The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (2009)

Robin Wright stars as the tightly wound title character, and a stellar supporting cast rounds out this well-written tale of a second generation woman on the brink. Directed and written by Rebecca Miller (daughter of playwright Arthur and wife of Daniel Day-Lewis), adapted from her own novel, it did not, as far as I know, make it to a theatre in this part of the US, so it was a netflix night for us Thursday. Miller's The Ballad of Jack and Rose (2005) was really great--I recommend you all see it. It starred Day-Lewis, Camilla Belle, Catherine Keener playing a nice person for a change, and the boy who played one of Keener's sons, Ryan McDonald, plays one of Pippa's kids here. Wright (she has removed the Penn from her name--I don't know if her divorce from Sean is final; she was great in Forrest Gump (1994), White Oleander (2002), the barely seen ensemble movie Nine Lives (2005), What Just Happened, and others) barely smiles at all when she is onscreen (a few grimaces pass for smiles). Her role is shared with Blake Lively (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 1 & 2 (2005, 08), Accepted (2006), Gossip Girl on TV), playing Pippa as a younger woman and doing a great job of it with a lot of screen time. Maria Bello (wonderful in Permanent Midnight (1998), Coyote Ugly (2000), The Cooler (2003), A History of Violence and Thank You for Smoking (both 2005), and more) is fab as Pippa's crazy mother.

Then we have Alan Arkin (among his over 90 credits I loved him in Popi (1969), Catch-22 (1970), Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), Slums of Beverly Hills (1998), Sunshine Cleaning, and Little Miss Sunshine (2006), which won him a long overdue Oscar) as Pippa's not so patient older husband, Keanu Reeves (I'm the only movie buff I know who didn't love The Matrix (1999), but I did like River's Edge (1986), Parenthood (1989 - Reeves played a boyfriend), and Thumbsucker (2005)) perfectly playing the neighbor, Winona Ryder (nominated for Oscars for both The Age of Innocence (1993) and Little Women (1994), she has played roles I liked more: in Beetle Juice (1988), Edward Scissorhands (1990), Girl, Interrupted (1999), and, especially, Woody Allen's Celebrity (1998)), Zoe Kazan (I just wrote about her in The Exploding Girl)), Julianne Moore (wrote about her in A Single Man) with a great shag haircut, and Shirley Knight (despite her 164 credits starting in 1955, I always think of her as Hope's mother in thirtysomething--even though it was only for two episodes she got emmy nominations for both), among many. The "Who is that?" moment for me was Aunt Trish, played by Robin Weigert (lots of TV, including two episodes of Private Practice and one of United States of Tara, and a small part at the end of Synecdoche, New York).

Reviews are all over the map--see rottentomatoes (67%) for some examples of people loving it, hating it, and not caring at all. Nice piano themes by composer Michael Rohatyn (The Ballad of Jack and Rose and Miller's other two movies Angela (1995) and Personal Velocity (2002), among others), a few songs, and no soundtrack listing available anywhere. We enjoyed this and would be happy to discuss it with anyone else who sees it.

Skin (2009)

This is the 250th movie summarized on babetteflix since I began September 3, 2008. Jack & I were captivated by Skin, a sad look at South Africa's apartheid from the viewpoint of a true-life family caught in it: white parents, white son, dark-skinned daughter with kinky hair due to a genetic anomaly.

This in a time when the races were not legally permitted even to touch hands when making change. Change was sorely needed, but didn't come about until it was far too late for the Laings. Sandra Laing (born in 1955, she is alive and commenting), played as a girl by Ella Ramangwane in a radiant debut performance, is innocent and naive, believing that she is white because her parents have told her so. This was confusing to me: how could they all (parents Abraham and Sannie, older brother Leon) have been so unsuspecting of the potential for conflict in a society where racism was part of its very fabric; where they ran a store that catered mostly to black people who had to put their money on the counter, not in the shopkeeper's hand; where the majority blacks were treated as second class citizens and some of them looked an awful lot like their daughter/sister.

Actor Sam Neill (born in Northern Ireland and raised in New Zealand, he has almost 100 credits, including My Brilliant Career (1979), The Piano (1993) and Jurassic Park I & III (1993, 2001)) is great as the mercurial Abraham, who believes that his daughter is white and that apartheid is just (watch for his beard changing color from scene to scene). South African actress Alice Krige (Barfly (1987) and many more) is also very good as the loving Sannie (what a creative nickname for Susanne). After a while, the lovely and talented Sophie Okonedo (Dirty Pretty Things (2002), Oscar nominated for Hotel Rwanda (2004), brilliant in HBO's Tsunami: The Aftermath (2006), and good in The Secret Life of Bees) takes over the role of Sandra, which garnered her a nomination for a British Independent Film Award. Tony Kgoroge (also in Hotel Rwanda, as well as Blood Diamond (2006) and Invictus) turns in a powerful performance as Petrus.

This feature debut for director Anthony Fabian is powerful and moving. I recommend it highly.

The Exploding Girl (2009)

We've seen Zoe Kazan in supporting roles in Revolutionary Road (I wrote about her lineage in that post), Me and Orson Welles, and It's Complicated (she was annoying in the latter). Now she stars in a quiet little indie about a college girl with an absent boyfriend, a best friend who is a boy, and epilepsy. Don't make the mistake I did and go sleep-deprived--I know I missed a few things, as the movie is slow moving and subtle. Kazan is expressive in a low key way and won Best Actress at the Tribeca Film Festival for this role. The best friend is played by Mark Rendell (My One and Only), and co-starring is the city of New York. The cinematography, by Eric Lin, is dense, with every scene having background action and noise. Bradley Rust Gray directed, wrote, produced, and edited (his wife, So Yong Kim, co-produced, and he has co-produced and edited movies that she has directed). Here's a bit about them from the New York Times, and an interview with Kazan. The moody music is by the Icelandic band Múm (here's a song similar to the one from the trailer). I and countless others on the world wide web have been searching for that song from the trailer. Someone figured out it is called Hvernig á að særa vini sína (How to hurt your friends) by Múm's old band Andhéri. Not available. Yet. The trailer has spoilers, in my humble opinion, but here's a link anyway.

We liked this, but recommend preparing yourself for a complete lack of explosions.

Babies (Bébé(s) - 2010)

We must have seen the trailer for this a dozen times, and each viewing made us chuckle. The full length (79 minutes) documentary did not disappoint. We had saved this one for Amy, too, and all three of us loved it. The movie follows four babies from birth to first birthday in four parts of the world: Hattie in San Francisco; Mari in Tokyo, Japan; Ponijao in Opuwo, Namibia (west coast of Africa, the next country north of South Africa, their village is near the border with Angola), and Bayar in Bayanchandmani Töv Aimag, Mongolia (south of Russia, north of China, they live in the middle of the country). The first two live urban lives and the latter two rural. Imdb's web page contains one glaring error: it lists all four babies as playing "herself." Bayar is clearly a boy. We witness his birth (in a hospital), and, as Jack puts it, "We can see his junk." I posted a comment--let's see if they fix it. The trailer opens with Ponijao and her younger sister squabbling over a plastic bottle, completely aware of the camera on them (why wouldn't they be? They have had cameras on them their whole lives thus far). Theirs is the most basic existence: they live in huts, women have bare breasts, and no adult men are anywhere in the Namibian segments (one post on imdb says that the men follow the cattle while the women and children stay in the village). There is some dialogue but no subtitles. We really didn't miss them. The Americans talk the most and we understood them, so--there we are. The others do more communicating with body language and baby talk. Here's one of many interviews with the director, Thomas Balmes, who is French (hence the Bébé(s) above).

The music is wonderful. The song from the trailer, The Perpetual Self or “What Would Saul Alinsky Do?” by Sufjan Stevens, runs over the credits, and the rest of the music is by Bruno Coulais, about whom I wrote a month ago for his score for Oceans. Here's a clip featuring vocals by Rosemary Standley, and an article about the soundtrack.

This is being held over locally so you can see it on the big screen. And see it you must, one way or the other. Bring your own babies. Balmes hints in some of his interviews that there will be bonus material on the DVD.

We saw this at Terrace Theater in Charleston, a suburban movie house decorated with vintage posters. Before the movie, they showed the "Let's all go to the Lobby" video which greatly pleased us old geezers.

2010 Cannes winners

Palme d’Or: Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Grand Prix (Second-Place Award): Des Hommes Et Des Dieux (Of Gods And Men), directed by Xavier Beauvois

Best Director: Mathieu Amalric for Tournée (On Tour)

Best Screenplay: Poetry by Lee Chang-dong

Best First Feature: Año Bisiesto directed by Michael Rowe

Jury Prize: A Screaming Man directed by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun

Best Actress: Juliette Binoche for Certified Copy

Best Actor: (tied) Javier Bardem for Biutiful; (tied) Elio Germano for La Nostra Vita

Short Film: Chienne d’Histoire directed by Serge Avedikian

Here's some news coverage.

Kick-Ass (2010)

Jack, Amy, Emily, Kara, and I all liked this highly profane, violent, yet ultimately silly action comedy based on a graphic novel (we had saved it to see with Amy on our visit last week, and the other girls were our bonus guests). 

Shot in super saturated color, it delivered plenty of blood spurts and injuries that healed with magical speed. Kick-Ass is the name assumed by a geeky boy, Dave, when he decides to become a faux super hero. Supposedly invisible to girls when dressed in his plain high school garb and glasses, he is played by a gorgeous 20 year old, Aaron Johnson (portrayed Ed Norton's younger self in the excellent The Illusionist (2006), and some other movies on my to-see list). Johnson, like the director Matthew Vaughn (I was not a fan of his Stardust (2007), with Claire Danes and Michelle Pfeiffer, but liked his work with director Guy Ritchie, co-producing Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and Snatch (2000)), is a Brit, but has a flawless American accent. 

Nicolas Cage (I listed my faves in The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans) has a small part as the father ("Big Daddy") of 13 year old co-star Chloë Grace Moretz (acting since age 7, she has an impressive resumé, including playing the lead's little sister in (500) Days of Summer) as Hit-Girl, another faux super hero. Supporting players include Christopher Mintz-Plasse (McLovin in Superbad (2007), Role Models, How to Train Your Dragon); Lyndsy Fonseca (adorable in Hot Tub Time Machine); Clark Duke (also from HTTM); and Elizabeth McGovern (Ragtime (1981), She's Having a Baby (1988), The Wings of the Dove (1997)) in a cameo as Dave's mother –you probably won't recognize her. Jack and I didn't.

Here's the list of all the songs (I copied and pasted from the reelsoundtrack blog because there are some spoilers in there):
Stand Up – Prodigy
Can’t Go Back – Primal Scream
There’s A Pot Brewing – The Little Ones
The Barber of Seville Overture – Zagreb Festival Orchestra
Omen – Prodigy
(Banana Splits) Tra La La Song – The Dickies
Chi Mai Del Mio Provò, Piacer Piu Dolce! [Act 2], Idomeneo – Wiener Philharmoniker
Starry Eyed – Ellie Goulding
This Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both of Us – Sparks
Crazy – Gnarls Barkley
In The House In a Heartbeat – John Murphy [from 28 Days Later]
We’re All in Love – New York Dolls
Per Qualche Dollaro In Piu – Ennio Morricone
Adagio In D Minor by John Murphy
Kanada’s Death, Pt. 2 from the Sunshine soundtrack
Bad Reputation – Joan Jett & The Blackhearts
Battle Hymn Of The Republic – Elvis Presley [version by the US Army Band]
The Surface Of The Sun (remix) by John Murphy
Make Me Wanna Die – The Pretty Reckless
Kick Ass – Mika
plus original score, some of which can be found on this page, credited on imdb to Marius de Vries, Ilan Eshkeri, Henry Jackman, and John Murphy (the clips on youtube credit Danny Elfman as well).

I predict cult status for this movie–it will have a long life on video. And the sequel. Kick-Ass 2: Balls to the Wall, is already posted on imdb for a 2012 release.

The Cinebarre movie theatre in Charleston SC, where we saw this, has shelves in front of each row of seats, and wait staff watching for patrons to display slips of paper so one can get drinks and snacks brought in to the seats. Interesting concept. I was kind of glad no one in our group wanted anything, because I would not have been able to see over the waiter's head. The drinks probably enhanced the viewing experience of the other people in the audience, though; it was fun to hear one guy roar with laughter throughout.

How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

Number two at the box office last week, this is a pretty cute coming-of-age animated story about an awkward kid who becomes a dragon whisperer (Jack's term) when he is expected to kill the beasts. It's rated PG for intense action, scary dragons menacing and injuring people, dragons getting wounded, and some language. Jay Baruchel (star of the cancelled series Undeclared (2001-03) and small parts in other movies) is the kid, named Hiccup (these are links to the characters' drawings next to photos of the voice actors), who speaks in his own, nasal, American-accented voice, while Craig Ferguson (tied with Dave Letterman for my favorite talk show host, writer and co-star of two wonderful movies: Saving Grace (2000) and The Big Tease (1999)) uses an enhanced version of his own Scottish accent as Hiccup's mentor Gobber, as does Gerard Butler as Hiccup's father Stoick, and Hiccup's friends all have American accents: America Ferrera as skinny blonde Astrid, Jonah Hill as Snotlout, Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Fishlegs (the brainy one), and Kristen Wiig and T.J. Miller as twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be olde Scotland or someplace further north--Stoick does invoke the Norse gods Odin and Thor.

We picked the IMAX 3-D screening, and the effects were great--an acrophobe in real life, I enjoy flying sequences in reel life. The movie's 98% on rottentomatoes gave us high expectations. It was okay, but many other animated features I've seen in the last few years have been way better (Finding Nemo (2003), The Incredibles (2004), Ratatouille, Wall-E, Up). If you have to go to this one with your kids, there are things to enjoy: the drawings in the books are fabulous, the soundtrack, which did sound Scottish to me, by John Powell (I Am Sam (2001), all three Bournes (2002, 04, 07), The Italian Job (2003), Happy Feet (2006), the Gerard Butler snorer P.S. I Love You (2007), Hancock (2008), and more) is very good, those flying scenes, 3-D technology just keeps getting better, and there are some laughs here and there. Speaking of laughs, I can't think of this movie without remembering the joke Joel McHale (Community) made about the title on Craig Ferguson's show (at 4 minutes into the clip at the top).

City Island (2009)

This little family farce was thoroughly satisfying from start to finish--lots of laughs with characters we really liked. The Rizzo family lives on City Island, a real island that is technically part of Bronx NY, in a house that Vince (Andy Garcia)'s family has occupied for generations. Julianna Margulies plays Vince's wife Joyce, and the nearly grown kids are Ezra Miller as Vince Jr. and Dominik García-Lorido (Garcia's actual daughter) as Vivian. 

It could have been called Secrets and Lies but that title was taken. In this movie everybody's got something to hide (there's no monkey, for you Beatle fans out there). OK, where was I? Oh yeah. Something to hide. The secrets aren't a big deal, but I won't reveal them, as every other reviewer and blogger has, because that's the way I roll. The funniest secret is Vince Jr.'s, and Miller is one funny teenager (if you've seen Californication on Showtime or Royal Pains on USA--both are in my post about TV last fall, you'll recognize his face, though he played it straighter in those shows--the pilot of Royal Pains is going to be repeated Saturday May 8 at 2:30 AM). 

Garcia (Oscar-nominated for The Godfather: Part III (1990), he has a ton of credits; some of my favorites were the soapy When a Man Loves a Woman (1994) with Meg Ryan; Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995) and The Man from Elysian Fields (2001) (both were noir and the latter co-starred Margulies as well as Mick Jaggar); and The Lost City (2005), about his birthplace: Havana in the 1950s, which he directed, produced, composed music for and starred in) is terrific as the corrections officer (there's a running gag about "prison guard"). Margulies (I've been enjoying The Good Wife on CBS; I remember her from ER and her story arc on The Sopranos) is lovely in this, with her heavily made up hazel eyes and big temper. 

Some have complained about the arguing family scenes. Jack, Mary Ellen, Dan, and I thought they were hilarious. We laughed out loud a whole lot. Nice that Garcia could have his daughter in it, though I don't think her part adds nor subtracts from the sum. Emily Mortimer (loved her in Lovely & Amazing (2001), Match Point (2005), and Lars and the Real Girl (2007), among others), though, adds a lot with her delicate English accent and looks, and Steven Strait, as Tony, is easy on the eyes. Alan Arkin brings plenty of humor to his scenes as the frustrated teacher. 

What I didn't realize until researching this is that writer/director Raymond De Felitta wrote and directed Two Family House (2000), a Sundance Audience Award winner, which I loved. Taking place on another NYC island, Staten, it starred Irishwoman Kelly Macdonald and Italian-American Michael Rispoli in an unlikely alliance. The music, by Polish composer Jan A.P. Kaczmarek (Oscar winner for Finding Neverland (2004), lovely scores for Unfaithful (2002) (here's a clip), Evening (2007), and The Visitor-another clip) is good, and reelsoundtrack has posted a list of the songs. 

City Island has a high rating of 84% on rottentomatoes. Try it. You'll like it.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Män som hatar kvinnor - 2009)

This is a very good thriller recommended for those with tough constitutions and strong bladders (it's 2:42 long). Containing graphic violence against women and men, it would be R or stronger if the MPAA had rated it. Even though it's going to be remade in English, Roger Ebert and I both recommend you see the original Swedish version. Based on the best-selling novel and part I of the Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larsson (1954-2004), its title literally translates to Men Who Hate Women. Parts II (The Girl Who Played with Fire) and III (The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest) have also been made into movies with the same stars (Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist) and one director, different from part I, but have not yet been released in the US. I started reading the novel a few months ago and was having a hard time slogging through even the non-violent parts when I heard it was going to be a movie so I put it away. Judy and Trudy don't know each other, but they both liked it a lot, so Jack, Mary Ellen, Dan, and I saw it last week and Mary Ellen exclaimed, "I loved it!" at the closing credits. It's hard for me to use the word "love" for something so disturbing, but, like I said, it's really well crafted and paced. We didn't notice its length while we were watching it. Rottentomatoes.com, which averages critics' and users' ratings, gives this an unusually high 85% (listed with the American release date of 2010). I don't read reviews before seeing movies (too many plot-spoilers and anticipation-dampeners), but you may like to browse through the list of their highest ratings here.

I can't imagine anyone but Danish actress Rapace playing Lisbeth Salander: smart, goth, and angry (here's a pleasant picture of her in contrast to how she looks as Lisbeth). The director of this one, Niels Arden Oplev, is also Danish, but the other principals are Swedish. Nyqvist's Mikael Blomkvist is softer than Lisbeth (at times I was reminded of a similar contrast between Angela Bassett and Ralph Fiennes in Kathryn Bigelow's Strange Days (1995)). Sven-Bertil Taube, who plays Henrik Vanger, is a singer best known in his own country for recording songs written by his father Evert Taube, as well as a role on PBS's Upstairs, Downstairs.

We were pleased that Lisbeth's computer is a MacBook, though it is one of several anachronisms (the movie takes place in 2005, but MacBooks came out in 2006, and her operating system is from 2007). Whatever. As I said in The Joneses, Apple doesn't need to pay filmmakers or TV producers to showcase its products.

# 7 Rule for movies

In a movie, turn on a computer and it boots up immediately. Copy a file and it zips by, blazing fast. Hook one gadget to another, and the correct cable is always there. Every now and then, it will take way too long instead, but usually, it's unrealistically cooperative. See all rules.

Date Night (2010)

Jack & I saw this on vacation in Minneapolis and thought it was funny, despite an average of only 68% on rottentomatoes. As fans of NBC's Thursday night comedies we love Tina Fey and Steve Carell, and their chemistry is adorable as harried New Jersey parents out on the town for one fateful night in New York. It's telling that Fey is listed on imdb first as a writer (Saturday Night Live (first female head writer), Mean Girls (2004), 30 Rock), then actress (see above, plus Baby Mama (2008)) then producer, etc. That intelligence informs her comedy, even when she's playing dumb. I first noticed Carell in Bruce Almighty (2003) and its sequel Evan Almighty (he played Evan in both); his breakout role was as The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005) which he executive produced, I liked him in Little Miss Sunshine (2006) and Dan in Real Life (2007), plus we never miss an episode of The Office. Many reviewers have complained about the script (first full writing credit for Josh Klausner) and the director Shawn Levy (can't say I'm a fan of much of his previous work, especially Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, though I liked its predecessor), but the actors make up for it. Lots of recognizable talent (Mark Wahlberg in a running gag about being shirtless, Taraji P. Henson as a cop, rapper Common, Fey's SNL colleague Kristen Wiig, Mark Ruffalo, James Franco, Mila Kunis, the list goes on) graces the screen, including J.B. Smoove (Leon on Curb Your Enthusiasm (2007-09)) as the rubber-faced cab driver, in a car stunt we believe is new under the lens. The movie has a few examples of Rule #7, and a goof involving it (I won't say, because it's kind of a spoiler. After you see the movie, read this). One of my fellow bloggers has compiled a list of the music (according to him, no soundtrack release is planned).

Date Night is not particularly art, but we enjoyed it thoroughly, and, as usual, we stayed until the very end to see some hilarious outtakes of Fey and Carell improvising a scene.

The Joneses (2009)

This comedy about consumption (not TB, but acquisitiveness) charmed us. Its story of a beautiful family who get paid to convince their friends and neighbors to buy expensive luxury items, i.e. keep up with the Joneses (David Duchovny and Demi Moore), was decorated with glossy production design, wardrobe, sets, locations (mostly Georgia), and high-tech toys. Both Jack and I love technology, and among the products that the title characters use for enticement are new cell phones, TVs, video games, golf clubs, virtual golf games, and cars, not to mention clothes, jewelry, packaged food, and much more. However, there are no Apple products (our favorites). I suspect that Apple wasn't willing or didn't need to pay the product placement fees that the filmmakers could get from Dell, Audi (who supplied all the cars), and others.

The first two acts are quite funny, as the family improves their sales figures through attraction not promotion, and then the movie turns into a cautionary tale. Duchovny (I didn't see the X-Files TV series, only the 2008 movie, but I loved him as the co-star of The Rapture (1991), the star of the wonderfully sick and twisted Showtime series Californication (season 4 coming soon), and guest actor on three episodes of the HBO series The Larry Sanders Show (1995-98)) and Moore (some of my faves are About Last Night...(1986), Disclosure (1994), plus her work in the ensembles of Bobby (2006), Deconstructing Harry (1997), and If These Walls Could Talk on HBO in 1996, which she co-produced; young Amy loved Now and Then in 1995; and I must mention Moore's 3 wins and 4 nominations for Razzies - the Golden Raspberry Awards) do great jobs in their characters with double lives. Their kids, played by Amber Heard (one episode of Californication, a cameo in Zombieland (here's a photo), and others) and Ben Hollingsworth turn in good performances, but the standouts are Gary Cole (I remember him in In the Line of Fire (1993) and Office Space (1999), and he's done lots of TV, notably Entourage as desperate agent Andrew Klein, Desperate Housewives as a creepy ex, The West Wing as VP Bob Russell) and Glenne Headly (I liked her in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), Dick Tracy (1990), 2 Days in the Valley (1996), and four episodes of Monk, among others) as their tightly wrapped neighbors. Former supermodel and Playboy bunny Lauren Hutton (now in her 60s) plays the cutthroat boss of the marketing company that employs the Joneses.

Commercial director and graphic designer Derrick Borte, who wrote the screenplay based on a story by Randy Dinzler, makes his feature directorial debut. We had not seen the preview before reading that this was opening locally April 16. It was the online description that drove us to see it. And now I'm glad I didn't know all that stuff first. Watch the trailer at your own risk. If the movie's gone by the time you get around to it, DVD would be perfectly fine, so just save it to your netflix queue. Imdb lists several movies by this title, and there's a different one with a 2010 date. It apparently hasn't been released yet. This one has the 2009 release date because it premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last September.

Jack reminded me to mention the similarities to the series The Riches (starring Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver), which was about a family who assumes the life of people they find dead in a car accident. It was cancelled by FX after two brilliant seasons. Put season 1 on your netflix list while you're at it.