The Boat That Rocked 2009

     Broadcasting live 24/7 from an old tanker anchored in the middle of the North Sea just beyond British jurisdiction, Radio Rock sends out a vibrant and unifying signal to millions across the nation.  The age of listeners ranges from wide-eyed pre-teens secretly tuning in long past their bedtimes to everyday people in need of a musical pick-me-up.  The Radio Rock roster is overseen by the station owner and ship’s Captain Quentin.  Other announcers include a risk-prone American known only as The Count, mystic deejay royalty Gavin, slyly amorous Dave, idiosyncratic New Zealander Angus, the rarely seen Bob, the aptly named Thick Kevin, lovelorn Simon, ladies’ magnet Mark, shy Harold, reporter News John and lesbian ship’s cook Felicity.  One night in 1966, Captain Quentin’s teenaged godson Carl comes aboard.  Carl harbors romantic aspirations that he hopes will be fulfilled during one of the biweekly visits by Radio Rock’s prettiest fans.  He also hopes to learn more about his long-absent father.
 
     This film also has the title Pirate Radio.  It is about rebellion of every type.  It’s ultimately a good-natured film filled with good-hearted characters and it will appeal to mature teens as well as parents who are fond of rock 'n' roll.  The movie's events are seen through the eyes of a teenager who spends a lot of time with several free-spirited 1960’s DJ’s.  He pursues losing his virginity in the process.  It's all due to them urging him to "loosen up" and "have fun”!  This translates to plenty of rude, dangerous and anti-authoritarian behavior, sex and sex talk, drinking and other illicit activities.  Be ready to talk to teens about the real-life consequences of what they're seeing on the screen.  It's important to note that the only real female character in the movie is a lesbian and this is a fact that's repeated again and again, mostly with comedic intent.  3* (This movie is OK)

117 min, Comedy directed and written by Richard Curtis with Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Nick Frost, Michael Hadley, Charlie Rowe, Lucy Fleming, Tom Sturridge, Ian Mercer, Will Adamsdale, Tom Brooke, Rhys Darby, Katherine Parkinson, Chris O-Dowd, Ike Hamilton, Stephen Moore.  

Note:  Imdb 7.4* out of 10* with 107,624 reviewsThe Guardian 2* out of 5* Peter Bradshaw, Roger Ebert 3*, Common Sense Media Jeffrey M. Anderson 3* out of 5*, age 16+, 1* positive messages, role models, violence 3* drinking, drugs & smoking, 4* language, Metacritic 58 out of 100 with 31 critic reviews, 6.5* out of 10* with 98 user scores, Amazon 4.7* out of 5* with 2,119 reviews.

View from the Top 2003

     Donna Jensen was raised on the wrong side of the trailer park in Silver Springs, Nevada.  She always believed she would be able to get out of Silver Springs.  She read a book by Sally Weston's book and Sally the most famous now ex-flight attendant in the world.  Donna believes the path away from Silver Springs is to become a flight attendant.  This is despite never having been on an airplane.  After an initial bumpy start to this career, Donna shows a natural flair for the job.  Her next step is apply to work for world class Royal Airlines.  This is the airline company where Sally Weston mentors flight attendants.  After meeting Donna, Sally believes Donna is destined for flight attendant greatness.  This means that she could be working first class in the New York-Paris flights. Donna believes in herself as a flight attendant but has to overcome some obstacles.  One of these is flight attendant trainer John Witney.  He has some hidden anger issues.  Also, there is her friend Christine Montgomery who also wants to be a great flight attendant.

     I can definitely say that I have never set my goal to be a great flight attendant.  I have not se a goal to be a flight attendant at all!!  In this comedy, Donna Jensen is stuck in a small Nevada town as a commuter airline flight attendant.  She longs for the glamour of New York, London and Paris. Sally Weston takes Donna under her wing and she appears to be on her way to the most treasured routes.  Hard-nosed flight-attendant trainer John Whitney is comical.  Unfortunately for Donna, she is relegated to Royalty’s commuter airline in Cleveland.  She is reunited with old boyfriend Ted. When Donna is finally given another chance at Royalty, she must choose between her career dream and her love.  3* (This movie is OK)

 Note:  Imdb 5.5* out of 10* with 25,639 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 14% with 123 critic reviews 34% with 25,000+ audience scores, Roger Ebert 3*, Common Sense Media Nell Minow 2* out of 5* age 15+, dove.org 3* sex and language, 1* violence, 2* drugs, Metacritic 27 out of 100 with 30 critic reviews, Amazon 4.6* out of 5* with 857 reviews.
 

Special Note:  The segment where the trainee flight attendants at Royalty Airways are undergoing training by John Witney (Mike Myers) included a lesson on how to deal with terrorists.  This scene was cut from the film and was not included on the DVD release as a deleted scene.  In 2019, British actor/writer/director Richard Ayoade found "View from the Top" so appallingly awful in every way that he wrote a book dedicated to the film, "Ayoade on Top."  He stated that he wanted to analyze the film as if it were Citizen Kane of 1941.  In an interview Gwyneth Paltrow  admitted that she thought this was a terrible movie. This interview can be seen as a bonus feature on the DVD release of Thanks for Sharing of 2012.

Mistakes:  Gwyneth Paltrow's character is a Nevada native but at 46:22 she mispronounces the state as "Nev-odd-ah." NO Nevada native would do that.  Donna reads a flight attendant job op brochure whose cover spells "Marriott" Hotel with just one “t."  Donna is walking through an airport terminal and sees two other flight attendants from her airline.  They both salute her using their right hands but she returns their salute using her left hand.  Of course this could be because Donna is pulling her suit case with her right hand leaving her left hand free to salute.

 

I Love You, Beth Cooper 2009

     Denis Cooverman gives the commencement speech at his graduation.  He says things about everyone in the graduating class as well as some other people.  He proclaims his love for Beth Cooper, she is the hottest, most popular girl in school and the head cheerleader.  He did this because his best friend told him to let it all out.  That very night, Beth shows up at his door offering to show him the best night of his life?  Later Beth confronts him and he invites her to his graduation party.  To his surprise she and two of her friends actually do show up!!  But, so do some of the people he offended with his speech!!  They want to tear him apart and one of them is Beth's boyfriend.  Coincidentally, Beth has just dumped him.

     This is a review of the movie shown in theaters and not the unrated version with an alternate ending available on DVD.  This deplorable teen comedy targets teens especially since it stars Heroes cheerleader Hayden Panettiere.  The movie is full of consequence-free underage drinking and teen sex.  Teens drink beer, hard liquor and champagne.  The champagne is supplied by parents and teens drive after drinking.  Characters have a threesome but nothing explicit is shown.  There's a running conversation about one character's sexual orientation.  Teen girls' naked backs are shown during a titillating locker room scene.  Language is notably strong for a PG-13 movie!!  The teen boy main character also gets beaten up a lot and his parents are iffy role models at best.  They provide the alcohol and essentially encourage their son to have sex.

102 min, Comedy directed by Chris Columbus and based on a novel written by Larry Doyle with Hayden Panettiere, Paul Rust, Jack Carpenter, Lauren London, Lauren Storm, Shawn Roberts, Jared Keeso, Brendan Penny, Marie Avgeropoulos, Josh Emerson, Alan Ruck, Cynthia Stevenson, Pat Finn, Andrea Savage, Violet Columbus.

Note:  Imdb 5.3* out of 10* with 33,490 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 13% with 120 critic reviews 32% with 250,000+ audience scores, Common Sense Media Sandie Angulo Chen, 1* out of 5*, age 15+, 2* consumerism, 3* violence and language, 4* sex and drinking, drugs & smoking, Roger Ebert 2*, Metacritic 32 out of 100 with 30 critic reviews 7.8* out of 10* with 123 ratings, Goodreads gives the book 3.29* out of 5* with 7,285 ratings and 1,222 reviews.

Special Note:  In the afterword to the book this film was based on, author Larry Doyle admitted he initially conceived this story as a movie.  When he was unable to generate interest, he published the story as a novel.  It subsequently generated enough popularity to draw interest in adapting it for film and Doyle was invited to write the screenplay.  Chris Columbus, the director asked actress Lauren Storm to gain weight to play Beths cheerleader friend, Treece.  Buffalo Glenn High School and Harpers Community College are named for writer Larry Doyle’s hometown's institutions, Buffalo Grove High School and Harper College.

Mistakes:  When Denis tries to open the beer bottle with his teeth, he spits out a tooth that strikes Beth and bounces back at him.  Beth bends forward to her left and picks it up.  The tooth should have been in front of Denis?  When Greg hugs Denis at Valli's party, the collar on Denis's shirt is popped up when the shot is coming from behind him, then in the next shot it is lying down again.  While the three guys are in their ASU (Army Service Uniforms), they all have the Combat Infantry Badge but no Combat Unit Badge.  Two of the guys are junior enlisted but are wearing NCO stripes on their uniforms.  2 1/2* (This movie is so-so)

The Elephant King 2006

      This film is based on the popular series of children’s books written by Jean de Brunhoff.  It is the story of two brothers who lead totally different lives.  Jake Hunt enjoys life to the fullest in Thailand while his shy brother Oliver deals with his own depressions back home in the USA.  Their dominant mother wants Jake to come back home.  Oliver is sent to Thailand to retrieve his brother.  Once there, Oliver finds himself involved in Jake's bizarre life and he falls in love with a beautiful girl.  Her name is Lek.  But, it is not a coincidence that Lek and Oliver have already met?

     Grossman's interesting narrative follows the relationship of the two brothers as they overcome alienation, begin to understand one another and struggle with conflicted desires.  This film is beautifully shot on location in Thailand and the setting is exotic to the film's main characters and it adds to the themes of self-exploration and alienation.  The acting, scene choices and writing all indicate  Grossman's genuine talent as a Writer/Director.  The strength of this film, Grossman's first feature length narrative, promises great things to come from this fresh and energetic new filmmaker.  The work he does after this film will be interesting to see!!

    This movie is a Canadian-German-French co-production.  Babar King of the Elephants is a terrific introduction to this classic pachyderm from the children's books.  The one cause for concern is a scene early in the film where Babar's mother is shot and killed by a rifle-toting poacher.  After this scene, the story teaches lessons through the examples of the characters on kindness, consideration, respect and apologizing for mistakes.  For parents who grew up with Babar books and kids experiencing Babar for the very first time, this movie is a positive experience to share.

92 min, Drama directed and written by Seth Grossman with Ellen Burstyn, Tate Ellington, Florence Faivre, Jonno Roberts, Josef Sommer, DebraAzar, Natalie Carter, Joef Cummings, Georgia Hatzis, Thanawut Ketsaro, Pawarith Monkolpisit, Michael Pand, Porntip Pananai.

Note:  Imdb 6.3 out of 10 with 487 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 18% with 11 critic reviews 64% with 250+ audience scores, Metacritic 46 out of 100 with 6 critic reviews, Common Sense Media Brian Costello, 4* out of 5* age 5+, 2* educational value, positive messages, violence & scariness, 4* positive role models, Amazon 4.5* out of 5* with 55 ratings.

Special Note:  The Thai title, "Ruedu hang rak" translates as "Season of Love".  Filmed in Chiang Mai Thailand, New York City, New York, Washington Square Park, Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York.

Aliens in the Attic 2009

     Stuart Pearson goes with his family to spend a summer vacation in Creek Landing Michigan.  Also there for vacation are his brother Nathan Pearson, his sons and their mother Rose.  They will be staying in an old lake house they have rented.  When the television has trouble with the image, Stuart's son Tom and the arrogant boyfriend of his sister, Ricky Dillman go to the attic and then to the roof.  There, Tom meets his cousin Jake and they find the antenna dish totally destroyed?  Soon, they discover four alien invaders that are preparing an invasion of the Earth.  They will be using a mind control weapon that only affects adults and they lock the quartet in the attic.  Now, the aliens need to a find a way to force the adults to leave the house.  The mission for the family is to discover the vulnerability of the invaders and to plot a defense plan to save our planet.  

     This alien adventure comedy stars Disney Channel and Nickelodeon veterans like Ashley Tisdale (High School Musical) and Austin Robert Butler (Zoey 101).  Expect tweens and younger elementary schoolers to be interested. There's a heavy dose of physical humor and action, as well as some mild peril, but it's fairly mild compared to other tween-targeted films.  The language includes frequent use of insults like "stupid," "idiot," and "tool," while the consumerism focuses heavily on electronics (Nintendo, Mac, X-box, etc).

Note:  Rotten Tomatoes 33% with 75 critic reviews 43% with 250,000+ audience scores, Imdb .4* out of 10* with 20,826 reviews, Common Sense Media Sandie Angulo Chen 3* out of 5* age 8+, 1* educational value 2* sexy stuff, positive role models language, 3* violence & scariness, 4* consumerism, Metacritic 42 out of 100 with 10 critic reviews 5.6 out of 10 with 54 user scores, The Guardian 2* out of 5* Peter Bradshaw, Amazon 4.6* out of 5* with 1510 reviews.  

Special Note:  The They Came From Upstairs title appeared in some early promotional materials before being changed to Aliens in the Attic (2009).  At 17:10, Sparks is the first alien Tom and Jake encounter while on top of the roof.  “He tells them "Hello, humans, we come from upstairs."  This line was probably intended as a joke with the word "upstairs" mistakenly used to mean "space".  It is also the likely source of the working title "They Came From Upstairs".  The fourth 20th Century Fox's live-action/computer-animated hybrid film after Garfield (2004), Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (2006) and Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007).

Mistakes:  The Illinois license plate on Ricky's car (at 08:37 to 08:39 with a blue tag in the lower right corner reading 03-10) is out of date. The type of license plate on his car has not been used in Illinois since 2001 but the movie clearly appears to be set in the present.  Hannah's teeth change through out the movie.  Ashley Boettcher was obviously loosing her baby teeth.  The Sheriff is angry that Uncle Nathan has no license plate on the front of his car (at around 1 min) but this is irrelevant because Michigan does not require a front license plate.  Then at 27:53, a blue Michigan plate is shown on the rear of Uncle Nathan's Lincoln Navigator.  

86 min, adventure directed by John Schultz and written by Mark Burton, Adam F. Goldberg with Carter Jenkins, Austin Butler, Ashley Tisdale, Ashley Boetttcher, Henri and Regan Young, Doris Roberts, Robert Hoffman, Kevin Nealon, Gillian Vigman, Andy Ricter, Tim Meadows, Melise, Megan Parker, Doug MacMillan.

Wedding in Galilee 1987

     A Palestinian seeks permission from Israeli to waive curfew to give his son a fine wedding.  The military governor's one condition is that he and his officers also attend.  The groom berates his father for agreeing to these conditions.  Women ritually prepare the bride and men prepare the groom.  Guests begin to gather and the Arab youths are plotting violence.  One female Israeli officer passes out due to the heat and Arab women take her into the cool house.  A thoroughbred horse gets loose and runs to a mined field.  Since the horse is in danger, soldiers and Arabs must cooperate to rescue it.  As darkness falls, tensions between the army and the villagers rise.  The groom's wedding-night anger and impotence threaten family dignity and honor.  Can order remain between the people and the countries?

     This is a diplomatic experience for viewers amid the extreme tensions in the region where it originated.  Several different characters are interesting but the focus is on the whole and it never fully develops or explores any individual character.  The focus is on the group dynamics and it leaves the underlying story lines as a secondary theme.  The point where this film gets difficult to watch is when the night scenes occur.  You are left wondering what is happening because only sounds are heard and not imagery.  There is deep cultural exploration and the subject illuminates historically important content in both Palestinian and Israeli history.  This film is accurate in its historical and regional specific cinematic elements but it can become wearying?  3* (This movie is OK)

100 min, Drama directed and written by Michel Khleifi with Mohamad Ali El Akili, Bushra Karaman, Makram Khoury, Yussuf Abu-Warda, Anna Condo, Nazih Akleh, Sonia Amar, Eyad Anis, Wael Barghouti, Juliano Mer-Khamis, Ian Chem.

Note:  Imdb 6.8* out of 10* with 431 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 82% with 250+ audience scores, Letterboxd 3.6* out of 5*, Amazon 3.1* out of 5* with 19 reviews, eBay 5*.

Serious Moonlight 2009

    Louise wants to find a way to reconnect with her husband Ian.  He is divorcing her after many years of marriage.  When she surprises him at their country home, she is more than slightly dismayed that the roses and romantic set-up are not for her but for his much younger mistress.  Louise takes matters into her own hands!!  She abducts Ian and duct tapes him to the toilet.  He must admit his true feelings and state that he is unable to leave her!!  Things grow exceedingly awry for everybody when a burglar shows up at their house.  Then, everyone must discover and admit to their true feelings. 

     I watched Serious Moonlight mainly because it was written by Adrienne Shelly.  This dark comedy is entertaining but a lot more disturbing than I think it was meant to be.  This is because I found it impossible not to draw some eerie parallels between the story and Shelly's tragic death.  Usually Meg Ryan tends to play simpering and cloying characters?   At the beginning of the film I was optimistic because she seemed to be playing a very different kind of role.  But, just a few minutes into the plot she completely reverted to her standard type of acting.  3* (This movie is OK)

     There is also a book with the same title written by Jean Bennett.  The story in the book is that after an awkward first encounter, Birdie and Daniel are forced to work together in a Seattle hotel.  A famous author leads a mysterious and secluded life while living in the same hotel.  This is a romantic contemporary novel from the author of Alex Approximately.

81 min Comedy directed by Cheryl Hines and written by Adrienne Shelly with Meg Ryan, Timothy Hutton, Kristen Bell, Justin Long, Derek Carter, Bill Parks, Kimberlee Peterson, Nathan Dean, Andy Ostroy.

Note:  Imdb 5.4* out of 10* with 7864 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 22% with 37 critic reviews 25% with 2500+ audience scores, Metacritic 36 out of 100 with 16 critic reviews 5.1 out of 10 with 9 user scores, The Austin Chronicle 2* out of 5*, 2.4* out of 5*, Amazon 4.1* out of 5* with 130 reviews.  

Special Note:  The ending is dedicated to actor and director Adrienne Shelly, the writer of this film.  She was murdered in 2006 when she caught a man that had broken into her office and he was stealing money from her purse.  Meg Ryan and Timothy Hutton co-started together before in the film French Kiss of 1995.  The opening plot is similar, he was leaving her for another woman and she was trying to win him back.  
Mistakes:  When taped to the toilet, Ian says, "I could care less!".  The expression is, "I couldn't care less".  In the scene where Sara arrives and Louise has to tape Ian, the tape almost touches his left side-burn.  When coming back to the house, the tape now is away from his side-burn?  During the bathroom scene, when the mirror is broken the mirror glass shatters all over the floor.  Subsequent scenes show the characters rolling on the floor and apparently unharmed by the multitude of glass shards?  Cue the cleaning woman's entry!!