The Women

First Hit: It was good to see a film that was only about and performed by women but it languished in its execution.

This is a remake of a 1939 film of the same name.

Back then society’s morals, perceptions, and roles of men and women were different. Mary (played by Meg Ryan) is working as a dress designer for her father and is married to big time financier. She discovers, almost at the same time, that her father is firing her when she thought he was ready to give her the business and that her husband Stephen is having an affair.

Her best friend Sylvie (played Annette Bening) overhears this latter bit of information from a manicurist. Sylvie and Edie (played by Debra Messing) talk about what they should do with this information on their way to Mary’s house for a party.

The scene in the car begins to set up the choices and the boundaries of their friendships. Added to this core circle of friends is Alex Fisher (played by Jada Pinkett Smith) a strong lesbian character and, together, this represents “The Women.”

There is lots of advice given to Mary about what to do from her mother (played by Candice Bergen) and her friends. This advice includes fighting Stephen for everything he’s got to let it go and he’ll come back.

Meg Ryan had both strong and brilliant moments as well as flashes of weak and inconsistent characterizations. Although I generally like and think Meg is a wonderful actress, this isn’t one of her better acting jobs. As well, I thought Annette Bening play Sylvie a bit too wooden. Candice Bergen was one of the better performances and was effective as Mary’s mother. I also enjoyed seeing Cloris Leachman as Mary’s house keeper.

Overall: It wasn’t a bad film but it wasn’t a great woman’s film either which is unfortunate in that there are very few films made for, by and star just women.

Burn After Reading

First Hit: Although it wasn’t over-the-top funny, it was clever and quirky enough to keep me entertained and engaged.

This film has a big named cast with George Clooney, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, and Brad Pitt.

The basic premise is that Linda (played by McDormand) desperately wants a man in her life and needs money to have four cosmetic surgical procedures to make her beautiful and enticing. She works at a gym called Hardbodies along with Chad (played by Pitt) who is a comical, simple, goofy, and a good looking trainer.

They find a CD in the locker room with some financial information and the memoirs by a CIA agent written by Osborne Cox (played Malkovich). Linda and Chad try to blackmail Cox for the information on the CD. Cox, who was recently fired by the CIA as an analyst because of his drinking, is angry at his former bosses and his wife Katie (played by Swinton) who is a cold calculating woman.

Katie is planning to divorce “Ozzie” because she is happier screwing U.S. Marshal Harry (played by Clooney). Harry is married to a children’s book author who travels a lot so he has many affairs by dating people he meets on the internet, including Linda and Katie.

As the blackmail plan unfolds Linda and Chad find out the data on the CD is useless to anyone but Cox. From this premise the rest of the film is filled with more affairs, killings, and plot twists.

The Coen Brothers keep the film tight and crisp in its execution. The writing is also, crisp, to the point and the actors clearly (especially Pitt) seemed to enjoy their roles.

Overall: This was a funny movie but not a over-the-top really funny movie.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

First Hit: Woody Allen makes another well acted wonderful film.

The latest resurgence of Woody Allen films don’t have Woody Allen acting in them which I think is very helpful.

Although his distinctive writing is all over this latest film, it is the interpretation by the actors under Allen’s direction which make this film excellent.

We are introduced to two of the main characters as they arrive in Barcelona and are riding in a cab to a friend’s home. Vicky (played by Rebecca Hall) is a student of Spanish architecture and is doing an in-depth study of Gaudi buildings.

Cristina (played by Scarlett Johansson) is her dear friend who decides to tag along for the adventure and because her latest life fling failed. These girls are very different. Where Vicky plans things, feels settled with her life, and is not very adventurous, Cristina’s life is filled with ups and downs and passion. While at an art opening the notice Jose Antonio (played by Javier Bardem).

Later he comes up to their table at a restaurant and suggests that they go with him to another town for the weekend where they will drink wine, see the sites, and all sleep together. Cristina wants to go with the proviso she may not sleep with him but Vicky is shocked and doesn’t think they should go.

However, because Cristina wants to go she joins her friend to keep her company. The girls learn that Jose has a former wife named Maria Elena (played by Penelope Cruz) who is wild, un-abandoned, and still crazy in love with her former husband. With this premise, all the characters get to learn something about themselves and all the while, we the audience are fully entertained.

Often the technique of using a voice over during a film takes away from being engaged with the film. It isn’t always used very well and sometimes is used to make up for the shortcomings of the actors, director, or script. Although I noticed it when it was first used, later I found it well integrated into the film slid in and out without distracting the viewer from the characters and story. Additionally, Allen gets a wonderfully relaxed performance from Johansson, a funny performance from Bardem, and full and wide ranging performance from Cruz.

Overall: This was another really good film by Allen who seems to have found a new stride these past few years.

Tropic Thunder

First Hit: There are some very very funny scenes in this film. There are some scenes that could be viewed as offensive.

Ben Stiller is playing Tugg Speedman a fading action star.

Robert Downey Jr. is playing Kirk Lazarus a well Oscared Australian actor. Jack Black is playing Jeff Portnoy who makes films about fat people farting. These guys are thrown together to make a Vietnam film based on a book by Nick Nolte playing a grizzled veteran named Four Leaf Tayback.

Their egos get in the way and after a ranting tirade by an egomaniac studio executive played by Tom Cruise, the director and Tayback decide to put the actors in the jungle and film them remotely. What wasn’t taken into account is that the actors run into a band of real freedom fighters that are using real bullets.

All the actors have some funny highlights and strong performances. However, the best of the lot are Cruise and Downey. Cruise plays his role as an over the studio executive all out and without fear. It is one of those performances (like in Magnolia) that, despite the bad press he gets, shows why Cruise can deliver something off the charts. Downey, on the other hand plays over the top in another way by being a white man who undergoes a special procedure to change his skin color to play a black man in this film. And as only Downey can do it, he gets into the role fully with lines like, “I don’t read the script, the script reads me”.

Overall: I wasn’t truly bowled over by the entire film although there were some extraordinarily funny scenes.

Bottle Shock

First Hit: This film brought some light to a true event that shocked the wine world.

In 1976 bottles of a white and red wine from Napa Valley each won a blind taste in France.

Until then wines from the United States were frowned upon because they didn’t have the development history of the wines made in Europe, specifically France.

The film chronicles Steve Spurrier (played by Alan Rickman) an English wine merchant who lives in Paris and is struggling to make his business make money. His shop is next door to another expatriate, from the United States, that runs a tour agency.

The American pushes Steve to come up with a gimmick to make his business sizzle. Steve comes up with the plan to have a blind wine taste off and include Napa Valley wines. He travels to Napa and goes from winemaker to wine maker looking for wines to bring back to France to compete in the contest.

The other story is based in Napa Valley Chateau Montelena where a father and son (played by Bill Pullman and Chris Pine respectively) are almost broke trying to make a perfect Chardonnay.

Their story is a little contrite and includes an intern Sam Clayton (played by Rachel Taylor) who we know will fall in love with the son by the end of the film.

What I liked was the portrayal of the Napa wine producers as down to earth people who knew what they were doing but didn’t require the air of authority displayed by the French. Most of them were poor and weren’t selling much wine. I do remember when the newspaper headlines announced the results of taste test. From that point on, Napa wine was sought after and the wine makers started to make money. Today they still create some the very best wines in the world. There was a 10 year anniversary of the taste test with another tasting. And, again the Napa Valley wines won the competition therefore solidifying the greatness of Napa Valley. I would have appreciated more wine history and wine making details.

Overall: It was an amusing film and I liked it. I thought Alan Rickman was good as the droll arrogant Englishman.