WIMBLEDON

Romantic comedy

BACKGROUND
The Lawn Tennis Championships at Wimbledon have developed from the garden party atmosphere of the first meeting in 1877 (witnessed by a few hundred spectators) to a highly professional tournament attracting an attendance of over 500,000 people and through the press, radio, Internet and television a following of millions throughout the world.

The Tournament starts each year in June and lasts for a fortnight or for as long as necessary to complete all events. Players from over 60 nations regularly compete.

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Paul Bettany: Peter Colt, a 30 something-year-old tennis pro
Kirsten Dunst: Lizzie Bradbury, a rising American tennis star
Sam Neill: Lizzie’s father and Manager
John McEnroe and Chris Everet playing themselves as commentators

REVIEW
A pleasant “feel good type movie” about two tennis pros, one near the end of his career and the other just beginning. Anyone who loves the game will be delighted with the fast paced action. The jokes are often delivered as asides so you have to pay attention to not miss them.

CLASSIFICATION
for language, sexuality and partial nudity.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
When Peter is in the kitchen talking with his mother, the collar of his shirt is not tucked inside his suit jacket. The camera shifts to his mother and when it’s back to Peter the collar is now properly put right.

After a brief shower the sun remains out during the remainder of the match but the shadows are all over the place: sometimes aligned with the length of the court, sometimes parallel with the ends or somewhere in between.

MR. 3000

Sports comedy

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Bernie Mac: Stan Ross, aging baseball player nearing retirement
Angela Bassett: Mo Simmons, televison reporter for ESPN
Michael Rispoli: Boca, Stan’s buddy
Chris Noth: Schembri, General Manager of the Milwaukee Brewers Baseball club
Paul Sorvino: Gus Panas, Team Manager (a.k.a. Skip)
Brian White: T-Rex Pennebaker, home run champ (with an ego larger than his R.B.I.’s)

REVIEW
Not that it is essential (because the story is more universal than that) but the movie is easier to follow if you are a fan of the game.

Although somewhat predictable, it’s still nice to see someone having to deal with some of life’s setbacks and in so doing, actually change.

CLASSIFICATION
for vivid locker-room language and sexual situations.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
While talking with Mo in the bar the stud in Stan’s tie moves up and down between shots.

When Stan is on the Jay Leno show the coffee cup of the previous guest turns around by itself from one camera angle to the next.

When T-Rex comes to bat the scoreboard shows 0-4-0 (runs-hits-errors) but after he hits a home run it does not get updated to 1-5-0.

P.S.
Although the stadium announcer does a fine job of explaining the situation at different stages of the game, he assumes we all know that in major league baseball a hit is not simply the batter making contact with the ball; to be scored officially as a hit, the ball has to land within the playing surface and the batter has to reach base safely.

RIDING GIANTS

Documentary

REVIEW
Despite the real possibility of becoming boring and monotonous showing one wave after another, the film is actually quite interesting as it documents the sport of surfing and how it evolved.

Mind you, the first 1,000 years or so are dispensed with in less than 2 minutes, but the remainder of the film takes time to explore the recent advances in technique and newly found locations with even bigger waves than the others.

CLASSIFICATION
for General Audiences

CELLULAR

Thriller

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Kim Basinger: Jessica Martin, high school science teacher
Richard Burgi: her husband Craig
Chris Evans: Ryan, a beach bum
Jessica Biel: Ryan’s ex-girlfriend Chole
Jason Statham: Ethan, leader of the bad guys
William H. Macy: Sgt. Bob Mooney, 27-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department
Noah Emmerich: Jack, LAPD detective

REVIEW
This is one of those films that can go either way. Some people will get a kick out of the action packed thrill of the two opposing forces coming together in a show-down. Others because of several gaping holes in the plot (which I won’t mention because that would spoil things) will find having to suspend disbelief to that extent just not worth it.

I’m somewhat in between so for me it was a good movie and one I’d recommend going to see.

CLASSIFICATION
for violence, terror situations, language and some sexual references.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
When Ryan is talking to Chloe he’s carrying his cellular in his left hand; the next shot with him claiming innocence holding both hands up in front of him now has the telephone in his right hand.

A SILENT LOVE

Original title: Un Amor Silencioso
Romantic comedy

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Noel Burton: Norman Green, a middle-aged college professor living in Montreal
Vanessa Bauche: Gladys, a young out-of-work teacher living in Mexico
Susana Salazar: Fernanda, her mother the owner of a beauty salon

REVIEW
This rather charming movie looks at the difficulties of a multi-cultural marriage complicated by the live-in mother-in-law. The acting is excellent, the story unfolds at a leisurely pace and the chuckles are frequent.

CLASSIFICATION
for some sexuality.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
Although Norman lives in a walk-up apartment at 5819 Esplanade, they receive a package sent them to the wrong address (5819 Waverly Street).

WICKER PARK

Supposedly a romantic thriller

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Josh Hartnett: Matthew, (a.k.a. Matt) an investment banker living in Chicago
Matthew Lillard: Luke, shoe salesman and Matt’s best friend
Rose Byrne: Alex, a Shakespearean actress
Diane Kruger: Lisa, a professional dancer
Jessica Pare: Matt’s fianceé

REVIEW
What a mess. This movie is so convoluted and confusing it’s beyond comprehension. And it is not just the flashbacks that are out of sync time-wise that are the problem but also the gaping holes in the plot and ridiculous situations that are totally unbelievable.

In addition the acting by Josh Hartnett is terrible since all he’s capable of doing is furrowing his brow to express a range of emotions. Some acting.

One last thing, this romantic thriller is neither romantic nor thrilling. It is simply a waste of time.

CLASSIFICATION
for sexuality and language

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
When Jessica gives Matt a bottle of sleeping pills to calm his nerves before his flight to Shanghai he pours two (maybe three? it happens so quickly) into his right hand then magically somehow with the other hand snaps the cover back on, puts the bottle in his pocket then gets ready to gulp down the pills. But now there is only one pill.

While sitting in his parked car outside Lisa’s apartment on the left hand side of the road and pondering his next move we see the headlights of a car passing by that light up the left side of his face; but on his left is the sidewalk so any passing car could only have been to his right.

When Alex and Matt decide to have a drink in her apartment we clearly see the label to be J&B Scotch. After the camera turns to Matt and back to Alex the bottle has swiveled around by itself and the label is hardly visible.

The next morning she makes coffee and serves it in champagne glasses. Both take a sip and put them back down on the tray. During the course of the next half dozen shots the glass in front moves by itself to the left then to the right of the sugar bowl and back again.

When Matt takes a cab to see Alex perform it is a Yellow taxi number 535. The next day he flags down a taxi in busy downtown Chicago and guess what? It’s good ol’ number 535 again. Chicago needs more taxis.

ADVENTURES IN ANIMATION 3D

Documentary and short animation film

REVIEW
The first part of the movie explains the manner of making virtual reality animated characters: using special optical cameras they can track the movement of reflective markers placed on the face of a live subject then compile a library of facial expressions. Similarly by tracking full body motion of the subject they can create more realistic computer images of humans and animals. This first part of the movie gets an excellent four star rating.

However the second part gets a zero star rating because it’s all about boxing (which is one of my favourite disinterests)coupled with a sound level that is far too loud. And the movie itself is very repetitive. From a technical point-of-view it’s outstanding, but the same can’t be said for the rest of it.

CLASSIFICATION
for General Audiences

P.S.
In 3D IMAX format.