Casino Jack

Movie: Casino Jack

Cast:    Kevin Spacey              (Jack Abramoff)

            Barry Pepper               (Michael Scanlon)

            Kelly Preston              (Pam Abramoff)

            Jon Lovitz                   (Adam Kidan)

            Maury Chaykin           (Big Tony)

Genre: Drama

I saw it on: January 8, 2010

Synopsis: We follow the rise and fall of Jack Abramoff.  He rose to be the most powerful lobbyist in Washington, with Members of Congress literally at his beck and call.  One Indian tribe alone was paying him $1 million per month for his lobbying efforts.  Unfortunately a lot of these efforts never amounted to more than just collecting the money.  Eventually a betrayed woman and an angry tribal leader led to his downfall.

The movie names names and does not pull any punches.  It culminates with Jack before a Senate hearing chaired by John McCain.

My two cents: A pretty good movie.  It serves a good reminder of just how powerful Jack Abramoff was and just how corrupt a lot of Washington big shots were (and are?).  The amounts of money that flowed through Abramoff’s hands is breathtaking.  Two roles that I particularly enjoyed was Jon Lovitz as a really shady business partner of Abramoff and Maury Chaykin playing Big Tony, a mob boss.  There was a lot more humor than I expected in the movie.

Of course, Kevin Spacey dominated any scene he is in.  Energy just seems to flow from him.

[8]

Blue Valentine

Movie: Blue Valentine

Cast:    Michelle Williams       (Cindy)

            Ryan Gosling              (Dean)

Genre: Drama

I saw it on: January 8, 2010

Synopsis: The movie follows two story lines.  One shows us how Cindy and Dean met, started dating and ended up married.  The second story is about the disintegration of their marriage.

My two cents: An interesting movie.  When I see Ryan Gosling, I always think of Lars from “Lars and the Real Girl”.  Dean is a far cry from Lars.  He has some nice qualities, but beneath the surface there is a cauldron of barely suppressed anger.  Cindy came from a household with a verbally abusive father.  It was interesting to see the effect the way her father had treated her mother had on Cindy’s own relationship as an adult.  I found it fascinating to watch how hurtful Dean could be to Cindy without laying a hand on his wife. It was like he was just waiting to twist whatever she said to be an affront or insult to him.

It was a good movie with some great acting, I am just not sure that, for me, it measured up to the hype.

[7]

Dogtooth

Movie: Dogtooth

Cast:    Christos Stergioglou   Father

            Michele Valley            Mother

            Hristos Passalis           Son

            Aggeliki Papoulia        Older Daughter

            Mary Tsoni                  Younger Daughter

Genre: Drama

Greek with English subtitles.

I saw it on: January 4, 2011

Synopsis:  Father and Mother are raising Son, Older Daughter and Younger Daughter (these are really the names they use for each other) in a very secluded environment.  The children appear to be in their mid-twenties.  It also seems that they have only ever seen one single person other than each other and their parents for their entire lives.  All they know is what their parents have told them. For example, when a cat strays into the yard, the children are warned that it is the most dangerous beast in the world and will kill and eat them if given a chance – and they believe it whole-heartedly.  When they see a jet flying overhead, they believe it is as large as it looks to them – about 6 inches long.  They have their own meaning for many words: “sea” is a comfortable chair, “Zombie” is a small yellow flower.

It’s not that they are particularly stupid, its just they know nothing that their parents have not taught them.  They never even think of crossing the threshold of the fence surrounding the property.  They believe the only way to cross the fence line is in the protection of a car.  They are told that only when one of their “dogteeth” falls out will they be old enough to venture off of the property.  There are many really strange quirks to their existence and ways the parents find to introduce things to them.

My two cents: This was one strange movie. I wish that some effort had been made to explain WHY the parents were raising the children this way.  There are numerous humorous scenes created by the incredibly naivity of the children. One of the most memorable for me was when the children were allowed to listen to a record of their “grandfather” singing.  It was actually Frank Sinatra singing one of his more famous songs.  Since it was in English, the father has to translate to Greek.  But his translation has nothing to do with what is being sung.  So I was sitting there listening to Frank Sinatra while reading English subtitles to understand what the Greek false translation was.

I would have been marginally satisfied except for the ending.  The credits rolled and I sat there muttering to myself “What the heck?” (or something close).  If it is on TV, give it a try – but I would not spend money on it.

[5]

The Fighter

Movie: The Fighter

Cast:    Mark Wahlberg           Mickey Ward

            Christian Bale             Dicky Eklund

            Amy Adams                Charlene Fleming

            Melissa Leo                 Alice Ward

Genre: Drama

I saw it on: January 4, 2011

Synopsis: Based on a true story.  Dicky and Micky are half brothers – their mother is Alice Ward.  Dicky was once a promising boxer but is now a crack cocaine addict.  Alice and her seven daughters’ lives revolve around Dicky.  None of them seems able to admit he is an addict.  Mickey is a promising up-and-coming boxer.  His mother is his manager and Dicky is his trainer.  Their decisions put his career and life in jeopardy. Things come to a head when Dicky has a violent with the Boston Police.  Dickey ends up in prison and Mickey winds up with a broken hand.

Things start turning around for Mickey when he begins dating Charlene.  Charlene is a feisty bartender who is more than willing – and able – to stand up to Mickey’s mother and sisters when she helps him get the right people to manage and train him for his revived boxing career.  The movie follows Mickey’s skyrocketing boxing career and his efforts to include both his mother and his finally sober brother in his life along with Charlene.

My two cents: This is a great movie with some outstanding acting.  Melissa Leo was fabulous as Mickey’s mother.  Mark Wahlberg was as solid as he always is.  Amy Adams was amazing.  The scenes with her butting heads with Mickey’s mother and sisters alone are worth the price of admission.  But the one who really steals the show is Christian Bale’s portrayal of a crack-head.  He never stopped moving, his eyes were constantly darting about and the patter of mostly-meaningless drivel coming out of his mouth seemed never ending.  He made me fidgety just watching.  I think this movie has four or five potential Oscar nominations ahead of it.

[4]

White Material

Movie: White Material

Cast:    Isabelle Huppert          (Maria)

            Christopher Lambert   (Andre)

            Nicolas Duvauchelle   (Manuel)

Genre: drama

I saw it on: January 2, 2011

Synopsis: The movie takes place in an unnamed African country.  This country is in the midst of a violent rebellion. Maria and her ex-husband Andre have a coffee plantation.  Maria’s son, Manuel, also lives on the planation.  The French have been evacuated, but Maria refuses to go until her coffee bean crop is harvested.  The movie follows her efforts to get native help to do the harvest as rebels over-run the country, her life is continually in jeopardy and her deadbeat son Manuel goes off the deep end.  As a side story, she is harboring a wounded rebel leader at the plantation.

My two cents: This was a puzzler.  I never really got the point of the movie, unless it was just to show how a dangerously stubborn woman would behave in this setting.  The ending really left me up in the air.  I was hoping for some kind of resolution, but then the credits started rolling.  Not my cup of tea.

[3]

Made in Dagenham

Movie: Made in Dagenham

Cast:    Sally Hawkins             (Rita O’Grady)

            Bob Hoskins               (Albert Passingham)

            Richard Schiff             (Robert Tooley)

            Miranda Richardson   (Barbara Castle)

            Rosamund Pike           (Lisa Hopkins)

Genre: docudrama

I saw it on: January 2, 2011

Synopsis: This is a dramatization of the events surrounding a 1968 strike at the Dagenham (England) Ford assembly plant.  At the time, this mammoth plant encompassed over 450 acres and employed in excess of 40,000 workers.  Of these 40,000 workers approximately 170 were the women who sewed the seat covers.  Initially, all they wanted was to be reclassified as skilled workers.  Rita O’Grady was drafted by Albert Passingham, a low-level union official who was decidedly sympathetic to the women’s plight, to help present the women’s case to some high ranking union reps.  Rita turns out to be a real tiger and, when she sees the union official are just feeding them a load of bs to get them to shut up, she organizes a strike for the women to get equal pay to the men.  At the time, women were often paid as little as 50% of what men got paid for doing the exact same job.  Eventually the entire plant is shut down when they run out of seat covers.

Ford wanted nothing to do with equal pay for women.  They eventually sent an executive, Robert Tooley, over to get tough.  The battle comes to a climax when the British Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity, Barbara Castle, agrees to meet with the women.

My two cents: A great movie.  This strike at Dagenham has enormous repercussions worldwide for women workers.  The matter of fact way that the inequality of pay between the sexes was accepted was astonishing.  I realize that women are still getting the short end of the stick with pay . . . but this movie shows you just how far they have come.

The movie I most remember Sally Hawkins from Poppy is “Happy-Go-Lucky”.  It took me a while to adjust to her Rita character.  She did a great job of looking like a cute little typical housewife, until whatever men she was up against would try to dismiss her and her cause.  The confrontations she had with union management and their reaction to not getting their way are worth the price of admission.  I also enjoyed Miranda Richardson’s character and her head-to-head with the Ford executive, Robert Tooley.  Last, but not least, Rosamund Pike was great as an intelligent well-educated but frustrated wife of a Ford executive who was supposed to just be a house-wife.  When the Ford big-shot, Robert Tooley, makes the mistake of asking her opinion, we learn that she has quite a brain in the pretty head.

Anybody with any interest in the history of the women’s labor movement should see this movie.  To see how Rita O’Grady rises up from just another sewing machine operator to being the leader of the movement is pretty stirring.

[2]

Rabbit Hole

Movie: Rabbit Hole

Cast:    Nicole Kidman            (Becca)

            Aaron Eckhart             (Howie)

            Dianne Wiest              (Nat)

            Miles Teller                 (Jason)

            Sandra Oh

Genre: drama

I saw it on: January 2, 2011

Synopsis: Becca and Howie were the parents of a four-year boy.  The movie is set eight months after their son was killed when he chased the family dog into the street and was hit by a car.  Neither is dealing well with their grief.  Nat is Becca’s mother.  Becca’s mother, Nat, tries to help Becca – but not too successfully.  Becca ultimately finds some solace by talking to a teenager with aspirations of writing a comic-book.

The movie follows Becca and Howie with their struggle to get on with their life and as they attempt to salvage their marriage.

My two cents: An interesting movie.  The subject matter made me a little apprehensive going in.  It is hard not to commiserate with both Becca and Howie.  I really enjoyed Dianne Wiest as Becca’s mother. Believe it or not, there were some pretty funny scenes.  For example, Howie attends a grief support group with Gabby.  The problem is that they smoked some pot before the meeting and cannot stop giggling during the meeting.

I enjoyed the movie, but the subject matter might make it a bit tough for some to enjoy. If you do see it, you will be rewarded with some great acting, some humor in unexpected situations and an interesting plot twist regarding the teenager.

[1]