Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (2008)

This teen girl empowerment movie was cute enough that Jack didn't hate it, and it helped pass the time when we recently had a 10 hour layover in the Lima, Peru airport (it was also the only netflix DVD with us that had closed captions--a necessity in a bustling place when the laptop volume at 10 still wasn't enough). I had put it in my queue because I remembered it won something, and also because of Aaron Johnson (Kick-Ass, and he will be playing teenage John Lennon in the upcoming Nowhere Boy). Angus is a huge, funny-looking cat, thongs are the underwear, and snogging is British for making out. I didn't realize until tonight that director/writer/producer Gurinder Chadha is also responsible for Bend It Like Beckham (2002) and What's Cooking, both of which I enjoyed thoroughly. Young Georgia Groome was the award-winner, playing a character named Georgia. Her posse includes Eleanor Tomlinson (a small part in The Illusionist (2006), as the young Sophie to Johnson's young Eisenheim, as well as Fiona in Alice in Wonderland), and Georgia's nemesis is played by Kimberley Nixon, who was Hilda in Easy Virtue. This is PG-13, and perfectly fine for any pre-teens.

Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)

This is a documentary, but not what we expected. It's very funny and non-linear, and changes its focus as it moves along at a good clip. It's about a narcissistic Frenchman, Thierry Guetta, living in L.A., who becomes obsessed with street art. Directed by and co-starring (with his face blocked and voice scrambled) street artist Banksy, the movie is an exercise in what is hip and who thinks so. Here is one trailer, the one we saw ages ago, and another that seems to be approximately the first 5 minutes. If anyone can tell us who the celebrity is at 2 minutes 9 seconds of the second trailer, please let me know. To quote someone later in the film, "I don't know what I'm going to see, but I'm excited to see it." There are plenty of lively discussions on imdb about whether the movie is real or staged, which makes it all the better. A number of other street artists are featured, there's lots of cool music, and Rhys Ifans narrates it. It's rated R for bad language (in French as well as English). We thought it was good fun. The theatres that are showing it are listed along with the second trailer above. Definitely check it out.

Cyrus (2010)

Fellow cringe-lovers, unite! This love triangle between a man, a woman, and her 21 year old son is a riot of awkwardness morphing into real character development. It will not be for everyone but we had a blast. Watch the trailer. If it makes you want to run screaming from the room, then you know it's not for you. If you like it, run to see the movie. John C. Reilly (Oscar nominated for another awkward character, Mr. Cellophane in Chicago (2002), fabulous in so many things, my favorites are What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), Georgia (1995), Hard Eight (1996), Boogie Nights (1997), Magnolia (1999), and Anniversary Party (2001), all cringe-worthy in their own ways) is the perfect man for the leading role of John, a guy who wears his heart on his sleeve. Jonah Hill (Knocked Up (2007), Superbad (2007), Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008), Funny People, Get Him to the Greek) is not one of my favorites, and is the reason we didn't think we'd like it so much, but he really gets to stretch dramatically as Cyrus. Marisa Tomei (Oscar winner for My Cousin Vinny, nominated for In the Bedroom (2001) and The Wrestler, also great in Slums of Beverly Hills (1998), a recurring role on FX's Rescue Me in 2006, and much more) plays it straight as the mom, Molly, which makes it even better. And Catherine Keener (I wrote a little about her in Please Give and also really liked her in The Ballad of Jack and Rose (2005), Being John Malkovich (1999), and Living in Oblivion), for a change, plays a person who is nicer than she needs to be, John's only friend, his ex-wife. We saw directors/writers Jay and Mark Duplass' first feature The Puffy Chair (2005), and thought it was pretty strange, despite its Audience Award at SXSW Film Festival and Independent Spirit Award nominations. By comparison, Cyrus is mainstream, with its nice Highland Park and Elysian Park (Los Angeles) locations, big stars, and cameras apparently mounted on tripods instead of handheld.

The soundtrack is full of songs (see this link for a list, by composer, after you scroll down a bit), including Charlie Wadhams' single My Love, but the Michael Andrews compositions (many featuring plucked strings) are wonderful. I have spent far too long looking online for links to that music. But noooo. Even when I tell google to eliminate all links with the name Miley, I can't find any of it. There is also some good techno as part of the plot. I consider it a spoiler to show you the clip, so you'll just have to find it without me. I suspect that those who loved Greenberg (note: Greta Gerwig from Greenberg was in the Duplass brothers' other feature Baghead (2008), which we didn't see, and Mark Duplass had a cameo in Greenberg as Greenberg's successful ex-bandmate) will also love Cyrus.

Micmacs (Micmacs à tire-larigot - 2009)

This cartoonish, slapstick, live-action French movie is charming and silly and we enjoyed it. With super-saturated colors and sets that look like matte paintings, its visuals match up to its comedy. Then add in some drama (the plot is about revenge on rich arms makers who don't care about their victims) and you get the mash-up that is Micmacs. One online fan helped me by posting, "MicMacs à tire l'arigot is difficult to translate. It's not standard French, but slang. MicMacs means 'troubles, puzzle, confusion, etc.' It is used to describe complicated, inextricable and messy situations. À tire l'arigot means, roughly, 'plenty.' It could be translated as 'a s***load of troubles,' 'troubles from everywhere,' or something like that." Director/co-writer Jean-Pierre Jeunet had a big hit in 2001 with Amélie, which was nominated for the Oscar for original screenplay and a tire-l'arigot of other awards. I am familiar with his next one, A Very Long Engagement (2004), but honestly can't remember if I saw it. I didn't see his Delicatessen (1991), but know it was award-winning and popular. Anyway, Jeunet was one reason I wanted to be sure to see Micmacs on the big screen. Another was its winning best costumes, production design, and sound at Cannes (very much deserved!). Once there, we relished the antics of the motley crew exacting the revenge, including Dany Boon as Bazil--the lead character, Julie Ferrier (small part in Paris) as the contortionist, Yolande Moreau (wonderful in Séraphine) as the mom-figure and cook, Dominique Pinon (I wrote about him in Roman de Gare) as Fracasse--the one obsessed with Guinness Records, and all the rest.

Many objects are hurled, arcing across large spaces, plus more Rube Goldberg-type devices (as in Toy Story 3, a few posts ago). The scene with the two guys eating shrimp is hilarious, and, if you saw I Am Love, even more so, as the latter uses the shrimp scene for a different metaphor. Composer Raphäel Beau (his only credits so far are Micmacs and the forthcoming documentary about it), complements the madcap mood perfectly (here's a clip). Personally, I think the trailer gives away un soupçon too much, but here it is. My #2 rule for movies has been broken, as there is not one shot of the Eiffel Tower in Micmacs!

The Father of My Children (Le père de mes enfants - 2009)

This French movie, which won Un Certain Regard, the Special Jury Prize at Cannes, didn't knock us out. The first half is one mood, the second half is another--almost like two movies. Many questions are left unanswered. Much of the PR gives away the BIG plot point halfway through but I choose not to. Director/writer Mia Hansen-Løve, protegée and life partner of Olivier Assayas, 25 years her senior, has been lauded for this, her second feature film. Louis-Do de Lencquesaing, who plays movie producer Grégoire, the title character, has worked a lot in his native France, but is not familiar to me. His lovely daughter Alice de Lencquesaing, who was in Assayas' sweet Summer Hours, plays Clémence, one of the three wonderful children (the others are Alice Gautier and Manelle Driss, as Valentine and Billie, respectively). The mom is played by Italian actress Chiara Caselli. If Louis-Do (AKA Louis Dominique) were as skilled as Tilda Swinton at that trembling emotionality, perhaps we would have been more impressed, as were the reviewers (90% on rottentomatoes), but, as my mother used to say, that's what makes horse racing.

I Am Love (Io sono l'amore - 2009)

This intense drama played two nights only at the university and the intense dramatist Tilda Swinton did that thing she does so well: internalize her emotions yet project them fully with her body language. We thought it was great, though it's hard to say it was enjoyable because it's so, well, intense. The cinematography, by Frenchman Yorick Le Saux, somehow seems black and white, though it's in color--it's just arty and interesting and way different from the luscious work Le Saux did on Swimming Pool (2003). I had not heard of Italian director/producer/co-writer Luca Guadagnino (here's a picture of him with Swinton, both looking happy, which is rare for Swinton, who usually looks like this). I last wrote about Swinton in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, but didn't give as much weight as I might have to her work, especially in the one I saw first: The Deep End (2001), in which she plays a mother who will do anything to save her son. Apparently Swinton had to learn Italian for the role, but that's fine, because her character is Russian-born, so would not speak Italian all that well. The only other two actors I recognized were Marisa Berenson (well, barely recognized with her skinny appearance and lip job--she was in Cabaret (1972), Barry Lyndon (1975), the HBO movie Playing for Time (1980), and others), and the be-turbaned Waris Ahluwalia from Inside Man (2006) (he was the one yelling about having his turban taken by the cops), Darjeeling Limited (2007), and others. The supporting cast, pretty much all gorgeous, especially Flavio Parenti as the son, does a good job, too. I had read that there would be amazing food stylings in the movie. There is a chef with a pivotal role, and he styles some food, but I wouldn't put this on my list of food movies.

The soundtrack, by Pulitzer-prize-winner John Adams (the opera Nixon in China), perfectly complements the intensity on the screen. Here's a taste of the music, in the trailer. Watch for the release of this on DVD and be sure to darken your room and get as big a screen as you can for your viewing pleasure.

Toy Story 3 (2010)

We saw this weeks ago, before the downtown fireworks, so I'll try to reconstruct. Though we found it a bit slow in the first 15 minutes or so, it picked up and we enjoyed ourselves. Plenty of gags for the adults, including, but not limited to, complex Rube Goldberg mechanisms, (Jack caught) the Cool Hand Luke reference (when Buzz is policing the "jail"), the Ken and Barbie first meet-up (which is in the trailer, plus I saw Michael Keaton talking about it on Letterman), and nice use of the Randy Newman theme (including in Spanish to comic effect--in fact the Spanish sequence may encourage kids to read the subtitles). We figure this will get some Oscar nominations (and it had a nearly unprecedented 99% on rottentomatoes) so we made sure to see it in 3-D. Yeah, I got a little teary when Andy went off to college--it's only been two years for me--but can't say that it was all that. The big baby doll was ka-reepy! That and a scary scene near the end make me wonder why this gets a G (here's what imdb has to say about its rating), but perhaps I am no longer qualified to judge. I saw the first Toy Story (1995) but not the second in 1999, and Jack says he liked this without having seen its predecessors. If you haven't seen it yet, go ahead and look up the actors who do each of the voices, or do what I did and check on your smart phone while the show is going on. They're all just fine. I'm not going to write about them now, as I have 2 more movies to blog and plenty more to see in the next few days! If you loved either or both of the series, you'll love this. If you have to take a kid, it's not going to be painful.

Mother and Child (2009)

This is Colombian writer/director Rodrigo García's fourth delicate, smart, ironic ensemble piece about women and I just loved it. Starring Annette Bening, Naomi Watts, and Kerry Washington, who are all superb, it's about longing for maternal relationships and, often, women behaving badly. They refuse to fit in the way society expects them to, they tell their own truths, and they live their lives their own way. García's earlier ensemble pieces were Things You Can Tell Just By Looking at Her (2000), Ten Tiny Love Stories (2001), and Nine Lives (2005), and he also wrote/directed/produced much of In Treatment for HBO, among other things. He writes/directs women very well.

Bening (deservedly Oscar-nominated for The Grifters (1990), American Beauty (1999), and Being Julia (2004); some of my other faves are Running with Scissors (2006), The American President (1995), and Bugsy (1991) during which filming she met her husband Warren Beatty) plays Karen as dead inside, with her pain palpable behind her pale, drawn face (though we did laugh at some of her prickly, almost Asperger's outbursts). Watts' (first noticed in Hollywood for David Lynch's creative Mullholland Dr. (2001), she was Oscar-nominated for 21 Grams (2003), many of you will remember her in the Peter Jackson King Kong (2005) remake, and I really liked her in We Don't Live Here Anymore (2004) and The Painted Veil (2006)--my loyal readers know how much I liked that) Elizabeth is better than Karen at blending in socially and professionally but she has her own extremes, which I will leave unsaid. Washington (not only is she powerful onscreen, she has been cast in some fabulous movies, e.g. The United States of Leland (2003), The Human Stain (2003), Ray (2004), The Last King of Scotland (2006), Lakeview Terrace; and, although Chris Rock's I Think I Love My Wife (2007) may not have been noteworthy, her performance as the temptress was) does the most emoting as Lucy, which is welcome compared to the other two.

The excellent supporting cast includes several García veterans: Amy Brenneman, Elizabeth Peña, Lisa Gay Hamilton, as well as Samuel L. Jackson, Jimmy Smits, Eileen Ryan, S. Epatha Merkerson, David Morse, and especially Shareeka Epps, who was so good in Half Nelson (2006), as the deep-voiced pregnant girl Ray. The soundtrack (by Ed Shearmur, who has collaborated with García before; plus a few songs--here's Little One) is delightful. You can preview some tracks on amazon or iTunes. Among the executive producers are Mexican directors Alfonso Cuarón (Y tu mamá también (2001)) and Alejandro González Iñárritu (Amores Perros (2000), Babel (2006), and 21 Grams). Good company. Go see it!

The Karate Kid (2010)

I almost always like a Will Smith joint, and this is no exception. He and wife Jada Pinkett Smith co-produced the movie and, on their own, the star, their son Jaden Smith, who will be 12 on July 8. It's really Kung Fu this time, though the clueless mom does call it karate at least once. Jaden (co-starred with Will in The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)) plays Dre, a 12 year old only child, who has been ripped by his widowed mother (Taraji P. Henson - Oscar nominated for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, she was also wonderful in Talk to Me (2007), Boston Legal, and Hustle & Flow, which Jack and I saw in July 2005 the night Mary Ellen fixed us up) from his home and friends in Detroit to move to Beijing, where he immediately becomes the target of a big, martial-arts-trained bully. The bullying was distressing to me, perhaps because I have not had sons, and seeing a child get his "ass kicked," as Dre says frequently, makes me unhappy. But that's what it's about, and other than that, I thought it was great (I don't think Jack had the same issues as I, since he was a rough-and-tumble-boy). We both, however, agreed that the bully's Kung Fu teacher was a sadistic bastard (I used a different word in the theatre). There were plenty of references to the 1984 original. Jackie Chan (I don't think I've seen any of his 106 movies, starting when he was younger than Jaden), standing in for Pat Morita, reprises the catching a fly with chopsticks gag (only different, you'll laugh); there's some standing on one leg action; and a variation of wax-on-wax-off. The girl (Wen Wen Han), the bully (Zhenwei Wang), and his cohorts are all way bigger than little Dre; reasonable, since he was 11 and at least the first two were 13 when the movie was shot.

The locations and vistas are fabulous, though I wondered if they were sanitized for our American eyes. The whole thing is an interesting combination of sentiment and action; and there is plenty of the latter: good chases, and of course the martial arts, as well as several scenes of uniformed folks all moving in concert, doing Tai Chi, among others. The Smith family all moved to China to make the movie, according to Jada on a talk show. She said Jaden worked hard. During the end credits there are many still photos of the family as well as production shots.

As to be expected, there is good music, compiled here on the reelsoundtrack blog. You'll see there a link to Jaden rapping with Justin Bieber for one of the end credits songs. My favorite was the Red Hot Chili Peppers' cover of Stevie Wonder's Higher Ground. It's not linked on the other blog, so you can listen to it here. This is good. Check it out.