Starbuck 2011

     David Wozniak is a slacker nearing 40 and he still doesn’t have his life together.  He works as a delivery driver for his family’s meat packing company.  He owes $80,000 to loan sharks and he’s just found out his girlfriend is going to have a baby.  The latest fiasco in his life is 142 children he fathered through sperm donation 20 years ago are suing him.  There are 533 adult children on record with David as the donor.  The 142 have filed a class action suit against the confidentially agreement because they want to meet him.  David used the name Starbuck from a famous Canadian bull that sired more than 200,000 calves.

     As the father of 533 children, David has a lot of growing up to do!  At first he doesn’t want to know any of the children but he starts randomly selecting information pages and then trying to help the person he selected.  I thought this was going to be terrible bit it’s not at all, there is a lot of heartwarming humor.  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

110 min, Comedy directed by Ken Scott with Patrick Huard, Antoine Bertrand, Julie Le Breton, Dominic Phillie, Marc Belanger, Igor Ovadis, David Michael.

Note:  Blockbuster 3*, imdb 7.2 out of 10, 65% critic 82% audience on Rotten Tomatoes.

Special Note:  This film is being remade as the Delivery Man starring Vince Vaughn.

Tara Road 2005

     Marilyn Vine lives in a big house in Connecticut with her husband and 15 year-old son.  Her son gets a motorcycle for his birthday gift from his father when he turns 15 and he has an accident at the party that kills him.  Ria Lynch lives in a big house in Dublin, Ireland, her husband has just told her that his girlfriend is having a baby and he’s leaving the marriage.  They have a son and daughter.  Marilyn is supposed to go to Hawaii with her husband but she says she is not going.  She finds the phone number of Ria’s husband Danny in her records.  She calls his number to see if he knows anyone who would like to exchange houses for a set period of time.  Ria answers the phone and she instantly agrees to spend some time in Connecticut while Marilyn comes to Dublin.

     I thought this film seemed familiar as I was watching, I looked it up and I’ve seen this movie before.  I enjoyed seeing adventure of the exchange of living arrangements, the interaction and kindness of their friends.  The process gave each of the women new hope to tackle the difficulties in their lives.  3 ½* (I liked this movie) 

97 min, Drama directed by Gillies MacKinnon with Andie MacDowell, Olivia Williams, Stephen Rea, Iain Glen, Jean-Marc Barr, Brenda Fricker, Heike Makatsch, Ruby Wax, Maria Doyle Kennedy.

Note:  Blockbuster 3*, imdb 5.9 out of 10, 43% audience on Rotten Tomatoes.

Leonie 2010

     This film is a period drama of the story of Leonie Gilmour, an early 20^th century literary editor who married the celebrated Japanese poet Yone Noguchi.  They had a son and he became the famed artist Isamu Noguchi.  Leonie graduated from Bryn Mawr College in Philadelphia and she received a scholarship to study at the Sorbonne in France for a year.  She accepts a job teaching at an all-girl’s high school in New York.  She dreams of being an editor and answers an ad in the newspaper by Yone.  They marry but Yone goes back to Japan because of prejudices due to the Russo-Japanese War and the news that Leonie is expecting a child.  Leonie is worried about discrimination against her son Isamu and she later follows Yone to Japan.

     The photography is beautiful of the different areas where Leonie lived.  The cultural differences between Japan and America of this period are emphasized too.  Leonie must have been a firecracker in her day as a feminist woman but that is not brought out until later scenes in this portrayal even though the performance by Mortimer is good. 

102 min, Drama directed by Hisako Matsui with Emily Mortimer, Shido Nakamura, Christina Hendricks, Mieko Harada, Jan Milligan, Keiko Takeshita, Takashi Kasiwabara.

Note:  Blockbuster 2 ½*, imdb 4.3 out of 10, 42% critic 70% audience on Rotten Tomatoes.

Anna Karenina 2012

     The action in this version is set in a theater and goes from scene to scene by using different spaces of the same set.  The story is set in Imperial Russia of 1874.  Anna is a wealthy aristocrat with a cold marriage but she has a son she adores.  She travels to Saint Petersburg to save the marriage of her brother Prince Oblonsky because he had a love affair with his housemaid.  She meets Count Vronsky at the train station and soon learns he is ready to propose to Kitty.  She is the younger sister of her brother’s wife Dolly.  Anna resolves the difficulties in her brother’s marriage but causes attention from the conservative society by dancing with Vronksy at a ball.  Her husband has a conversation with her about the the bad taste of setting yourself up for possible rumors.

     How many times has this same story been released as a movie?  The heavy weight of the theatrical framework style is a disadvantage and makes this seem very weird.  The scenery, costumes and jewelry are very beautiful but everything else seems hollow.  I also question the casting, I see many of Knightley’s expressions and gestures in her acting which detract from her character.  Johnson as Vronsky doesn’t work for me at all?  3* (This movie is OK)

 

130 min, Drama directed by Joe Wright with Keira Knightley, Jude Law, Aaron Johnson, Matthew Macfadyen, Eric MacLennan, Kelly Macdonald, Theo Morrissey, Cecily Morrissey.

Note:  Blockbuster 3*, imdb 6.6 out of 10, 63% critic 52% audience on Rotten Tomatoes.

Mighty Fine 2012

     This film is based on a semi-autobiographical screenplay written by the director.  Joe Fine has an explosive temper and he’s emotionally abusive to his wife and two daughters.  Joe is an apparel entrepreneur and he moves his family to New Orleans from Brooklyn.  His wife Stella loves their new big house but Natalie and Maddie don’t know if they will fit into their new school and living in the south.  Natalie starts making friends but her father doesn’t help her new beginning with his domineering personality.  Maddie is so shy she can barely speak out in class.  Everything falls apart when Joe starts having financial problems with his business.

     Stella is Jewish and she was hidden from the Germans during WWII.  She still has an accent that would have been better left behind.  MacDowell does a good job with it but it just seems grating coming from her.  I am not a fan of Palminteri, I think it’s his shoe black hair which makes him look older than he really is.  I did like the basic storyline.  3* (This movie is OK)

79 min, Drama directed by Debbie Goodstein-Rosenfeld with Chazz Palminteri, Andie MacDowell, Rainey Qualley, Jodelle Ferland, Paul Ben-Victor, Arthur J. Nascarella.

Note:  Blockbuster 2 ½*, imdb 4.3 out of 10, 20% critic 64% audience on Rotten Tomatoes.

Special Note:  Rainey Qualley is Andie MacDowell’s daughter.

Wide Sargasso Sea 2006

     This film is a prequel to Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre and an adaptation of a 1966 novel by Jean Rhys.  Edward Rochester is in Jamaica of the 1830’s focused on making his fortune.  Since he is the second son and not the eldest, he cannot count on an inheritance from his family.  He is introduced to Antoinette Cosway, they begin to see each other and Edward is offered a substantial dowry to marry Antoinette.  He begins to hear stories about madness in the family and this turns him against Antoinette.  Their relationship starts a downward spiral fueled by his fears that she is mad. 

     This is the second film adapted from the Rhys novel, the first one was made in 1993.  Antoinette later is renamed Bertha by Edward and she is the madwoman of Thornfield Hall.  This film makes you wonder if Antoinette would not be mad except for being driven mad by her husband?  We’ve always thought he is the one deserving pity?  Was he first driven mad by doubt, suspicion and jealousy fueled by gossip and rumor?  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

84 min, Drama directed by Brendan Maher with Rafe Spall, Rebecca Hall, Nina Sosanya, Victoria Hamilton, Fraser Ayres, Lorraine Burroughs, Alex Robertson, Karen Meagher.

 

Note:  Imdb 6.0 out of 10, 46% audience on Rotten Tomatoes.

Home 2008

     A family with two daughters and one son live on an isolated rural family farm.  There is a road in front of their home but it has not been completed for ten years.  Julien, their son, tells the family that he saw a road construction truck.  Marthe, the wife and mother, is not worried because they have seen trucks before and nothing has changed.  They become more worried as they see more trucks arrive.  They learn the road is being completed and it will open soon.  This will change everything about their home.  Problems immediately arise with the noise, pollution from the cars, massive traffic backups from accidents, crossing the road for school, shopping and work.  The simplest solution seems to move but it’s not that easy.

     The problem of everything changing around a home has also happened to other people in different ways.  Building a shopping center nearby, an airport, overpass, loss of front yards due to road widening, etc.  Marthe moved here because of a need to be separated from civilization and she nearly loses her mind due to lack of sleep and her mental state.  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

98 min, Drama directed by Ursula Meier with Isabelle Huppert, Olivier Gourmet, Adelaide Leroux, Madeleine Budd, Kacey Mottet Klein, Renaud Rivier, Kilian Torrent.

Note:  Imdb 6.8 out of 10, 94% critic 66% audience on Rotten Tomatoes.