Movie Suggestion for Memorial Day

    If you are looking for films to watch that honor soldiers the most or give a more inside look at the life of a soldier I have a few suggestions about films that may be good to watch today.
  
  In honor of the men and women that are in and have been in the service HBO is running the critically acclaimed film Taking Chance tonight 9pm.  The film was an official selection and nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and premiered on the HBO February 2009. It also took home awards at the Emmys, 2010 Writers Guild of America Awards and two awards for actor Kevin Bacon during the 2010 award season at the Golden Globes and SAG (Screen Actors Guild) Awards.
   The film is based off of the true story of Lt. Col. Michael Strobl, a volunteer military escort officer, and his journey across America to bring back the body of a 19 year old officer to his home in Wyoming to be buried.  This is a little bit of a heart breaker but very touching. I would suggest lots of tissues.

      The Messenger is another film that screened during the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and talks about the opposite side of fighting.  Woody Harrelson received an Oscar, SAG and Golden Globe nomination for best Support Actor and won at the Independent Spirit Awards for his portrayal in this film. 
       The film is about Army Staff Sergeant Will Montgomery, played by Ben Foster, that becomes injured by an I.E.D. (improvised explosive device) and gets reassigned to the Casualty Notification Team to serve out the rest of his enlistment. His partner Captain Tony Stone, Harrelson, teaches him everything he knows about the job and a lot about how some people don't adjust correctly back into the world. The one thing that starts to normalize his life is a widow that he has recently visited on the job. Can she be the one thing that saves his sanity in his post war life?

Penélope Cruz over a decade

Today Pirate of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides hits theaters but it was only a little more than ten years ago that one of the film's stars was really first burning up the screen with American audiences. Penélope Cruz has been in the industry for twenty years but it wasn't until her breakthrough performance in Pedro Almodóvar All About My Mother (Todo sobre me madre) that she really got noticed by filmmakers in America. After that she was signed on for the comedy Woman on Top a small comedy about a chef that put all her emotions into her cooking. The American market got a better look at her in the film All the Pretty Horses Directed by Billy Bob Thorton. She played a beautiful daughter of a wealthy Mexican business man whose romance with the main character Matt Damon cause the central conflict of the film. From hear she played moved on to the film Blow the story of drug George Chung, the man charged with establishing the American cocaine market. Cruz took on the role of the wife of the Chung who was portrayed by her current leading man in Pirates, Johnny Depp. Later that year she also appeared in the film Vanilla Sky, a remake of the film Open Your Eyes (Abre los ojos) that she did for Almodóvar four years earlier. The film could a lot of intrigue because in July of 2001, before the release of the film she had begun seeing her co-star Tom Cruise.
     Over the last decade she has made quiet a name for herself with appearance in such films as Gothika, Sahara, Volver and Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Broken Embraces. Also she has had high profile relationships from Matt Damon to Tom Cruz and Matthew McConaughey. But no matter what she has maintained a great poise in the media and continues to be a great actress as well as a star.

Penelope Cruz Trivia:
Cruz has worked with Pedro Almodóvar on five films Live Flesh, Open your Eyes, All About My Mother, Volver, and Broken Embraces
She met her husband Javier Bardem over twenty years ago when working on the film Jamon Jamon but they did not become romantically involved until they worked on Vicky Cristina Barcelona
She had been nominated for three Academy Awards Volver, and won for Vicky Christina Barcelona (which she won for Best Support Actress) and Nine
According to imdb she is the second Spanish performer to be nominated for an Acedemy Award, the first was her husband  (if this holds true she was probably also the second to win an award, first would be her husband )
Cruz's full/ birth name is Penélope Cruz Sánchez

The Tree of Life

The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick's new film, is receiving good reviews from its screening at the Cannes Film Festival. The film centers around a family in the 1950s, specifically focusing on the eldest son. As time goes by the audience is witness to the attitude and personality that develops from the eldest son's upbringing. The film stars Brad Pitt as the father of the family and Sean Penn is the personification of the eldest son as a man.
Terrence Malick is a well respected name in the film community as a director even though he only has a six credits to his name with one at least one film in development. Malick's credits also include writing the films he has directed besides a few others.  One of the things that you will notice in a Malick film is that he cares a lot about the aesthetics of each shot in his film and it looks like Tree of Life will be no different.

Justin Chang of Variety is quoted as saying "Result is pure-grade art cinema destined primarily for the delectation of Malick partisans and adventurous arthouse-goers, but with its cast names and see-it-to-believe-it stature, this inescapably divisive picture could captivate the zeitgeist for a spell."

Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Report is quoted with "Brandishing an ambition it's likely no film, including this one, could entirely fulfill, The Tree of Life is nonetheless a singular work, an impressionistic metaphysical inquiry into mankind's place in the grand scheme of things that releases waves of insights amid its narrative imprecisions."

So I look forward to seeing this film next month as soon as it comes to my area.

First Look at Adventures of TinTin

       The Adventures of TinTin (Les Aventures de Tintin) first begain as a comic strip in the at the end of the 1920s, created by a Belgum named Georges Rémi.  It was published in the French supplemement of a Belgium newspaper and lasted for 40 years. Then it was turned into three cartoon series based off the comic strip, Hergé's Adventures of Tintin which was broadcast on Belevision from 1958 to 1962, The Adventures of Tintin which was produced for Canada and France from 1991 to 1992, and The British version that was from 1992 to 1993. As a child I was lucky enough to watch one of the cartoon series and enjoyed it alot. Seeing all the places and things that Tintin does always amazed me alot.
    Then a few years ago when I hear that there would be a film made I became all excited for the project. For some reason I thought the film was going to be live action but I just caught a sneak preview of the future film and it is a computer animated 3D adventure. The film looks to be based on The Secret of the Unicorn which was one of the original comic strips. With the film directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by Peter Jackson are you thinking that it is going to be fantastic or could be altered too much? Are you unhappy that it is computer animated and miss the old look of the cartoons from the 1990s?
  

Well with great names behind production there are a lot of well known names behind the voices; Jamie Bell (Jumper, King Kong) voices Tintin and Daniel Craig (Munich, Quantum of Solace) the antigonist Red Rackham. Rounding out the voice talent are such well knowns as Toby Jones (Infamous), Cary Elwes (Saw, Robin Hood: Men in Tights), Andy Serkis (LOTR, The Prestige), Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Star Trek) and Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead, Paul).

Natalie Portman working into all angles of film

Natalie Portman is known as a beautiful and intellegent woman, actress and Oscar winner but did you know she also works behind the camera?
  Though the credits are small Natalie has started to venture into the production side of film besides dazzling us with her acting skills. Her first venture was a short, Eve a short film that starred Lauren Bacall and Olivia Thirlby which she directed and wrote. Then she took did a repeat performance as writer/director in one of the segments of the film New York I Love which was about a father dealing with the having only a small amount of time to spend with his daughter and the fact that people assume he is her "manny".
   Besides directing and writing Portman has begun to produce films with a company that she created called HandsomeCharlie Films. Besides Eve being her first film that she write and directed it was also the first film that she produced with her company. Next came the film The Other Woman that was filmed in 2008, selected for the Toronto International Film Festival in 2009 and released into the international market in 2010 but did not see a domestic audience until just this year.  She went on to produce Hesher which was released today and No Strings Attached that was released earlier this year, in which she also co-starred in both.
   I myself may have never heard about Portman's production company and not completely noticed her producing efforts if it weren't for a recent interview conducted with Portman's Hesher co-star Joseph Gordon Levitt with PopSugar. He mentioned how much he has admired Portman since he saw The Professional.  Also he was grateful for her supporting the project (Hesher) when she could back any project that she likes with her name and stature in the industry.
   So I hope to see a lot of great projects coming our way as of her production company.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt's PopSugar interview.

Movie Review: Without

Run Time: 1 hr 28 min                     Directed by: Mark Jackson

            Imagine yourself going off to a town where you were cut off from some of your normal amenities; computer, cell phone, internet.  Without these things how would you feel? Could this be a great way to get over some of the things that you are dealing with or would it just delay your feelings?

            In the film Without, nineteen year old Joslyn has gotten a job as a caretaker for an elderly man named Frank while his family is away.  Minus all the distractions that have become normal to so many, she is exploring her feelings about her body, who she is and a girl that she knew. Will we ever be able to figure out what brought such a young girl to a job that usually suited for people with a little more life experience?

            The story does not have a lot of dialogue because one of the two main characters appears to be an invalid. A lot of the film rides on the shoulders of Joslyn Jensen who plays the main character of Joslyn.  Most of her emotions are portrayed through her facial expressions and body movement. She received a Special Jury Award from Slamdance because of “her creative, nuanced and moving performance in Without”.  

            Even though Joslyn’s performance won her an award at Slamdance there it isn’t enough to get excitement going for this 88 minute film.  The story is very much one note through out the film.  Most of the film consists of Joslyn’s daily routine along with her interactions with her ward.  There are only minor diversions from Joslyn’s routine but it is drawn out over what seems like a long period of time so that some are even barely noticeable.

             In summary the film will make you feel as if you are spying on some one during their mundane life.  If you need a plot that is pushed forward by external conflict this is not going to be your cup of tea. Even if you enjoy character driven films the characters barely appear to be doing anything themselves.  

Special Jury Mention: Without, dir. Mark Jackson
 The Slamdance jury would like to recognize Joslyn Jensen with a special jury award for her creative, nuanced, and moving performance in Without.

 

Bridesmaids

Directed by: Paul Feig            
Run Time: 125 minutes
Release Date: May 13, 2011           

Starring: Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy

                        With any wedding a lot of things start to take its toll on people.  For the groom it can be paying for the event and keeping his bride happy. For a bride there is all the planning and detail of putting the event in order to specifications that she wants. Then there is the maid of honor who is the bride’s right hand girl; she often helps with wedding planning, organizes that bachelorette party and keeps the bride calm.  It is no wonder why some friendships between bride and bridesmaids are tested.

            In the film Bridesmaids Anne is a woman that is down on her luck financially and in love. Then when her best friend becomes engaged she is thrilled for her but now she is given more responsibility that she can handle and events than she can afford. Will the other bridesmaids get the best of her or will she shine under pressure and be the perfect maid of honor?

       Kristen Wiig gives a great performance in her first leading role as the character Annie.  Her timing is spot on and she radiates the liveliness of her character. Her contributions to the film did not end at her acting since she was a Producer and Co-Writer on the script.  The collaboration with Annie Mumolo proves to be a lethal combination for a great script. Every character in the film that they create has their own personality and voice that contributes to the film as a whole. Not to mention that most of the jokes are actually funny which doesn’t accord that often anymore. Furthermore the commercials aren’t lying when they say that the movie can be enjoyed by anyone, even men.  Most look at a film with a predominant feel male cast and assume that it is a chick flick.  This film does by standards fall into this category but there were men at the advanced screening that was attended and they laughed their heads off. 
   Melissa McCarthy also has a supporting role in the film but gives a big punch to the film. McCarthy plays the groom's sister Megan who doesn't fit that girl persona that some people would see outside of a Redneck wedding as seen on CMT. She is a little more of a guy's girl or tomboy and talks like one too, ie the " I don't want to hear about my brother's junk" line that is in commercials. It is a far cry from her character of Molly on CBS's Mike & Molly as well as her perfectionist cook Sookie from Gilmore Girls but she nailed the outragiousness of it.  
    Bring in the love interest character is one of my fav Irishmen Chris O'Dowd. He is best known in the United States as Simple Simon from the film Pirate Radio, General Edwards in Gulliver's Travels and for those in the I.T. world possibly Roy from The IT Crowd (love that show). He play Rhodes, a police officer that the main character continuously has a run in with but is the kind of cop that you hope to meet if you ever get pulled over.  His character is the good guy that many girls want but may screw over because you aren't ready for him yet. This is a role that he has played before and he does it well, I fall for him during their first meeting.
    My biggest point that I could drive on this film is that it is not just a chic flick. There is comedy for everyone to enjoy from the silly stuff that you do with your friends to a scene that reminds me more of something from the Farrelly Brothers would do. In the end if a guy decided to take a date to see this movie I don't think either person would leave thinking the film sucked.