September movie reviews

THE INFORMANT! Mark Whitacre (Matt Damon) is a corporate vice-president at Archer Daniels Midland, a major agribusiness company. When he tells his supervisors that a Japanese competitor is sabotaging their factory, they call in the FBI (Scott Bakula and Joel McHale) to tap his phone. This leads to Mark telling the FBI about much bigger problems at ADM; that is, ADM is involved in a world-wide price fixing scheme. So Mark becomes an informant for the FBI. He is very naive about what this will mean for his future, even though the FBI keeps trying to get him to understand the ramifications of being an informant. So there is something a little bit off about Mark, which will become more and more obvious as the investigation wears on. Although based on a true story, director Steven Soderbergh has made this into a very funny movie. Matt Damon is really really good as a brilliant goofball with issues. I thought this was a wickedly entertaining movie.


NO IMPACT MAN. This documentary follows the Beavan family for a one year. Colin Beavan is a New York City writer of non-fiction. For his next work he decides he wants his book to be more meaningful. So he decides to embark on an experiment of living in such a way that he has no impact on the environment, and write about it. First he, his wife and daughter eat only locally grown food and only travel by bike or foot. Soon they won't buy anything new, and six months in, they turn off the electricity. Colin knows that on some level the experiment is a gimmick, but he is thoughtful about what they are doing. His wife is a Starbucks-loving, clothes shopping, TV watching fiend, so the experiment is much tougher on her, which actually makes the story more interesting. You get more of a pro and con of it, as opposed to a true-believer viewpoint only. I found the movie fun. It's not a lecture that we should do everything, but more examples of things people can try to reduce their carbon footprint.


THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE. This documentary follows the putting-together of the September 2007 issue of Vogue, their biggest issue ever (five pounds!) The focus is Anna Wintour, the editor. She is always dressed perfectly, as if imperfections can not be tolerated. She is not given to explaining her decisions. She isn't a holy terror (despite her being the inspiration for THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA), but she doesn't appear to have much in the way of warmth or humor. (The only crack in her armor seems to be when she admits her siblings find what she does frivolous.) The movie would be dull dull dull if it were only about her. But Vogue's creative director, Grace Coddington, also has a large role in the movie, and she is the more interesting of the two. A former model, she appears to care less about fashion and more about art. At least, that is what her photo shoots (and her appearance) seem to imply. And she gives the movie insight into Wintour. The movie really doesn't explain how a magazine is put together, nor does it try to explain why or if fashion should be important. But the contrast between the two women made it moderately interesting to me.


ADAM. The movie opens as Adam (Hugh Dancy) attends his father's funeral. He seems to be a bit unemotional about it all. He goes back home and finds a pretty girl (Rose Byrne) named Beth is moving into his apartment building. They chat, but although he is extremely bright she realizes something is a little off about him. After a few meetings, he finally tells her - he has Asberger's Syndrome, and as a result has great difficult connecting with people. But nevertheless, he has a charming way about him, and they actually fall in love. In a side story, Beth's parents (Amy Irving and Peter Gallagher) are worried about her, and keep Dad's impending indictment a secret from her. I thought this was a lovely love story. Unlike most movie relationships, this one doesn't involve initial loathing and/or overpowering sexual attraction. The couple get to know each other, work through issues, have ups and downs, etc. I really liked it.


THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX. The German nominee for best foreign movie last year follows the history of the Red Army Faction terrorist group in Germany beginning in the late 1960s. Like much of the western world, youth are becoming very disenchanted with the way things are (Vietnam, imperialist aggression...) , and in Germany there is the extra impulse to make sure something like Nazism never happens again. So young people unite to fight the power through violence (something like the Weather Underground in the U.S.). Baader appears to be a charismatic psychopath while Meinhof was a leftist journalist who becomes a member of the gang. They use Marxist-Leninist ideology and even when things go horribly wrong, they justify their actions, which continued though the 1990s. The movie does not take a position on the group, but merely recounts their actions and words, leaving the viewer to try to understand them. Although politics were their reason for coming into being, they got more and more violent, bombing establishments, robbing banks, and killing not only politicians and businessmen, but innocent bystanders as well. And being self-righteous about it. I enjoyed the movie, and found it interesting, and apparently it is very factual. I wanted to know more about the group after seeing the movie (even at 144 minutes). It's a big story.


MY ONE AND ONLY. Ann (Renee Zellweger) is married to a NYC band leader (Kevin Bacon), and when she finds him cheating one more time, she takes her two teenage sons and hits the road. Her goal is to find another man to take care of her (it's the 1950s), but she is middle aged now, and it's not going to be as easy as it was when she was a young Southern belle. So there are a series of men, and some ups and downs on the road. I have seen several versions of this story (self-centered moms taking their kids on road trips of one kind or another). but this is apparently loosely based on George Hamilton's childhood, and the personalities were well-drawn. A fun two hours.


STILL WALKING. This Japanese movie begins with a couple and son on the train. They are heading to a family reunion at his parents. During the reunion, it becomes clear that an older son has died, and that has had negative affects on the both son and the parents. The father is bitter because the son that was following in his footsteps (as a doctor) died, and his younger son can't fill the older son's shoes. (A daughter doesn't seem to be as traumatized.) Mom does all the work, Dad stays in his office and his cranky. It's just a realistic day, with normal familial tensions, in the life of this family. Except they haven't seemed to have moved on at all after the son's death, which happens some years ago. There is still a lot of bitterness and recriminations, to the extent that it makes the family seem kind of hateful. As far as I can tell, all families have ups and downs, and this movie didn't do anything special for me. I think critics like this movie because there is no fake drama, but it was so understated, I didn't much care.


EXTRACT. This comedy is Mike Judge's follow-up (in a sense) to OFFICE SPACE. This time he is telling a story from the boss's point of view. Jason Bateman runs an extract factory, and everybody who works on the factory floor is an idiot. One worker has illusions of grandeur because he has moved up, another pays more attention to how other people are performing (or not) rather than doing her job, one can barely drive the forklift (that's his job), etc. At one point, one of the idiots is hurt on the job because of the actions of another idiot, and the boss is in danger of being sued and losing the business. Things aren't so great at home either, as Jason's marriage is sexless, and friend Ben Affleck gives him some bad advice on how to deal with that. JK Simmons plays the manager who reports to Jason (he never even bothers to learn the employees' names, just calls them all "dinkus"), and JK is always good. But I found the movie only occasionally amusing (I am mystified by a 62% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.) A real disappointment after OFFICE SPACE.


WORLD'S GREATEST DAD. Robin Williams is Lance, a high school poetry teacher who is a failed novelist, and not all that popular a teacher either. He is also a single father to a truly vile adolescent boy named Kyle. Kyle is just a hateful punk, but Dad does his best to connect, to support, to do what he can for the kid. (This is Robin Williams in his depressed mode, not his manic mode.) When tragedy strikes, Dad goes even further in helping his son, re-writing Kyle's story to make the kid seem deep and not such a loser. Kyle then becomes the hero of the high school. Lance, however, becomes a little uncomfortable with the lie he is is living. This is a really odd little movie, but I can't say that I am sorry I saw it.