Away We Go (2009)

With the music and the mood from the get-go Away We Go feels like Garden State a decade later. There's a familiar-feeling airport scene and time spent in the dark wondering about failure. But it's not a repeat of Garden State and it definitely isn't some sort of sequel. While Garden State was ideal for the disillusioned twenty-something audience, Away We Go's appeal is broader.

We're following Burt (John Krasinski) and Verona (Maya Rudolph), a devoted couple in their mid-30s who've recently discovered Verona is pregnant with the couple's first child. They live near Burt's parents since Verona's have passed away. But when Verona is at the 6-month mark, Burt's parents (the amusing Catherine O'Hara and Jeff Daniels) announce they're moving to Belgium. Now with nothing tying them to their current home, they set out on a trip to discover where would be the best place to raise their child.

Along the way they visit with an interesting cast of characters they've known throughout their lives. Allison Janney, Jim Gaffigan, Carmen Ejogo, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Melanie Lynskey, Chris Messina, and Paul Schneider all provide memorable, and in some cases awkward and ridiculously entertaining, performances.

The husband and wife team of Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida have provided a script that is willing to show the good and bad of every situation while remaining delightful, hopeful, and clever. And while Eggers is known for his novels such as A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and You Shall Know Our Velocity, this is Eggers and Vida's first screenplay, making this story victory all the more sweet.

The way Burt and Verona handle their situation is nearly inspirational; things don't rock their worlds, they just roll with it and say, "Ok. We're doing this now." John Kransinski is allowed to be the goofy, good-intentioned one and it's refreshing to see him in a role where he's not playing the straight man to someone else's comedy, making faces. And Maya Rudolph, known for her time on Saturday Night Live, seems toned down. She's not there to be the comedic relief or to act absurdly. Instead she gives a sweetly understated performance.

And if the movie wasn't already impressive enough, it also is the first studio production to take green (environmentally-friendly) initiatives to reduce CO2 emission. Garbage was reduced by half, thanks to the various bins for recyclable material. Caterers used ceramic and washed dishes as opposed to throwaway products. Vehicles on the set used biodiesel fuel.

Rating: 5/5
Recommended for: 98 minutes of quirky sweetness

Underworld (2003)

Underworld was writer/director Len Wiseman's first time writing and directing. Before this his work was in films' art departments. And it shows.

While the film's color tones are dark and a perpetual thunderstorm's lightening provides half the lighting, the film remains visually interesting throughout. Unfortunately the same can't be said of the plot. CGI blends in with the feel of the film and its non-human elements, but talking is minimal and you immediately get the sense that you're interrupting something - a story that's already been going on for awhile.

Sometimes that phenomenon works for a film - here not so much. Apparently there's been a war going on for millennia between vampires and werewolves. Conveniently no one is allowed to look into the past to even know why they're fighting. Then one day in an an unspecified time and place, the werewolves become interested in a human, so the vampires do too. And then they all walk purposefully, run, drive cars, and shoot. Amongst all this, the human in question just takes this all in stride. The lines of who is good and who is not are practically non-existent. All we have is Selene (Kate Beckinsale) who appears to be good, but perhaps only in the context of the world in which she lives.

I have to give these actors credit; they at least appear to know what they're talking about, even when it doesn't make that much sense to the rest of us.

Rating: 1/5
Recommended for: Those who would enjoy putting a film on mute and making up their own story.

Sita Sings the Blues (2008)

Sita Sings the Blues may be animated but it isn't your typical animated film. Employing no less than five animation styles, kids can get some entertainment out of it. But it will be appreciated more so by an adult audience.

The story is a retelling of the Indian epic Ramayana interspersed with a bit of writer/director/animator/voice actor/producer/editor/production designer Nina Paley's tragic real-life story of rejection. In fact, making the movie was Paley's coping mechanism. And it was no light undertaking.

Even though I'm not a big fan of the wiggle-style animation, along with the other four styles employed, it shows Paley's wide talent range as well as keeps the visuals interesting. Another interesting choice comes in the three shadow puppet narrators who keep the tone conversational. They're figuring out the story as much as telling it as they go along. These narrators, Aseem Chhabra, Bhavana Nagulapally, and Manish Acharya, were not scripted at all so their hearing slightly different versions of the story growing up is what leads to corrections and much of the levity they provide. It's important to note that Paley's making no claims that the version of the Ramayana she shows is the definitive one. This is her story told with and through the epic.

The use of Annette Henshaw jazz music from the 1920s as the voice of Sita provides humor, moves the story along, and gives Sita's plight a timelessness. Paley made so many more clever, tongue-in-cheek additions - ranging from a tribute to old Hollywood musicals and Bollywood through a 3-minute intermission that features characters walking across the screen to get concessions to adding "Bam!" cartoon explosions to a fight sequence a la live-action TV Batman to a "follow the bouncing ball" first half review song.

With so many elements this project could have become a mess, but Paley pieced it together fabulously. What's more, she wanted it to be accessible to everyone. Sita Sings the Blues has a Creative Commons Share Alike license, which means anyone is free to broadcast the movie at any time. It's available for free online to watch and to download. See Sitasingstheblues.com for more information.

Rating: 4/5
Recommended for: Anyone who's ever been rejected or could use some art in their life