Movie Recommendations, Rants and Ruminations
The “must see” films in theaters are Winter’s Bone and Toy Story 3. For trailers and other choices, see Movies to See Right Now.
My DVD of the week is The Girl on the Train. For the trailer and other DVD choices, see DVDs of the Week.
Movies on TV include The Third Man, Blue Velvet and Cool Hand Luke.
The Girl on the Train (La fille du RER) is an absorbing mother daughter drama set in the Paris suburbs.
The young woman is Emilie Dequenne, the Belgian actress who won the best actress award at Canne when she was only 17 in the Dardenne brothers’ Rosetta. In contrast to Rosetta, she doesn’t play a force of nature, but a slacker bobbing through life on a tide of random influences. She lives with her single mom (Catherine Deneuve), and they get along, despite the mother’s unwelcome tips on job hunting.
The daughter meets a guy, her life takes some resulting turns and then she makes a really bad choice. The mom seeks out an old beau, now a celebrity attorney to help fix the situation.
I missed seeing this in the theater because the trailer emphasizes a faked hate crime (and I wasn’t eager to see a topical movie). But the movie is not about the faked hate crime, which occurs late into the story. The story is character driven. The daughter drifts first part of the movie and is controlled by events until she finds herself in a desperate situation; she panics and sees the most stupid option as a solution. The situation then forces the mother to re-open a chapter in her life that she had chosen to close – how far will she open the old door?
It’s on my list of Best Movies of 2010 So Far.
See the rest of my DVD recommendations.
Click here for this week’s recommendations. Scroll down this blog to watch trailers. My top recommendations are Toy Story 3, The Secrets in their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos), Micmacs and Iron Man 2. You can still find The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in theaters.
My top picks on DVD is The Deep End. Last week’s pick, Stranded: I’ve Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains and The Messenger are also good choices on DVD.
To Kill a Mockingbird and The Steel Helmet are on TV.
Tilda Swinton was so good in I Am Love, the movie I panned this week, that now I’ll plug The Deep End. This 2001 thriller stars Swinton as a Lake Tahoe mom who must cover up a crime to protect her teen son. Then ER heartthrob Goran Visnjic shows up to blackmail the family. The more the situation spirals out of control, the more gripping Swinton’s performance.
Click here for this week’s recommendations. Scroll down this blog to watch trailers. My top recommendations are Toy Story 3, Micmacs, The Secrets in their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos), and Iron Man 2. You can still find The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in theaters.
My top picks on DVD is Stranded: I’ve Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains. The Messenger, Crazy Heart and Broken Embraces (Abrazos Rotos) are also good choices on DVD.
Monkey Business, All The King’s Men, The 400 Blows and The Shootist are all on TV.
In 1972, a group of privileged Latin American college guys boarded a chartered airplane for a rugby weekend. The plane crashed in the Andes, and some of them died. They awaited rescue. Then an avalanche killed some more of them. Then it became apparent that the search for them had been called off. In this documentary, the survivors tell their story – and bring their adult children back to the scene of the crash. They candidly explain how humans act and react in the most desperate circumstances, faced with the most appalling choices. This was my #2 film of 2009; (made in 2007, it was only widely available in the US in 2009). Here’s a scene from the film:
Click here for this week’s recommendations. Scroll down this blog to watch trailers. My top recommendations are The Secrets in their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos), Iron Man 2 and, of course, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
My top picks on DVD are still The Messenger, Crazy Heart and Broken Embraces (Abrazos Rotos).
Some Like It Hot, Diabolique and Monkey Business are all on TV.
The Messenger: A soldier’s (Ben Foster) new assignment is visiting military next of kin to inform them face-to-face of their loved one’s death in combat; after you see this movie, you won’t complain about your own job for a while. Despite the challenging material, most people will appreciate this movie because of the brilliant supporting performances of Woody Harrelson and Samantha Morton. There are only 3 or 4 “notifications”, which set the stage for the characters played by Foster, Harrelson and Morton. The plot is leavened by laughs and the possibility of romance.
Click here for this week’s recommendations. Scroll down this blog to watch trailers. My top recommendations are The Secrets in their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos), Iron Man 2 and, of course, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
My top picks on DVD are still Crazy Heart and Broken Embraces (Abrazos Rotos).
Hail! The Conquering Hero, A Man Called Horse, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and Marty are all on TV.
Here are the updated recommended films – this week’s Movies to See Right Now (go to the page for descriptions).
Crazy Heart is out on DVD. Earth Days and Gran Torino are on TV. Death at a Funeral is in the theaters. If I were in town, I’d be going to Secrets of Their Eyes (which I have not yet seen).