Movie Reviews

Winter Passing is the type of film I strongly dislike.  It’s a film that’s dark, moody, edgy, and eccentric for the sake of being dark, moody, edgy and eccentric.  It never earns the style it so vehemently wants to impose on us, nor the necessary redemption of its leading character.  It’s just pretentious as hell.

Winter Passing
1 & 1/2 Stars

I like Zooey Deschanel.  I like Ed Harris.  I like Amelia Warner.  Yet I did not like this film.  Oddly cobbled together with a forced vibe of weird and edgy, dark and moody, the film is just an odd compilation of performances.  It’s almost as though these actor’s agents got together and had them make a reel to show to directors and producers showing off their talent for films they want to be considered for.  And note to the writer/director – having the main character drown a kitten makes it a little hard to accept her as a sympathetic character later in the film.

Reese Holden (Zooey Deschanel) is a mess.  Living in New York as a struggling actress in off-off-Broadway productions she spends most of her time drinking, smoking cigarettes, doing cocaine, humping any guy who is nice to her, and banging her hand in dresser drawer.  But she has a kind side; she’s taken in a stray kitten who she takes care of….oops, she found out it has leukemia.  Well she’s still a nice person she’s not going to….hey, why is she walking into the river with the cute cuddly mewing kitten and a small duffle bag??  Oh my god!  Cruella De Vil wasn’t this evil!

The kitten killer’s mother has just committed suicide and bequeathed her a collection of letters she and her father, both famous authors, wrote to each other in their youth.  A publisher (Amy Madigan) offers Reese $100,000 for the letters and so the kitten killer returns home to Michigan on the bus to find her father (Ed Harris) living in the garage and a former student Shelly (Amelia Warner) and an odd character Corbit (Will Ferrell) living in the house.  Seems Daddy’s gone ‘round the bend.

The rest of the film is the unremarkable story of how rigid and mean Reese begins to accept and understand these people who are living in the house and taking care of her father and finding her father has a side she didn’t know.  Awwwww.  The performances aside the entire film is a waste of time and money.  Reese isn’t an interesting or sympathetic character and her father and Corbit are too crazy to be cared about.  The only slightly interesting character is Shelly who has a real story of tragedy and loss that is quickly glossed over in favor of Reese’s self-indulgent pseudo-tragedy.

The story is also oddly interrupted by scenes that have nothing to do with anything connected to the characters or story.  An example, one night driving Reese stops as a deer has been hit by the side of the road and gets out of the car to drag the deer to the side of the road.  Next scene.  Huh?  The film has at least a dozen such moments that make the story structure of the film less and less cohesive.  And we won’t even get into the numerous continuity and logistical issues such as having Ed Harris play a guy with hair, but using an older picture of him on the back of his novel being bald.  Hmm…I think someone should have noticed that before me.

There are no reasons to see the film unless you just really love Zooey Deschanel and want to see her go through all the motions in a bad movie.  The movie makes her character so unsympathetic that we can never accept her as anything else (did I mention she zips up a kitten in a duffle bad and drowns it alive in the Hudson River?).  At least everyone got some good clips to use to land them their next role.

More of a concert film than a documentary Neil Young: Heart of Gold captures Neil Young giving a two night performance at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium just days before he goes in for surgery.  The music is of course great and the sound quality is excellent but I would have liked more of a behind the scenes look with interviews and reminiscing with Neil and his friends.  All that said fans of good music will want to check it out.

Neil Young: Heart of Gold
3 & 1/2 Stars

Neil Young: Heart of Gold takes a look at Neil Young’s two night performance with friends in Nashville.  Young manages to put on one hell of a show (I don’t think I’ve ever heard a better quality sound on a concert film) and I was smiling ear to ear when he broke into “Old Man.”  I would have preferred a litle more documentary mixed in to the music but what we do get is quite good.  (click the poster to see the trailer)

The film starts with Neil Young’s friends showing up in Nashville and being driven to the Ryman Auditorium.  We get glimpses and short stories from the performers including Ben Keith, Spooner Oldham, Rick Rosas, and Emmylou Harris telling the story of how the performance was put together on their rides to the auditorium.  Also joining in are Karl Himmel, Chad Cromwell, Wayne Jackson, Grant Boatwright, Larry Crag, and Neil’s wife Pegi Young.  Young had just months before learned of his brain aneurysm and at the time of the performance was just days away from going into surgery.  That gives the film added meaning and relevance knowing Young may have believed on some level that this would be his last performance. 

After the short documentary footage (all together probably only ten minutes worth) the movie launches into the concert.  Young performs many songs from his latest album “Prairie Wind” along with mixing in classics such as “Harvest Moon” and “Old Man.”  His performance of “Old Man” is particularly memorable because its one of the few songs he stops to tell a story about where the song came from.  Young also gives a short tale before his performance of “This Old Guitar” talking about the guitar he is using which once was owned by Hank Williams.  Such moments are hidden nuggets between the music and I just wish there were more of them.

Despite his age and the weight of his health problems Young gives a tremendous performance.  I give huge credit for Demme in capturing a legendary performer still at the top of his game on an incredibly emotional night.  Demme’s choices are all the right ones as he manages to capture the feel and emotion of the night as well as the sound.

I’m not a huge fan of concerts or concert films for that matter, but it’s a damn fine deal to get to hear Neil Young for the price of movie ticket in seats better than any you could get at an actual concert.  Still for most people I think it will make a better DVD than movie experience and you can enjoy the music in the background without being stuck in a theater seat for an hour and forty minutes.  If the film had gone for more of a documentary style as the early interviews I would have given it a higher rating as they some of the best parts of the movie.  Still for Neil fans you get what you want just nothing more.

A Good Woman is one of those films that I just didn’t have any connection or feeling to.  I didn’t like it, nor did I despise it.  In fact I found the whole experience rather underwhelming.  It’s not that it’s a bad film; there are certainly reasons and moments to enjoy, but in the end the film never really achieves anything other than the unrelenting boredom of its audience.  I can’t tell you to go see, but I also won’t tell you not to see it.  Not good, not bad, A Good Woman is just kinda’ there.

A Good Woman
2 & 1/2 Stars

The film is based on the Oscar Wilde play “Lady Windermere’s Fan,” and all I can say is I thought Wilde was a better writer.  Filled with a charming British cast with a mix of two Hollywood leading ladies the movie spins a tale of sex, deception, lies, adultery, and more.  In my memory such subjects have rarely been examined with less emotion and passion which may be the British sensibility of the film or the fact it was a paid vacation for all those involved.  The second choice seems the more probable to me.

The movie starts off in New York during the mid-1930’s where renowned adulterer and seductress Mrs. Erlynne (Helen Hunt) is expelled from society by the wives of all the husbands she has seduced.  Pawning her jewelry and traveling overseas to the Amalfi Coast Mrs. Erlynne becomes the scandal and gossip of the town.  She sets her sight on Robert Windemere (Mark Umbers) to be her new benefactor despite the fact that Robert is married to the lovely Meg (Scarlett Johannson) who has become the object of desire of Robert’s friend Lord Darlington (Stephen Campbell Moore).  The town includes a group of gossiping old women (including Giorgia Massetti and Diana Hardcastle) and a group of older gentlemen (John Standing, Roger Hammond) including Tuppy (Tom Wilkinson) who takes an instant attraction to Mrs. Erynne and decides to make her his next wife.

From that basic set-up the film moves along much like a farce with odd coincidences and people misinterpreting things they see and hear.  Problems start to arise when you realize that the film isn’t really funny and is much more of a drama that has been forced into this odd comical construction.  The movie has several small twists and turns and one “surprise twist” but the characters are all paper-thin and lifeless.  The movie is somewhat saved by the strong performances of the cast.  Almost all the British cast come off well and I especially liked Tom Wilkinson and John Standing.  As for the women of the film they are hopelessly miscast.  The role of Helen Hunt, based on the story and plot twists, needed to be cast with an older actress in mind and although the camera loves Scarlett Johannson the script allows her little to do other than smile or pout into the camera.  And you know if I can’t support a Johannson vehicle (see The Island) there’s got to be something wrong.

Overall the film is just a mild disappointment that never catches the audience up in the tale or earns the very fine performance of Wilkinson.  I think there are some people who will enjoy the film and others who will not, but the film never provides anything to make you care enough to love it or hate it.  In the end, the dispassionate film exercise just plays on the screen until it stops and you get up and find something more satisfying to enjoy.

Nanny McPhee is an ugly Mary Poppins indeed. A pack of rotten kids, a sad widowed father, an uneducated maid and nanny with instead a bag of tricks a cane that kicks. Adapted by Emma Thompson from the “Nurse Matilda” books, Nanny McPhee is a story with morals, lessons and love. A magical happy ending for both kids and parents alike.

Nanny McPhee
4 Stars

Nanny McPhee is an ugly Mary Poppins indeed. A pack of rotten kids, a sad widowed father, an uneducated maid and nanny with instead a bag of tricks a cane that kicks. Adapted by Emma Thompson from the “Nurse Matilda” books, Nanny McPhee is a story with morals, lessons and love. A magical happy ending for both kids and parents alike.

With the passing of their mother the Brown kids are lashing out for attention the only way they know how, by ill behavior and bad manors. Running the last nanny in town off in less than 2 days, Mr. Brown (Colin Firth), their father is desperate for help. Nanny McPhee is the person you need, he hears in the breeze. Knock! Knock! At the door on a dark stormy night and there she stood in all her moley glory, Nanny McPhee (Emma Thompson). She goes to work right away; starting with lesson one, go to bed when you are told. She has a special way about her, less than a force more like a push with a knock of her cane. She has but 5 lessons to teach and as soon as the kids have accomplished all 5, she must be on her way. (Marry Poppins anybody?)

A little magic and stern compassion Nanny McPhee whips the kids into shape and helps, in her own way, Mr. Brown with his looming engagement. He must get married within a month or the evil Aunt Adelaide (Angela Lansbury) will cut off his allowance. If he looses his aunt’s financial support the kids must separate and the older children would go to sweat shops and the younger to foster care or an orphanage. This he could not allow, so he attempts to marry a very colorful character, whose husband he had buried the year before. The children do not like her and she them, so they become their evil little selves for one day and get rid of her and turn their father around. Nanny McPhee throws in one last cane thrashing of hope, the love lorne maid, Evangeline (Kelly Macdonald) appears as an angel to save the family and marry the father.

Nanny McPhee is a happy little story with charming children, dashingly handsome father and one ugly nanny that will entertain kids of all ages. Nanny McPhee is a fitting family fairy tale ending film