Jun 20, 2011
Grace Is Gone – Stanley Phillips works at the Home store, raises two daughters alone (Shelan O’Keefe and Gracie Bednarzyck) and wishes it were he, instead of his wife, who went off to Iraq. He’s a die hard Republican and huge supporter of the President even after the doorbell rings to inform him that his wife, Grace, is dead. Unable to face the truth and wanting to preserve the innocence of his children a while longer, he takes them on a road trip to Enchanted Land – the generic version of Disneyworld – but what he’s really doing is prolonging their agony. While the movie is about grief and Cusack gives his best performance ever, his child-rearing skills will anger any parent, but not as much as what you’ll feel about the mother would risk her life while two small daughters at home have nightmares and failing grades. Yes, yes, I know, it’s for the “good of our country” but it seems a mother ages 20-40 is the most valued and needed life right here at home. Cusack’s resentful behavior and often short-tempered character washes out any sympathy we feel for him. Instead we feel sorry for the two girls stuck with such ignorant parents. One and a half tiaras
Jun 20, 2011
(rated R, 103 mins, not reviewed)
Exiled to France, painter Francisco de Goya recounts his rise into the Royal Court of Charles IV, and his love affair with the beautiful Duchess of Alba, whose suspicious death cast a black cloud over the history of Spain. Stars Paco Rabal, Jose Coronado and a bunch of other foreign names that won’t mean anything to you.
Jun 20, 2011
(rated R, 90 mins.)
Or better titled “I heard….,” with an ensemble cast of today’s hottest young stars James Marsden (Disturbing Behavior), Lena Headey (Jungle Book) and Norman Reedus (8 mm) in not so hot of a movie, as three roommates looking for a way to spice up their assigned school thesis that “news and entertainment are one in the same”.
One night at their local bar scene, they decide to start a rumor involving Joshua Jackson (TV’s Dawson Creek) that leads to more nightmares and compound lying then they ever imagined. Or, as Marsden says “We do whatever we do then gossip about it.” There’s little sympathy for these spoiled, drunken, twisted characters who spend more time in and out of each other’s sheets than between their textbooks.
As the story unfolds there are growing belly laughs, not because the scenes are funny but because they are ridiculous right to the ending. And, every scene has a lot of breaking. Breaking picture frames. Breaking martini glasses. Breaking nic nacs. Anything that shatters. The only salvation is James Marsden who plays the character Derek, that Headey refers to as “what women want” and is exactly that. The desirable bad boy.
Jun 20, 2011
(Rated R, 137 mins.)
…is a magnificent country estate to which Sir William McCordle (Michael Gambon) and his wife, Lady Sylvia (Kristin Scott Thomas), gather relations and friends for a shooting party. The eclectic group includes a countess, a World War I hero, the British matinee idol (Jeremy Northan) and an American film producer. But the story is about the story inside the story, namely the servants (Emily Watson, Derek Jacobi and Alan Bates) in a “Remains Of The Day” feeling with Maggie Smith as the Countess Constance that steals the show and the estate’s attentions. Part comedy and part manners Gosford Park cultivates into a murder or two with more a “who cares” than “who done it” air and attitudes. Robert Altman, the director famous for ensembles has gone over the top with British royalty cast and his best work to date since “The Player”. Altman’s master touch manages to interweave subplots so these multiple characters come off snappy rather than long-winded as British flicks often do. Think PBS with punch. Each performance is at such a high-pitched union you won’t need to pay attention to the confusion of who’s who but instead just kick back and enjoy it.
Jun 20, 2011
(Rated PG) No luck needed at all, George Clooney tackles writing and directing to bring us the story (focus on the 1950s) of Edward R. Murrow’s Broadcasting career. Clooney has dramatically recreated a time in history when TV was black and white, men wore solid grey suits to the office, and chain-smoked cigarettes. It was clearly a man’s world. In 1935 Edward R. Murrow (where-did-they-find-this-guy David Stratharin?) began his news career. By 1953, when television was in its infancy, he was with CBS studios, during a decade when audiences were naïve, brainwashed and hypnotized by reassuring media and sing-songy advertisements. Murrow threw stones at great people, none the least, Senator Joseph McCarthy, igniting what would be a great confrontation to the world of journalism. With help from CBS employees (Frank Langella as the big boss, Robert Downey Jr. as a staffer, and his wife, portrayed by Patricia Clarkson; Clooney himself as news director Fred Friendly) a climate of intense fear prevails. The irony in watching this era’s tale, is that we so badly need this decency in today’s news media. Clooney brings us – the audience – inside the newsroom, making us feel an automatic need to participate and sympathize, as though we too are on the CBS payroll. His outstanding directing – tight cuts, constant swirl of smoke, his bantering dialog and pressure cooking tactics, dramatize the typical tension of what takes place at any journalist’s round table or staff meeting. I would imagine with all that smoking, that when the director yelled “cut!” the cast and crew were in need of a fresh air break, not a cigarette break. Though the cast can be sure, this movie is a breath of fresh air despite its foul subject matter. Three Tiaras.
