Secret Agent Gal Movie Reviews

The Way: Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez heal heartbreak - 5 stars

Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez heal a father’s heart and find wholeness in the sensitive drama The Way. Set along the Way of St. James (Camino de Santiago) from France to Spain, the film is directed by Sheen’s son Estevez, who appears as a ghostly muse.

The most powerful movie is sometimes the simplest. Sheen’s deep, rousing performance and Estevez’s minimalist, mood-centered direction fill The Way with meaning. Cinematographer Juanmi Azpiroz captures action along the breathtaking pilgrimage route.

Daniel (Estevez) has died in a freak accident in the Pyrenees, known for unpredictable weather. He was nearly 40 when he decided to postpone doctoral studies and walk the 500-mile-long trek.

Tom Avery (Sheen) just lost his wife a year ago, so losing his son is devastating. The conservative ophthalmologist travels from Ventura, California to identify Daniel and have him cremated.

The Way is the best father-son drama I've seen in years. It's nothing less than a healing for the male heart.

With Daniel’s backpack and provisions, Tom decides to complete his son’s journey. He will walk to the cathedral where the Apostle James is said to be buried. Local police warn him about the dangers. Tom is stoic. He has nothing to lose.

Sheen’s intensity and talent are mesmerizing. A winner of Emmy and Golden Globe awards, he’s played presidents and generals, fathers and coaches. Sheen evokes manhood with strength and sensitivity.

Tom scatters Daniel’s ashes at especially beautiful vistas. He remembers how his son pissed him off. “You don’t choose a life, Dad. You live one,” Daniel once told him. Tom speaks little, but you can feel his brokenness.

Tom sees Daniel wherever he goes. The son becomes father to the man. Tom appreciates the wordless visits. Still peace eludes him.

Empty but determined, Tom surrenders. Three travelers gravitate around the angry American. Numbness gives way to fury for the grieving dad.

Deborah Kara Unger plays Sarah, a sharp-tongued Canadian who wants to quit smoking. Yorick von Wageningen plays Joost, a friendly Dutchman who’s desperate to lose weight but loves regional cuisine. James Nesbitt is engaging as Jack, a bombastic Irishman with writer’s block who begins to chronicle Tom’s story.

His companions irk him, but Tom discovers himself by being around the others. Each traveler has wounds to heal. Finally Tom empathizes. He begins to understand why the journey was so important to Daniel.

Each must resolve personal issues and find truth. Gently insistent spiritual undertones never become overbearing. An encounter with a young gypsy thief (Omar Munoz) and his father (Antonio Gil) is especially moving.

A sense of community grows among the four and extends to others who walk. With references to cell phones, The Way also meditates on how disconnected we have become in the information age.

The Way allowed Sheen and Estevez to explore their Spanish culture and Catholic religion together. Charlie Sheen, the star’s other son, battled publicly with drug addiction as this film was made. The mystical bond between fathers and sons is tempered by real life frustration in this vision quest. 

Estevez has directed a dozen television shows and films. He starred in The Breakfast Club and Young Guns. Estevez and Sheen have made other movies together, including The War at Home and Bobby. 

The Way is a memorable exploration of manhood, heart and healing. Nature’s fearsome beauty unleashes a majestic resolution.

If you like The Way, you might enjoy:  The Music Never Stopped; In a Better World; Beginners; Thor.

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The Way    2010  /  NR  /  1 hour, 55 min

Cast Overview: Emilio Estevez, Martin Sheen, Deborah Kara Unger, Yorick van Wageningen, James Nesbitt

Director:  Emilio Estevez

Genre:  Drama, Independent

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.

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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.

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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

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.  

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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

Restless: death haunts young lovers - 2.5 stars

Death lurks while two teens fall in love in Restless, Gus Van Sant’s Harold and Maude inspired drama. Mia Wasikowska (The Kids Are All Right; Jane Eyre) and Henry Hopper (Dennis Hopper’s son) star.

The opening is intriguing. Enoch (Hopper) is a glum high school dropout who wears black and crashes funerals. He grieves vicariously for his mom and dad who died in a car accident. Enoch survived. He likes to remind others that he was “dead for three minutes” and awoke from a coma.

Annabel (Mia Wasikowska) is an optimist who talks to her hero Charlie Darwin. A winsome sprite with a brain tumor, she has three months to live. Annabel admires birds and beetles, and dubs herself a naturalist. She has transcended anger, living in acceptance and humor.

The two meet at a memorial service. Enoch rebuffs her, but Annabel persists. She recognizes a kindred soul. “Seen any good funerals lately?” is a conversation starter for these two.

I like odd movies, and really wanted to like Restless. Sentimental and trite, it tries too hard with swells of loud music and distracting flourishes (Annabel’s vintage wardrobe is endless). Talented Wasikowska has her moments, but Hopper struggles as morose Enoch.

The movie lingers in a graveyard of clever banter. The action falls flat even with a flurry of bucket list antics. Annabel accepts death as a friend, making light of the inevitable. Enoch is more obsessive.

They must race to fall in love. Their relationship is believable and painfully finite. With no future, they must live in the moment. Death is their silent partner.

Henry helps Annabel make the most of her last days. Scene after scene is artfully framed. Annabel looks healthy and radiant throughout. Restless is a felt experience. A valuable dramatic experiment, it falls short with one note whimsy.

What does work is the ghost. Enoch’s friend Hiroshi (Ryo Kase) was a kamikaze pilot in World War II. Still dressed in his jacket and flight cap, he pops by for witty conversation or a game of Battleship. Hiroshi lends a playful, quasi-fantasy quality here with comic relief. His character suggests that life and death are one, an ongoing continuum.

As Enoch’s mentor, Hiroshi isn’t afraid to talk sense to him. They get into a fist fight, providing welcome conflict. Something keeps the pilot hanging around, which is revealed at the movie’s end.

Restless lacks the nuance and power of Van Sant’s Elephant, Paranoid Park and Milk. This film avoids exploring the mystery of death and the meaning of existence.

A chalk-on-asphalt drawing of two fallen teens holding hands is the tipoff. Restless draws a happy face on death.

Other movies you might enjoy:  50/50; Love & Other Drugs.

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Restless     2011  /  PG-13  /  1 hour, 33 min

Cast Overview:  Henry Hopper, Mia Wasikowska, Ryo Kase, Schuyler Fisk, Jane Adams, Chin Han, Lusia Strus

Director:  Gus Van Sant

Genre:  Drama, Fantasy

Ides of March: George Clooney runs for president - 3.5 stars

 

Is old-style politics obsolete? George Clooney directs an all-star cast in The Ides of March, a political corruption drama that’s been eclipsed by Occupy Wall Street and worldwide activism. As history speeds up, this film about seeking political office feels dated.

Clooney (Good Night, and Good Luck.; Confessions of a Dangerous Mind) loves exploring politics on film. Directing his fourth movie, he evokes deep, honest portrayals of political personalities.

Ryan Gosling is ambitious idealist Stephen Myers, press secretary and strategist for the presidential campaign of Gov. Mike Morris (Clooney). “I’ll do or say anything if I believe in it,” Myers says.

Meanwhile real-life activists call for fundamental social change and a democracy that serve the people. Myers’ allegiance to one politician who will save us seems foolishly naïve. Does anyone really believe that anymore?

Philip Seymour Hoffman is dead on as Paul Zara, Morris’ shrewd campaign chief. Paul Giamatti plays Tom Duffy, the opposing campaign’s strategist who tries to steal Myers. Giamatti is excellent as a hack who’s risen to the national level by playing dirty while managing to stay likeable.

Morris seems to be progressive (Clooney is a Democrat), but the film barely mentions political parties. Can candidates win public office and still maintain their ideals? The choice to ignore money in politics takes the story out of context. The Ides of March becomes more emotional exploration than political story.  

 

Clooney is strong, sure and stoic. Morris deflects a question about religion, declaring his allegiance to the Constitution. Behind the scenes, he is fallible and forced to compromise his principles.

In one of her best roles, Marisa Tomei plays Ida Horowicz, a New York Times reporter. Ida believes so strongly in the system and “the way things are” that she covers nothing but the horse race. Horowicz has completely lost touch with the issues and with voters. She reports instead on behind-the-scenes campaign maneuvers. Tomei’s portrait of a burned out, obsolete journalist is devastating.

In this game there are only foes and allies who can further your interests. Horowicz and Myers joust over their “friendship” with a satisfying turnabout in the end.

Evan Rachel Wood plays Molly Stearns, daughter of the head of the Democratic National Committee. As a campaign intern, her sexcapades reveal a stunning lack of self-esteem. Senator Thompson (Jeffrey Wright as petulant power-broker) threatens to withhold his Ohio delegates unless he’s promised the Secretary of State spot in a Morris administration. Jennifer Ehle (always moving) briefly appears as Morris’ loyal wife.

See it for the acting. The larger-than-life cast is intense. Still, The Ides of March is no Michael Clayton. There are no real surprises. Public officials are corrupt. They’re compromised by special interests. The pressure of running for public office is overwhelming.

Nothing new is revealed. The screenplay is solid, but lacks originality. There is good a plot twist as Myers is indelibly changed by what he sees. Still the movie needs more oomph. It’s based on Beau Willimon’s play Farragut North (2008). Clooney, his frequent collaborator Grant Heslov and Willimon wrote the screenplay.

Horowicz’s words are prophetic: “Mike Morris is a politician. He’s a nice guy. They’re all nice guys. He will let you down sooner or later.”

How will citizens take back their democracy? We’ll have to stay tuned to real life to find out.

If you like The Ides of March, you might enjoy:  The American; Up in the Air; The Men Who Stare at Goats.

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The Ides of March    2011  /  R (language, sexual situations)  /  1 hour, 41 min

Cast Overview:  Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei, Jeffrey Wright, Evan Rachel Wood, Max Minghella, Jennifer Ehle, Michael Mantell, Gregory Itzin  

Director:  George Clooney

Genre:  Drama, Political 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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