Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Charlie Hunnam, Clare-Hope Ashitey and Michael Caine. Sci-fi action drama. Directed by Alfonso Cuarón.
FILM SYNOPSIS: Children of Men envisages a world one generation from now that has fallen into anarchy on the heels of an infertility defect in the population. The world’s youngest citizen has just died at 18, and humankind is facing the likelihood of its own extinction. Set against a backdrop of London torn apart by violence and warring nationalistic sects, Children of Men follows disillusioned bureaucrat Theo (Clive Owen) as he becomes an unlikely champion of Earth’s survival. When the planet’s last remaining hope—a lone pregnant woman named Kee (newcomer Clare-Hope Ashitey)—is threatened, this reluctant activist is forced to face his own demons and protect her from certain peril.
PREVIEW REVIEW: A tale that suggests nationalism will soon bring down civilization, Children of Men serves up a bleak picture of the future, one where refugees (illegal aliens) are rounded up for extermination, the basic amenities have become luxuries, the world is filthy, terrorism rules, the language has stayed as crude as the year 2006, and mankind is nearing the end. To top that off, nearly every lead dies, brutally. Oh, it’s a lot of laughs.
The film neglects to address the real reason for mankind’s downfall – it’s rejection of God.
Distributor: Universal
Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Carla Gugino, Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney. Comedy/adventure. Directed by Shawn Levy.
FILM SYNOPSIS: Good-hearted dreamer Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) accepts what appears to be a menial job as a graveyard-shift night watchman at a museum of natural history. But during Larry’s watch, something extraordinary happens: the museum’s exhibits magically come to life. A fearsome T-Rex insists on a game of fetch (with one of his own skeleton bones); Mayans, Roman gladiators, and cowboys emerge from their dioramas to wage epic battles; and a wax figure of Teddy Roosevelt gives Larry important advice while harboring a crush for an Indian princess. As things spiral out of control, Larry must find a way to manage the magic and stop a nefarious plot to steal that magic.
PREVIEW REVIEW: I kept thinking, this is a very strange movie. Not only do these people and creatures come to life at night, but they are wax figures. How do wax figures come to life? You see, while I try to keep my pragmatism in check when reviewing movies, that pragmatism only goes so far. Here’s Teddy Roosevelt giving our put-upon hero life lessons, when suddenly he announces he was made in a wax works factory. So, it’s silly business. Then – and I won’t give it away – but I don’t get the thinking of the thieves. Their reasoning seemed too manufactured, too forced, much like a great deal of the film’s humor.
Okay, there’s the Grinch side of me. It’s not a film I’d watch again, but I was listening to fellow film watchers as they exited and their reactions were positive. It was lighthearted, exciting, fresh and clean. It was a film parents could view with kids. And although it has lots of chase scenes, the filmmakers are careful to handle the material with a PG rating in mind. And I’ll give you this: Mr. Stiller proves he can hold a comedy together without being crude or excessive. And Robin Williams makes a bully Teddy Roosevelt. He seems to even revere the 26th President. You think he knows that Roosevelt was a Republican?
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Fox, David Strathairn, Ian McShane, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, January Jones, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Huntley Ritter, Kate Mara. Sports drama. Directed by McG. Written by Jamie Linden
FILM SYNOPSIS: In 1970, while traveling back to Huntington, West Virginia, 75 members of Marshall University’s football team and coaching staff were killed in a plane crash. A community steeped in football tradition, Marshall football was more than just a sport, it was a way of life. As those left behind struggled to cope with the devastating loss of their loved ones, the grieving families found hope and strength in the leadership of Jack Lengyel, a young coach who was determined to rebuild Marshall's football program and in the process helped to heal a community.
PREVIEW REVIEW: Well, I said it after the last twelve football movies and I’ll say it again: the films in this genre are as alike as Indian head nickels. Of course, to sell the concept to a studio head, the pitch man has to come up with some sort of hook. In case of football movies, these hooks range from a girl fighting for and eventually being accepted onto a chauvinistic team, to the new coach having to rebuild his foundering team. Actually, those are pretty much the only two hooks for football movies. And since the last film about a girl joining a male team starred a teenaged Helen Hunt clear back when cheerleaders still wore knee socks, moviegoers have pretty much had just one type of football movie scenario – that of the new coach rebuilding his foundering team.
Here we have a story based on a true and tragic incident. But make no mistake, this film isn’t really about the dead team members. We don’t learn much about that team. Heck, we don’t even learn why the plane crashed. This film is more about the perseverance of a sport by those who think football is something God himself prefers to Sunday worship.
Despite the sameness of these movies, they can be enjoyable. First, however, it helps to like football. And from what I’ve noticed about most football enthusiasts, just about any film where people wear helmets is their first choice for a Friday date movie. If the football action is interestingly filmed and the team roster consists of wise-cracking but sympathetic players, then pigskin zealots will go – no matter how often they’ve seen the hook.
Matthew McConaughey channels Robert Duvall in his effort to create a tough but sensitive head coach who must rebuild the team while motivating the rest of the town to rebuild the football program. There are some attempts at motivating messages about starting over and dealing with the guilt and anger that follows tragedy, but most every emotion that’s tackled here has been handled with more filmmaking skill in past entries.
There’s plenty of football field carnage and of course there’s the final slow-motion pass that will make or break the game. Nothing new. Nothing really challenging. Nothing really entertaining. And even the loss from the crash could have been treated with more poignancy. For me, it was just something I had to sit through. Kind of like when I have to watch Monday night football with a family football fanatic (of which I have many, may God bless and keep each and every one of them).
My video alternatives: Brian’s Song, Rudy, Invincible, Remember the Titans, and Facing the Giants (soon to be released on DVD).
Distributor: Warner Bros.
George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, Tobey Maguire. Written by Paul Attanasio. Directed by Steven Sodergergh.
FILM SYNOPSIS: Berlin, 1945. U.S. war correspondent Jake Geismer has just arrived to cover the upcoming Potsdam Peace Conference, where Allied leaders will meet to determine the fate of a vanquished Germany and a newly liberated Europe. It doesn’t take him long to become ensnared in political intrigue. And while there he meets his former love, although somehow, now, not quite the person he once knew. She has been irrevocably changed by the war, the hardship of life in this ruined city and the burden of her own secrets. To survive, she has turned to prostitution – and other things.
PREVIEW REVIEW: When a film contains a great deal of exposition, all that talk has to be delicately handled. Bogart in The Big Sleep does it affectively, Clooney in The Good German, does not. Indeed, Mr. Clooney is the least effective element in the production. Say what you will about his politics (because he sure does) Clooney is a real movie star. He even upstages Brad Pitt in Oceans 11 with panache and style. But here, he seems awkward with dramatic moments. Could it be that he is actually a limited actor? Or did he just feel uncomfortable with the strained dialogue and clumsy direction?
Another problem I had with the production has to do with the inclusion of the obscene language. Nowadays, moviegoers are used to hearing the f-word in their movie choices. But writer Paul Attanasio and director Steven Sodergergh go to great lengths to offer up a ‘50s-ish film noir, complete with static old Warner Bros.’ B & W photography, an atmospheric score reminiscent of Bernard Hermann, and even a THE END at the end. So to incorporate 28 uses of the f-word jolts you out of the mood meant for what I assume was supposed to be a salute to the filmmaking process of an earlier more judicious period. Were people that graphic with the f-word in mixed company during that period? Of course, some were, but not in the movies.
It’s not a bad film, it’s just not very good. The end scenes are an homage to Casablanca. Not a good choice, because we can’t help but compare the two films. Comparing a great film with an adequate film just makes the adequate film look inadequate. What’s more, here we are shocked at how badly people are supposed to have behaved during war, whereas Casablanca showed the triumph of the will. Which character trait would you rather view?
Video Alternatives: Judgment at Nuremberg. A U.S. judge presides over wartime criminal trials. Outstanding all-star cast includes Spencer Tracy, Maximillian Schell, Burt Lancaster, Judy Garland (surprisingly moving performance) and Montgomery Cliff. Well crafted by Stanley Kramer.
Or, Casablanca. A great love affair set during the beginning of WWII. Honor and faithfulness prevail. Memorable dialogue and without the assistance of the f-word.
Or, You could watch a film about the Berlin air lift where America and its allies faced off the Russians to land in Russian-blocked Berlin at the end of the war. The people who had just been our enemies were being starved by the vicious people in control of the Red army. America and England’s air force risked their own lives to aid those suffering. Oh, I forgot, that story hasn’t been brought to film for the past fifty years. Strange how that incident never seems to be retold. I guess it paints American in a good light. We wouldn’t want that now.
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Ken Watanabe, Kazunari, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ryo Kase. Directed by Clint Eastwood. Produced by Mr. Eastwood and Steven Spielberg.
FILM SYNOPSIS: Filmed on location, this wartime action/bio accounts the events of the WWII Iwo Jima battle from the perspective of several Japanese soldiers.
PREVIEW REVIEW: Produced in tandem with Eastwood’s marvelous Flags of Our Fathers, this stark look at the lengthy and deadly battle is both moving and revealing. The end result: we learn that the Japanese didn’t want to be there, either. After they get to know a captured enemy, these soldiers discover that Americans are not barbarians and that they have much in common with their enemy. A mother’s letter found on a dead American reflects what was said by a Japanese mother: “Do the right thing, because it’s right.”
In keeping with the general pacifistic mood in Hollywood, the film does a fine job with putting a human face on the enemy. This is good. This is the type of movie we should be showing to the terrorists of the world. It might cause them to unstrap suicide bombs and lay down their beheading swords. No? And there lies the fault of anti-war films. They are always shown to the wrong people.
The nation of Japan must be forgiven and shown respect. But Pearl Harbor, which led to four years of American involvement in that war and this particularly gruesome encounter, must never be forgotten. In reality, the Japanese were a fearsome and extremely brutal enemy. Many believe they were far more sadistic than even the Nazis. That’s not depicted here. Of course, Japan is our buddy now, so it would be politically incorrect to recreate the savagery they brought to war. It might seem positive to downplay and forget such atrocities. After all, it was nearly 70 years ago. But remembering the events of WWII will keep us on guard and remind us that an entire nation can be blinded by evil even when their cause seems noble.
For a more honest portrayal of the events of WWII, view the video alternative: The Great Raid. Director John Dahl recreates the gritty reality-based story of one of the most spectacular rescue missions ever to take place in American history: “the great raid on Cabanatuan,” the daring exploit that would liberate more than 500 U.S. prisoners of war in the Philippines in 1945. A gripping depiction of human resilience, the film vividly brings to life the personal courage and audacious heroism that allowed a small but stoic band of World War II soldiers to attempt the impossible in the hope of freeing their captured brothers.
Many may question the need to bring up the incident when we are now allies to some extent with Japan and Germany. It would be a mistake to assume that this film is anti anybody. World War II was a defining moment in world history as it made clear that evil exists and that it can blind an entire nation. Yes, the Japanese did horrific things to the Chinese, to the Filipinos and to the Americans. Unspeakable things. Damnable things. But blind villainy has fallen upon many nations, including, the Roman Empire, Spain and Germany. Evil can befall any nation and must be guarded against or it will overcome any country that displaces God’s commandments.
Unlike Letters From Iwo Jima, which has one agenda, to put a friendly face on wartime enemies, The Great Raid is great history, and certainly it should be shared with younger generations in order that the sacrifice not be forgotten. However, the film is not just a history lesson. The filmmaker never forgets his main objective: to entertain. Completely enthralling, the characters are well defined, the pacing is engaging and the technical achievements are as good as you’ll find in any bigger-budgeted blockbuster.
Distributor: Paramount Pictures