Changeling (2008)

Impressive! Beautiful cinematography. Great sets, locations, wardrobe, gloves, and hats. Expect nominations in any of those categories (is there a Best Glove category? Yellow Submarine shoulda been a contender). We saved this for a weekend matinee because it is long at 2 hours 20 minutes. But it didn't feel long. The story is compelling and Angelina Jolie (who, Jack pointed out, was nominated several times for playing a woman with a missing husband in 2007's A Mighty Heart) was convincing as the bereft mother of a missing boy. She will probably gain a few nods for this performance as well, the true (with few licenses taken, according to my research) story of a woman's powerlessness against a corrupt police department and her determination to be heard. I have never watched the TV show Burn Notice on USA but have seen the trailer so many times (when watching Monk or Psych) that Jeffrey Donovan looked familiar. He was good as the patronizing police Captain Jones. Amy Ryan, whom we will miss as Michael's goofy ex-girlfriend Holly on The Office (and who won awards for her portrayal of a druggy mom in Gone Baby Gone last year) did a nice job in a small part in this, providing a line that got a smile when she said it and a big laugh when it was repeated later. That may have been the only laugh of the movie. I might refer to Angelina as "Lips," and if I did, it would be an example of the literary device synecdoche (sih-NEK-doh-key), meaning referring to a thing by one of its parts (it also means referring to a part by calling it the thing). I'm eager to see the movie of that name, opening soon, which promises to be even more inscrutable than the definition I just gave.