Review Movies - The Savages & Grace Is Gone

Saw a couple of movies last night: The Savages and Grace Is Gone. I think they may be the most depressing movies out in Blockbuster, so if you want an evening looking at what surviving families do after their mom is killed in Iraq or when their father has dementia - go right ahead and rent them.

Grace Is Gone is a character-driven film. It presents a character under stress and follows the actions of that character. I generally like character-driven films, as opposed to plot-driven films, but this one left me somewhat irritated. The dad, Stanley, is just doing impractical, whacky things after he is informed of his wife's death in Iraq. I know people wig out when they lose someone they love, but it's fantastic to me for a father to suddenly suggest to his daughters a trip to Enchanted Gardens, a several-day trip it seems, and without packing, without informing school and work, without securing the house (mail, newspaper, plants, etc.) the father and two daughters drive off to Florida.

This one reminds me of a movie we had seen in Princess Theater about a second wife whose husband dies and she brings his ashes to the daughter in Santa Barbara. At least that one was funny.

The second film we saw was The Savages. I swear the shorts of this one made the film sound funny, but the actual film isn't. A middle-aged daughter and son make arrangements for the care of their father after his old girlfried dies and he himself has dementia. This film shows you the last depressing scenes of some people's lives - Sun City, old people driving golf carts, women doing exercise, convalescent homes, and oh, listen to the middle-class whining of these two kids whose lives have been rudely disrupted by all this.

Character - character- character, my teachers in film school and writing often said - so maybe it just boiled down to my not feeling sympathetic enough with the protagonists.

MOVIE REVIEWS: I AM LEGEND, MONGOLIAN PINGPONG, THE FINAL INQUIRY

I couldn't believe how tired I've been and I think it was from all the running around for Easter. It was worth it; just seeing the little kids hunting for eggs was great fun. But yesterday and today, all I could do were a few chores and watch rented movies: I Am Legend, Mongolian Pingpong, and The Final Inquiry.

So, let me comment on the movies.

I Am Legend - Do not waste your money renting this; it's a bad film. It's a cross between futuristic and horror - a virus hits New York and turns people and dogs into zombies. A military scientist sticks it out in New York to try and find an antidote. He is killed by zombies, but not before he turnsover an important blood sample to another survivor. This summary sounds better than the movie.

Mongolia Pingpong - I didn't see this movie in its entirety but what I saw I enjoyed. It's set in undeveloped Mongolia. Some children find a pingpong, which is a mystery to them and which fascinates them. Meantime, we get glimmers of Mongolian living: a traveling salesman trades his wares for lamb; the father of the family cools his beer in the river; the children roam the barren land on their horses and motorcyle, and so on. I missed the part where the children go to China with the pingpong ball. This is a quiet film which gives you an idea of life in this remote part of the world.

The Final Inquiry - This is an Easter film. The premise is better than the execution, but its' watchable. The Roman Caesar orders a Roman Tribune to go to Jerusalem to investigate the missing body of Christ. As the Roman does his investigation, we meet familiar bible characters: Pontius Pilate, Mary, Magdalene, Peter, Saul, Stephen, Tabitha, etc. The main problem is that the acting isn't great, and the dialogue is stilted.

All for now.

CECILIA'S MOVIE REVIEWS

Here are some reviews of movies I've seen, rated 1-5 stars, five being the best.

No Country for Old Men - **** - A lot of violence, tension, and action, and it has the quirky quality typical of the Coen Brothers' productions. Entertaining.

Enchanted - **** - Actress Amy Adams carries this delightful movie that merges animation and realty. The movie has charm and is a great family movie.

The Darjeeling Limited - ***+ - Quirky movie about three brothers on a train journey in India to find their mother. The brothers are charming. There's a lot of talking and subtlety. This is a character film, not an action one.

Love in Time of Cholera - **+ - The movie reviews for this movie were terrible so that I had zero expectations. Prepared for the worst, the movie rose to a higher level than expected. The language and acting were stilted. (English spoken in a Spanish accent, and poorly done.) This movie could be seen as the story of a relentless stalker who doesn't give up. But the movie took me away to Colombia, with green, lush, tropical sceneries.

Michael Clayton - *** - George Clooney does a good job in this movie about a lawyer who is the fixer in his law firm. But I have a confession to make, I saw this weeks ago, and enjoyed it after I saw it, but the movie quickly faded in my memory. Hmmmm - either the movie doesn't have enough uniqueness, or my memory isn't that good any more.

Atonement - **+ - The book is infinitely better. Buy this novel by Ian McEwen, and skip the movie. The book is far richer than the movie. The girl character, Briony Tallis, weaves her own reality from scenes she sees, ruins some lives, and later on makes herself a god by writing a happy ending for the people she's destroyed.

The Golden Compass - **+ - This is an unsatisfying movie, that is cluttered with numerous characters and episodes and ends with a cliffhanger. Sometimes movies just ought to have the good guy and the bad guy spelled out clearly.

That's all for now.