Review: The Girl Who Played With Fire

Review: The Girl Who Played With Fire

Rating: ***

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 66%

The second installment of the Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy manages to distill a sprawling novel into its essential narrative. That said, I'm not sure if someone who has not read the book would be able to follow the story. There is that proliferation of characters which is confusing enough to those who have read the book: in the movie many central players are not even identified. We are left to deduce who they are and how they function in the film's narrative. In addition, the ending, a true cliffhanger, will likely dissatisfy those who have not read the second and final books.

So, why care about this movie? Easy. Noomi Rapace. She embodies the character of Lisbeth Salandar as convincingly as Vivien Leigh did Scarlett O'Hara. And that makes up for lots of cinematic sins. In this film, Salandar finds herself accused of a triple murder. She uses her preternatural computer and survival skills to escape the long arm of the Swedish police. While evading the law, she contends with the real murderers using her own brand of vigilante justice.

You may have trouble finding the film. It has not been released as widely in the Chicago area as the first movie. Its box office does seem to be on pace with the first film, however, in spite of its limited release. You just may have to wait for the rental market. This is unfortunate because the final film, sure to be an art film blockbuster, will be released in October.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price

$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it

Review: The Kids Are All Right

Review: The Kids Are All Right

Rating: **

Nonna's Rating: $

Rotten Tomatoes: 94%

Here I go again. Not liking a film almost every notable critic likes. Let me say some positive things first. Annette Bening does a great job portraying a driven professional woman with control issues. And Julianne Moore also does a fine job as a bright woman who finds herself at loose ends as her oldest child goes off to college. Both these excellent performances, however, are undermined by the annoying subtext of the movie: "What every woman needs (even if she's a lesbian) is a good man." I just didn't buy it. That, combined with dialog in California-style babble-speak, made the movie much less than it could have been. (I do realize that there might have been gentle satire at work with the annoying script, but, if that's so, it didn't work for me.)

Bening and Moore portray a lesbian couple with a long-standing relationship. Each of them has had a child by the same anonymous sperm donor. The kids want to find and get to know their dad. Into their lives marches Mark Ruffalo, a funny, passionate free-spirit destined to wreak havoc in their lives. It's a great basis for a story, but, in the end, it only strains our credibility.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price

$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it

Review: Eat Pray Love

Review: Eat Pray Love

Rating: **

Nonna's Rating: $

Rotten Tomatoes: 39%

It's not horrible. It's not great.

And, it is most definitely a chick flick. Julia Roberts plays Liz Gilbert, a woman who walks away from her marriage and then walks away from a relationship with a younger man (James Franco -- who would walk away from that!) in order to find herself. I realize that by using those last two words in my previous sentence, I've trivialized Liz's experience, but, honestly, I have to. Liz is a woman who leads a privileged life -- and whines about it. She travels to Rome (to eat), to India (to pray), and to Bali (to love). In Bali (not giving away much here), she finally learns that she must move outside her solipsistic world and give of herself trusting fully, no strings attached. Not exactly a profound or unusual insight, but it works.

As always, Julia is endearing. And there are excellent performances by Javier Bardem, Billy Crudup, Viola Davis, James Franco, and the always surprising and compelling Richard Jenkins. It's just that when all is said and done, the story seems very superficial -- easy spirituality in a summer of mediocre movies.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price

$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it