First of all, we didn’t go with high expectations.  There wasn’t anything else around, even though I would have been happy to see The Kids are All Right for a second time instead, Tuvia needed something fresh and he had fond memories of Jenn in The Break Up and I had vague memories of her performance in The Good Girl so we were agreed on The Switch.

Jenn plays opposite Jason Bateman and I love watching him on the screen, especially after  Juno, so we were off to the movies yesterday.

Aniston plays successful single woman Cassie just turning 40, who loves her best friend, Wally (Jason) but because he can’t commit, they remain best friends. Cassie is losing patience  and is ready, more than ready to be a mom.  Now this is a serious issue.  Many women  face it today and the decision to be artificially inseminated is also a serious contemporary issue.

Too bad this movie handles both issues in a silly way.

Wally is invited to Jenn’s insemination party.  Her donor simplistically  played by Patrick Wilson is the star of the evening with his loving wife in attendance, but they are in it for the money.

Wally is miserable and just can’t get it together to put a stop to the event. Instead he gets drunk and in the bathroom grabs the donor seed from off its candle lit perch and drops it by accident in his drunken stupor.  He refills it with his own,   and proceeds to forget about the whole thing for the next seven years while Cassie is away from his life and NYC raising her/his son.

After 7 years she returns with her boy and conveniently both Wally and Cassie are still single and then the movie really kicks into a romance we all knew was coming.

I know, I know, I’ve  shared a lot of the plot with you, but trust me, if you opt to see it, it still won’t matter.  I haven’t  told you anything you won’t figure out in the first 10 minutes of the film and Jason Bateman and his pint sized version are worth seeing, but if you can wait, see it when it comes to the small screen.  I don’t think it’s worth $20.00, a babysitter and a box of popcorn.

We needed a good movie for Sunday. We needed an early performance and one that wasn’t too long, because it would be a big day to watch Health Care PASS!

So, I did my research, read some reviews on the Rotten Tomatoes site and liked what I was reading about the Yellow Handkerchief, written by Pete Hamil.

William Hurt’s early career was spectacular: Body Heat, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Broadcast News, The Big Chill, Children of a Lesser God, The Accidental Tourist and he has continued.  But this early set of movies mattered to me as a movie fan and as he was finishing this stage of his career, as luck would have it, I got to meet him in my world. I was teaching an elective in media. One of my student’s, who could use a boost in her grade had a father who was very active in our school community. One morning he found me and offered his friend, Bill Hurt. Would you like it if Bill came to speak to you media class?

YES! Could there be any other answer?

What anticipation! What a morning!

And then Bill disappeared for awhile. He moved to France, made some funky movies and when he returned and found his way, actually to my town, even though we have never met face to face again, I haven’t stopped watching him on the screen in his variety of roles, but this movie allows him to take back the center, the core of the story and wow, it was good to have him back.

So this is not a big blockbuster.  I’m sure he made this one with love as a Sundance selection from 2008. He offers us a character with a buried past in the midst of an odd trio. Two young actors work along side him and together, they keep us very interested in them.

Freshly released after 6 years of prison for manslaughter the gate opens and he is alone to find his way back to life.  A wacky young guy and a freshly rejected young girl join his ride home. Maria Bello rounds out this acting group and once we got moving, the journey was breathtaking.

So I’m going to add this one to my list above.  It was a pleasure to see Bill back at the core of a piece.

Thumbs way up!  I need to take myself ( and Tuvia) on a William Hurt marathon. I have everything I need.

As I look over his body of work and films waiting for release, I’m always thristy for more Hurt!

Okay, I’ve been at the movies, of course and enjoying…
Here’s some of my highs and lows:

Christmas Day Movie Pick: It’s Complicated!

I’ve been waiting for this movie for months, from the first time I saw Meryl sharing a drink with her x, Alec Baldwin. Just got my DVD copy of Julie and Julia.

What a combination!

And  written/directed by Nancy Meyers, creator of my favorite, Something’s Gotta Give. Come on, of course it’s for me. I didn’t give it a second thought that it wouldn’t live up to my expectations. I can’t say the same for Tuvia, but for me, a woman the exact same age as Meryl,
Meryl at 60. Can you believe that?  And she let’s us see her at 60 in all her real  glory, without (much) work on her lines and wrinkles.

Her Jane has been divorced for 10 years after Alec(Jake) left her for a younger woman, yes, sounds very familiar. But he comes back, disillusioned and ready to let Jane take her swipes at him and challenged  to win her,  and his  grown up family back. He yearns to be “home sweet home”.  She is thrilled at first, to be sought after, but she is a successful woman in her own right. She owns a thriving Santa Barbara bakery/restaurant; a cool, passionate chef. Wow, can she make a sexy chocolate croissant! And there’s also Adam(Steve Martin, in the mix, recently divorced and designing Meryl’s home renovation.

It’s complicated!

I laughed OUT LOUD for most of the movie.  Stopping only for  the last 20 minutes when we headed for home, focusing more on the necessary resolution.

No surprise-I loved it:Meryl’s look, her girlfriends- I would have liked to see more of them, and a bit about her kids and how they have to continually deal with the family divorce, Alec’s honesty. Now  Steve- I missed the funny Steve Martin but he did have to tone himself down to create a character. He could have upstaged everyone but didn’t.

I can’t wait to see it again. Is that enough of a thumbs up? I’m still laughing…smiling at least.

Yesterday, Sherlock Holmes. Like It’s Complicated, I loved the early trailers in October and November but as we got closer to its opening on Christmas Day, even though the box office was impressive some of the reviews concerned me. Of course, I love Robert Downey, Jude Law, and Rachel McAdams and yes, my memories of Basil Rathbone’s SH are still vivid  So from the start it was hard to understand Amercian Robert Downey’s  attempt a proper British accent for over two hours. I wondered if it was me, but no Tuvia too was having trouble with his muttering to sustain his approach.

Like many modern adventure films the violence is non-stop so the mind of Sherlock Holmes took a back seat to this Sherlock’s rock ‘im sock ‘im approach to solving a crime. Sorry, but I pined for Sherlock of old.  I missed the cerebral Sherlock, the calm and collected guy of Baker Street.

Oh well…it was just for the entertainment but no thumbs up, sorry.

More…

Last weekend we hit the theaters Friday, Saturday and Sunday and came away with three winners.  Well I did.  Tuvia would probably not stick his thumb up as high for all three, but he did like them.

Friday: Opening Day for  Michael Moore’s latest lens focus on our  economy’s recent melt down.

Capitalism: A Love Story, taken from Woody Guthrie’s  protest song  as a call to action.

Michael Moore calls us to action!

Anyone who enters the movie theater, knows what they will get from Michael Moore.  He is a passionate activist proudly standing left of left.  I applaud  his activism and even though this one started slowly for me, by the middle, the core of the piece, it was humming and yes, by the end, bringing us back to the popularism of FDR and I was cheering with the rest of a very full audience.

Michael Moore knows how to use the camera as his own personal mouthpiece.  With his baseball cap and jeans jacket and bulging belly, he places himself right in the face of his real-life bad guys.  For this film it’s the banks,the CEO’s, the experts, the government. Chris Dodd can’t escape.

He is easy on Obama.  Even though Michael is a muckracker, he wants to believe “Yes, we can!”   He is willing to wait and see and give Obama the benefit of the doubt for now.

It’s a movie to see and to think about, to talk about.

On a very  dreary Saturday  we needed  a pick-me-up and Whip It! , DID IT!

I knew nothing about the roller derby craze and it took some getting used to, but it was nothing  like the violence of professional wrestling in the recent Wrestler.

It was easy to take a leap of faith with this one,  Ellen Page(Juno) took on the lead role and Drew Barrymore, acting and making her directing debut collaborated well with a great supporting cast of women and some cool men.  Jimmy Fallon plays the derby mc.

Perfect for a rainy day and then some.

Bliss(Ellen) is under the thumb of her very domineering mother, Marcia Gay Harden, who is reliving her own moments of glory as a beauty pageant winner.  Bliss is accepting, but not really living her own life, yet…

One night she sneaks away  from her small Texas town to the nearby city of Austin for a night at the roller derby and she falls in love and she transforms into BABE RUTHLESS!

Her team, the Hurl Scouts, embrace her with sisterly love. Drew does double duty, supporting Bliss on the team with her great brand of  zany comedy and her passion for the piece, for this coming of age  story through a girl power vehicle.

I loved the circle of women even with a bit of pushing and shoving on skates. That would never be my reality or fantasy.

And last one on Sunday- Amreeka

This is a story, that’s close to home. A Palestinian divorcee living on the West Bank, has a sister living in America.  She is raising a bright son who wants the education he can get in America.  She takes up the challenge and arrives  in March 2003, just as we began bombing Baghdad when it was not easy for any immigrant with any connection to the Arab world.

In this small Illinois town,  Muna Faour, is resilient in a very authentic way.  Everyone is faced with immigrant issues Muna leads a powerful cast.

Director-writer Cherien Dabis drew the story from life — she was a Palestinian, born in Nebraska, raised in Jordan and living in Ohio when the first Iraq War began and her story informs the story she shares on film.

The best film of this trio came last.

It was Friday morning, an ugly day of wind and rain was in full swing, but inside the Paramus Park Mall, life was softly humming.  Tuvia and I sat at the food court sipping on DD coffee and experimenting with their new bagel twists (too bready).

It was decided that Tuvia would read in Borders while I found my way back to Julie and Julia for another viewing at the 16 plex cinema close by.

Was it necessary to see this film on the big screen again? Nothing controversial, nothing symbolic,  I just had an itch to return to Julia’s world of Paris in the 50′s and Julie’s Queens in the here and now.  Two true stories brought together for the screen by Nora Ephron (When Harry Met Sally) for the great acting collaboration of Meryl Streep(Julia) and Amy Adams(Julie). recently seen together in Doubt.

The first time through,  I sat with a very cooperative Tuvia in Vancouver,Canada.  It was the movie’s premiere, my birthday, and our first day touring the Canadian Pacific. After our first morning with a very large group, I needed an movie to breathe and Tuvia was more than happy to see me happy, even if the subject of food passion did not turn him on. Honestly,  Julia Child per se was not my motivation.  Sure I had her famous cookbook on my shelf and I  had tried a few of her of her recipes but I quickly moved to the healthier, user friendly Moosewood cookbooks.  But Julia Childs created by Meryl Streep and seen as inspiration for the modern, unfocused Julie Powell, now that was a plotline I could love, and did.

Julia, a late bloomer to love and to her food career, came to both later in life.  A great husband, supportive and passionately loving offered her Paris and she found her way to cooking as they shared the foods and life-style of the Parisians.   Young Julie, back in Queens, had her hubby supporting her challenge to create a blog and work her way through Julia’s 527 recipes in the span of a year.

Some reviewers felt Julia’s journey overwhelmed, the modern Julie.  I don’t agree. I loved moving through the journeys of both women.

Probably my favorite movie moment was the Julia’s sister’s visit to Paris.  Tall, even taller that Julia and loud, even louder. Both women shared their friendship with us. It felt gorgeously authentic to me.

So the second time around was even better than the first.  I was totally absorbed, escaping the sadness of 9/11 on a dreary day.

BRAVO !!!!!!!!!!!!

I haven’t seen too many movies in the last few weeks when we were on the road, but I did sneak in a few and now that we are home, movies are back in our lives.

The Time Traveler’s Wife

As much as I like Eric Bana who takes on Henry and as much as Tuvia enjoys watching Rachel McAdams as Claire, we weren’t expecting much and that was a good thing, because that’s what we got.  Sweet, but the book was one I didn’t want to finish.  My book club, (Bonnie and Julia), felt the same.  It was thumbs way up, and the challenge was there but the movie was just too conventional and it couldn’t do justice to the book.  A time traveler needs an out-of-the-box creation. The focus was too narrow.

The author was able to take us inside with Henry and his unique issue but we remained outsiders in the movie and at some point we just waited to the sad end to come.

Tuvia, someone steeped in reality and one who did not read the book, just couldn’t be engaged at all. “It was a story, and not that interesting.”

Oh well, we saw this one for free and I have A Man for All Seasons, for this afternoon, when the rain arrives in full force. Tuvia has never seen it and I am happy to return to it. I don’t remember the last time I watched it. Paul Scofield, was a giant and the movie won a slew of Oscars for it.

Julie and Julia

Julie and Julia, was my birthday movie on the first official day of our tour in Canada. It was just too much adjustment on my day and I needed a movie, . Tuvia was sensitive to my mild melt down and raced with me to get a taxi for an afternoon the opening performance in Vancouver.

Merle and Amy came through for me and lots of  fans who shared the next two hours of delicious fun. That was men and women. Tuvia was a good sport and tried not to look at his watch too often. He watched me being swept  into the lives of Julia Childs and Julie Nobody. I think I liked everything about this movie. I loved the two stories that could stand on their own and then their weaving.  Both women found themselves in their passion for food, the creation of food.

I can’t say I was ever a big fan of Julia Childs, but I own her cookbook and used it at the time in my life when I found my own voice in the kitchen. But I quickly moved to  Moosewood cooking with their cookbook series. But I could relate to both characters and to the larger framework for both stories.

I was engaged in their worlds and grateful for the two hours of movie pleasure. As the movie ended, we exited the theater and raced for a taxi back to our tour world of strangers for a birthday dinner with a room filled with strangers who  sang happy birthday to me twice….ugh….

I confess, it was a nice way to break the ice.  Thanks for J and J and to TUVIA!

District 9, Away We Go, (500) Days of Summer

The last one, Public Enemies with Johnny Depp, while being a joy to watch, really left us with nothing to take home.
Watching and waiting for him to be snuffed out in the climatic moments of the film was really not worth the 2 1/2 hours we spent watching.  We got home and I took a shower.
Michael Mann maintains that this is a story he’s been dying to tell.  Hmmm… there is a story there, one about John Dillinger’s public appeal, one that includes a deeper look into Dillinger’s life…
I didn’t find anything compelling here.  Thumbs way down, Johnny Depp or not.   Tuvia was ready to leave after the first 30 minutes.  Why didn’t I take him up on it?</strong>

<strong> Nowt the night before we were home with <strong>Last Chance Harvey</strong>, not officially a summer movie, but we never got to it when it played in the theaters.
I remember that even though Dustin Hoffman was nominated for a Golden Globe, many reviewers wrote it off as too shmaltzy.
I don’t agree!
Loved it!   Tuvia and I sat together feeling the honesty of the characterizations of both actors as they created real characters, sad characters so in need of connection.  I’m remembering them as I write this.</strong>
It was a wonderful piece I’m sure both stars are proud of. Too bad it didn’t get more support.

The Taking of Pelham 1,2,3 a remake of the original from 1973, I remember it with Walter Matthau, was a great surprise.  I don’t know why it should have been. Denzel playing opposite a convicing John Travalta heavy.  The updating was great with authentic scenes filmed in the bowels of the NYC subway system.
A perfect summer film.  We were on the edge of our seats for the entire time.

4. Last week we stood in line with lots of moms and daughters to see the opening of My Sister’s Keeper, based on the best selling novel that I never got to read.  It was totally absorbing and the medical scenes were authentic enough to pass Tuvia’s demands.
It was really an excellent movie even if there was a bit of Hollywood revision for a more acceptable summer ending. As we lef the theater there was some grumbling in the crowd.  But we were able to remain satisfied.
It was really great to see lots of families sharing the “family” experience of childhood cancer and what it does to a family.
And one more:

Cheri, with Michelle Phiefer and Kathy Bates. Disappointing!
As I watched a very French novel performed by non-French actors, I returned to my great memories of the book.  I remember a teacher handing me Colette on a silver platter and I opened the cover on a beach one morning and I couldn’t stop being in the world of her creation.  The movie didn’t measure up and I am sure that this one will come and go with a mere whimper as it should.

Tuvia seems to need a break but I’m sure by next Friday we will be back for more…

On Saturday night we saw Star Trek. I had fun, Tuvia kept his eyes discretely on his watch. We were both really looking foward to “Summer Hours”, playing at the Burns Cinema on my side of the world, just over the Tappan Zee Bridge.

A French film, not Hollywood, staring Juliette Binoche, rave reviews from Jeffrey Lyons and Alison Bale. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 94% on the Tomatometer and the afternoon ride over on the Saw Mill Parkway was summer lush.  We arrived, the theater  was filled with discriminating movie lovers, the lights dimmed and we settled in for a great two hours.

The film began after just two short previews, how considerate!

A family was gathering at their old homestead to celebrate the birthday of that family’s matriarch, Helene, turning 75.  Three children, a gang of grandchildren and one family housekeeper, probably the most interesting character of all.  Oddly, it was hard to read the subtitles in the midst of the outside setting( wrong color?) but the start of the movie was perfect.  Conversations explode as the family settles in. We quickly see that although it looks like a perfect world, the simmering family issues are close to the surface.

Two of the three children live outside France and birthday girl, Helene, obsessed with the valuable art and furniture collection she has inherited from her artist uncle she takes her oldest son, Fredrick who lives in Paris into her confidence as she prepares for her eventual death, entrusting him to carry out her wishes. He doesn’t want to hear about this but sooner than he expects he will have to.

I was engaged and ready for a great unfolding, a story I could immerse myself in and engage Tuvia is a thoughtful conversation on our ride home, but for both of us not enough happened after this set up scene.  Just details and while I love the authenticity of foreign and independent films there wasn’t enough here.

We left shrugging our shoulders, thinking, so what?

Oh well, what’s next?