Review: Horrible Bosses

Review: Horrible Bosses

Rating: **1/2

Nonna's Rating: $$

Rotten Tomatoes: 69%

Audience: 82%

It's not a great comedy version of Strangers On a Train. It's not even as good as Throw Momma From the Train, but it has enough hilarious moments and wildly funny performances to make it worth watching. Three guys, trapped in their jobs, have horrible bosses. Jason Bateman (Nick Hendricks) suffers under the manipulative tyranny of Kevin Spacey (Dave Harken) at his nastiest -- a real tour de force. Jason Sudeikis (Kurt Buckman) loves his job at a family run firm -- until the patriarch dies and his coke-addled son who is bent on destroying the business takes over (an almost unrecognizable Collin Farrell as Bobby Pelitt). Charlie Day (Dale Arbus), a recently engaged dental assistant is terrorized by his dentist boss Dr. Julia Harris (Jennifer Aniston in a role that may save her from playing sweet girls next door in formulaic romantic comedies in the future.)

The three working schlubs decide their bosses need to be removed from the face of the earth. They engage the services of Jamie Foxx (another spot-on performance), whom they imagine to be a street-wise hitman. It all goes south from there. The film drags in the middle, but the dialogue is more clever than average and the audience spent a good deal of time laughing out loud. It's not for everybody: lots and lots of four-letter words and plenty of sexual and gross-out humor.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: Another Year

Review: Another Year

Rating: ***1/2

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 92%

Audience: 75%

Jim Broadbent (Tom) and Ruth Sheen (Gerri) play an older, comfortable, still-very-much-in-love couple with a grown son Joe (Oliver Mortman). The film covers four seasons of a year in their life, seasons in which they are visited repeatedly by Mary (Lesley Manville) a close friend who does clerical work in Gerri's psychotherapy office.

Tom and Gerri are the strong center of the story. Mary revolves around them: divorced, aging, desperate, and drinking too much. Gerri tries to fix her up with another friend, Ken (Peter Wight), but Mary is repulsed by this older, mess of a man who also drinks too much. Instead, she flirts with Joe, twenty years her junior and is devastated when Joe, to his parents' delight, brings home the girl he just might marry.

Not much happens over the course of the year. Things stay pretty much the same for Tom and Gerri. And Mary just continues her downward spiral. Superb acting sustains the film. The performances are almost too real -- especially Mary's. And just when I thought, "Wait. Gerri is a psychotherapist. Why is she enabling Mary's alcoholism," Gerri gently made it very clear to Mary that she would no longer play the non-confrontational ever-patient, tolerant friend.

Nothing much happens in this film. Nothing is resolved Life just goes on for another year.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: Biutiful

Review: Biutiful

Rating: **

Nonna's Rating: $

Rotten Tomatoes: 63%

Audience: 75%

Biutiful is the painful story of a dying father's love for his children. It's a mess of a movie, but Javier Bardem's performance is so compelling and so devastating, it almost redeems the film.

Bardem plays Uxbal, who dwells with his family in the slums of Barcelona. He is willing to do anything for his children -- and he does, living on the margin in a world of crime and danger.

And he has been diagnosed with terminal cancer -- news he keeps from his children as he does all he can to protect them from their mother, his bipolar, abusive ex-wife. It's a gritty, difficult film to watch except for Bardem's amazingly expressive face.

It was easy to forget I was watching a movie star on the screen -- to believe it was a documentary about a tragic family from Barcelona.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: Barney's Version

Review: Barney's Version

Rating: ***

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 79%

Audience: 78%

If you ask people who won the Golden Globe for best actor in a motion picture this year, most of them won't get it right. After all, it was Colin Firth's year for The King's Speech, wasn't it? Actually, Paul Giamatti, the Robert De Niro of his generation, won the award for this film. It's based on Mordecai Richler's 1997 novel of the same name and centers on a man, Barney Panofsky who meets the woman of his dreams at his marriage to his second wife. It sounds a bit like Heartbreak Kid, the 1972 version with Charles Grodin and Cybill Shepherd -- but it's that and so much more.

There are fine supporting performances in this movie from Minnie Driver (Mrs. P. No. 2) and Dustin Hoffman (Barney's dad Izzy), but it is Giamatti who carries the film. He brilliantly portrays all the highs and lows of 30 years of Barney's life.

Barney is an exasperating man given to eruptions of altruism and generosity, a fascinating man come to life through the gifts of Paul Giamatti.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: Cedar Rapids

Review: Cedar Rapids

Rating: **

Nonna's Rating: $

Rotten Tomatoes: 85%

Audience: 71%

Ed Helms of The Office plays Tim Lippe, an insurance agent from small town Wisconsin who is incredibly naive. He has never traveled out of the state, never stayed in a hotel, and hasn't had much of a love life. So, off he goes to a convention in the big city--Cedar Rapids. There he falls in with what might be called "bad company": John C. Reilly (Dean Ziegler), a wild and crazy party animal, Anne Heche (Joan Ostrowski-Fox), and Isaiah Whitlock, Jr. (Ronald Wilkes). They are all intent on breaking Tim in on the lampshade-wearing world of insurance conventions. Predictably, Tim plays along and gets in and out of trouble. Finally, all ends happily in the best of all possible worlds. It's a little movie for a quiet evening. If you enjoy Ed Helms' portrayal of sweet, innocent characters, you'll like this one.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: The Adjustment Bureau

Review: The Adjustment Bureau

Rating: **1/2

Nonna's Rating: $$

Rotten Tomatoes: 72%

Audience: 68%

Because Matt Damon and Emily Blount always manage to make any film they're in a bit more interesting, this movie is definitely worth watching. On top of that, it's based on a Phillip K. Dick story -- which, more often than not, forms the basis for a clever, innovative movie (Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report, Screamers). Adjustment Bureau is no Blade Runner, but it manages to deal with theological issues in an action-packed way. In the film, we are confronted with a puppet master of Fate, possibly God, who predetermines and meticulously plans the destinies of human beings.

The story focuses on David Norris (Damon), a politician running for U.S. Senate who meets Elise Sellas (Blount), seemingly by chance, and wants desperately for most of the movie to get to know her better. The problem is that the master plan doesn't include their having a relationship. Norris thwarts the plan and becomes aware of the behind-the-scenes Adjustment Bureau, a group of suited, fedora-wearing "caseworkers" who ensure the plan is executed. With John Slattery as Richardson, the caseworker-"angel"-in-charge, the Fate-corps seem to be a cross between the Matrix people and the Mad Men people. So, rent this one for a quiet evening at home -- or pull out your DVD of Blade Runner. It never gets old.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: Jane Eyre

Review: Jane Eyre

Rating: ***1/2

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 83%

Audience: 82%

After 22 versions of Jane Eyre, do we really need another one? Most critics consider the 1943 Joan Fontaine version definitive, but this one gives it stiff competition. It's a Jane Eyre for the 21st century which preserves the Gothic moodiness but offers us a realistic young Jane (Mia Wasikowska) and the sexual tension that clearly exists in the original novel but which has been systematically ignored in most versions. Wonderful performances abound in this film. Perhaps Michael Fassbender is "not quite" Rochester, but he comes awfully close. Not to be missed by fans of Bronte's novel and Masterpiece Theater.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: Super 8

Review: Super 8

Rating: **1/2

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 80%

Audience: 80%

My son Pete loved this movie. In 1979, the year in which the film is set, he was about the same age as the children in the movie. He went on and on about the music, the nostalgic artifacts, and product placements. As I said, he loved it. My grandson Max also enjoyed the film. He thought the "monster" was terrific. As for me, I was mesmerized by the train crash at the beginning, but I soon lost interest. In the end, the film is just Goonies meets E.T meets Alien, terribly derivative.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: Larry Crowne

Review: Larry Crowne

Rating: *

Nonna's Rating: $

Rotten Tomatoes: 36%

Audience: 51%

So disappointing. How could two fine actors like Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts work so well together in a movie like Charlie Wilson's War -- and be so abysmally mismatched in Larry Crowne. How can people lose "chemistry"?

That's just one of the problems with this movie. It's also poorly directed (Mr. Hanks) and poorly written (Mr. Hanks again with Nia Vardalos). Is Hanks' life so separate from those of mere mortals that he's forgotten what it's like to lose a job, go to school, and fall in love? The characters are two dimensional and watching the film feels as if we're peering into an alternate, flattened universe. Finally, two good actors are absolutely wasted: Taraji P. Hensen and Bryan Cranston. And even George Takei, Pam Grier, and Rita Wilson could have been better used. It's a mess. Don't bother.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: Beginners

Review: Beginners

Rating: ***

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 82%

Audience: 81%

Take two charming actors, Christopher Plummer and Ewan McGregor, mix in Melanie Laurent (Inglorious Basterds) and a photogenic Jack Russell Terrier, and you have, by definition, a better than average movie. McGregor plays Oliver, a a very sad 38 year old man whose father has recently passed away.

Through flashbacks, we come to know Oliver's story. His mother and father were married for 44 years. His mother has died five years before; at that time, his father (Plummer as Hal) came out of the closet after years of being surreptitiously gay. This new-found honesty has become the basis for strengthening the relationship of father and son. Hal, however, has died of lung cancer a few months before Oliver meets Anne (Melanie Laurent). The movie's portrayal of the sadness that can pervade a life after the death of a parent is sometimes painfully realistic, but not cloyingly so.

The film focuses on how Oliver and Anne learn to love one another; how each becomes an adult capable of commitment. The film's not perfect. The subtitles for the dog's thoughts are a bit much, but all in all the actors o a fine job of convincing us they care deeply about one another.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: The Tree of Life

Review: The Tree of Life

Rating: *

Nonna's Rating: $

Rotten Tomatoes: 85%

Audience: 65%

There are so many aspects of this film that would tend to make me enjoy it: beautiful photography; images of interstellar space; Brad Pitt; Sean Penn; good acting all around; an accurate depiction of the 1950s, especially 1950s fathers and mothers; complex sibling relationships; and a distinctly Christian subtext. But I was bored by the whole thing and found it annoyingly pretentious--and I loved Terrence Malick's film Days of Heaven. I wanted to say, "Yes, growing up in the 50s sometimes sucked, but, accept it, get over it, and get on with your life." The whole film seemed an intense exercise in navel-gnawing of the worst kind. Nevertheless, plenty of people seem to have liked this film, so perhaps you should make up your mind yourself if you're so inclined. But don't blame me if you don't like it.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2

Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows-Part 2

Rating: ****

Nonna's Rating: $$$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 97%

Audience: 93%

The long anticipated last installment of the Harry Potter films rolled into theaters yesterday. I feared that my expectations were too high and that I would inevitably be disappointed. I wasn't. The film is deeply satisfying, just as the final book was -- albeit with many of the subplots missing or glossed over. There's just no way to cram a 700+ page novel into two feature-length movies. Daniel Radcliffe (Harry), Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), and Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) have grown nicely into their roles and remain the embodiment of Rowling's imagined characters until the end.

Hermione and Ron's kiss, however, is far superior that of Harry and Ginny (Bonnie Wright) who should have practiced a bit more. Almost every character reappears in this final film for at least a few seconds. Much has made about the significant representation of scene-chewing English luminaries of stage and screen in these movies. The outstanding performances in this film come from Alan Rickman (Severus Snape), Maggie Smith (Minerva McGonagall), Ralph Fiennes (Voldemort), and Michael Gambon (Albus Dumbledore).

Throughout the audience, I noticed teenagers sitting with their grandparents, the very same situation Max and I were in. I wondered if they, too, had read the books together. We started when Max was seven and ended when he was eleven -- both of us rereading the books by ourselves. It was bittersweet and lovely to watch the story end. Thank you, J.K. Rowling, for creating Harry Potter's world and bringing delight to so many children and adults.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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