The Way Back

First Hit: What an amazing and inspiring story.

Frigid cold to extreme heat, this film must have been difficult to make but the story is amazing and definitely worth the effort.

This film is about living with your truth and the willingness to walk to the ends of the earth (literally) to find your internal freedom. It starts with a few printed lines on the screen to set the stage when Germany and Russia invaded Poland divvying it up.

Janusz (played by Jim Sturgess) is a polish man falsely accused of being a spy by his wife who was coerced by soviet officials to sign a statement stating her husband was a spy. We follow him to a prison camp in Siberia. Here he meets others who are political prisoners along with real criminals. Valka (played by Colin Farrell) is a wild street raised criminal who is ready to hurt anyone who crosses him.

There is an American, Mr. Smith, (played by Ed Harris) who lost his son in the changing political environment of Russia where he had come to work. These men plus three others break out one night and begin their journey. Along the way to the border of Mongolia they begin to lose some of the group. They pick up one other person who was following them for days.

Irena, (played by Saoirse Ronan) is a street girl who lost her parents in the political struggle and despite objections they allow her to travel with them. When they get to the border of Mongolia, Valka realizes he cannot leave his mother country and doesn’t cross with the others.

The group soon realizes that Mongolia has gone communist as well and they continue to head south. They enter into China and cross the Gobi Desert eventually landing in Tibet. To reach real freedom they must leave Tibet and trek over the Himalayas to make it to India.

The group now down three had walked 4,000 miles to reach freedom. I loved the touch the director put in when they crossed into India and the Army official asked for their paper passports; the travels responded they didn’t have any and the official said, no problem, welcome. This is a story about perseverance, dedication, camaraderie, and the love to live a free life.

This is based on a true story.

Sturgess is wonderful and the young man who took charge of this group and led them all the way. Farrell is a great character actor and here he excels again. Harris is very good as an older, sad, wizened, and skeptical American. Ronan is enchanting as Irena, the girl who learned all their stories and shared them with the others so that she became the glue of the group. Keith R. Clark wrote an excellent screenplay from Slavomir Rawicz’s novel. Peter Weir directed this with regards for the beauty of the geography and with inspiration from the story.

Overall: This was an amazing adventure and unfortunately it won’t get seen by many.

Barney's Version

First Hit: Although the main character is not very likable, the story and acting is very strong and worthy of attention.

Paul Giamatti plays Barney Panofsky a drunk, curmudgeon, and man fighting to be at peace with his life. Barney is a hard drinking, cigar smoking producer who marries women he doesn’t really want to be with.

He is a good friend and does surprisingly supportive things for some of his co-workers. He is also demanding, self-centered, and pushy with what he wants – usually drunk. His father Izzy (played by Dustin Hoffman) understands his son’s behavior although it appears that Barney learned a lot of his behavior from his father.

His second wife (played by Minnie Driver) is demanding and ends up sleeping with his best friend which results in a bizarre set of incidents which lead a police to think Barney kills his best friend. During his second wedding Barney meets Miriam (played by Rosamund Pike) whom he pursues for years and upon his divorce he seeks her out.

They marry and Barney lives in relative peace because he's with his best friend and lover. But Barney’s jealous and stupid past catch up with him and he breaks his promise to Miriam and she leaves him.

Barney lives his later years in pain and as the film moves towards its ending, his dementia appears to be the price and peace for living his life.

Giamatti is perfect as Panofsky, nobody could have done this role better. Driver is good as a loud demanding wife. Pike is endearingly wonderful as Miriam and fully believable as to why Barney wants to marry her. Hoffman is wonderful as Barney’s father. Michael Konyves wrote an incredible script. Richard J. Lewis directed this script and actors with perfection.

Overall: A very well acted and directed film.

The Company Men

First Hit: I’ve lived through the drama of losing a job through cutbacks and this film captures an effective slice of life.

Anyone who has lost a job by way of cutbacks in this economy will know how easy it is to become disenchanted and feel helpless about the future.

Although Bobby Walker (played by Ben Affleck) is only 37, even at his young age, he’s worried because “new college MBAs will work 90 hours a week for nothing”. Even though this film focuses on Bobby, but it also highlights the other tragedies of a company doing mass layoffs.

Phil Woodward (played by Chris Cooper) who started with the company as a welder on the floor and grew with the company to become a highly paid executive is now on the open job market, old, with no real education, and his severance won’t cover his expenses for very long. His story is a tragic one of living slightly beyond his means and not always being aware that a company doesn’t owe you a thing except the paycheck you take from it.

Then there is Gene McClary (played by Tommy Lee Jones) who is the best friend of the CEO, James Salinger (played by Craig T. Nelson), is President of the division who is hardest hit. Although he is financially alright, he is painfully affected because the initial layoffs are done behind his back and he thinks that “ethically”, the corporation is not doing what is right.

Bobby tries to keep up the image that he, and his family is fine, by getting the Porsche detailed and by playing golf at the country club. His wife Maggie (played by Rosemarie DeWitt) is supportive and practical and does her best to guide Bobby into making some rational decisions.

Maggie’s brother Jack Dolan (played by Kevin Costner) offers Bobby construction work and although he rudely declines at first, he takes Jack up on the offer and begins an understanding of their two different lives. One thing not directly discussed in this film was how people live too close to the edge of paycheck to paycheck.

All the stuff they collect along the way can lose its meaning quickly when the money stops rolling in.

Affleck is strong and believable in his anger and frustration at losing his high level job at GTX. DeWitt is fabulous and I really enjoyed her practical, centered and loving support of her husband and the situation. Cooper is, as always, intense and very believable as the guy who came up from the shop floor to be a formable executive. Jones is great as the conscious of the company and how he finds his way back into the game. Nelson is perfect as the arrogant CEO who forgot about how to look at the impact of his decisions to gain the most for himself and shareholders of which he is a very large shareholder. Costner is wonderful as the construction oriented brother in-law. John Wells both wrote and directed this film effectively and with care.

Overall: This film is reflective of how losing a job in a large company in rough economic times can be very difficult. Many people are simply one job away from living on the streets.

Country Strong

First Hit: A far cry from last year’s intense and well executed “Crazy Heart”, this film falls flat everywhere.

I really wanted to see this film. I wanted to see Gwyneth Paltrow deliver like I know she can.

But what this film does is compromise every character in every way. If you want us to believe Kelly Canter (Paltrow) is a raging out of control drunk, and then give it to us – early. What we get is her lying on her bed in rehabilitation, dreamy eyed while listening to Beau Hutton (played by Garrett Hedlund) create a song.

When they decide to show us her darker drunk side, believe me it doesn’t stand up as real. Her husband James (played by Tim McGraw) is her manager and has, long ago, lost contact with Kelly. But why? He keeps her going with stories of their past about how much he loved her. He is also in pain because Kelly, while drunk, fell off a stage a year earlier while 5 months pregnant and lost their baby.

Maybe this is where the film needed to begin. Maybe the film needed to identify what their relationship was like prior to Kelly being pregnant. But this isn’t what happened. Kelly is having an affair with Beau. Kelly thinks James is having an affair with new singing talent Chiles Stanton (played by Leighton Meester).

James is obviously attempting to keep the gravy train rolling while hoping to heal his inner demons. Kelly is clearly a lost woman and only seems to light up with someone compliments her or when the audience praises her. Beau pretends to be the keeper of the truth in the film, but he is just a screwed up in his ability to communicate effectively. Chiles is simply starstruck and believes in fairy tales and that she will be happy being a big country star. She is totally unprepared for her next step.

The only time the film tries to put context to Kelly's life as a star against Chiles naivete is when Kelly comes into her dressing room and tells her all that she knows to be true about this life Chiles has chosen.

Paltrow is either a victim of a poor script, poor direction, or just a poor performance. I think she tried, but the basis of this story needed to be re-worked. McGraw is very reserved and felt very constricted in this role. Again, the script, direction, or that he lacked the chops to deliver something other than a mediocre performance. Hedlund felt like a one trick pony. He provided little depth throughout the film although he probably had the best lines and enough screen time to make something work. Meester is moderately believable and her doe eyes and innocence wouldn't have allowed her to get as far as she had gotten in the music world. Shana Feste wrote and directed this poorly constructed film. It was a long way from being well thought out. How she got this kind of talent engaged with this script is beyond me.

Overall: This is a barely watchable film with no lessons or redeeming value.

Blue Valentine

First Hit: This is a truly great film about a disintegrating relationship.

The present time scenes in the film take place over a couple of days, but through well selected and acted flashbacks, we see how they came to be of love with their partner and then slowly see the undoing.

This isn’t a feel good film, yet I felt inspired by the willingness of the script and director to show that neither of the characters are “at fault” for love’s undoing. Often it is the form of love that has to change. There are millions of stories like this in the real world and in each one, one of the parties has to take a step away from something they know cannot exist any longer.

Here, Cindy (played by Michelle Williams) realizes that the life she is having with Dean (played by Ryan Gosling) cannot go any farther. Dean’s view of their relationship is clearly put in one scene when she is asks him about expanding his potential and to apply himself to be something more than what he is doing. He responds by saying, why would he want to change anything, he makes enough money to spend time at home with Cindy and Frankie their daughter (played by Faith Wladyka). He doesn’t see any reason to change this nor does he have the need to have more money or a different stature in the public’s or his wife’s eyes.

Cindy is interested in changing her life, she wants more, and she’s interested in medicine and wants to further her career and feels trapped by the life she is in. Is either of them wrong? No, but how they behave towards each other in the expression of their internal anguish and frustrations creates a world that neither one can live in is what this film expresses.

This film provided enough of the beginning of their relationship in well sequenced flashbacks to show us why they chose to be together in the first place.

Gosling is clearly a wonderful and strong actor. When you match his work here with, Lars and the Real Girl and Half Nelson, you know this guy can act and can play very complex and quirky characters. This is a very strong performance. Williams was extraordinary and clearly well versed in her character. I could feel her struggles and anguish at not being able to see her future in this character. An amazing performance. Wladyka was perfect as their daughter bringing both wonder and maturity to her role as child inside of a disintegrating relationship. Derek Cianfrance and Joey Curtis wrote this excellent script while Cianfrance directed the actors with beauty. Cianfrance stitched together a very fine film and could receive an Oscar nod for this effort.

Overall: This isn’t a happy film, but it is real to life and executed with the strength and spirit of life as it is.