Along Came Polly

What a bomb. The only growth the character Rueben (Ben Stiller) experiences is that he gives up being obsessive about taking risks in life to hang out with Polly, the unstructured one, and live through weeks of excruciating episodes of irritable bowel syndrome.

It's also a kind of formulaic romance but with the characters only promising each other that they'll - hang out (live together). If one of the criteria for romantic genre is that the main characters sacrifice something for the other - then Along Came Polly doesn't go anywhere. Rueben gives up his immature attachments to risk and germs, but Polly doesn't give up anything. These characters use each other in non-transcendent ways.

It didn't make me laugh - and the actors are all good comedians - by themselves or with others. This ensemble hit it big the first weekend. As I write this there's an ad on TV saying the film is "hilarious." Maybe you had to be there.

 

Win a Date with Tad Hamilton

The industry is revving up for a big Valentine's Day celebration through several new films, one of them WIN A DATE WITH TAD HAMILTON.

It's conventional with an innocent love triangle between West Virginians Rosalee, (Kate Boswell) and Pete (Topher Grace - That 70's Show) characters and Tad, played by Josh Duhamel.

The actors play improbable people but this little fantasy works because the actors are willing and do sacrifice for the other. The actors are too beautiful to be real, but its a confection. There is too much drinking - as recreation, as ways of coping and as comedy and we didn't need that.

"Preserve your carnal treasure!" yells Pete as Rosalee takes off for Hollywood and her date with Tad. And she does - not because Peter tells her to but because she has values.

This isn't going to win any awards, but I sure liked it as compared to ALONG CAME POLLy, which was ... why?

 

 

 

In America

In America by director Jim Sheridan, is wonderful. If I had seen it before today (Jan 4) it would have made my top three for last year. This tale of a husband and wife from Ireland and their two daughters (sublimely played by real life sisters) who have lost a son and brother, Frankie, and the wonderful gift of their neighbor, Mateo, will have you in tears.

The family immigrates illegally from Ireland through Canada and settles in a NY tenament full of drug addicts - and an artist, Mateo who has AIDS. How they live those difficult first months in America and come to new life, is what frames the story.

Like Whale Rider and The Station Agent, this is one of the very very good ones. See it.

 

Favorite 2003 Movies

Here is my list of favorite films of 2003, in other words, my picks for best films - out of 77 that I saw.

Bend It like Beckham  #7 pick

Bonhoeffer

Bruce Almighty # 8 pick

Cold Mountain #6 pick

Dirty Pretty Things # 5 pick

Finding Nemo

Goodbye Lenin (Germany)

In this World

Last Samurai

Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King #3 pick

Matrix: Revolutions

Mystic River

Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl  #4 pick

Seabiscuit

Station Agent #2 pick

The Missing

Under the Tuscan Sun

Veronica Guerin

Whale Rider - #1 pick

Paycheck

Paycheck surprised me. It is a good watch. It's not tedious like Memento but more popular. It is classy sci-fi, testosterone thriller, blow 'em up, but asks questions about knowing the future, in particular Michael Jenning's (Ben Afleck) past, present and future, the role of technology, and greed. It does go where other sci-fi films have gone before, but it is entertaining.

One problem is that there is much gun-shooting and killing and hardly any blood, so young viewers will need to be reminded of the consequences of violence... Mature teens and adults will find much to talk about though because they will hopefully understand the genre.

Cold Mountain

I was prepared not to like Cold Mountain because I did not care for the book. It didn't engage me.

However, the film far exceeded my expectations. It's got a haunting beauty, graphic battle scenes (not unlike other Civil War films we have seen), humor, great kindness and courage with much human weakness - and no cliche's. Food and "meal" is a stong motif, among many others, as well as faith and religion, without being obvious.

There is so much to say. Rene Zellweger is amazing and provides the humor. She deserves a best supporting actress win on this. We may be almost at saturation point with Nicole, but she carries off her role as Ada (she has a "piano", too) very well. Jude Law fits perfectly into his role as "Inman". To the credit of cast and director, it is more an ensemble piece than a presentation vehicle for Nicole. Very well cast.

It's moving and very much an anti-war film without being preachy.

Some aspects reminded me of The English Patient... but I got over that fast enough.

The only major gaffe is Nicole's black pant suit that is so out of character for a period piece. And if someone tries to explain it away, I am not inclined to accept any explanation. You can try though ...

Cold Mountain IS one of the good ones and I recommend it.

Calendar Girls

The Calendar Girls is based on the true story of a group of middle-aged ladies in Yorkshire, UK who create a nude calendar (not "naked") to raise money for the leukemia ward and waiting room of the local hospital. The struggle with the difference between art and non-art (pornography); they struggle with celebrity. They struggle with their personal relationships - all with a sense of droll humor and a sense of loss and empathy for those who lose loved ones through leukemia.

What impressed me is that the Calendar Girls understand what they did and why, but when they are invited to be on the Tonight Show, Jay Leno just blows it by telling them to get more women to pose naked. That it shows how shallow the journalism that surrounds them is, as well as shows that seek to promote them but end up insulting them, is a revelation.

These ladies have dignity. In the final alaysis it is about empowerment. I would have wished it could have done a bit more to resolve the relationship between the Helen Mirren character and her husband and son...

Both Helen Mirren and Julie Christie are marvelous.

By the way, they pose nude but you don't see anything (except in a couple of places, in passing, some breasts are evidenced.) Their beauty, as the flowers of Yorkshire, is best as they age.