Movie Watch

OK, so per Lois, I'm going to comment on the movies I've seen in the last couple of weeks. And for those of you I've talked to, these are the ones I've been talking about. In order of viewing:

After the Wedding: Danish (R) about a man who runs an orphanage in India. He needs funding/donations so it won't close down, and a donor appears, but has strange strings attached. Explores interesting questions of ethics, and the nature of goodness. Language and brief nudity. I highly reccomend this one.

Nine Queens: Argentine (R) a heist movie (remade in America as The Criminal, but not as highly rated on Rotten Tomatoes) about small time crooks. Lots of language, but no sex, nudity, or even violence. Entertaining.

Paris Je T'aime: French (R) is a bunch of short films, each by a different director and set in a different part of Paris. Some are squeaky clean, and others are not. They tend to be set upper-downer-upper-downer in sequence. We loved some of them (Nick Nolte's comes to mind) and others were just so sad (Juliette Binoche's for example). But overall it was a good mix. R's favorite was about a muslim girl. I'm still partial to the mime short at the Eiffel Tower.

The Producers: (PG-13) This was the remake with Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane, Uma Thurman and Will Ferrell. Loved the casting and the singing and chemistry. We could have done without some of the uber-crass humor. R still thinks he may show a couple of clips to German classes in the future.

The Chorus: French (PG-13) The story of a broken man who comes to a school for reprobate boys. Had essence of Dead Poets' Society and Shawshank Redemption in places. Touched very delicately on some really heavy themes, but ultimately about how imperfect people can change imperfect people, and how can you argue with that?

Dan in Real Life: (airline version) I'd been told I should see this, and I was tickled they were playing it on Delta. Widowed father of three girls returns to childhood home for pan-family reunion and is smitten with brother's girlfriend (because it's Juliette Binoche, and how could he not be?). Charming and well-cast and a great house and family reunion to boot. See it if you can.

Becoming Jane: (airline) Another one that I'd been wanting to see, and I caught this on the way back. Historical fiction about Jane Austen's love life. I'm a big Austen junkie, and I like Anne Hathaway as well, and R says that we need to support any movie with a role in it for Maggie Smith, whom he considers a national British treasure. The male lead looked vaguely familiar, and I finally placed him as Mr. Tumnus (other, more hip people will have seen him in King of Scotland and Starters for 10 and Atonement, but I don't get out much). I thought it was great, but a chick flick I'm not going to make my husband watch (but I am going to make him watch Dan in Real Life).

August Rush: (airline) blech. Delta was doing so well. To be perfectly honest, I only watched the first half of this one, and only put on the earphones for the second half. But truly, I didn't need to hear the dialogue, and I knew I couldn't keep watching it if I did. Child of musical parents given up without mother's knowledge runs away from his orphanage and runs into the bad, the good and the ugly in NYC. Ends up at Julliard and is convinced that if he just plays music, They (his parents) Will Come. Robin Williams is truly scary and the plot really strains credulity (cute white boy not getting adopted? come on). Not worth your two hours.

Enchanted: (PG) Spoof on a classic Disney fairy tale, with Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey and Susan Sarandon (plus Corny Collins and Peter Pettigrew). The first half hour of the show is absolutely hilarious, with satires in both animated Andalasia and Manhattan. It is worth watching up until the number in Central Park. From there, the plot thickens and you can probably guess which way it's going. I took M and she spent a good portion of the movie hiding her head in either fear or embarrassment or both. Not necessarily a great kid flick -- watch it for yourself first.

Gee, it seems that I've seen more movies than I thought I had. I'm going to go check the Netflix queue and see what I'm in for next.