Secret Agent Gal Movie Reviews

Mighty Macs: future Hall of Fame coach inspires women champs - 3 stars

A coach with drive and vision sees national champions in her diamond-in-the-rough women’s basketball team in The Mighty Macs. It’s a true life drama about the pioneering 1971-72 team from Immaculata College in Pennsylvania.

Tim Chambers’ heartfelt directorial debut stars Carla Gugino as Coach Cathy Rush and Ellen Burstyn as Mother St. John.

Before Title IX passed, funding for girls’ and women’s athletics was scarce. At all-girl schools like Immaculata, a fervent belief in strong, empowered women thrived.

The film conjures Catholic school life during the exciting and chaotic 1970s. Chambers succeeds at capturing history with just a few embellishments.

When a fire destroys their own gymnasium, the Macs are forced to practice at area schools. Chambers first saw the team in the basement gym of his elementary school, Saint Anastasia.

“The way they came in, the way they practiced, their movement and cohesiveness, was so cutting edge for the time,” Chambers told The Philly Post. “Cathy Rush’s swagger and style and leadership were etched in my mind forever.”

Despite a season of wins and losses, the team receives an at-large bid to compete in the first national women’s basketball tournament.

Gugino (Night at the Museum; Entourage) plays the feisty new coach who tests mother superior’s patience with new ideas and approaches. Rush’s own basketball career was cut short when, after an outstanding freshman season at Oakcrest High School in New Jersey, her team was terminated. In those days, women’s sports were considered a frill.

Dauntless Rush accepts a salary of $450 for her first season (“I would’ve worked for free,” she tells Mother St. John). The resourceful coach is given one beat-up basketball and homespun team uniforms made by Sister Sunday (Marley Shelton).  

Rush toughens the team mentally and physically. A newlywed who loyally attended N.B.A. games officiated by her husband, she is determined to see women excel. At the start of the season, Rush asks each player to toss all she knows about basketball into a trash bin. Let the real training begin.

Rush foreshadows what we’ve come to expect in women’s college athletics. Demanding training, ever-evolving strategy and a fierce determination to win are common today.

Oscar winner Burstyn plays the tough, plain-spoken mother superior desperate to save the financially strapped college. As the only female on the college’s board of directors, she becomes sympathetic.

“Jesus likes to dance” embodies Sister Sunday’s philosophy. Shelton (Pleasantville) is fascinating as a young nun who has second thoughts about her vocation. The actor brings emptiness, yearning and energy to an unprecedented film character.

As Rush’s assistant coach, Sister Sunday helps guide and encourage the players. She reveals a zesty spirit – and her past – in a bar scene with Rush. In real life, there was no Sister Sunday.

Unfortunately there is scant development of the movie’s remaining characters. This is where The Mighty Macs falls short of films like Hoosiers and Coach Carter. Corny dialogue doesn’t help.

Dashing David Boreanaz (of television’s Bones) can’t overcome his weakly scripted role. Ed Rush resents his wife’s new career, and then suddenly changes his mind. The players’ roles are thinly written. Biographical sketches at the films’ end reveal more about them.

Rush was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008. She served as Head Coach at Immaculata from 1972-77. The Macs won national titles in 1972, 1973 and 1974. The college went co-ed in 2005, and now has women’s and men’s Division III basketball teams.

If you went to Catholic school, you’ll enjoy The Mighty Macs’ goodness and warmth. If you follow women’s sports, you’ll appreciate this portrayal of a pioneering, underdog team.

If you like The Mighty Macs, you might enjoy:  Hoop Dreams; Hoosiers.

[email protected]

 

The Mighty Macs    2009  /  G  /  1 hour, 38 min

Cast Overview: Carla Gugino, Marley Shelton, David Boreanaz, Ellen Burstyn

Director:  Tim Chambers

Genre:  Drama, Sports

Hoop Dreams: classic follows two young basketball players - 5 stars

Sport is not always a ticket out of the inner city in Hoop Dreams (1994), a tale of two Chicago boys chasing their basketball dreams. Arthur Agee and William Gates star in the moving documentary written and directed by Steve James.

Hoop Dreams documents the American dream and its long shadow. It’s a heart-rending look at two 14-year-olds who persevere, succeed, fail, and keep hope alive. Richly woven, this documentary conveys a vivid sense of Arthur’s life in Chicago’s South Side, and William’s days in the Cabrini Green neighborhood.

James, writer/editor Frederick Marx and cinematographer Peter Gilbert follow Arthur, William and their families over four and a half years as the players emerge.

The two are recruited by mostly white St. Joseph’s High School, even though each reads at a fourth grade level. The story begins as Arthur and William enter the school with partial scholarships, and ends as the two begin college.

Highs and lows fill the boys’ lives. As Arthur visits St. Joseph’s for the first time, he meets and plays one-on-one with his idol, N.B.A. star Isiah Thomas of the Chicago Bulls. The joy on his face is unforgettable.

Just over a year later, Arthur is expelled because his family is $1500 behind in tuition payments. Arthur’s parents separate after domestic violence. Sheila Agee has lost her job due to a back injury. She was dropped from welfare for a time. Arthur’s father Bo recovers from a crack cocaine addiction as he serves prison time.

Luther Bedford, who later coached Arthur at Marshall Metro High School, believes that St. Joseph’s “would have found a way” to help the boy if he were performing well on the court. The film makes clear why at-risk youth need extra help in order to succeed.

William does well on St. Joseph’s varsity team, and manages to raise his school performance. His scholarship is supplemented by benefactor Patricia Wier, president of Encyclopedia Britannica. Wier also helps William secure a summer job at her firm.

William’s life changes when he becomes a father. When he tears knee cartilage, doctors tell him he may miss a year of his basketball career.

William reveres his older brother Curtis, once a rising basketball star who becomes a security guard. Deemed “uncoachable,” Curtis battled drug addiction. William wants to make his family proud and forge his own identity too.

At Marshall Metro, Arthur still does not like school but he makes friends and improves his game. In one of the film’s sweetest triumphs, Arthur helps his team win a championship.

At an All-America basketball camp, William hears director Spike Lee share his honest perspective with the players. "This whole thing is about money,” he says. “The only reason you are here is because you can make their schools win and they can make a lot of money."

Hoop Dreams is filled with crucial game moments for Arthur and William. As crowds cheer, adulation washes over them. They began playing at outdoor neighborhood courts where illegal drugs are traded. Now they are part of a school team. People pay to see them. From the bleachers, their families shout.

William graduated from Marquette University and enjoys a business career. Since graduating from Arkansas Sate, Arthur teaches and speaks to inner city youth. Both have their own families and say this film helped change their lives.

Hoop Dreams won the Audience Award at Sundance 1994. It was recently named the top film in Morgan Spurlock’s Current TV series 50 Documentaries to See Before You Die.

The passion of high school and college sports, less evident in the pros, is alive here. Team spirit and high hopes rule. What Hoop Dreams adds is a call to compassion and inclusion.

If you like Hoop Dreams, you might enjoy:  Hoosiers; The Mighty Macs.

[email protected]

 

Hoop Dreams    1994  /  PG-13  /  2 hours, 51 min

Cast Overview: Steve James, William Gates, Arthur Agee, Emma Gates, Sheila Agee and Gene Pingatore

Director:  Steve James

Genre:  Documentary

Miss Representation: as media disses women, women speak out - 5 stars

The media trivializes and sexualizes women for profit according to Miss Representation, this year’s most important documentary by far. The disturbing eye-opener from Jennifer Siebel Newsom was featured at Sundance 2011, and recently premiered on OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network.

The film is filled with in-depth interviews and interspersed with images from print, television, the internet, rock, rap and hip hop videos. Women are seen in cat fights, vying for a man, and doing combat while barely dressed. They are portrayed as decorative, stupid, gold diggers, catty, manipulative, vindictive, and not to be trusted especially by other women, according to Jennifer Pozner, Executive Director of Women in Media & News.

“This notion that women are natural enemies vying for the prize of being most beautiful or the love of whoever is so counter to women in real life,” says Pozner.

“Not only are girls seen as objects by other people, they learn to see themselves as objects,” says Jean Kilbourne, Ed.D. (Killing Us Softly). “Self-objectification has become a national epidemic,” according to Caroline Heldman, Ph.D., an Associate Professor of Political Science at Occidental College.

Depression, eating disorders, lower ambition, and lower cognitive function results from self-objectification, Heldman says. Girls are less likely to run for office or to vote, she adds. Self-mutilation (hacking or cutting) among female teens is cited as a growing problem.

Digitally altered photos of women create a “more extreme and impossible” image of beauty, according to Kilbourne. Girls “end up measuring themselves against an impossible standard.”

Media content powerfully shapes society, say experts. It influences brains, lives and emotions, especially in children. Profit-hungry media outlets are seen as disregarding social responsibility.

Oscar winning director and producer Paul Haggis (Crash), believes women become “cartoons” as male studio chiefs and filmmakers “see the world in a certain way and so we often replicate the world that we grew up in.”

“We are a nation of teenage boys,” according to Carol Jenkins, Founding President of the Women’s Media Center. Advertisers target men aged 18 - 34 who are less likely to watch television. Thus hyper-sexualized female images abound in advertising and programming.

Deregulation has enabled a few powerful conglomerates to control the U.S. media. The boards of directors of these conglomerates are overwhelmingly male. In an internal memo, former Disney CEO Michael Eisner wrote, “To make money is our only objective.”

Anything goes in television programming at all hours thanks to relaxation of FCC restrictions on adult content.

Electing more women to public office will allow them to shape public policy with their perspectives, insights and experiences. “Women make up 51% of the U.S. population yet comprise only 17% of Congress. Female presidents have been elected in 67 countries, but not in the U.S.” The film is filled with such alarming statistics.

“We’re shortchanging voices that are urgently needed in public forums,” says Cory Booker, mayor of Newark, NJ. Devanshi Patel, a student who ran for Youth Governor of California, offers a refreshing perspective. “Leaders are just servants to people,” she told her mother.

Aren’t sexy women strong? Madonna, Angelina Jolie and Emily Browning (Sucker Punch) portray women who exploit their sexuality in order to be empowered, says M. Gigi Durham, Ph.D., author of The Lolita Effect. Such a heroine is “very much objectified and exists for the male viewer.”

Meanwhile the series Commander in Chief, which starred Geena Davis as the first woman president of the United States, was cancelled after one season. Oscar winner Davis says that “only 16% of protagonists in films are female.” Davis, the founder of See Jane, disputes the myth that “things are getting better” for women in film.

The media ignores older women, Miss Representation asserts. “Women in their teens, 20’s and 30’s are 39% of the population, yet are 71% of women on TV. Women 40 and older are 47% of the population, yet are 26% of women on TV.” Feminist organizer and activist Gloria Steinem explains, “A patriarchal system values women as child bearers. Period.”

“Only 7% of directors and 10% of writers in film are women,” according to the film. “The average number of news stories about women and girls is less than 20%.”

Strong women are described in news reports according to how they look or how emotional they are. What they say or do is virtually ignored, as seen in media portrayals of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Many prominent women detail their experiences. Powerful images of women in entertainment flash by. These include Oprah Winfrey; Judi Dench; Jada Pinkett Smith; Ellen De Generes; Glenn Close; Sandra Oh; Mariska Hargitay; Julianna Margulies; Tina Fey; Edie Falco; Meryl Streep; Annette Bening; Julianne Moore; Naomi Watts; Gabourey Sidibey; Salma Hayek and Charlize Theron.

Newsom ends Miss Representation with a call to action and a vision of a better world for our daughters and sons.

If you like Miss Representation, you might enjoy: The Whistleblower; The Kids Are All Right; Fair Game.

[email protected]

 

Miss Representation    2011  /  NR  /  1 hour, 25 min

Cast Overview: Corey Booker, Margaret Cho, Katie Couric, Geena Davis, Rosario Dawson, Dianne Feinstein, Jane Fonda, Paul Haggis, Lisa Ling, Rachel Maddow, Nancy Pelosi, Condoleezza Rice, Gloria Steinem, Daphne Zuniga

Director:  Jennifer Siebel Newsom

Genre:  Documentary

Beautiful Boy: mass murderer reaches feuding parents - 4.5 stars

After a campus murder-suicide spree, Kate and Bill Carroll call their son Sammy to make sure he’s all right. Suddenly there’s a knock on the door. Not only has Sammy died. He was the shooter. Director Shawn Ku’s searing emotional drama Beautiful Boy is now available on DVD and Blu-ray.

Produced after the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings, Beautiful Boy captures what films so rarely do: a change of heart. Maria Bello and Michael Sheen fascinate as agonized parents forced to open their hearts to each other just to survive.

As the film opens, Kate and Bill sleep in separate beds. Bill wants to move to his own apartment and start over. Kate tries to reunite the family one last time by proposing a Miami vacation.

They stayed together for Sammy’s sake. When he calls them for the last time, Sammy sounds distant and withdrawn. Bill hangs up and goes to bed. Kate persists, asking the 18-year-old how he is. As he rambles on about snowflakes, she listens. Freshman year is hard for everyone, Kate reassures him. The boy has always been different, quiet and sensitive.

Bello (A History of Violence, and now Detective Jane Timoney in television’s Prime Suspect) is stunning. Her evolution as an actor is clear as she balances rage, honesty and heartbreak. She unleashes a firestorm of denial, grief and coping.

Sheen (the London stage veteran who played David Frost in Frost/Nixon) is excellent as a man of long-suppressed emotions who hardly knows himself. Bill moves like a robot each day between home and office. Already an emotional fugitive, he flees further within after the massacre.

Kyle Gallner (CSI: NY; A Nightmare on Elm Street) perfectly captures depressed, troubled Sammy. His eyes say so much more than he does. Television news reports reveal that he slayed 21 before killing himself.

Besieged by reporters, the devastated couple hides in their own home before taking refuge with Kate’s brother Eric (Alan Tudyk) and his wife Trish (Moon Bloodgood). Trish’s alarmed, well-meaning questions only intensify their pain.

Healing begins. As each moment passes, even mundane chores become accomplishments. Michael Fimognari creates intimacy and a dream-like aesthetic with a hand-held camera. Ku wrote the screenplay with Michael Armbruster.

Beautiful Boy is an autopsy of a marriage. Kate and Bill grow closer and careen apart. They lash out at themselves and each other. They collapse in exhaustion.

Perfectionist Kate is a proofreader. She edits the couple’s media statement, allowing Bill to face a horde of reporters himself. Kate also inspires an opportunistic young novelist Cooper (Austin Nichols).

Kate is relentless with herself and everyone around her. Trish gets upset when her house guest begins “fixing” their home and reading bedtime stories to their little boy. The Carrolls move to a motel.

Bill’s pain is primal. He tells his boss (Bruce French) that he has no friends. Meanwhile Kate rifles through Sammy’s bedroom. She reads his school papers. Grasping for answers, Kate and Bill are left with uncertainty.

Everyone is touched in some way by the incident. Even a motel clerk (Meat Loaf Aday) learns compassion when the vilified mother and father seek refuge. They become real to him.

“I don’t believe in monsters,” Ku says on the film’s website. Beautiful Boy not only made me empathize with the parents. It reminded me that I am my brother’s keeper.

If you like Beautiful Boy, you might enjoy:  Rabbit Hole; Blue Valentine.  

[email protected]

 

Beautiful Boy    2010  /  R (language, sexual situation)  /  1 hour, 40 min

Cast Overview:  Michael Sheen, Maria Bello, Alan Tudyk, Moon Bloodgood, Kyle Gallner, Austin Nichols, Meat Loaf Aday

Director:  Shawn Ku

Genre:  Drama

The Gloucester 18: teen moms choose rough road - 4 stars

 
 

The Gloucester 18 reveals the true story of teens who got pregnant during the 2007-08 school year at Gloucester High School in Massachusetts. Controversy erupted amidst rumors of a “pregnancy pact.” This documentary tells the girls’ less sensational, but still troubling story.

Director John Michael Williams’ film has no narration or overt editorializing. Aside from brief tirades by Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly and a local radio host, the tone is intent and balanced. This is a documentary that explores a hot-button issue with objectivity and genuine concern.

The Gloucester 18 debunks the myth of a “pregnancy pact” which was widely reported by national and international news programs. The pact story was also exploited in a made-for-television film that upset many Gloucester residents.

Most of these girls did not know each other when they became pregnant, we are told. Some became friends afterwards and shared mutual support, according to nurse practitioner Kim Daley.

New moms and dads, grandparents, counselors and health providers speak in a series of interviews. By skillfully excerpting interviews around an issues-based narrative, Williams creates a sense of urgency.

Wisely, the director also visits the cities of Lowell and Springfield. Teen pregnancy rates were higher there in 2009. The film asserts that this is not just Gloucester’s issue, but a continuing national dilemma.

Teen moms interviewed are upbeat at first. Some are quiet. One girl is coached by her mom on how to answer the interviewer. Eventually, they share mixed feelings and regrets.  

Seventeen-year-old Leslie from Lowell got pregnant at age 15. She never went to high school. “It’s hard,” she says, smiling through her tears. “It’s not fun changing diapers, waking up.” Her son’s father abandoned them. Leslie braids hair to pay for diapers.

“It’s the new thing” says Leslie of her friends in Lowell. “Everyone’s havin’ kids.” Young moms are isolated from the teen community as they are required to stay at home to care for their babies, says Dr. Brian Orr.

High school counselors and health providers speak out. “I needed somebody to love me unconditionally, and someone who I could love unconditionally,” pregnant teens often tell them.

Several counselors say they were required to follow an “abstinence only” model. They were not allowed to prescribe contraceptives to high school students. Some teens used birth control from their own physicians, and became pregnant anyway.

The Gloucester teens beam before the camera. It is their moment. They hold their babies. It’s rough but they get by, they say. Motherhood gives their lives meaning and purpose. It’s their business, a friend of one mom says. The teens are just starting their families sooner than most.

Sarah smiles radiantly, holding her second baby. She lives in a cooperative household with her children’s father and his brother’s family. Another girl works part-time at Dunkin’ Donuts. A teen father works in a bait yard to support his new son.  

Two of the girls are second generation teen mothers. Another faces her family’s legacy of domestic violence. Some new moms finish high school. Others drop out.

Williams intersperses frames of smiling girls with sobering statistics. As of 2009, 750,000 teenage girls become pregnant in the United States every year. Teenage pregnancy costs the U.S. more than $9.1 billion a year. The U.S. has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy of any developed country.

The Gloucester 18 covers a controversial issue with unique objectivity and insight. It avoids political and religious debate. “Doing the right thing” and making the best of difficulties is a common theme.

The fate of several teens and their babies is revealed. Some girls live with their parents after giving birth, grateful for the back-up child care. One teen without family support seeks public assistance. Several babies suffer health problems.

Tiny babies nestle in their mothers’ arms as the camera rolls. Concern for their well-being and future drives this powerful human interest film.

If you like The Gloucester 18, you might enjoy:  Precious; Mother and Child.

[email protected]

 

The Gloucester 18    2009  /  NR  /  1 hour, 7 min

Cast Overview:  Dr. Brian Orr, Kim Daley, Ray Lamont, Gail McCarthy

Director:  John Michael Williams

Genre:  Documentary

Moneyball: game changer Brad Pitt hits home run - 5 stars

 

Brad Pitt brings Billy Beane to life in the exciting drama Moneyball. Not just for baseball fans, the film tells a true sports rebel story. Beane, the Oakland Athletics general manager, changes the sport and recruits a winning team on a tiny budget.

Bennett Miller (Capote, Doubt) directs with a fantastic script from Oscar winners Steven Zaillian (Schindler’s List) and Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network).

After 11 losses, the team sets a major league record during the 2002 season. Actual game footage from the A’s 20-game win streak adds excitement. Moneyball sweeps you up with an inside look at managing a ball team. I didn’t glance at my watch for over two hours.

Teamwork is built on and off the field. Business deals are wrangled. Underdogs are valued and given a new start. Players give their best – and sometimes not.

Beane shocks back room baseball elders and know-it-all sports commentators by reinventing baseball. His street smarts and out-of-the-box thinking will thrill you. On a personal note, he’s a divorced dad who wants to be his daughter’s hero.

All these themes center around the GM as heroic everyman. Beane recognizes whiz kid Peter Brand (Jonah Hill, perfect here) instantly, enticing him to become his right hand man. It’s a bold decision that will change everything.

Beane must rebel by trying a new approach. His best players get poached by the big money teams all the time. “Adapt or die” becomes his motto.

With the help of the Yale-trained economist, Beane upsets multi-million dollar teams by using sabermetrics in baseball. Brand tells him, “You aren’t trying to buy players. You want to buy wins.”

Brand loves baseball as much as he loves numbers. He identifies standout players based on their runs and on how they fit into an equation. Talent isn’t enough. The players must perform in ways that make major league success likely.

Beane forges ahead with courage and gut instinct. The film is based on the ground-breaking book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis.

A former baseball prodigy, Beane decided to become a professional talent scout. He always wondered why he didn’t have more success in the majors. With sabermetrics, he understands why.

Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffmann is convincing in his brief but weighty role. Ornery Art Howe, the Oakland A’s coach, doesn’t trust Beane or his new boy wonder one whit. Other great performances include Kerris Dorsey as Beane’s daughter (impressive singing and guitar strumming here), and Robin Wright as Billy’s ex-wife.

 
 

There’s a turning point where Beane trades several players to overcome a plateau. Brand advises against this, but the GM takes charge. Pitt excels in a very funny scene where he and Brand juggle calls from general managers calling back.

This is one of Pitt’s best performances. Billy Beane is as gutsy and street smart as Tyler Durden in Fight Club, Lt. Aldo Raine in Inglourious Basterds, and Mr. O’Brien in The Tree of Life. Pitt has worked with directing legends like David Fincher, Quentin Tarantino and Terrence Malick.

Pitt also produced Moneyball. The star often produces his own movies. He’s backed spiritual genre greats such as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Eat Pray Love. Lending his sense of fun and box office appeal to B movies, he played Rusty Ryan in Ocean’s Eleven and John Smith in Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

Academy Awards are likely because Moneyball transcends the screen. It’s a movie for our time where humanity triumphs over big money. It speaks to our fascination with science, but stays grounded in heart and soul.

More than anything, Beane wants to change an unfair game. He builds success with an unlikely group of misfits. Even when you know how this story ends, his victory is no less impressive and sweet.

If you like Moneyball, you might enjoy:  The Blind Side; Hoosiers; Win Win.

[email protected]

 

Moneyball     2011  /  PG-12  /  2 hours, 13 mins

Cast Overview:  Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright, Chris Pratt, Stephen Bishop, Reed Thompson

Director:  Bennett Miller

Genre:  Drama, Biopic, Drama Based on the Book

 

 

50/50: Gordon-Levitt fights Big C in Oscar contender - 4.5 stars

 

The smart, uplifting cancer dramedy 50/50 stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Adam Lerner, a 27-year-old with spinal schwannoma. Comedy writer Will Reiser wrote the outstanding screenplay based on his own diagnosis and struggle with the Big C.

In Oscar-worthy fashion, 50/50 rises to the top of its genre. Depression and anger are dealt with matter-of-factly, but the film never becomes sappy or a prolonged melodrama. The movie is just long enough at 100 minutes. Jonathan Levine directs with deft insight.

Gordon-Levitt plays a soft-spoken Seattle radio producer who lives carefully. Adam jogs. His new girlfriend Rachael (Bryce Dallas Howard) is just moving in. Adam doesn’t even have a driver’s license because he fears traffic accidents, “the fifth leading cause of death.”

Gordon-Levitt is wonderful throughout, even shaving his head for real on screen. This measured performance contrasts sharply with his wild, deranged character in Hesher.

Friendship is the healer. Adam’s best friend Kyle (Seth Rogen, excellent as a loyal, rollicking dude) helps him cope and make life changes. Rogen, who also produces here, infuses humor into the story seamlessly, even during Adam’s worst moments.

Adam meets two new friends at chemotherapy, Alan (Philip Baker Hall) and Mitch (Matt Frewer). The trio enjoy pot-filled macaroons courtesy of Mitch’s wife.

 

Rachael vows to stand by Adam when he breaks the news, but won’t go with him to weekly chemotherapy at the hospital. Dallas Howard sensitively portrays a flawed girlfriend with cool realism. Rachael simply can’t muster the strength to face Adam’s illness.

Adam goes through the phases of healing with the help of his doctoral student-therapist Katherine (Anna Kendrick of Up in the Air, sincere and memorable). Mostly Adam compartmentalizes rage and grief as he watches TV, not even calling back his smother-love mom (Anjelica Huston).

Kyle insists that Adam’s odds are not that bad. He urges his pal to keep seeking the right girl. Even walking Adam’s plaintive pooch Skeletori becomes an opportunity to cruise. Adam isn’t that enthusiastic. “I look like Voldemort,” he quips.

Surgeons are portrayed spot on here, with robot-like Dr. Ross (Andrew Airlie) and a somewhat warmer female neurosurgeon Dr. Walderson (Donna Yamamoto).

Adam finally grows closer to his parents. In one of Gordon-Levitt’s best scenes, he bonds with his dad (Serge Houde) who’s suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.

Casting by Francine Maisler (also casting director for Moneyball and The Tree of Life) is superb. Michael Giacchino composed the fine score.

We all must face death, Adam tells Katherine. He confronts her, insisting that she drop the feel good talk. Hope isn’t sugar coated in 50/50’s great ending.

If you like 50/50, you might enjoy:  Happy; I Am; Love & Other Drugs.

[email protected]

 

50/50     2011  /  R  /  1 hour, 40 min

Cast Overview:  Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard, Anjelica Huston, Philip Baker Hall, Serge Houde

Director:  Jonathan Levine

Genre:  Dramedy, Bromance

 

Higher Ground sinks in Vera Farmiga's lukewarm drama - 3 stars

 
 
 
Vera Farmiga fans eager to see her directorial debut Higher Ground may be disappointed. Farmiga plays a religious fundamentalist who has a crisis of faith and leaves her husband, then hovers between fundamentalism and God.

Higher Ground tries to do too much. In exploring one woman’s faith, the screenplay dwells on her childhood, her family, and members of a congregation. A full half hour (about one-third of the movie) passes before we even see Farmiga.

Farmiga’s performance is remarkably wishy washy. She scarcely seems like the actor who played passionate Sophie in Never Forever, or earned an Oscar nomination as frequent flyer Alex in Up in the Air. Even Officer Colleen Goodwin in Source Code has more chutzpah than Corinne Walker.

Farmiga told The New York Times Magazine in 2006 that she was seeking good, strong roles. It’s disappointing that she doesn’t command this one.

Young Corinne (McKenzie Turner) half-heartedly attends Bible school. As a teen (Taissa Farmiga, the director’s sister) she’s smitten with her classmate Ethan (Boyd Holbrook), a rock singer. Soon she’s with child, and the two marry.

Nearly losing their baby daughter in a tour bus accident, the couple gives thanks to God. In 1979, adult Corinne and Ethan (Joshua Leonard) are baptized in a lake as they join an unspecified evangelical group.

Shying away from conflict, the director surveys too many cast members who, collectively, don’t make much of an impression. Great actors like John Hawkes (Winter’s Bone) are wasted here.

Compounding the problem is the washed out color palette. Like the drab house dresses that the womenfolk wear, this cinematic choice makes a dull story duller.

There’s a scene where Corinne’s best friend Annika (Dagmara Dominczyk in a rousing performance) sustains permanent damage after brain surgery. It’s an overt plot device that I found offensive, “divine punishment” for the sexy, outspoken Polish wife and mother.

A surreal, sensual scene between the two friends feels awkward and goes on too long. The film can’t decide whether Corinne’s crisis is more feminist or spiritual, and falters in both areas.

As Corinne receives the news about Annika at the hospital, her deer-in-the-headlights stare into the camera is worse than silly. It didn’t move me at all.

“You are worshipping at the altar of yourself,” a Bible-quoting shrink chides Corinne when she confesses her need for sexual satisfaction. Even here, Farmiga is tentative and unconvincing. The character’s quest to explore sex, literature and intelligent conversation is never fully realized. She just seems like a woman who got married too soon for the wrong reasons.

Corinne whines about “feeling nothing,” but never transcends that funk. After leaving her husband, she goes to a library to explore new thinking. She flirts with a literary Irish mailman (Sean Mahon), only to discover that he is married.

Corinne is most passionate when she’s speaking to the congregation. Women aren’t allowed to preach, as the pastor’s wife reminds her. No wonder Pastor Bill (Norbert Leo Butz) feels threatened. Corinne speaks honestly from her heart and experience. He hides behind preachy sermons.

Strangely, Corinne returns to the church after leaving Ethan. Now an outcast, she takes up the microphone and shares. Pastor Bill barely protests. Emotion stirs in Annika’s eyes, and sorrow fills Ethan. The others ignore her numbly. Sheep show more emotion than this.

Two revelatory moments barely register. While young Corinne lies impassive under Ethan, a big black pig looks on, his eyes filled with kindness and intelligence. Late in the film, Corinne gazes at crosses atop the church. A nearby dog approaches the edge of the woods, gazing back at her.

Nature here symbolizes the wilderness and mystery of following the Divine. Corinne stays tethered to what she knows, a belief in suffering and sacrifice. Higher Ground is based on This Dark World by Carolyn S. Briggs.

Directing a film is a great opportunity to explore human growth and drama writ large. Movie characters say and do things that many of us wouldn’t dare say or do. Like a lost soul, Higher Ground circles and loses its way.

If you like Higher Ground, you might enjoy:  Another Earth; Source Code; Up in the Air.

[email protected]

 

Higher Ground     2011  /  R  /  1 hour, 49 min 

Cast Overview:  Vera Farmiga, Norbert Leo Butz, Dagmara Dominczyk, John Hawkes, Bill Irwin, Joshua Leonard, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Donna Murphy, Taissa Farmiga, Boyd Holbrook

Director:  Vera Farmiga

Genre:  Drama, Spirituality

 

 

Contagion: Soderbergh directs cool, tense pandemic thriller - 5 stars

 
 
 
As a deadly virus spreads, Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion tracks personal stories of survival and activism around the globe. The thriller reveals exactly how a pandemic could happen. Freedom, responsibility and control are explored.  

If you’re seeking terror or melodrama, you may not like Soderbergh’s latest. It’s moving yet thoughtful even when mass hysteria erupts. A handful of citizens and government officials fight the good fight against lethal MEV-1, which spreads through the air and on surfaces. It kills one out of every four people exposed.

With great ensemble acting and a docudrama feel, the film is similar to the director’s drug war drama Traffic (2000). Suspense is heightened with a frenetic soundscape by former Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Cliff Martinez (who also composed the score for Traffic).

Civilization and public services are strained as looting and panic spread. U.S. forces are deployed. Mass graves are dug.

In the name of public safety, we’ve given much power to Big Pharma and government. Contagion raises awareness about the limits of our national preparedness as values, profit and politics clash. 

As a soulful everyman, Mitch Emhoff (Matt Damon) is a husband and father who loses his wife and son to the virus. Emhoff locks down his own teenage daughter in order to save her life, burying the pain of his wife’s infidelity.

 

Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow) first contracts the virus on a Hong Kong business trip. She stops over in Chicago to cheat on Mitch with an old flame.

Back home, Beth thinks she has jet lag. She develops seizures and foams at the mouth. Within hours, she is gone. Mitch is quarantined at the hospital, where doctors confirm that he has developed immunity.

Best Actress Marion Cotillard is fascinating as Dr. Leonora Orantes, a World Health Organization epidemiologist who is kidnapped while she explores the virus’ origin in Hong Kong. Orantes develops a Stockholm Syndrome-like devotion to her captors, who are sure that the U.S. is hoarding a cure.

Laurence Fishburne is excellent as Dr. Ellis Cheever, director of the Centers for Disease Control. Cheever follows protocol, but struggles when he has the chance to save his own fiancée by breaking confidentiality.

Jennifer Ehle (fantastic as Dr. Ally Hextall) and Elliott Gould (Dr. Ian Sussman) are gutsy researchers who break rules to expedite a cure.

 

Dr. Erin Mears (Kate Winslet) is sent by Cheever to coordinate emergency preparedness. As soon as she develops symptoms, Mears believes she is doomed. Lying in a stadium of sickbeds, she offers her raggedy quilt to a nearby patient.

The most fascinating and misunderstood character in Contagion is Alan Krumwiede (Jude Law), a blogger who criticizes Big Pharma’s profit motives and government bureaucracy. Krumwiede plays an important adversarial role as he reveals the limits of institutional effectiveness.

What Law brings to light is health freedom and the use of nature to stay healthy. When Krumwiede drinks a glass of water with a few drops of Forsythia essence in it, he tells his on-line audience of millions, “If I’m still here tomorrow, it worked.”

The blogger survives. He wants to inform and help others while making his own profit. A run on a San Francisco pharmacy ensues for the healing essence. (In reality, there are many reputable sources for complementary and traditional Chinese medicines. Krumwiede could not corner the market on it.) 

A vaccine becomes available 90 days later. Survivors must vie in a national lottery for the scarce cure. The scene evokes Waiting for Superman, where students draw numbers to win the chance for a quality education.

As cinematographer, Soderbergh uses middle-distance shots, close ups and color to achieve master effects. Contagion is his first IMAX film. Especially vivid are microscopic images of the mutating virus, and the fateful flight of an Asian bat.

Soderbergh has made a cautionary classic for our time.

If you like Contagion, you might enjoy: 2012; The Debt.

[email protected]

 

Contagion     2011  /  PG-13  /  1 hour, 42 mins

Cast Overview:  Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Bryan Cranston, Elliott Gould 

Director:  Steven Soderbergh

Genre:  Thriller

 

 

Apollo 18: man vs. moon rocks in sci-fi thriller - 3 stars

 
 
 
Baby boomers and sci-fi fans, prepare for a retro space exploration thriller. Apollo 18 reveals a chilling double cross on the moon. Found footage of the Apollo space program and a faux-documentary style are used.

Director Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego’s clever, low budget sci-fi thriller exposes secret agendas, ulterior motives and brave heroes. NASA’s cancellation of the Apollo 18 moon mission sets up the premise.

What if the announcement was just a hoax? A top secret 1974 blast-off is shown. Commander Nathan Walker and Captain Benjamin Anderson plant early warning devices for the Department of Defense. They collect moon rocks. Suddenly, the mission goes awry when they discover an abandoned wreck and evidence of alien activity.

A bare-bones plot and scant character development make this a modest mission. The special effects are on par with the 1970s, but creepy enough. Apollo 18 is suspenseful good fun.

 
 

In fact NASA did plan Apollo 18, Apollo 19 and Apollo 20 missions. Congressional budget cuts and lack of public interest in the lunar voyages caused each to be axed.

Apollo 18 recalls a nation united to achieve a lofty aim. I got chills watching President John F. Kennedy announce the goal of reaching the moon. Lopez-Gallego succeeds in conjuring a sense of American idealism and entitlement.

The American heroes (played by Warren Christie, Lloyd Owen and Ryan Robbins) display death-defying character lacking in some government officials. Flashbacks show the trio drinking beer and goofing around at a family picnic. The archival footage is scratchy and realistic.

Cold War paranoia prevails, along with a curious insistence that only man lives in the universe. The crew can’t imagine peaceful coexistence with extraterrestrials because they can’t even acknowledge their existence.

One day, we will watch Apollo 18 and laugh at our own arrogance.

If you like Apollo 18, you might enjoy:  Insidious; Splice.

[email protected]

 

Apollo 18     2011  /  PG-13  /  1 hour, 28 min

Cast Overview:  Warren Christie, Lloyd Owen, Ryan Robbins

Director: Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego

Genre:  Thriller, Sci-Fi, Horror, Mockumentary