September movie reviews

THE HUNTING PARTY. Inspired by a true story (according to the movie,
"only the most ridiculous parts are true"). As it opens, Richard Gere
is a hotshot TV journalist, and Terrence Howard ("Duckie") is his
cameraman. They are known for taking risks in war zones and getting the
story. But while they are in Bosnia during the ethnic cleansing, Gere
has an on-camera meltdown and loses his job. He spirals into obscurity,
while Duckie ends up with a cushy network job. Five years later, Duckie
and the network anchorman are in Bosnia doing a 5-years-after story, and
Duckie runs into Gere. Gere convinces Duckie that he has a lead on the hidden
location of one of the major war criminals, and they go off in search
of the big story. Tense moments interspersed with humor, I found it
entertaining and would really recommend the movie.

DELIRIOUS. Steve Buscemi stars in this very indie movie about a
down-and-out photographer who is basically a paparazzi, but believes
himself to be above that. An odd set of circumstances bring him
together with a homeless kid who wants to be an actor, and the kid
becomes his assistant, while Steve proudly shows him the ropes of
getting pix of celebrities. Steve doesn't have much self-awareness, but
the kid is smarter than one would guess. Will the kid get a chance to
be an actor? What would happen to the friendship if he did? Very
amusing movie; I liked it a lot.

IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH. Based on a true story, Tommy Lee Jones stars as
the father of a soldier in Iraq. One morning he gets a call from his
son's home base, saying his son has gone AWOL. Tommy didn't even know
his son was home, and thinking this is odd, he drives to the base to try
to find his son. He is a former military policeman himself, so he has
the skills to investigate what is going on. He tries to enlist the help
of the local police (Charlize Theron), but since it is a military
matter, he gets nowhere. But he persists, and ends up learning far more
about his son than he could have imagined. This movie is by the
director of CRASH, which I really liked, but although I liked this
movie, I can't really rave about it. There was a bit of
heavy-handedness to it, in my opinion. Tommy Lee Jones is worth seeing
though - he was amazing.

NO END IN SIGHT. This is a documentary about the Iraq war. I went to
see it almost because I felt obligated to be more informed. And I am
glad I did. It's a very straightforward look at the mistakes that have
been made and who made them, based on interviews with people that were
part of the Pentagon and State Dept. during the decision making
processes. Really, quite good, although of course depressing. It
definitely implies that things didn't have to go so badly, that there
may have been a chance for things to go right, but idiots in charge
bungled it entirely. Extremely well done.

IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON. This documentary consists of interviews with the astronauts that went to the moon on the Apollo missions. It
explains the space program and the times it took place in, as well as
the individual astronauts' feelings about what they were doing and what
going to the moon meant to them. I kept scrapbooks on the space program
when I was a kid, and still find it fascinating. So I really enjoyed
this movie and would recommend it for anyone with similar interests.

3:10 TO YUMA. Christian Bale is a rancher in frontier Arizona. He has
a teenage son who is going through some adolescent drama, and doesn't respect his dad. The railroadmen are trying to run the rancher off his land.
And he needs to pay off a loan. So things are not going well for him.
When he gets a chance to earn money to escort an outlaw (Russell Crowe)
to the train that will take the outlaw to jail, he takes it. But it's a
dangerous gig; the outlaw's gang is determined to rescue him. The movie
is more a character study than about the action although there are
shootouts. I don't know why, but I didn't get emotionally invested in
what would happen to either character. Critics are loving the movie and
I love both actors, but I just thought it was OK.