INCENDIES

Drama
In French and Arabic with English subtitles

F.Y.I.
Although the film does not attempt to identify the Middle East country where much of the action takes place it could well be the Republic of Lebanon, a country on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea bordered by Syria to the North and Israel to the South. Lebanon’s location at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin has shaped its cultural identity of religious and ethnic diversity.
The earliest evidence of civilization dates back more than 7,000 years. Lebanon was the home of the Phoenicians from 3000 – 500 B.C. and later became part of the Ottoman Empire until it gained independence in 1943 with a unique system of government shared by the various religious groups rather than by political affiliation.
There is no consensus among scholars and researchers on what triggered the Lebanese Civil War between Muslims and Christians which lasted from 1975 to 1990 but it resulted in one million people of Christian descent being driven out of the country.

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Rémy Girard: Notary Jean Lebel
Lubna Abazal: Nawal Marwan, the mother of non-identical twins
Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin: Jeanne
Maxim Gaudette: her brother Simon
Allen Altman: Notary Maddad

REVIEW
In trying to fulfill her mother’s last wish, Jeanne sets off on a journey that leads her back to her mother’s homeland. Through a series of flashbacks we learn of the events that took place before Nawal left for Canada.

With great cinematography and solid performances all round it is realistic and riveting although not for everyone as there are scenes that will be disturbing to some viewers.

Even with a running time of more than two hours, it is not a minute too long.

CLASSIFICATION
for some scenes of graphic violence.

P.S.
The title translates as Fires.

P.S.S.
Where private law is based on French or Spanish civil code, notaries are granted greater legal powers than notaries public, their common-law counterparts.

RED

Action/adventure

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Bruce Willis: former black-ops C.I.A. agent Frank Moses
Mary-Louise Parker: social security claims officer Sarah Ross
Morgan Freeman: 80-year old former C.I.A. agent Joe Matheson
John Malkovich: former C.I.A. agent Marvin Boggs
Helen Mirren: former MI6 agent Victoria
Ernest Borgnine: C.I.A. records keeper Henry
Karl Urban: C.I.A. super agent William Cooper
Brian Cox: former KGB spy Ivan Simanov
Richard Dreyfuss: private defense contractor Alexander Dunning

REVIEW
For reasons that are not entirely clear (at least to me) bad guys are out to kill nice guy Frank Moses. So he rounds up some of his old cronies to put an end to their endeavour. Along the way there is lots of car chases, guns and explosions, snappy dialogue and crisp editing.

Not a bad premise but it drags on too long and becomes repetitious serving only to allow cameo performances for a half dozen well known actors, many of whom we’ve not seen for some time. In fact the cast reads like a Who’s Who of Hollywood.

CLASSIFICATION
for intense sequences of action violence and brief strong language.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
• Frank has an early morning cup of coffee. The kitchen clock shows it to be 6:59 whereas his wristwatch says it’s 5:00.
• Frank heats up some bullets that eventually explode. That’s not how it works at all.
• While in the airport control tower the middle of three blinds is almost completely pulled up but in the following scene just before the attack, it is down like the others although no one touches it.
• Frank punches a hole in the dry wall and proceeds to open the locked door. Once inside there is no damage to the wall.
• Alexander has a white bit of fuzz on his right shoulder but in the next scene it’s gone.

EASY A

Teenage comedy

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Emma Stone: East Ojai High School student Olive Penderghast
Aly Michalka: her best friend Rhiannon “Ria”Abernathy
Amanda Bynes: Marianne Bryant, active member of the local church group
Thomas Haden Church: English class teacher Mr. Griffith
Dan Byrd: Olive’s new friend Brandon
Malcolm McDowell: the school's principal
Patricia Clarkson: Olive’s mother Rosemary
Stanley Tucci: Olive’s father Dill
Carn Gigandet: Marianne's boyfriend Micah
Lisa Kudrow: school guidance counselor Mrs. Grifffn
Penn Badgley: Olive’s first crush Todd Woodchuck

REVIEW
Taking a rather different twist on the age-old problem facing teenagers (do I or don’t I?) can lead to some unforeseen circumstances. All in good taste mind you despite the nature of the, how do I put it?, going-ones.

With 95% of the cast under 20 it’s quite remarkable how much talent there is out there. Mind you they’ve been given a well-written script that garners the laughs but they have to pull it off. And that they do in spades.

CLASSIFICATION
for mature thematic elements involving teenage sexuality, language and some drug material.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
Sitting behind Emma, her dog changes position from one shot to the next, sometimes closer to the end of the bed, other times further away, sometimes with a chew toy, sometimes not.

SECRETARIAT

Sports drama
Based on a true story

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Diane Lane: housewife and mother Penny Tweedy
Dylan Walsh: her lawyer husband Jack
Dylan Baker: Penny’s brother Hollis, a Harvard professor of Economics
Scott Glenn: Penny’s father Chris Chenery, owner of Meadow Stables
Margo Martindale: Miss Hamm, Mr. Chenery’s Personal Assistant
James Cromwell: Ogden Phipps, owner of Wheatley Stables
Fred Thompson: Bull Hancock, owner of Claiborne Farms
Nelsan Ellis: Eddie Sweat, Horse Groom
John Malkovich: veteran horse trainer Lucien Laurin
Otto Thorwarth: jockey Ronnie Turcotte
Nestor Serrano: Pancho Martin, owner of Secretariat's chief nemesis Sham

REVIEW
This unhurried telling of a Denver housewife who takes over her father’s horse farm and how her determination led to a notable sports triumph has the likeness of a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie: the highest production values, excellent acting for the most part and great attention to detail. In addition, it feels authentic.

Since not everyone is that well acquainted with the sport of horse racing, the timely expository material is welcome so we can all understand and appreciate what unfolds on the screen.

The producers have wisely kept the race sequences to a minimum since a camera following a group of horses running around an oval track can quickly become very boring. Instead using different camera angles, tight close-ups and crisp editing they have captured the excitement without overdoing it.

CLASSIFICATION
for brief mild language, very brief.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
Miss Hamm is called into the room with others and stands near the threshold. As she is about to leave the camera angle changes to show the entire group but somehow she has magically moved in by 5 or 6 steps.

WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS

Drama

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Michael Douglas: Gordon Gekko, disgraced former Wall Street corporate raider
Carey Mulligan: his daughter Winnie, creator of the frozentruth.com website
Shia LaBeouf: her live-in boyfriend Jacob “Jake” Moore, a Wall Street trader
Josh Brolin: Bretton James, CEO ??? of Churchill Schwartz Securities
Frank Langella: Jake’s boss Louis Zabel, CEO of Keller Zabel Incorporated
Susan Sarandon: Jake’s real-estate agent mother Sylvia
Eli Wallach: Jules “Julie” Steinhardt, Bretton’s boss ???

REVIEW
Don’t go to see the movie expecting to get a better understanding of the 2008 worldwide financial meltdown or the predatory trading practices that contributed to this crisis since these topics are dealt with at breakneck speed, not in layman terms but that of an Economics major. And keeping track of all the people who keep popping up is next to impossible, especially given that their role is not that well defined to start with. The parallel story line of an estranged daughter trying to deal with her father is equally muddled and rambling.

Once more a film where one person (Oliver Stone) takes on more than 2 key positions (Director, Producer, Writer) has a major shortcoming: in this case the storyline needs rewriting. And it also needs some editing because it goes on far too long at 2 hours plus.

There are some good things to be said about it: the high production values and great acting by Michael Douglas. But apart from that it offers very little of consequence.

CLASSIFICATION
for brief strong language and thematic elements.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
• The scroll at the top of the NBC television program showing the Dow Jones average remains unchanged at 10,917 even though in real life at one point in time it dropped below 7,000.
• Gordon and Jake are in the taxi for quite some time before we get to see the meter: it reads $2.90. Given that the drop for a New York cab is $2.50 and increases 40 cents every 1/5 of a mile it should be much higher than that.
• Gordon says he was locked up for 122,000 hours; in fact his incarceration was only 8 years for a total of 68,352 hours.

P.S.
I checked it out and Gordon’s story about Tulipmania actually happened as he described it.

THE SOCIAL NETWORK

Biography

F.Y.I.
A Final Club (often misstated as "finals club") is an undergraduate social club at Harvard College. Currently there are eight all-male and five all-female clubs at Harvard.

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Jesse Eisenberg: 19-year-old Harvard University sophomore Mark Zuckerberg
Rooney Mara: his girlfriend Erica Albright
Andrew Garfield: Mark’s best friend Eduardo Saverin
Armie Hammer: members of the Harvard Rowing Club, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss
Max Minghella: their business partner Divya Narendra
Justin Timberlake: Napster founder Sean Parker

REVIEW
It is almost as though this role was meant for him: Jesse Eisenberg gives his best performance ever as the key person behind the development of the internet website known as Facebook. Mind you, the rest of the cast are no slouches: it’s just that he really nails it.

Despite a run time of two hours it is not overly long because it has a lot of ground to cover in what is a complex story involving many people and a raft of different situations. The script is tight with believable dialog, often delivered at breakneck speed, and the editing is crisp so the time flies.

Not only is the film well acted throughout, it is beautifully shot, informative and downright entertaining.

One other thing: the musical score is just perfect. I cannot recall the last time I said that of any movie I’ve seen. Now that’s quite a compliment.

CLASSIFICATION
for sexual content, drug and alcohol use and language.

THE TOWN

Crime thriller

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Ben Affleck: gang leader Doug MacRay
Jeremy Renner: his childhood friend James "Jem" Coughlin
Rebecca Hall: Bank Manager Claire Keesey
John Hamm: FBI Special Agent Adam Frawley
Blake Lively: Jem’s sister Krista
Pete Postlethwaite: mob kingman Fergus Colm aka “Fergie the Florist”
Chris Cooper: Doug’s father Stephen

REVIEW
It has been my experience that there is a relationship between the number of key positions any one person has and the quality of the movie. As one goes up the other goes down. But this film goes against the grain in that Ben Affleck not only co-wrote the story, he directed it and stars in it yet the result is a first class effort. Not only is the film well acted throughout, it is beautifully shot and downright entertaining.

Despite running just over two hours it is not overly long with sufficient time given to the development of personal relationships and the actual bank and armoured car heists themselves. Unlike most films of this sort, the car chase scenes are not overdone. How refreshing.

CLASSIFICATION
for strong violence, pervasive language, some sexuality and drug use.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
• A title card states that “There are over 300 bank robberies in Boston every year.” According to the FBI there were not that many statewide when these events took place in 2008.
• Although she doesn’t touch her glass the level of Claire’s drink when she’s at the outdoor restaurant changes from one shot to the next.
• The diamond necklace given Claire, supposedly from Tiffany’s Jewellery, is in a black box instead of their signature Blue Box®.
• Despite unloading an arsenal of ammunition in several scenes by experienced qualified police officers and SWAT teams no one is killed much less injured. A reminder that films do not always reflect reality.
• S.A. Frawley removes a note from under the antenna on the back window of his car. In the next shot the antenna is in a different location.