Smart People (2008) **

I don’t think I’ve written about a movie in a long time.  That doesn’t mean I haven’t been watching any.  I guess I haven’t had a real strong opinion about any of the movies I’ve seen lately.  I don’t really  have that strong of an opinion on “Smart People” either, but I just watched it and I’m procrastinating on doing any work right now, so here goes.

I usually really enjoy the actors in this film.  Thomas Hayden Church, who plays the “adoptive brother” Chuck is always awesome and funny.  I put the words “adoptive brother” in quotation marks because I thought they made too big of a deal about that.  First of all, the characters of Chuck and Lawrence look enough alike that I thought it would come out that they were biological brothers and that Lawrence just called him his adopted brother like all older brothers do to their younger, pesky siblings.  But no, I guess not.  Now then, it seems like they mentioned he was adopted so as not to gross people out completely when his niece plants a big wet one on him when he gets her plastered.  That’s fine, but why did they have to mention his adopted status every time he was introduced or spoken of?  In an actual family where two brothers are not blood related they just call each other brothers. 

I enjoyed some parts of the film in anticipation that there would be something really interesting happen eventually.  Nothing did.  I get the concept of the movie and I like that each character grew from beginning to end, but I wasn’t really entertained throughout that journey.  It needed to be either funnier or sadder.

I love Ellen Page.  “Juno” was one of my favorite movies, but her character here was very similar to that one. I hope not to find out that she is a one-note wonder. 

Dennis Quaid plays Lawrence, a university lit professor who’s been a widower for a number of years.  He’s very cliche with the tweed and corduroy blazers, messy hair, and scruffy beard.  He ends up in the emergency room and his doctor (Sarah Jessica Parker) turns out to be a former student.  They end up dating but I can’t figure out why.  I don’t see the attraction between them.  It’s like they deleted a few crucial scenes from the movie.  But, I watched all of the deleted scenes and they’re not there either.  Maybe I missed something, but I’m not willing to go back and watch it again.  If you figure it out, please let me know.

Sex and the City (2008) ***

I have been eagerly anticipating the release of this movie for quite a while. I just started watching the HBO series about 18 months ago and was hooked. So, the fact that I waited three full weeks after its release may surprise people, but I had a pretty good reason. Besides the fact that I’ve had some full weekends during June, I was waiting for my friend Pam.

Pam is my friend with whom I see most movies. Sometimes I go with my husband, sometimes my kids, and sometimes all by myself, but mostly with Pam. Earlier in the week, before the movie came out, Pam and I went to see… uuuummmm… I don’t remember… but anyway, she told me she had never watched Sex and the City. She gets HBO, so I don’t know why she had never seen it, but at that point I told her, “You have got to watch at least a few episodes on HBO on Demand. Then, we’ll go see the movie. You’ll love the show!” And I know that she would. So, I gave her a few weeks. The other day she told me she and her sisters planned to go see the movie today and asked me to come along. My father, step-mother, and sister had already seen it and my father told me that my sister never watched the show and hated the movie. My step-mother and Dad did watch the show and loved the movie. So, I was a little worried about Pam.

I needn’t have. Pam is not my sister. She loved it as much as I did. I think the reason I liked it so much is the love I have for every single one of the characters and I really missed them. Their personalities haven’t really changed after five years… Carrie was a little less humorous in the movie, but she had a good excuse. And Big was a little more sensitive than in the series, but it’s obvious that he’s in love, so that explains that.

This movie was everything I was hoping it would be. There were quite a few hilarious lines and situations… Pam has a laugh better described as a cackle that everyone in the theater heard several times over the movie dialogue. There were some really good sex scenes… nothing too serious… most just to keep up with the series’ style. And we cried a lot as well.

I love Kristen Davis. When Charlotte was mad at Big, you KNEW it.

I love Steve. He’s just so adorable.

I love Samantha. But, hers was the only storyline I wasn’t really satisfied with. She’s a terrific friend to Carrie, though. I love how supportive they all are to each other. I have some good friends… GREAT friends, but I don’t think I’ve ever been as close to anyone as those four are.

One other disappointment, but not a biggie, was Stanford’s limited appearance in the movie. Did he even speak? I don’t remember.

The one character new to the movie was Loiuse, played by the fantastic Jennifer Hudson. Her character was really cool. I was going to say unnecessary, but that’s not really true. And her song at the closing credits sounded sensational!… Maybe another Oscar for her! (If she wrote it, that is).

The movie was quite lengthy, but I could have sat there another two hours if they wanted to make it that long. I’m not saying it was technically a great theatrical masterpiece, but for a chick-flick, it was very entertaining. I had a great time watching the old gang… Let’s have another one next year!

Oscar Weekend

Yay! It’s that time again!  I love the Oscars!  I especially love them when I’ve seen all of the nominated pictures.  That doesn’t happen very often.  In fact, I think it’s only happened once that I can recall.  That was 1998 (movies released in ‘97).  I loved all five movies. Titanic won, of course, and I knew it would, but I was really kind of rooting for Good Will Hunting.  The other three were L.A. Confidential, The Full Monty, and As Good as it Gets. I have also seen all of the movies nominated in 2005 and 2000, but I’m sure I only saw four of them before the Oscars those years.  They were Million Dollar Baby, The Aviator, Finding Neverland, Ray, and Sideways (from 2005) and American Beauty, Cider House Rules, The Insider, The Green Mile, and The Sixth Sense (from 2000.) I hadn’t seen Finding Neverland or Cider House Rules until they came out on video.

Ever since then I’ve tried to see as many Best Picture nominees before the Oscars as possible so as to make the viewing experience more enjoyable.  Last year I saw only three of the five nominees: Babel, The Departed, and Little Miss Sunshine.  I had seen Babel just days before the Oscars and hoped it wouldn’t win over The Departed. It was a surprise that it happened as I had hoped.  Everyone had predicted a win for Babel, but I didn’t really like it that much.

This year, as of right now, I’ve seen Michael Clayton and Juno (twice).  I’m going to see No Country for Old Men tonight and Atonement tomorrow at 5:15 PM… right before the Oscars.  That’s four out of five, leaving There Will Be Blood, which I could go see at 12:15, if I decide to…. I’m not sure, yet.  Everyone says Atonement should win, but I loved Juno so much, I hope there’s a big surprise.

Well, off to see the movie… If I get a chance to post before the Oscars, I will. Otherwise, I’ll write my opinions afterwards.

Peace.

**Update: We just got back from seeing No Country for Old Men. I liked it for the most part, but it was quite strange.  I didn’t love it. I don’t really have much more to say about it.  If it wins, I’ll probably watch it again someday.  If not, maybe I will, but probably not.

Lions for Lambs (2007) **

I went to see Lions for Lambs by myself last Tuesday afternoon.  That’s not something I usually do, but it was certainly not my first time.  There are so many movies that have been out or are coming out that I haven’t seen and I really didn’t want to miss this one.  Robert Redford movies are always good and this one has Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise in it.  There were a few movies that came and went over the summer and already this fall that I wanted to see, but missed.  I can’t always wait until someone has time to go with me.

I liked the movie. The subject was of great interest to me. However, I think it might have been better as a TV movie.  It was only about ninety minutes long, so in that way it was good for TV.  And being that it was a fictional story about current real events (the war in Iraq), I think possibly more people would have seen it had it been made for TV.  Of course, Redford, Streep, and Cruise don’t really do much TV, but my point is that this movie didn’t need any of them as actors.  Not that any of them did not give their typical top-notch acting.  They all did.  It’s just that this movie did not really need anyone that good.

Tom Cruise plays a US Senator.  He’s very believable in the part, but there was no big scene that required an actor of his caliber, in my opinion.  I think it was maybe too simple.

The same could be said for Meryl Streep.  Since she’s my favorite actress, I wouldn’t mind if she was in any movie I saw in the theater, TV, or anywhere, but she played a character that probably any actress could have been fine playing.

It was funny that this movie had three really big names starring, I mean really big, and all of the other main parts were played by virtual unknowns.  I think it could have been just as good, maybe better, on TV with all of the parts being played by some good actors, who are fairly well-known.

Here I am going on and on about the actors, when the real reason I think it should have been a TV movie is that it just seemed like one.  It had the flow of a made-for-TV movie. I’m sorry, but I don’t know quite how to describe that in words, but that was the feeling I got while watching it.

There was one other movie that I remember feeling that way about while watching it in the theater.  It was Deep End of the Ocean, with Michele Pfeiffer and Treat Williams. It was about a mother whose son was abducted when she and her family were on a trip.  I thought the movie was terrific, but it had that same made-for-TV flow.  But it has Michele Pfeiffer in it so it had to be on the big screen, of course.  And to be fair, she did have a scene that was so completely believable and had to be so very hard when she first realized her son was really gone.  But, other than that, it was only TV-worthy.

The only other comment I have regarding Lions for Lambs is that it seems like a movie that is trying to show people why the war is wrong.  The only problem with that is that I don’t think it will succeed in changing anybody’s opinion.  I think most people are against the war, so it’s wasting breath on those people.  Those that aren’t against the war, are not going to change their opinion from watching a movie that will just reiterate what thousands of people have been trying to get across for years now.  Because the situation in the movie is not real, no one has to accept it as such. Therefore, as a political statement to both sides, I think the movie is wasting its breath.

Evening (2007) *

I was quite excited when I got the email from my best movie friend Pam.  She asked if I wanted to join them to go see this movie. “Them” being the normal group of women who get together every other month or so for a movie.  I had wanted to see it since first watching the trailer on TV a few weeks ago.  Yay! It has Meryl Streep in it! Yay! It has an “All Star” cast (You KNOW I love that!) Oh, this movie HAS to be GREAT!

NOT!

It was not the actors.  It was the acting.  But, it was more than just that. It lacked depth. It lacked reason.

The movie flashed back and forth between the present and 60ish years ago, and told the story from the perspective of the character Ann, remembering from her deathbed the weekend of her best friend’s wedding.  She remembered a lost love: her first “mistake.” WHAAAAT?! Oh, nevermind, it was too stupid to describe.

Claire Daines played the young Ann, while Vanessa Redgrave played the old Ann.  I think Claire Daines is a pretty good actress, not the best, but I enjoy her. Vanessa Redgrave I have always thought was a good actress, but I don’t recall what other movie I’ve seen her in. Somehow, though, I knew who she was without seeing the credits.  Neither was good in this movie.

Toni Collette and Natashia Richardson played Ann’s present day daughters who seemed to be waiting for her to die.  They were sweet to their dear, dying mother, but it seemed kind of fake. I like both of these actresses, too. I think Natashia Richardson is beautiful and Toni Collette kind of creepy, but in an enjoyable way.  They just weren’t enjoyable in this movie. The two of them had scenes together that seemed so unrealistic. And as I think back on the scene where they’re arguing about something and then Toni’s character tells her sister that she’s pregnant then they hug, I can see something like that happening in real life, but it didn’t flow right.

Another main character was Lila.  She was played by Meryl Streep’s daughter.  Knowing ahead of time that Meryl Streep was in this movie and seeing right away that it was a flashback-type film and this actress played a character in the past, you knew right away who was playing the present day Lila.  We didn’t know she was Meryl Streep’s daughter, but I was thinking the second I saw her: Man, she looks so much like Meryl Streep, she could be her daughter! What great casting!

The other big star in this movie was Glen Close. She played Lila’s mother… badly. It was quite a small part, anyone could have played it. And I have to say, she didn’t look too good either.

Of course Meryl Streep was good. Only thing… she was only in it for a minute.

This screenplay is based on a book. I haven’t read it, but I’ve heard it was good. If it wasn’t, why would they make a movie out of it?

There were a couple of good scenes. I liked when Buddy and Ann were dancing through the house. That wasn’t acting, though. It was dancing. I realize that I didn’t tell you who Buddy was, but does it really matter?  He was cute… that’s about all you need to know.

OK… did I say “a couple of good scenes”? I think I meant one.

So, you have to figure, if all these stars were so bad in this movie, whose fault is it? Well, the director, of course.   So, Lajos Koltai, sorry man.  It was NOT good.

The Shawshank Redemption (1994) ****

Based on the novella, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, by Stephen King, this is another of my all time favorite movies.  I read the book many times before the movie came out.  I used to do that a lot. Rather than read another book, I would read a book over that I enjoyed.  This story was one of them.  It is from a collection called Different Seasons.  When I first saw the first few frames of the trailer, before I had heard they made it into a movie, I knew.  I got so excited and couldn’t wait to see it.

 One thing about Stephen King novel-based movies, you never know if it is going to work because his greatest books are so imaginative and what you picture when you read the book, is not always the way someone else does.  Examples of the ones that didn’t work: Pet Semetary, Christine, Cujo, and probably a bunch of the made-for-TV movies that I didn’t bother watching.  Of those that worked, The Shining, Delores Claiborne, Carrie, The Dead Zone, and Misery, although the movies were great, the books were better.  He has many, many others that were made into good and bad movies, but I either didn’t see the movie, or didn’t read the book, or both. 

The Shawshank Redemption works.  Even with the changes that had to be made to fit it into a movie’s timeframe, it works.  Actually, I think there were some things in the movie that I didn’t get out of the book.  I can give three specific examples: 1)The pronunciation of Andy’s last name, Dufresne, which in the book says it’s a common name, but I didn’t know how to pronounce it so I don’t think it’s very common around here. 2) The scene where Andy locks the guard in the bathroom and plays the opera album over the prison loudspeaker. It’s my favorite scene in the movie and there would be no way to know what that song sounded like from reading words in a book. 3) The sound of the name of the place where Andy was planning to spend his life after prison, if he ever got out, Zihuatanejo.

Of course, the cast was terrific… I love a great cast!  Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman are definitely on my list of favorite actors (I’ll have to share that list when I actually concoct it… it’s quite long).  It was amazing that Morgan Freeman was chosen for this role and was perfect.  He’s got such a great face!  I remember him from the Electric Company as Easy Reader. Wow! THAT was a long time ago.  I think Tim Robbins is a great actor.  I LOVED him in Mystic River. I’d love to digress and describe my feelings for that movie, but I’ll save that for another post. I don’t think many of the other cast members are as well-known (at least by me), except maybe James Whitmore,  but the acting was terrific.

Directed by Frank Darabont, who also wrote the screenplay, it is a story about an innocent man,  sent to prison for the murder of his wife.  The evidence against him was substantial albeit circumstantial. It’s a story about survival, friendship, and hope.  There is also deception, corruption, and of course redemption, hence the title.   Narrated by the secondary character, Red (Morgan Freeman), “The only guilty man in Shawshank,” we are told how this unlikely survivor makes it through many long years in prison. 

Just like reading the book over and over, I have seen this movie many times and will watch it many times to come. 

A Few Good Men (1992) ****

This is my first review ever. I’m starting out with my very favorite movie of all time.  I’ve seen it more times than I can count. I saw it when it came out in the theater, rented it when it first came out on VHS, then owned the VHS tape, then when I got a DVD player I bought the DVD right away.  I also watch it every time I flip through the channels and discover that it’s on. 

 Of course I know the dialogue by heart, which I think is quite good since this movie has so much of it.  I tend to like movies more the more dialogue there is. 

Trying to put my finger on why this movie is my favorite and it isn’t for just one reason.  It’s a combination of a lot of things that I love about movies.  It has an extraordinary cast and every one of them is fabulous. But before I talk about them, I guess I’ll give a short summary of the plot.

The movie begins in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, otherwise known as Gitmo. Two marines barge into another’s barracks room and tie him up and gag him. We find out shortly after that he ends up dead and the two marines who attacked him, Dawson and Downey,  are being charged with murder.  Lt. Cmdr. Joanne Gallaway, who is an Internal Affairs lawyer for the Navy in Washington, DC, suspects that Dawson and Downey might have been set up.  She petitions Division to assign them a lawyer to get to the bottom of it.  To her dismay, they assign it to a rookie with a perfect record for plea bargaining: Lt. Daniel Kaffey.

In true form, Lt. Kaffey gets the marines a deal to plead guilty to a lesser charge with six months jail time and when offered, they refuse.  They are proud marines with a code of honor they believe in deeply.  They did their job by following an order given by their superior officer Lt. Jonathon Kendrick.  If they say they’re guilty, they break the code.  Kaffey is so frustrated with them, that he wants to quit and almost does until it dawns on him that he was assigned this case so that it would never go to trial.  Why? 

Tom Cruise is not my favorite actor, but I’m drawn to his movies.  He is an excellent actor, in my opinion, but I don’t go, and never have gone, ga-ga for him like so many other women my age.   In this movie his performance was amazing.  I absolutely loved the character Daniel Kaffey.  He’s so skilled, so intuitive, witty, athletic (adding some sex appeal), confident, and just plain cool.  Cruise is so great in this role that even though I have seen this movie possibly more times than any other movie, I still get chills watching the courtroom scenes.

I maybe should say that I’m quite fascinated by courtroom stories.  You’d think I would want to be a lawyer or work in a courtroom, but I have no desire for that.  I wouldn’t mind watching trials all day.  I’ve never been called for jury duty either.  But, I digress.

 Jack Nicholson is perfect for the role of Colonel Nathan R. Jessep.  No question about that.  He captures that necessary arrogance that Jessep possesses.  His evil grin, his quest for power, his intimidating presence: So Jack!

I love all the supporting actors, as well, from the smallest of roles like Cpl. Barns, played by young pre-E.R. Noah Wylie, to the handsome outside-the-courtroom-friend-inside-the-courtroom-foe Captain “Smilin” Jack Ross, played by Kevin Bacon, to the wonderfully weird, cold Lt. Kendrick, played by Kiefer Sutherland.  The roll of Lance Corporal Harold Dawson, the ranking of the two defendants, was played by a young actor named Wolfgang Bodison, who never acted before.  He worked on Rob Reiner’s crew and they thought he looked good for the part.  They were so right! He really does look good! And a pretty good acting job, as well.

I must mention the rest of the cast because there’s not a dud in the bunch: Demi Moore, James Marshall, J.A. Preston, Kevin Pollak, Christopher Guest, Cuba Gooding, Jr., and the late great J.T. Walsh, my personal favorite and very much missed.

This movie was adapted from a play (both written by Aaron Sorkin), and directed by the wonderful Rob Reiner.  I have not seen a Rob Reiner film I didn’t like.  He’s one of the best as far as entertaining movies, in my opinion.  There may be some directors out there who make spectacular movies, but Reiner’s make you think and feel and laugh and get so into the movie.  He’s amazing to me.  Being an actor himself, Reiner identifies with the actors in his cast and is more knowledgeable to direct them.

There are so many great scenes in this movie. Everyone’s seen the one with Jack’s famous line, “You can’t HANDLE the truth!”   That monologue gave me chills, but when Kaffee was “firing away” at Jessep, I think that was the moment that got me.  Wowed me;  Awed me.  I watch the movie again and again happily enjoying the whole thing, but my goal is to see THAT again.

 There’s nothing like a good courtroom movie!

My Favorite Movies

I love movies, so this is a long, incomplete list of my favorites in pretty random order.  A shorter list would probably be movies I’ve seen that I don’t like.

A Few Good Men
Good Will Hunting
The Shawshank Redemption
Dreamgirls
American President
The Bourne Identity
The Bourne Supremacy
Sleepers
Spiderman
Spiderman 2
All the Harry Potter movies
The Lord of the Rings trilogy
Star Wars (episodes 1-5) Return of the Jedi was OK, but not on my list of favorites
The Princess Bride
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Moonstruck
Sleepless in Seattle
Ocean’s Eleven
Legally Blonde (I & II)
Raising Arizona
The Wedding Singer
Million Dollar Baby
Coal Miner’s Daughter
Escape from Alcatraz
My Cousin Vinny
A League of Their Own
The Natural
Stand By Me
Forest Gump
School of Rock
Meet the Parents
Elf
Delores Claiborne
The Firm
Pretty Woman
Steel Magnolias
When a Man Loves a Woman
Dead Poets Society
A Time to Kill
On Golden Pond
Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead
Fried Green Tomatoes
The Breakfast Club
St Elmo’s Fire
Sixteen Candles
Valley Girl
Meatballs
Shrek
Alladin
Finding Nemo
Toy Story
Monsters, Inc.
Juno

Classic Faves:
The Wizard of Oz
The Sound of Music
The Littlest Rebel
Curly Top
Gone With the Wind
Oklahoma!