Sunshine Cleaning

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Plot: Rose, a single Mom, (Amy Adams)  starts a specialized cleaning business which she cope with her father's sister's, son's, and high school sweet-heart's screwed-up lives. For example, Rose's ashamed that her life is not coming together in front of her high school friends.

Review:  Sunshine Cleaning is the best movie that I have seen in months. It is a well-written movie that grapples with issues everyone has played out in a believable family situation. It is largely a female movie in that it deals with the relationships of the woman characters.  It is a human movie that deals with many personal and family issues. The performance of  the whole cast was tops, especially the facial acting. It has engaging likeable characters in situations that are not too stretched and removed from realistic situations. The very cute, small boy (Jason Spevack) has troubles at school. If there is a weakness it is the movie gets a little too sweet at the end. 

Cast and crew: Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Alan Arkin; written by Megan Holly; directed by Christine Jeffs

Rating: 3.5+ flasks
1/2

More:
I'd like to see it again.

Duplicity

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Plot: Duplicity is a love story about MI-6 agent Ray Stovel (Clive Owen) and CIA Agent Claire Stenwick (Julia Roberts) who became lovers, and try a scam to make millions so they can run away together. They get involved in a rivalry between two companies, and try to sell the secrets of one company to another. Paul Giamatti steals the show as one of the evil CEO's.

Review: This is an intelliegent movie that goes for more complicated laughs. You need to understand the motivations of the people to see the humor. I think business people will like this more than others.  The writing is excellent with good dialog, an understandable plot, clever plot twists and a good ending. I would like to have seen our spies be a little less cerebral.

This was the funnest movie of the year so far. We have had better movies, but nothing as fun as this yet.

Cast and crew:
Julia Roberts, Clive Owens, Paul Giamatti; written and directed by Roy Gilroy

Rating: 3.0 flasks


More:
There seem to have been more than one page to that formula. The structure seemed have silicon, but later there was an actual formula with supplier names. What were the Swiss guys looking at on the screen? Most lotions don't have silicon. I wish someone would post that structure.

Knowing

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Plot: Knowing is about a numerical prophecy written by a schoolgirl and found fifty years later by John and Caleb Koestler (Nicholas Cage and Chandler Canterbury.) John decodes the prophecy, and tries to interpret the unfulfilled prediction of coming disasters, which turn out to be increasing serious. John picks-up Diana Wayland (Rose Byrne) and her daughter Allison (Adrienne Pickering), and soon they encounter the mysterious Whisperers who are talking to the children.  This leads to a science-fiction apocalypse conclusion with biblical overtones, and lots of people die. 

Review: Knowing is a decent movie. I can't help seeing Nicholas Cage in National Treasure being obsessed about clues only he can see, and I was looking for something new. I an unknown actor would have been better. I also think the decoding of the numbers just seemed far fetched. 

The film has some interesting visuals, and the special effects do not rise to the level of recent masterpieces. My standards for excellent special effects have increased. I could not help thinking -- "that looks fake". Despite the fakeness, I liked the subway crash scene. It reminded me of Silver Streak. 

Cage is a decent actor, but I am tired of him. The two kids were a bit flat. Rose Byrne does an excellent worried and scared look, but her part is small.

Cast and crew:
Nicholas Cage, Rose Byrne; directed by Alex Proyas

Rating: 2.5 flasks
1/2
More:
How can a movie with so many people dying have a happy ending?

Even more: The movie wrestles with determinism versus randomness issues, but I don't get how aliens mean that we are all going to see each other in heaven.

Milk

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Plot: Milk is the story of Harvey Milk, from when he opened a store in the Castro district of San Francisco to his election and then the end of his life. It is a saga of the gay movement.

Review: Sean Penn's Harvey Milk is an outstanding performance, and no one can minimize it. The film is a stale & predictable docu-drama about the early gay movement.  The issues in this movie were so important at the time, but today it all seems old and rehashed. The film could have used stronger supporting characters, and some better dialog. Penn is great though. 

Cast and crew:
Sean Penn; directed by Gus Van Sant

Rating: 2.0 flasks


More: Why so much opera music?

Even more: The country certainly has changed in the last thirty years. 
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Watchmen

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Plot: Watchmen has a lengthy story involving the killing of a superhero, The Comedian, and the search to find his killer by another superhero, Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley). His superhero friends, Nite Owl (Patrick Wilson), Silk Spectre (Malin Akerman) and Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup) are also afraid of being killed. There is a second plot involving the prevention of nuclear war by Dr. Manhattan, who is powerful enough to win wars for the United States, and the fight for lasting peace championed by Adrian Veidt (Matthew Goode.)

Review: Watchmen is a thoughtful movie that has themes about the depressing nature of life, and the main villian is actually doing evil so that good may come. Rorschach similarly has a harsh evil side. This adult pairing of good and evil is the most attractive element of the story. I thought the plot was well-written and easy enough to follow. The use of Nixon, Kissinger and Lee Iacoca in the story was pretty humorous.

The characters were well-drawn, and fairly well-motivated for superheros. As in many superhero movies, the back stories are the most interesting. The acting was not especially good, or perhaps the direction did not stress emotive performances. For example, the discussion on Mars that leaves Silk Spectre crying was flat. Dr. Manhattan was particularly wooden -- I suppose he was supposed to be, but I think motion-capture is inherently wooden.

Cast and crew:Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Jackie Earle Haley, Patrick Wilson;
directed by Zack Snyder, based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.
Rating
3.0


More: How many times was Dr. Manhattan's penis shown?

The International

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Plot: The International is a thriller about an evil bank empire that secretly trades arms and finances war around the world. Louis Salinger (Clive Owen) is an interpol agent working with New York district attorney Eleanor Whitman (Naomi Watts) to investigate international arms trading. The bank tries to obstruct the investigation by killing witnesses and investigators. (These are very blood-thirsty bankers.) 

Review: Both Louis Salinger and Eleanor Whitman are likeable characters, and the movie's complicated story keeps the action moving. I liked having a bank as the villian, although the bank is really a cartoon version of an evil bank, and it has little to do with finance. In this economy, I like the idea of an evil bank though.  The complicated plot was not too complicated for me. 

The movie had smart dialog (by Eric Singer) and some quotable lines. The movie was basically a genre picture with a message a bit like Jack Bower in 24 saying it is OK to be a vigilante and who shoots unarmed bad guys. 

There was a shootout at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, and I don't know how they made that. Pretty cool. 

Cast and crew:
Owen Wilson, Naomi Watts; directed by Tom Tykwer
Rating
2.5 flasks- almost 3
1/2

More
"This is the essence of banking, to make us slaves of debt."

"If you control the debt, you control everything."

Howl's Moving Castle (2004) Hauru no ugoku shiro

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Plot: A witch curses a girl and makes her an old woman. She hooks up with a strange young magician who owns a magical moving house.

Review: This is a whimsical fantasy that I really enjoyed. The images are charming and the story keeps you involved. The plot is creative.

Cast and crew: directed by Hayao Miyazaki

Rating: 3.5 flasks
1/2

More:
Highly recommended