September movie reviews

TRANSSIBERIAN. Terrific thriller. Woody Harrelson and Emily Mortimer play a young American couple returning from doing religious/charity work in China, and they decide to have a little adventure and take the train from Beijing to Moscow, an eight-day journey. On the train, they share their sleeping car with another young couple, who seem to be a little off, but you can't really put your finger on why they seem so threatening. They all get off the train at one stop, but then Woody fails to get on again. When the wife discovers her husband is missing, it sets off a chain of unforeseen events. Not only does the movie convey the claustrophobia of being on a train, it also really invokes the alienation you feel when you are in an unfamiliar environment where communication is difficult. The movie's twists and turns keep you guessing, until the ending where it all fits together. This is a great suspense movie.

VICKI CHRISTINA BARCELONA. Critics have liked a lot of Woody Allen's latest movies - I haven't. But on the recommendation of a dear friend (thanks RJ!), I did go see this, his latest. Vicki (Rebecca Hall) and Christina (Scarlett Johansson) are two young American women spending the summer in Barcelona. Vicki is working on her Masters in Catalan culture, and Christina is just along for the adventure. They are best friends, but very different in outlook. Vicki is conservative, and already engaged to a nice corporate type. Christina doesn't know what she wants in life, but is open to trying anything. Their summer gets a bit more complicated when artist Jose Antonio (Javier Bardem) invites them to visit his hometown, and maybe share his bed. Throw into the mix Jose's over-the-top ex-wife (Penelope Cruz), and you have an exciting summer. With people sometimes behaving in character and sometimes not. I actually loved this movie. It's more about how our beliefs about who we are and what we like (whether accurate or not) influence the decisions we make in life. Does acting in concert with what we believe to be our true natures make us happy?

TRAITOR. Samir grows up in Sudan, and is the son of a very devout Muslim. When his dad is killed in a car bomb, either by the Muslim Brotherhood or their opposition, Samir goes to America to live with his mother. When the movie shifts to Samir as an adult (Don Cheadle), it appears that Samir has become an extremist, selling weapons to terrorists. But he is in fact deep undercover, so much so that not even the FBI knows about him. He is so good at what he is doing, you might wonder if he has switched sides. As he gets closer and closer to unraveling a major plot, the FBI is hot on his trail, since they think he is a terrorist and a link to the bigger plot. In addition, as a devout Muslim, he is struggling with moral issues. This is another terrific suspense movie, one that kept me on the edge of my seat because I wasn't quite sure how it was all going to turn out. Definitely worth a look-see.

BURN AFTER READING. Latest movie from the Coen Brothers (FARGO, O BROTHER WHERE ART THOU, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN). Here, John Malkovich is a CIA analyst fired for a drinking problem, so he decides to write his memoir. Meanwhile, his icy wife Tilda Swinton is having an affair with US Marshall George Clooney (who is also married, but cheats a lot.) Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand work in a gym where they find a CD with what they believe to be secret CIA information. They decide to blackmail Malkovich for it. (Frances is desperate for money because she wants plastic surgery.) The first half of the movie is pretty funny, with all the various story lines coming together, but then the story very suddenly changes tone. The movie is somewhat like FARGO, but without any characters that you feel sympathy or affection for (well, maybe one minor character). Brad Pitt is very funny as a vacuous blond and JK Simmons has some great lines as a CIA director, but other than that, I didn't care for the movie much at all.

IN SEARCH OF A MIDNIGHT KISS. Wilson is a lonely guy living in L.A., hoping to get his screen play picked up. His last break-up was painful, and he isn't seeing anyone. When his roommate catches him masturbating, the roommate insists that Wilson put an ad on Craigslist, looking for a New Year's Eve date. His ad reads "misanthrope seeking misanthrope". And he does attract a somewhat bitter, assertive wanna-be actress. Vivian allows him 5 minutes to impress her before they go out on a date. He manages (or at least is better than the other candidates), and they spend the night hanging out. Some of her bitter diatribes are very funny, but this isn't a comedy, per se. It's more watching two people get to know each other, people that you start to like and begin to care about them having a good life. Very indy-feeling.

GHOST TOWN. Ricky Gervais is a dentist who is rude and inconsiderate to everyone he meets. After a medical procedure where he briefly "died", he begins seeing dead people. Who generally want him to do something for their loved ones left behind. Greg Kinnear, for example, wants Ricky to make sure his widow doesn't marry the wrong person. Ricky, being the misanthrope that he is, resists helping anybody. But he starts to like the widow (Tea Leoni). Nothing groundbreaking here, but there are some laughs. It's a pretty mild comedy. Fine for a rental.

HAMLET 2. Steve Coogan plays a failed actor (his high points were a herpes commercial and being an extra in an Al Jazeera made-for-TV movie). He ends up teaching high school drama in Tucson, where even there, his plays fail. (He insists on putting on plays that are remakes of popular movies, i.e., Erin Brockovich). One day his class size grows because some of the classrooms are condemned, and he ends up with a bunch of kids who are uninterested in what he has been doing. So he writes an original play, Hamlet 2, where Hamlet (and Jesus) can come back to life via a time machine. It's still a dreadful play, but when the town tries to shut him down, the ACLU joins the fight, and the media comes to town to see the play (and save his drama program). The movie has some giggles, for sure, but there are also a lot of flat spots. As a whole I would say rent it, or watch it on TV. If that.