The movie actually reminded me of some of the movies based on John Grisham books in the late 90’s (Pelican Brief, A Time To Kill).  If you’re at all a fan of these types of movies, then State of Play should be one you’ll like as well. 

Russell Crowe seems to always turn in a solid performance, and this one is no exception.  He actually plays against type a bit, taking on the role of a jaded shlub of a journalist, rather than the cold as ice hero.

Although audiences shied away from this one at the box office, it’s a perfect rental movie.  I can’t imagine too many people being disappointed with it.

Chris’ Rating:  9.5 / 10

Lorie’s Rating:  9 / 10

I have a prediction:  if you don’t rent Sunshine Cleaning, at some point in the near future, somebody is going to recommend it to you.  It’s a guaranteed word-of-mouth sleeper hit.

The movie has that perfect balance of clever comedy and a really moving dramatic story.  It’s marketed more as a comedy, but in our opinion it’s a mix of both styles.  Lorie commented that she expected more comedy.

Amy Adams is an absolute wonder as an actress, and she brings that certain something to just about every movie she’s in.  This one is no different.  In fact, both she and Emily Blunt, who plays the younger sister, make this movie what it is.

The story is told with such a subtle touch, and you feel like you’re a part of the lives of all the characters.

You know what – enough talk.  Just watch it already!

I give the creative crew for this film credit, they had a tough job, and I think they worked wonders.  Telling a story like this on film must have been torture, considering the events surrounding Marc Lepine’s murder of 14 women at Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique. 

Despite the fact that the film, naturally, must reenact the events of that day, director Denis Villeneuve takes a perfect approach to setting up the core of the film.  He singles out a single character, one of the women who survives the shooting, and explores the profound effect the events had on her life.  He actually shows how what Lepine intended for his victims actually worked in reverse for this one woman.  I thought it was a brilliant analogy.

The entire film is shot in black and white, possibly to lessen the visceral imagery of blood from the shooting (although that’s just an assumption on my part).  The shooting itself was disturbing, but not because of the actual violence.  It was the calculated way in which Lepine centers out women only, walking right past men in the halls.

I think this is an important piece of Canadian filmmaking, and one that will be talked about for a long time to come.

Synecdoche, New York is the kind of film that becomes a darling of film societies and festivals.  If you love movies that are character driven, and short on plot, it won't disappoint.  Kaufman loves to push the boundaries of style and form.  However, for mainstream movie fans, this will be a real yawner.  

Beyonce Knowles is the film's executive producer, and her passion for the music is evident.  The performance sequences are plentiful, and extremely authentic.  There is a mixture of original recordings being mimed by actors using lip-sync, and songs that are performed by the actor-singers themselves (I dare anyone not to get choked up during Knowles' performance of "I'd Rather Go Blind").  I give credit to the film for being unafraid to portray the musicians without glossing over their personal faults.  Muddy Waters was a womanizer; Little Walter was a mean drunk and violent at times; Chuck Berry had an affinity for young women; and Etta James was an emotionally damaged heroin addict.  Director Darnell Martin makes no attempt to gloss over these facts, and this lends the movie a real sense of credibility.  

If there is one flaw with the film, it's that it seems to lack an emotional core.  Since the film weaves such a large tapestry of stories in a limited amount of running time, it can become difficult to attach yourself to the characters.  At the end, I found myself wishing that I knew more of the background details to their lives.  Overall, though, it was both an informative and entertaining movie.  Fans of the early blues are going to be in heaven, soaking up even the smallest background details (like men playing cards and drinking beer right in the recording studio).  I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it at all.

How exactly a film of this caliber slips off the radar and goes completely unnoticed is beyond me.  I had heard absolutely nothing about this movie, and aside from a few glowing reviews I found online, it might as well not exist, which is a shame.

Where “Schindler’s List” tells an epic Holocaust story, this film tells the story of only a few people who endured great personal loss, and spent a large portion of their lives trying to find a sense of peace.  The movie doesn’t dwell on graphic scenes of torture or murder; perhaps the writers understand that viewers are well aware of just how horrible the Holocaust was.

I won’t spoil anything with an account of the plot, but suffice it to say that Fugitive Pieces has an incredibly thoughtful story to tell.  It is at times poetic, filled with sadness, but buoyed by hope.  Based on a novel by Anne Michaels, the movie has extremely strong source material.

I think a great many viewers are going to be thinking about this film for days or weeks after the credits roll.  It is not a fast paced film by any means, but once you immerse yourself in the lives of these characters, plot pacing will mean nothing.

Every single actor in this movie deserves credit for turning in some fantastic work and making the source material even better.  But perhaps the best of the cast was 20 year old Summer Bishil, who had to play a 13 year old girl exploring the tribulations of her sexual awakening, while living next door to a sexual predator.  The themes of sexual exploitation and racism are tied together with a complexity rarely seen in films.  It is a movie you may never forget.

Written and directed by Alan Ball (Six Feet Under, American Beauty), Towelhead is a movie that isn’t afraid to push the envelope, and I’m sure there will be as many people who hate it as there are who will praise it.  I doubt I would ever watch it again, but I’m certainly glad I had the chance to see it.  I think it’s a timely and important movie.

Personally, I thought the film was fantastic.  I’ve always been a fan of films and novels that portray future society as a crumbling dystopia.  Blindness does so extremely well.  When the residents of an unnamed city all fall victim to a strange epidemic of blindness, the afflicted are rounded up and put into isolation.  They are given no medical attention or help, and very little food.  As they slowly form their own society within these walls, the darker elements of human nature begin to emerge.

Make no mistake – Blindness is not popcorn entertainment.  The whole movie is a dark allegory, and it can be downright unpleasant at times.  It’s the kind of film that is suited for discussion by sociology students.  Personally, I think it is one of the best films of the year, but it didn’t make me feel good, or hopeful.  I liked it because it made me think about the essence of human nature, and because I believe it will inspire heated arguments about the open-ended questions it asks.

The irony of all this is that Slumdog Millionaire producers are creating ads portraying their film as a poor little longshot that is beating the odds by taking on big budget flicks produced by the Hollywood machine, but they're spending dump trucks full of money to do it.  Whether one film is better than the other isn't really the issue.  The problem is that the entire race is tainted.  The process of being nominated seems to be regarded as nothing more than a marketing jackpot.  If you produce a film, and then sense that the buzz machine has tagged you as this year's Little-Movie-That-Could, then suddenly it's in your best interest to milk this for all it's worth by continuing to hammer people over the head with reminders of that fact.

I don't think it's any coincidence that ever year, half of the Oscar nominated movies leave me feeling a bit lukewarm, while other films that don't even get consideration end up being the most memorable ones I see.  Last year's "There Will Be Blood" had no shortage of raves, but personally, I found it as enjoyable as watching my toenails grow.  Yet another of my favorites, "Lars and the Real Girl" wasn't even mentioned.  Why?  Because it didn't have Daniel Day Lewis in the lead role and P.T. Anderson at the helm.  Studio advertising used both men as their credibility anchor and advertised the crap out of the movie.

Sure, awards are always going to be subjective, but cases like "Wendy and Lucy" only remind us that not all films get a fair shake when it comes to Oscar season.  I see a lot of movies every year, and here's what I've discovered about Oscar awards:  At least half of the movies nominated for Best Picture are only marginally worthy of the nomination.  We see countless films that get ignored, when in fact, if advertising and marketing dollars were not a factor, many of these could be substituted for others on the ballot.

Until the Academy does something to bring back credibility to the nomination process, then their awards should be regarded as little more than a competition between the marketing departments at each studio. 

Director Ridley Scott usually delivers well crafted movies that mix great acting with powerful action scenes.  Whatever his intentions for “Body of Lies”, the film is bogged down by a mediocre story and a sketchy performance by Russell Crowe.  At times, Crowe seems like he’s performing an SNL sketch parody of sitcom fathers, rather than a C.I.A. operative.  Leonardo DiCaprio saves the movie from complete failure, but overall, it still leaves viewers feeling a bit confused by the end.  Although marketed as an “action” movie, in truth the action was pretty sparse.  Viewers have been inundated with movies about the war on terror in recent years, and unfortunately, I doubt this one will give them any reason to get excited.