The Truth Is Out There

I want to believe.  Don't you?  The new X-Files movie is opening in theaters tomorrow, and now is a great time to re-visit the first feature-length production of the series, The X-Files: Fight the Future.  Featuring intrepid FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) in their search for the truth, this 1998 Twentieth Century Fox Film traces a government conspiracy from desert cornfields to remote Antarctica.  Just under the surface of a seemingly innocuous Texas town, a strange black substance seeps closer to the population.  Add a federal bomb threat, a paranoid doctor, and genetically-engineered bees, and once again the agents must risk their credibility and their lives to explain the inexplicable.  Co-written by series creator Chris Carter and directed by Rob Bowman, Fight the Future also includes notable performances by Martin Landau, Blythe Danner, Armin Mueller-Stahl, and Lost's Terry O'Quinn. 

Do Dreams Come True?

Made-for-television movies are not always associated with quality or excellence, but the 2008 production of A Raisin in the Sun is an exception.  Adapted from the award-winning play revival and with most of the lead cast intact, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment gives new gloss to Lorraine Hansberry’s classic story of a struggling family in 1959 Chicago.  Sean “Diddy” Combs stars as Walter Lee Younger, a man who wants better things for his family and who hopes that his father's life insurance settlement might provide the chance of a lifetime.  However, first he must convince his mother, expertly portrayed by Phylicia Rashad, his conflicted wife (Audra McDonald), and his headstrong sister (Sanaa Lathan) that his is a dream worth pursuing.  It is the women who shine brilliantly, energizing each scene they play, especially when with each other.  Both Rashad and McDonald earned Tony Awards for their stage performances, and this is your chance to taste a bit of that Broadway greatness.
      

Make It Work!

You need not be a fashionista to appreciate the sheer ingenuity showcased on the Bravo TV series Project Runway.  Each season supermodel Heidi Klum hosts a mixed group of hopefuls competing to be named the next great American fashion designer.  This is not your standard reality show, but one that rewards real talent and resourcefulness.  Contestants create high-fashion gowns from grocery store purchases, garden supplies, and recycling waste.  Other times it is the client that defines the task, and designers create not only for red-carpet celebrities, but for Barbie dolls, dogs, Olympic athletes, postal workers, and even each other’s mothers.  Whether constructing garments from items in their apartments or re-inventing the clothes literally off their backs, the participants combine originality and skill to design a production that is completely addicting.

Grace Is Gone

It is difficult enough to cope with one’s own heartbreak, but what do you do when you have to break your children’s hearts as well?  In Grace is Gone, Stanley Phillips is a hardworking and idealistic man whose wife is serving in Iraq.  When he learns that his wife has been killed, he cannot bring himself to tell his two young daughters.  Instead, he impulsively takes them on a road trip during which he struggles to accept what has happened and to find the words that must be spoken.  John Cusack delivers a mesmerizing performance, utterly convincing even from the first routine moments of the film.  Written and directed by James C. Strouse, with music by Clint Eastwood, and distributed by the Weinstein Company, Grace is Gone is a stirring portrait of character and of family.

The Great Debaters

In the midst of both the Great Depression and volatile race relations, a charismatic professor nurtures the confidence, cleverness, and eloquence of four determined students.  Inspired by actual events, The Great Debaters celebrates the amazing victories of a unique debating team from all-African American Wiley College in 1935.  Four students are chosen to train intensively in argument and persuasion, and the phenomenal success of their modest team attracts the attention of the elite at Harvard University.  In his sophomore directing effort, Denzel Washington gracefully guides the action and allows the young stars to shine.  His own role of debate coach, poet, and union organizer is powerful, and he is well-matched by Forest Whitaker’s presence as the father of one of the debaters.  Distributed by Harpo Films and the Weinstein Company, The Great Debaters is an impassioned story both thought-provoking and satisfying.

Sydney Pollack, The Way He Was

Academy Award-winning director Sydney Pollack died yesterday, leaving a legacy of great films and an even greater love of movie-making.  Out of Africa (1985), starring Robert Redford and Meryl Streep, earned Pollack Oscars both for Best Director and for Best Picture.  He also collected multiple nominations for Tootsie (1982), They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969), and most recently as a producer for Michael Clayton (2007).

Few directors can claim the camaraderie with A-list actors that Sydney Pollack cultivated.  Often named as the quintessential 'actor’s director', “Sydney let the dialogue and the emotion of the scene speak for itself,” said Michael Apted, president of the Director’s Guild of America.  Pollack started out as an actor himself, and he continued to make his mark in memorable character roles.  Among his many other directorial successes are The Way We Were (1973) and The Firm (1993).  His most recent release is the documentary Sketches of Frank Gehry (2005).

My Kid Could Paint That

At the age of four, Marla Olmstead had already created a sensation in the art world.  Her paintings were colorful, complex, and vibrant, and some had sold for thousands of dollars.  However, not everyone was convinced that the work was hers alone.  The Sony Pictures release My Kid Could Paint That documents her amazing success and the controversy surrounding her paintings.  The film was intended to open a dialogue about modern art, but an even more complicated story is presented through interviews with Marla’s family, collectors, and art critics.  Do Marla’s paintings simply reflect a gifted little girl who loves to paint, or are they the end product of parental manipulation and fraud?  There may not be an easy answer, but you will be captivated by the questions all the same.

I Am Legend

Some days it doesn't take that much effort to imagine the end of the world.  The 2007 Warner Bros. release I Am Legend brings to life the frightening idea that mankind's own hubris will bring about the destruction we fear.  Will Smith shines as Robert Neville, possibly the last survivor of a plague that has eradicated the earth's population.  Neville is valiantly trying to develop an antidote to the miracle cure that started it all while at the same time fighting off the feral Dark Seekers who viciously slaughter any living thing they find.  I Am Legend is the third film adaptation of the classic science fiction book by Richard Matheson.  The first, The Last Man on Earth (1964) starred Vincent Price, and 1971's The Omega Man featured Charlton Heston.

Wonderfalls

One of the best rewards of the proliferation of TV on DVD is the chance to see series that were canceled prematurely.  One such gem is Wonderfalls, a comedic drama (or is it dramatic comedy?) about Jaye Tyler, a sarcastic college graduate who has opted for an expectation-free life by working in a tourist shop at Niagara Falls.  Her routine takes an unexpected turn when the souvenirs for sale begin to speak to her, giving her strange instructions:  “don’t give her money back” or “break the taillight”.  Jaye, played with a wry vulnerability by Caroline Dhavernas, worries she might be crazy, and her dysfunctional family and quirky friends do not offer much comfort.  Wonderfalls, produced by Regency Television and 20th Century Fox, is a 2004 series not given a chance to find its audience, but this set features all thirteen episodes, including nine that were never shown.

The King of Kong

Granted, it is not unusual for a film to feature contests in which likable underdog players compete in order to prove themselves.  What is unique about the 2007 Picturehouse Entertainment documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters  is that the game under scrutiny is not basketball or football, but Donkey Kong.  Yes, this ubiquitous arcade game from the 1980s serves as backdrop to an intense rivalry between longtime champion Billy Mitchell and earnest challenger Steve Wiebe.  Eminently watchable, The King of Kong is overflowing with tension, humor, heartbreak, and triumph.  Even those who care little for video games will find themselves invested in Wiebe’s attempts to earn recognition and respect.

As You Like It

      "All the world's a stage..." and this time that stage is set in exotic 19th century Japan.  As You Like It, the most recent Shakespeare adaptation from the ever-excellent Kenneth Branagh, spins a playful tale of romance, rivalry, and masquerade.  Bryce Dallas Howard is simply enchanting as Rosalind, the exiled maiden who escapes to the forest.  Disguised as a boy, she encounters the dashing Orlando and offers to help him win his lady, though he has no idea that the woman he loves is right before him.  Romola Garai, Brian Blessed, and Kevin Kline also star in this 2006 HBO Films presentation, distributed by Warner Home Video.

The Jane Austen Book Club

      C.S. Lewis once theorized that “we read to know we are not alone”.  This proves to be true for the characters in the 2007 Sony Pictures Classics film The Jane Austen Book Club, who find connections both in and through the books they discuss.  Five women and one man commit to reading all of Jane Austen’s works, little suspecting how much of their own lives they will see reflected in 19th century British society.  As the characters discuss their chosen books, what is truly revealed are the flaws, assumptions, insecurities, and humanity in each member.  Robin Swicord directs her own screenplay adaptation of the book by Karen Joy Fowler, and the movie features Kathy Baker, Maria Bello, Jimmy Smits, Hugh Dancy, and an impressive performance by Emily Blunt. 

Philadelphia

     Tom Hanks won his first Academy Award for his portrayal of Andrew Beckett in the 1993 TriStar Pictures production Philadelphia.  Beckett is a successful corporate attorney who is wrongfully terminated because he has contracted AIDS.  Determined to fight for his rights, he enlists the help of a homophobic small-time lawyer (Denzel Washington) to sue his former firm.  Jonathan Demme directs strong performances to underscore the power of the story, including an understated turn by Antonio Banderas as Beckett’s devoted partner.  Even after fifteen years, Philadelphia raises important questions on the courage, compassion, and dignity that should be celebrated in each human being.  One of the working titles for the movie, People Like Us, is a reminder that this is not just a gay rights film, but a human rights one.

Once

     One of the best-reviewed movies of 2007, Once is a modern musical that balances authenticity and sweetness with admirable finesse.  Beginning with little more than a guy, a girl, and a broken vacuum cleaner, the story deepens into a compelling tale of two musicians in Ireland who create a real connection and together decide to realize a dream.  The original soundtrack serves as a vibrant character of its own, intertwining the players in harmonies both powerful and heartfelt.  A particularly poignant collaboration is "Falling Slowly," which just received an Academy Award nomination for best original song.  Once is written and directed by John Carney and stars the talented Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova.  Distributed by Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, it is a film well-worth seeking out more than just once.

Helvetica

   Helvetica (2007) is an original documentary film about typography in everyday life.  Director Gary Hustwit explores the impact that type has in advertising, art, psychology, and communication.  Singling out the Helvetica font, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2007, experts from around the globe take sides on the love/hate relationship with “the ultimate typeface”.  Entertaining interviews with modern pioneers of graphic design are interspersed with montages of street signs and corporate logos to illustrate the thousands of applications of this single but definitive construction of letters.  Produced by Swiss Dots, Ltd. in association with Veer, Inc., this film is carefully researched and winningly presented.  It will undoubtedly change your notice of the influence of words and the power of design.

Harvey

Produced in 1950 by Universal Pictures, Harvey is the lighthearted comedy about a provincial man who is convinced his best friend is a six foot, three and a half inch tall rabbit name Harvey.  The film, based on a Pulitzer-prize winning play of the same name written by Mary Chase, stars Jimmy Stewart as Elwood P. Dowd who is well liked in his neighborhood but is somewhat of an embarrassment to his sister and niece, who are mortified when he introduces their friends to Harvey.  Of course Harvey is invisible to everyone but Dowd, yet this doesn’t seem to bother him and he is oblivious to the strange looks he and his invisible friend generate as they go about the town.  When his sister can’t take it anymore, she finally decides to have him committed to a mental institution, which results in a chaotic and humorous twist of events.

To Have and Have Not

In 1944, Warner Brothers released the romantic thriller To Have and Have Not, loosely based on Ernest Hemingway’s novel of the same title.  Interestingly enough, William Faulkner, a literary rival of Hemingway, co-wrote the screenplay for the film.  This was also Lauren Bacall’s first movie role, and marked the start of the love affair between Bacall and the film’s star Humphrey Bogart.  The story takes place in Martinique where we find struggling fishing boat captain Harry “Steve” Morgan (Bogart) reluctantly helping the French Resistance smuggle people off the island.  Soon thereafter Morgan meets an attractive American pickpocket, Marie “Slim” Browning, and a steamy relationship ensues.  The all-star cast also includes Hoagy Carmichael and Walter Brennan.   

Thank You for Smoking

Jason Reitman’s satirical film Thank You for Smoking was released in 2006 by Fox Searchlight Productions.  The movie stars Aaron Eckhart as Nick Naylor, the chief spokesman for a tobacco lobby whose job it is to research links between smoking and health.  The lobby fails to find any links between the two, and Nick’s task is then to inform the public that smoking is not hazardous.  He becomes a champion of smokers’ rights.  When a new law is about to be passed which will require a skull and crossbones symbol to appear on all packs of cigarettes, Nick comes up with a plan to get actors to start smoking in movies as much as possible, just as they seemed to do in the 1920’s and 1930’s when smoking was considered suave and attractive.  According to Reitman the film is neither pro- nor anti- smoking, but rather a parody of the process of promoting or preventing smoking, as well as a thinly-veiled attack on “political correctness.” 

Rear Window

The classic Alfred Hitchcock thriller Rear Window, based on Cornell Woolrich’s short story, "It Had to be Murder", was released in 1954 by Paramount Pictures. In it Jimmy Stewart plays L. B. Jeffries, a photographer who’s confined to his apartment after severely breaking his leg. Finding himself with nothing much to do, he begins watching the daily happenings in the courtyard outside his window. He soon begins to suspect that a man living on the other side of the courtyard has murdered his wife, and he becomes obsessed with watching the man’s apartment day and night, desperate to find proof for his suspicions. As Jeffries comes closer to solving the mystery, the tension in the film steadily increases. Considered by many critics and scholars to be one of Hitchcock’s best and most thrilling pictures, Rear Window also stars legendary actors Grace Kelly and Raymond Burr.

Who Killed the Electric Car

In 2006 Sony Pictures Classics released the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car?  The movie explores the marketing and commercialization of the first electric cars leased in the United States.  The California Air Resources Board passed the ZEV mandate in 1990 which required that car manufacturers who wished to sell cars with regular gasoline engines in the state of California to also lease a certain percentage of zero-emission cars.  The idea was that more and more zero emission vehicles would be leased and sold in the state over the next few decades, thereby jumpstarting a more ecologically-friendly automobile market.  But as the film documents, a number of forces came together that stifled and ultimately stopped the momentum of the zero emissions vehicle market, and the main question the film tries to answer is who killed the electric car and why?

24 Hour Party People

24 Hour Party People was released in 2002 by United Artists.  The story focuses on Tony Wilson, played by Steve Coogan, who was the head of Factory Records in Manchester, England during the 1980’s and 1990’s.  Wilson was a Cambridge-educated journalist who had a dissatisfying job at a local television station and wanted to do something on grander scale.  In 1976 he attended the small but now famous Sex Pistol’s concert at the Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall.  It was at that concert that Wilson got the idea to become a concert promoter and began a weekly series of punk rock shows at a club in the city.  The film follows his decision to start a music label with the first band he signs being Joy Division, who soon change their name to New Order and become an international phenomena.  Wilson signs other bands that go on to become legendary in the post-punk rock rave scene including the Happy Mondays and A Certain Ratio.  The movie is not only informative about this period in rock history, but it’s also upbeat, funny, and playful.  The directors continuously splice live footage into scenes and have actors talk directly to the audience, breaking through the fourth wall.  There are also numerous cameos by real people from the story including Tony Wilson, singer Howard Devoto, and Paul Ryder of the Happy Mondays.

American Splendor

On January 20, 2003 First Line Features’ film American Splendor premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.  Paul Giamatti stars in the movie as real life cartoonist Harvey Pekar.  Pekar, working as a file clerk at a VA hospital in Ohio, has little beyond books, music and conversations with his coworkers to break up the monotony of his simple, blasé life.  When an acquaintance of Harvey’s, Robert Crumb, achieves success as a cartoonist, Harvey decides that he too can make a living in this field, writing a series based on his own ordinary, everyman life.  Composed of unglamorous stories about a likeable but downtrodden man, Pekar’s American Splendor comic book series becomes a cult classic outside of the mainstream and Harvey is surprised to find himself a sort of celebrity icon.  He also finds his true love in the equally offbeat Joyce Barber, played by actress Hope Davis.  Pekar and Barber both appear in the film at different points playing themselves, and directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini use many unique devices to tell the story, including interspersing animated footage with live action shots.  American Splendor was nominated for a 2003 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and won the Grand Jury Prize for Dramatic Film at Sundance.

Wordplay

Wordplay, released in 2006 by IFC Films, is a documentary focusing on the people who create and the people who play the New York Times' daily crossword puzzle.  Will Shortz is the puzzle's editor and Wordplay provides an in-depth look at the involved process he follows to create and publish the puzzle everyday.  Devoted puzzle players including former president Bill Clinton, talk show host John Stewart, and the bandmates from the Indigo Girls explain their realtionship with the game (for instance, Bill Clinton reveales that his strategy is to go down the list of clues until he finds one that he can answer, even if he has to go through 20 clues he doesn't know).  The documentary also highlights the network of expert puzzlers who can solve entire puzzles in under two minutes, and who gather for a yearly convention and competition during which the fastest and most accurate puzzle solver is crowned the crossword puzzle champion.   

Hollywoodland

Hollywoodland was released in 2006 by Focus Features and is a speculative account of the details surrounding the death of actor George Reeves in 1959.  Reeves death was ruled a simple suicide by the police, but some, including his mother, argued that there were too many inconsistencies and wanted a full investigation into what really happened.  When the police refused to investigate further, Reeve’s mother hired a private investigator named Louis Simo, and the film presents some of his findings using a narrative combination of flashbacks and prolepses.  Ben Affleck plays the strong but unfulfilled Reeves who never felt content with his career-defining role as television’s Superman.  Diane Lane is equally convincing as the wife of MGM VP Eddie Mannix and Reeve’s devoted lover.  Adrien Brody stars as investigator Louis Simo whose relentless pursuit of the truth gives him exposure to the darker side of Hollywood in anything but simpler times.

Howards End

The Merchant Ivory classic Howards End was released in 1992 by Sony
Pictures Classics and stars Emma Thompson, Vanessa Redgrave, Helena Bonham
Carter and Anthony Hopkins.  An English drama based on the novel by E. M .
Forster, Howards End tells the story of three families in different social
classes, the upper-class Wilcoxes, the middle-class Schlegels and the
lower-class Basts, and shows how their lives intersect over the course of a
few years.  When the matriarch of the Wilcoxes leaves their beloved country
house, Howard’s End, to a member of the Schlegels, tempers flare and a fight
ensues over who is the rightful heir to the house.  A touching and
reflective view of a stratified society struggling to find a common
humanity.

Waiting for Guffman

Writer, director and actor Christopher Guest creates yet another comedic mockumentary in his film, Waiting for Guffman.  Sony Pictures Classics released this film in 1997 and it stars many actors from Guest’s regular troupe including Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, and Parker Posey.  The plot centers around the exploits of a community theatre in the small, fictional town of Blaine, Missouri.  Guest himself stars as the theatre’s boisterous and wacky director, Corky St. Clair, who thinks he’s somehow an A-list director because of his previous off-off-off Broadway work in New York.  St. Clair convinces the oddball cast of the show that his connections will bring in a big name reviewer to see the show, and if he gives it a good review then it will probably play on Broadway.  Needless to say egos flair, drama escalates and all of it makes for a hilarious mix of absurdity and mayhem.   

Maxed Out

The independent documentary Maxed Out was released in 2006 by Magnolia Home Entertainment.  The movie focuses on America’s personal and national dependence on credit, and takes a critical look at the ways in which the financial industry seeks to capitalize on people’s economic misfortunes.  Writer and director James Scurlock seeks to reveal how creditors target those people who will have a harder time repaying loans, and also the rapidly growing reliance on credit rather than savings.  As Scurlock himself says, “I’d like to challenge the assumptions about the way we live our lives and shift the debate.  Do we really want to be in perpetual debt?  Do we really want to have a sharecropper’s society, as Warren Buffet calls it?  Citigroup billboards shouldn’t be the only voice we hear in this debate.”

Heavenly Creatures

Reference librarian John McInnes gives this account of the film Heavenly Creatures, released in 1994 by Miramax:

Before his adaptation of The Lord of the Rings and its multiple Oscar nominations, Peter Jackson's main claim to fame was making pictures about zombie mothers and foul-mouthed puppets. That all changed with 1994's Heavenly Creatures, which took Jackson's visual inventiveness and combined it with a powerful and disturbing story. Based on an actual New Zealand murder case in 1952 involving future novelist Anne Perry, the picture deals with the tragic friendship between two adolescent girls (Melanie Lynskey and, making her screen debut, Kate Winslet). Jackson's imaginative realization of the fantasy world the pair share is deftly juxtaposed against the dark reality of their lives, as opposition to the closeness of their relationship leads inexorably to madness and death. Touching and haunting in equal measures, Heavenly Creatures is a strongly crafted examination of a doomed bond and an unthinkable crime.

Bullets Over Broadway

In 1994 Miramax Films released the Woody Allen comedy, Bullets Over Broadway.  John Cusack stars as young playwright, David Shayne, who has just arrived on Broadway.  Shayne hires actress Olive Neal, played by Jennifer Tilly, the girlfriend of a gangster who’s financing the show.   Olive is a terrible actress, but her gangster bodyguard Cheech has a number of great ideas for the play.  Shayne, out of his league in the stressful Broadway environment, finds himself compromising his values, cheating on his girlfriend, stealing Cheech’s ideas as his own and reaping rewards for it.  Funny and sharp, Bullets Over Broadway was nominated for numerous awards and Dianne Wiest won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Shayne’s love interest and leading lady Helen Sinclair. 

Miller's Crossing

Twentieth Century Fox released the Coen brothers’ film Miller’s Crossing in 1990.  The movie, set during the Prohibition era, pits powerful northeastern Irish mob boss Leo O’Bannon against ambitious up and coming Italian mafia Don Giovanni Gasparo.  In a captivating performance, Gabriel Byrne plays Tom Reagan, the second in command of the Irish mob whose allegiance is tested when he and his boss fall in love with the same woman.  Miller’s Crossing is an intense drama that incorporates the stylized elements of film noir into modern cinematography.  The all-star cast includes Albert Finney, John Turturro, Marcia Gay Harden and Steve Buscemi.

Ali

Ali is a 2002 Columbia Pictures film detailing a ten year period in the life of famed boxer Muhammad Ali.  Beginning in 1964, Ali, played by Will Smith, made a name for himself as he famously declared before his championship fight with Sonny Liston that he would “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.”  Indeed Ali did become the champion and his energy and exuberance soon made him a household name.  Yet his association with Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam made him a target of controversy, especially when he filed as a conscientious objector and refused to serve in the Vietnam War.  This action provoked the United States government to prosecute him and the result was a sentence of five years in jail. His boxing license was revoked and he was stripped of his championship title.  His home life was also complicated and he married twice during this period.  Yet his passion for life and confidence in himself helped him to persevere through the hard times, and his compelling story makes for an engrossing film.

The Break-Up

In 2006, Universal Pictures released the highly anticipated comedy The Break-Up, costarring Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston.  The plot of this movie centers around Gary (Vaughn) and his floundering relationship with Brooke (Aniston).  Though Vaughn and Aniston ignited a real life romance while filming this Chicago-based movie, their quirky characters are highly incompatible.  Gary is a somewhat sloppy, immature, sports and video game loving tour boat operator.   Brooke is an organized, straight-laced businesswoman who is inspired to decorate their home following the principles of Feng Shui.  Soon their differences come to a head and they decide to break up.  Unfortunately neither wants to vacate their beautiful Chicago condo and so in a battle of wills the stubborn pair decide to remain roommates until the condo is sold.  This living situation is extremely awkward for both, and leads to a number of funny and sometimes bittersweet moments.

Stranger Than Fiction

The unique plot of the 2007 Columbia Pictures film Stranger Than Fiction revolves around IRS employee Harold Crick, played by Will Ferrell, and novelist Karen Eiffel, played by Emma Thompson.  One day, Harold begins to notice that everything he does is being narrated by a woman’s voice that only he can hear.  After deciding that he is not schizophrenic, as a psychiatrist suggested, Harold decides he is a character in a novel and meets with a university professor, played by Dustin Hoffman, to determine what type of novel it is and the identity of the author.  Together they conclude he is a character in a tragedy, and his ominous destiny seems to be sealed as the author seems intent on killing him off.  Unwilling to succumb to this fate, Harold resolves to find the author and persuade her to write a happier ending to her story.

Under the Tuscan Sun

In 2003, Touchstone Pictures turned Frances Mayes’ best selling memoir Under the Tuscan Sun into a film starring Diane Lane and Sandra Oh.  The plot revolves around Lane’s portrayal of Frances as she finds out her husband is having an affair.  This discovery and their subsequent divorce send Frances into a deep depression and she cannot find the passion to write anymore.  Worried about her friend, Oh’s character, Patti, gives Frances a ticket to Italy.  At first, Frances refuses to go but soon she realizes she does need to get away and takes the trip.  Her experiences on the Tuscan countryside are a whirlwind of highs and lows and adjusting to life in a new country where she doesn’t even speak the language presents Frances with no end of complications.  The beautiful cinematography and Frances’ search for fulfillment make this film as rich as the book.

Batman Begins

The Warner Brothers Pictures 2005 release Batman Begins is a darker twist on the previously light-hearted Batman saga.  The focus of this film is on the angst and anger Bruce Wayne faces as he struggles to deal with witnessing the murder of his parents when he was just a child.  Though he grows to be an intelligent and successful young man, Bruce, played by actor Christian Bale, is consumed with hatred for his parents’ killer and is determined to avenge their deaths.  This sets Bruce on a journey during which he learns the ways of criminals across the world.  He decides to return to his hometown of Gotham to fight crime and make it a safe place.   With surprising twists and turns, a deeper exploration of Wayne’s psyche, a truer connection to the Marvel Batman comic books and a great cast including Michael Caine, Liam Neeson and Morgan Freeman, Batman Begins is a unique twist on a familiar story.

Good Bye Lenin

The 2003 Sony Pictures film Good Bye Lenin focuses on East Berlin in 1989 and a young man named Alexander Kerner.  Much to the chagrin of his mother, Alexander protests the government just before the fall of the Berlin Wall.  In fact when she sees him arrested in the protest she suffers a heart attack and falls into a coma.  Eight months later she comes out of the coma, but knows nothing about the major changes that have taken place in Germany.  Fearful that learning such shocking news will cause his mother to suffer another heart attack, Alexander decides to pretend that nothing has happened.  He pastes old labels over western food bottles and goes so far as to make fake news programs for his mother to watch.  But the trickery becomes increasing difficult to continue as a plethora of products and shows from the west inundate East Berlin.  One afternoon, Alexander’s mother watches as a huge advertisement for Coca-Cola is assembled on the side of a building outside her window.  Certainly something is going on.  Good Bye Lenin is a humorous and touching look at a world in flux.

Ocean's Twelve

Warner Brother’s pictures released Ocean’s Twelve in 2005 as the sequel to their successful remake of the classic rat pack film Ocean’s Eleven.  In Twelve the gang’s back, including George Clooney, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt and Don Cheadle.  This time Danny Ocean and his team of con men are off around the globe looking for new heists to pull off, and hot on their trail is Terry Benedict, played by Andy Garcia, who is demanding they repay him the money they stole from his casino.  A rival thief wants to sabotage their plans, and a Europol detective, played by Catherine Zeta Jones, tries to catch the whole clan before they walk away with some of Europe's most priceless antiques.

In America

In 2002, Fox Searchlight Pictures released the film In America, directed by venerable Irish filmmaker Jim Sheridan.  Sheridan also co-wrote the script with his daughters Naomi and Kristen.  The story revolves around an Irish family who immigrate to America after the death of their son and wind up living in a dilapidated apartment in the Hell’s Kitchen section of New York.  As happy as they are to have a new start in the U.S., the family continues to grieve over the loss of their youngest child, and find it nearly impossible to escape the pain of this terrible tragedy.  However, when the family befriends a strange man, things change.  Somehow, the tensions that had boiled almost to the breaking point recede and give way to a new appreciation of life, family and community.

Control Room

The 2004 film Control Room from Magnolia Pictures is a documentary about the Arabic television network Al Jazeera and other news organizations which covered the invasion of Iraq in 2003.  Al Jazeera’s reports were a source of controversy as American military and political leaders accused the network of showing propaganda from anti-Americans forces.  This documentary explores the not always dissimilar views of journalists working for Al Jazeera and U.S. networks such as CNN and NBC.  Through candid interviews with journalists and military personnel, Control Room offers a wholly unique view of how journalists from across the world operate on many of the same principles and try to report the news as accurately as possible, even in spite of governmental and societal pressures.  To whom would you recommend this film?  What about it surprised you?

In Good Company

The movie In Good Company appears at first to be an ordinary comedy, but there is a lot of depth and subtlety in this 2004 picture from Universal Studios.  The plot revolves around middle-aged ad executive Dan Foreman, played by Dennis Quaid, who fears he might be laid off from his job when his company is bought out by a larger firm.  Instead he gets demoted and finds out that his new boss, played by Topher Grace, is a 27-year-old upshot who has a lot of theoretical knowledge but lacks practical knowledge.  As insulting as his new predicament is, Foreman knows he needs to swallow his pride and play along in order to keep his job and support his family.  Adding another layer of insult is that Foreman’s new boss seems to have developed a relationship with his 18-year-old daughter played by Scarlett Johansson.  In Good Company is a thoughtful insight into the sometimes skewed priorities of America’s corporate culture.  Did you find this movie accurate in it’s view of corporate America?  Can you identify with any of the charachters?  Does the film have a message or moral? 

Quiz Show

Hollywood Pictures’ release Quiz Show was a 1994 Academy Award nominee for Best Picture.  The movie details the infamous 1950’s television quiz show scandals and focuses on real-life people who were affected by them.  First we have Herbie Stempel, played by John Tuturro, a nerdy and unattractive middle-class husband and father who has an extensive knowledge of trivia.  Herbie is the reigning Twenty-One cha