Roman Holiday (1953)

Roman Holiday is AFI's #4 Romantic Comedy of all time. I must have seen a different movie than they did. Mainly, it's a moving love note to Rome. Other than that, it has a tiny bit of romance, the borderline unrequited kind, and its comedy is hard to find.

I guess I just don't see what's so comedic about a princess who is so sheltered, naive, and gullible she'll believe almost anything anyone tells her. Audrey Hepburn plays Princess Ann, who is on a goodwill tour of Europe. When her entourage stops in Rome, she decides she's had enough and sneaks away in the night.

Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck), an American reporter, finds her asleep on a bench and takes her back to his place because he can't get her to tell him how to get her back home. The next day while arguing with his editor he realizes the girl he found is the princess and bets his editor he can get an exclusive interview with her. He goes back to his apartment and eventually Ann agrees to tour Rome with him and his photographer friend.

The sites they see are of course beautiful. It was the first American film to be shot entirely in Italy. The romance comes from the idea of a reverse Cinderella, a princess looking for a common man to rescue her. And while it's believable that by the end of the day Ann has fallen for Joe, it seems more like he just feels sorry for her.

Hepburn won an Oscar for this role. And there was probably a fare share of self-insertion, as Hepburn herself was new to the American film industry and in at least one scene, the director went with the take where Hepburn didn't know what was going on. And in the important ending scene, Hepburn wasn't crying the required tears, so the director grumbled about how many takes she wasted which made her cry for real.

I guess most people enjoy a bit of escapist fluff from time to time.

Rating: 2/5
Recommended for: Audrey Hepburn fans and people who missed out on visiting Rome in the 1950s.

Burn After Reading (2008)

Burn After Reading has two things you'd expect from a Coen brothers movie: dark humor and Frances McDormand. The fault lies in the marketing as to how laugh out loud funny this movie is. The trailers, the commercials - both portray it as the most uproariously funny thing you'd see in 2008. It is not. What we're looking at is dark - very dark.

Two gym employees, Linda (Frances McDormand) and Chad (Brad Pitt), find the memoirs of a recently laid off fed agent (John Malkovich) on a cd in the locker room. They mistake this for top secret information and set to sell it back to its owner. The disc actually belonged to the agent's wife (Tilda Swinton), who was trying to find info about him for their upcoming divorce.

What follows is generally people acting horribly to each other and lots of patented Malkovich yelling. When physical violence erupts it is intense - also a Coen trademark. Richard Jenkins steals a bit of the limelight as Linda and Chad's powerless boss Ted while J. K. Simmons brings a little straight-laced humor in his brief scenes as an agency superior. And if anyone is actually goofy funny, it's Brad Pitt who brings a much needed lightness to the story. Still, overall not much of a comedy.

Rating: 3/5
Recommended for: Adults who'd watch anything that has the Coen brothers' name on it.

The Visitor (2007)

The first 15 minutes of The Visitor are agonizing boredom, but sit through it and you will be wonderfully rewarded. If it weren't for the drudgery of the opening where we meet the shut in, widowed, apathetic professor Walter Vale, you might not appreciate how far the film takes you (and Walter) by the end.

Walter is in New York City to present a paper at a conference. He opens the door to his often abandoned apartment to find Tarek, a Syrian drummer, and his girlfriend Zainab, a Senegalese jewelry maker, living there. They were conned about the apartment's vacancy and immediately pack up to leave. Walter lets them, but then follows them and tells them to stay.

What follows changes Walter's life and it's so emotionally beautiful that everything else fades away. The sets, the lighting, it's all barely noticeable (and that can be a good thing) because these characters are so captivating. The whole cast does a fantastic job. Haaz Sleiman as Tarek is charismatic and endearing. Danai Jekesai Gurira makes the melting of Zainab's frosty disposition reveal an even more interesting woman. Hiam Abbass as Tarek's mother Mouna is tough but an easy person with which to sympathize. And Richard Jenkins delivers a subtle, intimate performance as the aforementioned professor. His Oscar nomination was so very much deserved.

It's hard to say much more about it without giving too much away, so just hang tight through the very beginning and prepare to watch the walls come down around a man's heart.

Rating: 5/5
Recommended for: Anyone who can stand to watch a quiet movie with great characters

The Rocker (2008)

I really wanted to enjoy The Rocker. Its the first staring vehicle for Rainn Wilson, who does a fabulous job on tv as The Office's Dwight Schrute. But the film falls flat with few if any laugh out loud moments.

Apparently 5 years is not long enough between this movie and Jack Black's School of Rock because it strikingly seems like the same movie with a few substitutions. Swap out the down-on-his-luck guitarist with a drummer who just missed out on making it big. Instead of the character taking a job as a 4th grade music teacher, he'll be asked by his nephew to join said nephew's high school band. Oh, and instead of this character being named Dewey Finn, this lead will be named Robert "Fish" Fishman.

If you're going to redo a distinct plot, you've got to bring something to the table. The slapstick and guest stars as Fish's former bandmates just weren't enough. And with all that being said, it's all still mildly amusing. Kids will probably like it.

Rating: 2/5
Recommended for: People who miss School of Rock and Guitar Hero fanatics

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008)

Nick and Norah seem like nice enough people. And it seems like they had a fun enough evening. It's just too bad it was so laid back it almost doesn't seem interesting enough to make a movie about.

Nick (Michael Cera) is a low-confidence high school senior recently dumped by his girlfriend. Norah (Kat Dennings) is a high school senior as well as the daughter of a recording industry executive. She seemingly spends all her time though being the caretaker of her irresponsible best friend, Caroline. Nick's band mates drag him out of the house to play a concert. Norah is there, walks up to Nick, and kisses him to prove to a school acquaintance she isn't alone. And the rest of the night stems from there with a missing drunken friend, a search for the mystery location of a favorite band's concert, and the looming ex-girlfriend and ex-boyfriend of the title characters.

Cera and Dennings bring charm and realism to their roles. They're likable and their relationship is believable. Ari Graynor as Norah's friend Caroline brings comic relief with her drunken escapades without becoming too annoying. Nick's band mates deliver some amusing one liners and a kind support system. The indie music provides a fun background. Now if only they could all have taken their trip in about a half hour less. What could be a madcap adventure crawls slowly through the evening. Everything that happens before the concert was filmed 6 months into post-production. Those scenes of course made the movie longer but it also gave some depth to the characters so adding that wasn't a bad choice. Either director Peter Sollett needed to move everyone along while filming or the editor Myron Kerstein needed to cut down a few scenes.

Overall it's a decent movie that teenagers and many adults can find enjoyable enough.

Rating: 3/5
Recommended for: those who miss George Michael from Arrested Development

Extended Review: Although the film starts out with steadicam shots that make the viewer feel like they're alternately swaying or just tilting his/her head side to side, luckily for our stomachs, the cinematography gets much better as the film goes on. Although since the beginning was filmed later, perhaps the cinematography was good and then the "hurry up, let's get this done so we can add it" was what suffered. Either way, the closing shot is what really deserves a mention. Michael Cera walking in place on the down escalator was amusing. They took that movement and went with it and Cera and Dennings' heads moving through the frame like a heart was a cute choice. (Not to mention so much more preferable than them dancing the night away at that rooftop concert or worse yet, a freeze frame at the end of dancing.)

Mermaids (1990)

You look at the poster for this movie and think... I hope this isn't a movie about a woman who thinks she's a mermaid and her children who have to deal with it. But luckily for all of us, it's just a costume she wears to a strange Christmasy/New Year's Eve/Costume party.

Mermaids is instead the story of Mrs. Flax (Cher) who basically does whatever she wants and when it backfires on her, she just picks up her family and moves somewhere else. She doesn't really seem to care how this affects her two children - teenaged Charlotte (Winona Ryder), who wants to become a nun despite being Jewish, and Kate (Christina Ricci in her first film role), a grade schooler who'd like to break the world record for not breathing underwater. At the beginning of the film, they're on their 18th move and Charlotte is having trouble coping.

If you've never seen Cher in film before you may be surprised to find out she's a decent actress. Christina Ricci isn't given any terribly difficult material but she does just fine with what she has - not distracting from any of the adults with the "acting" to which some child actors are prone. It's Winona Ryder who really makes this movie though. Her narration interspersed with in the moment internal monologuing helps you get attached to her quickly. Emotions she goes through in voiceover are also readily apparent in her expressions on the screen. Ryder's maturity makes her ideal for this role.

As for other aspects of the film... well, it takes place in the 1960s but looks more so like a fictional place. You almost expect a saloon to be next door to their friend Lou's shoe store. All the buildings are pale and seashore colored, except for the nunnery next door that looks like a dark and overly foreboding tower in the weeds. Just keep your eyes on the characters and you'll be in for an interesting ride.

Rating: 3/5
Recommended for: Winona Ryder fans.

Extended Review: There seems to be a case of "oh-shoot-we-have-to-end-this-movie" going on here. Mrs. Flax and Charlotte have said what they need to say. They've come to some sort of a deal that holds no promise of a long term solution. I know... let's dance! It looks like they're having fun even though it's logically way too soon for that if things are really going to change in that household. The only worse choice of an ending that could have been made is a freeze frame of the three girls in a group hug.

Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

Slumdog Millionaire is a jarring story that rips between a young man doing very well on India's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and the life he's lived that taught him those answers.

The young man, Jamal Malik, is played by Ayush Mahesh Khedekar, Tanay Chheda, and Dev Patel throughout his life. This was the first or second role ever for all of them but you wouldn't know it. They each bring a profound innocence to the character despite all the horrible things that have happened to him growing up.

Credit most likely goes to director Danny Boyle for that. Boyle's oftentimes jarring style give the movie, and the city of Mumbai, a frenetic feel. Part of this came from Boyle's decision to use handheld cameras for filming in the slums - that way he'd be less likely to disrupt people's daily lives. If you're worried it's going to make you sick, don't worry, as they work their way out of the slum, the camera's more steady. Luckily all this moving around doesn't make you miss out on all the wonderful colors and lights.

In addition to grimy beauty, this film also offers up a great soundtrack. A.R. Rahman is said to have composed everything for it in about twenty days, but the songs will stick with you far longer. So many scores recently have blended into the background, so this is refreshing.

Ultimately, this film excels at throwing the events in this one man's life into sharp contrast - dazzling and dirty, uplifting but heartbreaking. Just beware of the hype. Even though it's a deserved Oscar winner for Best Picture, hype always messes with expectations and can ruin a film-watching experience.

Rating: 4/5
Recommended for: People who don't mind seeing the worst of times as long as they get to see the best of times too