"Finding Neverland" was on my must see list weeks ago but it disappeared so quickly that I almost missed out on this little screen gem. It’s the story of James Barrie (played by Johnny Depp) and how he was inspired to write Peter Pan. Any movie that co-stars four young boys runs the risk of turning into a cute child movie but "Finding Neverland" doesn’t fall into that trap and it is an intelligent movie at all levels. The children enhance the story instead of detracting from it.
Johnny Depp demonstrates that he is capable of acting beyond his usual quirky roles and Kate Winslet does a fine job as the love interest. We see the story of Peter Pan unfold in James Barrie’s mind, though the intercut scenes of imagination and real life, and then the final translation into the play. I was drawn into the movie and enjoyed every minute of it. The story, costumes, and sets are colorful but don’t eclipse the true friendship that develops with the characters. It’s a believ...
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If I can stop you from seeing "Closer" then I will consider my $6.50 and 100 minutes of my life a worthwhile investment. Going into the movie, I thought it was about 2 couples and their relationships good & bad. Since 4 leads are all good actors, I figured, why not? Why not indeed!
I can see why it's been nominated for Golden Globes. Awards are always given out to movies that feature unhappy & miserable people set up in contrived and ridiculous circumstances. Happy endings are out of the question except for the happy ending when I made my exit from the theater.
It turns out that "Closer" is really about how people manipulate each other by using sex as a weapon instead of love or respect. This is demonstrated to us over and over again through chat room sex, verbal discussion of sex, stripclub teasing, and anything but actual sex. This has to be one of the first movies about sex that is minus the sex.
Our four characters played quite wel...
Last night's rain was strong and loud. I woke up during the night to a power surge that took my fax machine offline for most of the day. I went downstairs to find the lower bathroom flooded due to all the recent digging and the two new outside sinkholes getting larger with the mud. Luckily the old tree stayed intact and didn't go down. All things considered, Carlsbad escaped the storm without too much damage. It just started to rain again but this is a quieter rain and the worst should be over.
Yesterday's rain brought on the beginnings of two sinkholes in my front yard. It doesn't photograph well but this is about 3 feet long and 6 inches wide. Another one is a few feet away. The phone company has been installing new cables and the installers will get to deal with this when the rain stops. Luckily the new phone lines are not activated so there's plenty of time to repair the damage.
I've never read the "Lemony Snicket" books but after seeing the movie, I have the feeling that the books are far superior to the movie version. "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events" is derived from 3 of the books to make one movie that goes just a tad overboard with tongue in cheek fun. I enjoyed the narrative and the story of the Baudelaire children and all their troubles. The 3 young actors do a great job, even the baby, who has some of the funniest lines in the movie.
Jim Carrey is great as Count Olaf and gives a performance worthy of his talent. He's fun to watch but you sense that this is a Jim Carrey movie, rather than a Lemony Snicket movie. In recent family animated movies there have been quite a few adult jokes that play well to all ages, on different levels but in "Lemony" these jokes silence the children and distract adults from the story. A camera shot of Steven Soderberg on the bus in Oceans 12 is a good came...
Movie week continues with "Sideways." A friend encouraged me to see it and bring a bottle of Pinot Noir to drink in the theater. I didn't realize that "Sideways" is a movie about wine but it is. Actually it is more about wine is a metaphor for life type movie as two buddies deal with their hopes and failures for love which wine serves as a backdrop for the movie.
We follow along with Miles and Jack as they take a road trip the week before Jack's wedding to live their glory years one last time. Miles has the goal to educate Jack about wine, Jack has the goal to help Miles understand friendship and women. As the week goes on, the two have a series of mishaps and misunderstandings, while drinking red at every opportunity. Both characters are less than perfect and not too concerned about how their actions will impact the people around them. As we the audience follow along in this one week of their lives, we come to understand Miles and Jack, and end u...
