My July 2009 Viewings

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

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

The Score (2001)

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

This score can make them –- or break them.

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

Directed by Frank Oz.

Run time: 2 hour, 3 minutes

Rated R.

My personal rating: B

Two Lovers (2008)

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

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

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

Co-written and directed by James Gray.

Run time: 1 hour, 48 minute

Rated R.

My personal rating: B-

Off the Map (2003)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Your life is yours.”

Directed by Scott Campbell.

Run time: 1 hour, 50 minutes

Rated PG-13.

My personal rating: A-

Breaking and Entering (2007)

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

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

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

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

Written and directed by Anthony Minghella.

Run time: 1 hour, 59 minutes

Rated R.

My personal rating: B

Afterglow (1997)

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Three little words: Lame, lamer, lamest.

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

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

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

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

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

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

I guess I just didn’t get it.

Produced by Robert Altman and directed by Alan Rudolph.

Run time: 1 hour, 54 minutes

Rated R.

My personal rating: D

A Cool, Dry Place (1998)

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

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

Directed by John N. Smith.

Run time: 1 hour, 37 minutes

Rated PG-13 for sexuality and brief strong language.

My personal rating: C+

The Quiet American (2002)

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

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

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

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

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

Run time: 1 hour, 41 minutes

Rated R.

My personal rating: B

The King (2005)

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

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

Written and directed by James Marsh.

Run time: 1 hour, 45 minutes

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

My personal rating: B

Spring Forward (1999)

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

A touching story of new beginnings and closure.

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

Written and directed by Tom Gilroy.

Run time: 1 hour, 52 minutes

Rated R for profanity.

My personal rating: B+

Dark Streets (2008)

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”Welcome to the blues.”
A dramatic, bluesy musical.

When his daddy took his own life, playboy Chaz Davenport (Gabriel Mann) is left with a heap of debt and worries. His blues club, The Tower, has been kept alive for too long by loans that are now being called in. He’s "been livin’ on the layaway plan.”

Chaz also has to balance his romances with his two top singer, Chrystal LaBelle (Bijou Phillips) and the new chanteuse Madelaine Bondurant (Izabella Miko).

Narrated by the club’s MC, Prince Royale (Toledo). Also appearing are Elias Koteas as a “collections agent” called The Lieutenant; Carolyn Seymour as the mysterious Gloria Martin; Ken Rosier as the governor; Michael Fairman as Chaz’ uncle.

Very noir. Set in the 1930s.

Terrific music by Bijou Phillips, Solomon Burke, Aaron Neville, Natalie Cole, Toledo, Etta James, Dr. John, Imelda May, and others.

Directed by Rachel Samuels.

Run time: 1 hour, 23 minutes

Rated R.

My personal rating: B-

Down in the Valley (2005)

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”Don’t say anything. Just think it.”
Harlan Caruthers (Ed Norton) is convinced he’s an old-time swaggering cowboy –- in contemporary San Fernando Valley. Tobe (Evan Rachel Wood) is a rebellious teenager who is growing up to fast. Can his dreams change the realities of her life, especially when they are butting heads with her father (David Morse), a single parent who’s a cop?

Also appearing are Bruce Dern as a horse owner and Rory Caulkins as Tobe’s younger brother.

Written and directed by David Jacobson.

Run time: 1 hour, 54 minutes

Rated R for sexual content, language, and some drug use.

My personal rating: B

The Last Time (2006)

.”The years teach much that the days never knew.”
Hard-driven, foul-mouthed, beyond abrasive cynical loner Ted Ricker (Michael Keaton) is the top salesman for Bineview and is based in NYC. He’s assigned to break in the new man, Jaime Bashant (Brendan Frasier), an apparent hot shot sales rep from Ohio. Jaime is a sweet, gentle, nerdy fellow.

Jaime just can’t make a sale and his job is in jeopardy. When Ted meets Jaime’s fiancé Belisa (Amber Valletta) he suddenly softens. They begin a steamy affair. While he starts letting his sales go because he’s so involved with Belisa, Jaime becomes as abrasive, driven and foul-mouthed as Ted had been.

Also appearing is Daniel Stern as the sales manager.

This is a very dark dramedy with a completely unexpected ending.

Written and directed by Michael Caleo.

Run time: 1 hour, 37 minutes

Rated R for pervasive language, nudity and sexual situations.

My personal rating: B

The Ramen Girl (2008)

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”A bowl of ramen is a self-contained universe with life from the sea, the mountains, and the earth. All existing in perfect harmony. What holds it all together is the broth. The broth gives life to the ramen. Understand?
The winsome Brittany Murphy plays Abby, an adorable blonde who followed her boyfriend Ethan (Gabriel Mann) to Tokyo where he went for a job. Only problem was that she didn’t consult with Ethan in advance and he’s not too keen about her arrival. It doesn’t take him too long to break up with her and move to Kyoto.

Devastated, Abby goes into a ramen (soup) shop just after closing. Despite the language barrier, Abby pours out her heart to the ramen chef, Maezumo (Toshiyuki Nishida) and his wife Reiko (Kimiko Yo). He’s confused and upset but gives her a bowl of ramen to calm her. It works and Abby opens herself to a new opportunity. She wants to learn how to make ramen. Using her very limited Japanese and a translation dictionary, Abby makes it clear to Maezumo that she wants him to teach him.

Maezumo, a hard-drinking, ill-tempered man, is outraged that she’d want to learn –- and that she expects him to teach her. But she persists and after a long spell of scrubbing toilets, washing dishes, and doing other scut jobs, Maezumo slowly begins teaching her the art of ramen making. But he’s never happy with the results and he rages and rants and screams about how stupid she is and how she doesn’t put her heart into the ramen.

In the meantime, Abby and her only friends, actually little more than acquaintances, the gay Charlie (Daniel Evans) and the prostitute Gretchan (Tammy Blanchard), meet a young Asian man who is quite kind to them. Toshi (Sohee Park) had fairly good English skills as he’d attended college in Los Angeles for a year. Even though Toshi is a dreamer with a passion for making music, he’s a “paper pusher” for a Japanese corporation because that is what is expected of him and he must honor tradition.

When Toshi is transferred out of town for a three year stay, Abby is again devastated but sinks herself into working on her ramen-making skills. And getting into Maezumo head to figure out why he is such an angry man.

In the process, Abby learns about the Japanese culture, honor, obligation, humiliation, secrets, spirit, pure love, pain and sadness, and, of course, how to make a perfect bowl of ramen.

Directed by Robert Allan Ackerman.

Run time: 1 hour, 42 minutes

Rated PG-13.

My personal rating: B

Romance & Cigarettes (2005)

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”Two, two things a man should know how to do. Be romantic and smoke his brains out.”
And now for something completely different . . .

What a curious dramedy-romance-musical with the most unlikely of all characters and actors.

Nick Murder (James Gandolfini) -- an overweight, heavy-smoking NYC ironworker -- is married to seamstress Kitty (Susan Sarandon) but having a passionate affair with bawdy Brit Tula (Kate Winslet).

Tossed out by Kitty, can Nick redeem himself and return to the bosom of his family?

When all else fails, someone turns to spewing poetry or song or dancing in the streets.

Also in the cast are Mandy Moore, Mary Louise Parker, and Aida Tuturro as Nick and Kitty’s grungy rock daughters; Steve Buscemi as Nick’s philosophical coworkers; Bobby Cannavale as the boyfriend of one of the daughters; Christopher Walken as Kitty’s protective cousin Bo; Elaine Stritch as Nick’s mother; Eddie Izzard as Kitty’s minister; and Amy Sedaris as Kitty’s friend.

Terrific music by Janis Joplin, Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdink, Dusty Springfield, Elvis, Cyndi Lauper, Connie Francis, Bruce Springsteen, James Brown, Vikki Carr, Buena Vista Social Club, and some Charles Bukowski poetry throw in, too.

Produced by the Coen brothers, but with free-rein given to writer-director John Turturro.

Run time: 1 hour, 48 minute

Rated R.

My personal rating: B

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008)

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Secrets and Lies
Eight-year-old Bruno (Asa Butterfield) moves with his parents, Ralf (David Thewlis) and Elsa (Vera Farmiga) from Berlin to Poland in the early 1940s. His father has a new job – a promotion. While he doesn’t want his family to know the truth of his job – kommandant of a Jewish death camp – he is proud of his contribution to the Father Land.

Young Bruno is bored at their new home as he must stay within the fenced and guarded yard. But eventually he finds his way out and romps in the woods in little boy play. He’s also looking for the “farm” that he can see from an upstairs window.

Upon reaching the “farm” – enclosed by electrified barbed wire, Bruno makes friends with a little boy on the other side of the fence. A little boy wearing odd striped pajamas. The boy, Shmuel (Jack Scanlon), and Bruno become fast friends and Bruno visits him nearly every day.

But the reality of Nazi annihilation of the Jews is ever at the surface, even if the boys don’t comprehend it.

Also appearing are Amber Beattie as Bruno’s sister Gretel; Rupert Friend as the brutal Lt. Kotler; and David Heyman as the Jewish doctor who is reduced to peeling potatoes and gardening within the family’s compound.

Directed by Mark Herman.

Run time: 1 hour, 33 minutes

Rated PG-13.

My personal rating: A

The Event (2003)

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”It’s a lot more complicated than you think.”
Detective Nick Devivo (Parker Posey) is assigned to investigate the apparent suicide of Matt Shapiro (Don McKellar) –- one of several recent suicidesthe Chelsea district of NYC.

Soon she is talking to Brian Knight (Brent Carver) who runs a holistic center for people with AIDS. Brian had been present when Matt died.

Matt’s mother Lila (Olympia Dukakis) and sister Dana (Sarah Polley) have accepted the fact that Matt was gay, had AIDS and took his own life, but his other sister, Gaby Shapiro-Schnell (Joanna P. Adler), is angry and bitter. When questioned by Nick, Gaby goes to Matt’s apartment and finds evidence that there was a celebration of life just prior to Matt’s death.

Also appearing are Jane Leeves as Matt’s lesbian friend and psychologist Mona Rothschild; Dick Latessa as Uncle Leo; Rejean J. Cournoyer as the gossipy queen Rory; Chaz Thorne as Chris, Nick’s brother and a cop who Nick recruits to secret into gay club to find evidence; Chase Duffy as the assistant district attorney.

Making a case for assisted suicide for terminally ill people.

Directed by Thom Fitzgerald.

Run time: 1 hour, 50 minute

Rated R.

My personal rating: B-

The Painted Veil (2006)

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”Does seem silly, really. To put all that effort into something that’s just going to die.”
It’s 1925 and Kitty Fane (Naomi Watts) doesn’t really want to be in China with her husband Walter (Ed Norton) but he is dedicated to his bacteriology research and must be there. He’s a doctor who manages a government laboratory in Shanghai.

Kitty’s parents greatly encouraged her marriage to Walter even though she wasn’t fond of him. “Your days are running out,” they said to her.

Once in Shanghai, Kitty shows herself to be quite uppity and dislikes socializing with the other English people living in the Far East. But it isn’t long before she’s having a passionate affair with the vice consul, Charlie Townsend (Liev Schreiber).

When Walter is called into the countryside to deal with a cholera outbreak, he demands that Kitty comes with him. Despite her protests, Walter blackmails her by telling her he knows of the affair and he will divorce her in a heartbeat unless she comes with him. But Walter will allow Kitty to quietly divorce him but only if Charlie divorces his wife and promises to marry the shallow Kitty. Charlie refuses. So Kitty must go with Walter.

Kitty is upset by the primitive living conditions, the fear of being infected, and the threat of being attacked by the Chinese nationalists. But in short order, she is willingly working with the orphans.

Can Walter and Kitty earn each others respect and love?

Also in the cast are Toby Jones as Waddington, the deputy commissioner; Diana Rigg as the Mother Superior of the orphanage.

Based on the novel by W. Somerset Maugham. Directed by John Curran.
Run time: 2 hour, 5 minute

Rated PG-13.

My personal rating: B+

Jeeves and Wooster: 1:1 (TV Series)

Based on P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves stories

Bertram Wilberforce "Bertie" Wooster (Hugh Laurie), a pre-WWII idly rich English bachelor, is a wastrel and prankster with a sophomoric sense of humor. His manservant Reginald Jeeves (Stephen Fry) is proper, educated, efficient gentleman.

Bertie's best friends, all members of the Drone Club, are as shallow as Bertie is and equal pranksters. The episodes mostly revolve around Bertie and his friends efforts to get married. His Aunt Agatha is pressing for Bertie to "marry well" as she knows this is his only salvation and a good woman could tame him.

This comedy series ran 23 episodes over four years (1990 to 1993) on England's ITV. Outstanding costuming, venue, automobiles, and music.

Season 1, Disk 1:

1 "Jeeves Takes Charge"
April 22, 1990
Aunt Agatha (Mary Wimbush) orders Bertie to marry Honoria Glossop (Liz Kettle). Bertie isn't interested but his friend Richard 'Bingo' Little (Michael Siberry) is. When Bertie's plan to unite Honoria and Bingo backfires, Jeeves hatches a plan to convince Honoria's stuffy parents (Roger Brierley, Jane Downs) that he himself is unfit to marry their daughter.

2 "Tuppy and the Terrier"
April 29, 1990
Bertie wants to propose to Bobbie Wickham (Nina Botting). When Cyril 'Barmy' Fotheringay Phipps (Adam Blackwood) defeats him at golf, Bobbie recommends a water bottle trick that backfires. Whilst Bertie tends Aunt Agatha's pampered dog he is horrified when Bobbie gives the dog to the son of a Broadway producer. Hildebrande 'Tuppy' Glossop (Robert Daws) is infatuated with an opera singer and has dropped Bertie's cousin and her mother, Aunt Dahlia (Brenda Bruce), wants Tippy to give up the singer. Jeeves hatches a plan which involves Bertie singing in public.

3 "The Purity of the Turf"
May 6, 1990
Bertie's Uncle George (Nicholas Selby) wishes to marry a young waitress. Aunt Agatha is upset and instructs Bertie to offers the girl ₤100 to break off the engagement. Bertie meets Maud Wilberforce (Paula Jacobs), who has a connection with his uncle. At Twing Hall, where Lady Wickhammersley (Richenda Carey) has banned all gambling after Lord Wickhammersley (Jack Watling) lost the East Wing in a game. Rupert Steggles (Richard Brain) has arranged to take bets on the events at a village fair. Bertie and Bingo find that Steggles has rigged the events. Jeeves sorts things out.

My personal rating: B

Confidence (2003)

.” A confidence game is like putting on a play where everyone knows their part. The inside man, the roper, the shills, everyone that is, except the mark.”
Con man Jake Vig (Edward Burns) may have swindled the wrong man in Lionel Dolby (Leland Orser). Jake’s crew – Miles (Brian Van Holt), Big Al (Louis Lombardi), Gordo (Paul Giamatti), Lupus (Frankie G) plus a couple of cops on the take, Manzano (Louis Guzman), Whitworth (Donal Logue).

Travis (Morris Chestnut), a henchman for the King (Dustin Hoffman), is after Jake and his team for conning Dolby. The King feels Jake owes him money back for what was taken from Dolby. But the money’s gone. The team needs to find a new mark – one designated by the King.

Lily (Rachel Weisz) joins the crew to be the shill for $5M hit via Mr. Ashby (John Carroll Lynch) on Morgan Price (Robert Forster) of Price Trust.

But now Special Agent Gunther Butan (Andy Garcia) is trying to track down Jake.

A real cat-and-mouse game. The master grafter – can he win? Can you catch the red herrings?

Directed by James Foley.

Run time: 1 hour, 50 minute

Rated R for language and scenes of violence.

My personal rating: B.

Paper (1994)

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”This is the last straw? Where the hell were the straws?
Metro editor Henry Hackett (Michael Keaton) is alternately loyal to and disgusted with a NYC daily newspaper, The Sun, where he works. His wife, Martha (Marissa Tomai), formerly worked at the same newspaper but is now home awaiting the imminent birth of their first child.

The publisher Bernie White (Robert Duvall) is not physically well. The managing editor Alicia Clark (Glenn Close) is always at odds with Henry and working hard to run a tight financial ship.

Henry secures a job offer from The Sentinel publisher, Paul Bladden (Spaulding Gray), but he really doesn’t feel like giving up on The Sun.

When a big story involving racial violence erupts, The Sun is behind the curve. While Henry’s staff bickers about who’s going to cover which aspect of the story, other staffers are also bickering about any number of other things.

When two black teenagers are arrested as suspects in murdering two Arizona bank execs, Henry wants the story run but he doesn’t want the boys convicted in The Sun because they may be innocent.

But can he prove it? Can he get the scoop?

Also appearing are Catherine O’Hara as Martha’s pessimistic friend Susan; Jason Robards as the owner of The Sun, Graham Keighley; Randy Quaid as a paranoid columnist; Clint Howard and Roma Maffia as reporters; Lynne Thigpen as Henry’s assistant Janet; Jason Alexander as embittered bureaucrat Marion Sandusky, and Rance Howard as Alicia’s doctor.

Terrific Randy Newman end credit song –- “Make Up Your Mind.”

Directed by Ron Howard.

Run time: 1 hour, 50 minute

Rated R for language and a scene of post- violence.

My personal rating: B

The Unsaid (2001)

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”…I observed the muscles in her face, the position of her eyes, the rhythm of her breathing. These are all nonverbal cues to the subconscious, to…the unsaid.”
Teenager Kyle Hunter (Trevor Blumas) is full of angst, tension, and hostility. Despite urging from his parents, Michael (Andy Garcia) and Penny (Chelsea Field), he refuses to go to his sister Shelly’s (Linda Cardellini) school recital. Instead he takes a handful of pills, goes to the garage, starts the car, and dies of carbon monoxide poisoning.

A few years later, Michael, a psychologist, connects with a former student, Barbara Lonigan (Teri Polo), a case worker and PhD candidate. She asks him to see a client of hers but Michael refuses as he no longer sees patients.

The young man had discovered his own mother beaten to death by his father. They boy ended up in a residential program but now that he’s turning 18, he’s to be allowed to leave the facility. Barbara doesn’t think he’s ready. Despite the fact that Thomas Caffey (Vincent Kartheiser) is really a “nice kid,” Barbara feels he is suffering from deep depression which he is able to mask.

Resisting the urge to look at the notes on and video of Thomas that Barbara foists on Michael, he finally yields and checks out the boy and is dramatically touch at the similarities between Thomas and his own son, Kyle.

This is a particularly difficult time for Michael. His daughter is becoming distant. His now-ex-wife is involved in a new relationship. He’s having hallucinations that his son is still alive. He is suddenly drawn to Thomas’ situation and decides to help.

Can Michael help Thomas? Can Michael help himself?

Also appearing are Max Peters as the little boy Thomas and Sam Bottoms as Thomas’ father.

Directed by Tom McLouglin.

Run time: 1 hour, 50 minutes

Rated R.

My personal rating: B

Indiscretion of an American Wife (1953)

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A married American woman, Mary Forbes (Jennifer Jones) visits her sister in Rome and falls in love with an Italian, Giovanni Doria (Montgomery Clift). Without seeing it, we know it was a passionate affair, but Mary knows she must end it for the sake of her young daughter back home.

She tries to write a letter to Giovanni but it’s impossible for her to do so she heads to the train station where he finds her. Giovanni tries to persuade her to stay with him and it’s a deep emotional struggle for Mary.

The majority of the film takes place at the train station with lots of swooning, swelling violin music, and many huge crescendos.

Young Richard Beymer plays Mary’s teenage nephew who comes to the station to see her off.

Script by Truman Capote and Ben Hecht. Directed by Vittorio De Sica.

Black and White

Run time: 1 hour, 16 minutes

Not rated by MPAA.

My personal rating: B-

Five Corners (1987)

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“So give the stupid dog the stupid sweater and see if he can pick up the stupid trail.”
Billed as a suspense comedy, this curious film focuses on the Five Corners area of the Bronx in 1964.

Linda (Jodie Foster), a young twenty-something pet store clerk, has a sociopathic stalker, Heinz (John Turturro), who was just let out of jail. She asks her former tough boyfriend, Harry (Tim Robbins), to help her but he’s not available much anymore since he became involved in the civil rights movement. Linda’s current boyfriend James (Todd Graff) wants to help but Linda refuses because the last time he tried to help he was badly beaten.

Others in the cast include Anthony Powers as Officer Zola; John Seitz as Officer Sullivan; Rose Gregorino as Heinz’s clueless mother; Kathleen Chalphant as Harry’s mother.

Directed by Tony Bill.

Run time: 1 hour, 22 minutes

Rated R for violence.

My personal rating: B-

8 Women (2002)

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“Greed will be your demise.”

Young Suzon (Virginie Ledoyen) returns to her parents’ estate in the French countryside to spend the holidays. In short order, we meet her beautiful mother Gaby (Catherine Deneuve); her doting maternal grandmother (Danielle Darrieux); her impish 16-year-old sister Catherine (Ludivine Sagnier); her insolent maternal aunt Augustine (Isabelle Huppert); the household’s beloved cook Chanel (Firemine Richard); and the new maid Louise (Emmanuelle Beart). There is much rejoicing, but also bitterness shown by Aunt Augustine and suspicious glances by the maid Louise.

Before we’ve even had a chance to meet Suzon’s father, he’s found dead. In his bed. With a knife in his back. And the telephone line has been cut. A winter storm prevents the women from going for help.

Suzon becomes the interrogator, first going into the curious maid Louise. She discovers that her father’s black sheep sister, Pierrette (Fanny Ardant) is unexpectedly on the estate grounds probably spending time with the cook Chanel in the cabin where Chanel lives. Chanel tells Suzon that Louise is a job-hopping floozie.

The grandmother informs Suzon that her father had no money left and he stole the grandmother’s investment bonds two days prior.
Oh, wait, you need to follow the film to see the mystery unfold. Each woman has cause – and secrets. And beware, one never knows when one of these women will break into song!

An odd little film, not for everyone.

Directed by Francois Ozon.

Subtitles.

Run time: 1 hour, 58 minutes

Rated R

My personal rating: B-

Boys on the Side (1995)

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3 Women
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Road Trip=
More Than a
Chick Flick
Three women who don't know each other head out from the east coast heading for California. Jane (Whoopi Goldberg), a disgruntled lesbian band singer, Robin (Mary-Louise Parker), a secretive real estate agent, and Holly (Drew Barrymore), a pregnant gal whose boyfriend is an abusive druggie, are each trying to escape their pasts.

The gals get as far as Arizona when Robin falls ill and her new friends learn she has AIDS. Holly falls in love with a cop (Matthew McConaughey). And Jane is kind of the glue that holds them together.

Also appearing are Anita Gillette as Robin's mother and Estelle Parsons as a psychic. Plus some good tunes by Annie Lennox, Joan Armatading, Stevie Nicks, Sheryl Crow, Sarah McLachlan, The Indigo Girls, Pretenders, Bonnie Raitt, Melissa Etheridge, Buffy Sainte-Marie, and many others.

Directed by Herbert Ross.

Run time: 1 hour, 55 minutes

Rated R.

My personal rating: B

Phoebe in Wonderland (2008)

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”At a certain point in your life, probably when too much of it has gone by, you will open your eyes and see yourself for who you are, especially for everything that made you so different from all the awful normals.”
Nine-year-old Phoebe Lichten (Elle Fanning) makes a curious connection with the odd Miss Dodger (Patricia Clarkson), the school’s new drama teacher.

Phoebe’s a “different” kind of girl. She’s not particularly well liked by her classmates and as a result, she’s sometimes caustic toward them. Her teacher, Miss Reiter (Madhur Jaffrey) calls Phoebe’s parents – writers Hillary (Felicity Huffman) and Peter Lichten (Bill Pullman) – to determine if something is wrong with Phoebe or if something is going on at home to cause Phoebe to be like she is. Hillary is quite tired of the constant probing into why a highly intelligent child must be troubled. Hillary quite encourages Phoebe’s uniqueness. Peter would prefer that Phoebe conform more toward “the normal.” He also says things to Phoebe that are unintentionally hurtful.

After seeing a performance of “Swan Lake” with her mother, Phoebe signs up to audition for the school’s production of “Alice in Wonderland.” While every other little girl craves the role of Alice, Phoebe just wants a role in the play. She runs circles around all the other little girls at the audition.

Phoebe’s only real friend is Jamie (Ian Colletti), a charming but also different little boy who collects dolls and wants to play the Queen of Hearts. He tells Phoebe that in order to get what one wants, one needs to pray to God or make God feel one is worthy because they’ve done something they didn’t want to do. In Phoebe’s case, she steps up her obsessive compulsive rituals, even to the point of hurting herself, just so she will win a role. For Jamie, his participating in phys ed meant he won the role he wanted. And for Phoebe, she was cast in the play – as Alice, which caused a great deal of jealousy among the other girls in her class.

Miss Dodger allows the children to take leadership roles in the rehearsals and it’s obvious that Phoebe is the main leader. But outside of rehearsal time, Phoebe continues to display her uniqueness and the principal (Campbell Scott) says she can no longer be in the play. The news is devastating to Phoebe. Her mother and Miss Dodger fight hard to get Phoebe reinstated in the play but there are still rocky roads ahead. Over time, she understands cryptic messages from the characters in the Wonderland story.

Others in the cast include Bailee Madison as Phoebe’s younger sister Olivia; Peter Gerety as Phoebe’s psychologist and Humpty Dumpty; Maddie Corman as a teacher and the White Rabbit; Max Baker as another teacher and the King of Hearts. Look for others of the aforementioned cast playing Wonderland characters.

Written and directed by Daniel Barnz.

Run time: 1 hour, 58 minutes

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

My personal rating: B+

Civic Duty (2006)

.“What would you do?”
In the post-9/11 anxiety, Terry Allen (Peter Krause), who recently lost his job, becomes paranoid about a Middle Eastern neighbor, Gabe Hassan (Khafed Abol Naga). The comings and goings, visitors, and quantities of things taken into Gabe’s apartment lead Terry to believe Gabe is a terrorist.

Terry becomes obsessed with Gabe and breaks into his apartment when he is gone. Items Terry doesn’t understand make Terry more and more convinced. When Terry is unable to arouse the interest of the FBI, he turns all vigilante, captures Gabe and then must decide what to do about the police and FBI outside Gabe’s apartment.

The action culminates in a profound tragedy which is later followed by a disturbing whammy.

Also appearing are Kari Matchett as Terry’s wife Marla; Ian Tracy as police Officer Lloyd; Richard Schiff as FBI agent Tom Hilary.

Directed by Jeff Renfroe.

Run time: 1 hour, 38 minutes

Rated R for language and some threatening situations.

My personal rating: B-

The Pink Panther 2 (2009)

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Successful Incompetence
The Magna Carta has been stole stolen in England. The Shroud of Turin has been stolen in Italy. The Imperial Sword has been stolen in Japan. At the scene of each is the calling card of The Tornado.

France’s Minister of Security, Joubert (Geoffrey Palmer), is concerned about France’s legendary Pink Panther diamond. He calls in Chief Inspector Dreyfus (John Cleese) and informs him that a special Dream Team of investigators from each country is being pulled together to find The Tornado. Dreyfus, of course, is flattered – until Joubert informs him that all the countries want Inspector Clouseau (Steve Martin) to take the lead on the Dream Team.

The Dream Team includes Vicenzo (Andy Garcia) from Italy, Pepperidge (Alfred Molina) from England, and Kenji (Yuki Matsuzaki) from Japan. They are joined by the luscious Sonia (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan) who wrote a book about The Tornado’s reign of crime ten years prior.

Returning to the cast are Jean Reno as Clouseau’s assistant Ponton and Emily Mortimer as Clouseau’s secretary Nicole. Lily Tomlin plays Mrs. Berenger who is to instruct staff on political and social correctness. Jeremy Irons plays Avellaneda who is rumored to be The Tornado’s fence. Johnny Hallyday plays Milliken, the man who is revealed to be The Tornado – but is he really?

Directed by Harald Zwart.

Run time: 1 hour, 32 minutes

Rating: PG

My personal rating: B

The Limey (1999)

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Don't mess with an angry old man.
When Wilson (Terence Stamp) is released from prison after several years, he flies to Big Sur to find out what exactly happened to his daughter Jenny (Melissa George) who apparently died of a broken neck in a fiery car crash. Wilson first contacts Eduardo Roel (Luis Guzmán), a friend of Jenny's, who had mailed Wilson a newspaper clipping informing him of his daughter's death. He also talks to Jenny's friend Elaine (Lesley Ann Warren) and begins to get a bead on the fact that Jenny wasn't that sweet little child he know.

In near Terminator-mode, Wilson sets out to track down Terry Valentine (Peter Fonda), the drug king Jenny lived with at the time of her death.

Other's in the cast include Barry Newman as Valentine's advisor Jim Avery; Nicky Katt, William Lucking, Matthew Kimbrough, John Robotham and Steve Heinze as assorted henchmen, goons, and bodyguards.

Interesting to see old footage of Terance Stamp in the 1967 film Poor Cow which was the inspiration for The Limey.

Directed by Steven Soderbergh.

Run time: 1 hour, 29 minutes

Rated R for violence and language.

My personal rating: B-

Introducing the Dwights (2007)

Young Tim Dwight (Khan Chittenden) runs a “taxi truck” – moving van – in Australia. His flirtation with Jill (Emma Booth) while he’s helping her and her friend Kelly (Katie Wall) move leads to his first romance.

Tim’s controlling mum, Jean (Brenda Blethyn) isn’t too keen on this development. She works in a café but is trying to revitalize her stand-up comedy career and she’s worried that Tim’s relationship will disrupt the family

Meanwhile, Jean’s ex-husband (Frankie Holden), a grocery store security guard, is always reliving his youth when he had a one hit wonder and no other musical success. He’s also grown jealous of Ronnie Stubbs (Philip Quast), the popular country singer who’s been paying attention to Jean.

Also appearing are Richard Wilson as Tim’s developmentally disabled brother Mark; Tracie Summut as Tori, Mark’s girlfriend at the sheltered workshop.

Terrific music by Patsy Cline, Janis Joplin, Bo Diddley, Joe Tex, King Curley, and more.

Directed by Cherie Nowlan.

Run time: 1 hour, 46 minutes

Rated R.

My personal rating: C

Laws of Attraction (2004)

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“Lawyers are scum. Divorce lawyers, though, are the fungus growing beneath the scum.”
Neat as a pin and highly organized Audrey Woods (Julianne Moore) and disheveled and bumbling Daniel Rafferty (Pierce Brosnan) are highly successful divorce lawyers. They are also rivals in a high profile, big dollar divorce suit. They don’t like each other. No, they loathe each other.

In case after case, the two are pitted against each other. Finally it comes down to the bitterest case of all. Grunge designer Serena Jamison (Parker Posey) is represented by Daniel against punk rock musician Thorne Jamison (Michael Sheen), and each one wants only possession of their castle in Ireland. So off the disputing lawyers go to the moors of Ireland to interview the castle staff to determine who should win the castle. Captured by the mystical beauty of Ireland, the duo heads to a celebration in the nearby village and engage in a drinking match which results in the two of them awaking in bed together –- and married.

But the press has hold of the story before Audrey and Daniel can “dispose” of the marriage. They need to continue as opposing lawyers in the celebrity divorce to keep their faces in the law community. But when things get tough in the suit. Audrey and Daniel need to identify what is important to each of them.

Also appearing are Nora Dunn as Judge Abramovitz; and Frances Fisher as Audrey’s eager-for-her-daughter-to-marry mother Sara.

Directed by Peter Howitt.

Run time: 1 hour, 27 minutes

Rated PG-13 for sexual content and language.

My personal rating: C+