Thirteen

Thirteen

Thirteen is co-written by Twilight’s Nikki Reed (Rosalie) and Catherine Hardwicke (director). Hardwicke also directed Thirteen, so please don’t judge her just based on the first Twilight movie. Thirteen is about Tracy (Evan Rachel Wood) who was a sweet innocent 13-year old with pigtails at the start of the movie. But on her first day of junior high, she noticed how Evie (Nikki Reed), the hottest girl in school is getting all the attention and she did all she could to be her friend. But Evie was a bad influence on sweet Tracy. Evie encourages Tracy to steal, have body piercings, tattoos, sex and drugs. Great performances from the actors, especially from Holly Hunter who plays Tracy’s mom. It was also interesting to see a very young and cute Vanessa Hudgens (High School Musical) as one of Tracy’s nicer friends.

Driving Lessons

Driving Lessons

It’s nice to see Rupert Grint play a role other than Ron Weasley. In Driving Lessons he plays Ben. He works as a companion to an eccentric ex-actress, Evie, played by Julie Walters who plays her mum in HP. I didn’t recognize Julie Walters in this movie because she’s usually larger as Molly Weasley in the HP movies. Ben is a shy boy and has a strict Catholic upbringing, but after hanging out with Dame Evie that summer, he grew up and learned how to stand up for himself. This is a nice coming of age story.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a copy of December Boys anywhere here in Winnipeg. It’s the one that stars HP himself, Daniel Radcliffe.

Ballet Shoes

Ballet Shoes

When I found out that the three primary cast of the Harry Potter movies also filmed other movies, I thought that it’d be nice to watch them play different roles.

The first one I rented was Ballet Shoes starring Emma Watson.

It’s a good family movie. Emma plays the oldest of three orphans raised as sisters, Pauline, Petrova and Posy Fossil. It is set in the 1930s and is based on a children’s book of the same title. Pauline wants to be an actor, Petrova wants to fly an airplane, Posy wants to be a ballerina because the only thing her real mother left her were a pair of ballet shoes. The film basically tells the viewers that “Dreams do come true.” I think young girls will enjoy watching this movie.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

“That’s sad,” said my 11-year old boy after we watched the 167 minute-long movie. I was surprised that he sat through the whole thing. My two older boys joined us only after the first few minutes. It’s a good family rated-PG movie. I enjoyed watching it with the boys, lots of life lessons to learn from.

Benjamin narrated at the beginning:

My name is Benjamin Button, and I was born under unusual circumstances. While everyone else was agin’, I was gettin’ younger… all alone.

The key word there is alone. I guess anybody has experienced that feeling of being alone at least a few times in their life. It’s not a good feeling. Although the movie has a sad ending, there are a few funny parts in between. The boys like especially when Mr. Daws would tell Benjamin, “Did I ever tell you I’ve been struck by lightning seven times?” And there would be a clip of how he was struck by lightning.

It was pretty cool to watch the earlier parts of the film when Brad Pitts’ character was old. We are so used to CGI Images now, how they make actors look older. Make-up artists do a pretty good job, too. But what I found amazing is how they made Pitt look like a young 23-year old. I don’t know, somehow, I find it freaky. Not the way he looked, but just knowing that he doesn’t really look like that now. It’s like they took that image from one of his older movies.

Rachel Getting Married

Rachel Getting Married

Anne Hathaway is great in this movie where she played Kym, a recovering drug addict. Kym went home that weekend to attend her sister Rachel’s wedding. Conflict and family tension followed. Did you know that recovering addicts usually want to be away from family right after getting out of rehab? So you can imagine the drama that went along with it. Rosemarie DeWitt, who played Rachel, is also great in it. So is Ms. Debra Winger, who played a small part as their distant mother.

I like the way they played the wedding march, very untraditional, played with drums and the electric guitar. I probably wouldn’t use it for my own wedding, but I like it. It’s different.

Memorable quote:

Kym: I am Shiva the destroyer, your harbinger of doom this evening.

Revolutionary Road

Revolutionary Road

Here’s another movie in which I have a problem with the characters. But that just goes to show you how good the actors are because they were very convincing in playing their parts. (Is it just a coincidence that it also starts Kate Winslet? See my review of The Reader here.)

Leonardo di Caprio and Kate Winslet played a 1950s couple, Frank and April Wheeler. They bought a house in the suburban after they got married. Later on, Frank got bored with his job and April was also bored being a stay-at-home mom and wife. She resented giving up her acting career. They were both unhappy not just with their own personal lives but also with their relationship. Then this big idea hit April. What if they move to Paris and she gets a secretarial job and Frank stays home until he finally realizes what his passion is? Like their friends, I think it was a very immature plan. And then something came up that made the plan more impractical. And I didn’t like the way one of the characters handled the situation. I wouldn’t have handled it the same way. And the ending – It was kind of disturbing for me.

I watched the deleted scenes in the Special Features of the Menu and I was just wondering why the director didn’t include the part where Leo was curled up in a fetal position on the sofa crying. I think that was a very powerful scene. That was my favourite part, and it didn’t make it to the final cut.

Memorable quotes:

April Wheeler: It takes backbone to lead the life you want, Frank.
—-
Frank Wheeler: Well I support you, don’t I? I work ten hours a day at a job I can’t stand!
April Wheeler: You don’t have to!
Frank Wheeler: But I have the backbone not to run away from my responsibilities!

Doubt

Doubt

“Doubt can be a bond as powerful and sustaining as certainty. When you are lost, you are not alone,” says Father Flynn in his sermon.

That night, Sister Aloysius asks the other nuns at supper “Is Father Flynn in doubt? Is he concerned that someone else is in doubt?”

Have you ever doubted someone so much that you would go the extra length to try to prove that they’re guilty? Have you tried to convince people that someone did something inappropriate? But what if you’re wrong? How can you take back the gossip that you have spread? I like the way Father Flynn explained how gossips work in one of his sermons. It involves feathers from a pillow flying in the air and how one can’t gather up every last feather that flew up into the wind. That’s gossip, he says.

I like the story and what powerful acting from the cast. I especially enjoyed the confrontations between Father Flynn, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Sister Aloysius, played by Meryl Streep.

The Reader – A movie and book review

Here’s another movie that I have seen before reading the book. After watching the Academy Awards earlier this year, I started making a list of must-see movies this summer and The Reader made my list. It received several nominations and won quite a few awards. And the plot of a teen-aged boy having an affair with an older woman and then she mysteriously disappears intrigued me.

I rented the movie a few weeks ago. The story begins in the late 1950s in Berlin and 15-year old Michael Berg (David Kross) starts an affair with Hanna Schmitz (Kate Winslet), a woman in her mid-30s. Whenever Michael goes to her apartment, she will ask him to read to her his literary books before they make love. And yes, you must have guessed by now, she’s nude in the movie. Sometimes I wonder if it’s really necessary to have these nude scenes. I’m pretty sure it’s not. A good director and good actors (and Kate is one, she won awards for her portrayal of Hanna in the movie, didn’t she?) can tell a romantic story by forgoing the nude scenes. It has been done. And I’ve read somewhere that the movie has been criticized for including child pornography. Well, David Kross was still a teenager when he did the movie, but I also read somewhere that they waited for him to turn 18 before shooting the nude scenes. But what really bothers me in the movie is how the character of Hanna refused to reveal her secret and would rather serve a lifetime sentence in prison. But of course, I knew better that there is more to the story than what was portrayed in the movie.

And that’s why I tried to get a copy of the book. I found one at another second-hand bookstore, The Book Fair, on Portage Avenue. And yes, I like the book better than the movie.

The book is an easy read even though the topic is quite heavy and emotional. This is another book that is beautifully written even in its simplicity. It was originally written in German by Bernhard Schlink and translated by Carol Brown Janeway. I think the translator did a very good job. So I wonder what made the book good, the author or the translator? Or maybe both. Anyway, it’s a very good novel.

After reading the first part of the book, I take back what I said earlier about the nude scenes. Yes, Michael talks about his physical relationship with Hanna, but I still think the nude scenes could have been limited and toned down a bit in the movie. Also, in the book, Michael explains to the reader how he is feeling at certain parts of the story. Yes, in the movie, I felt young Michael’s excitement as he starts his relationship with Hanna and later falls in love with her. And his pain when Hanna suddenly leaves and years later when he sees her again at the trial and he realizes that she committed a war crime. But I think the movie fails to let the audience understand (especially those who haven’t read the book) that Michael is in pain not just because Hanna, the woman he loved, committed a terrible crime, but that he’s also in pain because he feels guilty for falling in love with a woman who committed such crime even though she had committed the crime after their relationship was over.

Even in the later part of the movie, I didn’t feel the conflicts that Michael has within himself. I only understood them after reading the book. And Ralph Fiennes, who played the older Michael, is such a fine actor.

Could it be the director’s fault? Or maybe it’s just me. Maybe I just got distracted by the nude scenes and that nagging question after watching Hanna get sentenced for life. Is her secret really that shameful at that time that she would rather go to prison for life than reveal her secret? And unfortunately, the book didn’t answer that question either. But the title of the book is The Reader and it’s not really about Hanna, right?

My most favourite part of the book is when Michael talked to the prison warden in person. It almost brought me to tears when she explained to him how proud and happy Hanna was when she overcame ‘her secret’ and how Michael has helped her in doing that. Somehow that part of the movie didn’t have the same impact on me. But I’m going to stop here now before I reveal the secret and spill any more spoilers. 🙂

Hounddog

I saw this movie Hounddog, which stars Dakota Fanning. I’ve heard about this movie where she had to do a rape scene, and it was controversial at that time. I think she was only 12 when she made the movie. I also wondered why her parents let her do the movie. But, hey, I don’t want to judge her parents. And it actually bothered me at first when I found out that she and her sister Elle were offered the roles of the sisters in the upcoming movie, My Sister’s Keeper. I’ve already mentioned this in my book review. Dakota declined the role when she learned that she would have to be bald. I just thought that she didn’t have a problem accepting a movie where she would be raped, but she didn’t want to do one where she would be bald. But hey, again, she must have her own reasons, good, valid reasons.

Well, anyway, there’s nothing vulgar in the way Hounddog was filmed. The rape scene wasn’t graphic. The actual act wasn’t shown but was just implied. There were close-ups on Dakota to show the expressions on her face. There were no nude scenes. I didn’t even find Dakota ‘s gyrating hips as she sang Hounddog sexy. But, I mean, I’m a mother who has kids about her age. Maybe a teen-aged boy would find it sexy. 🙂

Did you know that Hounddog was a blues song before Elvis Presley made it popular? In the movie, Lewellen, Dakota’s character, has a friend who helped her cope with her tragedy by teaching her how to sing the blues.

And kudos to Dakota, she did a fine job in the movie. I think she’s grown up to be a talented actress. She’s been acting since she was what, four years old? And did you know that she’s playing the bad vampire Jane in the upcoming sequel to Twilight, New Moon? This is her first role as a villain. I guess she must have become a versatile actress, too, huh? Can’t wait to see New Moon. But of course, looking forward first to seeing Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince this summer. 🙂

Slumdog Millionaire

“He looks like that guy from American Idol,” my 11-year old son told me as we start to watch Slumdog Millionaire.

“Oh, you mean, Anoop,” I said.

I thought I’d convince the kids to watch the movie with me. Make it a movie night like last time. “It’s about this kid who was a contestant on the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire,” I told them. We used to watch that game show.

My 19-year old wanted to watch the movie, but he has final exams next week and he needs to study and practice.

The 14-year old wasn’t interested or he probably just got annoyed with me for saying the word slumdog wrong. I said it like slamdog. 🙂 Of course I’m just kidding, he just wasn’t interested.

And after guilt-tripping my 11-year old son, “don’t you want to spend time with your mommy?,” I finally convinced him to watch it with me. Only to send him away after about 10 or 15 minutes into the movie. I’ve already asked him a couple of times to cover his eyes with the blanket when I told him, “I don’t think this is a good movie for you to watch. I’ll tell you whether he wins the million dollars or not. Sorry, Ryland.” I know, it was my bad. I thought, they’d show the main character play and win the game at the start of the movie or something, but the story was told in flashbacks of flashbacks. I know, it’s kind of complicated.

Well, it started with 18-year old Jamal Malik being tortured because they suspected him of cheating. He was from the slums of Mumbai, a slumdog, and here he was, one question away from winning 20 million rupees, which is equivalent to about US $400,000.00. But he didn’t cheat. (Ooops, sorry, if you consider that a spoiler.) He just happened to know all the answers, and that’s the reason for the flashbacks. His life story explains why he knew the answers.

The story of where he came from is really a sad one but it is filled with hope in the end. And on Jamal’s persistence to find his childhood love, Latika, again and again, I find it so inspiring and romantic at the same time. 🙂 Well, I’d spare you with anymore details. You might want to go rent the movie or buy your own copy because I highly recommend it.