THE NAMESAKE. This is a multi-generational family drama. It begins in the mid 1970's with a young Indian man on a train, reading the philosopher Gogol. Then there is a major accident. A few years later he is living in New York City, and comes home to have his parents find him a wife. They do, and the couple moves to NYC. Their relationship evolves, and they have two children, one a son they name Gogol. Then, the son is grown, and there is the usual conflict between fathers and sons. But this movie is a little more interesting than just that basic plot, because this father and son pair have the added conflict between immigrants and their children. So I enjoyed it because of that, and because of the look at Indian culture. Plus, the cinematography is beautiful and the movie is just a pleasure to look at. By the director of MONSOON WEDDING (a 2002 movie I liked a lot); some might find the movie sappy, but I didn't.
THE LOOKOUT. As the movie opens, Chris (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is on top of the world. He’s a top-notch athlete, popular, and dates the prettiest girls. But then he makes a mistake and causes a car accident, and his life will change forever. Four years later, he is still coping with the aftermath of the accident. He suffered a brain injury, which makes him forgetful, prone to outbursts, and sometimes inappropriate. The best he can do is work the janitorial night shift at a bank, and live with a older blind man (Jeff Daniels) in a crappy part of town. When he meets someone in a bar who claims to have known him in the past, he is happy to have made a friend. But it turns out the “friend” wants Chris to help him rob the bank. Will Chris figure out that he is being used? Even if he does, given his brain injury, will he be able to figure his way out of the jam he is in? This heist film is quite clever, and I enjoyed the twists and turns of the plot.
BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA. This movie is based on a children's book, and is aimed at families, and I really liked it. It involves a pre-adolescent rural boy who is poor and picked on by his classmates. He has four sisters, isn't understood by his parents, and his life is pretty miserable. Then a new girl appears in school, and she is kind of an odd kid who gets picked on as well. So eventually they bond. He's an artist and she's a writer, and together they start playing in a beat up treehouse in the nearby forest and imagine they are in the kingdom of Terabithia, complete with great scenery and monsters. Of course, bad things happen (and brought me to tears), but the movie shows how the power of imagination can help make reality bearable. It's a PAN'S LABYRINTH for the younger set.
MISS POTTER. Who would have guessed that a movie about Beatrix Potter, who wrote the Peter Rabbit children's stories, could have themes including class issues, women's rights, and environmentalism? This one does. Miss Potter (Renee Zellwegger) is in her 30's in early 1900's London and is still living at home. The movie follows her struggle as an upper class single woman trying to get published and make her own way. There are times when the movie is entirely too precious (such as when she talks to her drawings and they come alive in her eyes), but it has an old-fashioned feel to it (no violence!) that I enjoyed. And she was a much more interesting woman than I ever would have guessed.
ZODIAC. This movie documents the story of the Zodiac, who operated in the Bay Area in the late 60's/early 70's, killing young people and taunting the police by writing letters to local newspapers. The first act shows some of his crimes. The second act follows the police (including Mark Ruffalo) and SF Chronicle reporters (including Robert Downey Jr.) in their investigations. The final act follows a SF Chronicle editorial cartoonist (Jake Gyllenhaal) who became obsessed with solving the case, so much so he lost his job and family. I thought the movie was interesting, but maybe some of my interest was because I very clearly remember the events and know the locales (my sister actually worked with the mother of the first female victim, and I remember all the hubbub about the Zodiac's threat to kill kids riding school buses). So I think that might explain my interest and willingness to sit for a movie that is almost 3 hours long. I am not sure whether it would keep the interest of people who don't remember anything about it. I suppose it would depend on how interesting you find crime stories/mysteries.
BLACK SNAKE MOAN. Christina Ricci stars as Rae, the local tramp in a small southern town. Her boyfriend Ronnie (Justin Timberlake) keeps her somewhat on the straight and narrow, but he is leaving to do his National Guard duty in Iraq. They are a pair, her being so desperately needy for love (sex), and him suffering from severe anxiety attacks. When he leaves town, she completely falls apart and immediately starts behaving badly. She ends up beaten and dumped on the side of the road. Outside of town, Lazarus (Samuel Jackson) is suffering because his younger wife has left him for his brother. When Laz finds Rae by the side of the road, he decides he is going to get her on the straight and narrow. And to do that, he chains her up so she can't escape. Man, this is a weird movie. Very Southern Gothic, but the acting is really good, and the supporting characters keep the movie a little bit grounded so that there is some level of realism. But watching wounded people bonding together doesn't necessarily win me over. I want to find something interesting or redeeming about the characters, and I although I watched the movie with interest, at the end I wasn't all that satisfied with the story.
