ANIMAL KINGDOM

(Australian)  Talk about your dysfunctional family!  This story opens with the death of 17-year-old Josh's mother.  But he really doesn't seem to care.  He is sitting on their sofa next to his mother's lifeless body, non-chalantly watching Australia's version of Deal Or No Deal, waiting for the paramedics to show up.  When they do, Josh casually mentions that his mother OD'd on heroin.
So off goes Josh to live with his grandmother.  Also living with granny (Smurf) are Josh's four unusually handsome uncles.  None seem to particularly care that their daughter/sister has left the planet.
Well, this is no ordinary family.  This is a family of professional criminals.  They do bank jobs, and granny (Smurf, remember) is the leader of the pack -- the "moll," if you will, conjuring up memories of old James Cagney gangster movies.
THE GODFATHER comes to mind here, too.  The loyalty of the family, the head of the family (like Vito Corleone in THE GODFATHER) the crazy uncle (like Sonny), the wimpy brother who is doing it only because "that's what they do" (like Fredo), and even the young buck drawn into the fold whether he likes it or not (like Michael).
Things quickly go awry when the local cops kill two of the uncles.  Smurf and the gang set out for revenge, a cop gets killed, and Josh becomes a player.  All Josh wants is to be a normal kid.  He even gets a girlfriend..  But now he's in the family business, and has to conduct himself as so.  He has to keep secrets.  He has to participate in the shenanigans.
Meanwhile, the cops know what went down, but have to gather evidence before they can make any arrests..  One of the cops zeros in on Josh to try to get him to crack and spill the beans.
It's a story of who will remain loyal, who can or can't be trusted, and who can outsmart whom -- even within the family.  It even gets to the point where Smurf is willing to "whack" one of her own flesh and blood if need be.
This movie is quirky to be fun, yet serious enough to be disturbing.  It moves along at a brisk pace and keeps you guessing and surprised at what will happen next.  Good movie.  In limited release, it is definitely worth seeing if it is playing anywhere in your area.

BLUE VALENTINE

Someone answer me this question:  Why, when a porn "actor" or "actress" tries to go mainstream, they are scoffed at, ridiculed, and not taken seriously, but when it is the reverse, it is considered art?
In a nutshell, BLUE VALENTINE is about a couple whose relationship has deteriorated into, well, less than zero.  Their story is told through a series of flashbacks, along with the present-day.  They start out in a loving relationship, with, seemingly, a lot of common interests.  But as the years pass by, and with the birth of their daughter, everything goes to hell.  The husband, mover/housepainter Dean,  is unrefined, verbally abusive, and passively aggressive, but he at least sees their problem and tries to put romance back into their lives, but the wife, nurse Cindy, wants nothing to do with him or it.
I didn't find myself rooting for either character, so I didn't really care about what they were going through.
If you like sex in movies -- there's plenty of it here.  In fact, the film was originally rated "NC-17", but the Weinstein Company appealed (and probably greased a few palms), and the rating was changed to the much more money-making "R".
I wasn't shocked by the sex scenes (is anyone really shocked by anything anymore?  Just one click of the mouse, and you can see whatever you want.).  I just don't really like seeing it taken to this extreme in mainstream movies.  Apparently director Derek Cianfrance does.
Director Ridley Scott, when asked why he never has sex scenes in his films, replied "Because sex is boring unless you're the one having it."
So BV is another one of those films that I hate - about miserable people and their miserable lives.  Depressing as hell.  Oh well -- at least no one puked on camera in this one.  But you DO see (and hear) Cindy sitting on the toilet, peeing on a pregnancy test thingy.  Michelle Williams as Best Actress??  Puh-leez!
I'm starting to think all of Ryan Gosling's movies suck.

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.

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.

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.

TRUE GRIT

At its most basic, this movie is about a little girl seeking vengeance. I saw the 1969 version of TRUE GRIT starring John Wayne in 1969 and remember it as being a great movie.  I never saw it again after its initial release, and I really didn't remember what it was all about except that there was a little girl named Mattie Ross traveling the old west with the crusty, crotchety, old, one-eyed Rooster Cogburn, looking for something.
Well, what they were looking for, it turns out, is the killer of the little girl's father.  He had taken in a drifter, Tom Chaney, to do some work around his ranch and Tom Chaney turned on him and killed him.  Now Mattie is out to avenge her father's death and nab the man who killed her father.
She enlists the help of Rooster Cogburn, who has a reputation for no-nonsense bounty hunting.  He's the guy who has no ties or obligations to anything whatsoever.  He seems to like nobody and and nobody really likes him.  Doesn't care about anything -- we all know the type. But somewhere along the way, Rooster has developed a sense of morality and has chosen to use his skills to bring in bad guys for a living.
Since the killer is legitimately wanted by the law, a Texas Ranger by the name of LaBoeuf, goes along with Mattie and Rooster to administer some good ol' wild west justice.
Mattie's father was such a fresh kill that Mattie had been able to see his body in the undertaker's shop before they put him in the ground.  But what struck me as odd was that Mattie didn't really seem upset at all that she had just lost her father. She just seem pissed off.
So the three of them set off on their adventure.  Nobody really got along with each other and I guess that was supposed to be the humor in the film.  I suppose it was to an extent.  What I do remember from the first TRUE GRIT was that Mattie and Rooster eventually developed some sort of a bond, or friendship which never happened in this version.
I am a great fan of the Coen Brothers' movies, and I did like this movie, but it wasn't quiet up to par with most of their other stuff.  A few of their signature quirky characters were there (the bad guy who only makes animal sounds), but didn't really fit into the mood of the picture.  I won't tell you to rent the 1969 version instead of seeing this one because that version is probably terribly dated by now.
Maybe not..