Rachel Getting Married (2008)

Jenny Lumet wrote a heartbreaking story in her first script to be filmed. While the Rachel of the title is not the main character, the film is about what old feelings are stirred up in a family by the event of Rachel's wedding. Kym, Rachel's sister, is on leave from rehab - a place she's been in and out of for the past ten years.

Rachel is immediately upset by how much their father dotes on Kym while Kym is upset than Rachel's chosen someone else to be her maid of honor. Then there's their mother who has clearly been more concerned with her own well-being than that of her daughters for awhile.

Besides a heartfelt story, what sets this movie apart is the depths to which everyone involved went to make it. Director Jonathan Demme had more than one camera filming at all times. Camera operators and sound people would wander in and out of the groups of people, but also in and out of rooms in the house. It's so refreshing to have a character storm out of a room and have the camera not only actually follow her, but do so from behind so it's like we're there trying to chase after her. It's not just a house standing in for a set. It opens the setting up and makes it all the more real. It also opens up the characters.

Every actor and extra had to be "on" at all times because they often didn't know if they were in some way part of a scene or not when they were on set. This technique seemed to especially benefit Anne Hathaway in playing Kym. Her work here blows away everything she's done before it. She proves she can go beyond the silly comedy and Disney fare to deliver a character who has definite flaws and has done unlikeable things but somehow remains someone you could feel something for other than distaste. The Oscar nomination was well-deserved. But overall this was an outstanding ensemble success from both the cast and crew. It may not be the best movie to watch when you're already feeling down, but it has its smiles along with the tears.

Rating: 5/5
Recommended for: Anyone looking for a refreshing take on what a film can be.

Get Smart (2008)

The 2008 rehashing of the 1965 television show has 300% more action and 15% of the comedy. In other words, if you were looking for the silliness of the original show, you missed it by that much.

On the tv show, the 1960s cold war battle reigned between the super-secret spy agencies of CONTROL (good guys) and KAOS (bad guys). The film is set in modern day and CONTROL is alleged to have been disbanded, but of course, it hasn't. Maxwell Smart is a CONTROL analyst yearning to be a field agent and when KAOS learns the identities of the CONTROL agents, Smart is finally called up to go check on suspicious KAOS movements in Russia. Being a newbie, the Chief sends veteran Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway) to go with him because, conveniently enough, 99's just had plastic surgery and KAOS will never recognize her.

Overall we have a bunch of people running around using the names from the original show and a few catchphrases but not much else. Steve Carrell's Maxwell Smart is actually really good at his job - and not just by accident. Of course he still is a bit klutzy like the original, but that's mainly used for gratuitous violence against him. The Rock makes a notable appearance as Agent 23, the super agent Max aspires to be like (more about him in the spoiler section). Meanwhile Anne Hathaway shows she can do some action movie moves, but her most impressive move is with her voice. About a half hour in, she slips on a bobbed wig (very reminiscent of an original 99 do) and slips into the voice of Barbara Feldon (the original 99). Whether it's intentional or not, It actually made me feel a bit more comfortable with this Get Smart alternate universe.

If they'd renamed the characters, agencies, and the movie itself this could have been a decent movie. But when it comes to the bar set by the original, this film does fancy tricks all around the bar but cannot quite reach it.

Rating: 2.5/5
Recommended for: People who've never seen the tv show.

Extended Review: A plot line taken from the first few episodes of the show is the ally who actually works for KAOS. For the film, it's Agent 23/The Rock. Between distracting us with just being awesome and the writers pushing him off screen for a large chunk of time, it is actually a surprise when he's revealed. The chase sequence that ensues is impressive, but perhaps too high-quality for this movie. It serves as another reminder that this movie could have been better if they called it something else.