Category Archives: FilmReview

2007, Animated, DO NOT MISS, Feel Good For All

Ratatouille (2007)

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From NetFlix:

Brad Bird (The Incredibles) co-directs this Oscar-winning Pixar offering, following the antics of a passionate rat named Remy (voiced by Patton Oswalt) who yearns for a sip of the good life. Growing up beneath a five-star Parisian restaurant owned by a famous chef (Brad Garrett), Remy inherits a taste for fine food. But his culinary ambitions only anger his practical father, who wishes his son could just eat garbage like everyone else.

This Disney film, “Ratatouille”, is just not your mother’s Disney.
Times have changed. I suppose it’s OK for children,
but it is really an adult film. What child cares about
the intricacies of cuisine ? How do you explain to
a youngster why the only female cook in the restaurant
take a can of mace from her handbag when the cook’s
illegitimate son comes on to her ? (“Mommy, what’s in
that can ?”) And to find the real heir to the restaurant
the lawyer uses a DNA search. (“Mommy, what’s DNA ?”)

For me the film started out a bit slow, but stick with it.
The ending is a bit maudlin, but after all, IT’S DISNEY!

The only objections I have to the film are as follow:
o There is NO nudity!
o There is NO explicit sex!
o There is NO violence!
o There is NO profanity!

Considering the above objections, who in their right
mind would want to see such a film ?

2007, Explicit sex, Feel Good Not For Children

Feast of Love (2007)

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From NetFlix:

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.

Goes well with hand-holding,

2007, Not Feel Good, Violent

Gone Baby Gone (2007)

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From NetFlix:

When a 4-year-old girl goes missing in Dorchester, one of Boston’s toughest hoods, private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro (Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan) reluctantly agree to take the case. But the investigation proves tougher, riskier and more complex than they could have imagined. Ben Affleck’s directorial debut, adapted from the Dennis Lehane novel, also stars Ed Harris, Morgan Freeman and Amy Ryan (in her first Oscar-nominated role).

Gone Baby Gone is a “page-turner”. I found it a bit confusing to follow the details. But the real point of the movie is the final choice that Patrick Kenzie has to make. I would really like to hear what choice you would have made.

The real violence is not the shootings but the violence done to the little girl by her mother-from-hell (neglect, not beating) played to perfection by Amy Ryan.

2007, Detective, Not Feel Good, Suspense, Violent

We Own the Night (2007)

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From NetFlix:

Bobby Green (Joaquin Phoenix) manages El Caribe, a hot New York City nightclub, while estranged brother Joseph (Mark Wahlberg) has followed in their policeman father’s (Robert Duvall) footsteps. The two are reunited by dealings with the Russian mafia, which has a foothold in Bobby’s business. As Joseph puts pressure on the mob, its members turn the screws on Bobby. Eva Mendes and Tony Musante co-star in writer-director James Gray’s action-drama.

More than the above I will not write, because the plot has some original developments. Joaquin Phoenix once again does not disappoint. Similarly Eva Mendes, Mark Wahlberg, and Robert Duvall do a great job. The movie is violent but not especially so. More important are the personalities and how they change, some for better, some for sadder.

By the way, if you have not seen Joaquin Phoenix in “Walk the Line” (a movie for everyone), don’t miss it!

“We Own the Night” tells a great story!

1984, DO NOT MISS, Violent

Once Upon a Time in America (1984)

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From NetFlix:

Director Sergio Leone’s sprawling crime epic follows a group of Jewish mobsters (including Robert De Niro, James Woods and Elizabeth McGovern) who rise in the ranks of organized crime in 1920s New York. Their story unfolds in flashbacks as ringleader Noodles (De Niro) returns to Brooklyn 30 years later to reunite and reminisce with his cohorts. Nominated for two Golden Globes, this gritty drama was Leone’s last directorial effort.

“Once Upon a Time in America” was made in 1984 by Sergio Leone. It requires 2 disks. The subject is a New York Jewish mob in the time of the depression and later. Before going any farther:

o It is violent
o The treatment of sex is frank, crude, adolescent, and abundant.
There is one no-holds-barred rape scene. Considering the
personalities, it all makes sense.

However, this is an important film which I loved. Most notable for me was the incredibly leisurely pace, which I mean in a constructive way. Conversations are not hurried. Scenes are allowed to linger. Am I wrong or do many of today’s films hurry ? Robert Di Niro, James Woods, and Elizabeth McGovern do a great job.

I have no idea whether this pretends to be a true history, but it doesn’t matter. There are surprising plot twists. Despite the fact that the protagonists are murderous thugs, you can’t help but feel what Di Niro suffers.

Don’t miss this classic!

1999, Suspense

Double Jeopardy (1999)

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From NetFlix:

Libby Parsons (Ashley Judd) awakens to find herself adrift at sea, with her husband missing and her hands covered with his blood. She’s arrested for murder and loses everything, including her son. While in prison, Libby finds out that she’s been framed. Now, the law of “double jeopardy” — and the desire to kill her “late” husband for good — is all Libby has left, even if it means outwitting her sympathetic parole officer (Tommy Lee Jones).

Ashley Judd is wrongly framed for the murder of her husband. There are twists here that I just don’t want to give away. At any rate, eventually her parole officer Tommy Lee Jones helps her. It’s a B movie, but the story keeps you going.

Watch it while you re-wire your toaster.

1996, Unusual

Breaking the Waves (1996)

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From NetFlix:

The revolutionary Dogma 95 school of filmmaking washed up on American shores with this intense European drama starring Emily Watson as Bess, a naïve Scotswoman who’s convinced that God will heal her paralyzed husband (Stellan Skarsgård) if she has sex with other men. Director Lars von Trier shot the film using only available light, handheld cameras and no musical score; the result is a stunning, nakedly emotional film.

This one has me stumped. I could not stop watching it, but I can’t imagine what anyone else would think of this film. It is a long movie. Sometimes I thought “why am I watching the antics of this loony wife ?” There was magic realism in the very unexpected ending.

You are warned about such an unusual movie. Watch it while you do your income taxes.

2007, Feel Good Not For Children

The Nanny Diaries (2007)

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From NetFlix:

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.

2007, Documentary, Unusual

Protagonist (2007)

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From NetFlix:

Four disparate lives intertwine with surprising results in this absorbing documentary, an official selection of the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. A German terrorist, a bank robber, an “ex-gay” evangelist and a martial arts student form the unlikely quartet. In her interweaving narrative, Oscar-winning filmmaker Jessica Yu explores parallels between human life and the formal dramatic structure of the Greek tragedian Euripides.

This is one strange film which features 4 talking heads telling their stories. You have to be in the mood for what is really a documentary. How did one man become a terrorist working for Carlos the Jackall and what was his salvation ? How did another become a bank robber and what turned his life around ? Why did a man become a self-destructive martial artist and how did he change ? A Greek chorus separates the stages of the lives of these men.

2007, Not Feel Good

Atonement (2007)

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From NetFlix:

In this drama based on the critically acclaimed novel by Ian McEwan, a childhood lie irrevocably changes the lives of several people forever. When 13-year-old Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan) misinterprets a moment of flirtation between her older sister Cecilia (Keira Knightley) and a servant’s son, Robbie Turner (James McAvoy), her confusion causes her to finger Robbie as the perpetrator of a crime. Brenda Blethyn and Vanessa Redgrave co-star in this Oscar nominee for Best Picture.

“Atonement” is a beautiful sad movie (think “Ivory Merchant”). This movie, in my opinion, is one of those “do not miss”. Some of the WWII scenes were a bit drawn out, however. And definitely not for children. The chronology of the film differs from that in the book by Ian McKewen.