hours, 1 minute
Rated R for language, violence and sexuality.
My personal rating: B
"Promise me one thing, Pete. If I die over here, carry me back to my family and bury me in my home town. I don't want to be buried on this side among all the f***ing billboards."
When Pete Perkin's (Tommy Lee Jones, who also directed) best friend, Melquiades Estrada (Julio César Cedillo) is found shot to death in the Texas desert near his little goat farm, Pete makes it his business to both find whoever shot Melquiades and to take Melquiades home to his small Mexican village for burial.
What follows is one man's determination to do the right thing and another man's forced and violent journey to redemption.
Also appearing are Barry Pepper as the new, overly aggressive border patrolman Mike Norton; January Jones as Mike's beautiful wife Lou Ann; Dwight Yoakam as Sheriff Belmont; Melissa Leo as a loose woman who befriends Pete, Lou Ann and services the sheriff; Levon Helm as an old blind man on the high mesa; Mel Rodriguez as Captain Gomez of the border patrol; and Vanessa Bauche as Mariana, the herbalist.
Not for the weak stomached!
Run time: 2 hours, 1 minute
Rated R for language, violence and sexuality.
My personal rating: B
5/12/2009
Forever Young (1992)
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"It's the dead guy!"
When hot shot test pilot Capt. Danny McCormick (Mel Gibson) doesn't want to witness his beloved girlfriend Helen (Isabel Glasser) in a coma after a horrible accident, he convinces his scientist friend Harry Finley (George Wendt) to using him as a guinea pig for a cryogenics experiment. Danny wants to be frozen for a year so he doesn't have to face Helen's condition. But after being frozen for 53 years, Danny comes back to life and finds himself in 1992.
Danny becomes involved in the lives of nurse Claire Cooper (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her son Nat (Elijah Wood).
Also appearing are Robert Hy Gorman as Nat's friend Felix; Joe Morton as Dr. Cameron, a modern crygenics expert; Nicolas Surovy as Claire's boyfriend; and Veronica Lauren as Nat's little girlfriend Alice.
Directed by Steve Miner.
Run time: 1 hour, 42 minutes
Rated PG for some language and domestic conflict.
My personal rating: B
When hot shot test pilot Capt. Danny McCormick (Mel Gibson) doesn't want to witness his beloved girlfriend Helen (Isabel Glasser) in a coma after a horrible accident, he convinces his scientist friend Harry Finley (George Wendt) to using him as a guinea pig for a cryogenics experiment. Danny wants to be frozen for a year so he doesn't have to face Helen's condition. But after being frozen for 53 years, Danny comes back to life and finds himself in 1992.
Danny becomes involved in the lives of nurse Claire Cooper (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her son Nat (Elijah Wood).
Also appearing are Robert Hy Gorman as Nat's friend Felix; Joe Morton as Dr. Cameron, a modern crygenics expert; Nicolas Surovy as Claire's boyfriend; and Veronica Lauren as Nat's little girlfriend Alice.
Directed by Steve Miner.
Run time: 1 hour, 42 minutes
Rated PG for some language and domestic conflict.
My personal rating: B
5/11/2009
The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996)
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"This thing that we call a wedding ceremony is really the final scene of the fairy tale. They never tell you what happens after. They never tell you that Cinderella drove the Prince crazy with her obsessive need to clean the castle, cause she missed her day job, right?"
Columbia literature professor Rose Morgan (Barbra Streisand, who also directed) and math professor Gregory Larkin (Jeff Bridges) prove that romance isn't just for the youthful despite her exuberance and his cynacism.
Also appearing are Lauren Bacall (who was nominated for an Oscar for this role) as Rose's mother; Mimi Rogers as Rose's sister Claire; Pierce Brosnan as Rose's over-sexed new brother-in-law; Brenda Vaccaro as Rose's best friend Doris; Elle MacPherson as Gregory's ex-girlfriend; and George Segal as Gregory's hedonistic friend.
The song "I Finally Found Someone," sung by Streisand and Bryan Adams, was nominated for an Oscar.
Run time: 2 hours, 6 minutes
Rated PG-13 for language, sensuality and some mature thematic material.
My personal rating: B
Columbia literature professor Rose Morgan (Barbra Streisand, who also directed) and math professor Gregory Larkin (Jeff Bridges) prove that romance isn't just for the youthful despite her exuberance and his cynacism.
Also appearing are Lauren Bacall (who was nominated for an Oscar for this role) as Rose's mother; Mimi Rogers as Rose's sister Claire; Pierce Brosnan as Rose's over-sexed new brother-in-law; Brenda Vaccaro as Rose's best friend Doris; Elle MacPherson as Gregory's ex-girlfriend; and George Segal as Gregory's hedonistic friend.
The song "I Finally Found Someone," sung by Streisand and Bryan Adams, was nominated for an Oscar.
Run time: 2 hours, 6 minutes
Rated PG-13 for language, sensuality and some mature thematic material.
My personal rating: B
5/10/2009
Lantana (2001)
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"You know, you really should have told me that you have a weak heart."
Ten lives intersect, inject, reject and every other kind of -ect in this almost-all-Australian drama.
Police Detective Leon Zat (Anthony LaPaglia) is guilt-ridden about his affair with Jane O'May (Rachael Blake). Meanwhile, Leon's wife Sonja (Kerry Armstrong) tells her psychiatrist, Dr. Valerie Somers (Barbara Hershey) that she's concerned about her marriage and is depressed that the passion and honesty seem to be gone in her relationship with Leon.
In another meanwhile, Valerie and her law dean husband John (Geoffrey Rush) have had their own distance for the past 18 months since the murder of their daughter and especially since Valerie's book about their daughter was recently released. In addition, Valerie is feeling odd about one of her patients, Patrick (Peter Phelps), who is having an affair with a married man.
Still more meanwhiles when Jane's neighbor and friend Paula (Daniella Farinacci) tells Jane that Paula's husband Nik (Vince Colosimo) has talked with Jane's estranged husband Pete (Glenn Robbins) and Pete wants to reunite with Jane. Jane proceeds to come on to the unemployed Nik when Paula is at work.
When Valerie goes missing late one night, puzzle pieces scattered all over begin to come together.
Leah Purcell appears as Leon's police partner Claudia Wiss who has covered his affair from Sonja and who is also smitten with a mystery man she sees regularly at the diner.
The first film to win all of the top six categories of the Australian Film Institute (AFI) awards: best picture, best director, best actress, best actor, best supporting actress, best supporting actor. It also won for best adapted screenplay.
Adapted from Andrew Bovell's play Speaking in Tongues. Directed by Ray Lawrence.
Run time: 2 hours, 1 minute
Rated R for language and sexuality.
My personal rating: B
Ten lives intersect, inject, reject and every other kind of -ect in this almost-all-Australian drama.
Police Detective Leon Zat (Anthony LaPaglia) is guilt-ridden about his affair with Jane O'May (Rachael Blake). Meanwhile, Leon's wife Sonja (Kerry Armstrong) tells her psychiatrist, Dr. Valerie Somers (Barbara Hershey) that she's concerned about her marriage and is depressed that the passion and honesty seem to be gone in her relationship with Leon.
In another meanwhile, Valerie and her law dean husband John (Geoffrey Rush) have had their own distance for the past 18 months since the murder of their daughter and especially since Valerie's book about their daughter was recently released. In addition, Valerie is feeling odd about one of her patients, Patrick (Peter Phelps), who is having an affair with a married man.
Still more meanwhiles when Jane's neighbor and friend Paula (Daniella Farinacci) tells Jane that Paula's husband Nik (Vince Colosimo) has talked with Jane's estranged husband Pete (Glenn Robbins) and Pete wants to reunite with Jane. Jane proceeds to come on to the unemployed Nik when Paula is at work.
When Valerie goes missing late one night, puzzle pieces scattered all over begin to come together.
Leah Purcell appears as Leon's police partner Claudia Wiss who has covered his affair from Sonja and who is also smitten with a mystery man she sees regularly at the diner.
The first film to win all of the top six categories of the Australian Film Institute (AFI) awards: best picture, best director, best actress, best actor, best supporting actress, best supporting actor. It also won for best adapted screenplay.
Adapted from Andrew Bovell's play Speaking in Tongues. Directed by Ray Lawrence.
Run time: 2 hours, 1 minute
Rated R for language and sexuality.
My personal rating: B
5/09/2009
Charlie Bartlett (2007)
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"Charlie, there are more important things than popularity."
"Like what? Cause I'm seventeen. And right now, popularity's pretty damn important."
"Like what you do with that popularity."
Charlie Bartlett (Anton Yelchin) has a desperate need to be popular. His antics toward this goal have caused him to be expelled from numerous prep boarding schools. Now at home with his mother (Hope Davis) in their mansion, he is sent off to public school for the first time in his life.
At first, the preppy boy is the subject of bullying by the high school punks, lead by Murphey Bivens (Tyler Hilton). Thanks to his mother's psychiatrist (Stephen Young), who is more than willing to write prescriptions for anything Charlie fakes, Charlie finds a way to become quite popular -- much to the dismay of Principal Nathan Gardner (Robert Downey, Jr.).
Also appearing is Kat Dennings as Susan Gardner, Charlie's love interest who happens to be the principal's daughter.
Directed by Jon Poll.
Run time: 1 hour, 37 minutes
Rated R for language, drug content and brief nudity.
My personal rating: C+
"Like what? Cause I'm seventeen. And right now, popularity's pretty damn important."
"Like what you do with that popularity."
Charlie Bartlett (Anton Yelchin) has a desperate need to be popular. His antics toward this goal have caused him to be expelled from numerous prep boarding schools. Now at home with his mother (Hope Davis) in their mansion, he is sent off to public school for the first time in his life.
At first, the preppy boy is the subject of bullying by the high school punks, lead by Murphey Bivens (Tyler Hilton). Thanks to his mother's psychiatrist (Stephen Young), who is more than willing to write prescriptions for anything Charlie fakes, Charlie finds a way to become quite popular -- much to the dismay of Principal Nathan Gardner (Robert Downey, Jr.).
Also appearing is Kat Dennings as Susan Gardner, Charlie's love interest who happens to be the principal's daughter.
Directed by Jon Poll.
Run time: 1 hour, 37 minutes
Rated R for language, drug content and brief nudity.
My personal rating: C+
5/08/2009
Silent Fall (1994)
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"Abuse victims make the best actors."
When a married couple is found brutally stabbed to death in the bedroom of their posh Maryland home, the only witnesses are their older teenage daughter Silvie Warden (Liv Tyler) who apparently was also attacked but remembers nothing and their young autistic son Tim (Ben Faulkner) who can't communicate any information worth using in solving the case.
Sheriff Mitch Rivers (J.T. Walsh) calls his old friend Jake Ranier (Richard Dreyfuss), a former child psychiatrist, in on the case in hopes of breaking the barrier surrounding the young boy.
Also appearing are Linda Hamilton as Jake's wife; John Lithgow as a child psychologist who wants to use drugs to get the boy to reveal information; and Zahn McClarnon as Deputy Bear.
Directed by Bruce Beresford.
Run time: 1 hour, 41 minutes
Rated R.
My personal rating: B-
When a married couple is found brutally stabbed to death in the bedroom of their posh Maryland home, the only witnesses are their older teenage daughter Silvie Warden (Liv Tyler) who apparently was also attacked but remembers nothing and their young autistic son Tim (Ben Faulkner) who can't communicate any information worth using in solving the case.
Sheriff Mitch Rivers (J.T. Walsh) calls his old friend Jake Ranier (Richard Dreyfuss), a former child psychiatrist, in on the case in hopes of breaking the barrier surrounding the young boy.
Also appearing are Linda Hamilton as Jake's wife; John Lithgow as a child psychologist who wants to use drugs to get the boy to reveal information; and Zahn McClarnon as Deputy Bear.
Directed by Bruce Beresford.
Run time: 1 hour, 41 minutes
Rated R.
My personal rating: B-
5/07/2009
Husbands and Wives (1992)
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"God never plays dice with the universe"
"No, he just plays hide-and-seek."
When Gabe (Woody Allen, who also wrote and directed) and his wife Judy (Mia Farrow) find out their best friends, Jack (Sydney Pollack) and Sally (Judy Davis) are breaking up, it causes Gabe and Judy more distress than it appears to cause Jack and Sally. It also makes Gabe and Judy to reevaluate their own marriage.
Also appearing are Timothy Jerome as a man Sally tries to date; Lysette Anthony as Jack's new girlfriend Sam; Juliette Lewis as Rain, one of Gabe's students with whom he is growing quite smitten; Liam Neeson as Michael who become's Sally's first serious boyfriend; Ron Rifkin as Rain's former therapist/ex-boyfriend; Blythe Danner and Brian McConnachie as Rain's parents; Benno Schmidt as Judy's ex-husband.
Run time: 1 hour, 48 minutes
Rated R for language and a scene of sexuality.
My personal rating: B
"No, he just plays hide-and-seek."
When Gabe (Woody Allen, who also wrote and directed) and his wife Judy (Mia Farrow) find out their best friends, Jack (Sydney Pollack) and Sally (Judy Davis) are breaking up, it causes Gabe and Judy more distress than it appears to cause Jack and Sally. It also makes Gabe and Judy to reevaluate their own marriage.
Also appearing are Timothy Jerome as a man Sally tries to date; Lysette Anthony as Jack's new girlfriend Sam; Juliette Lewis as Rain, one of Gabe's students with whom he is growing quite smitten; Liam Neeson as Michael who become's Sally's first serious boyfriend; Ron Rifkin as Rain's former therapist/ex-boyfriend; Blythe Danner and Brian McConnachie as Rain's parents; Benno Schmidt as Judy's ex-husband.
Run time: 1 hour, 48 minutes
Rated R for language and a scene of sexuality.
My personal rating: B
5/06/2009
Frozen River (2008)
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Desperation
Hardbitten Rae Eddy (Melissa Leo) and her two sons, 15-year-ild TJ (Charlie McDermott) and five-year-old Ricky (James Reilly) have been abandoned yet again by her shiftless, addict, gambling husband. With the final payment to owe on her dream double-wide and barely able to support her boys, Rae gets involved with a cynical young Mohawk woman, Lila Littlejohn (Misty Upham), smuggling Chinese and Pakistani illegals across the frozen St. Lawrence river from Quebec into upstate New York. Rae's greed leads to a life or death cat and mouse game.
Michael O'Keefe plays the trooper on the hunt.
Written and directed by newcomer Courtney Hunt. Melissa Leo was nominated for an Oscar for best actress and Courtney Hunt received the nomination for best screenplay. The film garnered numerous other prestigious nominations and wins around the world.
Rated R for some language.
Run time: 1 hour, 37 minutes
My personal rating: B+
Hardbitten Rae Eddy (Melissa Leo) and her two sons, 15-year-ild TJ (Charlie McDermott) and five-year-old Ricky (James Reilly) have been abandoned yet again by her shiftless, addict, gambling husband. With the final payment to owe on her dream double-wide and barely able to support her boys, Rae gets involved with a cynical young Mohawk woman, Lila Littlejohn (Misty Upham), smuggling Chinese and Pakistani illegals across the frozen St. Lawrence river from Quebec into upstate New York. Rae's greed leads to a life or death cat and mouse game.
Michael O'Keefe plays the trooper on the hunt.
Written and directed by newcomer Courtney Hunt. Melissa Leo was nominated for an Oscar for best actress and Courtney Hunt received the nomination for best screenplay. The film garnered numerous other prestigious nominations and wins around the world.
Rated R for some language.
Run time: 1 hour, 37 minutes
My personal rating: B+
5/05/2009
Copying Beethoven (2006)
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"God whispers into the ears of some men, but he shouts into mine!"
In this fictionalization of Ludwig von Beethoven's last year of life, a young woman -- Anna Holtz (Diane Kruger) -- is sent to serve as a copyist for Beethoven (Ed Harris). At great sacrifice by her father, Anna was sent to study composing at the conservatory in Vienna. She lives in a convent where her aunt is a nun and she is engaged to a promising architect, Martin Bauer (Matthew Goode).
Beethoven is not at all happy about a woman copyist but in time, the brilliant, deaf madman becomes totally dependent on Anna.
Also appearing are Phyllidia Law as the Mother Superior of the convent and Joe Anderson as Beethoven's nephew Karl who uses Ludwig to no end.
Though this film borrows heavily from Amadeus in some scenes and Harris' intensity as Beethoven shows through, it didn't leave me as charged as Amadeus did. But I must say, the performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is masterful.
Directed by Agnieszka Holland.
Run time: 1 hour, 44 minutes
Rated PG-13 for some sexual elements.
My personal rating: B-
In this fictionalization of Ludwig von Beethoven's last year of life, a young woman -- Anna Holtz (Diane Kruger) -- is sent to serve as a copyist for Beethoven (Ed Harris). At great sacrifice by her father, Anna was sent to study composing at the conservatory in Vienna. She lives in a convent where her aunt is a nun and she is engaged to a promising architect, Martin Bauer (Matthew Goode).
Beethoven is not at all happy about a woman copyist but in time, the brilliant, deaf madman becomes totally dependent on Anna.
Also appearing are Phyllidia Law as the Mother Superior of the convent and Joe Anderson as Beethoven's nephew Karl who uses Ludwig to no end.
Though this film borrows heavily from Amadeus in some scenes and Harris' intensity as Beethoven shows through, it didn't leave me as charged as Amadeus did. But I must say, the performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is masterful.
Directed by Agnieszka Holland.
Run time: 1 hour, 44 minutes
Rated PG-13 for some sexual elements.
My personal rating: B-
5/04/2009
Crossroads (1986)
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"The blues ain't nothin' but a good man feelin' bad, thinkin' 'bout the woman he once was with."
Eugene "Lightning Boy" Martone (Ralph Macchio) is a talented young guitar player who wants to learn the ways of authentic blues. When he meets blues legend Willie "Blind Dog" Brown (Joe Seneca) he's off on a journey to the Mississippi Delta with the promise of learning it all. Little does Eugene know that Brown is actually trying to buy his way out of a deal he made the devil decades early by offering up young Eugene in his place.
Also appearing are Jami Gertz, Joe Morton, Robert Judd, and Harry Carey Jr.
The strength of the film is some pretty good blues slide guitar but otherwise it's just sort of a mediocre sweet story.
Directed by Walter Hill.
Run time: 1 hour, 36 minutes
Rated R.
My personal rating: C+
Eugene "Lightning Boy" Martone (Ralph Macchio) is a talented young guitar player who wants to learn the ways of authentic blues. When he meets blues legend Willie "Blind Dog" Brown (Joe Seneca) he's off on a journey to the Mississippi Delta with the promise of learning it all. Little does Eugene know that Brown is actually trying to buy his way out of a deal he made the devil decades early by offering up young Eugene in his place.
Also appearing are Jami Gertz, Joe Morton, Robert Judd, and Harry Carey Jr.
The strength of the film is some pretty good blues slide guitar but otherwise it's just sort of a mediocre sweet story.
Directed by Walter Hill.
Run time: 1 hour, 36 minutes
Rated R.
My personal rating: C+
5/03/2009
Quills (2000)
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"So many authors are denied the gratification of a concrete response to their work. I am blessed."
Imprisoned for many years for his pornographic and masochistic writings, the Marquis de Sade (Geoffrey Rush) eventually found himself in the insane asylum Chareton which was run by a benevolent priest, the Abbé du Coulmier (Joaquin Phoenix). He continued writing his tomes in his well-appointed cell and his manuscripts were secreted out to his publisher by the young and beautiful laundress Madeleine LeClerq (Kate Winslet).
When the emperor Napoleon (Ron Cook) discovers that de Sade's work continues to sell, he dispatches Dr. Royer-Collard (Michael Caine) to assess the situation and put and end to the writings. While the Abbé refuses to allow Royer-Collard to employ barbaric torture to "tame" de Sade, de Sade is gradually deprived of his quills, ink and paper and then the opulent decor of his cell and finally left naked in his barren cell. But he continues to find ways to write and tell his stories.
Also in the cast are Amelia Warner as Simone, the convent-raised orphan who becomes Royer-Collard's child bride; Stephen Moyer as Prioux, a young architect sent by Napoleon to renovate the Royer-Collard chateau at Chareton; Billie Whitelaw as Madeleine's mother who was blinded by the lye used to wash the asylum's linens; Jane Menelaus as de Sade's long-suffering wife Renee Pelagie; Stephen Marcus as the violent inmate Bouchon; and Elizabeth Berrington as the chambermaid Charlotte who betrays Madeleine.
While factually inaccurate, de Sade did spend many years imprisoned and at the insane asylum of Chareton. Liberties were taken regarding many incidents in de Sade's life. This is a profound film with graphic violence and sexuality. Some may find it extremely vulgar.
Directed by Philip Kaufman.
Run time: 2 hours, 4 minutes
Rated R for strong sexual content including dialogue, violence and language.
My personal rating: B+
Imprisoned for many years for his pornographic and masochistic writings, the Marquis de Sade (Geoffrey Rush) eventually found himself in the insane asylum Chareton which was run by a benevolent priest, the Abbé du Coulmier (Joaquin Phoenix). He continued writing his tomes in his well-appointed cell and his manuscripts were secreted out to his publisher by the young and beautiful laundress Madeleine LeClerq (Kate Winslet).
When the emperor Napoleon (Ron Cook) discovers that de Sade's work continues to sell, he dispatches Dr. Royer-Collard (Michael Caine) to assess the situation and put and end to the writings. While the Abbé refuses to allow Royer-Collard to employ barbaric torture to "tame" de Sade, de Sade is gradually deprived of his quills, ink and paper and then the opulent decor of his cell and finally left naked in his barren cell. But he continues to find ways to write and tell his stories.
Also in the cast are Amelia Warner as Simone, the convent-raised orphan who becomes Royer-Collard's child bride; Stephen Moyer as Prioux, a young architect sent by Napoleon to renovate the Royer-Collard chateau at Chareton; Billie Whitelaw as Madeleine's mother who was blinded by the lye used to wash the asylum's linens; Jane Menelaus as de Sade's long-suffering wife Renee Pelagie; Stephen Marcus as the violent inmate Bouchon; and Elizabeth Berrington as the chambermaid Charlotte who betrays Madeleine.
While factually inaccurate, de Sade did spend many years imprisoned and at the insane asylum of Chareton. Liberties were taken regarding many incidents in de Sade's life. This is a profound film with graphic violence and sexuality. Some may find it extremely vulgar.
Directed by Philip Kaufman.
Run time: 2 hours, 4 minutes
Rated R for strong sexual content including dialogue, violence and language.
My personal rating: B+
5/02/2009
A History of Violence (2005)
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"In this family, we do not solve problems by hitting people!"
"No, in this family, we shoot them!"
The Stalls are an upstanding small town Indiana couple. Tom (Viggo Mortenson) and his wife Edie (Maria Bello) run the town's diner. Thier son Jack (Ashton Holmes) is a gentle spirited teenager who is bullied at school. Little Sarah (Heidi Hayes) is afraid of monsters.
When a couple of murderous thugs arrive at the diner and threaten Tom with guns, Tom shoots them both dead and becomes a hero.
Soon Tom and Edie are been stalked and threated by mobster Carl Fogarty (Ed Harris) and his goons Frank Mulligan (Bill McDonald) and Charlie Roarke (Aidan Devine). Fogarty has seen Tom's hero picture in the newspaper and pegs him as Joey Cusack, brother of Philadelphia mobster Richie Cusack (William Hurt). From there the true tale unfolds.
Also appearing are Peter MacNeill as Sheriff Sam Carney.
Direced by David Cronenberg.
Run time: 1 hour, 36 minutes
Rated R for strong brutal violence, graphic sexuality, nudity, language and some drug use.
My personal rating: B+
"No, in this family, we shoot them!"
The Stalls are an upstanding small town Indiana couple. Tom (Viggo Mortenson) and his wife Edie (Maria Bello) run the town's diner. Thier son Jack (Ashton Holmes) is a gentle spirited teenager who is bullied at school. Little Sarah (Heidi Hayes) is afraid of monsters.
When a couple of murderous thugs arrive at the diner and threaten Tom with guns, Tom shoots them both dead and becomes a hero.
Soon Tom and Edie are been stalked and threated by mobster Carl Fogarty (Ed Harris) and his goons Frank Mulligan (Bill McDonald) and Charlie Roarke (Aidan Devine). Fogarty has seen Tom's hero picture in the newspaper and pegs him as Joey Cusack, brother of Philadelphia mobster Richie Cusack (William Hurt). From there the true tale unfolds.
Also appearing are Peter MacNeill as Sheriff Sam Carney.
Direced by David Cronenberg.
Run time: 1 hour, 36 minutes
Rated R for strong brutal violence, graphic sexuality, nudity, language and some drug use.
My personal rating: B+
5/01/2009
The Whole Wild World (1996)
When schoolteacher and aspiring writer Novalyne Price (Renee Zellweger) arrives in Cross Plains, Texas, in 1933 to begin the school term, she meets Robert Howard (Vincent D'Onofrio), an odd loner with a temper and a successful pulp magazine writer known for his Conan the Barbarian series. She's seeking advice but their friendship soon blossoms into more and Novalyne must learn how to deal with Robert's attitude and stories that offend her sensibilities.
Others in the cast include Ann Wedgeworth and Harve Presnell as Robert's sickly mother and doctor father; and Libby Villari as Novalyne's mother. Also appearing is Elizabeth D'Onofrio (Vincent's sister).
Based on the memoir of Novalyne Price Ellis. Directed by Dan Ireland.
Run time: 1 hour, 46 minutes
Rated PG for a substantial amount of mild language and mature thematic elements.
My personal rating: B+
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