SEVEN POUNDS

Drama

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Will Smith: Ben Thomas, an IRS agent
Woody Harrelson: Ezra Turmer, a customer service agent
Elpidia Carrillo:Connie, an abused wife
Rosario Dawson: Emily, a young woman with serious medical problems
Michael Ealy: Ben's brother
Barry Pepper: Ben’s best friend Dan

REVIEW
By not revealing Ben’s motives we are left to figure out his unusual behaviour by ourselves. It’s a bit of a guessing game with some clues provided by brief flashbacks from time to time.

Frankly it would have worked much better if we found out right at the beginning what he was up to instead of “oh, that’s what it was all about. Now it makes sense”.

CLASSIFICATION
for thematic material, some disturbing content and a scene of sensuality.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
The back seat windows in Ben’s car close automatically by themselves when left alone. Not once, but twice. The first time is when Ben drives Emily back from the hospital with her dog Duke in the backseat and both windows open for him. After seeing her to the door as Ben gets back into the car we can see the back window is now closed.

The second time is after they have had a picnic but without the dog so the backseat window behind Ben is only cracked open a couple of inches. But not when he returns to drive off; once more it’s closed right up.

P.S.
A pound of flesh is slang for “a particularly onerous or unpleasant obligation.”

THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX

Animated action\adventure

PRINCIPAL VOICES
Dustin Hoffman: Roscuro the rat
Kevin Kline: the royal chef André
Matthew Broderick: Despereaux, a cute little mouse
Tracey Ullman: Miggery Sow, a poor orphaned farm girl
Emma Watson: Princess Pea
Sigourney Weaver: the Narrator

REVIEW
Despereaux conveys some very important social values; that it’s not just appearances that are important, one should be courageous and able to forgive. But that is not enough to outweigh the overall tone of despair and doom. Assuming of course the kids can figure it all out as the story is fairly complicated what with the two different worlds with nice guys among the not-so-nice guys and visa versa.

One other thing: the official classification is G but that gives no indication of what’s in the movie. The one I’ve assigned is more appropriate and consistent with other movies of this type. In all likelihood parents of young ones (4 and 5-year olds) might not want to expose their children to these things. And also save themselves a lot of explaining afterwards.

CLASSIFICATION
for some mild action and peril, the sudden death of someone, two startlingly scary instances, (one of a skull and another a mean-looking cat) and the expressed desire of some rats wanting to eat the lovely princess.

P.S.
Perhaps it’s my imagination (or lousy memory?) but Miggery looks very much like Shrek’s wife Princess Fiona. Coincidence? I think not.

HONEY I’M IN LOVE

Drama
Original title: Le Grand Départ
In French with English subtitles

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Hélène Bourgeois Leclerc: Nathalie, a 28-year-old artist
Marc Messier: 53-year-old Dr. Jean-Paul (JP) Cardin
Guylaine Tremblay: JP’s wife Céline
Patrick Drolet: their son 18-year-old Guylain
Sophie Desmarais: their daughter 16-year-old Myriam
Rémy Girard: JP’s best friend Dr. Henri Leduc
Diane Lavalee: his wife Pauline

REVIEW
Everything seems so contrived, right from the opening scenes to the final denouement. It comes across more like a TV sit-com than a movie especially the supporting cast of JP’s family and old friends. They are simply too much, too evil or too flaky or too unbelievable. Yeah that’s it: unbelievable.

CLASSIFICATION


FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
When visiting Dr. Leduc's home the smoke from the nearby oil refinery chimneys is much in evidence. So is the fact it's just a matte painting because the smoke does not move.

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

Drama
With some Hindi dialogue and English subtitles

F.Y.I.
Originally called Bombaim by the Portuguese in the 16th century, it was anglicised by the British to Bombay even though it was known as Mumbai or Bambai by the locals. In 1996 the city’s name was officially changed to Mumbai. With a population of 13 million, it is the second most populous city in the world.

1,000 rupees is worth approximately US$20.

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Irfan Khan: the Police Inspector
Dev Patel: as the 18 year-old from the slums of Mumbai, Jamal Malik
Anil Kapoor : Prem Kumar, MC of a popular tv game show
Madhur Mittal: Jamil’s older brother Salim
Frieda Pinto: their friend Latika

REVIEW
Some may find the first few minutes a bit disturbing but then it settles down to a pattern of a question posed to Jamal on a game show then a flashback relating to that query.

These snippets of Jamal’s past generally involve his brother and Latika as well. They are not all the same: some are quite funny, others are sad or touching and a few are disturbing enough I had to look away. In each instance the music is an important element in setting the tone and expertly chosen.

Both the editing and the cinematography are very well done. Together they sometimes make the slums of Mumbai look beautiful. Sometimes.

CLASSIFICATION
for some violence, disturbing images and language. As far as I’m concerned that classification is too severe as many of the big Hollywood movies have far more of these elements and they only get a PG rating.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
At the very beginning there is an on-screen title indicating the year to be 2006 but the huge cheque is dated 2005.

P.S.
Although the movie shows the real India, stick around while the end credits roll to view the producer’s concession to the very popular Bollywood-type movies.

CLOUD 9

Drama
In German with English subtitles
Original title: Wolke Neun




PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Ursula Werner: Inge, a 60-something-year old seamstress
Horst Westphal: one of her clients, 76-year-old Karl
Horst Rehberg: Werner, Inge’s husband of 30 years

REVIEW
Focusing exclusively on the present we never get to know very much about their past so we can only guess what prompts them to do what they do. Werner puts in a terrific heartfelt performance.

Warning: some will find the unabashed sexuality offensive.

CLASSIFICATION
for full frontal nudity and lengthy instances of intercourse.

DOUBT

Drama

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Philip Seymour Hoffman: Father Flynn
Meryl Streep: Mother Superior Sister Aloysius, St. Nicholas’ school principal
Amy Adams : a young nun Sister James
Viola Davis: Donald Miller’s mother

REVIEW
This thought-provoking movie is characterized by exceptionally strong performances by all four principal actors. Although Streep’s role is far more nuanced than the others, it is not necessarily that much better: they are all good.

What they have to say makes for some serious consideration about morality and the truth. Although there are no grand sweeping vistas, I loved the camera work capturing the starkness of the 1960’s catholic school setting.

CLASSIFICATION
for thematic material (translation: of no interest to children)

SÉRAPHINE

Drama
Based on a true story

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Yolande Moreau: Séraphine, a poor housekeeper
Ulrich Tukur: German art dealer and critic Wilhelm Uhde
Anne Bennet: his sister Anne-Marie
And others no doubt

REVIEW
The singular most important thing one must have to view this movie is patience. Unfortunately mine ran out after an hour so I never did get to see the ending.

Essentially it evolves at a snail’s pace with a great deal of screen time spent on scenes that add nothing of consequence to the story. Case in point: as shown on the movie poster there is a long tracking shot of Séraphine as she slowly walks up a hill then laboriously climbs up a tree and sits on a branch. This takes about 2 minutes. And what has it to do with the rest of the movie? Nothing!

Do that kind of thing time and again and you wind up with a movie that goes on forever. It’s a shame because it seems it would have turned out to be an interesting story. I’ll never know.

CLASSIFICATION