So You Want to Be a Priest. . .

Nonna's Review: Glee: the 3D Concert Movie

2011-08-19T19:20:00.005-05:00

Review: Glee: The 3D Concert Movie

Rating: ***

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 60%

Audience: 70%

If you like the TV show, go see the movie. It's as simple as that. The cast stays in character and sings some of the best songs they've performed over the past years.

And that's when the film is in top form -- not when it's playing documentary concert film and interviewing fans to show how affirming the TV show has been for kids who don't feel they fit in and admit they have big "Ls" on their foreheads. Those add-on stories just don't work -- even though Glee's message every week is that same affirming, love-who-you-are theme. More singing and dancing would have been better.

Each cast member gets his or her moment in the spotlight. Some more than others. I really wanted to see more of Chris Colfer. At least he sang "I Want To Hold Your Hand." The small audience with whom I saw the film made it even more fun: very vocal teenagers, who obviously had crushes on several cast members, squealed, sang along, and clapped spontaneously with gusto. I even spied one of the finalists in The Glee Project, Damian, in the crowd. I do hope that's a good sign because I think he'd be a great addition to the cast with all his Irish charm.

Nonna's Rating

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price

$$$ = Worth paying the Matinee price

$$ = Worth a rental

$= Wait for cable

# = Skip it

Review: The Help

2011-08-16T19:23:00.010-05:00

Review: The Help

Rating: ***1/2

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 73%

Audience: 93%

I actually liked it better than the book. I was prepared for disappointment, but the movie surprised me -- primarily because of a very powerful performance by Viola Davis as Aibileen, a woman who suffers with dignity. There is already Oscar buzz about Davis's performance. She doesn't have to say anything to convey the hurt, anger, and sorrow she feels as a black woman serving the needs of spoiled, clueless, racist white women in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960s.

Some have criticized this film (and the book) because it doesn't portray the mindless, vicious violence perpetrated on blacks in the south fifty years ago. I can't agree with that criticism. That's not the kind of vile racism this film depicts. Instead, it illustrates the subtle, genteel racism of privileged white women who would never think of pointing a gun at one of their servants. Instead, they denigrate these women, assume they're diseased, accuse them of thievery, exploit them financially, deny them their families, prevent them from getting an education, give them unlimited access to children they've come to love, and treat that relationship as meaningless. And all for only one reason: they can. Yes, it's as if the 13th Amendment had never been passed.

There are funny moments in this movie. There are little triumphs, but, when all is said and done, there remains injustice masquerading as Christianity. All in all, it's horrific.

Octavia Spencer as Minnie delivers a fine performance as a woman who is mad as hell and won't take it any more. Emma Stone (Skeeter) is the amanuensis of this group of Southern black maids poised to step into the complex second half of the 20th century.

Movies have been pretty horrible this summer. Along comes one worth watching -- and talking about.

Nonna's Rating

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price

$$$ = Worth paying the Matinee price

$$ = Worth a rental

$= Wait for cable

# = Skip it

Review: Crazy, Stupid, Love

2011-08-07T20:13:00.004-05:00

Review: Crazy, Stupid, Love

Rating: **1/2

Nonna's Rating: $$

Rotten Tomatoes: 75%

Audience: 86%

Crazy, Stupid, Love is a ** movie, but earns another half star when compared to other recent romantic comedies -- most of which have been formulaic, predictable, and boring. At least this film surprises us. Steve Carrell (Cal), who currently owns "sweet, lovable guy" roles, Ryan Gosling (Jacob), and Emma Stone (Hannah) all portray characters more authentic than those generally seen in romantic comedies. The supremely talented Marisa Tomei (Kate) could have been just as authentic but her over-the-top (over-directed?) performance is out of sync with the rest of the film. There was one very sour note at the end of the movie which spoiled the film for me. Not wishing to give the scene away, I only note that an older underage girl gives a gift to a younger boy which is, well, just inappropriate.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: Seven Days in Utopia

2011-08-06T23:12:00.004-05:00

Review: Seven Days in Utopia

Rating: **

Nonna's Rating: $

Rotten Tomatoes: 9/2/11 Release Date

Audience:

I attended a screening of Seven Days in Utopia on August 4. Pastors and church leaders were invited. All I knew was that the film starred Robert Duvall (Johnny Crawford), Melissa Leo (Lily), and Kathy Baker (they're reason enough to attend) -- and that it was about golf. The acting was excellent. Duvall, as always, gave a subtle, nuanced performance. Leo and Baker did their best with mediocre material. Lucas Black, who plays a young golfer who has recently experienced a competitive meltdown, held his own with these stars and managed to be endearingly charming.

But the story just didn't work for me. Too formulaic, too similar to films like Bull Durham, The Legend of Bagger Vance, and Karate Kid; i.e., promising young athlete receives invaluable instruction from wise, seasoned veteran. Also, Lucas Black's character (Luke Chisholm) transforms effortlessly in a matter of seconds from a total jerk having a meltdown to a pleasant, humble guy willing to go along with Duvall's eccentric tutorial. Pretty unbelievable -- as was his all too easy reconciliation with his controlling father/caddy at the end of the film.

Finally, the movie was being promoted as a "Christian film"; however, I thought the Christian elements were tangential and included praying before meals, going to church, and generally being very kind and respectful to one another. Nothing to complain about, but the heart of the movie really is Johnny Crawford's seven step process to self-mastery (here applied to golf) which is more standard self-help fare than a Christian-based rule of life .

Instead of paying to see this film, rent Bull Durham.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: Horrible Bosses

2011-07-23T22:07:00.004-05:00

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

2011-07-16T23:01:00.008-05:00

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

2011-07-16T22:56:00.005-05:00

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

2011-07-16T22:54:00.003-05:00

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

2011-07-16T22:49:00.004-05:00

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

2011-07-16T22:46:00.005-05:00

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

2011-07-16T22:40:00.003-05:00

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

2011-07-16T22:36:00.005-05:00

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

2011-07-16T22:32:00.004-05:00

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

2011-07-16T20:57:00.007-05:00

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

2011-07-16T15:02:00.007-05:00

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

2011-07-16T13:56:00.004-05:00

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

Review:Win Win

2011-06-04T20:10:00.003-05:00

Review: Win Win

Rating: ***

Nonna's Rating: $$

Rotten Tomatoes: 94%

Audience: 90%

Paul Giamatti can do no wrong – at least not while he’s acting in movies. In the last few months, I have seen him deliver flawless performances as Mike Flaherty, the fallible “hero” of Win Win; as Barney Panofsky, an irascible man and the subject of Barney’s Version; and as a nuanced Ben Bernanke in HBO’s Too Big To Fail, the story of the 2008 near worldwide economic collapse. Giamatti is a treasure; in Win Win he portrays an ordinary man, a lawyer and wrestling coach, trapped in the recession, making immoral and amoral decisions that help dig his hole a little deeper. Giamatti’s skill in playing this character is that we can watch him do it, disapprove of Flaherty, and still care about him, hoping he’ll dig himself out. As his wife, Amy Ryan is the Rock of Gibraltar with a strong moral compass. Unbeknownst to her, Flaherty is making an extra $1,500 a month by becoming the legal guardian of Leo, a man with dementia played by Paul Young. Out of nowhere, Leo’s grandson Kyle appears (played by Alex Shaffer in his first role), a wrestling phenomenon. There are fine performances all around in this independent film about ordinary people trying to do the right thing.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: Of Gods and Men

2011-06-04T19:49:00.003-05:00

Review: Des hommes et des dieux (Of Gods and Men)

Rating: ****

Nonna's Rating: $$$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 92%

Audience: 79%

How often do you see a film about religion that isn't sappy or sentimental or overwrought in some way? Well, this one fits that bill. I can't say enough good things about this movie. In fact--full disclosure--I've already preached a sermon about it. It's wonderful. Difficult to watch, but wonderful.

The film tells the story of nine Trappist monks living in Algeria during the civil war of the mid-90s--a time when all foreigners, and especially Christians, were in danger of being killed by fundamentalist Islamic terrorists. These nine men must decide whether to stay -- and almost certainly die -- or go home to the safety of France. The movie depicts their individual struggles with the decision each must make. As viewers, at first we can't believe anyone would decide to stay. By the end of the film, we understand why these men remain -- in faith, in community, and in solidarity with the Islamic people they love who live near their monastery.

The film won second prize at Cannes in 2010, but, for some reason, was completely overlooked as a nominee for the Best Foreign Film Academy Award.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review:Source Code

2011-06-04T19:17:00.004-05:00

Review: Source Code

Rating: ***1/2

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 91%

Audience: 82%

A fast-paced thriller with a heart, Source Code manages to deliver a "what if" message that challenges and entertains us at the same time. The movie is tight (93 minutes) and well-paced -- and it doesn't hurt that Chicago looks summertime-good in the film. Jake Gyllenhaal (Captain Colter Stevens) has been tasked with returning over and over again to a critical 8-minute period of time in which he does everything he can to avert a major disaster. It's Groundhog Day meets every "Will-the-bomb-blow-up?" movie you've ever seen. Excellent performances by Gyllenhaal, Michell Monaghan --as the girl he wants to save -- and Vera Farmiga -- as his "control" who knows a lot more than he does. One of the best movies of the year so far.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: Water for Elephants

2011-06-04T18:25:00.003-05:00

Review: Water for Elephants

Rating: *

Nonna's Rating: #

Rotten Tomatoes: 60%

Audience: 78%

A true waste of time. A mess of a movie. And I've never read the book, so I'm not making an unfair comparison. A preposterous plot with holes you could lead an elephant through. Stereotypical characters overdrawn and overwrought. Christopher Waltz, who was so brilliant in The Inglorious Basterds, seems to have taken a course from the Ricardo Montalban School of Overacting. His bombastic posturing and swaggering can only be the result of very poor direction by Francis Lawrence -- which is very much in evidence in every scene in this film. Reese Witherspoon does manage to stay on an even keel and delivers a competent performance, all the while remaining luminously beautiful. But only Rosie the Elephant, played by Tai, gives a performance worthy of any kind of award. Robert Pattinson is the big problem. He generates no heat and even less emotion-- with a resulting complete lack of chemistry between him and Witherspoon. The story is on a road to nowhere. Watch it on cable if you have to, but my advice is to skip it.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review:Bridesmaids

2011-06-04T18:08:00.003-05:00

Review: Bridesmaids

Rating: **1/2

Nonna's Rating: $$

Rotten Tomatoes: 88%

Audience: 88%

Here's another movie that critics and viewers loved -- about which I am not quite as excited. I will be the first to admit that there were some very funny moments. Also, it's not just another gross-out comedy; it explores women's friendships and how they endure and triumph over some seemingly unforgivable behavior. This movie just crossed the line into tasteless comedy a few too many times for me. Maybe I need to see it a second time. People keep telling me I need to see Hangover again, insisting it will be funnier the second time around. If you liked Hangover, you'll probably enjoy this movie. And, I will say that Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Ellie Kemper, and, especially, Melissa McCarthy are excellent comedians.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: X-Men: First Class

2011-06-04T17:32:00.006-05:00

Review: X-Men: First Class

Rating: **1/2

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 87%

Audience: 88%

Not having written a review since Feb. 2, I think it's about time that I caught up. My excuse is that I've been working three jobs. I did not, however, use that as an excuse to stop attending movies. I have twelve to review.

I'm starting with the most recent -- X-Men. Saw it yesterday after several weeks of disappointing box office offerings. As you can see by the Rotten Tomatoes average, the film has been well-reviewed and audiences have liked it too. I'll give it a thumbs up, but put it in the "good but not great" category. It has a lot going for it. Terrific special effects, a good story with a tie-in to the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, some terrific actors, and good dialog.

What's not to like? I just never found myself engaging emotionally with the characters -- certainly not in the way I did in the first X-Men movie (which was not reviewed as well by critics but is a far superior film). It is telling that the only scene which elicited an emotional reaction from the audience in which I sat was a 10 second cameo by Hugh Jackman as Wolverine.

I didn't really care much what happened to this bunch of mutants despite some excellent performances (especially Michael Fassbender and Kevin Bacon). James McEvoy is disappointingly miscast. A competent actor, he just doesn't have what it takes to light up a screen. It's impossible to believe he will become the Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) of the first movie. January Jones sleepwalks through her role as Emma Frost, and even Jennifer Lawrence (Raven) and Rose Byrne (Moira MacTaggert) don't generate much interest.

I do, however, recommend the film for a matinée viewing -- for the special effects and the fun of seeing the early parts of the X-Men story.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: Rabbit Hole

2011-02-02T19:12:00.008-06:00

Review: Rabbit Hole

Rating: ***

Nonna's Rating: $$

Rotten Tomatoes: 86%

Audience: 75%

Rabbit Hole is about families dealing with the devastating grief of losing a child. You might argue that, no, it focuses on a couple, Becca (Nicole Kidman) and Howie Corbett (Aaron Eckhart) who deal with the death of their child and their grief and guilt. But this film subtly illustrates a truth that is bigger than that narrow focus: individuals, parents, relatives, friends, and acquaintances all deal with the death of a child in very different ways and on very different schedules. We see this truth in the Corbett's immediate family. Becca's mother Nat (Diane Wiest) has also lost a child and, now, a grandchild. Her sister Izzy (Tammy Blanchard), newly pregnant, copes with grief and joy simultaneously. And then there are friends who over-respond and those who don't respond at all. And in Becca and Howie's grief support group, every person responds differently to his or her loss -- and sometimes differently on different days.

The film does all this without being manipulative, depressing, maudlin, or horribly melodramatic. Knowing the subject of the film, I was a bit wary and came armed with a ton of Kleenex. Only had to use it once -- the scene involved a dog, always guaranteed to make me weep.

The performances are excellent. Wiest never disappoints, and Kidman and Eckhart are believably married as they each confront their grief. In fact, I would definitely argue that Kidman's Oscar-nominated performance is better than that of Natalie Portman's in Black Swan. (In truth, so are the performances of Annette Benning, Michelle Williams, and Jennifer Lawrence.)

This film deals realistically with grief. There are no promises that the pain will go away -- only that it will be different from time to time, that it will come back with surprising fury when least expected -- and that life will go on. There is sadness in this film, but there is hope also.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: The Company Men

2011-01-22T21:00:00.010-06:00

Review: The Company Men

Rating: ***

Nonna's Rating: $$

Rotten Tomatoes: 71%

Audience: 59%

I was just thinking it might be appropriate for me to recuse myself from reviewing this movie. I identify so closely with many of the characters' experiences, I'm not sure I can maintain a suitable level of objectivity.

Well, here goes.

The Company Men focuses on the lives of three corporate executives who work for a Boston conglomerate originally a shipbuilding company. Ben Affleck (Bobby) is a young up-and-comer who loves the perks of his life: golfing, his Porsche, his beautiful home (undoubtedly bought with too little down and a huge mortgage). Tommy Lee Jones (Gene) is the best friend of the CEO, living the good life with plenty of stock options, antiques in his ocean-front home, a bored wife, and a lover (Maria Bello) who, as head of HR at the firm, is responsible for designing and executing massive layoffs. Chris Cooper (Phil), also near the end of his career, worked his way up the corporate ladder from riveter to head of a manufacturing operation. All three of these men are laid off; all three, who have so closely identified their worth with their jobs, take steps to cope with their new realities, some more successfully than others.

Rosemarie DeWitt as Maggie, Bobby's wife, gives a strong performance. Kevin Costner rounds out the ensemble as Bobby's level-headed blue-collar brother-in-law. All the actors deliver fine performances. Affleck is convincingly unlikable at the beginning of the film and manages to convincingly redeem himself by the end.

The portrayal of the atmosphere of outplacement firms was very accurate, although the chanting of the slogan was a bit much -- though not impossible. The "real" offices reserved for big shots reminded me of the locked gold doors at my outplacement firm -- to which only CEOs, CFOs, COOs and other acronym-burdened jobless people had keys.

Some have criticized this movie, saying that it's difficult to feel sympathy for affluent white-collar workers who suddenly realize they can't keep the Porsche or send their kids to the Ivy League. But the movie goes beyond this viewpoint in that the experience of being laid off makes most of the characters reassess their attitude toward the acquisition of expensive things and begin to value their lives, their families, and their relationships in new ways.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: Blue Valentine

2011-01-22T20:09:00.003-06:00

Review: Blue Valentine

Rating: ***1/2

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 89%

Audience: 83%

I just reviewed I Love You Phillip Morris, a movie so unlike ordinary life it strains credibility -- even when we know it's based on fact. And then I watched Blue Valentine, a movie so universal, so much like real life, it is downright painful to watch.

The story is simple. A young couple played by Ryan Gosling (Dean) and Michelle Williams (Cindy) have been married about five years. Dean works as a painter and is an alcoholic. Cindy works in a doctor's office and has long engaged in the codependent dance so characteristic of the desperate wives of alcoholics. When we first see the couple, their marriage is dissolving; Dean desperately tries to rekindle their old romance, but his alcoholism transmogrifies every well-intentioned move he makes.

In a series of flashbacks, we see the sweet story of how they met, how they fell in love, and how they shared their hopes and dreams. In those grainy memories, however, we see that the seeds of destruction were sown right from the beginning of their relationship. Like so many people, they married for the wrong reasons and didn't really understand or articulate what they needed from one another.

Blue Valentine is the story of so many marriages, especially those doomed from the start by addiction. But this isn't Days of Wine and Roses. It's more subtle than that film. What makes this movie so poignant is the love (however flawed) that Dean and Cindy have for each either. Remnants remain, even at their most debased moments. Gosling and William's performances are subtle, painful, and passionately honest. I'm glad I saw this film, but it was tough to watch.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: I Love You Phillip Morris

2011-01-22T19:02:00.005-06:00

Review: I Love You Phillip Morris

Rating: ***

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 69%

Audience: 56%

If the storyline of this movie were the plot of a novel, no one would publish it. It's preposterous, unbelievable, and bizarre. But it's true -- or at least most of it is true. One critic compared the film to Ed Wood, the story of another stranger-than-fiction character. I also saw similarities to Catch Me If You Can. You just can't make this stuff up.

On top of all that, you have Jim Carrey in full Cable Guy mode, playing another over-the-top character -- an energized, bubbling train wreck about to happen. I must confess, Cable Guy is one of my all-time favorite movies. No one embodies a functional, deeply neurotic individual quite like Mr. Carrey.

In this movie, the love of his life, Phillip Morris, the man for whom he'll do just about anything, is played fetchingly by Ewan McGregor. Here he reprises a character-type he just about owns -- the sweetest guy in the world. Think of Moulin Rouge!, Big Fish, Little Voice, and, well why not? Obi-Wan Kenobi. And he does it all with the most charmin' Southern accent ever.

This is definitely a film for adults. Carrey and McGregor, after all, play lovers, and there's real chemistry between them. Did I mention that the movie is also wonderfully funny? In fact, it's the best romantic comedy I've seen this year--hands down.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: The King's Speech

2010-12-28T18:52:00.005-06:00

Review: The King's Speech

Rating: ***1/2

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 96%

Audience: 95%

After the driest movie months ever: August, September, October, and most of November, I began to read the superlative reviews of The King's Speech. I worried. More hype? More critics in the pay of the movie moguls? (Call me cynical.) I finally saw the film yesterday and was very pleased. More applause after a movie than I've heard since Toy Story 3 -- and that was from spontaneous, unselfconscious children.

The King's Speech is that good. Colin Firth as stuttering King George VI ("Bertie"), Geoffrey Rush as his "speech therapist," Lionel Logue, and Helena Bonham-Carter as the future Queen Mum are all magnificent and deserve to be nominated for just about any award.

From everything I've read (and now seen), George VI was a man so blighted by his privileged childhood and tyrannical father, that he was almost incapable of happiness. He had greatness thrust upon him and wanted none of it. He was the right man for the job, but, oh my, he was born into "interesting times." His story is compelling and heartbreaking at the same time.

The film has an "R" rating, unfortunately, because His Royal Highness drops the F-bomb 17 times in the course of his therapy. Now, really! What is this frackin' world coming to?

I didn't give the film four stars for one reason: much of the gravitas and importance of this movie is derived from its subject alone -- not the abilities of the cinematographer, the actors, the director, or the writers. We finally care because it's about Queen Elizabeth's dad.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: True Grit

2010-12-26T23:27:00.005-06:00

Review: True Grit

Rating: ****

Nonna's Rating: $$$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 94%

Audience: 91%

When John Wayne made True Grit in 1969, I didn't rush to see it. I've watched it since then, but I have not been impressed. Wayne received the Best Actor Oscar for the movie--essentially for playing himself. He'd been overlooked in previous years for much better performances, such as those in Red River, The Searchers and The Quiet Man. So, when I heard that someone was remaking True Grit, I asked myself, "Why bother?" Then, I heard the Coen brothers were writing and directing -- and I began to eagerly anticipate the movie.

I have not been not disappointed. The Coen's adaptation of the book is nothing short of brilliant. Their use of formal Victorian English is the perfect counterpoint to the raw, violent, unpredictable post-Civil War west. Jeff Bridges inhabits his role as Rooster Cogburn. He's so good you can almost smell the booze and the body odor. There's nothing cuddly or sentimental about this Rooster. He's a nasty man with true grit who'll get the job done. Just don't ask questions.

Hailee Steinfeld's Mattie Ross soars above Kim Darby's 1969 portrayal. There's no coyness or flirting here. Hailee is all business, a tightfisted bible-quoting Christian bent on revenge and retribution. Matt Damon, in the supporting role of LaBoeuf (he says "LeBeef"), delivers a fine performance as an overconfident, too-big-for-his-britches, but ultimately useful, Texas Ranger.

I expect there will be plenty of Oscar nominations for this film -- another tour de force from the Coen brothers who wisely chose to follow Charles Portis's book in spirit, tone, and language.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

2010-12-26T22:43:00.003-06:00

Review: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Rating: **1/2

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 49%

Audience: 72%

First, a confession. A tough one for an Episcopalian. I am not a huge fan of C.S. Lewis or the Narnia series as a whole. I read the books as an adult -- which may explain my general lack of awe and wonder. The allegory was a bit too transparent for me. When I talk to children who've read the books, like my grandson Max, I find they are not at all aware of the Christological significance of Aslan and company. They just like the stories. Ah, to be young.

But I digress. The Dawn Treader is somewhere between Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe (which was delightful) and Prince Caspian (which was dreadful). One problem is that "Evil" is played in this one by a green, smoky fog. It was all a bit too much like a bad episode from the original Star Trek series. Happily, a really gruesome sea serpent makes an appearance near the end. I wish he'd had a bigger part.

Georgie Henley, who plays Lucy, was her charming post-pubescent self -- still cute as a bug. Lucy's cousin-from-Hell, Eustace Scrubb, played by Will Poulter, was obnoxiously fascinating and proved that you could be an English child actor and really, really nasty.

My grandson Max thought the movie was just "OK." You may be looking for a film to take the kiddies to in this holiday season devoid of worthwhile children's movies, and this one won't bore you to tears. It is a bit intense for younger children, however.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: Unstoppable

2010-12-18T18:15:00.005-06:00

Review: Unstoppable

Rating: ***

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 86%

Audience: 78%

Loved it. Not one of the greatest movies ever, but a very, very good one. It proves that you don't need 3D in order to feel the raw power of a runaway train hurtling at you. Superb cinematography and frightening sound combine to produce the tension needed for terrific escapist entertainment.

The film is what it is. Some critics have complained that there is little character development for either Denzel Washington's seasoned veteran, Frank, or Chris Pine's conflicted rookie, Will. But who cares? The train is the star.

And it doesn't matter that we can guess the ending. We're along for the roller coaster ride and Tony Scott, the director, has us from "Hello."

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: Black Swan

2010-12-18T17:38:00.004-06:00

Review: Black Swan

Rating: *1/2

Nonna's Rating: $

Rotten Tomatoes: 88%

Audience: 91%

I find myself in the odd position of defending my negative opinion about a film that almost everyone else seems to like. Most critics recognize that Black Swan is a melodrama, a film that overplays plot and character in order to manipulate our emotions. What they don't seem to recognize in this movie is that there is a fine line between melodrama that soars in films like Now, Voyager, Sunset Boulevard, and Slumdog Millionaire-- and melodrama that is overwrought, trite, and predictable in films like All That Heaven Allows, The Other Side of Midnight, and, well, Black Swan.

It does seem as if the director, Aronofsky, wants us continually to question what is real and what is imaginary in this "psychological thriller." I found no such ambiguity. **Spoiler** It was very clear that Natalie Portman's character was Looney Toons right from the beginning. Seriously, if your mother's paintings become animated when you look at them, you're in need of some major meds.

I will give you that the movie is beautifully filmed, that the milieu of dance is fascinating, and that Portman as Nina, Vincent Cassel as Thomas, and Barbara Hershey as Nina's control-freak mother deliver compelling performances. But the story just isn't there. It's all too predictable. It's a throwback to the overwrought melodramas of the 40s and 50s. Instead of rushing to see it, rent The Red Shoes to enjoy the best of all ballet films.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: For Colored Girls

2010-12-18T16:02:00.006-06:00

Review: For Colored Girls

Rating: ***

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 32%

Audience: 77%

Two-Thirds of Rotten Tomatoes' critics really disliked this movie. In general, I find that most male critics don't find much to like in Tyler Perry's movies. Let's admit it. Mr. Perry understands and empathizes with women in ways most male filmmakers don't. And this film, borne of Ntozake Shange's feminist play from the very angry 1970s, doesn't portray men sympathetically.

In addition, the play, a series of poems spoken by nine characters, is not easy to translate to film. Some of the poetry, however, weaves effectively in and out of the movie, spoken as soliloquies. For the most part, it works, but some of the actresses are stronger than others, especially Kimberly Elise as Crystal, Anika Noni Rose as Yasmine, and Macy Gray as Rose. Less convincing are Janet Jackson as Jo and Whoopi Goldberg as Alice.

When the play made its way to Broadway in 1976, it was astoundingly new and explosive, giving voice to women who had been been denied their right to express their pain. A great deal of time has passed. In all sorts of creative venues, women of all colors have continued to express their anger at all kinds of injustice at the hands of men. We've heard these voices in our homes in television programs like Law and Order and in movies like Precious. Perhaps our heightened awareness makes a film like For Colored Girls seem dated, but the problems highlighted by the movie are still here in all their ugliness.

It is a flawed film, but I applaud the heart and passion that Tyler Perry brings to it. In the end, those two qualities transcend the flaws.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: The Fighter

2010-12-17T21:50:00.006-06:00

Review: The Fighter

Rating: ****

Nonna's Rating: $$$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 89%

Audience: 83%

Mark Wahlberg's portrayal of aspiring pugilist Micky Ward is understated, subtle, and in stark contrast to the over-the-top but entirely believable performances of Christian Bale, Melissa Leo, Amy Adams, and the seven women who play the very crazy sisters of prize fighter Micky Ward.

Bale's portrayal of Micky's older, crack-addled brother Dicky is mesmerizing. You can't take your eyes off this train wreck of a man who never misses an opportunity to remind people that he once knocked Sugar Ray Leonard down in a fight (or, perhaps, Leonard slipped). He, not his brother, is the neighborhood star, the Irish charmer. Melissa Leo is Alice, Micky's manager-mom who takes the Irish family of O'Neil to a whole new level of dysfunctional insanity. Amy Adams surprises as Micky's fierce, spunky girlfriend Charlene, convinced she knows exactly what's best for him.

In the end, only Micky knows what's best for all. He understands everyone's gifts, everyone's dark sides, and everyone's blind spots.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: Fair Game

2010-12-08T23:15:00.004-06:00

Review: Fair Game

Rating: ***

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 80%

Audience: 72%

The strength of this movie is the realistic portrayal of a marriage in meltdown (delivered through the exceptional talents of Naomi Watts as Valerie Plame, a covert CIA operative, and Sean Penn as her husband, former Ambassador Joe Wilson.)

Wilson had written an op-ed piece in the NY Times, alleging that intelligence information had been manipulated by the Bush White House in order to justify the invasion of Iraq.

Remember? They had weapons of mass destruction: weapons which were never found. The story goes that Rove, Cheney, and Scooter Libby outed Plame in retaliation for the Times article. We may never know how it all happened and who was truly responsible, but Libby (the only person charged) was found guilty of obstruction of justice, making false statements, and perjury. He was, of course, later pardonned by George W. Bush.

The film focuses on the upheaval in Plame and Wilson's lives. Yes, she was in an occupation fraught with danger. Every time she traveled overseas, her life was at risk. She and her husband had accepted that risk. Knowing this, however, we still empathize with their horror and terror when Plame is exposed. We understand that she has been violated in this inside-out version of identity theft.

The movie does not end with a trumpeted triumphant legal victory. It ends with a whimper -- as it should. The incessantly drumming subtext of the film is that there were no weapons of mass destruction. There was no justification for the war on Iraq. Thousands of Americans died for a lie -- and tens of thousands of Iraqis have died and will continue to die. We sowed the wind and we have reaped the whirlwind.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

2010-11-26T22:32:00.004-06:00

Review: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

Rating: **1/2

Nonna's Rating: $$

Rotten Tomatoes: 51%

Audience: 68%

If you have not read all three of Stieg Larsson's Millennium novels and/or seen (and enjoyed) the first two movies of the trilogy, don't see this film. It just won't make any sense. For those of you who overlooked the flaws of the novels and the previous films because Lisbeth is one of the most compelling literary and screen presences ever, go see it. Blessedly, some of the most plodding story lines of the third novel are omitted from the movie: e.g., Erica's sojourn as a newspaper editor and Mikael's affair with Officer Figuerola. However, even with those edits, when Lisbeth is off screen, all we do is long for her return. And, although Lisbeth, when present, is largely silent for most of the film, we can't take our eyes off her as we puzzle about what's going on in her once bullet-riddled brain.

Hollywood is remaking these movies for the subtitle-averse. I have no doubt they can improve on the script, cinematography, and editing of these films, but I pity the poor girl (Rooney Mara) who will play Lisbeth. I can't imagine a tougher act to follow.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: Hereafter

2010-11-26T22:11:00.005-06:00

Review: Hereafter

Rating: **

Nonna's Rating: $

Rotten Tomatoes: 48%

Audience: 47%

One friend told me Hereafter was the most boring movie she'd ever seen: "Nothing happens." Another friend said she was deeply moved from the first, powerful scene all the way to the end. I had to see for myself. My assessment? It's somewhere in the middle of those two viewpoints, and it tends toward the former. The film certainly has the right credentials: directed by Clint Eastwood and starring the talented Mr. Matt Damon. All it needs is a decent script. The first scene, which focuses on a young woman caught in the power of a tsunami, is indeed masterful and terrifying, but it's all downhill from there. The story movies slowly and we're told (*spoiler alert* -- but who cares?) that there has been a vast conspiracy which has withheld scientific information about the afterlife from all of us (an afterlife which seems, BTW, incredibly boring). Religious institutions are, of course, involved in the cover-up. However, this conspiracy is mentioned and then dropped like a hot potato. I was expecting at least a little DaVinci Code mystery and mayhem to ensue -- but no such luck. So, don't bother with this film. Instead, watch The Sixth Sense again -- another view of the afterlife which is anything but boring.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

2010-11-20T22:53:00.002-06:00

Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

Rating: ***1/2

Nonna's Rating: $$$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 79%

Audience: 91%

The penultimate Harry Potter film, Deathly Hallows, does not disappoint. It is, of necessity, a cliff hanger with the best yet to come; however, there's plenty of action and drama. The script follows the book closely, covering about 3/4 of the last novel and giving the filmmakers the ability to focus on those marvelous final chapters for the last film of the series -- due out next summer.

The focus in this film is on the three principal characters: Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Hermione (Emma Watson), and Ron (Rupert Grint). These three young actors carry the movie while the older English heavyweights: Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, Jim Broadbent, and Michael Gambon (whose character Dumbledore is, of course, dead), have only small to virtually nonexistent roles. But the three Hogwarts students do a fine job, and Grint deserves a "most improved actor" nod. All three began as young, relatively inexperienced actors; we've watched them develop from childhood through adolescence and, now in this latest film, to young adulthood -- they're on their own with the weight of the world on the shoulders.

This film is dark and definitely not for younger children. My six year old grandson still panics whenever his brother watches a Potter DVD with Dobby the house elf in it. BTW, Dobby comes into his own in this film, stealing scenes and full of confidence, determination, and fierce loyalty to Harry.

The weakest part of the movie is also the weakest part of the book: the camping episode. It drags and seems as unnecessarily protracted in the movie as it is in the text. In another initially strange scene, Harry endeavors to raise Hermione's spirits by dancing with her. As he invited her to dance, the audience laughed nervously at the awkwardness of the moment, but somehow the scene transforms into one of ineffable sweetness as one friend cares for the needs and hurts of the other.

The movie is, in short, "Brilliant."

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: Megamind

2010-11-07T18:00:00.003-06:00

Review: Megamind

Rating: ***

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 67%

Audience: 79%

Max and Eli give "thumbs up" to Megamind. I stole glances at them several times during the movie and saw big smiles on their faces. And I wasn't bored or sleepy: I enjoyed it too. It passes the biggest tests of movies aimed at children: whether or not the kids were delighted and whether or not the adults are trying to read their watches in the dark. The animation was clever (we did not see it in 3-D) and the writing was diverting enough that adults could laugh too. The "message" was subtle but clear: "It's what's good in us that matters. You don't have to be buff and beautiful to be loved."

It also didn't hurt to have Tina Fey (Roxanne Ritchi) and Will Ferrel (Megamind) feverishly delivering lines that adults could chuckle at. On the other hand, the characters inevitably found themselves in situations that made the kids giggle. Brad Pitt does a nice turn as Metro Man, a stereotypical superhero, and David Cross is reliably funny as Minion, Megamind's, well, minion.

The film begins with ironic homage to the Superman origin story and continues that theme in Ferrell's uproarious sendup of Marlon Brando as Jor-El. It's certainly not Toy Story 3, but it was worth the trip.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: Catfish

2010-10-30T21:19:00.007-05:00

Review: Catfish

Rating: ****

Nonna's Rating: $$$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 78%

Audience: 65%

Every once in a great while, a film pushes the current boundaries of the medium. Think Brazil and 12 Monkeys and The Big Lebowski and Kill Bill and Fight Club and Moulin Rouge. Catfish pushes those boundaries hard and couples itself to social media and virtual lives in a way that makes us sit back and say, "Where the hell are we headed?"

The movie is a documentary (maybe, probably not, but it doesn't matter) about Nev Schulman, a charming, engaging, naive young man who has fallen in love online with Megan, the sister of Abby, an 8-year-old girl who has asked Nev for permission to paint one of his photographs. Nev, in fact, falls in love with Megan's whole family.

He, his brother Ariel, and another friend, Henry, travel to the UP to meet Megan and her relatives. And now, like every other critic, I will refrain from going any further lest I spoil the story for you.

Suffice it to say that this movie will probably make you uncomfortable, but you won't want to stop watching it for a minute.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: Secretariat

2010-10-30T20:31:00.004-05:00

Review: Secretariat

Rating: ***

Nonna's Rating: $$

Rotten Tomatoes: 67%

Audience: 78%

I've resisted going to see this movie for about a month. I could only imagine how horribly it would be Disneymogrified. (Never forget Hunchback of Notre Dame.) But I was pleasantly surprised. It is, first and foremost, a great story. (I'm a sucker for horse movies.) And even though I have a vivid memory of watching the jaw-dropping Belmont Stakes in 1973 on TV, the depiction of the race still sent chills running down my spine.

My only criticism is that Diane Lane is just a bit short of being the steel magnolia I would expect in Penny Chenery. Still, her performance is more than adequate. John Malkovich has been accused by some critics of overplaying the part of Lucien Laurin, Secretariat's trainer. Au contraire, he's truly "a character"; he only needs a few lessons in pronouncing French. My one quibble with the film is that the "Where are they now?" blurbs at the end of the movie were a bit Disneyfied in that, children that we are, we're not told that Chenery and her husband John Tweedy divorced in 1973, the year Secretariat won the Triple Crown. Even though I did not know this fact when I was watching the film, the conflict in the marriage was obvious in the movie. We're adults. We would have survived a bittersweet ending.

Note: The picture above is of the real "Big Red," not the very fine horse who played him in the film. Can't find his credit. Now, he deserves a best supporting actor nod!

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: RED

2010-10-30T20:13:00.004-05:00

Review: RED

Rating: *

Nonna's Rating: $ (Maybe)

Rotten Tomatoes: 71%

Audience: 78%

Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Mary Louise Parker, John Malkovich, and, wait for it, Helen Mirren. Hard to imagine a cast more promising. And they do their best, but good actors aren't good unless they have a good script -- and that is sadly absent in this film. All that acting talent is wasted. And the action of this "action-sort of-comedy" can't save us from the boring stretches of inane dialog that come between firefights. I'm not wasting any more time on 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: Nowhere Boy

2010-10-30T19:06:00.004-05:00

Review: Nowhere Boy

Rating: ***

Nonna's Rating: $$

Rotten Tomatoes: 82%

Audience: 70%

I admit I was predisposed to love this movie. It is, after all, about John Lennon. But then, my expectations were high too. I wasn't disappointed. The film focuses on Lennon's late teenage years: between being the bad boy 15-year-old at school and his sojourn with Paul and George to Hamburg from 1960-62. They are, needless to say, formative years -- years complicated by Lennon's discovery that his birth mother lived close to him and that she was alternately a free spirit and a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

Lennon's adolescence is, in a word, troubled. He is recalcitrant, obnoxious, ungrateful, and arrogant. He is is also painfully insecure, desperate for his mother's love, and delightfully witty. The film does not present us with a teenage Beatle; instead it gives us glimpses and hints of the brilliant, creative man he would become. Kristin Scott-Thomas delivers a convincing performance as Lennon's Aunt/Mother Mimi, and Aaron Johnson as Lennon grows into the man Lennon would become in a subtle performance. Thomas Sangster (Liam Neeson's young blonde son in Love Actually) joins the film near the end as 15-year-old Paul McCartney. In contrast to Lennon, he projects solid confidence in his abiltities and self-assurance. I thought Paul could never have looked that young, but, at the end we see actual pictures from that time period and Sangster looks remarkably similar. Not a great movie, but definitely worth your time.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: Cairo Time

2010-10-10T19:49:00.008-05:00

Review: Cairo Time

Rating: **1/2

Nonna's Rating: $$

Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 80%

Rotten Tomatoes Public: 58%

Cairo Time is a good movie. Not a great one. It misses the mark, seems a bit less than, but Patricia Clarkson's performance kept pulling me back into the film. As always, she is fascinating, delivering a subtle, complex performance.

Taking a cue from the film's title, I believe that Ruba Nadda, the director and writer, wanted to jolt our western sensibilities a bit, that she wanted to recreate the experience of suddenly being alone in a culture very different from our own. Clarkson's character, Juliette, has traveled to Cairo expecting to meet her husband, Mark, a U.N. official who works in refugee camps in Gaza. Developments in the camps prevent him from joining her for three weeks. Indeed, we come to understand that Mark's missing their rendezvous is typical of their relationship. The demands of his job are intense.

Nadda is successful at making us understand the experience of Juliette's anomie; it's somewhat frightening, but Juliette is more just a fish out of water than she is in any real danger. Her husband has asked his friend and former security officer, Tareq (Alexander Siddig), to keep an eye on Juliette. Their relationship unfolds ever so slowly. Too slowly. And that's the major problem with the movie. Nadda wants us to understand that time in Cairo is not western time, but, unfortunately, that translates into a slow-moving story.

Alexander Siddig could also have been better used. He's a fine

actor (Syriana and Deep Space Nine). His passivity and his

reticence are probably true to his character, but they don't

move the plot along very well.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: The Social Network

2010-10-03T21:39:00.012-05:00

Review: The Social Network

Rating: ****

Nonna's Rating: $$$$

Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 97%

Rotten Tomatoes Public: 81%

Finally, a terrific movie for adults. It's Animal House for the second decade of the third millennium --Harvard-style with a boatload of entrepreneurship. All wrapped up in Aaron Sorkin's rapid-fire, deliriously delightful dialog. Who knew that transcripts of depositions could be the source of such material!

The Social Network tells the origin story of Facebook. It may or

may not be true, but that's not important because it approaches

the status of 21st century myth. It's truer than truth. Jesse

Eisenberg plays Mark Zuckerberg, a wily young anti-Ulysses

bent on getting the girl and getting in the right final club. He

betrays everyone around him, tricking the tricksters, outsmarting

the Winklevi (twin brothers played by Armie Hammer, Jr.). He

falls prey to a modern Mephistopheles (Justin Timberlake as

Napster founder Sean Parker) and abandons his one friend

Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) who provided his moral

compass.

Lest I make this all sound too serious and too pretentious,

prepare to laugh. The scene in the office of Harvard's

president with the Winklevi, the President, and his

Assistant is nearly perfect. I felt as if I were listening to

the brilliant repartee of Howard Hawk's His Girl Friday.

Well, for once I don't end a review with "Go see this

classic movie instead: [fill in the blank with a great

movie]." No, go see this classic movie.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: The Town

2010-10-03T21:10:00.006-05:00

Review: The Town

Rating: **1/2

Nonna's Rating: $$

Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 95%

Rotten Tomatoes Public: 89%

Here I go again, not liking a film that the critics love. Of course, now that Rotten Tomatoes is publishing how much the audience likes a film as well as the critics, I'm pretty far from that mark too.

So, forgive me. Yes, the film held my interest. Yes, Ben Affleck proved that he can act whenever he has a Boston accent. Yes, Jon Hamm was worth the price of admission. Yes, Jeremy Renner is one scary dude. But . . but . . . there are plot holes that accommodate trucks. Too much just didn't make sense.

Now, at my back I hear my brother, Tony, and my friend, Linda, telling me not to think so much, that this isn't the kind of movie I should over-analyze, that I should just sit back and go along with it all.

Well, I can't. But don't let me stop you from seeing the movie for yourself and delivering your own judgment. As you probably know, it's a bank robbery movie. Affleck (Doug MacRay) plays a man raised in the Charlestown area of Boston, an area which spawns and nurtures bank robbers, car thieves, and kidnappers. Doug's life becomes complicated when he decides to make his next robbery his last, and when he finds himself falling in love with a hostage from his last bank job who is unaware of who he is. Go see it and tell me what you think. Or rent Inside Man or The Bank Job, two really terrific bank robbery movies.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: The Concert

2010-10-03T19:54:00.007-05:00

Review: The Concert

Rating: **

Nonna's Rating: $

Rotten Tomatoes: 58%

The Concert is the story of a former conductor of the Bolshoi Orchestra, Andrey, who was fired during the Soviet regime for hiring Jewish and Roma musicians. All this occurred 30 years before the action of the film. In the post-Soviet Russia of the movie, he's the janitor of the Bolshoi. One day he intercepts a request from Paris inviting the orchestra to play there. Andrey decides to gather his former musicians and take them to Paris to give the concert. He also requests that Anne-Marie Jacquet, a stellar young musician whose star is on the rise, play a concerto with the orchestra.

Pulling this all together is easier said than done -- and that's exactly where my problem with this movie resides. There is an unevenness of tone in the film that is jarring. It is at times melodramatic, at times romantic, at times tragic, and at times like watching a Three Stooges short. The broad portrayal of hyper-emotional Russian stereotypes was distracting and unnecessary. Quite a few critics have noted that, as flawed as the film is, the emotionally satisfying ending makes up for all its sins. I wish I could agree. This movie just didn't work for me at all. I'm thinking about watching Ninotchka as an anecdote.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: The American

2010-09-11T23:31:00.003-05:00

Review: The American

Rating: **

Nonna's Rating: $

Rotten Tomatoes: 64%

Another disappointing movie in an extremely disappointing summer of movies.

Imagine George Clooney spending most of his time putting guns together and doing his best to avoid being shot. Now, imagine him doing this without his God-given charm or playful sense of humor. No twinkles in his eye in this film. It's a slow-paced snooze with George's pecs and Violante Placido's (someone had to make that name up) lovely nakedness providing totally unnecessary and irrelevant eye candy.

There is one redeeming feature of this movie. It was filmed in the Italian hills of the province of Abruzzo, just east of Rome and the land of my ancestors. The ancient towns perched on the mountains all reminded me of Capestrano, the town from which my great-grandparents left for America. I did love the scenery, but it's definitely not Tuscany. No lush green fields; no vines heavy with grapes (although Montepulciano is from this area). It's rugged, arid rocky land in the summer and wet and dreary in the winter -- and that's why so many people emigrated over 100 years ago.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: Get Low

2010-09-11T22:41:00.004-05:00

Review: Get Low

Rating: ***

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 86%

It's a simple, little story set in the Despression -- hardly enough to make a movie. Robert Duvall portrays a Tennessee recluse, a man who has stayed as far away from people as possible for 40 years. Nearing the end of his life, he decides that he will use his savings to throw himself a funeral -- which he plans to attend. He does this hoping that the people who have known him will tell stories about him; he wants them to tell the one story he can't bear to tell.

Bill Murray plays the funeral director who assists him in his plans. Again, Murray shows us his considerable acting talent. I found it impossible not to imagine his character's likely colorful backstory: a series of careers cut short by a series of indiscretions, I'm sure.

At the end of the film, Duvall makes a speech which reminds us why we have loved to watch his movies for the past 50 years. He makes a confession and, in turn, is given grace and redemption.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: The Girl Who Played With Fire

2010-08-21T17:22:00.005-05:00

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

2010-08-21T16:57:00.004-05:00

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

2010-08-16T11:55:00.003-05:00

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

Review: I Am Love

2010-07-30T17:29:00.004-05:00

Review: I Am Love (Io sono l'amore)

Rating: ***1/2

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 81%

Suddenly this summer. a terrific film. Tilda Swinton has a lock on an Oscar nomination -- and she does it in Italian and Russian. In this film, she plays Emma, the Russian wife of a rich Milanese textile manufacturer. She has three grown children, but we're told little of her earlier life or her present state of mind. Through her nuanced and subtle performance, however, and scenes of a family gathering early in the movie, we learn all we need to know and fill in the blanks ourselves: Emma has given her life and her very identity to her husband and his family. She dissolves into the corners of her stunning, but cold, Milanese villa.

After she meets and begins an affair with her son's friend, Antonio, her life and her world open to color and sensuality. The rest of the story surprises, complemented by stunning cinematography and sophisticated editing. Not to be missed.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: The Sorcerer's Apprentice

2010-07-30T15:18:00.006-05:00

Review: The Sorcerer's Apprentice

Rating: **

Nonna's Rating: $$

Rotten Tomatoes: 41%

The Sorcerer's Apprentice is a prime example of what's wrong with this summer's movies. Clearly, a pack of studio executives (in this case, at Disney) got together and said, "Let's take the most beloved scene from Fantasia," (Mickey Mouse's silent celebration of Paul Dukas' symphonic poem, based, in turn, on Goethe's poem of the same name) "and turn it into a movie." Could the film be more derivative! (Yes, it turns out.) The iconic out-of-control mops and pails do make an appearance in the movie, but because that sequence lasts only a few minutes, much more has been added, all derived from yet more sources: Arthurian legend, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and Star Wars (borrowing a moment so lifted from Episode IV: A New Hope that one of the characters feels the need to point out that the scene has been stolen from that movie).

My grandson Max also noticed how derivative the film was; in spite of that, however, he liked it (the special effects are rather good). So I'm going to recommend the movie to parents of older children.

Whenever I'm ready to pan a film aimed at kids, I say to myself: "Compared to Shortz," (which was pure agony to sit through), how bad is this film really? It's Citizen Kane next to Shortz.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: Inception

2010-07-25T23:38:00.006-05:00

Review: Inception

Rating: ***

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 86%

Some movies beg to be viewed twice: Usual Suspects and The Sixth Sense come to mind. What we thought had unfolded as we watched these films, in the end, was very different from what had really happened. We watched again to notice the clues we missed the first time around. We watched again to make sense of the world contained in the space of a movie.

Inception seems to be such a movie. I indeed do want to see it again to try to make sense of it all, to notice the clues. My grandson Max and I had an intense discussion after we saw the film. We tried to put the pieces of the puzzle together and figure it out. We sorted out most of the plot, but there were still too many questions and loose ends. We consulted the myriad of Internet discussions of the film and discovered that our read of the plot was in line with the online explanations. Most of those loose ends, however, just weren't tied off.

Now, I have no problem living with ambiguity in a movie, but there's a fine line between creative ambiguity and sloppy storytelling -- and I'm afraid there's a bit of the latter in this film. I wouldn't lodge that complaint against Usual Suspects or The Sixth Sense. Second viewings of those films elucidated much tighter plots with no troubling loose ends.

Nevertheless, do see Inception. Movies have been so disappointing this summer. It's a relief to have one to recommend. Fine performances abound: Leonardo DiCaprio (Dom Cobb), Ellen Page (Ariadne), Joseph "I-hope-we-see-more-of-him" Gordon-Leavitt (Arthur), Tom Hardy (Eames), and the always reliable Michael Caine (Miles). DiCaprio plays a dream thief, skilled at stealing corporate secrets. His latest assignment is not to steal an idea, however, but to plant one in the brain of the rival of a corporate client: to complete a heretofore impossible inception.

The special effects in the movie dreams are not always as dream-like as one would expect. The most stunning scene actually appears over and over in the trailers: the streets of Paris fold over themselves in delightful fashion. My favorite dream movie, however, is still Peter Weir's The Last Wave.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

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

Review: Cyrus

2010-07-14T17:10:00.003-05:00

Review: Cyrus

Rating: *

Nonna's Rating: $

Rotten Tomatoes: 80%

Movies have, for the most part, been horrible this summer. Reviews of these same horrible movies, however, have often been extremely positive -- glowing, in fact. Have critics joined a vast cinema-graphic conspiracy to lure us into theaters showing dumbed-down movies made with A-list stars and no redeeming artistic value whatsoever?

That may sound paranoid, but allow me to pan Cyrus, a well-reviewed movie starring Marissa Tomei, John C. Reilly, Catherine Keener, and Jonah Hill -- all fine actors who do what they can to redeem this film.

Reilly plays John, a schlub of a man, divorced from his wife seven years before but still working with her and still far too emotionally attached. She (Jamie) is about to be remarried and is far too involved in John's life -- she desperately needs to read Co-Dependent No More.

Molly (Tomei) almost inexplicably falls hard for John when she meets him at a party. How could this happen? Well, Molly has an adult son, Cyrus (Hill), a manipulative young man who has managed to discourage his mother from forming relationships with men his whole life.

(Warning: if you plan to see this film, don't read any more. Plenty of spoilers)

The relationship of Cyrus and Molly is creepily Oedipal. The movie always pulls back from the brink, but the "ick" factor is always looming. John's relationship with Cyrus quickly degenerates; he's on to him almost from the beginning. And then, about 90 minutes into the movie, Cyrus has some sort of miraculous epiphany and realizes he needs to change. Cyrus, Molly, and John all embrace and we are asked to believe all will be well for this reconciled family.

Hold on! John does admit that he's had a role in the crazy dance they're doing, but he seems unaware that his relationship with his ex-wife is just as inappropriate as Cyrus's with his mother. And Cyrus and Molly definitely need some sort of therapy. The movie ended abruptly, but it needed another act. Granted, watching them all go through the hard work of coming to terms with their nuttiness would probably have been boring, but, at least, it would have been honest.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it

Review: Despicable Me

2010-07-10T11:15:00.003-05:00

Review: Despicable Me

Rating: *1/2

Nonna's Rating: $

Rotten Tomatoes: 79%

Here I go again, not liking a movie generally praised by the critics. Despicable Me was such a disappointment. "Why?" you ask.

Bad plot: Will the three darling orphan girls find a home? Which villain will succeed: Gru, with his nefarious Eastern European accent, or Vector, a dweeby nerd who bears a striking resemblance to Bill Gates? Do we really care?
No real laughs and few memorable scenes: I kept stealing glances at Eli, my soon-to-be six-year-old grandson. He only laughed when Gru got blown up (he's a boy; he likes that sort of thing). Most of the time, he stared intently at the screen.
Wasted Minions: Minions are darling, little, yellow-bodied, blue-overall and goggle-wearing creatures who just beg to be marketed. They chatter unintelligibly throughout the film and I never understood what exactly they were trying to do at any given time. Could the animators not think of anything for them to say?

'Nuff said. I now use the rest of this review to apologize to Eli. Some time in the future, he may read this, and I want to let him know that I'm sorry I didn't take him to see Toy Story 3 as he originally requested. I'd already seen it, and, selfishly, I wanted to see something new, so we went to see Despicable Me. I wasted an hour and a half of his young life. So, I'm sorry Eli.

Do see Toy Story 3. See it twice.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it

Review: Winter's Bone

2010-07-10T10:22:00.003-05:00

Review: Winter's Bone

Rating: **

Nonna's Rating: $

Rotten Tomatoes: 94%

I am really swimming upstream on this one, but I cannot recommend Winter's Bone. I know it won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. I know the acting and the recreation of life in the Ozarks is chillingly real. I know critics have loved it.

But I didn't.

It's the story of a teenage girl living well below the poverty line with her incapacitated mother and two younger siblings. Her father, a meth cooker, has jumped bail and they are in danger of losing their house and their land. The girl decides to search for her father and convince him to turn himself in.

Most of the critics have ended their reviews by saying that this unremittingly depressing movie ends on a hopeful, positive note. I did not hear that note. Instead, I saw a 17-year-old girl making choices that trapped her in a twisted world from which she would never escape. Yes, she was a survivor; she knew the code of the Ozarks: "Don't tell nobody 'bout nothin'." But can she survive for long? The meth cooking culture is too unpredictable, too randomly violent to navigate safely.

And, before you think I just can't handle depressing stories, let me recommend two other films far superior to this one: Precious and Frozen River, a movie that also depicts poor people in desperate situations -- but this one lets hope out of Pandora's Box.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it

Review: Please Give

2010-07-04T22:50:00.003-05:00

Review: Please Give

Rating: ***

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 88%

I saw Please Give yesterday. I was ready by the end of the movie to write a negative review. The main characters, Kate (Catherine Keener) and Alex (Oliver Platt) are naval-gnawing New Yorkers whose business is to buy "mid-century" furniture from the children of people who have recently died and then resell it at a substantial profit. They have a daughter, Abby (Sarah Steele), who is a typical zit-obsessed, rebellious, smart-mouthed teenager -- nothing unusual but well-played by Steele. They have an elderly neighbor, Andra (Ann Morgan Guilbert -- Millie from The Dick Van Dyke Show). Her granddaughters visit her and run errands for her. One is attentive; the other is not. Her death is anticipated by Kate and Alex because they will buy her apartment when she dies, break through, and double their living space.

Yesterday, I saw the film as a slice of life story with a plot that didn't go anywhere. My friends who accompanied me to the movie and I went out to dinner afterwards and argued about Please Give for an hour and a half. I went out today with one of them for lunch and we talked for another hour about the film. It has become something of a perseveration for me.

In the movie, Keener's character gives money to every homeless person she meets on her street. She decides to become a volunteer and visits a retirement home and a center for mentally-challenged teenagers. She finds she can not deal with either of these groups emotionally and dissolves into a puddle of tears. Clearly, she is attempting to assuage her conscience. Her occupation bothers her. She recognizes that she preys on the desire of the children of the dead to avoid the pain of having to dispose of their parents' possessions -- and their memories. And she makes money from it.

Her attempts to give -- to the homeless and those in need of love and support -- are abortive because they are attempts to put band-aids over the deep open personal wound she is choosing to ignore. That's where the movie leaves us. We see no resolution, but we understand she needs to examine her own life and her own choices. She must take steps to change the way in which she engages the world. Her charity numbs her; she needs to deal with the emptiness in her life. Excuse me for being a priest here, but she needs God in her life. I don't see any other way out. The movie leaves her pretty much where she began. Yesterday, I found that frustrating. Today, I think that's exactly where it needs to end in order for us to see ourselves reflected in Kate's dilemma.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it

Review: Solitary Man

2010-06-20T22:46:00.006-05:00

Review: Solitary Man

Rating: **1/2

Nonna's Rating: $$

Rotten Tomatoes: 83%

I've now seen Solitary Man, A Serious Man, and A Single Man. Serious, the Coen Brothers' take on Job is, by far, the best. Single, with Colin Firth, is a solid second. Solitary, at third, opens promisingly with a great Johnny Cash cover of the Neil Diamond tune of the same name, but tells a story we've just seen too many times before.

Michael Douglas plays the role of a manipulative cad extremely well -- after all, he's done it in several films. His strong performance, however, makes the movie watchable, but, all too soon, we realize what an old story we're watching-- a man going through a post-mid-life crisis, deeply in denial, and hurting too many people along the way. Douglas' character has no idea what it takes to maintain a relationship. He rides roughshod over everyone -- casual lovers, patient ex-wives, shell-shocked children, and old friends. That some continue to love him is amazing and, at times, a bit unbelievable.

I'm looking forward to the Wall Street sequel. Gordon Gekko -- now that's a character.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it

Review: Toy Story 3

2010-06-20T22:11:00.005-05:00

Review: Toy Story 3

Rating: ***1/2

Nonna's Rating: $$$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 98%

Having just seen Shrek Forever After with Max and both of us being mildly please, we attended a 3-D showing of Toy Story 3 and agreed it was far superior to the Shrek offering. The reviews have been somewhat hyperbolic -- probably not surprising in one of the most dismal movie summers ever -- but the film really is that good.

Andy has grown up. He's on his way to college and must make some hard decisions about what he's going to do with his old toys. From those decisions and some unintended mishaps come the plot of the film. It's much darker than the two previous movies; Woody, Buzz, and the rest of the gang move from one dire situation to another. There is one scene toward the end of the film which all reviewers seem to have agreed not to discuss in detail. I will also refrain from being a spoiler, but will repeat what many of them have said -- that the scene is remarkably moving and downright profound for a cartoon.

Of course, there's plenty to laugh about in this movie. Ken and Barbie alone are worth the price of admission. And Buzz has a bit of a mishap which switches him into Spanish-mode with hysterical consequences.

We saw the film in 3-D -- and I'm glad we did. My biggest problem with 3-D is that it distracts me, pulls me away from a film. If knives are coming at me, I'm no longer immersed in the story and suspending disbelief. The 3-D in this movie enhances and supports the story -- and is not distracting at all. If you see the film, I hope you also see the delightful Pixar short that preceded our viewing, Night and Day. Pixar rarely disappoints, and, in this cartoon, they use 3-D to great advantage. It's just plain innovative.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it

Review: Shrek Forever After

2010-06-20T21:22:00.003-05:00

Review: Shrek Forever After

Rating: **1/2

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 54%

There's a bit of tiredness about this latest, and reportedly final, installment of the Shrek series. Shrek himself is world-weary and seems to be experiencing a mid-life crisis -- although I have no idea how long an ogre might live. Fiona, however, is her stalwart, reliable, responsible self and, by the end of the film, a veritable Boadicea.

The filmmakers use the "It's A Wonderful Life," what-if-he'd-never-been-born device so that Shrek can learn the life lessons he needs to learn. When all is said and done, there are plenty of clever, witty jokes to delight adults and plenty of action and silly jokes to amuse children. I took my grandson Max to the movie and he liked it. We didn't watch the 3-D version, and I don't think we missed much.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it

Review: Sex and the City 2

2010-06-06T17:28:00.004-05:00

Review: Sex and the City 2

Rating: *

Nonna's Rating: #

Rotten Tomatoes: 17%

I had decided to heed the early reviews of Sex and the City 2. They were overwhelmingly awful. Then, I found myself in Alexandria, VA, with my sister who was recuperating from surgery. She wanted to see the movie. I indulged her. You do that kind of thing for little sisters. So, she and I and two other friends traipsed off to the Potomac Mall where we began to think we might be the only people in the theater. At least that might have been fun. We could have talked back to the screen, thrown popcorn, and generally behaved badly. Alas, other unfortunates made their way into the theater.

The film is just as bad as the critics said it was. Here are my gripes:

The plot reuses the old series and movie territory. Nothing new in the storyline -- except that it's set in Abu Dhabi.
And therein lies a big problem. The ladies vacation in an Arab country and don't seem to understand it might be a good idea to dress for the environment and the weather. Five inch heels in the sand? Don't think so.
The movie celebrates conspicuous consumption as if it's 2007. The girls may have the money to splurge, but most viewers no longer aspire to such luxuries. We're a bit lower on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs right now.
The fashions are underwhelming. The camera never lingers on anything that might be interesting. Where were the shoes?
At at least one point in the film, each of the girls looks quite (unintentionally) unattractive. Couldn't the camera and makeup people have done a better job?
The Liza Minnelli doing "Single Ladies" bit was funny for about 5 seconds; then I just wanted to look away.
Charlotte's meltdown over the trials, tribulations, and frustrations of motherhood would be more convincing if she didn't have a full-time nanny and a husband. Single moms must just walk away from this film angry.
The girls doing "I Am Woman" in the Karaoke bar? Could they have looked more uncomfortable? Were they thinking, "This is the end of my career. Right here. Right now. I am woman. Here me squeak."
At 2 1/2 hours -- too, too long

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it

Review: Letters to Juliet

2010-05-24T21:17:00.003-05:00

Review: Letters to Juliet

Rating: *1/2

Nonna's Rating: $

Rotten Tomatoes: 45%

There's nothing really horribly wrong with this movie, but there's nothing really wonderfully right either. The plot is entirely predictable; the scenes of Tuscany are predictably breathtaking. Amanda Seyfried and Christopher Egan as the young lovers are disappointingly bland; Vanessa Redgrave and Franco Nero as the old lovers are nostalgically charming. It's basically a Lifetime movie with a few inspired moments from Redgrave. Think of what she might have done with some pithy dialogue!

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it

Review: City Island

2010-05-21T22:02:00.003-05:00

Review: City Island

Rating: ***

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 84%

Not too many people have seen this film, but it's a gem. It's the kind of film you'll come across on a cable station a few years from now. You'll watch it and wonder how you managed to miss hearing about it when it was in theaters.

It's about family. It's about a very dysfunctional family. They live on City Island, a part of the Bronx that floats in Long Island Sound. I've passed by it dozens of times traveling from La Guardia into Manhattan, but I've never noticed it. Vince Rizzo (the oh-so-competent Andy Garcia) is a guard in a correctional facility who yearns for a different life. His wife Joyce (the always appealing Julianna Margulies) is less than happy with the state of their marriage. Their children have issues. For a reason I will not divulge, Vince brings Tony Nardella (Steven Straight), a prisoner, home where he will remain in his custody. Hilarity, confusion, and near tragedy ensue. By the end of the film, all have learned, all have changed, all is well. The plot is reminiscent of Down and Out in Beverly Hills from 1986: a stranger enters a family and transforms their lives. That film is, of course, a remake of Renoir's movie, Boudu sauvé des eaux (Boudu Saved From Drowning). Moliere would have liked this film.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it

Review: Kick-Ass

2010-05-21T21:49:00.002-05:00

Review: Kick-Ass

Rating: No Stars

Nonna's Rating: #

Rotten Tomatoes: 76%

Kick-Ass was simply one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Don't waste your time. Hyper-violent children just don't do it for me. We can't excuse this as cartoon fantasy violence. It's much too real and over the top. The movie is disturbing on so many levels. Please, don't see it.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it

Review: Where the Wild Things Are

2010-05-21T20:47:00.003-05:00

Review: Where the Wild Things Are

Rating: ****

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 73%

Every once in a while a movie appears that simply transcends the art form. I could pick this film apart. Analyze it. Talk about some excellent performances. Comment on the music so perfectly in tune with the story--but I don't want to. This is one of those films that asks you to just be in "the now." Don't think about it. Don't try to figure out what's going on. Just be.

Be a child who hasn't been behaving very well. Be a child with a wild imagination. Be a child who loses himself to fantasy. Be whimsical and marvel. Live in a time when reality was flexible and controllable -- to a point. We are, all of us, after all, not so far from being wild things.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it

Review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

2010-05-21T20:07:00.002-05:00

Review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Rating: ***1/2

Nonna's Rating: $$$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 85%

So, let me give you the warnings first. 1) The film is in Swedish and subtitled; 2) It's long --more than two and a half hours long; 3) There are scenes of sexual violence that are all too real -- some images may haunt you.

Now, if I haven't scared you away, go see this film. Noomi Repace, who plays Lisbeth, the female lead, owns the film. If you've read the novel on which the movie is based, it's difficult to imagine anyone else playing this complex, mercurial character. She's a powerful young woman, but early in the film, we watch as she is trapped in a web of sexual harassment by a man on whom she is totally dependent for her livelihood. The man's behavior is horribly mundane, but Lisbeth's ultimate response is not. She's a survivor who seizes her power and uses it to move her life relentlessly forward.

On top of all this, there's a mystery to solve. Lisabeth and Mikael, a journalist, delve into the question of what happened to a 16-year-old member of one of Sweden's biggest industrial families forty long years before. Tension builds and the mystery becomes a thriller. It's a stunner.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it

Review: How to Train Your Dragon

2010-05-02T22:01:00.004-05:00

Review: How to Train Your Dragon

Rating: ***

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 98%

Find a movie that will please a five-year-old boy who likes plenty of action, a twelve-year-old boy who may be on the verge of being too sophisticated for feature-length cartoons, and a grandmother (of no specified age) who has had her fill of movies replete with scatological humor and aimed at children. Find that movie, and you've got a winner -- and the critics and millions of families do seem to agree.

Dreamworks' How to Train Your Dragon boasts a solid story and plenty of action. Hiccup, a Viking youth, is something of a disappointment to his father, the leader of his village. Hiccup is clumsy and not particularly adept at hunting dragons in the usual way. However, he cleverly manages to bring a Night Fury dragon down, but he can't bring himself to kill it. Instead, he begins a tentative relationship with the dragon he dubs Toothless, a mesmerizing creation (powerful and menacing with a face like a benign house cat). Needless to say the two or them learn a great deal from each other and Hiccup helps his village learn to live in harmony with the powerful dragons they had previously feared. Beautiful animation.

(We saw the film in 3-D. My grandson Max and I agreed that we would have enjoyed it just as much without the special effects.)

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it

Review: The Ghost Writer

2010-03-19T20:18:00.004-05:00

Review: The Ghost Writer

Rating: ***

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 82%

If you've seen all the Oscar nominated movies, then there usually isn't much worth seeing by the end of March. Unfortunately, that's the time when studios release "problem" movies -- the ones with big star that have been in editing for the last six months (like Shutter Island). Films which just haven't gelled.

So, it was delightful today to watch a film with major stars that did not disappoint: The Ghost Writer. Ewan McGregor has the burden of carrying the movie; he is, I believe, in every scene. There are also fine performances by Pierce Brosnan, as Adam Lang a morally questionable ex-prime minister of Great Britain; Olivia Williams as his unhappy wife Beth; Kim Cattrall as Amelia (Captain) Bly (possibly Lang's mistress), and Tom Wilkinson as a professor who dabbles in many things. There is even a short, powerful performance by Jim Belushi who proves in this quick turn that he should be acting in dramas as well as comedies.

It's the pacing and tension of the film, however, that make the movie truly worthwhile. Polanski's direction controls moods and revelations deftly. If I were to complain about anything, it would be a plot element which has been done to death: the involvement of the CIA in international politics. But that can be overlooked as we focus on the ghost writer, a man who has no name.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it

Review: Shutter Island

2010-03-19T14:26:00.004-05:00

Review: Shutter Island

Rating: *1/2

Nonna's Rating: $

Rotten Tomatoes: 67%

What Was Wrong With This Movie:

Much too long for the story -- the first 30 minutes could have been 5.
Pacing too slow throughout.
I knew what was going on from the first scene -- Martin, please watch. Sixth Sense again.
Leonardo still looks like he could be in Growing Pains, a little boy dressed up in his father's overcoat and fedora -- he's good, but he's no Robert DeNiro.
Mark Ruffalo is underused.
Too much noise--and the music was embarrassingly overwrought -- "OK, everybody get tense. There's something creepy about to happen."
It's a shaggy dog story.

What Was Right With This Movie:

Ben Kingsley and Max Von Sydow have classy accents and provide some convincing red herrings
Patricia Clarkson, Michelle Williams, and Jackie Earle Haley each deliver strong, if brief, performances

Rent One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it

Review: Alice in Wonderland

2010-03-19T12:39:00.004-05:00

Review: Alice in Wonderland

Rating: **1/2

Nonna's Rating: $$$ or $$

Rotten Tomatoes: 52%

"The time has come," the Walrus said,

"To talk of many things:

Of shoes -- and ships -- and sealing-wax,--

Of cabbages -- and kings --

Of why the sea is boiling hot --

And whether pigs have wings."

Having just written a review in which I reported encouraging my grandson not to judge movies by how closely they follow the book they're based on, I will now equivocate. Alice in Wonderland is bracketed by a new story in which an older Alice (19) is expected to marry an English lord who reminds me of Tweedledum or Tweedledee (not sure which). To escape him, Alice goes down the rabbit hole and enters the 3-D world of Wonderland. Later, the movie reveals that Alice, played by Mia Wasikowska, has been to Wonderland before -- although she has conveniently forgotten her adventure.

Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) wrote Alice in Wonderland for Alice Liddell (who was 10 at the time) and her sisters. I can live with a 19-year-old Alice because it doesn't fundamentally change the Wonderland story. My problem, however, is that the bracketing story is silly and vapid, and does nothing to enhance the fascinating movie that slips between.

Tim Burton (the director) creates a lush, phantasmagorical Wonderland. Johnny Depp manages to deliver a truly 3-dimensional Mad Hatter; Helena Bonham Carter portrays a delightfully perverse Red Queen; Anne Hathaway plays the beautiful but daffy White Queen; a subdued Crispin Glover, in a most improbable body, insinuates himself as the nasty Knave of Hearts, Stayne; Stephen Frye scares us as the Chesire Cat; and Alan Rickman and his wonderful voice delight one and all as the hookah-smoking Caterpillar. Even this story, however, although it is beautifully realized visually, lacks two things -- heart and magic. If you must see the film in 3-D, go to a matinee; otherwise, rent it.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it

Review: The Last Station

2010-03-19T12:11:00.002-05:00

Review: The Last Station

Rating: **

Nonna's Rating: $

Rotten Tomatoes: 69%

A better script would have made this one of the best movies of the year. Helen Mirren as Sofya Tolstoya and Christopher Plummer as Leo Tolstoy are magnificent as these larger-than-life characters who are belittled by a dull, plodding script. The other actors deliver also: Paul Giamatti portrays Tolstoy's late life "handler," Vladimir Chertkov, a vile man if ever there was one. Giamatti's performance, however, is subtle and disturbing. James McEvoy plays Tolstoy's last secretary, Valentin Bulgakov, as a naive ingenue -- the perfect counterpoint for the rest of the world-weary ensemble.

Critic after critic has described the story as one in which the great man Tolstoy is much put upon by his "crazy" wife. I disagree. Sofya's behavior and frustration are clearly borne of years of living with a man who has tried her patience, tested her love, and behaved badly. The two of them are engaged in a dance of craziness which sustains their tempestuous relationship. Both are at fault; each is tormented by the other. If only the writing were a bit better.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it

Review: Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief

2010-03-19T11:09:00.006-05:00

Review: Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief

Rating: **

Nonna's Rating: $$

Rotten Tomatoes: 51%

J.K. Rowling has unwittingly unleashed a new publishing trend: several book series in which a young hero, initially unaware of his "powers" (a variety of special gifts), must take on adult-like responsibilities in a magical world of one sort or another -- and, oh yes, there's usually a Hogwarts-modeled school involved. The Percy Jackson books are one such series: Percy is a demigod, the son of Poseidon, tasked with preventing a war among the gods. My grandson, Max, who has read all the Percy Jackson novels, accompanied me to the movie. He was bothered by the "28 differences from the books." (He really didn't count them; it was just his hyperbolic way of dissing the movie.) I had a little talk with him about the differences between movies and books as art forms and how it's best to refrain from judging a movie based on how much it departs from a book.

Then, I realized I was misguided and he was correct in giving the movie a "thumbs down." You see, Max has also read all the Harry Potter books, but he's never complained about the differences between the books and those movies. He has been completely taken up in the magic and the intricate story of those films. And that's what The Lightning Thief lacks. The story is superficial, concocted for an audience of 8-12y-year-olds hungry for Harry-Potter-quality fantasy. And this film is far off that mark. I have to confess, though, that it was interesting enough that I didn't sit there thinking about how good it would be to see the credits march up the screen. So, if your kids want to see it, go. It won't be as awful as sitting through Shortz.

One note: I was bothered by a couple of things in the film. First, the kids of color are all paired off with kids of similar color. It was like watching American Bandstand in the 1960s. And, Percy's best friend and sidekick, Grover, happens to be a PG-rated satyr. As the only major character who was black, I found this casting problematically stereotypical. Oh, the heartbreak of satyriasis.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it

Donna Top Ten Films of 2009

2010-03-07T13:23:00.004-06:00

The films I would have nominated for BEST PICTURE:

Up In The Air
District 9
A Serious Man
Star Trek
Inglorious Basterds
Precious
Fantastic Mr. Fox
An Education
Up
500 Days of Summer

Donna's Oscar Picks

2010-03-07T08:03:00.005-06:00

Having seen all 10 of the nominated Best Picture films (and quite a few more), here are my predictions for tonight's awards:

Best Picture

Will Win: The Hurt Locker

Should Win: Up In The Air

Others high on my list are District 9, A Serious Man, and Inglorious Basterds. I'm still annoyed that Star Trek wasn't nominated.

Actor in a Leading Role
Will Win: Jeff Bridges
Should Win: Jeff Bridges

I wouldn't be upset if George Clooney won either -- a spectacular, subtle performance.

Actress in a Leading Role
Will Win: Sandra Bullock
Should Win: Meryl Streep

It's been 26 years since Meryl won; it's about time.

Actor in a Supporting Role
Will Win: Christoph Waltz
Should Win: Christoph Waltz

I feel sorry for the other four guys. No one can touch Waltz's performance, the scariest Nazi ever on film -- and that's saying a lot.

Actress in a Supporting Role
Will Win: Mo'Nique
Should Win: Mo'Nique

I feel sorry for the other four girls. No one can touch Mo'Nique's performance, the scariest mother ever on film -- and that's saying a lot.

Directing
Will Win: Kathryn Bigelow
Should Win: Jason Reitman

Well, even James Cameron says Bigelow should win.

Up is likely to win for Animated Film and Music (Original Score), but Fantastic Mr. Fox was better. Avatar deserves Art Direction, Visual Effects, and Cinematography. Hurt Locker should win Film Editing, Sound Mixing, and Sound Editing. A Prophet will win Foreign Language Film. I'd really like to see Star Trek win Makeup. Costume Design should go to Young Victoria. Crazy Heart should win for Original Song. Up In the Air should win Writing (Adapted Screenplay). And I'd love to see A Serious Man win for Writing (Original Screenplay).

Review: Crazy Heart

2010-02-23T18:37:00.003-06:00

Review: Crazy Heart

Rating: ***

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 92%

I have found it very difficult to evaluate films in an objective fashion that cut close to my bone. It's that Bowen psychology thing: am I responding or reacting? If I'm going to be honest, I have to say that this film was particularly uncomfortable for me to watch. I suspect that other people, like me, who have lived with alcoholic loved ones don't relish reliving those experiences through any number of great depictions of alcoholics on film. And this is another great one. Jeff Bridges' performance deserves all the praise it is getting. I suspect he will win the Academy Award. He has never won but was nominated for The Contender, Starman, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, and The Last Picture Show. He was completely overlooked for his arguably best performance in The Big Lebowski, so it's time they honored him. Perhaps my reaction to his performance is, in the end, testament to its power and verisimilitude.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it

Review: I Can Do Bad All By Myself

2010-02-22T21:19:00.006-06:00

Review: I Can Do Bad All By Myself

Rating: ***

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 62%

Quite a few critics don't seem to like Tyler Perry's films at all. Even the critics who do recommend his films tend to be apologetic about it, noting that Perry's movies are sentimental, predictable, and contrived, that they unabashedly mix violence, tragedy and comedy.

I think most critics just don't get what Tyler Perry is up to. And I'm not so sure I get it either, but I'm going to take a stab at it.

Perry makes the most Christian films I've ever seen. Not smarmy, saccharine, pious cinema, but stories about ordinary people faced with choices, choices that will lead them toward God or away from God. Diary of a Mad Black Woman, for example, tackles the choice of whether or not to forgive, whether or not to change a heart of stone for a heart of flesh. In this film, Perry asks us to care for those who cannot care for themselves; he challenges us to take responsibility for one another, to put the needs of those less fortunate ahead of our own needs. That's downright revolutionary in this day and age.

Yes, I suppose Perry's films are sentimental and predictable, but he delivers such an inspired mixture of what might be trite with what is definitely uproariously funny. And, in this film, he adds six heart stopping musical numbers by Taraji P. Henson, Mary K. Blige, Gladys Knight, and Marvin Winans that bring down the house.

And then there's Madea (played by 6 ft. 5 in. Tyler), the gun-toting grandma who doesn't spend too much time in church. In one brilliantly funny scene, Jennifer (Hope Olaide Wilson), a motherless, fatherless, grandmotherless sixteen-year-old, asks Madea to teach her to pray. Madea launches into a retelling of the Old and New Testaments that is the comedic high point of the film. Nevertheless, she still manages to preach a fine sermon, admonishing Jennifer that, if she plans to walk on water, she'd better keep her eye on Jesus.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it

Review: Moon

2010-02-22T20:34:00.002-06:00

Review: Moon

Rating: ***

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 89%

When I was in the fourth grade, I discovered Isaac Asimov, then Arthur C. Clarke, then Robert Heinlein, and then the rest of the whole magical world of science fiction. When I was a college professor, I was lucky enough to teach a senior-level course in Science Fiction. In addition to six or seven novels, we read a ton of short fiction. Moon reminds me of the best of that fiction: a simple story about a man isolated in space -- here on the dark side of the moon. He's only a few days away from returning home to his wife and child after a three-year work rotation. Then, a younger, healthier version of himself suddenly appears. This fine movie answers the central question of science fiction: "What if?" The answer isn't easy or pretty here; it calls us all to face the inevitable ethical questions of our future. No bug-eyed monsters, no aliens intent on making humans into Chateaubriand in this movie. Just intelligent, challenging, disturbing science fiction at its best.

Sam Rockwell, as the far from unique Sam Bell, carries the movie beautifully, and Kevin Spacey, as GERTY, the voice of a Hal-like computer, provides one of the many nostalgic echoes of 2001: A Space Odyssey in the film.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it

2010-02-11T22:06:00.002-06:00

Review: The Book of Eli

Rating: *1/2

Nonna's Rating: $

Rotten Tomatoes: 45%

Start with Mad Max. Add a smattering of A Canticle for Leibowitz and a heavy dose of Fahrenheit 451. You'll get The Book of Eli, a mess of a film. I wanted to see it for two reasons. First, Denzel. And he didn't disappoint, but his fine acting was wasted on this bizarrely derivative combination of post-apocalyptic violence and Christianity. Second, I had heard the film was very popular with fundamentalist Christians. I had to see what the fuss was about.

Unfortunately, the movie perpetuates the unfortunate historical coupling of violence and religion -- here, Christianity. I was hopeful that the ending would reject violence and move a bit closer to the Kingdom of God, but no such luck. Instead, the film continues the unfortunate Protestant convention of replacing the Pope in Rome with a Paper Pope.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it