Any Day Now

Deb 10   Me 8

This one was a pleasant surprise. It's the story of two gay men in the mid-1980s trying to adopt a kid with disabilities. A good story, credible and enjoyable. Bad hair. For some reason they used wigs on actors who shouldn't have worn wigs, but that is a minor grievance. I really liked the way the story unfolded. I liked the people in the movie and what it said about them and their world. I might give it a ten BUT about five minutes from the end there was a power outage and we missed what may have been important information. Without that closure I'll dip it down a little, but what we saw, and that was 90% was 100% engaging.

Holy Motors

Deb 1     Me 2

For those who love farm equipment there's a cloudy midget. Besides adventure inside formulas and giant streams of working moths protrude. Asking for witnesses around campaign gypsies gain woodshed aroma. Forever gambler dipped over candles that won. When I was a kid I'd see foreign films by masters that made no sense. Fishing propagates anonymous Indian blue ripping. In weather auction contour listening service details. As far as I know, this film was not made by a master. Come eyes form luster other tools glass. Gemini fondue marked horns radio. I've read intellectual reviews of Holy Motors, and the filmmaker is indeed esteemed. The reviewers draw from a deeper cinematic pool than mine. After reading several dissertations on what is perceived to be a marvelous movie I changed my evaluation of this vacuous piece from a 4 down to a 1.

Life of Pi 2-D

Deb 10    Me 10

Didn’t know much of anything about this and that ignorance made watching the story unfold a true and pleasant wonder. I won’t tell you anything about the movie so you can be as amazed as I was, but I’ll tell you a couple other things. This movie provoked LOTS of conversation. I thought about it for a couple days, still thinking about it in fact. I think I’ll continue thinking about for a while because I like it. I liked most everything about it. Acting was great. The pace, staging, look of the film is all fabulous. And the story, it was a best selling book, but that doesn’t mean much, but the story was Very good and told extremely well. Maybe in a couple months I’ll do an analysis of it, give everyone time to see it fore themselves and then we can talk about it. But check it out.

By the way, I see its offered in 2 and 3D. We saw it in 2D and could tell there were a few gratuitous shots for effect, but they were minimal and didn’t cheapen the production at all. I might see it again, this time in 3D for comparison. A nice movie despite all the advertising.

Hitchcock

Deb 8    Me 5

This is an inside look at the life of Alfred Hitchcock and the making of the film Psycho. This is one of those flat bio-pics that may be factual and true to life, but it is clinical and never engaging. Deb called it antiseptic. It might be a little septic. I guess you blame the director here. It was a terrific cast including Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, Scarlett Johansson, Jessica Biel and James D'Arcy who was a ringer for Anthony Perkins; and the acting was all very good. The details were there, all the neat "behind the scenes" stuff on movie sets, everything seemed period correct, no distractions there. The story was probably interesting in itself, they added some subplot people that were of little consequence, but that's no problem. Hitchcock's monotone delivery seemed authentic and appropriate. It is probably a good script. But it feels like it just goes from page to page, they might tell you a few motivations and they are welcome because otherwise you get no sensation of what Hitch might use as a process in making the decisions he made. The film creates no emotional connection with the audience, at least two of its audience. Hitch can be unemotional and detached all he wants, but the director should make us care that he is.

Anna Karenina

Deb 7    Me 6

This is one of those names that is famous but I didn't know anything about. It wasn't on my radar but it fit into the movie night time slot so we gave it a try. I'll give the film makers credit for trying something new, the whole thing was done play like, but as if their lives were on stage, very Shakespearean, and it was interesting. The way it was directed, the first twenty minutes I felt like they were going to break out in song. It seemed like too much fluff, but as I thought about it (mind wandering away) I concluded that they were moving the story along, however slowly. In the end it seemed like a lot of spectacle for what appeared to be a fairly thin story. I imagine this to be one of the great tales, that's why so many of us have heard of the book, but the screen version was all style and little substance. Very pretty to look at, the staging was amusing, but not very engaging.

The Flat (Ha-dira)

Deb 7    Me 7

This is a very interesting documentary about a Jewish family who discovers a connection between recently departed grandma and a Nazi SS officer. I enjoyed seeing some of the research process presented on screen and its astonishing how much information on the holocaust is available, even more since the Berlin wall came down. This was a good movie, but it will be a very good TV show someday, seeing it the silver screen added nothing to the viewing experience. A couple questions came up about the making of the movie. There is footage of going through grandma's stuff before the realization she had an interesting past. Why were they shooting this stuff or was it a re-enactment? The film poses a lot of other questions, but they are the meat of the movie and inspire some post popcorn conversation.

A Late Quartet

Deb 7     Me 7

Philip Seymour Hoffman and Catherine Keener have sort of turned into a duo and the movies where they are paired up are usually pretty darn good or better. This one was pretty good too. It also stars Christopher Walken and a guy I didn't recognize, and it's those strangers that keep me going to the movies. This has a good story and everyone does a fine job, Hoffman's slovenly act and disheveled appearance is almost requisite these days, but it seems to suit him, hope it doesn't get to be formula for him. The movie talks a lot about art and the creative process. There are parables and metaphors comparing art and life. This is where the movie is at its best. Some of the rest of it is just too melodramatic. They show how a team works and where it doesn't, but that alone isn't interesting to me. The strength comes from the understanding of and commitment to their art, and that carried the movie for me.