LAYER CAKE

Crime thriller

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Daniel Craig: a self-described "businessman, whose product happens to be cocaine”
Kenneth Cranham: major crime lord, Mr. Price (Jimmy to his friends)
Colm Meaney: Gene, Mr. Price’s right-hand man
Michael Gambon: Edward Temple, an associate of Jimmy who wants a favour done
Jamie Foreman: Duke, one of the many low-life gangsters
Sienna Miller: Tammy, girlfriend of one of the gang members

REVIEW
Definitely not a “date movie”. In fact, unless you like brutal gangster type movies this isn’t for you.
Beautifully acted (sometimes too real, if you know what I mean) with plenty of double-dealing to complicate the plot. In fact, that is only one of the problems most people will have with the film. The other two are trying to sort out who all the characters are (keep in mind the list above to make life easier) and trying to understand the dialog when they revert to "gangster-slang" with a strong Cockney accent. At best you can only guess what was said. For those willing to make the effort, the payoff is worth it.

CLASSIFICATION
for graphic brutal violence, strong profanity, sexuality, nudity, pervasive language, and drug use.

P.S.
It’s not giving away too much to mention the fact the Ecstasy pills were apparently stolen from a Serbian crime lord, who has sent his best hit man to London to get them back. Duke, the hothead who stole them, could mess up the whole deal.
Although they do have a layer cake for dessert after one of the private meetings, the title refers more to the layers of people within the crime business.

C.R.A.Z.Y.

Drama
In French with English subtitles

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Michel Côté: Gervais Beaulieu, head of the family
Danielle Proulx: his wife, Laurianne
Pierre-Luc Brillant: their oldest son, Raymond
Marc-André Grondin: their fourth son, Zachary

REVIEW
This is a compelling story about a family dealing with changing values during the 60’s and 70’s. The acting is excellent and the attention to detail of the period pieces is superb (except for one instance noted below).

CLASSIFICATION


FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
Zac is left sitting in the car while his father takes in some of his “famous” spaghetti sauce to an older brother. This took place in 1979. In the background we see pass by a VIA passenger train of LRC cars. These were not put in service until ten years later in the late ‘80’s.

P.S.
LRC is a bilingual acronym for Light, Rapid, Comfortable or Léger, Rapide, et Confortable trains.

WAR OF THE WORLDS

Science fiction

BACKGROUND
The War of the Worlds was a science fiction novel written by H.G. Wells in 1898 describing the invasion of Earth by aliens from Mars, who use laser-like Heat Rays and chemical weapons (the Black Smoke) to overcome any resistance. The invaders devastate much of eastern England, including the city of London.

On October 30, 1938, as a Halloween special, Orson Welles presented a live radio adaptation on CBS. The announcer began by explaining that what was to follow was based on the famous H.G. Wells novel. Then the program itself started as an ordinary music show, only occasionally interrupted by news flashes. Initially, the news is of strange explosions sighted on Mars. The news reports grew more frequent and increasingly ominous after a meteorite--later revealed as a Martian rocket capsule--lands in New Jersey. A crowd gathers, and the events are related by the on-the-scene reporter Carl Philips up until the Martians incinerate curious onlookers with their "heat ray".

Many people missed or ignored the opening remarks of the program, and in the atmosphere of growing tension and anxiety in the days leading up to World War II, took it to be an actual news broadcast. Panic ensued, with people fleeing the area, and others thinking they could smell the poison gas or could see the flashes of the fighting in the distance.

Several people rushed to the "scene" of the events in Grover’s Mill, New Jersey (a small farming community northeast of Trenton) to see if they could catch a glimpse of the unfolding events. A couple of astronomers from Princeton University went out looking for the "meteorite" that had supposedly fallen near their school. Some people, who had brought firearms, reportedly mistook a local farmer's water tower for an alien spaceship and shot at it. The size of the crowd increased as more and more people rushed to the area. Eventually police were sent to help control the panicked crowds. To people arriving later in the evening, it really did look like the events being narrated on the radio broadcast, with panicked crowds and flashing police lights streaming across the masses.

Because of the panic caused by this radio play, TV networks have deemed it necessary to post bulletins directed to their viewing audience to inform them some TV stories are in fact fictional-drama, and not really happening. Disclaimers of this sort were shown during broadcasts of the 1983 television movie Special Bulletin and most recently NBC placed disclaimers in an October 1999 TV movie dramatising the possible disastrous effects of the Y2K bug.

The Los Angeles CBS affiliate radio station, KNX, re-broadcasts the radio program every year on Halloween.

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Tom Cruise: Ray Ferrier, a crane operator on the New Jersey dockyards
Justin Chatwin: his 16-year-old son Robbie
Dakota Fanning: Robbie's 10-year-old little sister Rachel
Tim Robbins: a cellar-dwelling survivalist, Ogilvy Fox

REVIEW
As disaster movies go, this is one of the best. The story is compelling enough to keep you riveted to the screen most of the time, although it does get a bit repetitive here and there. The acting is excellent and the special effects are fantastic.

CLASSIFICATION
for frightening sequences of science fiction violence and disturbing images.

BEWITCHED

Romantic comedy

BACKGROUND
In 1964, Elizabeth Montgomery launched into television stardom as the beguiling and likable Samantha Stephens. The series Bewitched ran until 1972 for an incredible 254 episodes and solidified its place in the pantheon of TV legends.

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Nicole Kidman: Isabel Bigelow, new arrival in town (the San Fernando Valley)
Will Ferrell: Jack Wyatt, an arrogant washed-up actor
Jason Schwartzman: Jack’s manager Ritchie
Michael Caine: Isabel’s father Nigel
Kristin Chenoweth: Isabel’s neighbor Maria.
Shirley MacLaine: Iris Smythson, an actress playing the role of Endora
Steve Carell: Uncle Arthur

REVIEW
Sometimes it’s hard to improve on the original. Such is the case with this movie. In addition, Will Farrel quickly becomes very annoying as a pushy “star” of the new TV series and even resorts to doing his thing (running around nude). Nicole Kidman as a sweet, innocent newcomer almost makes up for his antics. Almost.

CLASSIFICATION
for some language, including sex and drug references, and partial nudity.

P.S.
The movie has more blatant product placement than any other I’ve seen lately including the Volkswagen bug, Green Giant canned vegetables, Paul Newman’s Own Popping Corn, a retail store called Bed Bath and Beyond, the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf coffee shop etc etc

MARCH OF THE PENGUINS

Original title: La marche de l'empereur
Documentary

REVIEW
Although it looks like an IMAX film with gorgeous scenery and huge close-ups, the voice-over is so much better. We are actually given a lot of information during the course of the film rather than just snippets once in a while. Consequently we get to learn a lot about the life cycle of emperor penguins living in Antarctica. Fascinating stuff.

CLASSIFICATION

WALK ON WATER

Drama
Original title: LaLehet Al HaMayim
Mostly in English with subtitles for the Hebrew and German dialog

BACKGROUND
The State of Israel, like most countries, operates two security services: Shin Bet for internal security matters and the Mossad for foreign operations.

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Lior Ashkenazi: Eyal, a Mossad agent and master assassin
Gideon Shemer: his boss Menachem
Carolina Peters: Pia Himmelman who lives and works in an Israeli Kibbutz
Knut Berger: her brother Alex, a Berlin teacher of immigrant children

REVIEW
A very believable story with wonderful acting. Unlike most “thrillers”, there is the absence of big bomb explosions we have come to expect from Hollywood. Interwoven with the main story are a number of others, which tend to give it a real-world feel about it.

CLASSIFICATION
for some language including sexual references, and for brief nudity.

P.S.
Any armchair traveller will be enraptured with locations like Istanbul, Jerusalem, the Dead Sea, and Berlin.

LADIES IN LAVENDER

Drama

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Judi Dench: Ursula
Maggie Smith: her sister Janet
Daniel Bruhl: Andrea, a young man from Poland

REVIEW
The acting by the two sisters is exactly as one would expect: excellent. But it takes more than that to make a good movie. This one is a little too drawn out to make it really interesting. The rating says it all… it’s ok, but I wish I had chosen something else.

CLASSIFICATION
for brief strong language.