Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

An oldie, a goodie. Since I saw an episode of Bizarre Foods, in which Andrew Zimmern visited Savannah and spoke with the Lady Chablis, I've wanted to see this film. In Rotten Tomatoes the critics give it a 47% and the public 64%, which goes to show there is no accoutning for taste. I'd give it at least an 80. Kevin Spacey is smooth and wonderful as Jim Williams, a proud nouveau riche; Jude Law, in what must be one of his earliest roles, plays his drunken lover; John Cusak plays a Yankee reporter in town to cover the famous Williams Christmas party and stays to cover the murder trial of Williams (who killed Billy Hanson, in self-defense, he claims). It is simply a good film, based on John Berendt's book.

Ides of March

I first saw note of this film in the 26 Sept 2011 "Movies - Fall Preview" column in the New Yorker. IMDb has the plot summary as "An idealistic staffer for a new presidential candidate gets a crash course on dirty politics during his stint on the campaign trail." Critics in Rotten Tomatoes give it 85%, the public a lesser 73%. Its summary: The Ides of March takes place during the frantic last days before a heavily contested Ohio presidential primary, when an up-and-coming campaign press secretary (Ryan Gosling) finds himself involved in a political scandal that threatens to upend his candidate's shot at the presidency.

With heartthrobs George Clooney and Ryan Gosling, one might expect that the movie did well at the box office, but its $41 million take is not, in relative terms, very good. Why? The subject matter? Perhaps.

Ironically, one ends up feeling both skeptical and cynical about this movie that wants to have it both ways but, instead, ends up just as deeply cynical and flawed as its characters and the system it seeks to expose.
January 13, 2012 Full Review
This critis has it about right. Anthony Lane in the New Yorker also demurs from singing its praises: The result, slimy with unfeasible plotting, will gratify those who sniff out all politics as a conspiratorial murk. On the other hand, viewers who treasure Clooney, both as actor and director, for the deftness of his comic touch, or who remain alert to the grinding farce of the electoral machine, may prove harder to woo.

I agree. It seemed too cynical, too pat, and lacked spark.

Crazy, stupid, love

A fun film. Originally skeptical that I would be watching another sappy love story (and ready to leave after short interval), I was utterly surprised by the film, and how much I liked it.

Steven Carrel (unpleasant memories of watching a very small bit on an "Office" episode did not come back to me at first, for I was not quite sure it was him playing Cal) plays a husband who is blindsided by his wife while they are pondering what dessert to order; rather than agreeing to split a sweet she says I want a divorce. She (played nicely by Julianne Moore) has decided that, after 25 years of marriage, and hitting her forties, she needs something different. She also announced she has "slept with David Lindhagen" (played with some understatement by Kevin Bacon; that name becomes something of a tagline).

Ryan Gosling plays Jacob, a womanizer who, sick of hearing Cal complain about being cuckolded by David Lindhagen, decides to remake Cal into the man who he might never have been, but should be. Gosling holds back from doing a parody of the Casanova who scores with ease (an interesting aspect of his conquests is that he catches not just white women, but also black women; of course, this being a movie, almost of all of them have gorgeous bodies and are attractive).

Emma Stone plays a woman who is about to become a lawyer, and whom Jacob hits on early on in the film. She rebuffs his advance, and goes back to hoping that the lawyer she's dating will propose marriage to her. Her friend, Liz, tells her to stop playing it safe, to stop going for PG-13, and to loosen up and live.

There are various other characters that work: Cal's 13 year old son, in love with a 17 year old babysitter, who in turn is in love with Cal. And there are twists: the first woman whom Cal hits on and scores with (played with aplomb and plenty of cleavage by Maria Tomei), turns out to be his son's teacher.

The films works, is fun, and I enjoyed it quite very much.

Gideon's daughter

Reading a review of a new film, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, I chose this film as another Bill Nighy work. Terrific choice. His character, Gideon Warner, is a fixer, a PR man, the one to go to for advice, a power broker. At that he's good. As a father, he is not. He is losing his daughter, who is about to graduate and go to Colombia to do good. Nighy has an understated, less-is-more acting style, and he does wonderful work with this character. The excesses are left to others. As he bumbles along, Gideon meets a couple who wants someone in government to listen to their story of how their child was killed. No one does. Gideon arranges it. Both Gideon and Stella drift toward one another in an adult love story that leaves one wanting more.

Touching the void

Engrossing. At points I felt as if I could not continue to listen to the narrative, but could not bring myself to stop.

The Music Never Stopped

A father who teaches his son all about his own music in the late 1950s is shocked to find his son estranged from what he has been taught: instead of remembering Bing Crosby fondly, he has become a Deadhead, is against the VietNam War, and wants to forgo college to play music. The father forces a confrontation, and is unrepentant when his son leaves home. Nearly twenty years later, for the first time the parents of Gabriel receive a phone call that sends them into a whirlwind of guilt, repentance, and, eventually, reconciliation. Except that Gabe is not well: a tumor has damaged his brain, and he can not remember anything after 1970.

One day, in a library, researching microfilm, the father, Henry, reads about a therapist who uses music to reach patients similarly afflicted to his son. It is she who manages to reach Gabe, especially once she realizes that it is 1960s music, and not the 1940s and 1950s music his father insists on, that touches Gabe deep inside and brings him out.

Nicely done. In Rotten Tomatoes, typically, it gets a higher audience mark than a critical mark: 85% vs 65%. An involving, if sentimental and predictable family drama elevated by J.K. Simmons' sympathetic lead performance. The film is based on a story by Oliver Sacks, The last hippie (which, in an interview accompanying the film, the good doctor says is based on a true case of one of his patients).