FUGITIVE PIECES

Drama
In Greek, Yiddish and German with English subtitles

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Robbie Kay: 7-year-old Jakob
Rade Sherbedgia: Athos, a Greek archeologist
Stephen Dillane: the older Jakob
Rosamund Pike: his girlfriend Alex
Ed Stoppard: their neighbout Ben
Ayelet Zurer: Ben’s girlfriend Michaela

REVIEW
Although it promises to be an interesting film about survival after the war, making use of flashbacks within flashbacks and short snippets soon dooms this to the category of “It’s too complicated and I don’t care anymore”. There are simply too many pieces to sort out. After a while only the lovely Greek islands are of any importance. And it’s not supposed to be a travelogue.

CLASSIFICATION
for sexual situations, nudity and violence.

THE STONE ANGEL

Drama

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Ellen Burstyn: 90-something-year old Hagar Shipley
Dylan Baker: her eldest son Marvin, a doctor
Sheila McCarthy: his wife Doris
Christine Horne: the young Hagar
Cole Hauser: her boyfriend Bram Shipley
Devin Bostick: the young Marvin
Kevin Zegers: his younger brother John
Ellen Page: John’s girlfriend Arlene

REVIEW
I certainly don’t have a problem with any film making use of a flashback or two to tell the story. But this one over does it. Just when you get settled in to the present day Hagar thinks of something that took place in earlier years so off you go to that time frame. After a bit you’re transported back again to the present but not for long as another memory-jogger sends us once more into the past. What a ride. There should be a law against using flashback more than 2 times in any one movie.

This would have been a far better movie had they chosen to tell the story in one long flashback instead of this flip-flop method. It’s too bad, because there are some good performances if you can hang in long enough to see it through.

CLASSIFICATION
for some sexual content, brief nudity, mild language and some drug use.

THE VISITOR

Drama

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Richard Jenkins: Sixty-two-year-old economics Professor Walter Vale
Danai Gurira: Zainab, a costume jewellery designer
Haaz Sleiman: her boyfriend Tarek, a musician
Hiam Abbass: his mother Mouna

REVIEW
Terrific acting is but one of the things that sets this movie apart. The low-key, unhurried pace is another but the main thing is the story about random encounters and the impact they can have on our lives.

Taking a simpler approach to story telling, there are no flashbacks, no parallel developments, in fact none of the more sophisticated filming techniques seen so often. By contrast the director takes an unusual approach like showing a discussion being held behind closed doors without our hearing what is being said or having people speaking in a language other than English without subtitles being shown on the screen. He relies on the fact we are smart enough to figure it out by ourselves. How refreshing.

Oh by the way: did I mention the superb acting?

CLASSIFICATION
for brief strong language.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION
The Republic of Senegal is a country on the Atlantic coast of western Africa. Senegal has a population of over 11 million, about 70 percent of whom live in rural areas. Dakar is the capital city. French, which was inherited from the colonial era, is the official language although there are 35 other languages spoken throughout the country.

The Syrian Arab Republic is a country in Southwest Asian sandwiched between Turkey and Iraq, bordering Lebanon to the South. The capital city is Damascus. Arabs make up over 90% of the population. Formerly a French mandate, Syria attained independence in 1946, but can trace its roots to the fourth millennium BC. It is one of the fifteen states that comprise the so-called “Cradle of Civilisation". The Euphrates, Syria's most important river, crosses the country in the east. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Six Day War and has maintained a controversial military presence there ever since.

P.S.
You won’t be bothered by kids when viewing this film in a movie theatre. Children will not have the slightest bit of interest in it.

BABY MAMA

Comedy

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Tina Fey: 37-year-old Kate Holbrook, a VP with an organic foods company
Sigourney Weaver: agency owner Chaffee Bicknell
Amy Poehler: a high-school dropout Angie Ostrowiski
Dax Shepard: her boyfriend (or common-law husband?) Carl
Romany Malco: Oscar, doorman at Kate’s luxury apartment
Steve Martin: Barry, the founder of Round Earth and Kate’s boss
Greg Kinnear: Rob, owner of a blended juice cafe

REVIEW
It’s not much of a comedy when the best lines are ones delivered by a doorman. Steve Martin can be funny but not when it comes across as forced and repetitive. The white-trash jokes might be offensive to some but Carl’s foul-mouth boorish behaviour will be objectionable to almost everyone.

Despite some respectable performances the whole thing comes across as a sit-com rerun with the funny moments the groan or slight-smile-type rather than laugh out loud sort. And I won't even get into suspension of disbelief requirement.

CLASSIFICATION
for crude sexual humor, language and a drug reference.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
Kate and Rob stroll down a lane and pass by a fire hydrant then stop beside a lamppost. When they turn to retrace their steps they have been magically transported back some distance since now they are starting off very close to the fire hydrant.

P.S.
Although product placement has been around a long time sometimes it can be overdone and becomes very intrusive. Not content showcasing products to reduce the cost of production (Audi automobiles, Marriott hotels) there are many products for which they would charge a fee: several brands of beer, sugary snacks, baby products and the like. There should be some kind of law limiting the amount of advertising a paying audience is subjected to!

THE EDGE OF HEAVEN

In German and Turkish with English subtitles.
Original title: Auf der anderen seite
Drama

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Tuncel Kurtiz: Turkish immigrant Ali Aksu living in Germany
Nurgül Kose: Yeter Öztürk aka Jessy, a Turkish prostitute
Baki Davrak: Ali’s son, Hamburg University professor Nejat Aksu
Nurgül Yesilçay: Jessy’s 27-year-old daughter using the alias Gül Korkmaz
Patriycia Ziolkowska: Hamburg college student Charlotte 'Lotte' Staub
Hanna Schygulla: her mother Susanne

REVIEW
Exploring relationships between father and son\mother and daughter and their interactions with others can be confusing at first. For that reason it’s a good idea to have the principal cast members sorted out in your mind before venturing out.

Well written and beautifully acted with time taken to flesh out the characters it runs to a little over two hours but doesn’t seem like it.

CLASSIFICATION
for some sexuality and violence.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION
Bremen is a port city in northwestern Germany about 60 km south of the North Sea. In 2005, the population of the city was estimated to be 545,983.

Hamburg is the second-largest city in Germany and its principal port. It is also the second-largest port in all of Europe after Rotterdam. The Hamburg Metropolitan Area is home to 4.5 million people.

Istanbul is Europe’s most populous city and is Turkey’s cultural and financial centre. Located on the Bosphorus Strait the city extends both on the European and on the Asian side of the Bosphorus, and is thereby the only metropolis in the world which is situated on two continents. When the Roman emperor Constantine the Great made the city the new eastern capital of the Roman Empire he conferred on it the name Nova Roma ("New Rome") but it soon became better known as Constantinople. The modern Turkish name, in a range of variants, dates back to 1453. The city has a population of 11,372,613 residents according to the latest count as of 2007.

Filyos is but one of many natural and sandy beaches found along a fifty-mile stretch of the Turkey coast on the Baltic Sea.

Raki is an anise–flavoured apéritif similar to other similar tasting alcoholic beverages available in the Mediterranean including the French pastis, Italian sambuca and Greek ouzo.

YOUNG@HEART

Documentary

REVIEW
There are few movies that disappoint because the end credits appear. This is one of them.

During the course of almost two hours we get to know various members of the chorus and can relate to them almost like old friends. Although the average age of the choir members is eighty, they sure don’t act it.

This feel good documentary tracks their efforts under the direction of Bob Sillman, their youthful music director, (he’s just a kid of 53), during a six week period in preparation for the annual show in their hometown of Northampton, Massachusetts. Along with a lot of good music and a few chuckles there are moments of serious reflection (even sadness) that taken together makes for a very entertaining outing.

CLASSIFICATION

IRON MAN

Comic book hero

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Terrence Howard: Stark’s buddy, Air Force Colonel James “Rhodey” Rhodes
Jeff Bridges: long-time partner of Stark Enterprises, Obadiah Stane
Robert Downey Jr.: billionaire industrialist Tony Stark
Gwyneth Paltrow: his PA, Virginia “Pepper” Potts
Shaun Toub: Yinsen, a scientist held captive in Afghanistan
Faran Tahir: terrorists leader Raza

REVIEW
Fans of Spider-Man, Superman, Batman and Robin will certainly enjoy this latest addition to the reincarnation of a comic book hero. Although the demographic clearly is teen and above, even those who are “way-above” and with a couple of hours on their hands will find it an entertaining experience.

As expected there are lots of gadgets, good looking cars (and good looking women too) with just a smattering of romance and some humorous moments the time flies by although it’s two hours long. Production values are first rate as is the acting and the editing is crisp.

CLASSIFICATION
for some intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence and brief suggestive content.