The Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio: Movie Review

For Descartes, it was a fly. For Archimedes, it was a bathtub. For Shelley, it was a nightmare. And for Julianne Moore, there's nothing more inspiring than a bowl of jello and lots and lots of spilt milk. In this up-lifting family drama, Evelyn Ryan (Moore) is the optimistic, hard-working housewife whose days are occupied by washing, ironing, cleaning up talcum powder, and haggling with the milkman to provide for a bubbling brood of ten spirited children. With her husband, Kelly (Woody Harrelson), showing more interest in drowning every paycheck at the liquor store, Evelyn cranks up her talent for words to enter jingle contests and wins a slew of prizes that prevent her family from living on the street. Throughout the years, Evelyn must face the trials of motherhood, her husband's addiction and incompetency, and the ever-looming stack of bills that stand between her family and bankruptcy. When a financial secret threatens to topple her busy household, Evelyn gather all her wits for a last chance to overcome 250,000 contenders - with 25 words or less.

Directed and adapted for the big screen by Jane Anderson (When Billie Beat Bobby, Madmen), The Prize Winner is based on a memoir by Terry Ryan (portrayed in the film by Ellary Porterfield). Julianne Moore is eminent in the role of Evelyn, whose unshakable resolve and blissful humor is the glue which keeps together a family teetering on the edge of financial and personal woes. Intially, viewers may perceive the character's persistent determination as transparent in the face of one challenge after another. There is one scene, however, in which Evelyn, discouraged by her family's latest predicament, hides her grief by weeping alone in an upstairs bedroom. Moore succeeds in combining a relentless spirit with a touch of humanity, thus creating a character whom viewers will admire not as a hero, but as a fine example of a good human being.

Midway to the opposite side of the spectrum is Woody Harrelson as Kelly Ryan, whose down-and-out nature is a result of an accident that retired his prospects in music to the heat and labor of a sweat shop. Harrelson portrays the character as an anti-hero in such back-to-back scenes in which he is the loving, diligent husband and the irresponsible patriarch. Following a reckless outburst in which Evelyn is inadvertently injured, audiences will feel a strange mix of resentment and sympathy, which Harrelson successfully evokes in Kelly, whom he describes as "a drowning man." Another performance of note is that of 16-year-old Ellary Porterfield as Terry "Tuff" Ryan, the most observant of the Ryan children, who inherits all her mother's flare, but has yet to develop a wisdom for restraint. While stranded at a gas station on a 100-mile trip to Indiana, Evelyn teaches Terry to take life in stride rather than misfortune in a scene that will bait a subtle smile from viewers for the quiet power of a mother-daughter relationship that is a highlight of this contemplative and emotional film.

Regarding technical merit, The Prize Winner is one of few films to break the fourth wall without being lame. The series of montages in which Evelyn directly addresses the audience are imaginative, but not imposing (including a trip on an envelope that gives a new meainging to "air-mail). Composer John Frizzel's original score adds a fifty's, classic feel to a midwest setting similar to Mayfield and 485 Mapleton Drive. A recurring theme on which the film does not focus directly, but in context, is anti-feminism as Evelyn struggles to maintain her houseland under the critical scrutiny of male authority. Chiefly, an absorbing and touching film that is likely to draw a few laughs and knowing smiles from family's that are, as Kelly Ryan would have it, just "too damn happy."

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Tell Tale: Movie Review

More like a tall tale. This horror/thriller/flop is an example of the trickle-down effect of mainstream, Halloween horror. Director Michael Cuesta (12 and Holding) makes a last-ditch effort to harness a few screams before the season of "Ho, ho, ho." Unfortunately, Tell Tale is more likely to coax the same reaction from audiences as Josh Lucas does from Brian Cox: a big "Ha, ha, ha," - and then some.

Lucas stars as Terry Barnard, a heart-transplant patient whose daughter, Angela (Beatrice Miller), suffers from fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP), a rare genetic disorder that slowly alters the muscles and tissues of the body into bone. When Terry becomes romantically involved with Dr. Elizabeth Clemson (Lena Headey), the physician in charge of Angela's case, he is relieved to be on the road of recovery from financial and personal stress. Things go awry, however, when Terry experiences odd attacks, accompanied by flashbacks of which he is not familiar, when coming into contact with certain strangers. After discovering that his doner, a man named Vieillard, was brutally murdered, Terry realizes that his symptoms occur in the presence of Vieillard's killers and that his heart is seeking revenge for a crime more gruesome than he could ever conceive.

With the exception of Josh Lucas and Beatrice Miller, the cast of Tell Tale is expendable. Brian Cox (Running with Scissors, Troy) lingers as Detective Van Doren, a hard-drinking, foul-mouthed investigator who becomes aware of Terry's covert actions towards the film's antagonists and responds by goading him into the completion of his man-hunt. Likewise, Lena Headey (300) is the archetype for the age-old use of beautiful women on camera, which is to provide the the male lead with a shallow love-interest lacking any purpose of her own. The surprise ending does not enhance Headey's character. Rather, it is a desperate attempt to secure a reaction, any reaction, from audiences who will be more excited to see a documentary on plant growth. In slow motion. Tell Tale is a primary example of a film which does its best to undermine the much-loved horror genre - one debilitating beat at time.

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Precious: Movie Review

"I wish I had a light-skinned boyfriend with real nice hair. And I want to be on the cover of a magazine. But first, I want to be on one of them BET videos. Mama said I can't dance. Plus she say who wanna see my big ass dance anyhow." Newcomer Gabourey Sidibe delivers a paramount performance as the abused, illiterate 16-year-old, Claireece Precious Jones. Molested and raped by her father from the age of three, Precious is pregnant - again. Raised in the projects of inner-city Harlem, Precious endures years of physical and emotional abuse from her sadistic, volatile mother, Mary (Mo'Nique). When her math teacher, Mr. Richer (Bill Sage), recommends her transfer to an alternative school, Precious is eager to prove that she is not the ignorant, ne're-do-well that her mother has entitled her. At her new school, Precious becomes a student of Ms. Blue Rain (Paula Patton), an implacable, but benevolent instructor of a diverse group of delinquent females. Under Ms. Rain's tutelage, Precious not only improves as a student, but also as a woman and mother with responsibilities that she is more than willing to undertake. Her dreams of independence and achievement are impeded, however, when Mary intends to force her back into the squalid and submissive lifestyle of which she has so long been a victim.

Precious is based on the 1996 award-winning novel Push, by Sapphire. The film adaptation has been in the works since 2007 and is Lee Daniel's second project as a director (Daniel's has been a producer on such films as Monster's Ball and The Woodsman). Gabourey Sidibe's powerful execution of the title character, Precious Jones, is a paradigm of acting at its finest. After the film's completion, Sidibe remarked that her acting experience was limited to minor roles as an indian and a pirate in a college production of Peter Pan. However, the scene in which she conveys a heart-breaking confession to her teacher and classmates will have viewers weeping for this unyielding and resilient heroine, an inspiration for young women of all backgrounds. Comedian and talk-show host, Mo'Nique, triumphs on screen with a phenomenal range as the sinister and mentally-afflicted Mary Jones, whose atrocious acts of violence and crude mentality will be difficult to digest for some viewers. Nevertheless, her performance is nothing short of monumental and sure to harness a nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the 2010 Academy Awards.

Paula Patton (Idlewild) leads an average supporting cast of honorable mentions as Blue Rain, Precious's instructor at the alternative school who gives her shelter after a climactic rampage that threatens the life of Precious's infant son, Abdul. Grammy-award winning artist, Mariah Carey, is indistinguishable in her best role yet as the pragmatic and sympathetic Ms. Weiss, a social worker whose emotional support allows Precious to divulge her secret as a victim of incest. Exceptional minor roles are those of Chyna Layne, Xosha Roquemore, and Angelic Zambrana as Rhonda, Jo Ann, and Consuelo, students of the alternative school whose seeming indifference masks an ambition to pursue a host of diverse and hopeful dreams.

Precious is a film that some viewers will find literally painfully to watch for its gritty material and stark presentation of emotional and sexual trauma. For those who can stomach both, there is a message that emphasizes the conviction of the soul, irrepressible in the face of adversity. Ultimately, a must-see film for audiences of all circumstances and sure to be an inspiration that is truly precious in every word.

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The Blind Side: Movie Review

"Theirs not to make reply, theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die." Tim McGraw teaches more than Tennyson to Quinton Aaron in this heart-warming drama directed by John Lee Hancock and based on the inspriing true story of All-American offensive left tackle, Michael Oher. Taken from a drug-addicted mother at a young age, Michael "Big Mike" Oher (Aaron) is left to the mercy of the streets, toting a plastic bag with a single change of clothes (which he slips into the loads of customers at the local laundry). At first, Michael survives on the half-hearted hospitality of family friends who give him a couch to sleep on one night, and a foot out the door the next. When an unexpected intervention lands him a coveted spot at Wingate Christian School, Michael, with zero to no education and an IQ of 80, is disillusioned by the upperclass world of white-collar piers. Left to fall behind by a cohort of teachers, most of whom are indifferent to his situation, he catches the concerned eye of Leigh Ann Tuohy (Sandra Bullock), a suburban mother of two who opens her home and heart to the gentle giant. As Michael adjusts to his new lifestyle (which includes an opportunity to shine on the high school football team), Leigh Ann learns a thing or two about what it's like to live, and struggle, on the opposite side of the train tracks.

Director John Lee Hancock has had considerable success with bids on the dark-horse drama. In 2002, working alongside Dennis Quaid, Hancock struck home with the emotional crowd-pleaser, The Rookie, which documented the rise of Jim Morris from high school science teacher to all-star pitcher for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Two years later, he commanded the set of the historical action-drama, The Alamo, starring Billy Bob Thornton as Davy Crockett as Jason Patric as Jim Bowie. The Blind Side was Hancock's first experience working with Sandra Bullock and country-music star, Tim McGraw. The pair have a unique chemistry as Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, whose scenes together will charm viewers with a rare insight into a loving relationship between members of the upper-class. Bullock, as the indominatable Leigh Anne Tuohy, will have audiences cheering for a scene in which she stands up to an insolent gangster intent on leading Michael into the shady underworld of Hurt Village, the Hell's Kitchen of Uptown, Memphis. Tim McGraw is almost unrecognizable as fast food executive, Sean Tuohy, but mesmerizes with a profound recitation of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's "The Charge of the Light Brigade."

Newcomers Lily Collins and Jae Head cap off a stellar supporting cast as the Tuohy children, Collins and SJ, while Academy Award winner, Kathy Bates, brings a bit of comedy to the forefront as Michael's eccentric, but encouraging tutor, Miss Sue. Two brief, but powerful performances of note are those by Adriane Lennox as Denise Oher, Michael's reclusive, drug-addicted mother, and Kim Dickens as Mrs. Boswell, the first of Michael's teachers to recognize his potential in the classroom. Last, but most definitely not least, is Quinton Aaron, who is taciturn for the most part in the role of Michael Oher, but captures audiences with an ability for physical expression that has not been seen at this caliber since Hollywood's silent era.

Tim McGraw ("Southern Voice") and Five for Fighting ("Chances") add a typical southern feel to an eclectic soundtrack that includes pop-singer, Lucy Woodward ("Trouble With Me"), 50's jazz group, the Dave Brubeck Quartet ("Unsquare Dance"), and the blues-rock, Woodstock-group, Canned Heat ("Going Up the Country"). Viewers, however, will find the silence in such climactic scenes as Michael's confrontation with an investigator from the NCAA and a showdown with the thugs from Hurt Village as tributes to a dynamic and poignant film that is sure to be a favorite of athletes, sports-lovers, and even sports-haters, alike.

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Ponyo: Movie Review

From the Academy-awarding winning director/animator, Hayao Miyazaki, who captivated audiences in 2001 with the magical smash-hit, Spirited Away, comes this tenth installment to an unbeatable repertoire of animated wonders. Brunhilda is the inquisitive and lovable little gold-fish with a mind of her own, who, while on an outing with her father, Fujimoto (an overbearing aquatic alchemist), escapes on an adventure that will take her from the depths of the ocean floor to the hands of Sosuke, a five-year-old boy with a heart of a gold and an aptitude for the sea. Sosuke takes Brunhilda into his care and names her Ponyo, but Fujimoto, wary of the bond that is steadily growing between them, sweeps her away and back into the ocean, where he discovers that (after tasting Sosuke's blood) Ponyo is slowly, but surely changing from fish to human. While attempting to halt Ponyo's transformation, Fujimoto has other fish to fry. In the bowels of his underwater lab, he is concocting a dangerous elixer that will leave all earth at the mercy of the ocean's stunning, but brutal power. When Ponyo, in a daring attempt to return to Sosuke, inadvertently releases the concoction on the ocean and all its denizens, the adventure begins in a jaw-dropping deluge that literally floods the big-screen with animated sequences that define Miyazaki as the master of the anime-film genre.

Hayao Myazaki's career on the anime-film circuit began in 1979 with The Castle of Cagliostro, the second installment in the Lupin III film trilogy. After a slew of animated films that included such triumphs as Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, and Kiki's Delivery Service, Myazaki's career took a significant leap with Princess Mononoke, the first animated film to win Picture of the Year at the Japanese Academy Awards. Despite his growing fame amongst Japanese movie-goers, Myazaki remained virtually unknown in the U.S.. That is until the 2001 release of the horror/fantasy thriller, Spirited Away. The film made history as the highest grossing film in Japan (surpassing Titantic) and garnered an Academy award in the U.S. for Best Animated film. Ponyo is Myazaki's second full-length animated feature after Spirted Away (the first was Howl's Moving Castle in 2004).

The film's original Japanese audio featured the voices of award-winning actress Yuki Amami (as Ponyo's mother, Gran Mammare), J-drama star Tomoko Yamaguchi (as Sosuke's mother, Lisa), and singer/songwriter George Tokoro (as Fujimoto). The American adapation granted Noah Cyrus (the younger sister of pop star, Miley Cyrus) and Frankie Jonas (the younger brother of the pop trio, The Jonas Brothers) with their first major roles apart from their older siblings. Typical of most American adaptions of Myazaki films, Ponyo hosted a large cast of big-name actors, amongst whom were Tina Fey (as Lisa), Matt Damon (as Koichi, Sosuke's father), Liam Neeson (as Fujimoto), Cate Blanchett (as Gran Mammare), and Lily Tomlin, Chloris Leachman and Betty White as Toki, Yoshie and Kairo, residents of the Himawari House for senior citizens.

Ponyo's breath-taking animation is further brought to life by the outstanding score written by Joe Hisaishi, who has worked with Myazaki since 1983's Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds. The film's highpoint (which brings new meaning to walking on water) occurs mid-way through the plot, leaving the first half and the denoument to be sustained by the relationship between Sosuke and Ponyo and the antics of the more eccentric and mystical characters. Ponyo is adorable as a newcomer to the human world, fascinated by trivial objects, such as lamps, and towels, yet fostering a remarkable ability to show empathy for those around her. Sosuke will impress viewers as Ponyo's knight in shining armor, who surpasses many young boys his age not only with an advanced intelligence of nautical tactics, but also with a profound comprehension of morals.

The cast is rounded out by a host of colorful, secondary characters. Fujimoto's swim through the garbage-infested waters of the harbor in Sosuke's town and his foiled attempt at a recovery operation of Ponyo bring a bit of humour to an otherwise serious presence. A foil to Fujimoto's role is Ponyo's mother, Gran Mammare, a wise and loving god-like titan who has lived as one with her beloved ocean since prehistoric times. The character who will leave viewers with the most laughs, however, is Lisa, Sosuke's mother, who works as an aid at the Himawari House and whose talent behind the wheel has all the elements of an animated version of The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.

At the root of Ponyo's innocent humour, however, are the penetrating themes of love, discovery, and acceptance. Although it does not surpass, or even equal the caliber of other Myazaki films, Ponyo is yet another of Myazaki's creations to warm audiences with a universal message. Viewers see through Ponyo's eyes an appreciation for the world and its inhabitants that have so often been taken for granted amid the turbulent goings-on of every-day lives. Undoubtedly, a spectacular and entertaining feature that symbolizes the power of nature and the love of the human soul.

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Children Aren't As Stupid As You Think

Children Aren't As Stupid As You Think

Children aren’t as stupid as you think
They ask about the sky
Why?
Is it blue?
They see you
Striding out of Burlington’s and scurry down the street
With a negligee too small
To meet
Your waist, so you sneak to the 11th Avenue strip mall
To find a seamstress
To make it look like you have a set of keys
That opens a door just six blocks up; you never guess
That a pair of eyes in a stupid head is watching you
And sees
A lesson in conspicuous vanity.

You may sigh
And you may blink
But children aren’t as stupid as you think.

The taste of wisdom lingers
Still clinging to our tongues
The cry of devastation
Wraps round our fetal lungs
And plays upon our fancy
A fortissimo of tears
And stifles every happiness
In agony and fears

Into despair and wariness
All trust and virtue sink
‘Cause children aren’t as stupid as you think.

I knew a man named Jacob Pole
Who had a garden like that at Babylon
Rumor had it that he’d stole
Into Eden and tore a tuft of grass to grow upon his lawn.
He always turned the sprinklers on
When the trick-or-treaters came
I didn’t blame
Him for doing that. He kept his windows drawn,
And no one saw his crooked shape, till one night, he choked
On a mustard seed.
The newspaper said he stumbled out the door and soaked
Himself on the grass. I didn’t read
What happened after that.
But I knew that all the ghouls began to scat
And all the children too
Till Jacob, like them, wore a mask.

And it was blue.

So, somebody (I think it was a Neanderthal)
Came at him with a bone and all
And whacked him in the neck —
And made a wreck
Of the sacred grass ― but pulled him from the brink
‘Cause children aren’t as stupid as you think.

My Stab at Poetry

The Professor

I saw a man that I once knew
One hundred yards away
He raised one brow, he knew me too
But what were we to say?
He’d call me Miss, a fitting term
That fit most every guest
I’d call him none, a firm
Decision, lest
He crossed the room, a drink in hand
And sidled to my chair
And asked, in subtle reprimand
What I was doing there.
A lovely man, of ample brain,
But not a heart in mind.
A face, not bright, but simply plain
A judgment that was blind.
We’d talk of what I’d done to me
Since I had seen him last
I’d say that I and all could see
The welfare of the past
Had made him godly in the world
Of pocket pens and ties.
The hand of thought had gently curled
Around his learned eyes.
But then our talk would fall from this
As we spoke above the crowd
And he sidled to another Miss
As aimless as a cloud.

City of God: Movie Review

In the City of God, "People got used to living in Vietnam, and more and more volunteers signed up to die." Based on a true story, City of God is the riveting tale of the 1960s takeover of Cicade de Deus, a Brazilian slum permeated by drug cartels and organized crime. The film is narrated by Rocket (Alexandre Rodrigues), an easy-going, honest adolescent of the City of God, who dreams of becoming a photographer to escape the world of violence that seduces each of his comrades. On the opposite side of the film's long list of characters with atypical nicknames is Li'l Dice, a sadistic, power-hungry juvenile who robs, murders, and cheats his way to become the offical crime lord of the City of God.

Rocket and Li'l Dice cross paths frequently throughout the film, beginning a decade earlier with an innocent game of soccer that introduces the Tender Trio - Shaggy (Jonathan Haagensen), Clipper (Jefechander Suplino), and Goose (Renato de Souza) - a group of rag-tag, amateur hoods who operate Robin Hood style by robbing gas trucks and local businesses, sharing the loot with the community. The group is eventually dispersed when Li'l Dice, out of his own blood-thirsty ambition, convinces them to rob a local motel. Although the holdup does not go as planned for the trio, it bolsters Li'l Dice into the driver's seat on a journey in which he is given the new moniker Li'l Ze and conquers all the drug cartels in the City of God with his charmismatic, child-hood friend, Benny, at his side. However, the pedestal begins to wobble, when Knockout Ned (Seu Jorge), a quiet, ex-army officer with a killer aim, joins forces with Carrot (Matheus Nachtergaele), Li'l Ze's main competition on the drug circuit and all out war begins in the city where, as Rocket observes, "if you run away, they get you and if you stay, they get you too."

Directed by Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund, City of a God was a ground-breaking success in its native Brazil, starring actual natives of the Brazilian shanty towns known as favelas and even some from the City of God itself. The film's round-circle style accelerates the plot, which is jam-packed with a string of intense action scenes rife with heart-stopping excitement and profound emotion. However, the film's strongest aspect is its unveiled depiction of the harsh world of drug dealing, organized crime, and federal corruption. Despite its large cast of characters (which featured Matheus Nachtergaele as the only professional actor), every performance, from secondary roles to crowd extras, has some significance in the film's plot. That most of the scenes were improvised by inexperienced actors rather than doggedly rehearsed only enhances their genuity. Overall, an awe-inspiring crowd-pleaser that tops the list of universal crime-dramas.

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Coraline: Movie Review

Director Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach) adds to an impressive repertoire of stop-motion fantasy films with this bizarre twist on the classic venture down a rabbit hole of extravagant, and chilling surprises. Based on the 2002 novel of the same name by British author Neil Gaiman, the film details the adventures of Coraline Jones (Dakota Fanning), a plucky, blue-haired, eleven-year-old explorer who arrives from Pontiac, Michigan to Ashland, Oregon, where she and her parents move into the The Pink Palace, a converted, dilipidated mansion. The other tenants are the eccentric Mr. Bobinsky (Ian McShane), a blue-skinned, Russian giant with a diet for beets and a curious talent for conversing with pet mice, and Miss Spink and Miss Forcible (Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French), ex-thespians who breed Scottish terriers (saving the dead ones for taxidermy) and have a sweet tooth for 100-year-old taffy.

Coraline meets Wybourne "Wybie" Lovat (Robert Bailey Jr.), the awkward, talkative grandson of Mrs. Lovat, the owner of The Pink Palace, and a nameless black cat. Wybie puzzles Coraline with a fear of the mansion (from which his grandmother's twin sister was "stolen"). Later that evening, Coraline receives a stuffed doll from Wybie sown in her own image and discovers a door, which leads to another world, the polar opposite of her own. Here, her "other parents" are attentive and loving, despite the anomaly that they have no eyes - just buttons sown in where their eyes should be. At first, Coraline is content with her new life and considers staying in the "other" world forever, but when she is confronted with a gruesome sacrifice, her fairy tale world plunges into a sinister nightmare as she realizes just how black the rabbit hole can become.

With a crew of only 450 people managing 50 lots, 150 sets and a cast of characters exhibiting 200,000 facial expressions, Coraline was a ground-breaking success as the first stop-motion animated fim to be shot entirely in 3D. This is convenient, since the first half of the film is decidedly slow and hopelessly cliche, mitigated by colorful and complex imagery. Even with a small cast of characters, the film is cluttered by performances which are wayward and less than fulfilling. Dakota Fanning shines as the feisty, adventurous Coraline, while Terri Hatcher (Desperate Housewives) performs at her darkest best as the ominous "other mother," Beldam. Veteran voice-actor Keith David (Halo, Princess Mononoke) is the voice of the cat, who sees through the facade of the "other" world and advises Coraline in her quest to defeat the Beldam. Overall, an entertaining fantasy flick that makes way for Tim Burton's adapation of Alice in Wonderland due in March of 2010.

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Julie and Julia: Movie Review

Academy Award nominee Amy Adams and two-time Academy Award winner Meryl Streep star in this delectable film based on the lives of two extraordinary women. In 2002, Adams is Julie Powell, a restless twenty-nine-year-old phone representative whose dreams of becoming a writer have shrunk to the size of her cubicle. After moving with her husband, Eric (Chris Massina), to Long Island, where they rent an apartment above a pizzeria, Julie longs to find her place in a corporate society dominated by shallow executives. Consumed by the desire to prove that she is worth more than material for the down-and-out column, she is inspired by her idol - legendary cooking magnet, Julia Child - to write a blog based on a year's experience cooking all 524 reciples from Child's cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. So begins the Julie/Julia Project, a comic journey down a road of self-discovery paved with chocolate souffle, poached eggs, and plenty of boeuf bourguignonne.

Interlaced with Powell's story is an account of six years in the life of Julia Child (portrayed to a pearl by the impeccable Meryl Streep). While accompanying her husband, Paul (Stanley Tucci), on his diplomatic assignment in France in 1948, she is captivated by the sights, sounds, and tastes of Paris, with the only frustration being that "absolutely nothing comes in (her) size." After several stints at hatmaking and bridge classes, she decides to pursue her passion for fine cuisine by enrolling at the Le Cordon Bleau cooking school. While there, her dexterity and daring surpass those of her all-male classmates, but her road to success is blocked by the cynical Madame Brassart (Joan Juliet Buck). All of this changes, however, when she meets Simone Beck (Linda Emond) and Louisette Bertholle (Helen Carey), cooking teachers who aspire to write a French cookbook for American housewives. Impressed by her skill and bubbly enthusiasm, the pair ask Julia to join them as contributor, translator, and editor. The result is the culinary opus, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Looming in the background of Julia and Paul's otherwise blissful marriage is the threat of McCarthyism as Paul is investigated by agents of the Red Scare.

Julia and Julia began as a project blog written by Julie Powell, a phone representative for the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. In 2005, it was published as Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 reciples, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen and republished in paperback as Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously. Director Nora Ephron (Sleepless in Seattle, Bewitched) became aware of Julie Powell after reading an article on the blog in The New York Times. The idea of combining the Powell story with a feature on Julia Child was that of Columbia Tristar's co-chairman, Amy Pascal. Although the production encompasses two films in one, Child's story, although it takes place fifty years before Julie Powell's, should in no account be referred to as a flashback. Rather, it is Powell's story, lacking in vivaciousness and genuine humor, that should be referred to as a flashfoward. Streep's performance as the affable, outgoing Julia Child is unbeatable and ripe with emotion, while Adams' character experiences several exaggerated meltdowns with little accomplishment at credible expression. The film's conflate well, but the Child story is undoubtedly the crutch which supports Powell's half of the film, which has no chance of standing on its own on the big screen. However, performances by Stanley Tucci, Linda Emond, Helen Carey, Jane Lynch (who is towering, literally and figuratively as Julia's sister, Dorothy), and Mary Lynn Rajskub (Julie's best friend, Sarah) harnass a well-deserved "bon appetit" for what is ultimately a three-star production.

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Mary and Max: Babies Come From the Bottom of Beer Glasses

The birds and the bees takes a perverse, but cynically humorous spin in this claymation feature film starring Bethany Whitmore, Toni Collette, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Eric Bana. Eight-year-old Mary Dinkle (Whitmore/Collette) is the outwardly bland, but lovable heroine with eyes "like muddy puddles" and a birthmark "the color of poo." Having been told that babies in Australia come from the bottom of beer glasses, she seeks answers from an American point-of-view by randomly writing to Max Horowitz (Hoffman), a forty-four-year-old, obese, atheistic Jewish man from New York City. At first, Mary's letter terrifies Max, a perpetual loner, whose only friend is the Italian book worm, Mr. Ravioli (a figment of his imagination). When Max summons up the courage to write back, however, he begins the first in a series of hilarious, but often touching, correspondences that continue for the next eighteen years.

In their colorful exchanges, Mary and Max bring an unforgettable host of secondary characters to the forefront. Vera Dinkle (Renee Geyer) is Mary's mother, a stay-at-home housewife who frequently "tests" the cooking sherry and "borrows" food from the local grocery mart. Her father, Noel Dinkle, works in a factory attaching straps to tea bags and has a hobby for taxidermy, which he fulfills by picking up dead birds from the freeway. In America, Max is accompanied by Ivy, his elderly neighbor who has "more wrinkles than an elephant's bottom," and Dr. Bernard Hazelhoff, Max's cynical psychiatrist who advises him to "eat nothing bigger than his head." Eric Bana voices Damien Popodopolous, Mary's neighbor and eventual love interest who smells "like lemon dishwashing liquid" and is usually seen watering his mother's roses.

The film's main source of humour is satire (subjects include social acceptance, obesity, and the American justice system among others). Viewers will find parodies of classic films, such as Pyscho and Breakfast at Tiffany's laugable, but not imposing. The film's only flaw is it's pace (slow, but subtle) and viewer's may find the ending a bit of a disappointment, but this is nevertheless a cleverly made and stirring tale of friendship and self-discovery.

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Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs: Movie Review

Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller prove that they know their onions in this delectable film based on the 1978 children's book of the same name by Judi and Ron Barrett. In the film, we learn that the town of Chewandswallow was originally known as the island of Swallow Falls (placed on the map just beneath the letter "A" in the "Atlantic Ocean"). Bill Hader (Saturday Night Live) is the voice of Flint Lockwood, the town's brilliant, but accident-prone inventor, who strives to invent something that will not only make him famous, but also earn his father's respect above all things. In an underground lair that will hail to fans of Dexter's Laboratory, he invents a machine dubbed the "Flint Lockwood Diatonic Super Mutating Dynamic Food Replicator" or the FLDSMDFR, for short, to spare his hometown from a neverending supply of sardines. After a serious mishap that destroys Sardine Land, the town's newest attraction, Flint meets Sam Sparks (Anna Faris), an intern reporter bent on suppressing her intellect for the sake of her career. However, the pair soon discover that Flint's contraption is no failure when food begins to fall from the sky in a hail of hamburgers. Flint goes from unheeded nerd to local celebrity and his relationship with Sam begins to ripen, but when it becomes apparent that something awry is cooking (in the shape of giant hotdogs) it's up to Flint to get himself out of the soup and put a stop to a spaghetti storm of mouthwatering proportions.

Despite being a far-flung adaptation of the children's book, the hilarious antics and parodies of other disaster films make the film worthy of a five-star appraisal. The assault on the world's biggest landmarks by a contingent of donuts and other sweets pay homage to The Day After Tomorrow, while a search-and-find by the Food Replicator is remiscent of War of the Worlds. Secondary charaters such as Manny (Benjamin Bratt), the mult-certified cameraman and Earl (Mr. T), the town policeman with a superman complex, add fulfillment to a cast of comedy's biggest clowns, including Andy Samberg (Saturday Night Live) and Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother). Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs is a film that family's will enjoy, even if it's not their cup of tea.

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9: Movie Review

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows meets War of the Worlds and Terminator Salvation in this animated sci-fi thriller directed by CG animator Shane Acker and produced by Tim Burton. Diabolic machines and poisonous gas have annihalated the human race as we know it. The only inhabitants of this post-apocalyptic no-where are a group of nine anthropomorphic rag dolls who are the last fragments of humanity. Elijah Wood is the voice of 9, the last of his creation, who is destined to destroy the Fabrication Machine, literally the brain child of a brilliant scientist that went out of control when usurped by the military as a weapon of war. During his mission, 9 is joined by an eclectic group of characters - 3 and 4, a pair of mute scholars, 2 (Martin Lindau), an inventor, 5 (John C. Reilly), a healer, 6 (Crispin Glover) a prophesier, 7 (Jennifer Connelly), a fearless warrior, 8 (Fred Tatisciore), a bubble-headed brawn, and 1 (Christopher Plummer), the group's stubborn, dictatorial leader.

Shane Acker's credits as a CG animator for the big screen began in 2003 with The Return of the King, the third installment in The Lord of the Rings franchise. Two years later, Acker wrote, directed, and designed 9, an 11-minute short film, as a student project. Director Tim Burton was so impressed with Acker's talent that he decided to produce a feature length film, which would embrace the philosophy of human misguidedness on the field of technological advances. While a brilliant concept, the film's plot fails to utilize the ideology to its full potential, though it does hint at other philosophical themes: 9's lamp can be interpreted as a reference to the Greek philosopher Diogenes. Acker's strength, however, does not lie in the storyline, but in his imagery. Before the final showdown with the Fabrication Machine (which is less thrilling than the other scenes), the group must do battle with the minions it created out of its own vast knowledge, making way for the fast paced action that is the highlight of the entire film. Viewers with a profound appreciation for the philosophy of human degeneration will enjoy this film. Otherwise, it is not worth the admission ticket.

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Paranormal Activity: Movie Review

Put a camera in a bedroom for three quarters of a homemade film and there's plenty of "extra-curricular activity" to keep viewers on edge. However, in the case of this low-budget mokumentary by Israeli-born newcomer, Oren Peli, the only activity we're supposed to see - and believe for that matter - is the paranormal sort. Katie Featherston and Micah Sloater, a twenty-something couple from San Dieog, conduct an investigation into the strange goings-on in their suburban style home. Micah is the film's trademark skeptic enjoying the humor of playing ghost-hunter, while Katie is the ever-cautious female lead, whose childhood home burned down after an encounter with an unknown spirit. Years later, she is hounded by a malevolent spector, which prompts Micah to gain evidence of the haunting on tape. The couple go so far as to consult a dubious psychic, but when Micah attempts to contact the spirit by using a ouija board, the haunting spirals to a terrifying, sinister peak.

Paranormal Activity thrives on the power of suggestion. Footfalls inthe dark, demonic voices on audio, and the occasional spontaneous door-slamming mimic the usual predecessors to the heart-stopping mainstream horror of a Hollywood blockbuster. On the other hand, the scenes that pit viewers with the tangible side of terror succeed only in stealing from the film's raw presentation of a genuine haunting. As a result, a midnight mad struggle down a hallway is immersed in hopeless cliche and likeable to comic relief.

Nevertheless, the chemistry between the characters is decidedly credible, though the lack of interaction with the world outside their home makes them less like the every-day individuals viewers are supposed to relate to. Regardless, Peli casts his lead roles in a rare and praiseworthy style. Many classic films of the haunted-house genre (The Amityville Horror, The Shining, and The Changeling, to name a few) feature a male character corrupted by a spirit (or spirits) which eventually drives them to the brink of insanity. Peli, however, goes down the same path as William Friedkin in the 1973 smash hit The Excorcist. Do not be mistaken - Katie Featherston is no Regan Mac Neil, but her performance relishes in the tender side of the emotional trauma associated with demonic encounters. Featherston's expression culminates as the only portion of the film evoking an understanding of the characters' circumstances, if not outright belief.

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