Read Our Minds

Away We Go is a trip worth taking

Away We Go, the movie directed by Sam Mendes and starring John Kracinski of The Office, is a great little movie. In the movie, Kracinski and Maya Rudolph play an unmarried couple who travel from Colorado to Arizona to Madison, WI, to Montreal, and eventually to Florida -- all in an effort to learn what "home" means to them.  This is an understated movie with few belly laughs, but enjoyable all the same. Allison Janney (formerly of West Wing) is a hoot as Rudolph's uninhibited ex-boss living in Phoenix with a family that has pretty much tuned her out.  Maggie Gyllenhaal plays a spaced out mother professor flower child living in Madison, WI, with her slacker husband, both of whom share their interesting ideas on child-raising. Funniest scenes are the mother who pushes her young son to tell Kracinski and Rudoph what he knows about a baby (not what you may think, and who hasn't had a pushy parent shove their baby Einstein in your face?); Jim Gaffigan, as Janney's husband, going on a rant about how every living being in the desert is going to die from a lack of water, and he then proceeds to prioritize the decline of each species; and Kracinski taking the flower couple's kid on an unauthorized stroller ride around their living room.  This movie didn't get a lot of buzz, probably because it was more of a thinking picture than an in-your-face comedy.   But it is well worth the 95 minutes and DVD rental.

Directed by Sam Mendes

Reviewed by Tim Boivin

The Informant a good, but not great, movie

Over the weekend I had a chance to catch the matinee showing of The Informant, Steven Soderbergh's film about a food company employee (Matt Damon) who begins feeding information to an FBI agent (Scott Bakula) about illegal activities at his company, but turns out to not quite be Karen Silkwood.

First of all, let me say it's my last matinee. As I looked around at the rest of the people heading in, I imagined them all going to dinner at 4:30 to catch the AARP specials. I'm not quite ready to be associated with that just yet.

As for the movie itself, it was entertaining, and had some good moments. Still, nothing that made it worth paying full price for in a theater. You could easily watch this movie again and again on cable or dish and not lose a thing.

It definitely carried Soderbergh's personal stamp. The titles to transition between time and place and color saturation had a feel to them like the movie was made in the late '60s, even though it is new this year and is set in the early '90s. The soundtrack was excellent, written by Marvin Hamlisch but with a jazzier, more stylized feel than some of his other work. It definitely works here.

As for Damon's performance, he does a good job of playing a man who believes himself to be a good guy, yet is deluding himself as well. From what we can see, he's a guy who sees his company doing something illegal and feels it's important to do the right thing. We are brought along with it, sympathizing with his worries, and feeling bad for him as the company tries to weasel out of the trouble it gets into. It's all very Hollywood formula about a whistle-blower. But then his personal story begins to unravel, and we find that what we were led to believe about him isn't quite the truth.

Sorry to be so vague, but to say more would ruin some of the twists the plot takes. Suffice it to say it doesn't end the way you think it will.

Kudos to Soderbergh for incorporating not one but two Smothers Brothers in separate roles. That is part of the fun with this movie -- seeing who all is in it. It's not quite as good as the "Ocean's" franchise, but it has its moments.

-- Reviewed by Ken Krause

Inglourious Basterds

When you’ve made Pulp Fiction, everything else is inevitably going to be compared to that movie making triumph.   It must be a curse and a blessing to Quentin Tarantino.  In this case, it’s a blessing for him because a lot of us are going to plop down the cash just to see his latest work, Inglourious Basterds.   

 

Yes, there are similarities between Basterds and the 1967 classic Dirty Dozen, and Quentin is both celebrating and mocking that genre of Nazi killin’ movies.  There are two parallel plots that meet at the end and that was well sequenced and fun to follow, and the character development was also very well done.  I can tell Quentin really wants his characters to come to life.  The film also develops tension and suspense nicely. 

 

There is some gruesome violence that was a little hard on the eyes, and it didn’t seem as funny to me as the violence in Pulp.  Maybe Pulp was all about awkward life and death moments, which made them funnier.  And the violence in Kill Bill was heavily stylized in an over the top homage to martial arts classic gore, and I get that. But I was unconvinced of the effect Quentin was trying to achieve with violence this time around.  For that reason, I’d knock Basterds down a peg.  The editor also could have lopped off ten minutes. 

 

It wasn’t a completely satisfying film, but it was fairly fun.  Quentin did a good job of walking the line between the predictable plot elements we want to enjoy in this genre, while adding a lot of unexpected twists that kept it entertaining.  I'll give it 3 ¾  stars.

Reviewed by Lawren Markle  Tech Image

Watching my pennies with a $3.99 movie download

It’s never a good sign when you sit down and can’t remember the movie you watched five hours earlier.Oh yeah, my iPod says I viewed Confessions of a Shopaholic. The chick flick starts out with a flashback of the main character, Rebecca Bloomwood, played by Isla Fisher, must buy sensible shoes per her mother while her school girl friends are buying trendy foot wear. Not something I understand.  As a kid I don’t think I took off my canvas sneakers until I was ordered to buy a new pair without holes. Anyway, as a 25 year old adult she chooses to take a fork in the road to high fashion, which of course leads to a massive debt to deal with. Credit card debt of $16,000 is simply impossible for me to understand.

So she quickly moves on to a higher paying job. What economy is she living in? The government claims 2.6 million jobs were lost in 2008. According to the US Department of Labor, In July 2009, the number of unemployed persons was 14.5 million. Her new boss hires her for no apparent reason, except maybe to mentor and fall in love with her. I’m thinking there isn’t much money to be had in what I’d call an intern position.

Ok Isla Fisher is as cute in this as she was in Wedding Crashers. There are some funny lines and scenes like when she pays off the debt collector with $9,000 in hand-delivered pennies.

This was one way to kill an hour and 45 minutes. But I am thinking it may be time to move beyond romantic comedies to something that I can actually recall before the day ends.

Ken, I should have taken your suggestions. Next time! Anyone else have some good ideas for my tiny iPod screen?

-- Reviewed by Tracy Shryer

You Can Never Have Too Much Butter – A Review of Julie & Julia

If you’re a fan of cooking shows (think Top Chef, 30-minute meals with Rachael Ray, Good Eats – you get the idea), you’ll like this movie. Or if you’re stuck in a rut with your job or life, this movie just might inspire you to make a change. Or at least think about it. The basic premise of this movie is two women looking for a purpose.

Julia, who adores her global-trekking husband, is more than a bit restless. After exclaiming that she needs something to dooo, Julia pushes her way into a prestigious French cooking school and takes eight years to write a tome on mastering the art of French cooking. Meryl Streep is marvelous as usual.

Julie, feeling marginalized by her friends, doesn’t see an alternative to her menial job, so she starts a project: to sauté, steam and fricassee her way through Julia Child’s voluminous cookbook, one recipe at a time. Struggling to stay on task, Julie cooks and blogs her way through all 752 pages and finds her calling (Watch it yourself to learn how it ends.)

The movie goes back and forth between their lives, but it’s very easy to follow. One of the things I really liked about this film is that it really happened. With her husband posted in France, Julia Child found her passion in food and turned it into a wonderful career.

Julie Powell really did blog about her project http://blogs.salon.com/0001399/ and you can also see what she’s up to now at http://juliepowell.blogspot.com/

Final thoughts: Go see it if you want to laugh or be inspired. Just don’t go when you’re hungry!

--Reviewed by Donna Gaidamak

iPod touch: Frustration = Four Stars

 Have a couple of hours every other week lately being stuck by needles? Instead of complaining about it I went out and bought an iPod touch. I figure I could easily download music, audio books and movies to get me through a couple of hours of chemo. So the plan was to review the 2008 movie “The Women”. Great actresses … Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Candace Bergen, Cloris Leachman, Bette Midler. And a pretty good second string … Debra Messing, Debi Mazar, Carrie Fisher. Unfortunately the movie missed the mark. It was messy. A few good lines but too much like Sex and the City for forty-somethings.  

More important, is the iPod touch. I was so excited to have this toy. Unfortunately, the iTunes store application is a bear. First I downloaded the same audio file multiple times. Thank goodness iTunees saw the mess I put myself in and allowed me to return the two extra editions of “Twilight”. Upon direction, I had an easier time downloading “The Women” to my computer. But to get it onto the iPod took forever to figure out. The app is not intuitive, particularly for someone with other things on her mind. The rental movies are hidden behind a series of screens, and all things considered, remembering the order to actually get the movie to the iPod seemed ridiculously complex. I did finally manage it.

Hopefully it will be easier next week. Any ideas on what movie I should download?

-- Reviewed by Tracy Shryer

The Uninvited

One of the best ways for me to unwind from a hectic week or a busy weekend is by renting a movie. Even though I love horror films, I was skeptical on renting the new flick, “The Uninvited.” In my mind, everything since “Sixth Sense” has, for the most part, ranked as average in my book. Nothing seems to create that much suspense or horror, and you can predict every evil lying around the next corner.

To my pleasant surprise, “The Uninvited” wasn’t bad at all. And it kept me awake the entire 87 minutes, which is a difficult task for any director.

Without diving into a spoiler alert, “The Uninvited” was based around a teen who is going through emotional problems after her mother dies in a house fire. After she is released from psychiatric care, her father brings her back home where her and her sister quickly believe their dad’s new girlfriend (and their ex-nanny) killed their mom in a purposely ignited house fire. And now the duo believes she has also murdered a friend and is now after them.

Of course there is a lot more detail than what I just told, but there is never a true glimpse of the twist the movie takes in the final minutes. Much like the “Sixth Sense,” you never see it coming.

If you’re looking for a decent horror movie this weekend, I would recommend checking out “The Uninvited.”

--Reviewed by Christine Rojewski

Dillinger -- Villain to Vanilla in Public Enemies

Because of Johnny Depp, Public Enemies received a lot of pre-release buzz, but it seems like a movie without a center. So many stories were going on with so many characters that after a while I started checking out the cool colors on the walls of my local cineplex due to a lack of interest. That kind of wandering story. Even Johnny Depp couldn't save this dog. A very vanilla movie, very forgettable. Look for it on TNT within six months.

--Reviewed by Tim Boivin

Year One

Wow. Here was a movie I was looking forward to for a couple of months -- ever since I'd seen the first trailer for it. It looked to be hilarious. It had Jack Black in it, along with Michael Cera who's a master at playing nerdy, lacking in self confidence, put-upon characters. It was directed by Harold Ramis, who's given us such classics as Groundhog Day, Stripes and Ghostbusters. What could possibly be better?

The answer? This movie. I'm sorry but it was just lame. All the best jokes were in the trailer, and at a better pace. It had a feeling like it wasn't quite finished -- as if the person whose job it was to take half-baked material and really make it shine didn't show up for work while the film was being shot and edited. In short, it just didn't hold together.

I've seen this before with historical comedies. Mel Brooks' History of the World Part One had a similar issue. It seemed like it should have been funnier, but it wasn't. Of course, that movie was more a series of sketches than a single story. At least HOTWPO had some memorable lines, though. "It's good to be the king" is still true. Year One is completely forgettable.

The basic plot has Black and Cera being kicked out of their caveman tribe. So they begin to wander the countryside where they meet an assortment of Biblical characters, including Cain and Abel, Joseph and Issac, and the good people of Sodom. It's a sort of mashup of historical references that allows Ramis and co-writers Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg to reel off some Jewish jokes. And not real goods ones, with the exception of Ramis (as Adam) describing his people as being the Chosen People, the favorites of God, but not very good at sports. Once they make it to Sodom, they determine to try to rescue two women from their tribe who have been taken as slaves.

You see what I'm getting at? It's a sort of mixed bag that doesn't hold together very well. I'm sure it will be hilarious on cable or on video. But for the big screen, save your money. Nothing to see here, move along.

--Reviewed by Ken Krause

X-Men Origins: Wolverine works on many levels – some older and deeper than one might think

I confess that I love comic-book superheroes. And I have for as long as I can remember.  Judging from the long list of movies based on decades-old comic-book characters that have been released in the last few years, I’m not alone.  In fact, one could argue that the first decade of the 21st Century has been the era of the superhero in film.  So many comic-book franchises have elevated successfully to the screen in the last 10 years – 3 Spiderman films, 2 Batman films, 3 X-Men films, 2 versions of The Incredible Hulk (one that sucked and one that was passable) and, of course, last summer’s demographic-bending blockbuster, Iron Man.  (Yes, you’re right.  I am omitting a few that were panned by critics or were box-office failures to make my point.)

Why do so many of these films work?  For starters, they feature exquisite special effects.  But beyond that I believe there is a trend.   The best ones seem to be those who make the unreal look real.  Spiderman was crawling up real buildings in New York City, and swinging down actual streets in Manhattan.  Movies that try too hard to emulate the vibrant or lurid environment of a comic book or graphic novel don’t seem to draw as many viewers.  My theory is that all the filmmakers are doing is animating the familiar.  Big crowds come to see the same old stuff in a new and exciting wrapper.  That’s why so many action flicks do so well. 

But good mechanics clearly aren’t the whole story.  The most successful recent superhero epics also have had a heavy dose of drama.  Some of it gut-wrenching.  The Dark Knight is the prime example.  That movie was so emotionally dense that the actor who played the villain – Heath Ledger as the Joker – won a posthumous Oscar. 

Which finally brings me to X-Men Origins: Wolverine.  Yes, it has the usual trappings of success: Star power in Hugh Jackman playing the title role, and a healthy special effects budget.  But those elements didn’t cloud the drama, which seems to be what sinks so many efforts in this genre.  And it’s the drama in Wolverine that makes it an enjoyable ride. 

Why does the drama work? I wouldn’t be the first to offer a theory or two about how superheroes tap into the American psyche.  So I won’t travel that well-worn path.  Instead, let me look beneath the cobblestones instead.  It struck me that the title character and all the other troubled mutants in the story are trading on the same appeal that has made Greek mythology so timeless.  In my freshman lit class in high school, Edith Hamilton’s “Mythology” was required reading.  As we explored the trials and tribulations of the crew on Mount OIympus, we discussed how the basic conflict in all the relationship between human kind and the gods was that regular people wanted to be like the gods – and the gods apparently wanted to be like regular people.  Zeus had a goddess for a wife in his penthouse in the clouds, but he was always chasing hotties down on earth.   Three goddesses – Hera, Athena and Aphrodite – apparently enjoyed watching buff dudes flex and sweat so much that they created the Trojan War and made sure it dragged on for years.  And generation after generation of people form all walks of life enjoy hearing these stories over and over.  Hamilton’s work was first published in 1942.

That’s what seems to be going on in Wolverine.  The title character and all the bizarre, twisted and torn mutants surrounding him seem to playing out the Olympus Syndrome.  They have tremendous gifts.  Wolverine appears to be invincible and immortal, for heaven’s sake!  But none of them are happy unless they are messing with people.  All those muties have their own flavor of obsession with the regular folk – they despise them, love them, resent them, manipulate them, envy them, and so on – just like their predecessors from antiquity did.

So, sure, watching metal claws slide out of Jackman’s knuckles is cool.  And watching his epic battle bring down the cooling towers on Three Mile Island (suggesting that mutants were the true cause of that famous 70s disaster) was a kick.  But I believe I enjoyed Wolverine for the same reason that I – and so many other people over the centuries – have enjoyed tales of the Greek gods. They may be babes and hunks with dazzling powers, but they all have bigger problems and foibles than me.

--Reviewed by Bob Dirkes