Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009)

The first one, Night at the Museum (2006), moved right along, and I expected to like this one a lot. I counted 17 of the actors reprising their parts. But...if you only go to one movie a month, pick something else. It ground to a screeching halt whenever protagonist Ben Stiller (who has made a career out of awkward, narcissistic characters--do rent Flirting with Disaster and Your Friends and Neighbors (both 1996)) had the floor. I know Michael, who wouldn't go with me to Tropic Thunder, won't be surprised by my reaction. I usually like Ricky Gervais (creator of the original TV show The Office for BBC, and good on HBO's Extras as well as his comedy special from 2008), but his petulant Dr. McPhee didn't do much for me. Owen Wilson's (I particularly liked The Darjeeling Limited (2007), The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), and The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), all directed by Wes Anderson, and Wilson co-wrote the latter, which also starred Stiller) talent was not utilized in this, nor was Christopher Guest's (director, writer, and actor in For Your Consideration (2006), A Mighty Wind (2003), Best in Show (2000), and Waiting for Guffman (1996), as well playing Nigel Tufnel in This is Spinal Tap in 1984, among other credits), and Bill Hader (SNL 2005-09, Adventureland, Tropic Thunder, Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008), Superbad (2007), Knocked Up (2007)) as General Custer was almost as annoying as Stiller. Ironic that Wilson was uncredited in the first movie, where he had a lot more to do, and billed too high for his level of involvement in this one. Jonah Hill (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Knocked Up, Evan Almighty, and co-star of Superbad) was confident enough of his "intent to touch" scene that he was uncredited here. He was right, it was funny the first time. However most of us saw the scene repeatedly in the trailer. But Amy Adams (nobody noticed her in the fun Catch Me If You Can (2002), but she was nominated for an Oscar for Junebug (2005) and Doubt, and I enjoyed her in Sunshine Cleaning and Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, both 2008) was endearing in her Katherine Hepburn-esque turn as Amelia Earhart, and we liked the parts shot in the National Air & Space Museum. Hank Azaria (have I mentioned how much I liked his cancelled Showtime series Huff? Yes I have. He was amusingly arrogant in Run Fatboy Run (2007) and does a great job voicing many characters on The Simpsons, 431 episodes to date) also lit up the screen as Kamunrah and Abe Lincoln (The Thinker bits...forgettable). The singing cherubs (yawn from me, but I'm sure the kids will love that part) were voiced by the Jonas Brothers, and Albert Einstein was good shtick by Eugene Levy (Levy co-wrote and acted in all the Guest movies above). In addition to the flying sequences there were quite a few good special effects gags. If you have to take your kids you will probably find something to enjoy.

Paris 36 (Faubourg 36) (2008)

We saw four movies over the holiday weekend and liked every one. This trés charmant little pièce followed Babette's #2 Rule for Movies. The production team did a great job of melding lovely paintings (many of which included the Eiffel Tower) with street sets. In fact, I was so convinced that all the backgrounds were paintings that I was surprised to see a "Tzech" unit in the end credits (Prague is one of the usual locations for period pieces). Another usual touch, accordion music in a French film, was built right into the plot, as the harried theatre owner Pigoil (Gérard Jugnot), who was working to keep his business in business, had a son JoJo (Maxence Perrin) who played the accordion. Writer/director Christophe Barratier previously wrote and directed The Chorus (Les choristes - 2004), which was also a wonderful movie with lots of music starring Jugnot. Barratier was a producer on the stunning Winged Migration (Le peuple migrateur - 2001) and Microcosmos (1996), which is a fabulous documentary about bugs, shot in extreme close up. I presume the filmmakers think Americans are such hicks we can't handle its real title, Faubourg 36, which means suburb. This movie has won awards in its native country for acting (Nora Arnezeder as Douce) and composer Reinhardt Wagner, as well as César (the French Oscars) nominations for original music, cinematography, costumes, sound, and production design. Its time period of the 1930's during Hitler's rise to power gave the movie a political edge beyond the small story of the theatre and Pigoil's personal and artistic struggles. But my favorite parts were the musical production numbers. Recommended.

Star Trek (2009)

Recently Artie starred in a community performance of The Odd Couple. It's a fun show (and TV show and movie) and has one of my favorite in-context lines: "You leave me little notes on my pillow. Told you 158 times I can't stand little notes on my pillow. 'We're all out of cornflakes. F.U.' Took me three hours to figure out F.U. was Felix Ungar!" Exact quote courtesy of imdb. I have a new fave from Star Trek: "Are you out of your Vulcan mind?" Which brings me to Spock. This is Spock's (Zachary Quinto, whom I loved to hate as the evil Sylar in NBC's Heroes; I had given up on Fox's 24 before his 23 episodes--Adam Kaufman was his character's name for those who were more loyal than I) movie. James Tiberius Kirk (Chris Pine, the guy with the hilarious wig in Bottle Shock, also seen in romances like Just My Luck (2006) and Princess Diaries 2 (2004)) was the cute hot-headed hunk who got the job done, and the child Kirk had some fun stunts, but Spock was the one with depth, angst, and character development. Quinto was more than up to the task. Anton Yelchin (if you didn't watch Showtime's Huff, do rent it--Yelchin played Hank Azaria's adorable son Byrd; won a Young Artist Award for Hearts in Atlantis (2001), and I also liked him in the excellent movies Fierce People (2005) Alpha Dog (2006), and Charlie Bartlett (2007)), who, despite his Russian name and birth, moved to the US at 6 months and had no discernible accent in any of the previously mentioned work. But as Chekov in Star Trek he affected complex and, to my ears, believably thick Russian-accented English. His accent was matched when Simon Pegg joined the action as Scotty (AKA Montgomery Scott). Pegg, about whom I wrote in How to Lose Friends & Alienate People, is not Scottish, he's English, but he hammed up his Scottish accent to great comic effect. Pegg, who won several awards for writing and starring in Shaun of the Dead (2004) brings comedy to everything he does. And it was nice to see him NOT be the dumb guy for a change. Most of you probably know Leonard Nimoy (the original Spock) has a cameo. As an acrophobic, I couldn't help but notice how many fights took place on precipices. And lots of stuff got blown up! J.J. Abrams directed and, with his Lost (ABC) partner Damon Lindelof, produced. Philip, Tyler, and Chris advised us to see this one first of the action movies out at the time. Thanks, guys, you were right!

Cannes winners 2009

Festival de Cannes (Cannes Film Festival) 2009

Palme d’Or - Golden Palm
“The White Ribbon” directed by Michael Haneke

Grand Prix - Grand Prize
“The Prophet” directed by Jacques Audiard

Prix de la Mise en Scene - Best Director
Brillante Mendoza, director of “Kinatay”

Prix Exceptional du Jury - Special Jury Prize
Alain Resnais, director of “Wild Grass”

Prix du Scenario - Best Screenplay
“Spring Fever", written by Feng Mei

Camera d’Or - Best First Feature
“Samson and Delilah”, Australia, directed by Warwick Thornton

Camera d’Or Special Mention
“Ajami”, Israel-Germany, directed by Scandar Copti, Yaron Shani

Prix du Jury - Jury Prize TIE:
“Fish Tank” directed by Andrea Arnold
“Thirst” directed by Park Chan-Wook

Prix d’interpretation feminine - Best Actress
Charlotte Gainsbourg, “Antichrist”

Prix d’interpretation masculine - Best Actor
Christoph Waltz, “Inglourious Basterds”

Palme d’Or (short film)
“Arena” - Joao Salaviza

UN CERTAIN REGARD - new filmmakers "first glance"
“Dogtooth,” Greece, Yorgos Lanthimos - WINNER
“Police, Adjective,” Romania, Corneliu Porumboiu - JURY PRIZE
“Nobody Knows About the Persian Cats,” Iran, Bahman Ghobadi - SPECIAL PRIZE
“Le Père de mes enfants,” France-Germany, Mia Hansen-Love - SPECIAL PRIZE

Click here for all the official selections (films in competition), including Pixar's Up, the first animated movie to open the Cannes festival.

Sugar (2008)

Nominated for a 2009 Independent Spirit Award for Screenwriting (it lost to Vicky Cristina Barcelona) and the 2008 Sundance Grand Jury Dramatic Prize (losing to Frozen River), Sugar is an impressive follow-up to the multi-award winner Half Nelson (2006) by co-directors/writers Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (he was the sole director on Half Nelson, which earned its star Ryan Gosling an Oscar nomination). This story of young impoverished Dominican pitcher Miguel "Sugar" Santos (handsome newcomer Algenis Pérez Soto) had baseball, social commentary, plenty of interesting characters, colorful North American locations, great pacing, and logical subtitles. The online press kit, on which I failed to find the soundtrack list I sought, has some fascinating info about the production on pages 4-17 (it's doublespaced). There's an interesting bit of geographical trivia on imdb that I will let you discover for yourself, as some might consider it a spoiler. I had plenty of company for this on Memorial Day: not only Jack, who loves baseball, but also Mike, who loves baseball, Sally, who loves Mike, and Amy, who was game for a movie with her elders. Get it? Game? We all liked it a lot. We discussed the Dominican Republic before the movie, and wondered if its biggest export is sugar or baseball players. I mentioned in my review of The Soloist that reviewers like to say "pitch perfect" a lot these days. This one was just that: pitch perfect. Get it? Pitch? Okay, I'm done now.

Sin Nombre (2009)

This movie, in Spanish, had two Sundance wins, for U.S. Directing (American-born Cary Fukunaga, AKA Cary Joji Fukunaga) and U.S. Dramatic Cinematography (Adriano Goldman, who is Brazilian), as well as a nomination for Grand Jury Prize. It had some beautiful shots in it. Fukunaga, who made his feature directing debut with this, won ten awards (including a Student Academy Award) for his last project, Victoria para chino (2004), a short film that had nothing to do with victory for China, but was instead about a truckload of illegal Mexican immigrants. Illegal immigration is also in Sin Nombre (which means nameless), as well as Mexican gang members with some impressive and scary tattoos (though the tattoos are not the scariest things about them). Beware, there will be blood. This is a powerful movie and Jack and I both recommend it. You might learn some Spanish curse words, too.

Beauty in Trouble (Kráska v nesnázích) 2006

This charming little movie from the Czech Republic has won awards there as well as a Czech-sounding award in Denver. The director Jan Hrebejk and his writing partner Petr Jarchovsky, have a reputation for excellent comedy-dramas (I can't vouch for them, because I haven't seen the others, but they have been recognized worldwide with nominations and wins). Ana Geislerová is the red-headed beauty, Marcela, stunning in her green leather jacket and anything else she puts on or takes off. Her troubles are surmountable and her family is there for her, or is that the trouble? Most of the cast has long resumés in Czech movies (including Hrebejk/Jarchovshy's work), and, for the most part, they were all good in their roles. Definitely worth seeing.

Is Anybody There? (2008)

Sir Michael Caine (Oscars for The Cider House Rules (1999) and Hannah and Her Sisters (1986); my other faves include The Weather Man (2005), Little Voice (1998), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), Deathtrap (1982), and, of course, Alfie (1966)) really liked this script so he waived his regular fee to bring star power to this sweet independent British movie about a boy growing up in a retirement home and befriending Clarence (Caine), a retired magician. Young Bill Milner (Son of Rambow (2007)) is great as Edward. I predict this boy, now 14, will go far (and it's unusual for a member of his generation to have a nickname such as "Bill," isn't it?). Edward's father, whose bad '80s haircuts and wardrobe add much to the humor of the piece, is played by David Morrissey, who had the Ben Affleck role in the British TV series on which the American feature State of Play (2009) was based. Jack & I had some trouble understanding all the words; probably a combination of the sound system in the theatre, the accents of the actors, and the sound mix in post production. But we still liked it!

State of Play (2009)

I am not the first, nor will I be the last, to mention the connection between The Soloist and State of Play: each features sequences of newspapers running through presses and being mechanically printed on actual paper. In this age of newspapers' downsizing, moving to internet-only, and being eliminated altogether, these images were particularly striking and may make some of us nostalgic. Like the documentary Earth, State of Play is based on a British TV series (though this one was only 6 episodes long). 

Scottish Director Kevin Macdonald made the excellent The Last King of Scotland in 2006, as well as other fact-based and documentary work, after other directors turned it down. I think he did a good job, keeping the pace moving and letting the fine ensemble do its work: Russell Crowe (Oscar recognized him for Gladiator (won-2000), A Beautiful Mind (nom-2002), and The Insider (nom-2000), but he came to my attention in 1997 in L.A. Confidential), Ben Affleck (my favorite of his movies: Hollywoodland (2006), my most hated: Reindeer Games (2000)), Rachel McAdams (I haven't seen The Lucky Ones (2008) or The Notebook (2004) but I liked Wedding Crashers (2005) and Mean Girls (2004) a lot), Helen Mirren (she's had many great performances but I love her for saying she was glad she hadn't fallen "ass over tits" at the 2006 Emmy Awards), Robin Wright Penn (The Princess Bride (1987), Forrest Gump (1994), White Oleander (2002), and her performance as the annoyed wife in What Just Happened (2008) most resembled this one), Jason Bateman (Juno (2007), 2003 Golden Globe winner for the hilarious series Arrested Development on Fox), Josh Mostel (son of Zero, character parts in everything from Sophie's Choice (1982) to Little Man Tate (1991) to Billy Madison (1995) to Rounders (1998)), Michael Weston (forever in my head as the scary guy in 4 episodes of HBO's Six Feet Under, but also a Zach Braff cohort on NBC's Scrubs and the movies Garden State (2004) and Last Kiss (2006)), and, in a cameo as a medical examiner, Viola Davis, who was nominated for an Oscar for her snotty scene in Doubt.

Earth (2007)

Jack won the bet but he wouldn't name the stakes. I was convinced that some of the mind-boggling images in this documentary were computer generated or touched up and he said they were all real. He was right (and said the satisfaction of knowing we could trust our eyes was reward enough)! We went on a Sunday afternoon where lots of families joined us, but James Earl Jones' dulcet tones carried through the chatter and chewing, as did the soundtrack, composed and conducted by George Fenton (who won an Emmy for scoring Planet Earth, the 23-hour 2006 BBC-TV series on which this feature was based, and was nominated for Oscars, but no wins for The Fisher King (1992) (oh, I loved that one!), Dangerous Liaisons (1989), Cry Freedom (1988), and Ghandi (1983), among his many credits) and played by the Berliner Philharmoniker Orchestra. 

The main event is the visuals: DO NOT WAIT FOR THE VIDEO. Wipe off your glasses and see the crisp (unenhanced!) images on a big screen in a theatre with the highest quality screen images in your town. Dozens of photographers contributed work to this Disneynature opus, but you probably won't read the credits (available from this site->about the film->production notes->download the press kit), even though you won't be tempted to leave as they're rolling. That's because next to the credits the fourth wall is dissolved and we get to see footage of the crew working on location, which is also marvelous. I don't know a lot about the cinematographic technology used (described generally in the first link), other than many more frames per second were captured than a conventional film camera can. Time lapse photography was also used, as a whole forest went from spring to fall color in a matter of seconds. And they had zoom capability not available to the average Joe (or Babette). There was no violence because the hunting sequences were cut short (good for the G-rating) unless you count big fish with littler fish in their mouths. 

My favorite part was the bird of paradise mating dance. I wonder if any "birds and bees" conversations will be initiated by the sequence. The black feathers just pop and the birds are so cute! I really can't think of anyone who wouldn't like this movie. Just go.