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First Hit: Although a bit tedious at times; a direct, sometimes interesting and funny look into the world of modern art.

The roles are very clear in this film.

You’ve got the studio owner Madeline Grey (played by Marley Shelton) who believes she is on a mission to bring forth the "true and emerging artists of our decade". She likes a thumbtack in a wall, chicken bodies buried in a target, and a monkey sucking into a vacuum cleaner hose; these are what she sees as the new art, the important art. She wears glasses which have lenses that are not prescription and make no difference in what she sees; they are just for the look - smart, hip and edgy.

You have the accomplished musician Adrian (played by Adam Goldberg) who plays piano standards in a fancy restaurant but is trying to make a living creating music that is a bit minimalistic and most of the time bizzare. 

There is his brother Josh (played by Eion Bailey) who creates un-edgy easy viewing abstract art which galleries won't show but people and corporations like it, so Madeline sells it out of the back of her store by the truckload which keeps her gallery alive and Josh in fine financial form.

However, Josh wants his art to be taken seriously so he is fighting to have a show of his own. You've got the outgoing conceptual artist who thinks he is the real deal creating important work and you have the introverted minimalistic artist who looks to be on the edge of falling into some psychotic comma at any moment.

Lastly, you have the followers of the music and the artists with one patron having made too much money "in computers" thinks what is important is how many pieces he can buy of the "emerging" work. 

All of this adds up to a play on what roles people find important and how much they believe in who they are and what they do as being what is really important to the world as a whole.

Adam Goldberg is believable as a struggling musician but his ongoing screen scowl seemed pushed, perpetual, and not realistic. It was an overplay of the deep thinking self important role. Shelton was great and very believable as the singular minded gallery owner who really believed she was making an important contribution with her showing of these edge living artists. The director, Jonathan Parker, did a great job of giving the look and feel of the art scene, although I felt the film was slow at time but some of the jokes were perfect.

Overall: It is funny and at times thoughtful but a little long and I felt that Goldberg needed to lighten up just a little to make his character a little more realistic.

Antichrist

First Hit: Started off rather interesting, veered off the highway, fell into a ditch and finally off a cliff.

Two wonderful actors, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Willem Dafoe, along with director Lars von Trier teamed up to make a film which started out beautifully, with potential to share a powerful message, but then segued into a poorly done horror film while attempting to make woman suffrage points along the way. The opening “Prologue” is beautiful to watch. In slow motion two people engaged in lovemaking; starting in the shower and moving to different venues, positions shift, things fall in very slow motion and all in black and white. The camera moves to another room and we see their child, slowly getting out of his crib, moving across the floor, and then opening a child security gate. The boy sees his parents making love walks into another room sees an open window with snow coming in, he is entranced as are his parents. The camera continues to move between the couple making love, their expressions and the boy. The boy climbs on top of the desk and into the open window frame. The camera focuses on his face, then on the face of his mother, their looks are nearly the same. The camera goes back to the falling child’s face and then the face of the father. Joy, wonder, the unknown, the boy falling to his death, ecstasy of “the petite death” called orgasm and then the reality; their boy died while they made love. What a setup, but then a story of sorts starts to get in the way. Dafoe is a therapist and attempts to save his wife who feels so guilty about the death of her son that she wants to kill herself. Simply, he’s a bad therapist and obviously incompetent but I don't know whether it is by design or just a bad script. It isn’t long before their dialogue and the tone of the film heads off the highway, onto a side road and then into a ditch. With the introduction of some occult studying Gainsbourg did earlier in their country home in “Eden”, the film falls off the proverbial cliff and in a reactive moment Gainsbourg thinking that Dafoe is leaving her, decides to mutilate him, then herself. At this point this film isn't pretty to view and watching it is very difficult.

Dafoe and his character (I don’t recall any names used) is obviously not a qualified psychologist but really thinks he knows something and knows what Gainsbourg needs. Gainsbourg, who is the main focus of the film, is both bizarre and openly naked (both figuratively and psychologically). But the blame for driving this car off a cliff is Lars von Trier.

Overall: Don’t bother to see this in any venue, there isn’t a point.

An Education

First Hit: At times the acting was good but not by the main characters and the story was not very believable.

Carey Mulligan was 23 when she made this film. Her character, Jenny, is 16 and this is immediately noticeable especially when she is in scenes around other real 16 and 17 year old people. These scenes came early in the film and therefore the pallor of this knowledge diminished the intent and believability of the story.

The film was shot in England and the 1960s. Her father Jack (played by Ralph Molina) is a very conservative man who has plans for his daughter. And as much as he wants to control her, his focus is to have her go to Oxford so that she can have freedom to live a more full life than he is living.

Her mother Marjorie (played by Cara Seymour) is a dutiful, stay at home wife who follows in her husband’s footsteps. One day Jenny, while it is raining buckets, is picked up and given a ride home by David (played by Peter Sarsgaard).

David is a lot older than Jenny but is charmed by her beauty and apparent sophistication and wants to date her. He convinces her parents that going to see a Ravel string concert and dinner afterward is a safe venture with him.

Their relationship grows and becomes cemented when she accepts that David and his counterpart Danny (played by Dominic Cooper) are thieves and make their living through dubious ways. But Jenny is in love and when David asks for her hand in marriage she accepts but then learns he’s not really available.

Mulligan was obviously too old for the part, although during the first nightclub scene, she held both the amazement as a young person out of her element and creating a nervous sophistication which is one reason why David likes her. The best acting was by Molina as her father. Lone Scherfig was the director and don’t think he created an interesting enough story.

Overall: This was a mediocre film, using an old story line, and added nothing to make it very engaging or interesting.

Law Abiding Citizen

First Hit: There is a point to this film and it’s that the justice system is broken.

Gerard Butler plays Clyde Shelton an inventor of sorts who answers the door one evening only to be accosted by two thugs who stab him and let him watch as they kill and rape his wife and then kill their daughter. 

Clyde survives the stabbing and is ready for a trial to convict the killers. The DA, Nick Rice (played by Jamie Foxx), decides that what's best is to make a deal so that there isn’t a trial and Rice gets the conviction. Clyde is angry and very unhappy about the deal because the guy who didn't stab him or kill his wife and daughter is going to get the death penalty and the one who did all the damage will only spend a few years in jail. 

Clyde despises the thought that his family died and that both these guys aren't going to suffer for their misdeeds. He's also very upset at the judicial system, especially Rice, because they are more interested in their conviction rate than going to trial and getting the decision right. Clyde disappears for 10 years and when he reappears it is through his manipulation and killing of both the criminals.

The guy in prison dies a horrible death through manipulation of the drugs used in the death chamber while the other prisoner dies after Clyde cuts him into 27 pieces. The police find Clyde and he goes to prison.

However, other people in the justice system who were part of his family's case start dying and they know Clyde is doing it from solitary confinement. Rice and his boss learn that Clyde was once part of the government’s secret kill squad and has some very specialized skills. Clyde’s point is that he wants Nick to learn that dealing justice to keep his conviction rate up is not justice. Nick finally gets it and Clyde gets his own justice served by his own hand.

Butler is good as the protagonist but when we learn how he managed to create all the deaths, it didn't feel believable. Foxx was OK and embodied the non-caring and deal making of our judicial system adequately. The film moved right along and the direction and delivery of the story was pretty good as there never was a boring moment.

Overall: The film was entertaining to watch although a bit unbelievable.

The Boys are Back

First Hit: Mildly interesting and a bit disjointed, I struggled to understand why this film was made because it didn’t seem to have a point.

Clive Owen is wonderful to watch even in this somewhat pointless film. Since seeing him in The Croupier he’s been someone who I've loved to watch and can dynamically bring something to a character if given the chance.

In this movie Clive plays Joe Warr a sports reporter who spends weeks away from home, arrives with presents for his son Artie whom he calls “sweetheart” (played by Nicholas McAnulty), and loving adoration for his wife Katy (played by Laura Fraser).

She collapses one evening and dies soon afterwards. Joe decides, for some reason, to bring up Artie in an unstructured way, meaning he lets the home become a mess with dirty dishes lying around for weeks at a time and basically supports the kid doing whatever he wants. Some of these decisions seem to be made from guilt for not being around more and other times the decisions look like they come from not knowing what to do.

Neither of these are invalid but there isn't much learning going on here. Whenever he does try to discipline Artie he apologizes afterward. The act of apologising happens a lot throughout this film and I'm not always sure why. 

Joe’s older son Harry (played by George McKay) who lives in England decides to come live with him and Artie which brings a new dimension of apologies and dynamics. Upon Harry’s arrival there is bonding between the boys and eventually, towards the films end, a healing between Joe and his older son.

Owen was at his charming best when interacting with Emma Booth playing the parent of one of Artie’s school mates. Scott Hicks directed this film and given the material it was adequate. I’m not sure why this film needed to be made as I didn’t get the point; unless it was to remind the audience that there is more than one way to raise children. But I knew that already.

Overall: This film was mildly amusing, not all that thoughtful, and more like something to watch on video if you’ve got nothing better to do.