Blind Side

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Plot: A white housewife takes in a black boy who later becomes a high school athlete. The boy becomes a member of the family gradually during the movie. At the end, there is controversy involving college recruiting. 

Review: Blind Side is cloying sweet candy soaked in warm-fuzzy melodrama, frosted with after-school-special morality and all dipped in suburban white guilt. No character was realistic; Leigh Ann Touhy (Sandra Bullock) is too perfect and too glib; husband Sean Touhy (Tim McGraw) and daughter Collins Touhy (Lily Collins) are just props for Leigh. The football player, Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron,) tries so heard to prove he is harmless and nice, that he does not have any human emotion.

Jae Head who played the young son, SJ Touhy, steals every scene he is in. He lightens up the action, and is used by the director to move the story along. I doubt there is any documentary accuracy in any of his dialog. Lots of good lines, well delivered. I'd like to see more of Jae Head.

Sandra Bullock also delivers a fun performance in an otherwise dismally cheerful picture.

Cast: Sandra Bullock, Quinton Aaron, Jae Head

Crew: written and directed by John Lee Hancock based on the book by Michael Lewis

Rating: 1.5 flasks - not bad enough to be one star, but really awful. I was going to put up a picture of treacle syrup instead of the movie poster to show what I really thought.


More: I liked the football game scenes. Good photography. Good plotting for these quick scenes.

Even more: Blind Side deals with racial issues. The film is hard on the southern whites who do not accept Michael, but the film does not present positive black role models (aside from the NCAA official at the very end of the film -- who is a 'villain'.) All the younger blacks in this film are hoodlums and drug addicts and all the virtuous adults were white.
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Fantastic Mr Fox

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Plot: Mr Fox steals poultry, and despite his wife's nagging him to quit, he begins a private war on three neighboring farmers. The farmer's retaliate and go after the Mr Fox's family and the other woodland creatures with heavy equipment. Mr Fox makes a plan, gathers a team, and everything turns out fine. 

Review: Fantastic Mr Fox is a high concept comedy that happens to be done in stop-action animation, and for some reason this heightens the novelty and irony. Mr Fox is like George Clooney in Oceans 11/12 making plans, recruiting people and stealing things.

The film is voiced by celebrity actors including George Clooney as Mr. Fox. The animation is servicable, but not really up to the task of communicating the characters motivations and thoughts. We are often viewing doll-heads mouthing lines.

The real star is Wes Anderson who delivers his brand of satire on American society using animals. Anderson who did The Royal Tannenbaums, and The Life Aquatic, enjoys exploring quirky characters and drawing out their likeability. This is a good installment in that series.

The film gets lots of points for being creative and different. It is also fun-to-watch and keeps moving. On the other hand, there is no social message or insights into the psyche here. Mr Fox steals farm goods because "he is a wild animal," and we get no clues into how people should live our lives in a society. I don't think there is a "moral," in this film - just a wry ironic grin.

Crew: directed by Wes Anderson; based on the book by Roald Dahl

Rating: 3.0 flasks: Pluses - creative, fun; Minuses - not a lot of content or drama



More: I loved the side-scrolling video-game-like sequences.

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Disney's A Christmas Carol

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Plot: A straight-forward adaptation of Dicken's book. You know the story . . .

Review: The movie done in CGI 3D animation, and the 3D effect is the best I have seen. It actually enhanced the viewing experience -- not just a novelty. The CGI characters were unevenly rendered.  Scrooge was well done in CGI and seemed to show emotions -- as good as any CGI movie character.  Conversely, the minor characters were not good. Zemeckis was unwilling or unable to make these characters interesting and realistic. They seemed deliberately fuzzy and wooden  -- maybe to save money. Distractingly poor.

There are some great adaptations of this great story, and Disney's does not measure up. The beginning is good, but the Ghosts of Christmas Present and Future miss the mark. The movie is not scary enough and the happy ending is not happy enough. The movie lacks soul and the poor rendering of the minor characters only made that worse.

Voice Actor: Jim Carrey

Crew: Directed by Robert Zemeckis; based on the classic book by Charles Dickens

Rating: 2.0 flasks


More: People who have not read the book are missing something. You should read it -- it's short.

Even More: The title should not be Disney's A Christmas Carol; it is Dicken's A Christmas Carol.
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2012

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Plot: As predicted by the Mayans, the world actually ends in 2012, and geologist Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) warns the world's governments, who make plans to save the world -- or at least as much of it as they can. Meantime moonlighting author Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) is tipped off to the disaster, and tries to save his wife Kate (Amanda Peet) and kids Lilly and Noah. They narrowly manage to escape disaster after disaster as they make their way to a secret destination and their destiny.

Review: This is a big, mindless, sloppy action movie suitable for a big bucket of popcorn and not very much internal reflection. The initial set-up of the disaster is okay for science fiction, but each mini-disaster is melodramatic, just-in-time, made-for-video and spectacular -- never any subtlety. People who demand common sense should stay home, or leave their brain in the lobby.

I began to view it as a serious of grand disaster scenes, and on that level it works well. The actors pull of some good lines, and the situations are always death-defying & dramatic. I was often so engaged in the movie, I could barely stand the suspense.

The video is always spectacular, although just too reliably of major landmarks and always right next to our heros. Some of the disaster scenes are outstanding.

Although the movie is long, it does not seem that way. It was a crowd-pleaser. The gang at my theater clapped at the end.

Nonetheless, it is not a great movie since it could have been so much better with a few re-writes. It could not have been more melodramatic.

Cast: John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet

Written and directed by:  Roland Emmerich, who made the similar film Independence Day and other mindless entertainment.

Rating: 2.0 flasks; A 1.5 star movie with an extra half because it was fun-to-watch.


More: The least subtle movie I have ever seen.

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The Men Who Stare at Goats

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Plot: The Men Who Stare at Goats is about soldiers who were trained in extra-sensory perception ESP as a battle or intelligence weapon. Vietnam War-era soldiers were trained in "paranormal" combat, and had some success. Now in the 2000's, they are called back together for the war in Iraq.  Journalist Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) stumbles on the story, and he narrates the film. The movie is an absurd comedy where it is not clear how real the ESP is, or whether the soldiers are insane or geniuses. 

Review: This was an entertaining movie with a comedic, farcical premise. Lyn Cassady (George Clooney) is the main character with the strongest gift. Bob Django (Jeff Bridges) is the hippie founder of the New Earth Battalion, and they adopt old-time hippie practices to tune their abilities.

There are a lot of jokes and absurdities in the film, and I don't think it is trying to make any serious points about the military or the paranormal.

I liked the movie on the level of entertainment, and I think most people would enjoy it.

A decent performance by George Clooney. A nice likeable nuanced performance by Ewan McGregor. I thought Jeff Bridges was annoying, and I thought Kevin Spacy should have been in the movie more.

Cast: George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacy

Crew: directed by Grant Heslov; written by Peter Staughan; based on the book by Jon Ronson

Rating: 2.5 flasks


More: Were there any women in this movie?

Even More:  I liked the way the goat fell over when it died. Clunk.

This is It

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Plot: This was a making-of video for Michael Jackson's London concert series that he was preparing when he died. It contains all the major songs from the show and backstage development of the show.

Review: This was a lively movie with singing and dancing. The first part of the film was great with powerful dancing and old songs that I forgot that i liked. It showed a dynamic Michael Jackson singing, working and practicing.

The latter part of the movie got repetitive, as the film became predictable. I think the best stuff was at the begining.

The movie is more substantive because it was Michael from beyond the grave. Michael's concert was going to push for action on climate change and environmentalism generally. It was a little corny to hear him preach about that although as you may know from my recent post, I find global warming beyond refute.

Cast: Michael Jackson

Crew: directed by Kenny Ortega

Rating: 3.0 flasks
 Early in the film, it was headed for 4.0, because it was fun and deep, but it kept going and lost a flask.

More: Surprisingly good; recommended. The actual live show would have been something.

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W

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Plot: W is a biography of President George W. Bush with his personal triumphs and personal issues. 

Review: W is uneven. The beginning of the movie gives us some insight in the W's personality, and it is interesting as it shows his life in Texas. The political scenes early in the movie are the highlight with all of the fictionalized political figures. Once the Iraq Wars starts the movie becomes a bore, and eventually the movie fizzles to its 129 minute conclusion. 

Even though President Bush has only been out of office for one year, the film is dated already. The political shots in this movie already seem hollow and transparent rather than biting and insightful.

One constant in this movie is the clever and evocative acting from Josh Brolin -- should have had an Oscar nomination.

Stone's directing is still tops, and the film is well made and well photographed.

Cast: Josh Brolin, James Cromwell, Elizabeth Banks

Directed by: Oliver Stone

Rating: 2.0 flasks


Rating: The scene with the war council wondering without direction around Bush's ranch was a highlight --an example of the clever direction. 

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