Beginners (2011)

☻☻Beginners (2011) is a odd cross between a series of bittersweet romances and a father-son bonding film.

Oliver (Ewan McGreggor) is still in mourning for his father, Hal (Christopher Plummer), who came out of the closet at 75, after 44 years of marriage. We watch Oliver's new romance with the unpredictable Anna (Melanie Laurent) in between flashbacks of his changing relationship with his gay father.

As Hal slowly succumbs to cancer, we see him make do, to live in the moment -- often ignoring some of the needs of others. Hal knows his son asks too much; he's unwilling to accept less than his ideal and will thus lose out.

Hal's life is contrasted with Oliver's relationship with Anna. Yet Anna's behaviour is also odd.She appears to have her own problems, and is unwilling to share them. She receives telephone calls she is unwilling to answer and when Oliver invites her to move in with him, she is unable to cope.

Oliver's mother (Mary Page Keller), whose death triggered his father's outing, is an enigma. The film makes it very clear that Oliver's parents did not lead a happy home life. However, we are left to decide for ourselves whether her behaviour was due to husband's virtual abandonment or an unrelated psychological problem. 

I enjoyed watching Oliver's new relationship with his father unfold, but I was much less comfortable with his romance with Anna. I kept wondering if we were being given glimpses of Oliver's childhood and his mother's behaviour as examples of what he could expect in a future with Anna. 

Perhaps it was just to explain that al had been gay from the start, but that's rather simplistic. I also kept thinking that the relationship with Anna began during the period of Hal's decline. I think this was because I wanted Hal's practical opinion about her. Would he have counselled the short-term make-do approach or a more long-term solution?

An interesting film, primarily because of Christopher Plummer.


Speaking out:

  82%/81% rottentomatoes.com (23 Jun 2011*)

  7.2/10  imdb.com (23 Jun 2011*)

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* Date of web access.

The Tree of Life (2011)

☻ ☻ The Tree of Life (2011). This film is supposed to be about a character named Jack (Sean Penn as the adult, Hunter McCracken as the child), now lost spiritually, attempting to reconcile the memories of his mixed-up father (Brad Pitt) and his own place in the present. What we as viewers experience is a series of vignettes, primarily of Jack's past, interspersed with hauntingly beautiful pictures reminiscent of the images of galaxies in National Geographic.

At first, the life of the O'Brien family -- dad (Brad Pitt), Mom (Jessica Chastain), and the three boys -- seems idyllic. Eventually, the truth emerges, with things going seriously downhill after the accidental death of one of Jack's brothers and the closing of the business that employs his father.


Visually, this film was wonderful. My biggest beef was that I had a terrible time following the hushed tones of the voices that accompanied the imagery. However, my hunch is that I didn't miss out on much. Jack's journey from happy toddler to mixed-up rebellious teen to lost adult isn't difficult given his home life.


I didn't quite get the point, though. Perhaps successive watchings will make it clearer. Although I have my doubts. I expect Jack's answer to life, the universe and everything is the same old story: It's a mystery beyond our comprehension. Just think Kubrick's black monolith on the earth, and then on the moon. 


Enjoy the ride while it lasts. 


Nice music too.

I expect that one reason for the disparity between the positive reviews by critics and the lukewarm reception by the general public lies in the differences between their expectations. The average person asks for a couple of hours of entertainment -- to be transported out of a mundane life into something else. The critic, being more jaded, tends to seek novelty and variety. If you're not transported by beautiful images and music, you're not likely to go far with this film. But, like it or not, I think you'll agree it is different.

Speaking out:

  86%/66% rottentomatoes.com (23 Jun 2011*)

  8.0/10  imdb.com (23 Jun 2011*)

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* Date of web access.

Midnight in Paris (2011)

☻ Midnight in Paris (2011). I was expecting better of this Woody Allen film, but the film lacks the psychologically-challenged character Allen once performed himself, so perhaps that explains it. 

Gil (Owen Wilson), a struggling writer, is too laid back, too normal. He's in love with the Paris and would like to live there. He's visiting the city with high maintenance and overly demanding fiancee, Inez (Rachel McAdams), along with her parents, John (Kurt Fuller) and Helen (Mimi Kennedy). I found Inez too ordinary. She's is too practical -- she radiates money. What she wants is a nice investment banker, so what's she doing with a guy like Gil?

Their obnoxious know-it-all acquaintance, Paul (Michael Sheen), a stock Allen character, serves to underline the differences between Gil and Inez. However, Gil is so laid back he simply allows Paul to natter on like the fool he is.

More than anything else, Gil just seems to drift into the magic of a Paris midnight, meeting up with a budding writers dream team including F Scott Fitzgerald (Tom Hiddleston) and a suicidal Zelda Fitzgerald (Alison Pill), Ernest Hemmingway (Corey Stoll), Gertrude Stein (Cathy Bates) in the guise of a willing book reviewer, Salvador Dali (Adrien Brody), and even Cole Porter (Yves Heck).

As expected, I disliked Inez and Paul and found John and Helen suitably dull. I enjoyed sharing Gil's love of the city and his midnight forays into it's fabled ex-pat past. Yet I was unable to buy into Gil's growing alienation with Inez and the seductive pull of the past. I couldn't engage with Gil's character, nor could I fathom how or why Paris turned magical. Were Gil's midnight travels flights of romantic fancy or something more sinister? I didn't really care.

Speaking out:

  92%/84% rottentomatoes.com (25 Jun 2011*)

  8.1/10  imdb.com (25 Jun 2011*)

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* Date of web access.

The Tunnel (2011)

☻ The Tunnel (2011). A television news crew transform the Blair Witch Project (1999) by keeping the camera under control. Well, sort of.

You'd almost think another Primeval (ITV) anomaly had opened. The question is, is the monster from the past, present or future? Dino, insect or human? Nosferatu, or Morlocks anyone?

Bad-news journalist, Natasha Warner (Bel Deliá), has a lot to prove and is happy to hoodwink a TV crew to achieve her ends. When government officials clam up, Natasha takes this as proof there's something nefarious afoot and sets off in dogged pursuit. Even though cameraman, Steve Miller (Steve Davis) has better hair, looks and a voice that belongs on the small screen. Despite Natasha's apparently bad reputation, her colleagues only become suspicious when sound recorder, Tangles (Luke Arnold) begins hearing strange noises. It's up to producer Peter Ferguson (Andy Rodoreda) to walk the fine line between staying down below to rescue Tangles or fleeing to the surface to preserve the lives of his dwindling crew.

And, true to the horror genre, it takes an eternity for the potential victims to cotton on to the fact that their monster is at home in the pitch-black of the unlit tunnels. So, turning off the lights -- camera and torch -- doesn't help.

Speaking out:

"[A]lmost Blair Witch like, ... released simultaneously on BitTorrent, regular cinema release ... DVD set and also in iTunes. ... [S]et in the abandon[ed] underground train tunnels underneath Sydney ... [A] team of reporters and cameramen gain access to the tunnels without permission [and] find something in the tunnels stalking them ... [A] great Australian movie we should watch and support as the producers look at a more social angles to promote their movie and encourage viral interaction" -- Social Media News

"[A TV reporter] senses the government [is involved] in a conspiracy involving something nefarious under the city. If only NSW politics were so logical. [Taking] her crew Peter (Andy Rodoreda), Steve (Steve Davis) and Tangles (Luke Arnold) into the tunnels to investigate[, the] shenanigans begin in a slow burn that does well to try to establish characters ... before raising the stakes for a pulsing denouement, if an ultimately thin resolution. It's competent filmmaking, though, ... entertaining and setting its makers off on their film careers." -- The Australian

   6.0/10  imdb.com (17 Jun 2011*)

Some very light summer fluff for those hot sultry nights when you can't sleep. Who knows? Your eyes might be the next to join the monster's pile.

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* Date of web access.

Win Win (2011)

☻ ☻ ☻ Win Win (2011). Lawyer Mike Flaherty's (Paul Giamatti) life is pretty much a disaster. His legal practice is in bad shape. And the local high school's wrestling team, for which he's a volunteer coach, is looking forward to another season of losses.

So when the opportunity to become the paid legal guardian of Leo Poplar (Burt Young), a man he barely knows, Mike simply grabs it without question. 

The arrival of Leo's grandson, Kyle (Alex Shaffer), obliges Mike to let his wife, Jackie (Amy Ryan), into the secret of the guardianship. But things begin looking up again when Kyle's talents as a wrestler emerge.

Then Leo's estranged daughter, Cindy (Melanie Lynskey), shows up making demands and lets the cat out of the bag.

Can Mike redeem himself and save Leo and Kyle from a scheming drug addict. Or is Mike the schemer who's about to get his comeuppance?

Mike (Paul Giametti), trying to do what's right for whom?

Mike has dug himself into a big hole. But where others turn to blamestorming and win-lose solutions, Mike's solution is win-win. But the moral to this story is there's a cost to be paid for straying off the straight-and-narrow.

I enjoyed watching Kyle worm his way into the hearts of Mike and Jackie's family. It was interesting to compare Mike's ethics to that of his contemporaries and then to see his reaction after being caught misbehaving. I believe Mike found a win-win solution, despite the cost.

Speaking out:

  94%/90% rottentomatoes.com (21 May 2011*)

  7.9/10  imdb.com (21 May 2011*)

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* Date of web access.