Solitary Man

First Hit: Michael Douglas is perfect in this role and does carry the premise all the way to the end.

The basic premise of this film is about some men and their drive, desire and lust to conquer women by bedding them.

Douglas plays Ben Kalmen, a divorced former car dealer who got caught scheming and was convicted of fraud. He has no job, no friends but he’d like to get back into business. He also has a reputation of hitting on many young women and bedding them. He’s dating and living with Jordan (played by Mary-Louise Parker) and Allyson (played by Imogen Poots) Karsch a mother and daughter who have their own wealth.

Although he is living with Jordan, he is still picking up other women and taking them to hotels. He’s tasked with taking Allyson to her college for a meeting with the Chancellor. Doing this puts himself in good graces with Jordan who can pull strings to get him endorsements and support to build a new auto dealership.

However, he hits on Allyson thinking she won’t tell her mother. His former wife Nancy (played by Susan Sarandon) still lives in their old apartment and still has their furniture. There is nostalgia and comforts being with her but as you learn at the end of the film, he became this other person because he felt invisible.

There are numerous men like Ben and this film can serve as a view of how their lives could go. I did like that the ending of the film was left up in the air, but I’m pretty sure of the way he went.

Douglas fills the bill of this character with panache. Whether it is true or not; if you believe gossip magazines, he makes the role come alive with realism. His dialogue is spoken with experienced ease. Parker effectively carries off the role of a rich affected wealthy woman who is hurt but wanting to move on. Poots as Allyson is strong by being both angry at and complacent with her mom. Jenna Fischer plays Kalmen’s daughter and given the odd dialogue with her father about his exploits, I was both taken aback and intrigued. Sarandon has a small but effective part by grounding the the film. Danny DeVito plays a old friend who runs a deli near his alma mater and here DeVito is on course and on track.

Overall: I liked this film as it fairly portrayed the sadness of someone continuing to find their strength through seduction.

Father of my Children (Le pere de mes enfants)

First Hit: A bit slow and drawn out but characters were well identified.

This French film is a study in how a man can hide his work struggles from his family but, in the end, they become so burdensome that he commits suicide.

Gregoire Canvel (played by Louis-Do de Lencquesaing) is a producer of films. Some of his films have been successes and some not. Because he's been in the business for a long time he can borrow money from his past.

However, he likes working with creative geniuses and the weight of how they work and how much it costs is dragging down his company. He is constantly smoking, doesn’t sleep much, and is less than cognizant of the needs of his staff or his wife.

His banker, accountant and trusted aide tell him he’s got to figure something out but his film catalogue is already leveraged to the hilt and he has little resources left to make it work. Each time he is with his family he focuses on them, but when he takes a phone call about work, he pulls away from his wife and family both physically and emotionally.

His daughters love and admire him. He is full of wisdom and knowledge which he displays by giving them the historical importance about the places they visit. His daughters also put on plays which is truly endearing.

However, after admitting to his wife he’s in financial trouble at work, he goes off and kills himself.

de Lencquesaing is effective as a man who buries his feelings while his difficulties show in other subtle and not so subtle ways. Chiara Caselli is good as his wife but she was very much in the background. Alice de Lencquesaing (Louis’s daughter) was wonderful as the older daughter wanting to grow up, yet still partially a child at heart especially when she played with her siblings. Alice Gautier and Manelle Driss were extraordinary as the youngest daughters Valentine and Billie respectively. Their energy, sadness and joy permeated the screen.

Overall: The film is slow and ends as the story began in a nondescript place in time.

Harry Brown

First Hit: This is a strong gritty film and Caine is superb.

This film is rough and dark showing a gritty side of England. The Estate is a housing project that is now home for the very poor, drug dealers and thugs.

Harry Brown (played by Michael Caine) has been living there for many years and he’s seen The Estate change. His daughter died early in his life and his wife is near death in the hospital. His close and maybe only friend is Leonard Attwell (played by David Bradley). They drink a little at the pub and play chess.

Harry's wife dies and Leonard has been threatened by the bullies living in The Estate. Leonard has finally had it and decides he wants retaliate. He asks Harry for assistance but Harry resists.

One night, Leonard is smoked out of his house and he decides to go after the culprits with a bayonet. He, being very old, loses the battle and is stabbed with his own weapon. Harry learns of Leonard's death when Detective Inspector Alice Frampton (played by Emily Mortimer) comes over to his house and tells him.

Harry has nothing left to live for and decides to take matters into his own hands and starts by buying a gun from Stretch (played by Sean Harris). Harry becomes a vigilante killer of the men who are making The Estate a haven for the abusing young people.

Caine is tremendous as Harry Brown. He shows strength, vulnerability and a depth of character that drips from the screen. Attwell is very good as a frightened old man who has had enough of the harassment but has no skills in backing up his intent to hurt the people who are ruining his life. Mortimer is good as the Inspector who understands what is going on but is held back by her superior. Harris is absolutely amazing as a drug addled dealer who lives only for the next hit; a truly incredible performance. Daniel Barber shot this film with the right color and mood.

Overall: This is a strong film and well worth the price of admission.

Mother and Child

First Hit: Some very strong acting especially in the first 2/3 of the film.

There is one prominent story and one side story. Either story would have made a really good film with additional background. In this film, one story is about a woman named Karen (played by Annette Bening) who is haunted by her decision to give up the baby she had at age 14.

This baby grows up with adoptive parents. At age 17 she goes out on her own, selects her own name, "Elizabeth" (played by Naomi Watts) and as we are introduced to her in the film she is a fully empowered bright lawyer who drifts from job to job. She is calculating, at times cold, always in charge of each situation and when feeling threatened by her own feelings or a situation she cannot control, she flies away.

She can be endearingly lovely and engaged yet turn right around and be spiteful just for the fun of it. Her biological mother, Karen, is caring for her aging mother Nora (played by Eileen Ryan), and is constantly wondering who and where her daughter is.

Every day she only thinks of the things she doesn’t have and the distance between herself and her mother. Her almost bedridden mother finds joy only in the cleaning lady Sofia (played by Elpidia Carrillo) and the cleaning lady’s daughter Cristi (played by Simone Lopez).

The level of acting, interaction of characters and story of Karen and her life slowly being awakened from the constant cloud of sadness by fellow physical therapist Paco (played Jimmy Smits) along with the story of Elizabeth and her interaction with her new boss Paul (played by Samuel L. Jackson) is more than enough to make a great film.

However, there is another good story which is about Lucy (played by Kerry Washington) and Joseph (played by David Ramsey) who cannot have a baby themselves because Lucy is infertile. They begin the quest to adopt a newborn by meeting a pregnant mother.

The young woman they meet is named Ray (played by Shareeka Epps) and she is very clear, wise in her young brash way and has very specific criteria about the kind of people she wants to adopt her unborn child. Although this story adds to and is integrated into the main story, both stories could have stood on their own, especially the first.

One of the themes running through both stories is that parenthood isn’t about blood as much as it is about the commitment of time one shows up to another. In this realm I can tell you from my own experience blood has little to do with being a parent.

Bening is nothing short of wonderful. She is pitch perfect in her movement from skittish, difficult, haunted, and sad to discovering she can trust love and the path of learning how to uncover the life residing within herself. Watts gives a powerful astonishing performance as a woman finding her way from toughness, singularly oriented, and alone to finding some openness in her heart to love another. Washington was good as a woman who wants to be a mother but has little clue as to what it takes. Jackson was very good as law firm owner and lover. Epps was extraordinary in her role as the young mother. Smits is superb as a patient man willing to wait for a woman to trust and see him as the beautiful spirit his character portrays. Rodrigo Garcia could have made two wonderful pictures out of this one had he played his cards right. The sub-story about adopting would have had to been beefed up some but it was there. The main story with the strong acting performances was enough to carry this film. Outside of this overreaching, he got wonderful performances from his actors.

Overall: The strong performances based off of a great story are the order of the day for this film despite it being a little over crowded.

The Joneses

First Hit: Could have been more fully fleshed out to make it more interesting.

The obvious set-up is that people do outlandish and stupid things to keep up with The Joneses. This film is about a family unit called the Jones.

Demi Moore plays Kate Jones who is head of this unit. In her unit are her pretend husband Steve Jones (played by David Duchovny) and fake children Jenn Jones (played by Amber Heard) and Mick Jones (played by Ben Hollingsworth).

The unit is really a sales machine. It is not a real family although they pretend they are to the world around them. They exist to sell merchandize the manufactures and sponsors want them to sell at any given time.

The unit moves into an area and sells their lifestyle, what they appear to own, use and eat, to neighbors and friends. They do this by being the people everyone else wants to be. The kids are hip, have the newest and hippest things, and look just great.

The adults mingle at country clubs, hair salons, or anywhere they can influence others with their shiny new toys and extra fantastic good looks. By showing off what they have others may think they will be happy if they have the same stuff, just like The Joneses.

We all know the fallacy of this argument. You like Steve’s watch and buy one, Steve’s sales ratio goes up. You like Mick’s new hand held video game and buy one; Mick’s sales ratio goes up. This is Kate's first assignment as lead member of a unit and really is pushing to get the entire unit's sales up so that they can get "icon" status.

Only once, during this film, do we understand why anyone would want this kind of life when Steve’s background and history is revealed to the audience. But why is Kate so driven to this lifestyle? How do kids become part of a family unit? Where are their real parents? Are they orphans?

This is where the film falls apart. There is very little background context to the story to make it plausible and therefore are suppose to just accept it. Not that the idea wasn’t good, it just wasn’t well developed.

Moore looks good and carries off the style of the part rather well. She can be cold, distant, directorial, attractive and alluring; but when Duchovny asks her if she ever wants to have a real family, her response was “no” as if she was capable of having kids. She is young enough to have the older kids in the film but too old to even entertain having new kids. Duchovny is the most fleshed out character of the group and this is an asset to both him and the film. His role is to be the conscious of the unit and questions the legitimacy of what they are doing. In the end he makes the right choice. Derrick Borte co-wrote and directed this film and unfortunately there was little character development which might have made this somewhat entertaining film a whole lot better.

Overall:  At best this is a rental film and has mild entertainment value but not worth a full price of admission.