Adventureland (2009) Film Review - Kennywood Park location

Plot Summary - Coming of age romantic comedy set in Pittsburgh, the summer of 1987. About James (Jesse Eisenberg), just graduated from college and - a virgin, it is announced - who is forced to get his first summer job when his father gets transferred (and has less money). No experience, the only job he can get is as a carny operating games at local amusement park Adventureland. James meets several new friends working there that summer including fellow game operator, attractive Em (Kristen Stewart). He quickly becomes lovestruck over Em, but Em seems torn between him and married, a bit older park maintenance guy who she is busy sleeping with in his mom's basement (or sometimes in the back of his car!). Romance blossoms between James and Em, but James has a fling of his own when a sexy park dancer/ride operator comes onto him. Will this be the summer that James loses his virginity? and will he end up with a new love?

Review - This film came as a bit of a surprise - very good, with well done blossoming romance and fun setting, on-location filming done almost entirely in the old-fashioned amusement park (filmed at Kennywood Park, West Mifflin, near Pittsburgh, PA - yeah, I'd like to go there one day!). The two leads take their parts to heart and do a really good job here - especially Jesse Eisenberg, who brings a real vulnerability to the role, the expressions on his face really do make him look like a young man falling in love. The eighties period setting was done well, enhanced by a great soundtrack of eighties music (loved hearing one of my old, personal faves from the day "Don't Change" by INXS in the closing credits). Lots of other favorite songs too. Comedy elements are added by stars like "Freaks and Geeks" Martin Starr, as a geeky games worker, and Bill Hader, as the park manager. Great film. Rating - 9 to 9.5/10 stars

Hannah Montana: The Movie (2009) - Film Review

Plot Summary - Teen comedy/musical about TV/Disney sensation Hannah Montana. Seemingly normal teenage high school girl Miley (Miley Cyrus) dons a blonde wig and some cool clothes and secretly turns herself into her alter-ego, one teen pop sensation known as Hannah Montana. Her dad wants her to go to Tennessee for two weeks to celebrate her grandmother's birthday with the family - Hannah has other plans in NYC, but is tricked by smart papa into ending up on a flight straight to Tennessee and her little country hometown, Crowley Corners. Back home, Miley meets a good-looking teen cowboy and has some flirtations (remember, this is a Disney film), plus is busy trying to keep her alter-ego a secret, especially from a bloodhound-like reporter on her trail for his Brit rag publication. When they want to turn part of the landscape in town into a mall, a fund raiser is to be put on to keep this from happening - which escalates into an invitation for Hannah Montana herself to perform a concert to help raise funds - thing is, only close family knows Miley is Hannah - what if the town (or her new guy) were to find out the truth?

Review - This is cute, VERY light fare - perhaps I would have liked this better when I was ten, but I did find this entertaining. Some of the film is sort of silly slapstick-ish, but the story is well done, and there are some nice moments, I especially enjoyed the duet that Miley Cyrus and Billy Ray Cyrus (who plays her dad in the film) do in one scene for the song, "Butterfly Fly Away". The musical numbers, in general, were enjoyable to watch - I just always enjoy musicals, I guess. Okay movie - a good bet for the preteen gal set. Rating - 7/10 stars

I Love You, Man (2009) Film Review - Paul Rudd, Jason Segel

Plot Summary - Comedy-"bromance". Newly engaged realtor, Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd), finds that his wife has an assortment of best gal pals to have for her bridesmaids but he has NO guy friends. So - he decides to try to find a new male friend he can ask to be Best Man at his wedding, and begins going on "man dates". Okey dokey. No luck finding that right new chum - until one day having an open house for the big property he's trying to sell - Lou Ferrigno's house - he meets Sydney Fife (Jason Segel). Soon meeting up again for beer and fish tacos in Venice Beach, L.A., where Sydney has a house, they gradually become buddies - doing Rush songs together on guitar and bass in Sydney's "man cave" (hmm - do guys really have stuff like that?), getting drunk, telling intimate sex stuff to each other. Buds to the end. But is Peter's fiancee, Zooey (Rashida Jones), really up to having her man gone half the time doing guy stuff with Sydney?!

Review - Well, this ended up being fairly good - it had some laughs in it, cute story, all filmed on location in L.A. including the Venice boardwalk, Chinatown for an engagement party at Hop Louie (must go there one day soon), and the Grove. For a comedy, this wasn't a bad watch, was entertaining with lots of humor based around a man's relationship with another man being sort of like a romantic relationship - what with nervousness about calling for their first "man date", nervousness getting to know each other, saying the wrong things, making a break apart from each other and the like. Fun film good for some laughs. Rating - 8/10 stars

The Beales of Grey Gardens (2006) - Documentary Review

Plot Summary - More footage from the original "Grey Gardens" documentary from 1975 was used to create this new film. Lots more glimpses of eccentric but lovable mother and daughter, Big Edie and Little Edie Bouvier Beales, and their semi-isolated life in their East Hampton beachside mansion, Grey Gardens. This film features lots more of Little Edie singing, dancing, posing, and making love to the camera with her eyes basically; Big Edie recites a couple of poems. The house has a small fire, a small batch of cute kittens is born, and there is more footage featured of the "Marble Faun", an Italian-American neighbor youth named Jerry who likes to hang about with the two women. They also receive a visit from a friend/palm reader who paints some rather unusual, kind of dark paintings!

Review - Okay, this documentary wasn't quite as good as the original, which obviously featured most of the best footage, but it was still very interesting and great to spend some more time with these two women - I really like them a whole lot, as obviously the two filmmakers, the Maysles brothers did. Little Edie flirts with them from her side of the camera quite often in the footage shown in this. We also get to see a whole lot more of Little Edie's wild costumes and headdresses (love it!) - amazing the combinations and ideas she comes up with! More skirts and scarves created out of shirts, more weird color combinations, more running about in that same 40s/50s looking bathing suit - - we even see Edie take the two filmmakers down to the beach, where she sunbathes and goes for a swim - lots of fun stuff. Very cool. Rating - 9/10 stars

17 Again (2009) Film Review - Zac Efron

Plot Summary - Fantasy-comedy about Mike (Matthew Perry), a thirty-something father of two teens who feels disappointed with his life - going nowhere in his job in pharmaceutical sales (they promote a bimbo - working there only two months - instead of him, a 16 year employee!) and on the brink of divorcing the wife he married after getting her pregnant his senior year in high school. Oddly, he is given a second chance when he visits his old school, encounters a strange janitor, and soon has fallen off a bridge and into something pretty weird - his body has become seventeen again (you knew that was coming!), but inside he's still the same man. Okay, now a teenager, Mike (Zac Efron), decides that this is his chance to try and do his life over - he decides to "go back to high school". Living with his longtime pal Ned, a sci-fi/fantasy geek to the core (you should see this guy's house!), he recruits Ned to pose as his "dad" and sign him up for school. Ned falls for the attractive female principal and Mike hopes to gain the success he once missed out on by joining the basketball team. But here's the twist - Mike's two teenage kids, Alex and Maggie, attend the same high school and he finds himself getting to know the kids he never really knew - and helping them out with their problems. Alex is being taunted by a bully, Maggie happens to be dating said bully (a real jerk). And meanwhile, Mike comes over to his new "friend" Alex's house and meets his mom (Leslie Mann), Mike's soon to be ex-wife, and he begins to see a side of her he had forgotten. Thing is, she thinks he's a teen!

Review - Okay, I thought this film was quite good, funny - very entertaining. I do always enjoy these sort of films - Freaky Friday, Big, etc. - body switching, age changing fantasy, that sort. This features lots of comic scenes involving Mike acting towards his children like a father - but they think he's just another kid at school, creating weird situations. Same with his relationship with the mom, he acts more like her husband than her son's friend. Mix-ups, confusion, it's all amusing. The film also features comedy in the form of an older man trying to think, dress, and act like a teenager. Rating - 9/10 stars

The Soloist (2009) Film Review - Jamie Foxx

Plot Summary - Los Angeles Times reporter Steve Lopez (Robert Downey Jr.), hanging in Pershing Square, meets a homeless man named Nathaniel (Jamie Foxx) who talks to himself in nonsense streaming sentences and plays the violin on the streets of L.A., and it turns out he was once a music student at Julliard, several decades before. Lopez decides to devote his weekly column to this man, tries to find out what lead him to this down and out state, and tries to help him. After the first column, a reader sends Nathaniel her cello, Lopez finds him a shelter where the instrument will be safe, and eventually finds him a small apartment. But what he really wants to do is help cure Nathaniel of his mental illness/schizophrenia, though an unwilling Nathaniel makes that a hard nut to crack.

Review - Nicely photographed in the L.A. streets, including some interesting and colorful overhead tracking shots. Interesting story and very well acted by all - Jamie Foxx is particular good in this film. The scenes of Skid Row are odd, kind of scary, colorful, dirty and realistic looking. Rating - 8.5/10 stars

Fragments (2008) aka Winged Creatures - Film Review

Plot Summary - In a Southern California town, a gunman enters a diner/coffee shop and shoots victims at random; those left living through the ordeal are left living fragmented lives - stress and shock seemingly leading this small bunch to odd behavior patterns. First there's tween-age Annie (Dakota Fanning), struggling with the death of her dad in the incident, as she and her friend Jimmy (Josh Hutcherson) hid under the table they were eating at - - after the shooting, Annie becomes a religious fanatic, Jimmy won't talk. Then there's Charlie (Forest Whitaker), gunshot to the neck, wanders out of the hospital and straight to the Indian casinos where he begins a lucky gambling streak shooting craps. Waitress Carla (Kate Beckinsale) wasn't hurt physically in the incident, but begins to chase after the doctor who tended to the victims afterwards, who by coincidence was in the diner 20 minutes before the shooting. Meanwhile, Doc is busy sneaking drugs into his girlfriend's food to give her migraine headaches (huh?!).

Review - This film is well done and was fairly interesting, though the tale ended up being confusing with segments of the story that just never made sense or were explained. The film benefits from having a fine cast of actors and the style and on-location scenes look good. The plotline switches between the different characters and their reactions to this tragedy. The film also features Jackie Earle Haley as Jimmy's dad (pretty small role) and Jennifer Hudson as Charlie's daughter. Reasonably good, though flawed. Rating - 7.5/10 stars

Ballerina (2009) Film Review - Documentary

Plot Summary - Documentary showcasing five Russian ballerinas from the renowned Kirov Ballet Company in St. Petersburg, Russia. One is a new recruit - first seen dancing solo for her graduation recital from a prestigous ballet school - she's immediately given her dream as she is hired on to join the Kirov's Corp de Ballet. Another is in her second year with the Kirov company, and is just starting to be given solo parts. Two magnificent prima ballerinas are also featured, and the fifth dancer featured is a great Prima Ballerina just making a comeback after two years off with a foot injury. The film includes rehearsal footage, behind-the-scenes at the Mariinsky Theatre where they perform, on-stage performance footage, and interviews with the ballerinas, dance company directors and instructors.

Review - Okay, I have been in love with ballet since seeing "The Turning Point (1977)" (still one of my all-time fave films) when I was a teenager, so perhaps I am pretty biased, but I found this documentary extremely interesting. All five women are talented and beautiful ballerinas, wonderful to watch dance. By the way, I happen to love all things Russian - the streets of St. Petersburg, the ballet, the gorgeous Mariinsky Theatre, it's all good! The film features voice-over narration done by Diane Baker. Rating - 9/10 stars

The Edge of Love (2008) Film Review - Keira Knightley

Plot Summary - Romantic period piece set in London during the Blitz of WWII. Underground singer, the beautiful brunette Vera Phillips (Keira Knightley), is still loved by her childhood sweetheart, real life Welsh poet Dylan Thomas (Matthew Rhys). He's now married to blonde Catlain (Sienna Miller). The two women become best friends when Vera meets up with Dylan by chance in a London nightclub - and soon Vera, though stand-offish, is being pursued by a handsome soldier named William and the four become sort of an odd foursome. William is madly in love with Vera, especially after she sleeps with him after a terrifying bombing, and she agrees to marry him (though seemingly reluctant since he is going off to battle). With a baby on the way, Vera, Dylan, and Catlain return to Wales to live (with a bit of a love triangle to follow), while William is in Greece caught in the midst of horrendous battles.

Review - This is a stylish film, based around real incidents. Well done as a whole, with nice period costumes, art direction and location photography - though I must say that when I watched the trailer for this on the DVD (after the film) I thought "wow" - it looked like it would be such a great film in the trailer - and, well, just wasn't. I did enjoy this, but it did seem to be trying a wee bit too hard to be artsy (lots of camera shots into mirrors). How about those huge facial close-ups of Keira's gorgeous, perfect face - even on Blu-ray, she's flawless. Cillian Murphy, the actor who plays William, is a good-looker! (2009 release in USA) Review - 8/10 stars

Grey Gardens (2009) Film Review - Drew Barrymore, Jessica Lange

Plot Summary - Based on a true story. In 1973, two filmmakers are busy making a documentary about two eccentric women, a mother and a daughter both named Edith, who live in a rundown, decaying mansion in East Hampton, New York called "Grey Gardens". We see the filming of their current day lives - mother Edith Bouvier Beale (Jessica Lange), an old bedridden woman obsessed with cats, younger "Edie" (Drew Barrymore), the middle-aged daughter who goes about with her head covered in a variety of oddball scarfs, headdresses made from blouses and pins, to hide her lost head of hair, and the mansion itself - cluttered, messy, dirty, with tons of cats (and a few raccoons) about, and a completely dead and wild, run-back garden. Interestingly, this is the cleaned-up version, as these two are seen at one point actually living in complete squalor until the Board of Health - and a famous relative step in: now here's the interesting fact - the two are aunt and cousin to Jacqueline Bouvier, who is to become first lady Jackie Kennedy Onassis. The film includes flashbacks to the 1930s/40s and into the 50s when young Edie, dominated by her flamboyant wannabee singer mother, tries to pull away from their society life (with mama at her heals pushing her to have her "debut" into society and find a wealthy man) and moves to NYC to become an actress/dancer, has an affair with a married political figure, and still ends up back at Grey Gardens, caring for her mother and basically hiding away from the world, in isolation, as the years go by.

Review - Absolutely fascinating dramatization of the lives of the two women who are featured in the classic documentary from the 1970s, "Grey Gardens (1975)". Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange are really fantastic and believable in this film - the makeup job to make them both age from the 1930s into the 1970s is expertly done. I enjoyed every minute of this, and - though I have been meaning to for a few years now (the DVD has been sitting in my Netflix queue for quite awhile now) - I still haven't seen the original documentary of this story, now I'm going to as soon as possible. Such an interesting story. This was a made-for HBO TV film, extremely well done. Rating - 9.5/10 stars

Sherlock Holmes (1922) Film Review - Barrymore

Plot Summary - Silent drama starring John Barrymore (print from the collection of the George Eastman House). In England, on a country lane, we meet the future detective Sherlock Holmes (Barrymore) who is writing his observations in a little book (which includes his list called "my limitations": chemistry - profound; politics - rotten; boxing - splendid, etc. - hehe). Holmes encounters an attractive young lady, Alice (Carol Dempster), and becomes lovestruck - she is to figure into his story years later. As for now, Holmes is brought in by his pal Dr. Watson (who says Holmes is "a marvel at digging out things") to help at Cambridge, where young Prince Alexis has been accused by Scotland Yard of stealing "the Athletic Funds" - though the Prince proclaims his innocence. Holmes arrives and easily finds the real criminal, who ends up being a pawn of one powerful-minded, but evil and cold-blooded old cretin named Moriarty who lurks in the mysterious London quarter of Limehouse. Tragedy suddenly forces the Prince to return to his country as Crown Prince and give up his fiance, who, by an odd coincidence, is the sister of Holmes' memorable "Alice". Well - after meeting up with Moriarty, Holmes decides to make it his life's work to rid the world of that menace. Years pass and Holmes now resides at 221 Baker Street where he helps solve mysteries. His newest case involves his nemesis Moriarty, who is after some letters he wants to use to blackmail Prince Alexis. And who should have the letters but one Alice (Holmes still can't forget her) - he's on the case and still smitten!!

Review - Well, this is an okay film - I found John Barrymore to do a decent job as Sherlock Holmes, and liked the London setting which included snippets of real city footage from the era. I did find the film a bit too "talkie" and kind of muddled at times (particularly the end part), perhaps too many characters, too many inter-titles? The film features a lot of familiar faces from the silent/pre-code film era including Roland Young as Watson, Hedda Hopper, Louis Wolheim, and William Powell. The DVD I saw was from Kino and features a reasonable looking black and white print - pretty good contrast, some washing out in places (barely), a little bit of speckling in places. The score is nicely done organ music by composer Ben Model. Okay - the poor description of this film, totally inaccurate, on the Netflix envelope just makes me laugh - ridiculous! Where do they get these - inaccurate SO often. Rating - 6.5 to 7/10 stars

Push (2009) Film Review - Dakota Fanning

Plot Summary - Action Sci-fi Thriller about a group of psychics in Hong Kong, all in pursuit of a woman, a briefcase, and the drug inside the briefcase. Dakota Fanning plays a thirteen-year old "watcher" (sees the future) who joins up with a twenty-something "mover" (moves objects with his mind, usually seen attempting to turn over dice to his advantage - played by Chris Evans) who is being chased by the "Division", some rather shady U.S. government organization that wants to create super-power psychics via a powerful drug that, when injected, usually kills the psychic. There's one psychic that the drug didn't kill - attractive woman (Camilla Belle) who is a "pusher", that is a pusher in the world of psychic powers - one who pushes fake memories into people's brains making them believe the memory is a real one. The majority of the film is a cat and mouse chase, often rather violent, between the Division, our psychics who want to stop the Division, and a group of evil Chinese psychics also after the case and drug for their own purposes.

Review - This film was okay, but pretty forgettable once over. It's sort of like the superhero world has crossed with the paranormal into a mess of people with a wide variety of psychic abilities divided into these groups: movers, pushers, watchers, sniffers, wipers, healers, bleeders, shadows - interestingly, there doesn't seem to be any overlap, each person seems to have only one superpower ability rather than a mix. I enjoyed the on-location shoot for this, entirely filmed in the very interesting looking streets of Hong Kong. Rating - 7/10 stars

The Black Cyclone (1925) Film Review - Rex the Wonder Horse

Plot Summary - Another silent adventure-western/animal movie starring the beautiful black stallion, Rex the Wonder Horse. POSSIBLE SPOILERS HERE AND THERE - - In the wild lands where wild horses run lives a frisky little colt named Rex. Poor young Rex loses his mother early on, and must learn to grow up on his own, alone and lonely. Rex is soon grown and so begins a love story for him when he meets the white horse "Lady". Inseparable, the two of them, until trouble comes in the form of horse hunters looking to capture the best of the wild horses - and kill the worst (what jerks!). The two horses get caught in a stampede of wild horses trying to escape these men, and manage to make their own escape via a narrow ledge and into the hills, but they end up right in the secret retreat of an infamous crazy-eyed stallion known as "The Killer"! The Killer fights Rex and captures Lady for himself - - and meanwhile, in a nearby town called Pangle, cowboy Big Jim Lawson (Guinn "Big Boy" Williams) is busy sparking with Jane Logan, a woman who has rejected the evil Joe Pangle: cattle thief, bully, and killer who now wants to get even with her: by killing Big Jim! A gunfight between the two men outside her ranch leaves Big Jim to run into hiding in the hills or face the wrath of Pangle's gang. Around this same time, our poor Rex has become trapped in quicksand - but luckily Jim is soon nearby to save his life. Now Rex attempts to seek Jim's help in rescuing Lady, but Jim seems to be kind of empty headed as to what this horse is after. Soon Rex helps out both Lady and Jim when wild animals lurk to kill (dangerous area that!).

Review - A cute, entertaining horse film. Rex the Wonder Horse is quite the horse!! The outdoor locations and scenery are nicely photographed and used to best show off the horses and the action - looks like they sort of cut in some of the same filmed scenes of the horses (and other stuff) several times (I kept thinking - that looks like the same shot they showed before!). The DVD of this film, from Televista, I will describe as pretty much like the other Rex movie I reviewed last week (decent enough looking print - I've seen far worse! - with some deterioration here and there; old-fashioned, sometimes catchy music score) - - (as to the name of this film - in a couple of scenes a man calls our black horse "black cyclone"). Rating - 7/10 stars

Two Lovers (2008) Film Review - Joaquin Phoenix

Plot Summary - Love quadrangle. Strange, sometimes suicidal Leonard (Joaquin Phoenix) lives at home with his parents and works at the family dry cleaning business. Leonard is soon matched up with stable and sane Sandra (Vinessa Shaw), daughter of family friends who are planning to merge businesses with the family. Sandra's crazy about Leonard - him, not so much so - especially after he meets his new neighbor, pretty, pill-popping, and extremely unstable Michelle (Gwyneth Paltrow). Sandra is in love with Leonard, Leonard is in love with Michelle - but unfortunately for Leonard, Michelle is currently having an affair with her boss, a married lawyer, who she believes will leave his family for her (silly woman). Michelle obviously thinks of Leonard as just a "pal" as she is constantly calling and asking him for help with her "relationship", even going so far as to get Leonard to come along as the third wheel on a date with the lawyer she loves, so he can better help give her advice.

Review - This film was sort of entertaining - though nothing great. I didn't really care for the character of Leonard, or either of the women for that matter - so it was just sort of "who cares" as to what I thought about what happens to this bunch. I did like the New York City (Brighton Beach) on-location setting and enjoyed seeing Isabella Rossellini, who plays Leonard's mother, in this - so much like her mom, Ingrid Bergman! Rating - 7/10 stars

The King of the Wild Horses (1924) Silent Film Review

Plot Summary - Hal Roach Presents - - Silent action western starring Rex the Wonder Horse as "The Black", king of the wild horses - he must fight to stay leader, and must also contend with that dreadful menace: man - his constant pursuer. In the far west, just north of the Mexican border, there's a Rancho where lives an older ill man and his two grown kids, Boyd (Charley Chase, billed as Charles Parrott) and Mary (Edna Murphy). Mary is being pursued by one Billy Blair (Leon Bary), cowboy, who seems to have something else he likes to pursue way more than Mary - he's determined to capture "The Black". Chase between man and horse, as Billy goes in relentless pursuit - trusty rope in hand - after the Black, through high-up rocky crevices and rugged crags - but our wild horse is just too smart (and nimble!). But then - a wild fire has horsie surrounded and Billy Blair helps save him - pals!! Meanwhile, back at the Rancho, the ranch foreman is a bad man who has been forcing son Boyd, who has become heavily in his debt, to steal from his own father to pay him back. Fast "Black" and Billy help save the day when bad man and Boyd head out one evening for one last "job".

Review - A pleasant little horse opera, titles by Roach Studios H.M. "Beanie" Walker. Rocky western landscape and pretty wild horses, beauties one and all, are nicely photographed - our Rex the Wonder Horse is a superstar! Some night scenes oddly look like bright daylight (!) - - a river rescue finale is well done. The DVD from Televista features a decent enough looking print (I've seen far worse!) with some deterioration here and there (and rolling in a few spots), but for the most part looked fairly good - - the music score is sort of sweet and old-fashioned, even catchy in places. Cute little silent, perhaps best if you like animal films. Rex the Wonder Horse was a 16 hands Morgan Stallion, according to the Wikipedia article on him - he's a beautiful animal. Rating - 7.5/10 stars

Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009) Film Review

Plot Summary - Shopaholic Rebecca (Isla Fisher) lives in New York City where she has an interview to work as a journalist at her dream fashion magazine, "Alette". The interview doesn't pan out, but she tries for another magazine at the same company and gets the job - at a financial journal called "Successful Saving", of all things! Even though she has maxed out most of her credit cards and is being chased by a gung-ho debt collector, she manages to write an article for the magazine that gets her fame under the moniker "the girl in the green scarf". Rebecca tries to control her out-of-control spending, but just can't seem to stop, even after being pressed into attending meetings of Shopaholics Anonymous by her best gal pal. She also begins a romance with her handsome boss (Hugh Dancy) with the cute Brit accent! Will her romance work out, will she get her dream job at Alette, and most importantly - will she ever be able to stop shopping?!

Review - Cute film - lots of cute, colorful outfits to look at, reasonably entertaining story filmed on-location in NYC. I enjoy these stories about fashion magazines (like "The Devil Wears Prada", "Ugly Betty") - this sort of plotline seems pretty popular these days. The actress Isla Fisher is an absolute ringer for actress Amy Adams both physically as well as her speaking voice. Joan Cusack and John Goodman are entertaining as Rebecca's thrifty parents. Rating - 8/10 stars

Phoebe in Wonderland (2008) Film Review

Plot Summary - Drama about troubled nine-year old misfit, Phoebe (Elle Fanning), who becomes obsessed with "Alice in Wonderland", a story her mother (Felicity Huffman) is busy working on for her dissertation. Phoebe is picked on in school, and seems to have a growing problem with obsessive/compulsive behavior - she washes her hands compulsively, she spits at bullying children, and she can't seem to control her mouth as she parrots things people say to her and blurts out inappropriate words. Phoebe gets the part of Alice in a new production of "Alice in Wonderland", being put on at school by an eccentric drama teacher named Miss Dodger (Patricia Clarkson). Phoebe's odd behavior patterns seem only to be in control while she is practicing in the play - - in the real world, she sometimes imagines conversations with characters from Alice. She also befriends a young boy who has dolls and a baking set, and has tried out and gotten a part in the play as the "Red Queen"!

Review - The film is colorful and compelling, with a nice message about accepting those of us who are different. I enjoyed this a lot and thought Elle Fanning did a great acting job - very believable. Nicely done - looked real good on Blu-Ray! (I am SO loving my Blu-ray player!!) Rating - 9/10 stars

What Goes Up (2009) Film Review - Hilary Duff

Plot Summary - Weirdish indie drama set in 1986 in New Hampshire, about a forty-ish reporter (Steve Coogan) who is sent to town to do a report on the Challenger Space Shuttle launch, his story to focus on the teacher who was going aboard. But our man quickly finds a story of a different high school teacher while there - one who had taught a group of outcast students who seemed to worship him and has just committed suicide. The reporter gets involved with the students as he begins to be sort of their new hero - especially a couple of the young girls, blonde and beautiful Lucy (Hilary Duff) and goth-ish Tess. But he better watch out - these chicks are underage!

Review - Well, this film is sort of dark and strange, and it wouldn't be bad - except the story is somewhat boring. And there's weird stuff like the kids stealing the teacher's coffin (with him in it) and turning it into a shrine on the ice and snow, and one of the young guy's, um, masturbating while watching a woman across the way breast feed her baby - sheesh. I don't know about this one - it had elements that were good, but as a whole - not all that good. By the way, the filmmakers didn't put much of an effort into this to make these characters look like their livin' in the 80s! Rating - 5.5 to 6/10 stars

The Ramen Girl (2008) Film Review

Plot Summary - Indie film, set in Tokyo. Young, blonde, eager and American Abby (Brittany Murphy) arrives in Tokyo to be with her "boyfriend" who is now living there. But the boyfriend is just not that into her, leaves town and Abby high and dry in a strange city full of strange customs and ways. Not to mention, our Abby doesn't seem to speak a word of Japanese. But - she stays on as she suddenly finds herself drawn to the bustling ramen shop (noodle restaurant) across the street. Well - Abby decides she wants to become a Ramen Chef and asks the chef/owner of the shop to become her teacher. The chef is a grouchy, disagreeable Japanese older man who doesn't speak a word of English, likes to spout insults at her in Japanese, and doesn't even agree to teach her. But Abby is a real aggressive one and just keeps showing up, doing what he asks - which is mainly cleaning the toilet and floors. The two spend pretty much the entire film talking to each other without seemingly understanding each other - but a bond seems to grow somehow, anyway, as he finally begins to teach her to grow up as she learns the ways of making broth and assembling her bowls of ramen - with spirit!

Review - A sort of coming-of-age tale (except that this chick is already into her twenties) that is pretty interesting to watch, for the most part (though I found her aggressiveness kind of annoying sometimes - not to mention the chef, whose personality in sort of grating too). There is an obligatory love story between Abby and a handsome, young Japanese man she meets, but that part of the plot seems sort of thrown-in and doesn't give much to the story as a whole. I enjoyed the scenes in Tokyo (which I always think looks like such an interesting place) and the scenes inside the atmospheric, almost quaint little ramen shop which looked like a place I would like to eat! Rating - 7.5 - 8/10 stars

Crossing Over (2009) Film Review - Harrison Ford

Plot Summary - Tales of immigration, set in L.A. and down to the Mexican border. The film interweaves several different stories including an immigration officer (Harrison Ford) who helps round up illegal immigrants out of a clothing sweat shop and ship them back to Mexico, but he seems sometimes to have too much heart for the job as he tries to help a young Mexican woman who is forced to leave behind her little boy. Other stories include a young Australian woman who wants to be an actress but finds herself forced to sleep with an immigration officer who is willing to "help" her get approved, a handsome young Jewish man (Jim Sturgess) from Britain who tries to pretend he's more religious than he is in his attempt for his green card, an Asian teen on the brink of becoming a citizen who gets mixed up with a bad gang about to commit a crime, and a fifteen-year old Arab girl who makes a speech in school that gets herself reported and rounded up for being a potential suicide bomber!

Review - I thought this film was quite good - all the stories were interesting to watch, as the film flips back and forth between the different characters and plotlines. Some of the characters from different stories end up in the same story, as the plot cleverly weaves together the various tales. Nicely done film. Rating - 8.5/10 stars