City of Life and Death

Movie: City of Life and Death

Genre: historical dramatization

Synopsis: This is a dramatization of the 1937 occupation of the Chinese city of Nanjing by the Japanese Imperial Army.  The word “occupy” is really to mild a word to describe what the Japanese did.  They rounded up all Chinese soldiers left in the city and summarily executed them.  They would tie people to light posts and leave them to die.  Chinese women were forced to work “Comfort Tents” for the Japanese – which is a polite way of saying they were forced to provide sex for any soldiers who wanted it.  The movie allows us to see things from the perspective of some Japanese soldiers – some of who were horrified by what they did – as well as through the eyes of the Chinese.

My two cents: I have read a lot about the Rape of Nanjing and was a little apprehensive that the movie would be overly graphic.  While the movie manages to make clear some of the atrocities committed by the Japanese, it does not over-due it.  I think it is important to see movies like this every now and then to remind us of just how savagely people have behaved in war.  I am not trying to be anti-Japanese, but the Japanese government has had a tendency to not own up to their actions in World War II.  If a war movie included the things the Japanese did to the Chinese – both soldiers and civilians – in Nanjing would it at least an “R” rating.  The lives of the Chinese in Nanjing were so desperate that, as one Japanese soldier put it “it is easier to die than to survive”.

Bottom line: I cannot say that I enjoyed this movie . . .  the events depicted were far too horrendous.  But I will say that I am glad I saw it.

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Movie: 3 Backyards

Movie: 3 Backyards

Genre: drama

Synopsis: This movie follows three people from a suburban Long Island during the course of a single day. John (Elias Koteas) and his wife (Kathryn Erbe) have been having problems, culminating in a serious argument.  When John’s business flight is cancelled, he tells no one and takes an odd day off. Peggy (Edie Falco) is excited when an popular actress (Embeth Davidtz) who has rented a nearby house asks her to give her a ride to the ferry.  Peggy is hoping to bond with the actress.  Things don’t quite work out. Christina (Rachel Resheff) sneaks into her mother’s room before school and tries on some jewelry.  When a jewelry malfunction causes her to miss the school bus, Christine walks to school via shortcuts that take her through some woods and several backyards.  She happens across a very disturbing scene – which she fortunately does not understand.

My two cents: I probably would not have taken a chance on this were it not for the presence of Edie Falco and Kathryn Erbe.  I was always amazed at how quickly Nurse Jackie managed to put Carmela Soprano behind her.  It took about 5 minutes for Peggy to make me forget all about Nurse Jackie.  This movie is a hard one to summarize.  All three stories were interesting in their own way. All three stories ended with me scratching my head in puzzlement.  Usually this annoys me, but it did not really bother me in this movie.

Bottom line: if you are looking for a lot of action or for a straightforward storyline, you might not like this.  If you don’t mind some meandering and a “slice of life” type of movie, give this a shot.

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Green Lantern 3D

Movie: Green Lantern 3D

Genre: Superhero

Synopsis: Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) is a top test pilot with a reputation of being reckless. There is an intergalactic organization of aliens who are protectors of the universe.  They derive their power from green rings that enables them to create a physical manifestation of whatever they think.  When one of these protectors fatally crashes on earth, the alien’s green power ring selects Hal to replace the dying alien.  Ultimately, Hal has to come to terms with the responsibility of having this power . . . and to save earth and the universe from the bad-guy alien force.

My two cents: A pretty decent entry into the superhero genre.  The power the ring provides is really pretty extraordinary.  Ryan Reynolds has the body for a superhero and the requisite smart-ass attitude along with a dose of insecurity.  Blake Lively was quite fetching as Hal’s sort-of boss and sort-of girlfriend.  Tim Robbins made a good evil U.S. Senator and Peter Sarsgaard made a decently creepy ‘human’ opponent after he is infected by the evil “yellow” power.

Bottom line: if you like superhero-type movies, you should like this.

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The Art of Getting By

Movie: The Art of Getting By

Genre: Drama

Synopsis: George (Freddie Highmore) is a very bright high school senior. His problem is that he thinks too much.  A few years earlier, he read that “that you are born alone, die alone and everything else is an illusion”. Since reading that, he cannot get motivated to do anything . . . he does not see the point.  As a result of his lack of motivation, he is close to getting expelled from school.  Complicating things is the tensions with his mother (Rita Wilson) and his step-father.  George meets a girl, Sally (Emma Roberts).  Although she is MUCH more worldly than George, they become good friends.  He was in love with her from the first time he saw her, but could not bring himself to say anything to her.  The movie follows him as he tries to repair his relationship with his mother, tries to make up a year’s worth of school work in order to graduate, and try to figure out what to do about Sally and his feelings for her.

My two cents: I have been a fan of Emma Roberts since “Nancy Drew” (2007) and a fan of Freddie Highmore since “Finding Neverland” (2004), so I went into this movie with high hopes.  Both of these actors are still firmly on my “A” list.  There is just something about Freddie that I really enjoy.  George and Sally made a great couple.  I got a kick out of watching both of them struggle to figure out what kind of relationship they each wanted with the other.  The scenes between George and his principal (Blair Underwood) were well done.  The principal could see the wasted potential in George, while George was disarmingly honest in his self-assessment as simply not being able to get motivated to do his school work. Needless to say, I really loved this movie.

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Beginners

Movie: Beginners

Genre: comedy/drama

Synopsis: Hal (Christopher Plumber) is a 75-year-old widower.  After forty+ years of marriage, he has decided to come out of the closet and become actively gay. The bad news is that he also has terminal lung cancer.  Hal’s son, Oliver (Ewan McGregor) is trying to help his father through his final days, while at the same time trying to make his relationship with a new girlfriend work.  Through flashbacks, we also see the relationship between a young Oliver and his unhappy mother.

My two cents: Christopher Plumber and Ewan McGregor both turned in pretty good performances. It was a bit slow moving at times, but worth watching if you like character-driven movies.  A real plus for me was the cartoons or caricatures that Oliver would periodically come up with (he was some kind of artist).

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The Tree of Life

Movie: The Tree of Life

Genre: strange

Synopsis: From IMDB: “The impressionistic story of a Texas family in the 1950s.”.  The father is played by Brad Pitt.  He has three sons.  The story centers around the complicated relationship between the father and his son Jack (the adult Jack is played by Sean Penn).

My two cents: I walked out of the movie after 55 minutes. The 30+ minutes of the movie was like watching a slideshow put together by a drunk.  You would see a clip of a volcano erupting followed by a school of hammerhead sharks followed by pictures of deep space nebulae followed by a clip of a dinosaur crossing a creek followed by a clip showing blood flowing through a blood vessel followed by a fetus still inits mother’s womb, . . . Every couple of minutes a mysterious voice would say a sentence or two -  and then back to “impressionistic” images.  When they finally started showing actual actors, it was difficult to keep track of the timeline.  When they showed Jack an adult, I would not have known who it was supposed to be if I had not already known Sean Penn was the adult Jack.  I think I was so turned off by the first 30-40 minutes that when it started actually looking like a movie, I could not get past my irritation.  I have read such glowing reviews that I will probably give it a 2^nd try when it comes to HBO, but as of right now, it gets two giant thumbs down from me.

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13 Assassins

Movie: 13 Assassins

Genre: Samurai, Subtitles

Synopsis: The movie takes place in Japan in the early 1800’s.  There is peace throughout Japan and the era of the Samurai is drawing to a close.  The half-brother of the reigning Shogun is a bloodthirsty sadist whose actions threaten to plunge Japan back into war. A noble decides that for the good of Japan, the Shogun’s half-brother must be killed.  He organizes a group of 13 Samurai to accomplish this.  The odds are stacked against them, as the half-brother travels with a huge armed escort at all times.  There is a climactic battle between the thirteen Samurai and 200 body guards.

My two cents: This was not the cheesy Samurai movie I expected.  The idea of never disobeying the rulers is so deeply engrained that when, for the good of the country, someone disobeys the ruler . . . it is understood that the transgressor will commit hara-kiri.  These 13 Samurai understood this, but were willing to put their lives on the line for the greater good.  The deeds of the half-brother of the Shogun were breathtaking in the crass disregard for human life that they demonstrated.  This is probably the best movie out of Japan that I can recall seeing.

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Super 8 in IMAX

Movie: Super 8 in IMAX

Genre: sci-fi thriller

Synopsis: Some middle-school friends are filming their own movie for a contest when they are witness to a horrific train wreck.  The wreck is soon swarming with soldiers who insist everything is OK.  Then people and dogs start to disappear.  When the kids get their film developed, they find that they caught more on the film than their little movie – they see what escaped from the wreck.  What follows is a race between the kids, who are trying to find and rescue their friend, and the soldiers, who are doing their best to destroy the town in their search for the escapee.

My two cents: A fabulous movie.  I could really see the influence of Steven Spielberg in how the children are handled.  The scenes between Joe (Joel Courtney) and Alice (Elle Fanning) are really touching – as are the scenes with Joe and his best friend when the confront the reason for the tension (girl related, naturally) that develops between them. Watching the way the children inter-act reminded me a bit of some classics, like “Stand by Me”.  The alien creature was great – tossing cars around like they were toys. The most spectacular part of the movie, though, was the train wreck in the beginning.  It is absolutely the most spectacular train crash I have ever seen in a movie – probably the most spectacular ground-based vehicle crash I have ever seen.  Seeing (and hearing) it in IMAX made the extra money for IMAX absolutely worth it.  The only thing I had a beef with was accepting that this ‘thing’ from the train could have been kept captive by the military for so long . . . with the powers it had, surely it would have managed to escape.

Bottom line: don’t miss this one.  It is one of those movies that needs to be seen on a big screen – preferably in IMAX.

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X-Men: First Class

Movie: X-Men: First Class

Genre: Action

Synopsis: This movie covers the origins of the X-Men.  A young Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) helped the U.S. government to organize other people with special powers, including Beast (Nicholas Hoult), Frost (January Jones), Raven  (Jennifer Lawrence), and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) – who was actually a close friend of Xavier early on.

My two cents: I really loved this movie.  It was a bit of a surprise to see that X-Men who are bitter enemies of Xavier in earlier movies actually started out as allies of his.  It was also a lot of fun to see the X-Men inserted into an actual event of the 60’s: the Cuban missile crises.  Kevin Bacon was especially great as an arch-villain who makes Magneto look like a nice guy.   I hope that there are more of these “prequel” X-Men movies.

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