Transsiberian

Truth be told, this was one of those films that my husband picked out at our local video store. He doesn't have a good track record. Left to his own devices, he has the ability to singlehandedly find the worst films ever made... some straight to DVD nightmares starring no one with skills above a novice porn star. It's uncanny, really, how he can avoid every studio film in the store and hone in like a laser on crap. With the occasional exception. This was one of the latter.

Transsiberian (of the unfortunate title) is an original bit of a thriller. Two Americans (Woody Harrelson and Emily Mortimer,) typically green to the ways of the world at large, are traveling from Beijing to Moscow aboard the infamous TransSiberian railway. Their relationship is a little rocky, their bunk mates are a little sinister, they get separated, things go very, very wrong. Enter the local KGB style narcotics cop (played ominously by Sir Ben Kingsley,) who is sure that these Yanks are up to no good, and things get worse.

Although it's slow to get started, this little film had my nerves shot by midway in. Loaded with misdirection and some plot twists that I didn't see coming (and an obvious one that I did,) it's well written and well acted. Woody Harrelson can still pull off the 'wet behind the ears' simplicity he made his own all those seasons on Cheers, Emily Mortimer surprises and Sir Ben is, well, Sir Ben. Always impeccable. Soooo, I guess my husband did okay. This once. Check out the website here.

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

It's been a long time since Sidney Lumet was considered a master of crime drama, since back when he was Pacino's ticket with Dog Day Afternoon and Serpico. Good to know that he hasn't lost his touch. Lumet drew us into the creepy hysteria of a robbery gone wrong in Dog Day and he manages to draw us in yet again in Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (as in the Irish blessing, 'May you be in heaven half an hour....)

Picture this: Andy (Philip Seymour Hoffman,) a seemingly successful accountant has been cooking the books to feed a drug habit. His schmuck of a baby brother Hank (Ethan Hawke,) hasn't paid his child support in a month of Sundays. Out of financial desperation they hatch a simple plan, to rob a Mom and Pop jewelry store - a victimless crime, they figure, as insurance will pick up the tab. The Mom and Pop just happen to be theirs. The crime doesn't end up victimless. And when Mom ends up dead, Pop (Albert Finney) is pissed.

Devil spins a tale of woe that Shakespeare would envy - every imaginable complication, people behaving very badly, abominable luck. It is further enriched by an amazing cast doing some fine acting; in particular, Hoffman who's a marvel at breathing life into really awful characters. It does a lot of time jumping a 'la Pulp Fiction, where you end up watching the same scene play out from different perspectives - effective but sometimes annoying. However, it will keep you biting your nails to the bitter, bitter end. Read another review here.

Pu-239

HBO does some remarkable film making. What impresses me most is the willingness of this media giant to make movies that are decidedly not mainstream predigested pablum. They seem to be willing to take some risks - with edgier material or untested actors - but when you always have the outlet at the ready for your content, I suppose you can be braver than most. Anywho, being of the 'always ready to like something original' persuasion, I am often delighted to turn up yet another HBO original movie that I haven't seen. And although this wasn't their best effort, once again I was not disappointed.

Pu-239 reminds us of the very real dangers of the nuclear world. When Timofey (Paddy Considine,) is exposed to lethal doses of radiation during a near accident at the Russian nuclear facility where he works, he is the obvious scapegoat in the cover up. When it becomes apparent that he has only days to live and with a young son and wife who will be denied benefits, Timofey decides to take matters into his own hands and steals a small quantity of weapons grade plutonium to sell on the black market. Desperation drives him deeper and deeper into a bizarre world of violence and tragedy.

The film is uneven - the mobsters go from scary to ridiculous - both murderers and clowns - and Timofeys impending death and willingness to peddle the same death to save his family seems ironic and absurd at the same time. But for all it's flaws there is a sweetness to Considine's performance as a man without a future, loving his family and leaving them to try to save them. And I was glad to see a film unapologetically chastising the whole nuclear industry for vetting such poisons on the world. Pu-239 has a half life of 24,110 years. And this little story could happen. Be afraid.
See the website here.

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed

Ben Stein has apparently studied every Michael Moore movie ever produced and come to the conclusion that if Michael could do it, HE could do it. When I say studied, I mean with diligence - he copied the Hated Liberal so well that leaving Michael out of the credits should be cause for a lawsuit. Soundtrack, cheesy gimmicks, pacing, even monotonous voice over - everything smacks of Michael Moore. Too bad Ben didn't bother with the fact checking.

The premise of Expelled is that "Big Science" (unclear as to just who that is,) will not allow anyone to question evolution - that all scientists are godless atheists and dissent in the ranks will get you canned, blacklisted, and ridiculed. Ben, our freedom lovin' all American questioner, asks pointy questions of lots of the evil atheists, and less than pointy questions of the persecuted, interspersed with clever graphics and film clips and Ben's whiny, nasal voice telling us what is really being said. It's faulty logic that skims right over into offensive when he concludes that the Holocaust was the result of Hitler's belief in evolution.

I found the movie hard to swallow - I doubt that any serious evolutionary biologist is really satisfied that we know everything about the origin of life, however the concept of intelligent design assumes that since we don't know - then the answer MUST be God. Stein's arguments assume this. Furthermore, a little research will show that not only did the producers of this masterpiece outright LIE to obtain their interviews, they have a summarily religious agenda AND banned certain academics from their screenings. Interesting answer to their questions about freedom, don't you think? Check out the very well funded Expelled website here and the far more interesting Expelled: Exposed website here.

A Mighty Heart

I really haven't been a fan of Angelina Jolie as an actress. Okay, as a mom and humanitarian she seems pretty cool. And she's gorgeous. But as an actress? Well, her turns as action heroes (Tomb Raider, Mr. & Mrs. Smith) left me less than impressed and is a Best Supporting Actress Oscar (Girl, Interrupted) all that difficult to obtain when acting opposite Winona Ryder? That gal makes anyone look like a Dame Judy Dench by comparison. Sooo, I didn't have high hopes for this ambitious project (Angelina went after this one like Madonna after Evita...) Okay, so it was a pleasant surprise that Angelina more than does justice to the film.

Of course this is the Daniel Pearl story from the perspective of Marianne Pearl, and based on her book. Daniel, a journalist with the Wall Street Journal, was kidnapped in Pakistan in January, 2002. The film follows his 6 months pregnant wife as she, Pakistani law enforcement and the FBI desperately try to piece together what actually happened to Daniel and to find him. It's a harrowing account of great personal courage in the face of terrible odds and a widow's gift to her son... a true legacy to his father and his belief that the truth is what sets us free.

It's a hard film to watch; even knowing the tragic ending in advance the tension and desperation of the dedicated folks who tried to save Daniel's life is palpable. And Jolie is masterful both in her anger and her grief. Irrfan Khan (The Namesake) is impeccable as the captain in charge of the Pakistani investigation. All in all this is a moving account of a heinous crime, the realities of a world where the rules never seem clear anymore, and continued faith in humanity. Well done.
See the excellent website here, and don't miss the memoriam for the 230 journalists who have lost their lives in the pursuit of truth from 2002-2007.

Death at a Funeral

If you're in the mood for a bit o' fluff... and not easily offended by the darker side of pitch black humor, then Death at a Funeral is a pleasant way to waste an evening. Frank Oz has directed a decidedly British farce with a mostly British cast and the devil's own eye at how to make a completely outlandish situation seem plausible. Well, maybe not all that plausible, but at least I bought in enough to find myself snorting under my horrified breath.

Our story begins with a gathering of the clan for the final send off of a perfectly respectable old gentleman - the grieving widow, the put upon second son left holding the fort whilst his dazzling novelist brother gets all the glory, the old codgers' even older sibling straight from the nursing home et al. There's an additional guest that no one recognizes who turns out to have a dark secret and blackmail on his mind. So to the brew of dysfunctional family fun add some misplaced hallucinogenic substances and things get all kinds of interesting - naked man on the roof interesting.... extra body in the casket interesting.

Oz keeps the whole thing moving at a frenetic pace but the really funny stuff comes from Alan Tudyk (remember Firefly?) who is hilarious as a niece's intended, stoned mindless on the accidental acid cocktail. And Peter Dinklage (remember The Station Agent?) is brilliant as the lover come to get what he's due. And does he get it! There's plenty of innuendo and more potty humor than necessary but it all comes right at the end. See another review here.

Margot at the Wedding

Nicole Kidman really needs to stop making bad movies. No, really. She is a GOOD actress. Think Dead Calm, The Hours, Cold Mountain. Who makes lots of BAD movies. Like Birth, Eyes Wide Shut, Birthday Girl and this piece of crap. Nicole, I implore you. Read the script and Just. Say. No. Or - if you'd like to streamline your life - don't even read the script if it's from, say, Noah Baumbach. For God's sake, he wrote The Life Aquatic!

Margot at the Wedding follows Margot (Kidman) - our resident borderline personality - as she heads off to wreck havoc at the nuptials of her long suffering sister, Pauline (played unhappily by Jennifer Jason Leigh.) Pauline is about to wed a loser named Malcolm (Jack Black, who is also in the habit of Making Bad Films) because she's in the family way. Let's not mention that Margot's dragging around her nearly grown son in a decidedly Oedipal way and cheating on her husband. Add some neighbors that seem out of Deliverance and I think you're getting the picture. Really Bad Movie.

Hollywood got all swoony over Baumbach when he wrote and directed The Squid and the Whale. For the record, I hated that one, too, but I'm not always willing to watch miserable people behave badly for the sake of art. This film was supposed to have something to say about family, I believe, but I must have missed it while I was observing the miserable people behaving badly. I mostly found it incredibly dull. And no matter how luminous her milky skin, Nicole as passive-aggressive psycho bitch is not all that amusing. Worst of all, the trailer seemed to imply that this was supposed to be comedy. Yuck. Click here for the website, if you must.

Lust, Caution

I'll confess that I'm a trifle smitten with Ang Lee. Ever since Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, I'm afraid. It started with a simple fascination with his visual style and morphed into adoration with Brokeback Mountain and the amazing gift he seems to have of drawing out and making visual the emotional turmoils of his principals. Lust, Caution couldn't hold a candle to either of those films, but it gave me a nifty little fix nonetheless. Gorgeous visual stylization and raw, emotional depth are abundant. (Some rather visual sex is also abundant and earned the film an NC-17.)

The story is a bit simplistic - your basic college kids get passionate about taking down the bad guys who are collaborating with the occupying other bad guys type of thing. The place is Japanese occupied Shanghai during WWII and the drama department at the local U decides to help the war effort by attempting to infiltrate the household of local head Bad Guy with an eye to off him. Of course the only one to get in is the babyfaced beauty with a crush on the leading man, and then she's asked to use her feminine wiles to ensnare him. It then gets a wee bit fuzzy about who ensnares whom, there is a lot of, um, the stuff that gets the NC17, and a highly predictable ending.

That said, I still ate it up with a spoon. The sets are lavish, the costuming supurb and that unmistakable Ang Lee camera angle/lighting genius is on full display. But even better were the beautiful performances of Tony Leung and Tang Wei as bad guy and beauty respectively. If eyes are the windows to the soul, I could have watched this film without subtitles and understood it perfectly - so nuanced are the glances, so naked and raw. Guess I'm still smitten.
Read another review here.

Dan in Real Life

Okay, I like Steve Carell. So I was all set to like this movie... I mean really like it. I think he's an incredibly subtle comedian who can manage to humanize situations that are amazingly uncomfortable because they seem so authentic. He's also pretty cute in an EveryGuy sort of way. So a romantic comedy with some terrific co-stars (even if the love interest seems miscast) ... it just sounded like a recipe for a warm fuzzy evening. So how come I didn't like it?

Carell is Dan, the widowed dad to three precocious girls and an "expert on relationships" by virtue of writing an advice column. Our story starts as Dan and daughters head out to an extended family vacation - I mean the big 'Family as Imagined in Hollywood' type of thing - with brothers and spouses and cousins and Mom and Pop all doing crosswords, and charades and aerobics in the morning together. When ordered out from underneath every one's feet, he runs into the girl of his dreams in a bookstore. Too bad when she arrives at the family home for the vacation and turns out to be dating Dan's bro. Poor Dan.

Okay, so you know this is all going to turn out for the best, but it's a pretty miserable ride there. Carell does his angst/jealousy/trying to do the right thing best, Julliette Binoche (?) seems alternately insensitive and confused, and the rest of the clan (with outstanding actors like Dianne Wiest, John Mahoney, Dane Cook and Emily Blunt) are just nosy, noisy and self involved. In the end, I just felt sorry for this long suffering doormat of the family. Sure, there were some funny moments.... just not enough to justify the pain. If you still want more, the website is here.

Thesis

It has been suggested that Alenjandro Amenabar is one of the best things to come out of Spain since paella. I have to admit that I found his direction of The Others incredibly gifted... particularly since he was working in a foreign language. To truly appreciate his talent, however, you will need to check out some of his Spanish work. Thesis is a nifty, creepy place to start.

Angela (Ana Torrent, recently Katherine in The Other Boleyn Girl) is an undergrad on a deadline. Her thesis is on violence in film, whether it's ethical to exploit it and why death and mayhem is always so fascinating. This leads to the acquisition of a videotape that apparently records the horrific murder of a former student of the university... and a private investigation - who killed her and who recorded the deed. Enter Chema (Fele Martinez) another film student with his own fascination with violence, and handsome, charming Bosco (Eduardo Noriega, yum!) who seems unnaturally fascinated with Angela. So who's next for a screen test?

Amenabar does a fine job in weaving in a lot of repressed sexuality, and Torrent is fabulous at maintaining a dance of obsession and terror. But the real fun comes from a constant jumpiness that builds throughout the film. By the time you know she's in real trouble, you're just as frightened as our heroine. Down to your last match in a dark basement.... See another review here.

King of California

It's been a long time since I've been willing to watch a movie with Michael Douglas in it - you know, like that whole period where he seemed to be working out his sexual fantasies onscreen, one by painful one (think Basic Instinct, Fatal Attraction, Disclosure.) But the dude has grown up a bit and the fact that he signed on to this sweet little film, I'll take as proof of that. This isn't a 'big money movie' and it has no semi-nekkid sexpots. What it is - a light little fairy tale about loving someone with a mental illness - has some very funny moments.

Miranda (Evan Rachel Wood) is sixteen and living on her own when her dad Charlie (Douglas) is released from a year long stint in a mental institution. The relatively peaceful life she's carved out for herself is suddenly disrupted - Charlie is not an easy person to be around. To make things worse, he has become convinced that there is ancient Spanish treasure in their neighborhood and is determined to find it. At first Miranda is dismayed at this new delusion, but gradually her love for her father drags her into his scheme. She really wants to believe him, but could there really be booty buried under Costco?

Douglas is really delightful as the manic Charlie, and Wood does a fair job of conveying the natural distrust and frustration inherent in sharing your life with a completely unpredictable and untrustworthy parent. And if the bittersweet ending blows a little sunshine up your butt, oh well, the rest of ride is pretty entertaining. See the website here.

State of Play

Okay, okay, okay... this was just fabulous. I mean really, really fabulous. Originally a miniseries on the BBC, this is what television should be and simply never is. Smart, well written, well acted, with an intriguing and relevant plot, believable characters behaving in believable ways... just wow. So suck up the fact that it's a two DVD rental and the better part of six hours to watch start to finish... it's worth every minute.

It would be impossible to sum up the plot in a paragraph here, but the gist is that the mistress of a high profile member of parliament dies violently leaving her boss devastated and the press ... interested. Apparently journalists in the UK still practice journalism which involves taking risks and digging. So the convoluted plot is driven by journalistic curiosity and a couple of detectives who are actually interested in uncovering the truth. Novel, no? You can barely keep up with where this goes but let's just add assassination, government cover ups and ... wait for it... oil companies. It just gets better and better and you will not guess where it ends.

Add to that a surprising array of British talent - some of which you will recognize like the incomparable Bill Nighy and the up and coming James McAvoy - and some that you won't, like David Morrissey and John Simm. Anyway you look at it, the acting is superb - way better than most of what we see on TV. Watch this quick because I'm sure it's about to be completely ruined by an American remake scheduled for release next year (for one they're compressing it into 2+ hours and for two they're setting it in DC.) If you're still not convinced, there's more here.

The Woodsman

Time to revisit an important film from 2004 that you probably aren't going to be in a hurry to see if I don't give you that gentle push. The Woodsman started out as a minimalist play that director Nicole Kassell felt strongly enough about to approach Lee Daniels (Monster's Ball) to see if she could get funding to make the film. That led to a call to Kevin Bacon who loved the screenplay so much that he talked his wife (Kyra Sedgwick) into co-starring with him and helped produce himself. So a whole lotta talented people went to great lengths to bring this to you. Oh, and did I mention that it's about a convicted pedophile?

Now before you run screaming from the room, consider this story: Walter (Bacon) is trying to re-enter life after 12 years in prison - he moves into an apartment, gets a job, sees his counselor, meets a girl. He tries very hard to lead an unassuming life. But his past is everywhere - he is shunned by his sister, harassed by a local cop (Mos Def) and a nosy co-worker (Eve) and tempted by his own dark yearnings. This story is told from Walter's point of view - we see his pain, his desire to be 'normal.' And in a final gut wrenching moment, his ultimate ability to see through the eyes of a child.

Kevin Bacon makes Walter so real - so human - that it will take your breath away. It is undoubtedly the performance of a remarkable career. I will call a film important when it takes me to a part of the human condition that I would never experience otherwise. This is such a film and you really shouldn't miss it. Check out the website here.

Sweeney Todd

I don't believe Tim Burton is a taste that can be acquired. You either love him, passionately, or you hate him, passionately. So those of you who have never been able to stand a Tim Burton film - and no, Beetlejuice doesn't count - you are now officially dismissed. For the rest of us who can't help but adore Burton's stylized, schizo-weird wonderfulness - it was indeed inevitable that Burton would do Sweeney Todd and just as inevitable that it would star Johnny Depp and Mrs. Burton (Helena Bonham-Carter) and that it would be very, very stylized and very, very gory and very, very wonderful.

For those of you who managed to miss the lengthy Broadway run of Sondheim's macabre musical, here's the gist: Sweeney Todd returns to London after a long unjust incarceration determined to have his vengeance on the judge who sent him away in order to acquire his wife. He falls into company with the rather lovestruck and diabolical Mrs. Lovett and the two of them proceed to off a good deal of the male population of their squalid little neighborhood - he barbering them off the mortal coil and she serving them up as meat pies. Ewwww! How delightful! Trust that there will be lots of white faces with sunken dark eyes, ooodles of gallows humor and gallons of very theatrical blood spurting.

But the really wonderful part is Johnny Depp can sing. No really. He has the presence and the timbre of a rock star, and is all Depp brooding sexuality. sigh. Carter carries a tune pretty darn well herownself and the music is catchy and memorable. Add in a hilarious Sacha Baron Cohen as a rival barber and the impeccable Alan Rickman as the evil Judge Turpin and whoa... you've got a great messy Broadway musical masterpiece ala Burton. Catch the equally cool website here.

Rendition

Movies with a political agenda rarely succeed in furthering their aims. This could be an exception to that rule, if the audience suspected that this was more than fiction. Unfortunately, I doubt that most Americans who saw Rendition believed that what this film portrays is the nature of our reality in a post 9/11 world. Even worse, perhaps they believe that this must be so. In spite of this, Gavin Hood (Tsotsi) gives us a remarkably good film.

It starts with a wrong number to the cell phone of Anwar El-Ibrihimi (Omar Metwally,) an Egyptian born American chemical engineer. This call makes him a suspect in a terrorist bombing and he's plucked off his flight home and spirited to Egypt to face interrogation. The CIA operative in charge (Jake Gyllenhall) has little stomach for the Egyptian methods (oh, the joys of water boarding!) and becomes increasingly convinced he has nothing to tell. In the meantime, El-Ibrihimi's terrified wife (Reese Witherspoon in a rare excellent performance) is trying to move someone to investigate her husbands disappearance and is given the full bureaucratic runaround.

The cast of this film includes Meryl Streep, Alan Arkin and Peter Sarsgaard and there is fine acting all around. The story and it's un-conclusion are chilling - but these are the ethics of our times. Rendition should leave you with lots of questions, but at the very least it's an entertaining evening. See the unremarkable website here, or better, read about a true story of extraordinary rendition here.

Blame it on Fidel!

Most "coming of age" films focus rather myopically on puberty and new found sexuality. It is a rarer thing to find a film that concentrates on a child reaching the age of reason and the realization that there are "others" who have feelings too. Julie Gavras has given us this gem of a film that does just that, with a back drop of social and political unrest. It's quite a worthy study.

Nine year old Anna (a gifted Nina Kervel) has a perfect little life - doting parents, a lovely home, a wonderful nanny who cooks delicious meals and the comfort of catechism class at her private school. But when her aunt and cousin come to stay with them, Anna's world turns upside down. Her upwardly mobile parents abandon their cushy jobs and become radical political activists and all Anna can see is what is being taken away from her - they move to a small apartment and eat peasant food, she is denied religious lessons and the house is suddenly full of bearded men and crying women who talk and eat and take her parents time. Kervel is brilliant at scowling and plotting her revenge and watching her grow to take in new ideas is decidedly prickly. It's hard to root for Anna, but you'll love her all the same.

Set in France in the early 70's Blame it on Fidel! captures an interesting period in world history that I wasn't terribly familiar with, the communist revolution in Cuba followed by the socialist election of Allende in Chile. The fervor of those caught up in these new ways of thinking and the hope for a better world caused a lot of stodgy, traditional folks to think again. Told from the perspective of a child - a child emerging from the familiarity of childhood things toward the horizons of adulthood - this is a sweet metaphor. Well worth an evening... see another review here.

Canvas

Just when you think you'll die of boredom or your last brain cell will commit harikari for lack of stimulation from the likes of Hollywood, some brilliant little film will come out of the nether regions (read 'independent') and renew your faith in human creativity. This is such a film. Written and directed by newbie Joseph Greco, and based loosely on his own childhood experiences with a schizophrenic parent, Canvas is a delight. And more - the doc on Psychflix gives it a big thumbs up for accuracy.
Sweet!

Ten year old Chris Marino ( Devon Gearhart) is living in chaos. His mother Mary (Marcia Gay Harden) has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, and her bizarre behavior embarrasses and confuses him. His father (Joe Pantoliano) is struggling to make ends meet and hold the family together. When a particularly bad turn for Mary lands her in an institution, the elder Chris takes time off work to start obsessively building a sailboat in the driveway, and little Chris thinks both his parents have gone off the deep end and deals with the loss of both parents and the cruel taunts of his peers. This is very real stuff, folks. About life, love and relationship.

Rarely do films about mental illness show the perspective of the family. Although Harden is wonderful in her portrayal of paranoia and pain, the real crux of this film is watching two men, (well, one and a half) deal with real emotion, helplessness and grief. Gearhart is sweet and authentic and Pantoliano is amazing as a man frustrated to the point of exhaustion. There really isn't an ending... but there is hope. Check out the website here.

American Gangster

The story behind American Gangster is intriguing in one of those truth being stranger than fiction sort of ways but, even with a story that is larger than life, Hollywood can find a way to reduce that to the least interesting denominator. This is a BIG story made into a BIG movie with two Oscar winning heavy hitters in the leads and a great BIG fancy Director (Ridley Scott) and writer (Steven Zaillion.) Maybe it was the weight of its own self importance. Maybe it was the length. I was already to have my socks knocked off and found myself a little... bored.

The Return of Superfly was the working title and the story is that of one Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington,) a country boy who drives for a crime boss in 1970's Harlem and learns the bidness really, really well. When his mentor dies suddenly, he takes over the drug trade in the city, finds his own line of supply straight from Vietnam and with impeccable business ethics, outwits the cops and the Mafia to become very, very rich and very, very powerful. Of course, his nemesis Detective Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe) strives with equal nobility to bring him to justice. You just know how this one's going to end.

The interesting part of the story is that in the real world Roberts and Lucas became lifelong friends, despite the whole 'one sending the other up the river for a very long time' thing. Washington and Crowe worked and worked and they had an excellent supporting cast to play with, but again the screenplay didn't hold my attention. The really "interactive to the point of overkill" website is more entertaining.

310 to Yuma

Boys will be boys. Boys love westerns. Westerns have lots of action, shooting, men being men and, you know, dying in the dirt. Westerns sort of took it on the nose as not cool there for awhile, until Dances With Wolves brought them moderately back into fashion. And since the Powers of Hollywood don't have an original thought among them, when someone says 'let's make us a Western,' someone else dug out something to remake. The original (1957) starred Glen Ford. You already know it was better.

The oh so classic western storyline: white hat noble farmer type Dan Evans (Christian Bale) volunteers to see that black hat train robber type Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) actually makes the train that will take him to a fair trial and prison for his multiple misdeeds. Of course, Ben's gang is out to save him and everyone else is quaking in their boots so our hero must do all this alone. In order to impress his smart ass teenage son with his Courage. And make him proud. Probably post mortem. And of course, Dan and Ben will grow to Respect One Another.

Okay, the hokey story line would work better with Glen Ford as Ben and Van Helflin as the doomed Dan. But Western story lines are always just that hokey, and at least this version tries for a little gritty realism in costuming (nobody looks clean at all,) set detail and sound. You have to dig the nifty little way the bullets plink and plunk as they fly about (this actually won an Oscar for sound!) Christian works his over thin booty off, Russell seems to be having fun, but the film is stolen by Ben Foster as the very psychotic Charlie - second in command of the gang and deeply committed to his boss (he's scary and hilarious.) It's entertaining, but you can easily take a potty break without hitting pause.... Check out the website here.

Gone Baby Gone

Ben Affleck is hereby forever to stay behind the camera and Casey Affleck in front. That is my official pronouncement. Based on this film - this is the natural order of things. Gone Baby Gone is based on a Dennis Lehane (Mystic River) novel, which was a good start to begin with, is directed by Ben (who knew?) and Casey is the star. Damn. I am rarely blown away be a directorial debut, but here you go. Ben runs with this story and makes a film, with no small measure of terrific acting, that will hang with you for days.

A little girl goes missing in Boston and the child's aunt hires a couple of young private investigators to look into the part of the neighborhood unlikely to talk to the cops. The more they look the worse it gets, from the hard drug use of the girl's mother, to the questionable demeanor of the cops. Patrick (Casey Affleck) has a bad case of ethics and all these questions stick in his craw, until it all unravels and he's faced with a horrible decision. It's the ultimate game of "what would YOU do?"

The cast is remarkable - including Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, and Amy Ryan who was nominated for Best Supporting Actress as the drug addled mom. But Ben deserves the credit for creating a gritty, ugly world chock full of unsavory characters (where do they find people who look so... ick?) and making it searingly real. Casey fills Patrick with conscience and noble intention, and aches with the consequences. I was expecting the hero to make some Hollywood style compromise, but... the ending left me speechless. Check out the website here.

On Rwanda

The greatest challenge of the art of film is to help us share the human experience of people unknown to us. This is never nobler than with the examination and exposure of the tragedy of genocide. What happened in Rwanda in 1994 will no doubt be the subject of original work for decades, but three outstanding films are already testament to the horrors of that summer.
They are all excellent. They are all very difficult for those of us with conscience to watch.

Hotel Rwanda is perhaps the best known - it garnered three Academy Award nominations and was probably the first that many oblivious Americans had heard of the whole event. It is my least favorite for two obvious reasons; first, it wasn't filmed in Rwanda and second, because most of the film is contained in the grounds of the hotel, it was limited in scope. Don Cheadle was wonderful, and it also boasted Nick Nolte and Joaquin Phoenix.

HBO Films did a better job with Sometimes in April. They managed to film in Rwanda and used a lot of native talent although the principals are still American or British, ( the only big name was Debra Winger.) However, with this story we follow a family as it fragments and this brings home the power of the tragedy - families torn apart, neighbors turning on neighbors etc. This film also does a great job of pointing out the power of propaganda on a population steeped in fear.

But the best of the trilogy from my point of view is Beyond the Gates. A British film featuring John Hurt and Hugh Dancy, Gates was not only filmed in Rwanda but at the very site of the story, the Ecole Technique Officielle, a school run by a priest named Father Christopher. Cast and crew were largely survivors of the massacre, Belgian soldiers were played by Western expats, NGO workers and the like. All of this brings to bear an amazing authenticity. This film also frames a lot of the moral questions that the others try to soothe - what would you have done if you had been there?

All three are worth your time, but space them out or you'll run out of kleenex. But do watch. Those who forget the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them. And if you want to know more, all three websites have lots of extra information.

In the Valley of Elah

I hate it when important films are overlooked and this is an important film. Although it was marketed by Warner Independent, they must not have tried very hard, cuz I sure hadn't heard of it until Tommy Lee Jones was nominated for Best Actor. But I suppose in our current climate of "don't ask, don't tell" regarding the Iraq war and it's cost in human misery, this film, with it's implication of no unharmed soldiers returning, is ... inconvenient.

In the Valley of Elah is loosely based on the true story of Richard Davis, a GI who returned from Iraq only to be murdered by members of his own company. In the fictionalized account, Jones plays Hank Deerfield, a tough ex MP who goes looking when his boy turns up AWOL four days after returning from his tour. When the body turns up, Hank is desperate for answers and goes looking with the aid of a local detective (Charlize Theron) who just doesn't like the look of the whole thing. As this dedicated military man tries to piece together what happened only to find his son further and further implicated in less than honorable behavior, all that he holds sacred comes into question.

Tommy Lee Jones is always impeccable, especially when playing the "everyman," and the rest of the cast more than hold their own. What makes this movie important however, is the story. This war is different and the war wounds our young vets come home with, including Post Traumatic Stress, we will be living with for some time to come. Paul Haggis (Crash) wrote and directed this film to suggest we take a look. There's no official website for the film, but check out the Richard Davis story here.

Juno

This was one of those films that I earnestly resisted just because everybody I knew was gushing about how "cute" it was. Yuck. But then it turned out to get that sort of honorary Best Picture nod that odd films are given by the Academy to acknowledge that everybody seemed to like them... you know, like Little Miss Sunshine last year. And the decidedly different Diablo Cody actually won Best Original Screenplay for the film. sigh. Okay, so I decided to suck one up for the team and watch it. What's an afternoon for the sake of enlightening you, and saving you from the horror yourownself?

SO, Juno is cute. In case you were on Mars or something, this is the story of nine months in the life of Juno MacGuff who finds herself preggers in high school after that one time of recreational sex with her not-boyfriend Bleeker. She wimps out of an abortion and gets on a mission to find the perfect parents for her little bundle of someone else's joy. Now neveryoumind that REAL teenagers don't talk or act like her, REAL parents seldom react to this kind of news in this kind of way and in REAL life, nothing, and I mean nothing, ends up tidily. The movie is cute.


Okay, that was harsh. Even if it is terribly contrived it was entertaining, primarily because of a good cast. Michael Cera was delightful with a complete deer-in-the-headlights sensibility as Bleeker and then of course there's Ellen Page and although she far more deserved a Best Actress nomination for Hard Candy (my review here,) Ellen is a rising star. We'll see more of her, mark my words. See the website here.

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints

I hate, Hate, HATE that Robert Downey Jr. is so flippin' talented. Just when I think I can safely put him on the short list of actors I will NOT watch, he does something brilliant and my righteous ethical distaste for him as a human being is slapped silly by my movie lovin' darkside. Saints is yet another one of those films in which Downey plays a role made for Downey. Damn it.

This is based on the memoir written by Dito Montiel about life growing up on the mean streets of New York. I mean 'based' as in Dito wrote the book about his youth, and then wrote the screenplay and directed the film (Trudie Styler produced.) This isn't a pretty story about coming of age - this is a real story about real, flawed people trying to make a life in a hard place. It's full of family crap, and fear based violence and love and taking care of your own. Senseless things happen. There's a lot of pain. It's quite brilliant.

Downey plays Dito the adult, but the ever impressive Shia LaBeouf fleshes him out as a punk kid with an eye on escaping the life he sees bleeding all around him. Channing Tatum is amazing as his doomed best friend Antonio. The story takes a while to get going, but you'll get hooked early on as you can only guess what finally makes Dito bail. There are some great special features including a scene from the film played out by the real Dito. It takes a lot of courage to take this kind of look at your life... Dito makes it worthwhile for all of us. See the website here.

Atonement

Well, we all know and accept that "the Academy" has an unrequited love affair with the serious film. Best defined as a period drama, complete with lavish settings and costuming; bonus points if it's based on something loosely described as literary, and starring really pretty people - Atonement fits the bill perfectly. Based on an Ian McEwan novel (that I loathed,) beginning at the gentrified country home of the well to do Tallis family and inevitably spreading to include the horrors of World War II and the beaches of Dunkirk; reeking with class disparity and sexual innuendo... this just about squeals, "Watch me - I AM EPIC!" It's little wonder that it was nominated for Best Picture.

Too bad. The story, set to the ingenious tapping of typewriter keys, is about the typical star crossed lovers - she's rich, he's the help - who are thwarted by the little sister who tells a rather unfortunate lie at a rather significant moment and spoils every one's fun. Then it's all a rather sad downhill slide into the abyss, of guilt and war. Uplifting stuff here. James McAvoy does a fair job as the noble servant, Keira Knightley looks stunning in 1940's attire (helps having no boobs to speak of,) and Saoirse Ronan rightfully deserved the nomination for Best Supporting for her Briony at 13. Vanessa Redgrave has a cameo near the end, and I dearly love Vanessa, but not even that could save this dismal mess.

So if you've just been too giddy and need a downer, enjoy this lovely little depressant and skip the cocktails. Unusually for an Oscar nominated film, Atonement has no official website, but you can check out Ian McEwan's here or another review here.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

There is one certain kiss of death in the film industry. Don't lead the public to believe that your film is one thing, when in fact it is another animal altogether. Classic examples of this error can be found in films like Vanilla Sky which was a decent sci-fi flick masquerading as a Tom Cruise thriller, or My Girl, an excellent and poignant drama marketed as comedy by someone who probably became unemployed a full ten seconds after the film tanked. Unfortunately, this film has the kiss right along with the unmanageable title. You hear Jesse James, you think this is a western about a train robber. You would be wrong.

What this film is, is a really well done character study of a sociopath careening merrily down the road of suicidal paranoia and a rabid fan. Brad Pitt's Jesse is tortured and merciless, and he lays down a characteristically complicated and fascinating performance as a man who's not only out of control but knows it and wants it to end. But the real joy is watching Casey Affleck. Affleck imbibes history's hated Robert Ford with no end of nuance - the ignored little brother, a man accustomed to humiliation with dreams of grandeur - Robert Ford is all ego and id - too immature to see that the man he worships is sick and tired of all that ill earned fame. By the time he figures it out it's too late for both of them.

This movie's title isn't the only thing that's toooo long, but even so, writer/director Andrew Dominik gives it a grace and elegance rarely visited on a period piece. It seems more documentary than fiction; the language is refreshingly accurate to the time, the cinematography epic, the acting sublime. I'll admit I took an intermission midway, but I still felt it worth the watch. See the website here. PS - Brad continues to remind me of Robert Redford and see if you don't think RR would have relished this role in his younger days.

There Will Be Blood

Once every great while Hollywood makes some art. There Will Be Blood is such a film; epic, and masterfully crafted, it is destined to be a classic in the genre of Citizen Kane. Paul Thomas Andersen, who wrote the screenplay (loosely adapted from Upton Sinclair's Oil!) and directed this masterpiece, was robbed. This was Best Picture and Best Director hands down in my book. Nothing could have improved it.

Blood is at it's core a character study of Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis who earned his Best Actor statuette in every moment of this film) set against the oil boom in California at the turn of the century. Our first glimpse of Plainview is of a man pitting himself solo against a hole in the ground with a pick axe and some dynamite and, in the first ten minutes of the film, the man is defined - indomitable is just the beginning. Over a thirty year span we watch him acquire - a son, and oilfields and wealth and a nemesis in a preacher (Paul Dano) as slick and dangerous as himself. Plainview despises humanity, and we watch him lose his tenuous grip on his own. I left the theater feeling bruised.

Day-Lewis is said to be a method actor, so feel some pity for those poor souls who had to share the set with his firebrand Plainview. Dano was a perfect counter score. The story is spartan and let's you puzzle about the missing details later. Cinematography was worthy of the epic scope - the black, burning oil derrick silhouetted against the raging fire sort of stuff. And the score...! Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead wrote a score that ratcheted up the tension till you could feel it in your belly. Keep your No Country For Old Men.... this was my favorite this year. See the website here.

Into The Wild

Okay, y'all know my opinions about taking a good book and making it into a crappy movie. Into the Wild was a great book; Jon Krakauer always comes at his research from personal experience - he is diligent and insightful and brings characters to a rare kind of life. Sean Penn isn't quite that talented as a screenwriter, and since he also took to directing his adaptation, well, let's just say I think Sean should stick to acting.

Into the Wild is the story of Chris McCandless who, days after his college graduation, walked away from a life of promise to become a wanderer and ultimately ended up starving to death in the Alaskan wilderness. While Krakauer wrote Chris' tale from a deep desire to understand the "why" of it all - Penn chooses to romanticize and turn Chris into some kind of patron saint of Ain't it Awful. From the book it is apparent that McCandless moved every person that he came in contact with, which makes it all the more a mystery why he always stole away in the night, leaving the people who cared about him bereft. The film makes him seem a Noble Savage - too fine for all these folks - on a vision quest that no one could possibly understand.

Emile Hirsch as Chris gave this film his best - losing 41 pounds in the process - and with his sweet, boyish charm and noble sensibilities he makes for a fine martyr. William Hurt, Vince Vaughn and Hal Holbrook all give outstanding cameo performances. There is some beautiful cinematography of some extraordinary wilderness. But in the end, Mr. Penn made a film that oversimplifies and sensationalizes rather than giving insight into the loss of this amazing young life. And that's a real tragedy. See the equally self important website here.

The Namesake

The immigrant experience in America is always a relevant topic, but even more so today when our national discourse seems more isolationist than usual. Perhaps that made this sweet little film even more poignant to me; maybe I personally needed a reminder of what coming to America means to a great number of Americans. That The Namesake is about a Bengali family coming to terms with life in New York after life in Calcutta seems less important than remembering what America means to those who choose her, rather than to those of us who were simply born here.

The Namesake spans two generations of the Ganguli family; Ashoke (Irrfan Khan) and Ashima (Tabu) have an arranged marriage and move to New York still strangers to one another - and coming to raise two very American children with no real touchstone to the life their parents left behind. As their son Gogol (Kal Penn) struggles to identify with the parents he doesn't understand and their alien culture, he moves farther and farther from his roots. This film calls into question the American dream - as Ashoke strives to give his son every opportunity for education and advancement does he sacrifice his traditions and values?

Lovingly directed by Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding,) The Namesake makes us think about who we are, how well we know our origins and what they ultimately mean to us. Not a bad thing to think about, right about now. Calcutta and New York come become equally exotic under the care of cinematographer Frederick Elmes. And Kal Penn proves he has the chops for dramatic work. And you thought he peaked with Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle! See the website here.

No Country for Old Men

Long before I fell in love with the movies, I gave my heart to words. I am first and foremost a reader - and a serious one - and I DO consider Cormac McCarthy to be the American Shakespeare. His classic stuff is hard work to read, and worth every bit of the effort; however his latest offerings have been much more accessible to the average joe - his story lines more linear, his prose less poetic. No Country for Old Men may have been his most mainstream novel yet and was an engaging and fairly quick read, despite Cormac's disdain for punctuation.

Even so, the Coen Brothers had a Herculean task adapting this for the screen; did a fine job and won an Oscar for their efforts. This is a story about violent men doing what they do best and not for the faint of heart. When Llewelyn (Josh Brolin) comes across a nasty bit of mayhem in the desert chock full of corpses, drugs and cash, he opts to take the money. He considers himself a tough hombre, but he knows good and well that someone is going to come after that money. He just didn't bet on who.

The who won Javier Bardem a Best Supporting for playing the most believable sociopath recently on film. Tommy Lee Jones comes in as the savvy lawman and Woody Harrelson has a moment as another yet another violent type, but Bardem makes the picture, bad haircut and all. I followed the plot just fine despite the Bros. Grim leaving out chunks of story, but I read the book; must have been harder for those not up on McCarthy and unprepared for the sheer volume of killin'. The Coens' took home statuettes for Best Picture and Director as well as Adapted Screenplay. They probably deserved the latter just for attempting McCarthy. Don't know if I would have given them the other two. See the nifty website here.

Michael Clayton

I missed catching Michael Clayton pre-Oscar (my home town theater must rent 'em by the hour) so I was eager to catch the DVD. This was nominated for darn near everything, and I'm here to tell you, rightfully so. Smart, well written, with an all-star fabulous cast - I can't believe that only Tilda Swinton took home a statuette. I think everyone else may have been robbed.

Michael Clayton (George Clooney who only gets better and better,) is what the profession calls a "fixer." He cleans up the messes at his high profile law firm; from handling the high priced client who mows down a pedestrian to guarding the precarious mental health of a brilliant senior partner. When said senior partner (Tom Wilkinson) has a meltdown and decides to turn whistleblower on a multi-billion dollar corporate lawsuit and winds up dead, Michael realizes he may have a problem even HE can't fix.

Tilda Swinton is a nightmare of raw nerves and tattered sensibilities as the corporate lawyer way over her head and Clooney is priceless as a flawed man who has become comfortable with his weaknesses. Tony Gilroy wrote and directed, although Sydney Pollack has a supporting role as Clooney's boss. I don't know, but I think this was a better movie than No Country for Old Men... but you be the judge. See the website here.

The Amateurs

I don't know what happened here regarding a limited release gone haywire, but the first I heard of this film was when my hubby brought it home from Blockbuster. As you should know, he's rarely allowed there unsupervised so I was suspicious from the get go - but then I noticed something rare about a film my honey has favored. I actually knew the cast.

The Amateurs does indeed have a sparkling ensemble. Our hero Andy (Jeff Bridges,) is the unofficial leader of a 'Cheers' like group of losers in a tiny town in Nowhere. Andy is always looking for the deal that will finally work for him and has lost his wife and fears losing his son as nothing ever pans out. Then he hits on the no fail idea - he and his friends are going to make an amateur porn movie.

As Otis (William Frichter,) Some Idiot (Joe Pantolino) Moose (Ted Danson, the gay guy in denial,) and Andy decide on plot, try to locate talent, and shoot (backs turned, of course) their masterpiece, it just gets funnier and funnier. This has got to be the cleanest dirty movie ever made - relying on innuendo, cliche and really good writing to make us laugh. Don't know why it didn't make it in the theater; maybe we just want violence this year. But my sweetie did good. Don't miss this one. Almost nonexistent website here:(

The Sea Inside

The Oscars are tonight and so I felt inspired to let you in on the first time I laid eyes on Javier Bardem, who is very likely to win his first statuette this evening for Best Supporting in No Country for Old Men. He was nominated once before way back in 2000 for another foreign film, Before Night Falls. But now he's full fledged American movie star material at the ripe old age of 39, even though he's been working since he was 2. Go figure. Anyhoo, I fell in love with the guy when I saw him in The Sea Inside.

This is the true story of Ramon Sampedro, who after a terrible diving accident spent some thirty years of his life as a quadriplegic trying to legally attain the right to an assisted suicide. This may sound like dreary subject matter but Bardem is brilliant and director Alejandro Amenabar (The Others) managed to take Sampedro's Letters from Hell and morph it into a screenplay with unbelievable depth and nuance. Rather than being about death or a longing for it, it is instead a story about life and it's quality, and about love and transcendence over circumstance. Every perspective is respectfully explored and if the film should bring you to tears, it will also open your heart.

And so it won Best Foreign Film back in 2005 and began my unrequited adoration of its star. Bardem was 35 when he played Sampedro at 55 and endured hours of makeup and hours in bed immobile. He learned a dialect of Spanish that was unfamiliar to him and how to write with a pencil in his mouth. He is utterly believable in this role and although the film has many fine actors in supporting parts - he is what made it memorable. Long before he played a sociopath with a Buster Brown haircut in a distinctly American film, Bardem had genius. Check out the website here.

Even Money

Addiction is such a juicy subject. Gambling is even juicier. We are all a little tempted, after all, to wish for the brass ring - the winning lottery ticket - the longshot at ten to one. The movies have often glossed up "the life" in all the flash and finery of a fine Vegas showgirl - lots of sequins and feathers and not a lot of substance. If so, Even Money is a film that shows the scars from the nips and tucks.

Forgive the sappy "film noir" voice overs for a moment. The film follows nine people down that road toward self destruction - the housewife losing the family savings, the bookie trying to come clean for love, the basketball star asked to shave points for a sibling, the has-been waiting for the score that will make him a star again. There's a wounded old detective and an organized crime boss. There's the up and comers and the down and outers. It's not exactly a new story and it takes a while to get going, but then there's a little something for everyone and it's all gritty.

Add to that a pretty remarkable ensemble cast (Kim Basinger, Forrest Whitaker, Ray Liotta, Danny Devito, Kelsey Grammer) and a decent director (Mark Rydell) and you have a pleasant evenings entertainment. Nothing to write home about, but you won't mind the price of admission. See the website here.

Sicko

It pleases me that Michael Moore has mellowed. He's not nearly as heavy handed as he used to be and I think he's learned that people may want to see the subject of his inquiry more than they wish to see his big, dumb guy shtick (even if big, dumb guy is why people always underestimate him and step in it.) If you hate him, go right ahead, but you have to admit he pokes his nose in some places that do deserve some poking. The health care system of the US of A is a train wreck that warrants some world class nose poking and he goes at it with his usual sarcastic gusto.

So Michael doesn't make his movie about the 50 million Americans who lack insurance altogether, but rather about the horror stories of those who do and are failed by a system rigged for profit. These stories will make you cry and he handles them with more courtesy and care than I could have imagined. He throws in a little trademark grandstanding for fun, but most of the film is real people who've lived the real tragedies of losing a loved one or the family home because of an inability to pay. He contrasts these stories with interviews with happy Europeans and Canadians who never have these worries. Okay, I didn't buy that either.

BUT, this is a film that makes one think. Maybe the fact that we have the world's most expensive health care system doesn't mean we have the best. Maybe socialized medicine is not something devised by Satan to deny people decent care. If you look at the systems of France (gasp) and the U.K. - there are some very viable solutions that we should be looking at and I had to wonder why we are so willing to believe that every other developed nation in the world has socialized medicine because it's such a terrible idea. Love him or hate him, Michael makes us reexamine ourselves. It's worth doing. Check his facts here.

Mr. Brooks

It has been awhile. I mean a whole LONG while since I've thought that Kevin Costner made a good movie. This is a great little movie and Kevin was delightful in it. But he didn't direct or meddle with the screenplay - he let Bruce Evans do all that. He did help produce so it got made independently - which also helped. But mostly, he did what he used to do before he got to be all that and a bag of chips. He ACTED and really damn well.

So Kevin plays Mr. Brooks - entrepreneur, philanthropist, artist, loving husband and father- all around evolved human being in Clark Kent specs and bow ties. He just has one little addiction - he really likes to kill people. When the 12 steps fail him, and he gives in to that nagging little voice in his head (gleefully brought to life by none other than William Hurt!) he is caught on film by a creepy peeping tom (Dane Cook) who is so excited by the whole thing that he decides to blackmail Mr. Brooks into letting him tag along on his next adventure. Is this twisted enough for you? Cuz it gets a whole lot more complicated.

The story is deliciously convoluted as our hero (!) dodges the detective (Demi Moore,) deals with his demented fan, digs his equally dangerous offspring out of her mess and battles his personal demons. Our Mr. Brooks may be tortured but he is NOT dull and it all comes together in a tidy little way that left me grinning. Well written, original thinking for a thriller and Kevin, Dane and William are having so much fun! Kudos! Check out the clever website here.

Reign Over Me

Movies about male friends tend to be of the a.) sophomoric toilet humor variety or b.) buddy movies about men forced to be together by virtue of the job or the insert your silly circumstance here. It is a rare thing indeed to watch a film devoted to the concept that even a real man can need a friend... in the 'traditionally left to the girlfriends' sense of someone to talk to as well as hang out with. It is also the rare film that allows men to have emotions... I mean other than the seven deadly sins. (Anger, lust, greed, pride, yup... those are all approved for the guys. Just skip the mushy stuff.)

In this lovely little film, Alan (Don Cheadle) is all overachiever and full of the angst of the perfect life - successful business, beautiful clingy wife, gorgeous kids - when he bumps into his college bud Charlie (Adam Sandler.) Charlie's a mess having lost his family on 9-11 and is living on the edge. By reconnecting with each other, both men find something they've lost along the way.

With an unexpected supporting cast (Liv Tyler, Jada Pinkett Smith, Donald Sutherland) Reign manages to only seem a trifle contrived and Mike Binder threw in some humor to lighten the load. And both of the guys handle the mushy stuff masterfully. There's also the value added glimpse into the world of post traumatic stress, unfortunately common these days. Check out the website here.

Once

I've never been a fan of musicals. The whole concept of people spontaneously bursting into song on a street corner always struck me as, well, odd. People don't behave that way on average, so at the very least it's contrived, and most musicals have lyrics that are, by and large, hokey and forgettable. That said, this is what a musical should be. Read that: this is a story about musicians and their music plays a role in the story. And as I believe all artists put themselves into their art, we come to know these people through their songs. And it's wonderful.

Our guy (Glen Hansard) meets our girl (Marketa Irglova) while playing on the streets of Dublin. He's a vacuum repairman who is airing his painful breakup in the songs he plays on the street corners, she's an immigrant with a past of her own. Together they make music - and through a tempestuous week she pushes him to record his songs and to heal. There isn't a Hollywood ending here, just real emotion and some fine tunes.

Wish more films were made like this, with real people acting like real people. Okay, they are talented people, but none the less. Glen Hansard is the frontman for the Irish band The Frames and he and Marketa have recorded together before, hence the chemistry, I suppose. Needless to say the soundtrack is awesome. Check out the website here.

The Wind That Shakes the Barley

The fun thing about civil wars is that whole "brother against brother" mojo. That always gets their heart strings... at least in the movies. Doesn't matter where you set that story line. In The Wind That Shakes the Barley, the story is set in Ireland circa 1920. The people of Ireland have been trying to cast off the yoke of the British Empire for some time and they are tired of occupation, and all the senseless violence and random humiliation that goes with it. (Insert your favorite current event reference here.)

Our brothers are young doctor Damien (the dreamy blue eyed Cillian Murphy) and tough talking Teddy (Padraic Delaney) who's hip deep in the local resistance. After a dose too much of what passes for British justice and against his better judgement, Damien joins the resistance as well. But as happens when ideals hit the cold hard wall of reality, one brother opts for compromise and the two become increasingly oppositional. And of course, high tragedy will follow.

Director Ken Loach delivers a poignant parable of the power of ideas and those willing to kill and die for them and Wind received the honor of Best Film at Cannes in 2006. Murphy always amazes. And Ireland is gorgeous.... Check out the website here.