Category Archives: 2007

2007, Could Be Sad, Feel Good For All

Things We Lost In The Fire (2007)

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From NetFlix:

Attempting to piece her life back together after losing her husband
(David Duchovny) in a tragic incident, grieving widow Audrey (Halle Berry)
turns to an unlikely ally: her husband’s childhood friend Jerry
( Benicio Del Toro), an emotionally wrecked heroin addict. As the troubled
two struggle to bear their heavy respective burdens, by leaning on each
other, they discover they possess unexpected resources in this moving drama.

I usually don’t cry at a movie. However, this one did it for me. The subtle use
of eyes and faces reminded me of a French film. Benicio Del Toro shines
like I have never before seen him do.

Please don’t miss this one!!!!!

2007, French, Not Feel Good, Revenge

The Page Turner (2007)

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From NetFlix:

As a child, pianist Melanie’s ( Déborah François) dream of
studying at a prestigious musical conservatory is shattered
when the chairwoman of the jury ( Catherine Frot) distracts
her during an audition. Years later, a coincidence leads to
Melanie’s employment in the woman’s household, and she
finds herself in the perfect position for revenge. Directed by
Denis Dercourt, this stylish psychological drama co-stars
Pascal Greggory.

Stephen King’s forte is revenge. But his revenge is usually
physically violent and just plain fun. On the other hand,
“The Page Turner” is French to the core. Subtle, quiet,
polite, it had me on the edge of my seat because I felt
that any minute something really awful was going to happen.

I strongly recommend this movie (NOT FOR CHILDREN)
and will only say “Don’t expect a happy ending”.

Stay alert.

2007, Not Feel Good, Several languages, Violent

The Kite Runner (2007)

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From NetFlix:

Years after fleeing the Taliban and immigrating to the
United States, an Afghan man (Khalid Abdalla) returns
to his war-ravaged homeland to try to repay his debt
to a childhood friend whose trust he betrayed. Marc
Forster (Finding Neverland, Monster’s Ball) directs this
touching story of family, friendship and bravery, based
on the best-selling novel by Khaled Hosseini.

The movie was faithful to the book. There are a lot of subtitles
because the languages are English, Dari, Pashtu, Urdu, and
Russian.

This movie is not for children. For the most part it is non-violent
but does include child rape, a beating, and the stoning of a woman
to death. The most difficult part to watch is one child betraying
another.

Well worth seeing.

2007, Feel Good For All

The Martian Child (2007)

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From NetFlix:

In this film based on a David Gerrold novel, John Cusack stars as a
recently widowed science-fiction writer who adopts a 6-year-old boy
to quell his loneliness. The catch? The kid ( Bobby Coleman) claims
to be from Mars. At first, the new dad doesn’t pay much attention to
the boy’s story, but when an odd series of events occurs, he begins
to believe his son may be telling the truth in this film co-starring
Amanda Peet and Joan Cusack.

————————

This is NOT science fiction. My all-time favorite movie about a child is “Dear Frankie”. If you have not yet seen “Dear Frankie”, I urge you to do so. However, “The Martian Child” is probably the most gentle movie about a child that I have ever seen. John Cusack plays a widower who does the most wonderful job trying to bring the boy into a normal interaction with the rest of the world. It is sort of a model about how to raise a sensitive and unusual child.

2007, DO NOT MISS, Not Feel Good, Revenge

Sleuth (2007)

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From Netflix:

Aging detective writer Andrew Wyke (Michael Caine) squares off
against Milo Tindle (Jude Law), the struggling actor who stole Wyke’s
wife in this twisted — and twisty — plot of deception and double
crosses. Kenneth Branagh directs a gripping screenplay by Nobel
Prize laureate Harold Pinter, who stylishly updates the 1972
original — in which an Oscar-nominated Caine played the Milo
role opposite Laurence Olivier’s Andrew. Double feature anyone?

The movie feels like a play and is essentially talking heads. But what two heads !!!!!!! It is a pleasure to watch real time-honored acting. Michael Caine and Jude Law pair off in the most impressive performance I have seen in a long time.

Beware ! This is Harold Pinter and it doesn’t take long for things to get down and dirty. NOT FOR CHILDREN.

The plot twists are jolting. The ending is perfect. The updated 2007 setting works well.

Don’t miss it!

2007, Feel Good Not For Children, Spanish

Ladron Que Roba a Ladron (2007)

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From NetFlix:

A pair of reformed crooks team up to pull one more heist. Their target? Master con artist Moctezuma Valdez (Saúl Lisazo), a popular television infomercial pitchman who’s gotten rich by swindling countless unsuspecting immigrants. The former thieves attempt to recruit some of their criminal cohorts to help pull off the plan, but when they refuse, the two turn to day laborers to participate in the elaborate robbery scheme

(Thieves robbing thieves). This is a C-film. When I was first learning
Spanish I watched telenovelas (Spanish soap operas) on Spanish TV.
Every different series featured the same set of actors and actresses
but in permutated roles. Here I am years later watching a film from CD
which again features many of those same actors (in more “mature”
roles). It is a Robin-Hood story in which a gang of people cooperate
to steal from a TV snake-oil saleman who deceives poor immigrants.
Bad robber keeps his cash in a vault in his palace. Good robbers
concoct an elaborate scheme (think “Oceans 17”) to tunnel into
his house, etc. But what is different is the Latino philosophy and
moralizing. It’s only C but I got a kick out of it. There are plot
twists, even in this wannabe.

2007, Feel Good Not For Children

Death at a Funeral (2007)

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From NetFlix:

The funeral for the patriarch of a wealthy but eccentric British clan is turned topsy-turvy when a stranger appears claiming to be the dead man’s gay lover in this dramedy directed by Frank Oz and starring Peter Dinklage, Matthew Macfadyen and Rupert Graves. The dysfunctional family grows wackier as the deceased’s sons decide they can’t let the rest of the guests get wind of this revelation. But can they get the cat back into the bag?

Peter Dinklage shows up at a funeral with proof that he was the dead father’s lover. This British slap stick comedy made me laugh a lot so I classified it in the list as feel-good B-movie. It’s an easy watch if you just want to relax. It is a bit crude and thus not for children.

Peter Dinklage is the only dwarf movie star I can name. “Death at a Funeral” is not his best and not an important movie. To appreciate Peter Dinklage, you should really watch “The Station Agent”

Save “Death at a Funeral” for a down day.

2007, Unusual

The Darjeeling LImited (2007)

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From NetFlix:

Following the death of their father, three brothers (Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman) embark on a journey on the cross-India train the Darjeeling Limited and attempt to reconnect after years of physical and emotional distance. The trip also opens up some old wounds and proves that their sibling rivalry can never be completely erased. Natalie Portman and Anjelica Huston co-star in Wes Anderson’s lyrical comic drama.

Another disfunctional family film (not the viewers, the characters ). Three brothers (including a heavily bandaged Owen Wilson) unite in India to ride a train to find their Mom who failed to show up for the funeral of Dad. Mom has become a Roman Catholic nun somewhere in the wilds of India. Does this tell you anything about the film ?

Almost all the dialog is deadpan comedy and I really had a good laugh from time to time. But I am a very tolerant viewer (I hope). So if you want to watch an hour+ of brotherly muddling and are patient, this is the film for you.

At least my mother did not become a nun!

2007, 3D, Acceptable Trash, Violent

Beowulf (2007)

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From NetFlix:

Directed by Robert Zemeckis, Beowulf tells of the great 6th-century Scandinavian warrior called upon to defeat a manlike ogre named Grendel (Crispin Glover), a descendant of the biblical murderer Cain. Based on the longest surviving Anglo-Saxon poem, this film adaptation’s notable cast includes Anthony Hopkins as King Hrothgar, Angelina Jolie as Grendel’s tormented mother, John Malkovich as Unferth and Ray Winstone as Beowulf.

There are at least two movie versions of the story. When the 2007 movie came out I decided to plough thru the actual Anglo-Saxon saga of Beowulf. Seamus Heaney produced a version that had Old English on the left side and his English translation on the right side. Frankly, I was a bit bored by the classic saga. It’s fairly straight-forward: man meets monster, man slays monster, man goes back home. So I can see why the movies spiced it up a bit.

I can only recommend this version to horny male teenagers eager to
see Angelina Jolie arise out of the water for all intents and purposes
naked.

Having said that, this is supposed to be a 3D movie although I am not
sure where I have to go to see it in 3D. I would be willing to re-see the
movie in 3D just to see how successful it is. The novelty in this movie
is that all the characters are real people whose appearances have
been digitally altered. I did not recognize Anthony Hopkins’ face, but
his voice was unmistakable. I recognized Jon Malkovitch’s altered face.
There are so many special effects (wow – what a dragon !) that 3D
might be fun. According to IMDB, Ray Winestone (Beowulf) is the voice
of Beowulf in some kind of video game based on Beowulf.

Having said all this, if you want to see a Beowulf film, please see
instead “Beowulf and Grendel (2005)”.

2007, DO NOT MISS, Violent, Western

3:10 to Yuma (2007)

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From NetFlix:

Rancher Dan Evans (Christian Bale) agrees to transport the captured outlaw Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) to the nearest town with a rail station, where they’ll wait for a train to court in Yuma. Holed up in the hotel near the station, Wade wreaks psychological havoc on Evans, while Wade’s henchmen plan their next move. Director James Mangold’s suspense-filled Western is a remake of the 1957 classic starring Glenn Ford and Van Heflin.

This western is quite possibly the best western, and perhaps one of the best films, I have ever seen.

Caution: This movie is violent, of course, because it is a WESTERN!

Russell Crowe and Christian Bale do wonderful jobs. But the real treat is Ben Foster playing a homicidal psychopath. The plot twists are clever. I had to suspend disbelief in the last section (in the final town) and would be interested if you felt the same. However, I laughed out loud at the last 5 seconds of the film, which consisted of one of the most surprising and perfect endings I have ever seen.

DON’T MISS THIS ONE!!!!!