Review: Toy Story 3

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

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

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:

1. The plot reuses the old series and movie territory. Nothing new in the storyline -- except that it's set in Abu Dhabi.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. The fashions are underwhelming. The camera never lingers on anything that might be interesting. Where were the shoes?
5. 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?
6. The Liza Minnelli doing "Single Ladies" bit was funny for about 5 seconds; then I just wanted to look away.
7. 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.
8. 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."
9. 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Review: Shutter Island

Rating: *1/2

Nonna's Rating: $

Rotten Tomatoes: 67%

What Was Wrong With This Movie:

1. Much too long for the story -- the first 30 minutes could have been 5.
2. Pacing too slow throughout.
3. I knew what was going on from the first scene -- Martin, please watch. Sixth Sense again.
4. 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.
5. Mark Ruffalo is underused.
6. Too much noise--and the music was embarrassingly overwrought -- "OK, everybody get tense. There's something creepy about to happen."
7. It's a shaggy dog story.

What Was Right With This Movie:

1. Ben Kingsley and Max Von Sydow have classy accents and provide some convincing red herrings
2. 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

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

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

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

The films I would have nominated for BEST PICTURE:

1. Up In The Air
2. District 9
3. A Serious Man
4. Star Trek
5. Inglorious Basterds
6. Precious
7. Fantastic Mr. Fox
8. An Education
9. Up
10. 500 Days of Summer

Donna's Oscar Picks

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

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

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

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

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

Review: The Hurt Locker

Review: The Hurt Locker

Rating: ***

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 97%

As The Hurt Locker begins, a quotation on screen reads "War is addictive." Viewed superficially, that sentence explains everything that happens in this movie, but the words are deceptively facile. As this intense film unfolds, we notice just how complex, disturbing, and volatile are the motivations and emotions of the men who diffuse bombs for a living in Iraq.

By no stretch of the imagination can I say I liked this film. I admired the taut storytelling, the realistic portrayal of the insanity of war, but I could never watch it again. For the most part, it avoids the trap of making an anti-war film filled with seductive violence. The focus is not on killing; it is on the minute to minute possibility of being killed. When Jeremy Renner enters the film as SFC William James, the bomb defuser on the squad, he seems to be a loose cannon destined to be cannon fodder. Quickly, we learn how adept and smart he is about disarming munitions and about disarming the emotions of the men who support him. The heavily padded protective suit he wears, however, is as illusory as the team's infrequent moments of peace and solitude: James' naked fingers are always, always exposed.

Our involvement in the war in Iraq has saddened me from the time the Bush White House first began to talk about it. This film underscores the waste of it all: as someone once said, "No combat soldier ever comes back unwounded."

Nonna's Ratings:

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

Review: A Single Man

Review: A Single Man

Rating: ***

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 83%

There is something about this movie that I found very unsettling. I think it was the lighting. It has that overexposed look of color photos from the 60s. Washed out Kodachrome. Tom Ford's direction, the costumes, the makeup, the editing, the art direction -- all whisked me back almost 50 years. Whisked me back to the time when two "confirmed bachelors" would live together and everyone would tacitly agree just to ignore the fact.

Colin Firth's performance as George is the reason to see this film. He manages to portray a deeply depressed human being without dragging the film into his personal black hole. There are enough humor, enough pathos, and enough subtlety to draw us into the sad story of this meticulous man born too early.

And, oh yes, the other unsettling thing was the little girl with the long skinny legs who lived next door to George -- an animated Diane Arbus portrait if ever I saw 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 Lovely Bones

Review: The Lovely Bones

Rating: *1/2

Nonna's Rating: $

Rotten Tomatoes: 37%

I had high hopes for this movie. I was moved by the book and thought Peter Jackson would be able to handle its translation to film. I was wrong. What a mess! A child is brutally murdered. A family is ripped apart. The murderer has designs on another child in the family. Yet, these emotion-fraught situations seem to generate little heat in the film. Perhaps, in part because they are interspersed with scenes of the dead child observing her family's struggles from a strangely vapid purgatorial place. (If it is the anteroom to heaven, let's hope heaven is a vast improvement.) The book is an eloquent exploration of grief. In all fairness, probably not that easy to translate to film. As one critic said, "Some books should stay between their covers."

Nonna's Ratings:

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

Review: The Young Victoria

Review: The Young Victoria

Rating: ***

Nonna's Rating: $$

Rotten Tomatoes: 72%

IMDB (International Movie Data Base) lists Queen Victoria as a character in 96 films and television shows. I daresay that, in the vast majority, she is portrayed as an older, frumpier, very Victorian Victoria. Think of The Little Princess, Mrs. Brown, and, lest we forget, Monty Python and Blackadder. Emily Blount, however, is a new Victoria: young, slender, and feisty. The period is recreated in exquisite detail, both visually and historically. The evolving relationship of Victoria and Albert (Rupert Friend) is convincing, intimate, and passionate. Such a portrayal helps us understand why Victoria chose to spend the last 40 years of her life in mourning for Albert. Blount and Friend do an excellent job in their roles, but Jim Broadbent as King William walks away with the movie every time he's on screen. His well-documented antipathy toward Victoria's controlling, grasping mother (Miranda Richardson) shoots bolts of energy into protocol-laden palace scenes that could have been quite dull.

Nonna's Ratings:

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

Review: The Blind Side

Review: The Blind Side

Rating: ***

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 72%

Sandra Bullock has been doing "spunky" better than everyone else ever since she became a breakout star in Speed. In The Blind Side, she is at her ultimate spunkiness -- and it works beautifully. I saw this film in the 7th week of its release. The theater was packed and the audience was appreciative. And now Bullock has deservedly won the Golden Globe for her performance. If you're not a fan of formulaic sports movies, don't let the fact that this film is about the high school life of NFL star Michael Oher deter you from watching it. It focuses on so much more, especially Leigh Anne Touhy's (Bullock's character) dogged determination to get her new "son" the special attention he'll need in order to succeed. Make sure you stay for the credits, which are filled with pictures of the real Leigh Anne Touhy, Michael Oher, and their family.

Nonna's Ratings:

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