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.