An Officer and a Gentleman

MUST-SEE: (Taylor Hackford) With a trip back to a classic in 1982, An Officer and A Gentleman takes care of a few things for me. First and foremost, this film completely explains why he was the heartthrob of an older generation. When Richard Gere makes his appearance as the freshly-shaven Zach Mayo, he is gorgeous. Dark eyes, chiseled features and a sultry attitude make him dreamy as an early 80's movie star. And in uniform... well it just doesn't get much better than that. Second to physical satisfaction, Officer sets the bar for many of the movies that followed, of which I saw prior. Top Gun was 4 years later, but basically the same. And each trainee film thereafter seems to obviously takes it cues from the fantastic bar set by Gere, Debra Winger and friends. You've got hardship, romance, tragedy and the inevitable journey to discover oneself amidst the drama. Now, you can't compare the cinematography in this '82 flick to the extreme graphic candy of later films, but the story is unique, heartfelt and raw. It is Gere at his best, writing at it's stereotypical best (before it would have even been stereotypical), and actors no longer mentioned reaching their potential. And good thing too, because this film won 2 Oscars for its success. So yes, I am way behind in only having seen this film yesterday, but for those of you in my shoes (and in my generation) I know you'll appreciate its classic tone and far from Hollywood-exploited movie genres. It's Top Gun before there was Top Gun, Gere before pepper hair and wrinkly eyes, and romance like they used to do it. Everything leaks into the audience, due to the absence of crowds like special effects, hard fought accents and high budget costumes. It's a treat for 2 hours and one no one should miss. Enjoy.

Shakespeare in Love

MUST-SEE: (John Madden) No truer to romantic comedy form, Shakespeare in Love is emotion and entertainment topped with laughter at its best. From laughing to crying through a deep from the gut of love stories, and love and quarrel among friends and foe of fighting playhouses and sneaky writers, this film hones in on every dynamic detail of not simply a romantic comedy, but a great film. And does so to the nth degree, splurging creative humor while keeping reality at bay. This film delves into the intimate thoughts of a young William Shakespeare fighting to start his career against competitors in a dreadful society. Shakespeare in Love takes us through his journey of turning out Romeo and Juliet, which we learn actually began as Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter, act by act, each inspired by his muse, played by Gwyneth Paltrow, who claims making love to him is "better than poetry." Humor reigns throughout the film, bringing the wit of Shakespeare to the tongues of riots Geoffrey Rush, Tom Wilkinson and Joseph Fiennes. Not to mention Simon Callow and Judy Dench play small, yet remarkable, roles that bring this cast together as one hilarious and credible bunch portraying the beautiful tragedy of infamous star-crossed lovers. I have never been so satisfied by a storyline, one that gives so much due to Mr. Shakespeare himself, one that portrays his historic novelties as modernistic dreamers, and one that reveals moral and life through a genuine and hearty story. Men and women alike can appreciate this film, as the flowery language is thanks to William and the gushing lovesick lines are played from the heart of a true emotion. If you didn't get to see this one back in 1998, believe me, it hasn't lost its cred and still stands up to its Oscar nods and notable reputation. You'll finish it feeling brushed up on your sonnets, refreshed in romanticism and completely entertained by wit, comedy and characters that stand classic for a lifetime.

My Blueberry Nights

ALMOST: (Kar Wai Wong) A touching and tender movie dotted with potential controversy, My Blueberry Nights disappoints overall as a bland, predictable and pretty much boring film. The story is sweet, but stereotypical: A broken-hearted girl treks across the country trying to find herself amongst misfits in low places. Director takes us through three story lines, each with a character that helps reinstall Norah Jones's Elizabeth's self respect and dignity. The brightest spots consist of the small roles by Nathalie Portman as a gambling addict out for innocent money, Rachel Weisz and David Straitharn as separated and drunken lovers who quarrel to the death, and a dreamy cafe owner, played by Jude Law, who falls for her blueberry lovin' lips and thoughtful postcards from afar. Jones falls short as an actress, but does deliver sultry smokin' tunes to make a killer soundtrack. The brief appearances by the other stars are strangled by a weak script, a deeper story seeming just below the surface. This is a key note for recognizing great performances, made obvious by Jones's empty attempt to make the surface seem fallible. Unfortunately, with boring script and flat performance gives this film an overall "seen it" and "it hasn't changed" tone. Sad, because the aforementioned stars put forth their best, they just had nothing to work with. The title also leaves you hanging... does it refer to the blueberry pie being what she associates home with? Is it because she is in love with the guy who makes them? Or is it because when she ate blueberry pie those few nights, that was what made her pick up and leave. I wouldn't stress over getting this movie in your player... Watch it if you're curious, but don't expect a smash. It won't make you cry, you probably won't laugh, and most of all, you might keep checking your watch.

Wanted

WORTH-IT: (Timur Bekmambetov) Wow, what a film. Based on a graphic novel, you know to expect extreme visual stimulation, but Wanted goes beyond those expectations, providing a seamless storyline, effortless suspense and nonstop action, all made pretty by the Matrix-infused cinematography. From playing on trains to curving bullets, Angelina Jolie and Common train nobody, James McAvoy to become the newest member of the Fraternity, a group of highly skilled do-good assassins who get their targets from a Minority Report-like fate dispenser, in this case a code hidden in the threading of fabric at a textile mill. They capture him in a dead-end job and self-depravity to introduce him into a world where he is at the least, "The man." Their goal is to kill the man out to ruin the Fraternity, and McAvoy, whose character stems from Fraternity bloodline, is apparently the one to do it. He learns to kill, accepts the codes, and finds himself comfortable in a new life where significance is apt and violence is everywhere. I found nothing wrong with this film, the rules were believable and the story realistic for those rules. I loved the graphic novel narration take, which delivers a swift kick in the stomach humor every time McAvoy addresses you the viewer. Expect lots of (beautifully displayed) blood and explosion. Leave your sensitivity and conservativeness at home, but come with an open mind and readiness to laugh. The humor is subtle and delightful, the seriousness a perfect balance, and the story is just plain awesome. Although crediting itself with intellect throughout, it's a guy's movie for sure; but be honest, even girls think Angelina is hot. See this one. No disappointments.

Gone Baby Gone

WORTH-IT: (Ben Affleck) Take a story that combines south Boston culture with modern-day tragedy and you get Gone Baby Gone, the tale of a four-year-old girl that goes missing in a neighborhood where kidnapping is on the rise and ignorance is close behind. Characters with strong feelings and quick judgement make this a long and delicately intertwined mystery. Private detectives played by Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan are hired to work with the police in hopes of uncovering who took Amanda McCready and where she is now, and if she is even alive. Morgan Freeman plays the good cop veteran, "dedicated to never letting another child go missing." Ed Harris plays Freeman's main man in these cases, with a cold heart for anyone out to hurt a child. Oscar-nominated Amy Ryan plays the coked up mother, constantly with alterior motives. The characters clash with differences of opinion, emotion and what is actually the "right" thing to do, but inevitably all fit together to unveil an unlikely culprit. The script does a good job of coaxing you into believing the neglect and boredom that eventually surfaces with unsolved crimes, but also reveals in a tender and tragic fashion the everlasting emotions that come with it. For a long twoish hours, Gone Baby Gone takes you on an unpredictable chase for the solution to the crime. You'll find yourself on the edge of your seat, but also racking your brain for the resolution within your own morals. Ben Affleck, with his screenplay adapted from the novel by Dennis LeHane, does a fantastic job of setting us up in a realistic world and keeping us guessing until the end. Good guys and bad guys mix and confuse you until an unexpected end that I won't spoil. The story is ultimately heartbreaking in the greatest degree. Sad people and tragic situations illustrate a broken city fighting for credibility. Expect utter disgust for the way the world works here, but accept their way of life and be ready for a story that satisfies in its ability to completely encapsulate your heart's sympathetic nature.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

PHENOMENAL: (Julian Schnabel) A truly emotional masterpiece, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is one of the few films to encase a realistic tone throughout beautiful and creative cinematography. From the beginning, as seen through the half paralyzed eyes of Elle editor, Jean-Dominique Bauby, the film is raw, candid and heartbreaking. Bauby, the former editor of Elle magazine in France, suffered a massive stroke while out for a drive with his son. After months in a coma, he awakes to complete paralysis, and only the use of his left eye. Through months of intense occupational therapy, he learns to communicate through a series of alphabetic blinks. With this string of communication, he lives his last year writing a novel blink for blink about the cage he lives in. He says, "I decided to stop pitying myself. Other than my eye, two things aren't paralyzed, my imagination and my memory." This attitude carries throughout the film, riding a roller coaster of emotion as he watches through tunnel vision as his children play on the beach, as friends come to visit, and as his father delivers a heartbreaking birthday goodbye via telephone. What exists as the most heartbreaking and unimaginable story to date for me is at the same time one of the most powerful films I have ever seen. Inspired by Bauby's determination to finish his life's novel and the absolutely spectacular filming, this true-story drew me in immediately and will be in my heart forever. Phenomenal performances credit Schanbel's direction, and extremely detailed writing brings an otherwise silent story to life. As a viewer, you get to see (and arguably feel) what Bauby does, and with his words to narrate us along the way, we are spared no frustration, no pain, and no remorse alongside him. Don't miss out on this film. It will forever remain in the top tier of my most memorable films.

Sex and the City

MUST SEE: (Michael Patrick King) LOVE THIS FILM! For someone who never watched SATC as a TV Series, this film completely roped me in and entertained for its two hour span, leaving me wishing for more and hoping for infinity. Combine that with the world's biggest product-placement movie and the world's most popular NYC women, and you've got a everyone pleaser. The story is fresh, despite a decade-old series. The humor is unending, and pertaining to all audiences. The moral is simple, unbiased and sooo believable. It is the first happy movie I have seen (and liked) in a long while. How much I enjoyed it actually surprised me, but I urge you to give it a chance. Yes, expect some raw sex, but know that it is in spurts and never in a fashion that makes you uncomfortable. Yes, expect lots of attention on cool cell phones, ridiculous outfits and sparkly shoes, but admit it makes you drool and enjoy the free (well, $10) fashion show. Plus, seeing this film gives you a glimpse of the fabulous Jennifer Hudson, playing a realistic role that adds credibility to the NY crowd. Plus, she is always a treat and proves her Oscar was only the beginning. The bottom line is this film captures the essence of a great film. It carries a love story, a heartbreak, a girls night out, a NYC fantasy, humor, realism and raw entertainment for a long two hours that will keep you hoping each fade out frame doesn't bring an ending. And when that end did come for me, I could only hope for another. Bravo.

The Strangers

WORTH-IT: (Bryan Bertino) What begins as a bad teen horror movie, eventually takes flight into one of the best real scary stories the cinema has to offer. Based the the true story of unexplained deaths discovered by two young boys selling door to door, The Strangers takes us along with Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman as they escape to an isolated vacation home for some romantic peace and quiet. Once the script diverges from a love-story gone awry, we are threatened by three masked strangers who appear at every open window, and suspiciously, around corners of the locked-up house. Not only does this plot play on everyone's fear of a lonely quiet house, but amplifies the mind tricks that silence creates. Only in this story, there are no tricks, except for the ones that are tricking you into dying. Once the masked trio make their move, the film is an endless downhill thriller, revving chainsaws, shredding prom dresses and breaking ankles. What is Tyler doing in a horror movie with no other big names (well, since Felicity)? The story is that good. In fact, it's underlying truth only makes this more unbelievable and worth talking about post-cinematic disappointments other horror movies have proved. See this one, expect a little more reality out of a stereotyped story, making staying home alone not okay.

Made of Honor

ALMOST: (Paul Wieland) What appears as a match made in heaven, that is McDreamy as the next Romantic Comedy man, is easily lost to stereotypical chick flick in Made of Honor. First and foremost, the fact that this film is simply a rip off and gender switch of the classic My Best Friends Wedding is just the icing on the wedding cake in this scenario. This story brings us stereotypical guy mottoes, feigning bridesmaids and romantic and over-the-top advances in an equally unrealistic storyline. Take Michelle Monagan's assertive, intelligent and mature Sarah, who in the blink of three weeks is engaged to a randar she meets on the road in Scotland. Where did that character flip take place? And where is it justified? The answer is in whatever explains Dempsey's character to trust the bitch bridesmaid out for his lucky position to hire an exotic sex toy educator to preach her ways and hand out Thunder beads at a wedding shower. It's all simply outrageous. But to be fair, and before you cast this one out... Isn't that what makes a good chick flick worth it? As women, we know we see these films to satisfy the truly unrealistic yearn we all have for what we watch. It's an escape, a fantasy, and a break from the droning rigmarole that awaits us outside the theatre. And in Made of Honor, we get a cherry on top with McDreamy as the star, and a humor-packed script. Save this film for a girls' night and the need for some good quality cheesy romance. Don;t disregard it for measuring up to its reputation. When compared, it's funny, entertaining, and perfectly predictable.

No Country for Old Men

MUST-SEE: (Coen Brothers) Set in the dusty Southwest in 1980, this 4-time Oscar winning film about a psycho headhunter with a cattle gun for a weapon makes for one of the industry's creepiest projects and darkest yet. Starring Javier Bardem as a hired henchman to track down $2 million in drug money from un-expecting nobody, Josh Brolin's Llewellyn Moss, No Country for Old Men, based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy, is a story of corruption, obsession and fear mixed into one hard lesson of revelation and judgment. The film opens with a dramatic monologue from a loyal and veteran cop played by Tommy Lee Jones. As he drones on about his commitment to justice and to the community and the contrast his morals play against the fact that his career seems like game, we witness the arrest and escape of Anton Chigurh, a psycho with a cattle gun. He kills his arresting officer, then uses his car to pull someone over undercover. As a poor unsuspecting man climbs out of his car to face the charge, Chigurh raises the handle to his air tank, and points it at the man's forehead, at which point, he releases the air and watches the old man collapse to the ground, evidence-less and bleeding. Bardem's Anton then begins a journey of switching cars for bodies on the way to finding Moss and his drug money, and asking others to "call it" for their life, forcing them to choose heads or tails for the chance to survive. He appears to carry no conscience and no remorse, and his persona is decorated with a mop of a haircut and a coarse throaty accent. This man will haunt your dreams for days. I loved this film for its apt succession to maintain parallel between cinematography and mood. When things were fuzzy (morally and technically), the screen was consumed with dust, raw filming or darkness. The silence overwhelmed the feeling of solitude and impending paranoia. Amongst it all, blood, sweat and drug money, a beautiful story evolves. Don't take beautiful as flowery and whimsical, rather as a deep and compassionate commitment to the emotion that lies in the darkest parts of your heart. No Country for Old Men reveals the worst in people and the potential for corruption we assume everyone carries. As person after person drops dead, it seems McCarthy envisioned no happy ending for anyone, but as you watch the Coen’s illustration unfold, you see more than just a story of good versus evil, and instead, witness a breathtaking account of the possibilities you never saw coming and the person you had no idea you'd become. Definitely heed a warning that NCFOM holds back nothing and (seemingly) feels nothing. It is violent. It is tragic. And it could really happen (maybe). But don't skip out; because the Coen brothers truly bring the pages to life here, and let Hollywood succumb to genuine and unique motif.