Christmas At The Movies

Christmas is always a great time for movies and this year there seemed to be more movies than ever to choose from. First up is the new Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston film, Marley & Me. In an effort to pause his wife's biological clock John (Wilson) gets Jenn (Aniston) a puppy to care for. Little does he know he might have just purchased the worst behaving "clearance puppy" of all time. If we've learned anything from life it's that puppies are cute - and Marley is no exception. This movie is full of heart, laughs and so many "awe" moments you'll want to go out and get your own puppy. What I also liked is that Wilson and Aniston didn't just turn into avenues for puppy high jinks. They were full, really likable characters that dealt with real problems, they weren't just fuel for puppy fodder. My only real complaint with Marley is that I felt the last quarter of the film or so became really choppy and it felt like we were just waiting for the puppy to pass away. However, despite this little criticism, I really enjoyed Marley & Me!

Switching gears, we travel to Central City where once dead cop Denny Colt has come back to life as The Spirit - the protector of his beloved city. This movie was actually pretty fun. It started off kind of shaky and had me worried, but once it got going it was a good time. Many of the characters (Sam Jackson, especially) were wonderfully over the top and Gabriel Macht as the The Spirit was a kind of charming, suave smart ass - that's a good thing.

We end our Christmas journey in New Orleans with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Brad Pitt stars as the title character - a most unusual person who ages backward. Abandoned by his father shortly after birth, he's taken in and raised in a retirement home. It's here that he meets Daisy (Cate Blanchett) who will turn out to be the love of his life. Benjamin is told through flashbacks by Daisy, via Benjamin's old journal, as she lay dying in a hospital. To me, Benjamin seemed to have a Notebook meets Bridges of Madison County feel - and if you know me at all, you know that this is most definitely not a bad thing. At its core it's a classic love story, spanding several decades, of two people passing each other by until their time together finally comes. Tender and sweet, Benjamin is a touching story about the wonders of love and the sadness of death.

Last Post For A Bit

I'll be going out of town and unfortunately fall briefly behind in my movie watching. Thankfully I was able to catch an advance screening of Yes Man this evening. Jim Carrey stars as Carl, a guy who likes to sit at home by himself every night, until a friend convinces him to attend a seminar, where he learns to embrace life and opportunity and become a "yes man." This is a great romantic comedy. While watching it, I couldn't help but think this is how good Four Christmases should have been. For one thing, unlike Four Christmases, these filmmakers gave the female lead something to do. Zooey Deschanel was great and had some really genuinely funny lines and scenes. I thought Yes Man would be a kind of Liar Liar knock off, but it really wasn't, although both Carl and Fletcher come to realize life is passing them by. Yes Man is not the cartoonish comedy Liar Liar was. It's rooted in something more real. Yes Man is a return to the fun, crowd pleasing Jim Carrey comedies we all know and love. It was total laughs throughout and I gotta say how charming and snappy the dialogue was, especially between Carrey and Deschanel. Really good stuff.

A Very Broadway Weekend

My very Broadway weekend included two films, each of which were Tony Award winning Broadway shows, and the 2007 winner for Best Musical, Spring Awakening.

Doubt was delicious. This film tells the story of Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Meryl Streep), who suspects and accuses Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) of an inappropriate relationship with one of their students. And accuse she does. If you want to see some class act, grade A acting you should see Doubt immediately. The scenes, particularly with Hoffman and Streep, are filled with fireworks. More than that, every scene with Streep was just great. Her character was just so cruelly comical, it was beyond fun to watch.

Another film with some great performances was Frost/Nixon. Like Milk a couple of weeks ago, this film also does a great job of recreating a past time and telling a true story. Frank Langella's portryal of Nixon was full of passion and fire - a great balance to Michael Sheen's Frost who was quietly and subtlety great. A great supporting cast here too with Sam Rockwell, Kevin Bacon (where have you been?), Matthew "You've bewitched me body and soul" Macfadyen, Oliver Platt, and Rebecca Hall (coming off her great performance in this summer's Vicky Cristina Barcelona).

Spring Awakening is a great musical. Going into it, I knew nothing about the plot, just that it had won some Tony's - and deservedly so as I quickly found out. The music was great, as would be expected, it had some really fun and rockin' numbers, but the thing that struck me the most was the lighting. It was beautiful! The set was very simple and the lights really became additional props and scenery. Very cool!

An Odd Pairing

Would you see a movie about Who Wants to be a Millionaire and the contestant's flashbacks that show you how he knows the answer to each question? Sounds kinda hokey and if this was an American film, I'm sure that's how it would turn out. But the new Danny Boyle film Slumdog Millionaire is definitely worth checking out. Set in India, Slumdog centers around Jamal's (Dev Patel) appearance on the popular game show and shows the horrific, fun and sad events of his life that have led him to where he is now. Boyle really keeps this movie moving. It's a wicked fast pace that instantly sucks you in. The National Board of Review named Slumdog the best film of the year. I'm not sure if it's the best of the year, but it's definitely one of the best.

Yes, I really did see High School Musical 3: Senior Year. It wasn't my idea, I took a 10 year old. I am clearly not this film's demographic, but I think that if I was 12 I would have loved it. The characters are sweet and the songs are entertaining enough. The movie is completely harmless. If you're worried about your kids watching anything objectionable, I'd recommend HSM3 - I don't think the characters even know what objectionable is.