24: Redemption (2008)

This is the teaser tele-film for the late coming seventh season of the popular series. Asked how it was as a movie, I’d have to say not that great, but 24 fans will enjoy it. I say not great not because its bad, in fact its fairly good, I’m giving it a 3 out of 5, just that its structured like an episode of 24 and hence cuts between a number of ongoing story lines with little or no resolution; which while often admirable in episodic TV, is typically less satisfying in movie form. Anyway as I said I enjoyed it and you know that young Siyabulela Ramba did a really good job, I’m impressed and would actually like to see him act again. Glade we’re getting back to a more inspirational type president in Cherry Jones’s Allison Taylor, and it will be interesting to see this somewhat softened Jack Bauer for the Barak Obama era.

Lars and the Real Girl (2007)

I had intended to see this movie in the theater, and in fact I had lots of chances as it was in our local three dollar reel for a surprisingly long time. However I didn’t get around to it, attempts to see it in a group fell through, and well it seemed neither appropriate date material, or the kind of thing I’d like to see in a theater alone. Indeed given the circumstances I was probably right to wait and see it on DVD, but I’m certainly glade I’ve been able to see it now.

This is a great movie, moving, empathetic, funny, smart. With the premise of a man falling in love with a sex doll it sounds like a Farley brothers movie, but in truth the premise doesn’t capture the spirit of the film, which is really about loneliness, mental illness, friendship, and love. The script and the direction couldn’t have been better in terms of the balance of tone struck, and subtlety of plot and character development as a variety of influences help guide Lars through long neglected social and emotional development. All of the performances here are great, Ryan Gosling in the title part of course, he really inhabits this character, Emily Mortimer, Patricia Clarkson and new find Kelli Garner are three rather appealing ‘real girls’, but its Paul Schneider's performance as Lar’s brother Gus that is my favorite. His arc is perhaps an even tricker one for an actor to navigate then Lars’s, a man who at first feels himself something of a victim, forced to suffer through the potential embarrassment his brothers condition could bring into his life, refusing to accept that he bear even partial responsibility for the apparent breakdown of a brother he knows he has neglected. The characters gradual coming to terms with the way he abandoned his sibling, his sincere efforts to atone in his way, the genuine interest and concern he grows to express, its all very well done. Then there’s the whole Frank Capra element of the film, in the way the community rallies around Lars and accepts ‘Biannca’s’ presence because of their love for this awkward but good natured young man; the descriptive term ‘sweetheart’ used for Lars at several points in the film couldn’t be more accurate. I don’t think this film could have been done better, and how much more original could you expect a movie to be then Lars and the Real Girl. This will be on my list of best feature film’s I’ve seen this year. 5 out of 5.

The Magnificent Seven (1960)

Walter Mirisch produced John Sturges directed Western (in 2 senses of the word) adaptation of Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Saimiri. Widely beloved by male members of a certain generation, it was partly cribbed for the 80's comedy The Three Amigos, which its self is widely beloved by male members of at lest two generations. I find the movie more interesting for the reputed on set rivalry between Yul Brenner and Steve McQueen. The movie its self I was mostly bored with, I wasn’t quite in the mood for it when I started it a 9 pm on a Thursday night, and it’s really something I should have watched with my dad rather then alone. I hardly feel qualified to rate this film, because I mostly lost interest after the Seven were assembled and the proceedings seemed to be no great stretch of the period formula. Therefore my add hoc rating for the film would be between a neutral 2 ½ and a 3 recognizing its cultural significance.

Umberto D. (1952)

Famed Italian neo-realist drama about an elderly penchaniner (played by first time actor and lingustics proffesor Carlo Battisti) just trying to keep himself and his dog alive; there’s also a subplot about Umberto’s landlady’s secretly pregnant maid (a compeling Maria-Pia Casilio). If this all sounds depressing, that’s of course because it is, but its also an effecting account of loneliness and economic desperation. A heart breaking and important entry in the cannon of significant European films. 5 out of 5.

The Visitor (2008)

Writer/director Ted McCarthy’s second film, like his first 2003's The Station Agent, is about a socially isolated individual who finds some unlikely friends. However The Visitor is far from a re-tread. It is overtly a political film, a condemnation of an unthinking, bureaucratic and reflexive American immigration system post 9/11, and while very much empathetic, it is not sentimental in the same way the Station Agent was. The film stars Richard Jenkins, one of our great character actors who is always welcome on my screen, in a rare feature part. He is Walter Vale, a university professor and widower who leads a lonely and unfulfilling existence. Dragooned by his department head into leaving Connecticut for a few a weeks to present a paper he was only tangentially involved with at a New York City academic conference, Walter returns to the apartment he once shared with his late concert pianist wife, but to which he has seldom returned since her passing. He is needless to say surprised to find a couple of illegal immigrants, Syrian Tarek (Haaz Sleiman) and Sengali Zainab (Danai Gurira) living there, a never seen hustler named Ivan having ‘leased’ them the place. Though at first Walter throws them out, he has seconds thoughts and invites them back to stay, at least until they can find a new apartment. Though Zainab is at first leary of this white man whose motivations she can not understand, the easy going Tarek instantly takes to him and they quickly form a close bond. In this young couple Walter finds his first link to truly living since his wife died, for which Tarek’s teaching him to play the African drum, serves as counterpoint to the classical piano that represents his old life, which he must learn to move beyond.

Complication arises when Tarek is arrested for what at most was a minor infraction, and is sent to a detention center pending deportment, it is here that the films more overt political aspects come to assert themselves. The political message is unmissable, but it works only because of the compelling story and delicate handling of the characters, which are McCarthy’s great strengths as a film maker. This is a more mature, more nuanced film then what he had done before (and what he had done before was quite good), and there is no more perfect example of this then the graceful dance of a budding, but never fully consummated relationship between Walter and Tarek’s visiting mother, played by the elegant Hiam Abbass. This is not the kind of film that well, tends to get made, and its uniqueness, worldly relevance, and the obvious infusion of talents involved in its creation make this a must see, and one of the ten best films to come out this year. The Visitor is a humble masterpiece. 5 out of 5

Oliver & Company (1988)

As with The Black Cauldron, I chose to give this movie a review because I have not seen it since its original theatrical run twenty years ago. In fact I have surprisingly vivid memories of the Saturday I went to see this movie when I was eight. You see my family had only lived in Boise for about a year at that point and my dad got lost trying to find the right theater, that and small elements of the film are what stayed with me. For most among those elements is the song at the beginning of the film, ‘Oliver Don’t You Cry’ I believe the name is, and it’s a rather poignet little number performed by Huey Lewis; in fact the whole soundtrack of this film is laced with the work of 80's pop artists, including Billy Joel who was making his acting debut in the part of Dodger.

The film of course is an adaptation of Dickins Oliver Twist, though extremely simplified, and ultimately more watch able then the Oscar winning 1968 musical version. A capable voice cast includes the work of Bette Milder, a young Joey Lawrence, the ubiquitous in animation Dom Delouse, Roscoe Lee Brown, and Cheech Marian as Tito the Chihuahua, the comic break out character to all the kids in the audience. The villain of the picture, a crime lord named Sykes, is quite intense, I remember him being perhaps to intense for my eight year old self, he also falls victim to one of the more violent deaths of a Disney villain, when he is felled by a train on the Brooklyn Bridge. This was one of the first Disney animated films to really make extensive use of computer aids in the animation, and is (according to special features on the DVD) the movie that quality and box office wise ushered in that platinum era of 1988-1994 which would include such classics as The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King. This movie is however not the great accomplishment that those movies were, despite having a rather strong sentimental value to me. 3 out of 5.

Get Smart (2008)

Adaptation of the 60's TV show benefits from a good cast and sense of restraint, though the plot is nothing special. Watch for cameos by Bill Murray and the original Siegfried. Otherwise, I really have nothing to say about this film, except of course that Alan Arkin is good as always. 3 out of 5.

The New Guy (2002)

The odd looking D.J. Qualls stars in this teen comedy about a long time loser who starts over as the cool kid at a new school. Predictable, not great, but since I don’t see many of these types of movies I enjoyed it. Also featuring Zooey Deschanel on her way up, Eddie Griffin at his peak, and Eliza Dushku on her way down. 2 1/2 out of 5.

A Century of Black Cinema (1997)

A general survey of the black presence in American film from the birth of the movies to the mid 1990's. All the obvious highlights are touched on, Birth of a Nation, Gone With the Wind, Carman Jones, Guess Whose Coming to Dinner, Shaft, The Whiz, The Color Purple, etc. A good primer that may introduce the viewer to some good films that otherwise might be lost in obscurity (like Paul Robeson's Song of Freedom from 1937). Speaking of Robeson, he and other forgotten black performers like him are another reason to see the film, they were pioneers and often quite talented, like Fredi Washington in the original 1934 version of Imitation of Life, or Roscoe Lee Brown whose maybe 10 minutes of screen time in Hitchcock's 1968 film Topaz constitute that movies high point (ironically these two personalities are not really featured in the doc, but others like them are). I would still like to see more of Pam Greer. 3 out of 5.

Film Geek (2005)

Written and directed by Portland based film maker James Westby, Film Geek is a low budget, kind of underground movie, staring Melik Malkasian as Scotty Pelk, the ultimate nerdy film fan. At the start of the film Scotty works at a video rental store, were he constantly annoys the customers and his co-workers with his encyclopedic knowledge about film. A lonely, rather pathetic character (yet still a sympathetic one), Scotty lives in a one room apartment were he devotes his spare time to watching movies and writing about them on his internet film site which nobody reads (ala His Other Band). Events transpire to cost Scotty his job at the video store, and he winds up working at an auto parts warehouse. Socially awkward in the extreme Scotty thinks he may have found some one with whom he can strike up a romantic relationship, a pretty young artist (Tyler Gannon he sees reading a book about David Cronenberg on the bus. The young women talks to him, and they even have a partly successfully date, but as the film maker tells us in one of the special features, while she makes him less of a robot, he’s still plenty robot. A film with which I relate more then I wish I did. The way the ending plays around with our Hollywood expectations contrasting them with real life is worthy of Bergman, even without the beautiful cinematography of Sven Nykvist . 3 ½ out of 5.

Baby Mamma (2008)

Tina Fay and Amy Pohler, whose comic abilities have long been on display on SNL and other TV forums, have at last made a movie together. The basic premise of an uptight business woman who hires a ‘white trash’ girl to be her surrogate for pregnancy, is a natural fit for these two, though it could have been awful under lesser hands. A good, solid comedy, with both buddy picture and romantic elements (Greg Keaner proving a great casting choice as Fay’s love interest), and a fun supporting part for Steve Martin. Well handeld. 3 ½ out 5.

Chicago 10 (2006)

Documentary on the trial of eight protesters and activists for incitement to riot at the anti-war protests held in conjunction with the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago (the number 10 comes from the inclusion of their two lawyers). The documentary makes extensive use of the court transcripts of the trial dramatized through that usually superfluous ‘digital people’ effect, and using all star voices including Dylan Baker, Hank Azaria, Mark Ruffalo, and Jeffery Wright. This proves a very effective and compelling way to present the trial, and in fact it was snippets of these sequences which I saw in the documentary’s run on PBS the other week, that inspired me to rent this and see it in full. That Judge comes off horrible, unfit for duty and quite likely rather racist, while the defense attorney a true liberal hero. The ‘eight’ are an interesting, surprisingly diverse bunch, who while sometimes unorthodox weren’t really dangerous. In fact they were all found innocent on the trumped up conspiracy charges, but some were sentenced to prison time for contempt of court, again trumped up charges coming from that sadistic judge. Higher courts later reversed all of these sentences. A fascinating story well told. 4 out of 5.

P.S. I recently learned that Spielburg is doing a movie on this same story.