The Kids Are Alright

Just wanted to give a shout out to a nice grown-up movie I saw the other week.  The Kids Are Alright starts with the story of two teenagers that seek out their biological father.  The story shifts to focus on the relationship between that father (donor?) and one of the kids actual parents, who is in a lesbian relationship, and they have raised the kids together as a family.  The people are allowed to be more complicated than just types.  Sure, they have quirks, but they add up into characters that resemble actual human beings.  The couple isn't a generic lesbian couple, even they're sexuality has a complex dimension.  This is a movie where the characters say a great deal to each other, but you still sense a powerful subtext underneath.  Dinner conversations; confrontations; passages of time; all is handled with a fluid naturalism that just feels authentic.  I also want to mention the use of the supporting characters, from the donors (dad?) Mark Ruffalos girlfriend, to the gardner, to the kids friends..they all contribute to the overall feel of the film, and lend a great deal to it's authenticity.  I stared at the scene where Julianne Moore fires her gardner with amazement, because it just felt so true.  Some will not appreciate the plot twists, but this isn't the ultimate lesbian film, nor does it want to tokenize lesbian audiences.  These are real people, doing realistic things.  I bought it.  The fact that it's well written and acted adds to it's appeal.  It so subtle that is becomes even more thought-provoking when it starts asking the big questions.  What is a parent?  What is a partner?  What is a family?  And the climax, before the moving finale, is a finely delivered speech that is effective.  I love movies that end with great speeches, they remind me of older movies that might star Spencer Tracy.

Machete

Machete Trailer

Oh.  Hell.  Yes, 

Sita Sings the Blues

http://www.sitasingstheblues.com/watch.html

Essay: How Not to Depict a War

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/01/essay-15/

"Edge Of Darkness"

First let me say I know this movie came out in January. I am slow, and have been busy.

I understand that Mel Gibson has created a PR nightmare for himself as of late. The anti-Semitic, and the DUII arrest just to name a few incidents. The phrase "Sugar tits" will forever be my favorite drunken outburst. With all of the Mel's baggage of late I have to say I was a little worried about this film.

Now, I also must say that I am a huge Mel Gibson fan, so forgive the bias that is coming. That said, here goes nothing:

Mel plays Thomas Craven a veteran Boston detective. I am a fan of the Boston accent, and I have to say Gibson does a superb job at pulling it off. A side note: This film was written by William Monahan who also wrote "The Departed", and "Body Of Lies". One viewing of "The Departed" and you should fully understand my love for the Boston accent...

Without giving away too much of the plot... Craven's only daughter Emma (played by Bojana Novakovic) comes home to visit and gets gunned down on the front steps of her fathers house and dies in his arms. This was in all the previews so no spoiler alert needed.

Past this I don't want to say much other than Craven becomes consumed with getting to the truth on how, and why his daughter is murdered.

What I loved about this film is you can actually feel Mel (Craven) drift further and further into the "darkness" that we all have inside us. A once proud decorated police officer is now willing to blurr the lines of what is right and wrong all to get to the bottom of a very personal tragedy.

As the film goes on Craven starts to uncover slowly what happened. With the gradual exposure of fact so goes Craven deeper into the vengeful, vigilante justice that I found troubling yet exactly what I would do given the situation if it were me.

This film is clever, and full of plot twists and turns. I even jumped several times. I am a pretty good guess as to the what happens next in thrillers. This film kept me guessing the entire time.

I think my favorite part of this film besides Gibsons gut wrenching performance was the Witty banter and exchange(s) between Jedburgh and Craven (Ray Winstone) is excellent.

All in all, if you can get past the off screen personal issues of Gibson this is a great film. Gibson is back, and better than ever.

This Is It

I have to admit, about a month post- Michael Jackson’s death, I had had enough talk about him. While I was a fan back in the day of Thriller (I was 19 and had it on vinyl), I hadn’t paid any attention to him for some decades, thought the media hype sickening, and only had a fleeting feeling of sadness when he died.

But there is something to be said for serendipity. I probably would have never watched This Is It had Blockbuster not pre-viewed it in the store a few weeks back while I was in to rent a movie. The beat-rich music caught my attention first, drawing me back in time to his hay day. Then, when I looked at the screen, I remembered what I truly loved about Michael Jackson’s music…the dancing! I wasn’t really sure what was going on in the documentary, but there was Michael and dance entourage doing their thing. I was sucked in. I was transfixed for quite some time and it took several long sighs from my son before I finally said, ‘OK, we’ll leave now.’

So now I had to rent it, knew the release date, and even thought about rushing to the store to get it on the first day. But I got a grip and waited a few days.

While I really rented This Is It thinking it would be simply some sort of compilation of Jackson music video flashbacks, I learned quickly that this is a documentary about preparation for Michael’s come back to the stage and swan song all in one. We see auditions for dancers - pumped up, jazzed, truly beautiful dancers - all eager to dance with Michael, to say the least. We are walked through the story of what this all is, from the press conference announcing the comeback, to the venues that would be played, and on through the brainstorming and rehearsal phases of the various numbers that would be performed. Throughout, we get to know Michael as an artist and a person. His artistic brilliance is so apparent, from relaying his vision for graphics on the stage to directing exactly when a pause or beat needs to come in to breaking into dance simply as he is talking to a musician. And we get lots of close ups of his singing and his dancing.

Like Ebert, as told in this review, I was a little nervous as the film progressed…nervous about how Michael would hold out, half expecting him to show us how burned-out and washed up he is. But it never came; he had no problem revealing his energy and creativity to rival the stage dancers who were 25-30 years his junior.

More surprising to me is that I learned a little bit about the person who Michael Jackson was. The way he treated others is a testament to what a kind person he must have been. Giving direction and advice in a soft voice, openly showing affection to those he worked with, and revealing humility in his interactions with others said it all.

No wonder he is so loved by his fans and those who work with him. I was struck by the admiration the young dancers and other production staff had for him. They clapped for his rehearsals like an audience that had slept overnight on the sidewalk to get tickets to his latest concert.

So I thank director and Jackson friend Kenny Ortega for doing this documentary. I was glad to see something that didn’t trash the dead and make a freak out of him, but showed his human side. He showed him to be a gentleman. Make that gentle man.

And that fleeting feeling of sadness over his death, it’s not so fleeting anymore. The world lost someone special.

Alice In Wonderland

Oh, can't wait for this...I just love Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. And both of them together? Forget about it...

Oh, and it's going to be a 3D at IMAX.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjMkNrX60mA