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”
Set in a small, idyllic Oregon community, veteran director Robert Benton’s (Kramer vs. Kramer) charming ensemble drama features different lives intersecting at a coffee shop as they explore the depths of love and loss, joy and pain, and everything in between. Based on the popular Charles Baxter novel, this touching tale stars Morgan Freeman, Greg Kinnear, Selma Blair, Radha Mitchell and Billy Burke.
“Feast of Love” (2007) is fairly close to the book of the same name. Finally, a “date” movie that Kathy and I could watch together. Kathy thought the movie was better than the book. This B-movie has LOTS of nudity and sex. Many threads get resolved more or less happily at the end. Morgan Freeman and Greg Kinnear do a nice job.
College-educated Annie Braddock (Scarlett Johansson) gets a crash course in child care when she plays nanny to the 4-year-old son of grossly dysfunctional parents (Laura Linney and Paul Giamatti). Directed by Shari Springer Berman (American Splendor), this all-star comedy was adapted from the best-selling novel by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, who based their book on their experiences working for Manhattan’s wealthiest families.
Scarlett Johansson is a nanny for the son of unhappy, nasty rich New Yorker Laura Linney named Mrs. X. It’s a B-film with a happy ending. I could not really find anything wrong with this movie (slightly preachy climax). Paul Giamatti is Mr. X.
Set in 1980s East Berlin, director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s debut feature (which earned an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film) provides an exquisitely nuanced portrait of life under the watchful eye of the state police as a high-profile couple is bugged. When a successful playwright and his actress companion become subjects of the Stasi’s secret surveillance program, their friends, family and even those doing the watching find their lives changed too.
For me this compelling film (recommended in “1001 Films To See Before You Die”) was a “feel good” because it has the most memorable and wonderful ending. In between there is a lot of sadness. Also the film is somewhat illustrative of the phrase “the banality of evil”. Not that those times were easy: the Stasi blackmailed ordinary people into spying on their neighbors.
The banality of evil is a phrase coined by Hannah Arendt and incorporated in the title of her 1963 work Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil. It describes the thesis that the great evils in history generally, and the Holocaust in particular, were not executed by fanatics or sociopaths but rather by ordinary people who accepted the premises of their state and therefore participated with the view that their actions were normal. This concept has it critics. See The Banality Of Evil
Convinced little Olive (Abigail Breslin) is beauty queen material, parents Richard (Greg Kinnear) and Sheryl (Toni Collette) and the rest of the family embark on a life-altering road trip to a pageant in this madcap comedy. Struggling motivational speaker Richard pushes Olive to win, while her silent brother (Paul Dano), depressed uncle (Steve Carell) and nursing-home reject grandpa (Alan Arkin, in an Oscar-winning role) add their own quirks to the mix.
I did not need “1001 Films To See Before You Die” to tell me this is a “must see” film. The ensemble acting is well-done. The family bus all by itself is a real hoot. Little Olive is just plain cute and her final beauty queen performance is an unexpected riot. But with all its sexual references, it is not for small children.
A 36-hour period in the diverse metropolis of post-Sept. 11 Los Angeles is the theme of this unflinching drama that challenges viewers to confront their prejudices. Lives combust when a Brentwood housewife and her D.A. husband, a Persian shopkeeper, two cops, a pair of carjackers and a Korean couple all converge. Director Paul Haggis’s Best Picture Oscar winner stars Sandra Bullock, Brendan Fraser, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon and Jennifer Esposito.
Recommended in “1001 Films to See Before You Die”, this film seems to be the gold-standard for films that offer multiple seemingly independent threads that ultimately come together before the film ends. Sometimes those relations are a bit forced.
Racial predjudice (and whether it can be overcome) is the theme of the film. I have reviews that rave and reviews that rant about how well this theme is treated. At least it is not a boring film. What I remember most is the heroic car scene with Matt Dillon.
Two men go on an excursion and end up inducing midlife crises in this comedy-drama that won six Independent Spirit Awards, including Best Feature and Best Director. Pinot Noir lover Miles (Paul Giamatti) convinces friend Jack (Thomas Haden Church) to enjoy his last days of bachelorhood with a wine country road trip. The pair get involved with two women (Sandra Oh and Virginia Madsen) and inevitably come face to face with their past and present.
Just the few really funny sight-gags make the film (recommended by “1001 Films to See Before You Die”) worth watching. For my tastes (no pun intended) there was too much discussion of wine. I spent much of the film rooting for Paul Giamatti and hoping he might find some happiness in his life. I’ll always associate Thomas Haden Church as one of the brothers in the TV series “Wings”. Sandro Oh is well-known from “Grey’s Anatomy”.
Impish gamine Amélie (Audrey Tautou) lives alone and works in a café. When she finds a trove of toys hidden for 40 years behind a baseboard in her apartment, she’s inspired to repatriate the items, an impulse of generosity that sparks more benevolent acts. A celebration of life, Amélie reminds us of the small wonders that abound around us … if only we paused to look.
In recommending this film, the book “1001 Films To See Before You Die” says this is a sweet Parisian travelog about two hearts finding each other. For me there were some funny sightgags. In fact the review in the book suggests that we really should watch two other films by the writer/director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, namely, “Delicatessen” (about Parisian cannibals) and “The City Of Lost Children” (a mad scientist literally steals children’s dreams).
Love, sex and deception rule the day in this psychological drama from director Ray Lawrence. Detective Leon Zat (Anthony LaPaglia) dives headlong into a missing-persons investigation just as he’s grappling with guilt about his extramarital affair. His case crisscrosses the lives of four couples, all of which have secrets — including Leon’s wife, Sonja (Kerry Armstrong), and her secret psychiatrist, Dr. Sommers (Barbara Hershey).
“1001 Films To See Before You Die” points out that this film is very Australian in tone and deed. In fact the actors are Australian. It was the first time we had ever seen Anthony LaPaglia (now appearing in the TV series “Without a Trace”) who is at the center of the film. He was born in Adelaid, South Australia.
The film is a “Crash” film, meaning that many plot threads interweave just as “lantana” is an Australian creeper bush with flowers on top but a mass of sharp, nasty branches underneath.
One detail that I always remember is that LaPaglia has stolen a tape recording of one of his wife’s psychiatry sessions in which the therapist asks her if she loves her husband. He is so guilty about having an affair that he cannot bring himself to listen to the answer. You will have to see the film to hear the answer.
