Secret Agent Gal Movie Reviews

Hugo: Scorsese salutes cinema, childhood in rich adventure

 

“Come and dream with me,” invites Hugo, Martin Scorsese’s first children’s fantasy and tribute to the cinema. Now playing, it’s also the director’s first foray into 3-D.

An adventure filled with wonder and victory over adversity, Hugo stars Asa Butterfield (The Boy in the Striped Pajamas) as an orphan who lives above a Paris train station in the 1930s. The boy faithfully keeps every clock running since the death of his father (Jude Law) and the disappearance of his drunken Uncle Claude (Ray Winstone).

The Station Inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen) spies the 12-year-old who lifts croissants and toys. There’s nothing the Inspector likes less than orphans disrupting the bustling terminal. He and his Dalmatian give chase. In one scene, Hugo dangles from the hand of a huge clock to escape capture.

Like a Charles Dickens novel, Hugo is rich with detail, sound and color. Flywheels, gears and gizmos fill the boy’s world. The maze above the station allures and fascinates. From the tower, Hugo can see and hear the grown-ups below. He can go almost anywhere. Alone, he gazes out over Paris rooftops and sees the Eiffel Tower.

Hugo’s heart beats for a steel man called the Automaton. It was his father’s prized possession. If Hugo can find the heart-shaped key to wind it up, the device will spring to life. He’s sure that one last message from his father lies within the gleaming contraption.

Hugo’s adventure really begins when he tries to pinch spare parts from a stern toymaker Pappa Georges (Ben Kingsley). Pappa is so unhappy that you’ll wonder about his secret grief, and want to help. Furious, he seizes Hugo’s precious notebook filled with drawings.

Pappa’s goddaughter Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz of Diary of a Wimpy Kid) befriends Hugo. Warmth grows as they explore the station and visit a bookshop. One day they talk about movies. Hugo’s father took him to the cinema every week. Isabelle has never seen a movie, she says. Pappa forbids it.

Ambition is good in movies, as is story and fully realized characters. Just when I began to care about Hugo and Isabelle, the focus shifted. The tone changed from drama to slapstick.

Hugo is really two films. A tale of adversity and hope turns into an homage to the cinema. The boy’s story fades into the background. The movie is still magical, but turns too complex for young children.

Impeccable cinematography by Robert Richardson (Inglourious Basterds; Shutter Island) and fabulous sets from Dante Ferretti (Shutter Island; Gangs of New York) create an intricate world of wonder.

The script by The Aviator’s John Logan tries to cover too much. It’s adapted from Brian Selznick’s novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret.

Characters come alive just briefly. A flower girl Lisette (Emily Mortimer) captures the heart of the Inspector. An elderly café patron (Richard Griffiths) woos a woman (Frances de la Tour) with a flighty pet dog. A bookseller Monsieur Labisse (Christopher Lee) gives Hugo a gift.

Mama Jeanne (Helen McCrory) sternly forbids Hugo and Isabelle to speak of Pappa’s past, or to investigate it. This is a clue that his secret must be wonderful indeed.

A film historian (Michael Stuhlbarg of A Serious Man) meets the children. Finally, Pappa Georges and Mama Jeanne can no longer hide the truth.

You’ll see anew pioneering films like the Lumiere Brothers’ 1895 short The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station. Also featured is Georges Melies’ 1902 classic A Trip to the Moon, where a rocket pierces the eye of the Man in the Moon.

CGI is used with whimsy and restraint to enhance these classics. The making of these movies is reenacted. I felt deep appreciation for early films and filmmakers.

Kingsley is masterful as brooding, heartbroken Pappa Georges. Moretz is especially engaging as Isabelle. Butterfield seems lost at times but lives up to his resourceful character. Cohen fascinates as the driven, precise Inspector who becomes a hero.

Scorsese promotes film preservation, a cause he deeply cherishes, in the movie’s second half. As important as this effort is, I’m not sure it belongs in Hugo. I felt startled at one point by a line straight out of a public service announcement: “Time hasn’t been kind to old movies.”

While the 3-D effects are lovely, you’ll need to wear those dark glasses to see them. For some, the darker screen diminishes the joy of watching a kids’ film.

For all its spectacle, the film never shakes a mechanical chill. The story steams along and jumps the track. Like the Automaton, Hugo needed a bit more tinkering. (4 out of 5 stars)

If you like Hugo, you might enjoy:  Super 8; X-Men: First Class; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2.

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Hugo     2011  /  PG  /  2 hours, 6 min

Cast Overview:  Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Asa Butterfield, Chloe Grace Moretz, Ray Winstone, Emily Mortimer, Helen McCrory, Christopher Lee, Michael Stuhlbarg, Frances de la Tour, Richard Griffiths, Jude Law 

Director:  Martin Scorsese

Genre:  Adventure, Drama, Family, Fantasy

 

J. Edgar: closet hater tramples democracy - 3 stars

In the dispassionate biopic J. Edgar, director Clint Eastwood dissects a coward and a bully, a tyrant who threatens and lashes out against those he fears.

Leonardo DiCaprio stars as the longtime director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. DiCaprio appears in almost every scene, committed to a flat, empty man who never changes or grows. In contrast, the actor seems to empathize much more with his Howard Hughes character in The Aviator.

This Hoover is as vain and soulless as he is cold and driven. It’s difficult to like, dislike, or feel anything for him. J. Edgar delves into Hoover’s possible sexual orientation. Here he prefers men, but hides his appetites even from himself in a time of intolerance.

As Hoover amasses power and extends the Bureau’s reach, he lashes out. He deports anarchist Emma Goldman. He illegally wiretaps civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Hoover is floored when he realizes he cannot intimidate King into refusing the Nobel Peace Prize. He justifies his activities as “patriotic.”

Hoover also tangles with then-attorney general Robert F. Kennedy (Jeffrey Donovan), who sees through and openly despises the FBI director.

Edgar is devoted to his domineering mother (Judi Dench, outstanding), who tells him, “I’d rather have a dead son than a daffodil for a son.”

The other woman in Hoover’s life is his devoted personal secretary Helen Gandy (Naomi Watts in a beautiful, deeply hued performance). In another age, Gandy would have been an FBI agent herself. Unfortunately her part is so underwritten that we never learn who she really is.

In Watts’ best scene, Helen turns down a half-hearted marriage proposal from Edgar. She’s all about work, she tells him. It is Gandy who shredded Hoover’s personal files right after he died, shrouding the details of his activities from then-President Richard Nixon and posterity.

The film feels historically true and accurate. It’s a jarring look at the Bureau’s origins. Hoover represents the worst of America here, contrasting with the FBI heroes that fill movies and television.

J. Edgar underwhelms with its cold, barren treatment of Hoover. Eastwood ranges from present to past, exploring the character’s motives. Yet the film tries to cover too much ground over Hoover’s 50-year government career.

Too much time is spent on the Bureau’s role in the Lindbergh kidnapping case. It would have been more illuminating to explore COINTELPRO, the FBI’s covert action programs against Americans in radical political, civil rights and antiwar groups. The film shows Hoover pioneering criminal science and fingerprinting.

Another great scene involves Hoover’s number two man and longtime friend Clyde Tolson (Armie Hammer, spot on as the long-suffering, smitten companion). When Hoover remarks that he’s thinking of proposing to Dorothy Lamour, Tolson goes ballistic and threatens to leave. One furious kiss symbolizes their stilted relationship.

Hoover dictates his memoirs to a series of handsome, young FBI agents in his private office over the years, exaggerating his exploits.

Dustin Lance Black, who won an Original Screenplay Oscar for Milk, penned J. Edgar. Eastwood also composed the score. Tom Stern’s cinematography, James Murakami’s production design and Deborah Hopper’s costumes are excellent. However, makeup for the aging Hoover and Tolson is heavy handed.  

Eastwood crafts a vague, ambiguous story as he interprets history. While unsympathetic, Hoover could have been more interesting.

If you like J. Edgar, you might enjoy:  The Debt; The Whistleblower; Fair Game.

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J. Edgar    2011  /  R  /  2 hours, 17 min

Cast Overview:  Leonardo DiCaprio, Naomi Watts, Armie Hammer, Josh Lucas, Jeffrey Donovan, Geoff Pierson, Judi Dench, Ed Westwick 

Director:  Clint Eastwood

Genre:  Biopic, Drama, Period Piece, History

 

 

Thrive follows the money to reclaim our future, wealth - 5 stars

Everyone can Thrive, according to a new, leading edge documentary impressively researched and organized by business executive Foster Gamble. A wake-up call with a plan, it’s now on DVD and screening nationwide. Steve Gagne directs.

Change is imperative. Nothing less than transformation – personal, social and global – will enable humanity to thrive, according to Gamble, co-founder of CASSonline.org.

Daring to follow the money, Gamble and his wife Kimberly Carter Gamble analyze underlying causes of scarcity and suffering worldwide.

The heads of three famous families have manipulated world wealth as part of a global domination agenda for centuries, Gamble asserts. Not everyone in these families is corrupt, he adds.

The Bank for International Settlements (called “the central bank of central banks”), international central banks, and national central banks control resources. Big banks, corporations and governments lie beneath central banks in a “pyramid of power.”

Elite central bankers control finance, energy, food supplies, education, the media and other systems. By keeping countries and citizens in debt, they effectively stifle human potential with the help of corporate-owned media, governments, major foundations, the IMF and the World Bank.

Many national economies have been harmed, according to the film. The elites are actively seeking to destroy the U.S. economy, experts say.

The number of global elites is tiny, says Gamble. In the U.S., the ratio of citizens to these elite bankers is a million to one, he maintains.

Individuals can exercise power in many ways. Bank locally. Buy and invest responsibly. Seek out news from independent sources. Take part in mass, critical actions. The Thrive website lists suggested actions.

Express your uniqueness, says British author David Icke. Fear of ridicule is one way the global elite gets us to impose its norms on one another.

Free, unlimited, clean energy is the film’s central, revolutionary theme. Two elegant designs, the torus and the Vector Equilibrium (VE), can be used to produce free energy and promote international well-being, Gamble explains.

The torus (or flower of life) is an energy pattern that appears in nature and across cultures. The VE is the underlying structure of the torus, a 64-sided pattern that is “the blueprint by which nature forms energy into matter.”

What does all this mean? “Goodbye Exxon Mobil, goodbye oil, goodbye coal, goodbye linear transmission of electricity,” says Steven Greer, M.D., Director of The Disclosure Project.

Did you know that Dr. Royal Rife invented technology that cured cancer in the 1920s? Have you heard of Nikola Tesla, who invented a technology that produced free, unlimited energy in 1901? The work of both men was destroyed, and their reputations were ruined. Archival footage shows government agents seizing revolutionary technologies.

For those who doubt futuristic exposes like this one, detailed information sources are listed on the film’s website.

Prominent scientists and thinkers are interviewed, including: Nassim Haramein, cosmologist and inventor; Paul Hawken, environmentalist and entrepreneur; Catherine Austin Fitts, former Assistant Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development; Vandana Shiva, environmental activist and eco-feminist; and Elisabet Sahtouris, evolutionary biologist and futurist.

How can the world thrive? Gamble integrates progressive, conservative and libertarian ideas into a model for change:

Stage 1 – Reform. We would reform current systems to “bring integrity and healing to our current condition.”

Stage 2 – Limit Government Control to enhance the “protection of individual rights and the commons.”

Stage 3 – Voluntary Cooperation would flourish as people live by “rules, but no rulers.”

Economic reform in Stage 1, for example, includes: stop bailouts; dismantle the Federal Reserve; withdraw support from the IMF, World Bank, and Bank for International Settlements; refuse international taxes, and monetize debt.

Following these steps would transform the arts, economics, education, environment, governance, health, infrastructure, justice, media, relations, science, spirituality and word view.

Gamble acknowledges that he was born into the wealthy Procter & Gamble family, but has forged his own career path.

Integrity, freedom and compassion can become the world’s guiding principles, says Gamble. Bold and honest, this film offers hope and a blueprint for change.  

If you like Thrive, you might also enjoy: 2012: Time for Change; I Am; Happy.

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Thrive   2011  /  PG-13  /  2 hours, 12 min

Cast Overview: Foster Gamble, Duane Elgin, Nassim Haramein, Steven Greer, Jack Kasher, Daniel Sheehan, Adam Trombly, Brian O'Leary, Vandana Shiva, John Gatto, John Robbins, Deepak Chopra, David Icke, Catherine Austin Fitts, Kimberly Carter Gamble, G. Edward Griffin, Bill Still, John Perkins, Paul Hawken, Aqeela Sherrills, Evon Peter, Angel Kyodo Williams, Elisabet Sahtouris, Amy Goodman, Barbara Marx Hubbard

Director:  Steve Gagne

Genre:  Documentary, Current Affairs, Science & Nature

 

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

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.

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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

The Big Year: Steve Martin & friends hunt birder bliss - 3 stars

Three birders chase their heart’s desire in The Big Year, a quirky comedy about true success. Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson star as three oddballs who follow bliss, value freedom and appreciate nature. The film is reflective and gently funny.

The competitive birders postpone their everyday lives to chase birds and status. Nature and animal lovers will enjoy dozens of “aha!” moments in this film from David Frankel (The Devil Wears Prada). Seen for a just a few seconds each, dozens of birds – many rare and unusual – make cameo appearances.

In one stunningly beautiful scene, a pair of American Eagles plummets in a sky-high, dramatic mating ritual. Birders nationwide are hailing this film for featuring the quietly thrilling sport and pastime.

You could say that Stu Preissler (Martin), Brad Harris (Black) and Kenny Bostick (Wilson) are embracing their gentle, feminine sides. Each yearns to fill a deep need within that goes beyond family and material success. They long to be fully human. For Kenny in particular, birding becomes a spiritual path.

Successful CEO Stu longs to retire and do what he loves. Birding and spending time with his expected first grandchild top the list. Martin develops real depth and interest in his character despite brief screen time.

Software tech Brad lives with his mom and dad after a divorce. He’s the oddly beautiful soul personified. Brad maxes out credit cards to finance his participation in the contest. His mom (Dianne Wiest) pledges her support, while his dad (Brian Dennehy) tells him to get a real life. Brad falls for another birder Ellie (Rashida Jones) who’s already spoken for.

World record holder Kenny, who spotted 732 birds last year, is intent on staying number one. As the admired and resented champion, he plays some dirty tricks to mislead his competitors. Kenny’s wife (Rosamund Pike) yearns to start a family. He keeps promising her that each Big Year will be his last.   

Doing a “big year” can be exhausting, uncomfortable, expensive and even dangerous. Competitive birders travel at a moment’s notice, just one step ahead of the violent weather that will drive the birds’ migration. The movie swings between different locations, bird sightings, and scenes from the birders’ lives.

The contest helps and hurts The Big Year. The initial excitement fades as the birders race to spot the most wild birds in North America within one year. The movie doesn’t focus enough on its three gifted comic actors. I wanted to spend more time with these characters.

The film captures a sense of community with nods to renowned, real-life birders. Anjelica Huston’s Annie Auklet is modeled on the pelagic guide Debi Shearwater. Kenny visits Phoebe’s Diner, a reference to the late Phoebe Snetsinger, who recorded over 8,000 lifetime sightings.

CGI effects jarred my attention away from the narrative, especially in a strangely funny scene out of Hitchcock’s The Birds. CGI is used to show details such as the Xantus’ Hummingbird’s gorget, and the Great Gray Owl’s “bow tie.”

The three main characters seem to star in their own separate movies. Only frenzied jaunts to spot wild birds connect them. Stu and Brad join forces to defeat Kenny, but their friendship doesn’t feel fully developed.

Howard Franklin’s screenplay is based on Mark Obmascik’s book The Big Year. A similar contest between three men really did happen in 1998.

After a heart attack, Brad’s dad begins to appreciate his son’s ambition. As the two trudge over a hilly trail to find an owl, Brad has an epiphany of his own.

The Big Year is less than successful, but its aim is true.

If you like The Big Year, you might enjoy:  Shopgirl; It’s Complicated; Midnight in Paris.

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The Big Year    2011  /  PG  /  1 hour, 40 min

Cast Overview:  Steve Martin, Jack Black, Owen Wilson, Brian Dennehy, Anjelica Huston, Rashida Jones, Tim Blake Nelson, Rosamund Pike, Dianne Wiest, JoBeth Williams

Director:  David Frankel

Genre:  Comedy, Dramedy

How to Start Your Own Country - 5 stars

 

Why not start your own micronation? Hundreds around the world have. Jody Shapiro visits a half dozen of the better known tiny nations in his comical documentary How to Start Your Own Country.

The Canadian filmmaker tickles and informs us with notions of country, patriotism and self-empowerment. Diplomats and United Nations officials share their views in this imaginative jaunt around the globe.

There are 192 member countries of the U.N. A few – Israel, Liechtenstein, Kosovo and Bosnia – asserted nationhood despite international disapproval. While new nations seek international recognition, “the U.N. is a country club,” says William Worster, a lecturer at The Hague University.

Shapiro follows the self-styled leaders with acceptance, rendering the wonderfully weird as noble and bizarre. You might call them patriots, kooks, or even true visionaries. These founding fathers are unique.

The countries range in size from 1.3 acres to a few miles. One has no land at all. There’s an “ecclesiastical principality” called Seborga, established within Italy in 820 A.D. with a population of 340. There are visionaries at The Seafaring Institute who expect to house 100,000 people at sea within 25 years.

Who knew that the smallest micronation, Molossia, was founded in 1998 in northern Nevada? President Kevin Baugh, wearing self-styled military regalia, shows us Molossian stamps and currency. His 1.3 acre nation boasts a population of six, including his three dogs. They operate on Molossian standard time.

Baugh admits that he’s required to pay taxes, and visits the United States often for supplies and services. Still, he relishes his independence. Inspired by Peter Sellers in The Mouse That Roared, he’s realizing a boyhood dream.

His Royal Highnesses Prince Leonard Casley founded Hutt River Province, 75 square kilometers (“about the size of Hong Kong”) in western Australia. In the face of national wheat farming restrictions, he seceded in 1970. Princess Shirley reigns by his side. Australian politicians seem skeptical, but give Prince Leonard his due. 

Going independent isn’t easy, and often means scarce supplies. “It’s a hard life but it’s our own life,” says Prince Leonard.

 

In the middle of Long Island Sound lies Dumpling Island, founded by President Dean Kamen (inventor of the Segway and other futuristic technologies). Kamen proudly notes that the Dumplonian Empire produces its own wind and solar energy. This makes it a model for the United States, he says.

The New Free State of Caroline’s Founder Gregory Green has realized an “alternative option for empowerment.” Costumed like pop artists or Lady Gaga fans, citizens parade on the beach behind Green. As their national anthem plays, a flag flies high above.

Caroline has no land. Its location is variable, says Green. Over 1500 have become citizens just by contacting him. Caroline is “a state of mind” across borders, the leader declares.

The Seasteading Institute received a half million dollar grant from Peter Thiel, an early Facebook investor and the CEO of Paypal. Patri Friedman, executive director, says he’s inspired by the idea of a true frontier, the chance to experiment with “beautiful cities” floating on the ocean. The group is staffed with idealists in their twenties.

What about hurricanes and tsunamis? Engineers are studying ocean currents, wind energy and solar panels as they design and test the mechanical basis for seasteads.

What makes a country? There’s a common purpose and unifying mission. These groups enjoy a psychological liberation, according to Erwin Strauss, author of How to Start Your Own Country. 

Friedman envisions social advancement, the chance to revolutionize governments by experimenting with different ways of life. For Kamen, nationhood means “a shared understanding and a respect among people for a set of ideas.”

Shapiro is also known for directing the Green Porno short film series for the Sundance Channel.

 If you like How to Start Your Own Country, you might enjoy:  Happy; I Am.

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How to Start Your Own Country     2010  /  NR  /  1 hour, 12 min

Cast Overview:  Kevin Baugh, Patri Friedman, Dean Kamen, His Royal Highness Prince Leonard

Director:  Jody Shapiro

Genre:  Documentary

 

 

Missing Pieces: Mark Boone Junior kidnaps his way to love ****

 

Kidnapping meets romance in the indie psychological drama Missing Pieces. Director Kenton Bartlett’s feature debut asks big questions and answers them with mind-bending originality. I want to feel something real. I want to feel happy. Why is this happening? It's now streaming online.

Missing Pieces investigates the brink of wholeness. Impressively crafted on a low budget, it’s a tale of dissolution and survival, a sly mix of Criminal Minds and the spiritual genre.

Mark Boone Junior (Memento; Batman Begins; Sons of Anarchy) is fascinating as David Lindale, a man whose life implodes after a head injury. With his mind and emotions fractured, he poignantly struggles to win back his exasperated ex-girlfriend Delia Greenly (Melora Walters). Soon his actions take a disturbing turn.

David seems gentle, but we don’t know what he’s capable of. Recovering from an accident, he has stopped taking his medication. While making his rounds as a delivery man, David meets Maggie Anderson (Taylor Engel) and Daylen Gordon (Daniel Hassel). With the sure insight of a damaged human being, he immediately recognizes that the two are missing pieces of their lives, too.

Using sparse, strong dialogue, Bartlett (who also wrote and produced the film) weaves in excerpts from a self-help tape. These represent David’s efforts to heal and to reclaim his life. The effect succeeds with preachy truisms like, “The only way to be happy is right here in this moment.” Loneliness becomes tangible.

David devises a plan: observe love. The world becomes his laboratory. If he can isolate two people and provide them with the right questions and instructions, can he reproduce the formula for happiness and love? Boone Junior reveals the monster within all of us.

Constant cuts to different lives and characters obscure the narrative. The logistics behind David’s grand experiment stretch belief. The harrowing journey runs a bit too long. Still this is a film worth seeing for its rich storytelling, challenging and original premise, and compassionate vision.

 

A turning point is reached when David realizes, “I need to give more.” He approaches Delia again.

Boone Junior creates an arresting portrait of despair and hope that anchors the film. Walters (Boogie Nights; Magnolia; Big Love) convinces as an aggravated woman who knows when it’s time to give up. Engel and Hassel debut with fine performances as Maggie and Daylen discover themselves and each other under extreme conditions.

Cinematographer Jonathan Arturo uses the camera in a full, free way that captures small, personal worlds in the context of sweeping, natural landscapes. Longing, fear and anger are evoked with a beautiful, understated color palette. Several scenes come to life like Andrew Wyeth paintings. Filmed primarily in Birmingham, Alabama, Missing Pieces was also shot in Colorado, South Dakota and Utah.                 

Richey Rynkowski (orchestrator assistant on Black Swan) creates original music that resonates and adds dimensionality.

Missing Pieces is a cry from the depths, a demand for answers from a seemingly indifferent Universe, a creepy trek towards self-actualization and love.

 If you like Missing Pieces, you might enjoy:  The Ledge; The Perfect Host; The Tree of Life.

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Missing Pieces     2011  /  NR /  1 hour, 57 min.

Cast Overview:  Mark Boone Jr., Melora Walters, Daniel Hassel, Taylor Engel

Director:  Kenton Bartlett

Genre:  Indie, Psychological Drama, Suspense

Captain America: The First Avenger ***

 

Imagine a stirring marvel comics movie where a violent bully breaks away from his boss Hitler and threatens the entire free world. A scrawny, heroic American boy risks his life in a secret experiment. Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) emerges a muscular Mr. Universe with superhero powers. His mission: to track down the demonic Red Skull (Hugo Weaving).

Now imagine watching the entire movie wearing dark shades. Captain America: The First Avenger, sets up next year’s comic book feature The Avengers.

The story is exciting at first. World War II is underway. Hitler wins victory after victory. Rogers, a gaunt asthmatic with a brave spirit, is turned down by the Army. He applies again and again. When research scientist and former Nazi Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci, fascinating here) spies Rogers at the World’s Fair in Queens, New York, he sees great potential.

“Do you want to kill Nazis?” Erskine asks Rogers. “I don’t want to kill anyone,” Rogers replies. “I don’t like bullies.” The scientist recruits him for a top-secret training program. Rogers will become the first of a new breed of super soldiers. “Why me?” Rogers asks. A weak man knows compassion, Erskine tells him. Skeptical Col. Chester Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones, very good here) must admit that lightweight Rogers has loads of bravery and character.

A gray pall covers the entire 2-D version of Captain America. The movie is so visually dull that its story grows lackluster. Reviewers who saw the 3-D version have complained about an even darker effect. Too bad director Joe Johnston didn’t take a cue from Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight), who married noir with occasional daylight. Johnston’s film isn’t noir, though. It’s just gray.

 

Transformation is overshadowed by special effects. Captain America loses energy in its second half. Repetitive action, stiff formality and a disconnected feeling among cast members don’t help. Oh, for the heart and pizzazz of Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man! Absent is the rich character and interpersonal sparring of the X-Men: First Class!

Johnston (Jumanji; Jurassic Park III; October Sky) could have filmed Captain America in black and white. This would have been more interesting and lively. He does capture beautiful 1940’s detail here.

In emphasizing period detail and computer-generated effects, the director neglects character development. Often lacking are the complexities of authentic interpersonal tension (achieved so well in X-Men: First Class). The rapport between Evans and his love interest, training officer Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), feels forced and underdeveloped.

Evans creates a strong, brave, soft-spoken hero (combining shades of Superman and Clark Kent). Sebastian Stan plays his best friend Bucky Barnes. Weaving (Agent Smith in The Matrix trilogy) is fun to watch as dastardly Red Skull, a power-hungry villain almost incoherent with hatred.

Red Skull is backed by an army of robo-soldiers who make up the Nazi research group Hydra. “Hail, Hydra!” they cry. “If you cut off one head, many will grow it its place,” a dying spy warns Captain America.        

A twisted reference to the tree of life symbol (a tree that joins heaven and earth) is shown as an invasive, sinister “Tree of the World” emblem for Hydra.

Why mask the red, white and blue with unrelenting gray? The choice reflects America’s widespread national cynicism. A languishing economy, natural disasters and terrorist acts have made such cynicism popular. Captain America is doing extremely well at the box office.

Promising inspiration, Captain America doesn’t deliver. Thankfully, this marvel comics movie ends with a dash of hope. Samuel L. Jackson reminds us that this tale merely sets up the future adventures of The Avengers (2012). Starring will be Evans, Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, Jackson as Nick Fury, and many more. The Avengers is being directed by Joss Whedon.

If you like Captain America, you might enjoy:  X-Men: First Class; Thor; Iron Man 2.

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Captain America     2011  /  PG-13  /  2 hours, 4 min

Cast Overview:  Chris Evans, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Hayley Atwell, Sebastian Stan, Dominic Cooper, Toby Jones, Neal McDonough, Derek Luke, Ken Choi, Stanley Tucci

Director:  Joe Johnston 

Genre:  Comic Book, Adventure, Fantasy