Juno

When I first heard about the movie Juno for some reason I thought it was about that small town in Alaska. Why would I want to see a movie about that? Alaska is cold and boring like the last 3 minutes of Sopranos.

Turns out that Juno is a movie about a young woman who gets pregnant in high school and decides to put her child up for adoption. She meets this great adoptive couple early on in her pregnancy and that adds to some more complications in her young life. Like Juno says in the movie, “I’ve been dealing with things way beyond my maturity level.”

The film is a common tale of youth and pregnancy. Juno is played by Ellen Page who was great in Hard Candy and had a minor role in X-Men 3 as Kitty Pride. She delivers in this movie too as a confused teenager. She also has some of the movies laugh-out-loud moments with her witty one-liners. When discussing with the adoptive parents their options she says, “You should've gone to China, you know, 'cause I hear they give away babies like free iPods. You know, they pretty much just put them in those t-shirt guns and shoot them out at sporting events.”

The adoptive mother Vanessa is played by Jennifer Garner of Alias fame. I’m not usually a big fan of her work (I’m still bitter about seeing Daredevil), but she’s even good in this movie. She plays that mom who is unable to bear children. She wants a child so bad and the movie shows the effects on her marriage. Her husband Mark is played by Jason Bateman (He seems to be landing a lot of roles these days). Mark is classic as an old musician who never saw his Rock N’ Roll dreams come true so now composes cheesy tunes for commercials. The relationship between him and Juno is very awkward to watch in the movie. Some of the scenes with just the two of them had a weird feeling to them. I left feeling like he was sort of attracted to his high school kid even though he was older and married.

The supporting characters in the movie are hilarious. Juno’s father Mac MacGuff (J.K Simmons) and boyfriend Bleeker (Michael Cera) are great and add a lot of depth to the characters they play. Bleeker is her nerdy boyfriend who is obsessed with orange tic-tacs. The kid seems to be lost most of the film but that’s what you like about the character. He gets a girl pregnant and she decides to give it up for adoption with no real conversation about it. Her father Mac is a dad who’s dealing with his daughter being pregnant at 16. I couldn’t even imagine what that would be like. The film takes a very light approach on the subject. Rainn Wilson (Dwight from The Office) makes a nice cameo in the beginning of the movie and has some pretty funny lines in the film.

Juno is a look at how people deal with those situations. What was different about this movie was when they added the comedy to level of the seriousness of the subject matter. There are some very tense/real moments in the film and instead of taking a serious turn, the movie makes light of it with the comedy. It allows you to still get the message but not leave the film feeling heavy. I left Gone Baby Gone feeling like I had been in an emotional battle royal.

My suggestion: See Juno. Great movie that’s full of laughs and also has a nice message too it. Not too preachy and not too funny. It’s a good mix.

I Am Legend

A few years ago I watched the 1971 movie Omega Man based on Richard Mathesons 1954 book I Am Legend. The movie starred Charlton Heston as Dr. Robert Neville, who was the last man on earth. He was busy working on a cure for an experimental vaccine that has killed most of the world’s population. The people who haven’t died have formed a group/cult called The Family and are lead by Matthias. He leads the group to try and kill Dr. Neville. In tradition of the post civil rights era, these infected want Neville dead because he is not like them and represents the way things used to be before the virus. The infected people looked liked Druids-Klansmen with hoods on protecting them from sunlight. Their skin looked like they had been playing in powdered doughnuts all day, and eyes as red as cranberries. Scary for 1971, not so much in 2007.

Reason # 167 I love seeing movies at the IMAX: I went to our local IMAX at the Seattle Center to see I Am Legend for the 2nd time. Why would I see it twice? IMAX is showing 7 minutes of The Dark Knight the second installment of the new Batman series. The preview is well worth the long lines and $10.75. The Joker looks great and the action sequences just as amazing. Okay back to the movie.

This re-make stars one of my favorites Will Smith. Smith stars as Dr. Neville and is trying to find a cure after most of the world is killed off by the Krippen virus. A virus that was created to help cure cancer. Neville spends his days roaming the streets of New York with his dog Sam systematical checking buildings, leaving a radio message, and working on a cure for the virus. At night he prepares himself to fight off those infected or “dark seekers”.

I thought the movie was great. Here’s why: In the 1971 you saw Dr. Neville as a hero who was here to save the earth and spent the past 3 years working on a cure. No real contact with anyone and was still very much a regular man. I’m not sure in 2007 we would buy that. We know way too much about how the human brain works. Legend shows the affect that 3 years of near isolation can do to a person. The fact that he was working on a cure when the virus broke and all of these people have died. His character carries a lot of that guilt and the film does a great job of showing that.

Since I’ve seen the movie twice I was able to see a few more things. What’s alarming are some of the signs that are posted around the city and in the homes of people. Signs like “WARNING: Infected dogs can come out at night” and “Stay in the light”. Also inside some of the homes have people stockpiling prescription drugs and water. You could tell they were preparing to leave. The thought of people preparing for disaster is almost as bad as the disaster itself.

The dark seekers were alarming. I’m not sure if it was the howling or the how they looked almost transparent and you could almost see their insides. Like most recent movies, these creatures were fast and strong. The age of the slow zombie/vampire/flesh eating human is dead. Of course like the Legend movies in the past, these creatures are sensitive to light. I always tell my friends that if you start eating peoples flesh you are no longer my friend and if I turn into one of those things, kill me because I would definitely kill you. (I do love my friends…………really I do)

There was also what I would like to call a “God piece” in the movie. I think in crisis people will either turn from God or turn to God looking for answers.

Our own World Health Organization always talking about an emerging global pandemic that may or may not infect humans causing serious illness and death. This movie may not be too far from the truth. I doubt we have dark seekers or a group called The Family, but we’ve already seen cholera, influenza, and the Spanish flu can do. We don’t need as strong as the Krippen virus.

My suggestion: Rent Omega Man, and definitely go see I Am Legend. If you can see it at the IMAX I would recommend doing that. The Batman bonus is worth it, but a regular movie theater will do. It’s a good movie and I think won’t be appreciated until years later. I’m just glad they finally got the story right.

Gone Baby Gone

Growing up in Northern California in the 80’s, it seemed like kidnapping was very popular. I think back and it feels like kids were getting stolen every week. I know that was never the case, but I remember having to have a “buddy” to walk home from school with, don’t talk to strangers, and being a latch-key kid. I even remember a kid at my elementary was almost abducted one day after school. I know I’m going to be overprotective when I have kids.

Gone Baby Gone is a film about missing girl that the whole city is trying to find. The story starts as private investigator Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) and his girlfriend/partner Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan) are asked by the family of the missing girl to help find her. The more questions the ask, the more questions seem to arise. The case of the missing girl starts to affect them personally more than it does professionally.

The couple is helped by gritty detective Remy Bressant (Ed Harris) who tries to help them piece together the puzzle and bring the little girl home.

This movie was unexpectedly good. I went in thinking it was going to be a bore fest or another “who done it” that shows it’s poker hand way too early and I’d be spending the last hour of the movie praying it doesn’t end that way. Michelle Monaghan is great in the movie as the apathetic partner who wants to help find the girl. She’s secretly moving up on my personal Hot 25 list. She was great in Heartbreak Kid and in Gone Baby Gone. I think it’s the light freckles. I’m not sure really, but she’s solidified her spot. Amy Ryan is great as the drug addicted mom Helene McCready. A few years ago I would volunteer for this homeless teen feed at one our local YMCA’s. She reminded me of a lot of the moms that I would see come in and out of there.

It was great to see Michael K Williams aka Omar on The Wire make a cameo in the movie. The Wire is by far my favorite show on TV and I’m always excited when I see one of the stars in something else.

Casey Affleck does a really good job in the film as well. I wasn’t sure if he could be the star of the movie, but he handles it well. He was most famous for his roles in the Oceans movies. I thought he was definitely headed down the same path as Tito Jackson, Frank Stallone, Omar Gooding, Haylie Duff, and my all-time favorite Don Swayze.

My Suggestion: This film is a great look at what is right or wrong , and if there is any gray area or if the line you cross is ever blurred. I loved the ending. It leaves you with a “what would you do” debate with strong points for either side to be made.

Michael Clayton

George Clooney is on a short list of actors who I’ll see in most movies. I start to believe that he is that character (maybe not Batman) and you get sucked into the movie. I loved him in Syriana, Oceans 11, Out Of Sight and From Dusk Till Dawn.

I had to see Michael Clayton! I thought there was way too much hype. The first article I read about the movie was all about the Oscar Clooney was going to get for this role. That’s always a red flag for me. Some of these movies that are nominated for Academy Awards are sometimes good movies, but not fun to watch. Clayton was an exception.

This films starts Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson) strips off his clothes in a deposition. Clayton (George Clooney) is sent in by the firm to clean up the mess and help hold his friend together. Edens has spent the six years defending a $3 billion lawsuit against a new agrochemical company U North. After being convinced that his friend has just been off his meds. Clayton starts to realize that maybe he’s not really crazy at all. Maybe some of the gibberish that was coming out of his mouth actually meant something.

Tom Wilkinson is great as the crazed man who’s come to his senses. He plays the crazy role so well. Everything from buying large amounts of French bread to his obsession with a children’s book and making the connections with the case.
Clooney is amazing as well. His character has so many layers. You see his frustrations with the firm, his family life, his relationship with his son, even his gambling problem. As the movie moves forward, you begin to see how the corruption gets to him. There is a sense of realism too it. He reminded me of myself in some ways. A company man who’s doing his job and trying to get his stuff together. Trying to have a healthy balance between his family and finances and work. That’s most people in America who struggle with striving to be “well off” and having to manage that with the relationships they have.

My suggestion: Check out Michael Clayton. Not a “feel good” movie, but is a mature movie (no not like that) and is a harsh look at corporations and how they may work. It’s what one of my co-workers would call a “shot of reality”.

Stephen King's - The Mist

I’ve always wonder if me and some of my co-workers looked outside and zombies ran the streets, or Jigsaw had us trapped in some where house, or even if we decided to have our retreat at Camp Crystal Lake, how would people react? Would we all ban together? Would I jump in front of a machete for a stranger? Maybe I’d trip someone as we were being chased by Zombies. That could easily buy us 5-10 minutes.

That’s what I liked about the Mist. It answered a lot of those questions for me. I don’t feel like I ever really seen that played out in a movie. Most movies start like that but at some point people have seen enough madness that it brings them together. Saw II sort of scratched the surface in the “finding a needle in the haystack” scene. I laughed out loud thinking, “I could really see someone doing that”.

The Mist starts as there is a storm rolls into town. The next morning the towns people are at the store getting supplies just in case the storm gets worse. As the mist rolls into to town the people soon realize the seemingly harmless mist is actually deadly. They are barricade themselves in the store. David Drayton (Thomas Jane) sees some unworldly things in the loading dock. Now his mission is to keep whatever is out there from coming in, protect his son, and figure out what exactly what is causing this mist.

The movie is about the monsters inside the store as well as the monsters outside. One of the monsters is Mrs. Carmody (Marcia Gay Harden) who goes on and on about this being the end of the world and man having to pay for its sins. As the movie goes on she starts to look more and more like a prophet or “God’s vessel” and less like a crazy woman. Brent Norton (Andre Braugher) is a non believer. He thinks the mist is what it is and the locals are trying to pull a fast one on him. He and others decide to leave the safety of the store and brave the mist. Not a good idea.

The movie is good. It deals with the nature of man (or woman). We are all raised different and have different believes, responsibilities, world views. All of that comes out in a crisis situation. So you think you have 8 really good friends? Trap you all in a house and tell you that death is outside waiting to get in and you have to figure a way out. Who snaps? Who is going to be the Ms. Carmody of the group? Who decides to “sacrifice” someone for the greater good of the group? Who says I’ll give my life so the rest can live? Hopefully I’ll never have to answer any of these questions.

My suggestion: Go see the movie! It’s good and will possible give you the creeps. There aren’t too many good scary movies, but this delivers some good thrills.

My grade: 3.3 – Okay grades in a mediocre class. Your classmates need to step it up