TOUCH OF PINK

Romantic comedy

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Jimi Mistry: Alim, motion picture film set still photographer
Kyle MacLachlan: the spirit of Cary Grant (and Alim’s guardian angel)
Kristen Holden-Ried: Giles, Alim’s best friend
Liisa Repo-Martell: Delia, Gile’s sister
Suleka Mathew: Nuru, Alim’s mother
Raoul Bhaneja: Khaled, a young dentist about to get married

REVIEW
There is little romance since the principals really don’t have that much chemistry going for them. And the comedy part is virtually non-existent. So much for being a romantic comedy movie.

Unless you are into the colourful, gay, bouncy Bollywood-style movies you will probably want to give this one a pass.

CLASSIFICATION
for sexual content, brief language.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
While eating breakfast Giles speaks with some eggs stuck on his lips; the camera turns to Nuru and back to Giles and we see the eggs have now disappeared. After the next shot of Nuru, Giles responds to her question and once more the eggs are there.

While Giles and Nuru are out touring around London they go into a store with Giles holding a tan coat in his left hand; when they come out his coat has turned to black.

MEAN CREEK

Drama

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Josh Peck: George, the school bully with a bad temper
Rory Culkin: Sam, a small, shy teenager
Trevor Morgan: Rocky, Sam's older brother
Scott Mechlowicz: Marty, Rocky’s best friend
Ryan Kelley: Clyde, another of Rocky’s friends
Carly Schroeder: Millie, Sam’s girlfriend

REVIEW
Although the scheme they put in motion is simple enough, things don’t always go as planned. Along the way we get to see the other side of a bully and how people react to stressful situations. To that extent there’s something to be learned by all of us.

The acting for the most part is excellent and the pacing is right on.

CLASSIFICATION
for language, sexual references, teen drug and alcohol use.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
Near the end of the movie when viewing one of Sam’s videos, the red REC light continues to blink. That only occurs during recording, not during playback.

VANITY FAIR

Drama

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Reese Witherspoon: Rebecca (Becky) Sharp, notorious social climber
Romolai Garai: Amelia Sedly, Becky’s former schoolmate and now best friend
Jonathan Rhys Meyers: George Osborne, handsome but elusive soldier
James Purefoy: Rawdon Crawley, dashing soldier and gambling man
Eileen Atkins: Miss Matilda, Rawdon’s wealthy spinster aunt

REVIEW
Adapted from a novel, it would be a lot easier to sort things out if you’ve read the book. There is a lot to take in: there are about a dozen principal characters, it covers at least 20 years of their lives and bounces around from England to India to France and back. It takes some figuring out to keep track of all this. And for more than 2 hours too.

Set during the Napoleonic era with lavish costumes, elaborate sets and some really good acting, the story is one about humble beginnings and the difficulty in reaching upper society. But it would be a much better movie if it only took in some of the story.

CLASSIFICATION
for some sensuality, partial nudity and a brief violent image.

VOLCANOES OF THE DEEP

Documentary

BACKGROUND
Currently there are over 5,000 active underwater volcanoes, some of which are larger than anything on the earth’s surface whereas others are just cones the size of an automobile. The net result of this action is thermal heating of the oceans which ultimately reaches the water surface and is then carried aloft into the atmosphere to become part of our weather system.

REVIEW
This movie goes beyond simply showing billowing black clouds of hydrothermal vents. It explores the life around these fissures that survive (in fact they thrive) in this brutal high-pressure, super-heated environment. Some of the scientific revelations are remarkable. The movie suffers somewhat from lack of crisp editing and becomes repetitious at times.


CLASSIFICATION
for General Audiences

P.S.
Presented in IMAX format, it took over 20 dives and 10 years of work to make the film possible.

THE CENTER

Original title: Die Mitte
Documentary with English subtitles

BACKGROUND
The geographical center of Europe lies somewhere between Norway, Greece, Portugal and Russia. Currently over a dozen towns all claim to be the "center" of Europe.

REVIEW
This is a rambling odyssey to “find” the true center of Europe. While travelling about and interviewing some of the locals we also get to see how these people live and what their hopes and aspirations are. Since most of the trek is through areas that were once part of the Communist world (Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine) there is a certain similar drabness about most of the places visited. Not an inspiring sight.

The tongue in cheek manner of the interviews keeps it light although the whole thing is a little too long.

CLASSIFICATION
for General Audiences

P.S.
This movie would probably have little appeal to anyone not into travelling.

GARDEN STATE

Romantic comedy

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Zach Braff: Andrew Largeman, a 26-year old part-time Hollywood actor and waiter
Ian Holm: Gideon, his psychiatrist father
Peter Sarsgaard: Mark, Andrew’s old friend
Denis O’Hare: Albert, another friend
Ron Leibman: Dr. Cohen, Andrew’s physician
Natalie Portman: Samantha, another patient of Dr. Cohen

REVIEW
There are moments when the comedy aspect of this movie becomes apparent. But a lot of time is devoted to watching Andrew “hang out” with his friends in a somewhat aimless visit to his home town. Only when Samantha shows up does the movie perk up but overall it’s a little weird.

CLASSIFICATION
for language, drug use and a scene of sexuality

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
When Andrew is talking with his dad in his office Gideon’s glasses are in the middle of the desk. He leans back and then stands up. Somehow the glasses moved themselves off on the side of the desk.

When Andrew is discussing his problem with Dr. Cohen, his glasses case is clipped to the outside of his shirt pocket; when Dr. Cohen gets up from his desk the clip is now inside the pocket.

P.S.
Zach Braff who stars in it also wrote and directed the movie. Once more the sum of the parts is not equal to the whole when one person takes on more than one significant role in the movie.

FESTIVAL EXPRESS

Concert

BACKGROUND
Following the great success of the three day 1969 Woodstock concert in upper New York state, Ken Walker a 22-year old commerce student and his friend Thor Eaton (of the department-store dynasty) decided to stage a series of concerts across Canada by a dozen artists or so. Travelling from Toronto, Winnipeg and Calgary in a chartered CN train the Festival Express also made one more unscheduled stop in Saskatoon.

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Janis Joplin who performs “Cry Baby” and “Mama”
Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead sings several songs
The Band performs “Slippin' and Slidin'“
Buddy Guy croons “Money”
Ian and Sylvia Tyson perform “CC Rider”
along with The Flying Burrito Brothers and quite a few others

REVIEW
The film is 25% documentary (the occasional commentary by some of the principals) and 75% concert by some of the more popular artists back in the summer of 1970. Unlike documentaries about Woodstock where as much emphasis is on the crowd and their antics, this one pretty much sticks to what the artists were doing.

CLASSIFICATION
for some language and drug use.

P.S.
In Toronto, a local radical group of greedy, bullying fans rebelled against the $14 ticket price and threatened to shut down the show unless it was given 60 percent of the gate plus ''free food and free dope''. In Calgary, the mayor called Ken Walker ''a capitalist rip off son of a bitch'' and insisted that children be allowed to enter for free. Because of these setbacks and other unforeseen expenses, the show went into bankruptcy leaving 75 hours of film stored in garages and basements of various unpaid cameramen. It took the producers 10 years to get performance rights and conduct filmed interviews with some of the performers to put this movie together.