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Sunday, January 23, 2011

RABBIT HOLE

This movie (based on a play) is about a young couple who is dealing with the loss of their 4-year-old son.  Eight months have passed since he was killed when hit by a car driven by a neighborhood teenager.  The couple, Howie and Becca each have their distinctively different ways of coping.  Howie goes to support group meetings, while Becca thinks it's all just a bunch of crap.  In one meeting, another couple speaking of their own loss said, "God needed another angel," to which Becca replied, "Then why didn't he just make one?  He is God, after all."  Becca, whose sister is pregnant, is trying to be supportive of the pregnancy, all the while having to listen to her mother compare Becca's loss to her own (she lost her own son, Becca's brother, to drugs).  But he was an adult  crack head who made fateful decisions, not a helpless little boy.  Part of Becca's way of handling her grief is to get rid of their son's stuff -- to give it to her sister for her new baby, or to take some things to Goodwill, or simply throw it away.
Howie, on the other hand, wants to cling to everything that reminds him of their son.  He doesn't want to erase him from their lives.
So they take their own separate paths of grief, but somehow never stop loving and supporting each other.  They find different people to confide in and lean on.  Howie meets a woman from his support group who seems to understand exactly what he's going through, and Becca reaches out to the very teenager who was driving the car that killed her son.
I very cautiously went to see this movie.  As I have said many times before, I don't like movies about miserable people and their miserable lives.  But the previews I had seen for RABBIT HOLE led me to believe that this wouldn't be the case here.  And it wasn't.
While these two people are going through the hardest thing anyone could have to endure, putting unbelievable strains on their relationships and careers, there is a glimmer of hope here.  It never gets over-emotional, even though you sometimes wonder why not.  You leave the movie thinking that they're somehow going to get through this.

127 HOURS (Screener)

We all know what this movie is about -- a guy goes hiking by himself (smart) in an extremely desolate canyon (brilliant) without telling ANYONE where he is going (genius).  He slips, a rock slips with him, and his arm becomes wedged between the rock and the canyon wall.  He ends up, after 127 hours, cutting off his own arm with a dull pocked knife to free himself.  End of story.  Heck, the movie poster tell the whole story!

Oops -- Did I ruin it for you?  Well maybe you've been living under said rock!

Let's face it.  The only reason anyone wants to see this film is for that "scene."  It was neither interesting, nor spiritual,  nor uplifting.   In fairness, it could have been a lot more boring, but, mercifully, it was limited to just one hour and thirty-three minutes.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

THE KING'S SPEECH

This is a an important history lesson, as well as an uplifting story of a shy, reluctant king who struggled to over come a physical hindrance to become a symbol of national and international pride and unity.

Albert Frederick Arthur George, was fourth in line for the British throne when he was born in 1895, behind his grandfather, father, and older brother Edward.  Albert, or Bertie to family, was always in the shadow of his brother, who barring death, was destined to eventually be King of the British Empire.  Bertie was a shy kid, raised by sadistic nannies who favored Edward.  He was prone to crying, had knock knees which required him to wear painful metal leg braces,  and he had a bitch of a stammer.  Never outgoing, Bertie accepted his fate and was content, even preferred, to stay in the background and let his more dynamic family members perform the royal duties.

As Duke of York, though, Bertie was required on rare occasions to speak in public, a task that he dreaded.  He and his wife, Duchess Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon exhaustively sought out therapists to help the Duke shed his impediment.  To no avail.  That is. . . until they found "Dr." Lionel Logue, a quirky, unconventional occasional actor who promise the Duke and Duchess that he would absolutely be able to cure Bertie if and only if they put their complete trust in him and his sometimes outlandish methods.


Here began a wonderful journey and a friendship unlike Bertie had ever known.  There were the expected ups and downs of the relationship, but the understanding and rapport they had with one another was too great, and eventually became immune to collapse.


Along the way, Bertie's father, King George V died, and his brother, Edward ascended to the throne.  But ahh. . . .   there's a big problem here. . . .   Edward had fallen in love with a "commoner" and, if he was to marry her, as was his plan, he would have to abdicate the throne, making Bertie king.   That is the LAST thing Bertie ever expected or wanted.  But that was his fate, and like it or not, that's how it was going to be.  Oh well, at least the Coronation Rite required him to speak only three lines.  Easy Peasy Japanesey.  Right?  Wrong!  


World War II was moving into full swing, Britain and Germany had declared war on each other, and the British countrymen were looking toward their new king for comfort and guidance.  At this point, Albert (Bertie) took the name George VI because Albert was too "German."


Oh no!  George had to address his loyal subjects LIVE on that new-fangled thing called radio.  A full scale nine-minute address.  This, his first time addressing his public, would set the stage for how he would be permanently perceived.  His first impression.  He HAD to get it all out and get it out with the confidence his country needed at this troubled time.


This is one of those movies that is almost flawless.  Beautiful to look at, a period piece that kept moving at a brisk and always interesting pace.  Great direction and editing.  The cast were all perfect and totally believable.


I definitely recommend this film.  Destined for many Oscar noms.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

THE FIGHTER

Oh brother, here we go again!  Another rags-to-riches boxing story.  It was produced by the director of BLACK SWAN and THE WRESTLER, so I was expecting it to be really dark.  It wasn't.  I was expecting another ROCKY.  It wasn't.  In short, I had low expectations for THE FIGHTER, and that just may be why I liked it so much.
You already know how it ends. . . right?   Everyone who goes into the theater knows how this movie is going to end.  But that's not what the movie is about.  It's about what it takes to get to the final outcome, and the unusual obstacles that are all along the way.
Most of all, this movie is about family, and the love and loyalty that comes with it.
Two brothers, Mickey and Dicky Ward grew up as the only two brothers in a family of nine children.  They had an army of seven whacky sisters, a domineering mother, Alice and a sort of in-the-background father, George.
Dicky, the older brother had an extremely brief moment in the spotlight when, several years earlier, he "knocked down" Sugar Ray Leonard and won a fight against the welterweight champion.  Dicky bragged about this accomplishment ad nauseum, convincing himself that it was a legitimate win, while the general consensus was that Sugar Ray slipped and lost the fight himself, not because Dicky was the the superior fighter.  In the years that followed, Dicky plunged into a life of a crackhead and lived in a ramshackle delapidated dump with several other crackheads.
Nevertheless, Mickey, a single guy with young daughter,  idolized Dicky and was himself training to make a name for himself in the world of boxing.  Despite Dicky's shortcomings, Mickey kept him, as well as his father, George, and the local gym owner as his trainers. His mother, Alice was his manager.  All in the family.
Even though Dicky never made it as a boxer, and although he was crack-addicted, Dicky was extremely knowledgeable about boxing and seemed to know exactly how to bring out the best in Mickey.
Another problem was that Alice wasn't the best manager and scheduled fights for Mickey based on the prize money without regard to how each fight would move him closer to a title fight.
So the family, with the army of obnoxious sisters, the crackhead brother, the milquetoast father (who, to his credit, finally stood up to Alice, to the tune of cast iron frying pans flying toward his head), was nothing short of a comedy show.  They definitely brought a nice degree of humor to an otherwise deadly serious film.  Mickey, the one everyone was so concerned about was the least dynamic of the bunch.
Oh yeah. . . .On top of all this is the bartender/girlfriend who is pushing Mickey to shed his lead-weight family, get different, more experienced supporters and have a real chance to get a belt.
Will Mickey follow the advice of his new girlfriend, and renounce his family who have worked so relentlessly and believed in him?  They were just a little misguided, but they truly wanted the best for Mickey. (Which translates to the best for themselves, too)  What's wrong with that?  Can he make it to the top with them running the show?  He finds that he must choose between them and the gym-owner, whose stipulation to train Mickey is NO DICKY and NO ALICE.  George made the cut.
All the characters in this movie really kept it going at a rapid pace.  Never boring,  I found myself rooting for  Mickey, even though I knew what was coming at the end.
But. . . .  It didn't end exactly how I thought it would.  I really liked THE FIGHTER.