HEREAFTER

Drama
Some dialogue in French with English subtitles

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Cécile De France: vacationing French television host Marie LeLay
Thierry Neuvic: her producer/lover Didier
Frankie McLaren: 12-year-old Marcus
George McLaren: his twin brother Jason
Lyndsey Marshal: their mother Jackie
Matt Damon: factory worker George Lonegan
Jay Mohr: his older brother Billy
Richard Kind: Billy’s business associate Christos
Bryce Dallas Howard: George’s cooking class partner Melanie

REVIEW
After a spectacular opening sequence the stories of three people whose lives have been impacted by death begins to unfold but without any obvious connection with one another until the last twenty minutes or so. Telling three separate stories takes a lot of time, in this case over two hours. And frankly, none of the stories is that compelling so it seems to drag on far too long.

Some of the shoot locations are beautiful but it is the Swiss Alps that are particularly stunning. The acting by Matt Damon comes across as real , less so by the twins.

CLASSIFICATION
for mature thematic elements including disturbing disaster and accident images and for brief strong language.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
• Marie returns from vacation landing at Charles de Gaulle airport; this is not one of Virgin Atlantic Airways approved destinations, not even with code share flights.
• While talking with George in his kitchen Melanie’s locket changes position between shots although she never touches it.
• Marcus highlights his typed entry to a Google search, hits enter and gets the results. In reality when you press enter with text highlighted it disappears so you would not get any search results.

WAITING FOR SUPERMAN

Documentary

KEY PEOPLE
Educator Geoffrey Canada, founder of the Harlem Success Academy
Daisy Esparza, fifth grader living in Los Angeles, CA
Anthony Black, fifth grader living in Washington, D.C.
Six-year-old Bianca Hill living in the Bronx, NYC
First grader Francisco living in Harlem, NYC
Emily, eighth grader living in Redwood City, CA
Michelle Rhee, the Chancellor of Schools in Washington, D.C.

REVIEW
By following five students the film highlights some of the reasons for the failure of the public education system in the United States. Graphs and charts are used to show where the country ranks in terms of key subjects like math and reading. Interviews with the students and their parents bring the personal side of the problem to light. Another aspect of the problem that is presented is the strong stand on tenure held by the teacher’s union.

The producers present a compelling argument that so-called 'dropout factories' are the main reason why some neighbourhoods are in such an economic mess, and not the other way around. If nothing else the film adds another dimension to an old problem that will not go away.

CLASSIFICATION
for mild language and images of incidental smoking.

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.