Brothers

Brothers, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman and Tobey Maguire, is an interesting and profound drama about family values, war, and relationships.  The acting is fantastic.  I had hardly heard of this movie despite its all star cast so it was a pleasant surprise for me.

As the title implies, it centers on two brothers, portrayed by Gyllenhaal and Maguire, whose lives have taken them to different sides of the tracks- Jake's character has recently been released from jail and Tobey is a devoted family and army man.  Natalie Portman plays his lovely wife.  When Tobey is sent away to Afghanistan and rapidly presumed dead, the plot thickens.

Back at home, with everybody trying to cope and go on with their lives, nothing will ever be the same.  I will not write any more on the subject because although we found what happens next very predictable, you should still guess for yourselves!

The entire cast plays superbly.  Tobey undergoes a massive physical transformation and looks completely emaciated as he depicts the decline of someone who has lived through too much horror.  He shows us the mental destruction caused by war and his metamorphosis is truly scary at times.  Jake is really excellent as his sincere brother, torn between passion and brotherly love, guilt and devotion.  The two young girls who play Tobey and Natalie's daughters were very impressive and are earning lots of praise.

The supporting characters are less developed and the father seems to have just two states of emotion- praise and admiration for his army son and disdain for the ex-convict.  This is the downside that I saw in Brothers- that it tended to oversimplify many issues and too often contented itself with merely scratching the surface. For instance, though I have never been in a war so I cannot say for sure, the Taliban scenes seemed fake to me.  

Loyalty, love, faithfulness, duty, pain, grief, sorrow, joy.  All of these are present in this well above average but nevertheless not outstanding film.

My rating: 7.5
Fabio's: 7.5
Total score: 15

The Informant!

The Informant!, directed by Steven Soderbergh, sounded like it would be good; a kind of funnier, lighter version of The Insider.  It is about Mark Whitacre, the VP of an agribusiness giant, who turns into an informant working with the FBI to expose a price fixing scheme within his firm.

The film is a true story but that does not make it more interesting to watch.  Unfortunately I fell asleep - deeply- so this review will be short.  Fabio fell asleep too so asking him what he thought won't help either.

Matt Damon played very well, having once again eaten lots of burgers and pizzas to put on the necessary weight for his role. He sports a terrible hair do, mustache, and wears much too large suits, but makes them all work. 

There is a voice-over background narration during which Damon, as Whitacre, continuously spews out random, absurd, supposed to be funny facts, such as - do polar bears know that their noses are black, and his mispronunciation of centimeters (those are the only ones I remember).  These are meant to be comical but I only laughed once or twice as these phrases had absolutely nothing to do with what was going on on the screen. 

The movie was long; the first hour felt like two.  It was much too detailed and its bizarre quirkiness was not funny enough to hold my attention.  It was boring, dull, and although I missed more than half of it I think there was good reason.

The Informant!  Don't waste your time! 

My rating: 4.5
Fabio's: 5
Total score: 9.5

Did You Hear About The Morgans?

Did You Hear About The Morgans stars Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker, two actors I take joy in watching so I was looking forward to this movie, while fearing the worst after not exactly hearing good things.

Of course the premise is preposterous- an estranged couple witnesses a murder after an attempt at a reconciliatory dinner in New York City, and is shipped off to a remote part of Wyoming as part of a witness protection program. 

Hugh Grant is predictably funny in this film, with his usual self-deprecating British humor, and desperate, wretched faces.  He has a lot of funny one-liners, one of which is that he could hear "his own cells dividing" after their first night in Ray, Wyoming.  He is desperately trying to win back the affection of Meryl, his wife who he cheated on, and to get himself pardoned for his mistake.  She is less able to forgive and forget but evidently, being in this new setting will be a huge help for both of them, a way of bonding in the harsh countryside.  

There were funny dialogues and even true ones, shedding light on the problems of couples- cheating, fighting, infertility etc.  It was also a window- though very much exaggerated- into the soul of two hard working New Yorkers, something I could relate to.  Cliches abound, however, and are too many to name but here are a few- Meryl is a neurotic, overstressed and controlling New Yorker, a vegetarian and member of PETA (I have nothing against that, I am as well!).  People who do not live in big cities are gun toting, bargain shopping, meat eating Republicans.  Assistants are blackberry crazed peons, and so on.  

I very much liked the scene where they tell each other their wedding vows again, particularly Hugh Grant's to Meryl, an original, sweet, self-written testament of his love and promise of devotion to her.  There was lots of wit written into the dialogues of this film which made it pleasant to watch, at times.  

Fabio liked this more than Invictus but I have to say the great amounts of rodeo scenes, cow milking and bear attacks were too much for me.  The end bordered on the ridiculous but the very last scene of the movie was touching and slightly made up for it, at least leaving me with a nice final impression.  

If this movie is taken as a simple, light, romantic comedy it can be enjoyed, but do not expect too much from the Morgans.

My rating: 6
Fabio's: 7.5
Total score: 13.5

Invictus

Invictus, Clint Eastwood's latest movie starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon, is yet another success for the prolific 79 year old director.  It is the true story of Nelson Mandela's struggle to unite South Africa after decades of apartheid, shortly after his release from prison and during his first term as President.

The mission that he sets upon himself and upon Matt Damon's character- Francois Pienaar- is unconventional to say the least.  To win the 1995 Rugby World Cup. Mandela realizes that this will be the only way to unify such a divided nation.  Francois is the captain of the Springboks, South Africa's national rugby team.  He tells him "If I got elected President, you can win the Cup."  However, not only is South Africa a huge underdog, the country is racially torn and greatly split between the blacks and the Afrikaners, or white South Africans.  The rugby team being made up almost solely of whites, the blacks traditionally cheer for the opposing team. 

Mandela's vision of bringing his country together through sport and national pride is both a political and human triumph.  Morgan Freeman plays him brilliantly and brings in front of our eyes the man whose charisma, inner strength, courage and intelligence make him a hero to so many around the world.  He is an outstanding Mandela and it is true that in many scenes it is hard to differentiate the two.  His physique, mannerisms, voice, accent are all a perfect match.  He is a replica of Nelson Mandela and in fact when asked who could interpret him in a film the former President answered: "Morgan Freeman", quite an endorsement for the actor.  Matt Damon gives a very realistic portrayal as well, having gained weight and muscle for the role, and completely altering his accent.

We see the human, real side of Mandela- or "Madiba" as he was called- a man with his own struggles and doubts, and strained family relationships.  When asked about his children he replies that he has forty two million of them and one senses his enormous sense of purpose and love.  There are heartwarming moments when both his frailty and determination are exposed.  For instance, when having memorized the names of each member of the team, he slowly steps onto the field and shakes their hands one by one, wearing the green Springbok jersey.  Or when Francois and his team visit the miniscule jail cell where he was imprisoned for 27 years of his life, with a poem as his motivation to "stand when all he wanted to do was lie down", only to come out even stronger and ready to exceed his own expectations.  

Fabio, who loves soccer and I know will watch the World Cup this summer almost as obsessively as Madiba was following the performance of the Springboks, thought the rugby scenes were too long.  I found them to be really interesting, well done and fun to watch even though I was not familiar with the sport. 

This is a powerful, solid movie with excellent performances.  Lessons of forgiveness, team work, unity and perseverance make this film very inspirational.  I very much enjoyed it as I have all of Mr. Eastwood's latest.  His films are always of an extremely high caliber- in acting, script, cinematography and directing.  This one is no exception.

My rating: 8.5
Fabio's: 7
Total score: 15.5

Creation

Real-life husband and wife Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly star in Creation, which recounts the period of Charles Darwin's life prior to the publication of "On the Origin of Species" in 1859, his infamous, world changing tome on evolution and natural selection.  Darwin's research created an enormous rift, a schism between the believers of his day and scientists. He was said at the time to be going to war against God, and even to have "killed God".

The film revolves around Darwin's life with his wife and four children.  Jennifer Connelly is excellent as his extremely devout and loving wife.  A revealing scene at the beginning when she leads the dinner table in prayer and Charles fails to say "Amen" is foreshadowing of what will follow and of the stark differences between the two.  She is convinced that he will be eternally damned and bring misfortune to their family by rejecting God.

Darwin is torn between his strong love for his wife, her faith and his even stronger reason.  There are beautiful moments of him observing animals, dissecting their behaviors and the sequences that make up their lives, explaining phenomenons of selection to his children, the first born, Annie, having a very morbid curiosity.  We see him interacting with England's first orangutan, Jenny, playing with it as if it were a child, deciphering her every look and action. 

Annie, the eldest child, later dies and Charles becomes haunted by her death, having been closest to her.  In my opinion this part was too long, bizarre and drawn out.  I did not like the trippy scenes where he seems to be losing his mind and is pursued by the ghost of his daughter, shouting and ranting.  Although Charles thinks that his wife blames him for her fatal sickness, she very poetically says: "The truth is, if I knew then what I know now, I would marry you tomorrow".  Their bond is solid and unbreakable despite tremendous differences of belief. 

When Charles finishes his manuscript he hands his wife the final copy, telling her she can burn it if she does not agree.  She stays up reading it nights on end and finally presents him with a package, the book ready to be sent to its publisher.  In the end, reason and perhaps love as well, triumph, as he makes an accomplice out of his staunchest adversary.

It is fascinating that Darwin received a full Christian burial at Westminster Abbey, proof that his ground-breaking ideas were seen as controversial of course, but were already then recognized as vital knowledge for the advancement of the human race. 

The movie definitely draws heavily on Darwin's family life, its joys and its troubles.  I happened to like this aspect but Fabio said it was like watching a documentary on, I quote, "Hitler's passion for ping-pong".  This is true in some respects and I cannot disagree with his desire to have learned more about Charles Darwin's theories from this film than we do.  It remains nevertheless a well executed and flawlessy acted period drama. 

My rating: 7
Fabio's: 7
Total score: 14

The Lovely Bones

The Lovely Bones famously tells the story of Susie Salmon, a girl who is brutally murdered (and in the novel of the same name, also raped) at age 14, by a serial killer living across the street from her in suburban America in the 1970's. She goes on to watch her family, friends, and killer, from "her heaven" in the sky.

I was riveted by the beginning of the best selling book by Alice Sebold, to the point that when my fiance Fabio came to bed later than me one night he nearly gave me a heart attack as I seriously mistook him for a murderer.  Similarly, the movie's beginning enthralled me, but later I was bored by the lack of plot and became severely disinterested.  

What started as a faithful adaptation with the penguin in the snow globe trapped in a perfect world, then turned into lots of liberties taken by director Peter Jackson, many for better, some for worse.  For instance, huge, uninteresting chunks of interactions in school between Susie's friends are removed.  Also, an unbelievable and difficult to comprehend affair between Susie's mom and the detective on the case is omitted.  A scene in the book where Susie returns to Earth to have sex with Ray, her first love, is also taken out, thankfully, since during this encounter he doesn't even ask her who killed her (!!!), and is replaced by a much shorter but only slightly more logical kiss.  Some incongruities remain (the murderer kept her body in a safe for about 10 years???) but overall Jackson does a good job weaving this story together and making a somewhat coherent movie out of a book which I found too long and dull after the first 50 pages.

Jackson definitely adds his touch to the elaborately imaginative heaven, focusing on it a lot more than in the novel, giving the landscapes vivid colors and sweeping views.  This is overdone in my opinion but to his credit it must be difficult to depict what heaven should look like without making it look fake.  His love of special effects is obvious but one part reminded me too much of a scene from Gladiator, where Russell Crowe sees his deceased wife and son walking in fields of yellow, with an almost identical song playing.

Back at home, Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz play Susie's parents but neither performance blew me away as we don't really feel their pain or what they are going through, or why Susie's mom leaves to California for many years.  Susan Sarandon as the crazed grandmother was not bad although her drinking, smoking, setting the house on fire character was very exaggerated.  The girl interpreting Susie, Saoirse Ronan, was good, with her large, light blue eyes giving her an ethereal quality that matched how I imagined her.

Stanley Tucci was creepy and almost unrecognizable as George Harvey, Susie's killer, but not deep enough to be truly scary.  Without wanting to give away the end, I thought he was too easily dispensed with although this matches what happens in the book.  It seems everybody wanted to wrap things up as quickly as possible. 

Having only just finished the novel which disappointed me after all of the hype, I wasn't enthralled with its movie adaptation either.  However, despite many flaws, in some cases it actually improved the story presented in the book.

My rating: 6

Fabio's: 7

Total score: 13

It's Complicated

I liked this movie more than I thought I would.  Perhaps because my parents are divorced, perhaps because I watched it with my mother and was trying to see it through her eyes.  I thought it flowed well and was entertaining, touching and both light and of substance.  Nancy Meyers, who also directed and wrote "The Holiday" and "Something's Gotta Give", is very good at this genre and with Meryl Streep as the lead, can hardly go wrong.

Playing Jane, a beautiful, professionally fulfilled, divorcee in her fifties, Meryl brings such an intensity and realism to her character that she truly makes and carries the film. One can not only understand but feel her loneliness as her kids all slowly leave her, go to college, graduate etc. Alec Baldwin is excellent too as her post mid-life crisis ex-husband, Jake, who after marrying a much younger, usually only half dressed, woman named Agness, is clearly unhappy and cannot tolerate for much longer her snapping her fingers at him when she needs him to clean something or make love to her at ovulation time.

An affair begins between the two as Jake tries to find refuge in Jane, with whom he feels back at home, both physically and emotionally.  She makes him good home-made ice cream, they have pleasant conversations and most of all- besides the great sex- he enjoys the peace and quiet.  Their chemistry is great and believable but unfortunately for him, Meryl has another admirer, her "nerdy" architect, Steve Martin.  He is also well cast, though purposely in a more minor, background role.  He takes her out on nice dates, has recently gone through a divorce, and is very much smitten.  Jane needs to choose between the two.  She is definitely happy, glowing and re-living, but feels very torn between the familiar with her now very needy ex-husband and the appeal of something fresh and new.

The themes of divorce, love, family and relationships in general are very well treated in this film.  I thought a comment made by Meryl's character about why she thought her marriage with Baldwin ended was particularly poignant- she said it wasn't all his fault and that she had given up on the relationship long before he cheated, using it as an excuse to end things. I am sure many couples find themselves in similar situations, where cheating is often a product not just a cause of trouble.  

One touch that bothered me was that I felt the children were too nice and too forgiving to a father who left their mother for a woman half her age.  Whenever they saw him pulling up in his Porsche they screamed "Daddy! Daddy!" and were overjoyed.  I thought that was fake and simplified and there could have been at least one sibling, perhaps the eldest, who would have a bit of lingering hurt and resentment.  A special mention for both the performance and character of John Krasinski who plays the role of Harley, a perfect boyfriend to the eldest daughter, but also a confidant who sees many things he shouldn't and reacts very comically and naturally.

There are tons of funny, lots of real and even some sad scenes, but there is also quite a bit of predictability.  I nevertheless very much enjoyed this romantic comedy and thought it was one of the best of its kind that I have seen recently.  

My rating: 7.5
Fabio's: 7
My mom's: 7
Total score out of 30: 21.5