The Lovely Bones

First Hit: At times this film was extremely well acted and interestingly unsettling, but in the end it was overly done up and not really well rendered.  

One thing I try not to do is see a film from a book I’ve read. As my reading tastes are almost strictly non-fiction, I am generally in safe territory.

I imagined, while sitting through The Lovely Bones, that the book let the reader create their own visions by imagining “the in-between” and other aspects of the story.

Peter Jackson, the director, spent a lot of time and money on special effects to render a version of the in-between. This film is about a young girl Susie Salmon (played by Saoirse Ronan) who couldn’t let go of her very full and unfolding life once she was horrifically killed by a very sick man, her neighbor George Harvey (played by Stanley Tucci).

In their closely knit family of five, Susie is the oldest child and is dearly loved by both her mother and father (played by Rachel Weisz and Mark Wahlberg respectively). Susie gets lured into an underground structure built by George solely for the purpose of molesting and killing her.

As it begins to dawn on Susie her going into this structure is not going to end up well, we see, sense and feel the power of her looming death.

Jackson never graphically shows the blow by blow killing of Susie, but he doesn’t need to, because our imagination does the job well enough. However, letting our imagination create our visions and feelings about the in-between isn’t the mode used by Jackson.

He uses thousands and thousands of dollars to give us his beautiful interpretative version of the in-between. Not that this was a mistake, however it does limit our imagination and, possibly, the story. 

The biggest downside to the film was Susan Sarandon as Weisz’s mother. The overdone montage scene set to an early 1970's rock song by the Hollies displaying her drunken ineptness was misplaced and not required.

Ronan was powerfully excellent as Susie, especially in her non-verbal expressions just prior to being killed. She portrayed anticipatory fear and possible escapes in singular flashing moments. Tucci was very effective at bringing multiple levels of hidden creepiness to George. Wahlberg and Weisz were good as parents each struggling differently to the loss of their oldest daughter.

Overall: This is a difficult story to tell in both subject and content. Ronan’s performance is worth watching but the long scenes of the in-between became wearing.

Wonderful World

First Hit: This film had some promise but its pacing, mediocre story line, and lack of connecting to something tangible let it become less than the promise.

Matthew Broderick plays Ben Singer a guy who seems down, tired of life, and unhappy at how life has presented itself to him.

When we meet him, we see that he smokes a lot of pot, dispassionately works at an office editing scripts, and has little regard for the people he works with. We learn that Ben is an outstanding guitar player and had once created a CD of children songs.

As part of the deal to create this CD he was allowed to create a CD of his more adult songs. The record company indicated that his material was inaccessible and therefore didn't promote the work. Ben has a daughter name Sandra (played by Jodelle Ferland) who lives with her mom and step dad. She seems confused and lonely when she spends time with her unhappy self oriented father.

Ben has a foreign roommate named Ibu (played by Michael K.Williams) who is almost the opposite type person. He's full of life, hope and anticipation that things will go well for him in this new country. Ibu is happy and is also a diabetic. 

One day Ben finds Ibu in an extreme diabetic distress status and has an incident which prevents him from getting Ibu to the hospital quickly. 

Ibu's sister Khadi (played by Sanaa Lathan) comes to tend to her brother and ends up staying with Ben. As they spend time together, Ben begins to open up and be more engaged with life. He starts to fall in love.

Broderick is OK as this forlorn character but there was something missing in his performance which didn't ring true for me. Maybe it was how easily he appeared to give up, but mostly it was that I didn't see or understand the reasons why he spent most all of his time stoned and in a haze. Lathan is wonderful as Ibu's sister and she fully emanates the joy of her beliefs. Ferland, as Broderick's daughter, was very, very good. I was impressed with her expressions of sadness, confusion, and joy (when she dances with Lathan). However, the overall presentation of mediocre material and direction, both by Joshua Goldin, resulted in a flat unfulfilling film.

Overall: This is a quiet afternoon DVD rental as there is nothing really outstanding to see.  

Crazy Heart

First Hit: Jeff Bridges fully embodies “Bad” Blake in this extremely well acted performance in a really good film about redemption.

Jeff Bridges plays “Bad” Blake a rundown, broken down, and down on his luck drunken country singer who, at age 57, finds himself playing small bars and bowling alleys.

Scott Cooper (director) did a great job of giving the audience a strong picture of who “Bad” is prior to hearing him sing for the first time at a bowling alley. He arrives at the alley, climbs out of the old beat up Suburban he drives and slowly buttons up his pants and buckles his belt.

We see that he drives a long ways between gigs and because he has a sizable gut, he unbuttons his pants and belt buckle while he drives to make himself more comfortable. He walks into the bowling alley to check the place out and discovers they won’t cover his bar bill but will only cover room and food because his reputation as a drinker has precedes him.

The alley owner tells him there is no smoking in the building but he can finish the one in his mouth. He checks into the dumpy motel they've set up for him, then heads out to find some alcohol. The leader of the backup band comes to his room and tells him the band wants to rehearse. He deflects him by giving him sheet music, the playlist and a CD to listen to, saying everything you need to know is here.

The band leader insists he come to the rehearsal so “Bad” says he’ll be there in an hour, but we already know he won’t show. He finds more booze, lights up another cigarette and lies in the motel in a drunken haze but gets up in time to get to the alley for his first set.

The backup band is waiting for him outside and “Bad” mumbles something like; I’ve never been late or miss a show in my life whether I’ve been drunk or not. He invites the boys to follow him to start playing some music.

Climbing on stage, strapping on his guitar, they begin the first song, and you see why he’s still able to make a living – he’s good, damn good. We follow “Bad” to his next gig where he meets Jean Craddock (played by Maggie Gyllenhaal) who wants to interview him.

A relationship begins to develop and it is here that we begin to see a slow transformation of Bridge's character.

Bridges gives the kind of performance that sets him apart from other actors in that he fully embodies this character. Not only is Bridges a credible drunk, loner and washed up has been, he does an outstanding job of singing and playing guitar which brings life to “Bad’s” existence. Gyllenhaal is wonderful as a mother who must measure her feelings of love for a high risk man against what will be good for her and her son as she becomes involved with “Bad”. Robert Duval credibly plays “Bad’s” friend Wayne and is there to help “Bad” through the rough times along with giving him some advice along the way. The most detrimental part of this film was the casting Colin Farrell as Tommy Sweet who was mentored by “Bad” and became a Number 1 Country Star. Farrell seems to carry his head down and doesn’t look at the person he is talking to most of the time. It was as if he was embarrassed by the part or his job in the part.

Overall: This was a wonderful film about how it is never too late to step back into one’s life fully.

Brothers

First Hit: A strong film about family and the effects war can have on our subsequent actions.

Tobey MaGuire plays Sam, a career soldier and captain, married to Grace (played by Natalie Portman). They have two darling daughters Maggie and Isabelle (played by Taylor Geare and Bailee Madison respectively).

The film begins by showing a happy family but with the impending sadness that Sam will soon be heading back to Afghanistan. Prior to Sam leaving, he goes to a prison to pick up his brother Tommy (played by Jake Gyllenhaal) who is being let out for some unknown crime.

Tommy is the bad boy of the family and their dad Hank (played by Sam Shepard) makes it known that Sam is the preferred son while Tommy is the weak black sheep. There is a dinner scene with all of them around the table which sets the tone of the family angst with the step mom Elise (played by Mare Winningham) attempting to keep the peace.

Sam goes to Afghanistan, gets shot down and is believed to be dead. Tommy, finds it in his heart to start taking care of Grace, Maggie and Isabelle. Tommy finds new joy in his life playing with Maggie and Isabelle.

It is clearly Gyllenhaal and Portman’s film at this point as you see the interplay of how Tommy starts to believe he has some value to his brother’s family while Grace begins to see the good side of Tommy. There is a moment when Grace and Tommy kiss but both of them realize immediately that nothing else can happen.

Meanwhile Sam was captured by the enemy, not killed but is tortured by his captors. In hopes of seeing his family again he ends up doing an unforgivable deed. When he is rescued, we clearly see that he has become a different man with his soul in a battle between his actions and his beliefs. In the end this film is about family and love.

The acting was generally superb all around the horn. However standouts include Madison as the older daughter when she shares her fear of her father, Portman for being able hide her absolute beauty and to have us see the character, and McGuire for showing me he is something other than Spiderman. I think the film could have had more in-depth probing of how the brothers became so different and how their dad hurt them while growing up. We are given a quick glimpse when Shepard tells McGuire about his turn in Vietnam and how it changed him, but that’s all.

Overall: This is a good film which could have been stronger because all the elements were available and the actors' first rate.

Me and Orson Welles

First Hit: A somewhat delightful film with an outstanding performance.

I’ve heard stories of the early Orson Welles and his dynamic personality. Later in life, as I saw this rotund man sitting in Johnny Carson’s guest chairs, I wondered how he became so famous because he didn’t seem to have much going for him while I listened to him talk with Johnny.

However in this film Christian McKay plays the early Orson to the hilt; arrogant, self assured, strong, intelligent, and clearly “the man in charge”.

The film is about the creation of Orson's Julius Cesar in his own theater on 46th Avenue in New York. McKay’s booming voice barking out orders to the actors of how they are to play each part indicated that Orson was charge. People are fired on a whim (especially if you question him) and brought back just as easily. Often his work associates had to clean up his personnel messes.

Claire Danes plays Sonja Jones, the production assistant who is clearly looking out for herself and her career. She is loyal to Orson but only for her advantage. Zac Efron plays Richard a young man who wants to be in theater and stumbles across Orson’s production of Julius Caesar.

Like Orson Richard is bold and self assured and ends with a part to fill in for a just fired actor. He takes a shine to Sonja as does everyone in the production company, and as a surprise to everyone else, she takes a shine to him.

The film is about how this production develops into its critic pleasing performance and about Orson and his driving, unforgiving personality.

 McKay is outstanding as Orson and matches some of information I gathered about Orson’s early career in creating Broadway plays while also doing radio, where he was already a star. Efron, is good looking, cute and is strong enough to match McKay’s strong performance with his own. Danes is OK as a conduit of communication and Efron's love interest but nothing outstanding.

Overall: The overall direction and story line was limited in scope and therefore the film felt limited . However, McKay's Orson and the stage performance, which they were rehearsing, made the film interesting and watchable.