Sunshine Cleaning (2009)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Directed by Christine Jeffs.

Run time: 1 hour, 31 minutes

Rated R.

My personal rating: B+

Get Smart (2008)

Forty-three years later, it stands up to the test!

I was skeptical about this old TV turned into movie but I have to say, for camp value alone this is worth the viewing!

Steve Carell definitely channels Don Adams' bungling Maxwell Smart and Anne Hathaway is a commendable Agent 99 in this satisfactory tale of CONTROL vs KAOS.

Also appearing are Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as Agent 23, Alan Arkin as The Chief, Terence Stamp as Siegfried, Terry Crews as Agent 91, David Koechner as Larabee, James Caan as the President, Bill Murray as Agent 13, Patrick Warburton as Hymie.

Directed by Peter Segal.

Run time: 1 hour, 50 minutes

Rated PG-13 for some rude humor, action violence and language.

My personal rating: B

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

Not Shiny

A quirky family embarks on a road trip from Albuquerque to Los Angeles to get their young girl to a beauty pageant. Greg Kinnear is the motivational speaker father who pushes the girl to perfection while Toni Collette plays the hippy-dippy mother who urges the child to be natural and do as she wishes without putting pressure on herself.

Add an odd brother (Paul Dano) who is mute by choice and a X-rated grandfather (Alan Arkin) to the insanity.

I saw this with my mother and sister over Christmas. Mom hated it. Sis and I were so eager to see it since we'd both heard so much about it but we both sat there, scratching our heads, and wondered what it was we were missing about the "greatness" of this film. Granted, there were some funny bits but for the most part, the whole thing just didn't work for either one of us.

While young Abigail Breslin is being touted as the next Dakota Fanning, we couldn't see that either. She was a cute little girl who turned in what we thought was a quite ordinary performance.

I do appreciate what was done on a shoestring budget and, as I said, there were some genuine laughs, but I suspect my sister and I were expecting so much more, so much better based on the hype when this film hit theaters.

Directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris.

Rated R for language, some sex and drug content..

My personal rating: C

13 Conversations About One Thing (2001)

These are interwoven stories of isolated people whose lives intersect in little ways as they each search for happiness despite the complexities of life, luck, and unpredictability.

Gene (Alan Arkin) is an insurance company middle-manager who suffers in quiet desperation over his lot in life. His sadness comes from his career drive which ultimately lead to a profound breach with his troubled son and his own divorce many years before.

A hot shot young lawyer (Matthew McConaughey) makes a bad mistake one night and is deeply haunted by his sudden loss of happiness. His physical transformation and expressions powerfully and profoundly reflect his angst.

Bea (Clea DuVall) is an innocent and spiritual young woman who is seriously damaged in an accident. A physics professor (John Torturro) and his wife (Amy Irving) deal with infidelity.

Written by sisters Karen Sprecher and Jill Sprecher; directed by Karen Sprecher.

Rated R for language and brief drug use.

My personal rating: B

Catch-22 (1970)

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Paddling to Norway

A pilot is trying desperately to be certified insane during World War II, so he can stop flying missions.

There really very little I can say about this masterpiece except SEE IT! To give away too much of the story might ruin it. It's to be experienced.

The stunning acting ensemble includes: Alan Arkin, Martin Balsam, Bob Newhart, Art Garfunkel, Bob Balaban, Martin Sheen, Charles Grodin, Anthony Perkins, Richard Benjamin, Jon Voight, Orson Welles, Buck Henry, Jack Gifford, Peter Bonerz, Paula Prentiss, and Norman Fell.

Based on a novel by Joseph Heller with screenplay by Buck Henry. Directed by Mike Nichols.

My personal rating: A