HALF NELSON

Drama

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Ryan Gosling: Dan Dunne, a inner city junior high school history teacher and basketball coach
Shareeka Epps: one of his students, 14 year-old Drey
Tina Holmes: Dan’s ex-girlfriend Rachel
Karen Chilton: Drey’s mother Karen
Anthony Mackie: Frank, the local drug dealer
Monique Gabriela Curnen: Isabel, one of Dan’s colleagues

REVIEW
Two excellent performances (by Gosling and Epps) sets this movie apart as does the fact it does not fall into the “goody-goody-inspirational” category so often seen when the story is about teachers and students. This one is more about character and friendship and overcoming obstacles in life (and sometimes not.)

CLASSIFICATION
for drug content throughout (use of crack cocaine), language and some sexuality.

P.S.
A half nelson is a wrestling hold in which one arm is passed under the opponent's arm from behind to the back of the neck. I don’t see the connection between that manoeuvre and the title of the film.

THE SECRET LIFE OF WORDS

Drama

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Sarah Polley: Hannah, a Yugoslavian factory worker
Tim Robbins: Josef, a burn victim on an off-shore oil rig
Javier Cámara: the rig's Spanish cook
Daniel Mays: Martin, the rig’s oceanographer
Julie Christie: Hannah’s counselor

REVIEW
The measured pace coupled with pretty much a one-sided conversation for most of the movie allows you time to make your own judgement about individuals and their relationships with others. Both principals do an excellent job of acting (albeit with little dialog from one) as the story unfolds gradually.

CLASSIFICATION

GREECE: SECRETS OF THE PAST

Documentary

REVIEW
Geared to a more mature audience, this IMAX movie relies more on the story itself rather than just presenting the usual spectacular, “never-seen-before” images to impress you. Not to say there are none: using state-of-the-art digital technology, we get to see the Parthenon as it was. That in itself is worth the price of admission.

One criticism though: the producers make no attempt to relate the events that took place in Santorini with the second half of the movie centred around Athens some 300 years later.

CLASSIFICATION

MATERIAL GIRLS

No stars

Comedy

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Hilary Duff: Tanzie Marchetta, daughter of the very rich owner of a cosmetic company
Haylie Duff: her sister Ava
Maria Conchita Alonso: the family maid
Also starring Anjelica Huston, Brent Spiner, Lukas Haas, Marcus Coloma: I have no idea who they are playing because I didn’t stay long enough to see them.

REVIEW
Sometimes you know right off the bat: this is going to be one lousy movie.

I stuck it out for five minutes (but not before the couple sitting in front of me got up and left) until I realised this one is geared to Hilary Duff fans. No one else could sit through such poorly acted, over-the-top, unreal, silly dialog for all 1½ hours. And why would you want to?

The zero stars rating I’ve assigned it says it all: “I’ll pay you not to go, it’s just that bad!”

CLASSIFICATION
should be rated STAY AWAY AT ALL COSTS

THE ILLUSIONIST

Drama

BACKGROUND
In an effort to remain a world power and consolidate its crumbling empire in central and eastern Europe, Austria joined with Hungary in 1867 to form the unusual alliance called the Dual Monarchy. The outcome was a geographically large nation of about 50 million people composed of many different language groups and nationalities. Before too long it was regarded as a great European power along with France, Germany, Russia, and Britain. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was ruled from Vienna by the Habsburg monarch who assumed two titles: Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary.

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Edward Norton: Eisenheim the Illusionist
Paul Giamatti: Vienna's Chief Inspector Uhl
Rufus Sewell: Crown Prince Leopold, heir-apparent to the throne
Jessica Biel: his fiancée, Duchess Sophie von Teschen

REVIEW
Combining romance and mystery, the movie is beautifully shot with fine acting throughout.

CLASSIFICATION
for some sexuality and violence.

BARNYARD: THE ORIGINAL PARTY ANIMALS

Children’s animated cartoon

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Kevin James: Otis the Cow, the adopted son of Ben the Cow
Jeff Garcia: his little buddy Pip the Mouse
Tino Insana: Pig the Pig (now isn’t that a clever and original name for a pig?)
Sam Elliott: Ben the Cow, the barnyard’s leader
Courteney Cox: Daisy the Cow
Wanda Sykes: her best friend Bessy the Cow
Andie MacDowell: Etta the Hen
Cam Clarke: Freddy the Ferret, best friend of Etta (how weird is that?)
David Koechner: Dag the Coyote
Danny Glover: Ben’s old friend Miles the Mule
Dom Irrera: Duke the Dog, contender for the position of barnyard boss
Maria Bamford: the barnyard neighbour Mrs. Beady
Steve Oedekerk: her husband Mr. Beady

REVIEW
The very best way to get some appreciation as to how the target audience (ages 6 to 10) judges the movie is to attend a rainy day, matinée-afternoon performance with the kids outnumbering the adults by about 10 to 1.

The very first question heard is: “how come the boy cow has those things?”
Translation: how come Otis, the son of Ben, has prominent udders?
Which I knew because this anatomical feature only serves to confuse the whole thing. And there’s no need for it because later we see some bulls without udders (but with their special parts hidden behind a fence or blocked from view by other animals as the case may be.)

Although there are downright funny parts, a couple of chuckles and some toe-tapping interludes, it is only mildly entertaining and really, a bit of a disappointment.

CLASSIFICATION
for some mild peril and rude humor.

P.S.
Once again a movie with one person taking on several important roles (in this case Producer, Director, Writer and in even the voice of one of the characters, Mr. Beady) is less than the sum of its parts.

CONVERSATIONS WITH OTHER WOMEN

Drama

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Nora Zehetner: Young Woman
Erik Eidem: Young Man
Helena Bonham Carter: Older Woman
Aaron Eckhart: Older Man
Cerina Vincent: Sarah
Philip Littell: Jeffrey

REVIEW
Although the story may be one we’ve seen or read before, the presentation is something quite different. The entire movie is shot using the spilt-screen technique. It does have its benefits though.
For example:
 we see on one side the person as he/she is today and on the other side a flashback
 or on one side what the person sees/hears and on the other side what he/she wishes to see/hear
 or on one side the man talking/listening and on the other side the woman listening/talking
However it takes some effort to keep checking both sides of the screen since sometimes entirely different things are taking place. For some, this technique will be a big distraction.

This is a “talky-film” with a great deal of dialogue so it comes across as a long one-act play but with more than a few clever lines, some chuckles and lots of bang-on observations about life and love.

Both principal actors give exceptional performances.

CLASSIFICATION
for language and sexual content.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
As the woman and the man are about to get into separate Manhattan taxis, the name of the hotel they were staying in is clearly evident on the awning behind them. Trouble is, Langham Hotels International does not manage or operate one in New York City.

P.S.
Automatic Dialogue Replacement is the re-recording of dialogue in a sound studio during post-production. ADR is frequently used to replace the original recorded sound track because of its poor quality (often due to high levels of background noise) or to change the delivery or the inflection of a line.

In this movie, the man offers a flute of champagne to the woman who starts off by telling him that she is really only an alternative bridesmaid, etc. This is a good example of poor execution of ADR because the lip movements are not even close to what is being said.

WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR?

Documentary

REVIEW
Unusual for a documentary, this one tries to determine the “guilty party” in answering the title question. With strong, well-supported arguments for or against each of the “suspects”, we, the jury, can judge for ourselves.

The sad thing is that it had to happen at all.

CLASSIFICATION
for brief mild language.