January 2007
	by Max (with Walt Oleksy)	view previous issues here

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SAINT RALPH (Canada)

Funny, sweet, inspirational. One of those rare “feel good movies.” “A triumph!” said another critic, and I totally agree. People who saw it in theaters applauded. A skinny misfit 14-year-old boy at a Catholic school (his soldier father was killed before the movie begins) gets into every innocently sinful (and funny) mischief possible. Then he tries to get on God's good side by winning the Boston Marathon. He thinks it would be a miracle if he won, and he needs a miracle that will bring his gravely ill mother out of a coma. Along the way he has a war with the school’s headmaster priest who objects to him running, and tries his darndest to get a kiss from a reluctant classmate who wants to become a nun. Wonderfully written and directed by new Canadian filmmaker Michael McGowan. Very winning Adam Butcher plays Ralph to perfection, assisted by Campbell Scott as a priest who befriends him, and Gordon Pinsent as the obstacle-putting headmaster. The music is beautiful, by the way, from Gord Downie. Made by Alliance Atlantis Communications and Amaze Film and Television, released by Samuel Goldwyn Films and Sony Pictures.

MARCH OF THE PENGUINS (France)

A fantastic documentary following the incredible journey of Emperor Penguins in the Antarctic from birthing place to breeding ground. That may not sound very exciting, but it sure is. An amazing adventure from director Luc Jacquet. In accompanying documentaries, cinematographer Jerome Maison tells how this extraordinary nature movie was researched and filmed, and National Geographic shows a penguin with a camera strapped on its back to take us into its underwater world. From Warner Home Video.

The CONSTANT GARDENER (Great Britain)

This British-made political thriller is an engrossing film expertly written, directed, and acted. It also is highly controversial since it alleges that international pharmaceutical companies use African men, women, and children as guinea pigs in testing new drugs including possible AIDS remedies. Fernando Meirelles, who directed “City of God,” directed this taut film with a screenplay by Jeffrey Caine from the novel by John le Carre. Ralph Fiennes, to me the best actor in films today, gives one of his best performances as a conservative British government agent who is a widower trying to learn who brutally murdered his politically liberal wife. His quest leads him into greed and corruption in both politics and big business. Rachel Weisz also gives as exceptional performance as the wife. You will follow this story totally involved to the unexpected and memorable ending. From Focus Features.

The Catherine Cookson Collection (Great Britain)

The Brits are up to the standards of the best movies of the past with the release of this 4-DVD boxed set featuring dramatizations of four best-selling novels by Catherine Cookson, a modern-day Charles Dickens. My favorite of the set is the long-awaited DVD release of “The Wingless Bird,” an exquisite love story set against British class struggles of the early 1900s. Treat yourself to this set just to see this movie and you will long remember the three-way love affair of Claire Skinner, Edward Atterton, and Julian Wadham. The other movies in the set are also memorable: “The Fifteen Streets” with Sean Bean as the son of a brawling father on the docks of southern England; “The Rag Nymph,” about a rag lady who takes a 10-year-old street urchin under her wing in a touching relationship story; and “The Moth,” with Jack Davenport and Juliet Aubrey in a romance set in rural England in 1913. From Acorn Media.

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

No, it's not really a gay cowboy movie. Too bad it got that tag, because it’s much more and better than that. Yes, it is about two guys who wear bluejeans and cowboy hats, but they’re sheep-herders who become strongly attracted to each other during a summer working alone together in the Montana mountains. I won’t reveal more, but urge everyone to see this exceptional movie that is perfectly cast and acted (by Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal), beautifully written (E. Annie Proulx and Larry McMurtry), and photographed, and expertly directed by Ang Lee who justifiably won the Academy Award as best director. And yes, I believe it should have won the Best Picture Academy Award, especially since the winner, “Crash,” is, as I have previously reviewed, trash. From Alberta Filmworks, Focus Features, Paramount and Universal and others. I’d like to quote from one review of the movie, which I heartily agree with. It was not written by a professional movie critic, but by a movie-goer from Canada: “I was fortunate enough to see the North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. That was two days ago, and this film just won’t leave my mind. Not that I'm complaining, because this is what good cinema is all about… Ennis and Jack, two cowboys who fall in love. As others have touched on, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN is so much more than merely a gay cowboy movie. It perfectly captures what true, unbridled love is all about and this love transcends any issues of sexuality or gender. Love is a force of nature. Unfortunately for many people and indeed the protagonists of our story, society doesn't always view it that way.” Be cautioned, it does have brief nudity, but that sometimes happens between people in love.

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (Great Britain)

I really liked this latest version of the oft-filmed romantic comedy, with Keira Knightley luminous as Elizabeth Bennett from Jane Austen’s beloved novel of manners and mating in Georgian England. Matthew Macfadyen ably plays Mr. Darcy, but it’s a role that calls for dour introversion and is easily overshadowed by the more spunky Lizzy. Beautifully acted, costumed, and amid authentic period settings, this is old-fashioned classic movie-making seldom seen on the screen today (of course it comes not from Hollywood but from a co-British-French effort). It’s thoroughly delightful, although I still prefer the 1995 British television miniseries which starred Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth, perhaps because that was longer and could tell more of the story and character motivation. From Working Title Films, Studio Canal, and Universal Home Entertainment.

GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK
Almost a docudrama, a tribute to legendary television newsman Edward R. Murrow and his war with hate-monger Sen. Joseph McCarthy dureing America's Communist witch-hunt period in the 1950s. David Strathairn looks like Murrow and deftly plays him, with very able support from Patricia Clarkson, Jeff Daniels, and others including George Clooney who won the best supporting actor Oscar for his performance. Clooney also directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Grant Heslov and is to be commended for giving us such an insightful movie. A co-production from France, Japan, the UK, and USA, it is on DVD from Warner Bros.

THE WHITE COUNTESS (Great Britain)

The final film of the classy, superior British moviemaking team of Merchant-Ivory (producer Ismail Merchant died during production last year; his partner was director James Ivory) is one of the best movies I’ve seen in the past year. It is old-fashioned moviemaking: mature, intelligent, many-faceted, beautifully mounted, and leaves you feeling you haven’t wasted two hours or the price of admission. Ralph Fiennes, my favorite actor today, plays a British diplomat in 1936 Shanghai who is blinded in a terrorist bombing. Natasha Richardson plays a refugee White Russian countess who works as a hostess at a Chinese night club where the two meet. Their lives come together when Fiennes opens his own more elegant club, hires Richardson as hostess, and calls it The White Countess. The club is Fiennes’ attempt to shut out the chaos and tragedy that surround him in the dark as the Japanese prepare to invade Eastern China, an event that begins as the movie reaches its dramatic conclusion. It may not rank as the best of the Merchant-Ivory team that gave us THE REMAINS OF THE DAY, A ROOM WITH A VIEW, and HOWARD’S END, but it is head and shoulders above most other recent films and they would indeed be hard to beat. Handsome Fiennes, again not even nominated for an Oscar for this or for THE CONSTANT GARDENER, shows what great acting is, while beautiful Richardson again demonstrates she is among our finest actresses. Vanessa Redgrave and Lynn Redgrave are also in the film, but almost lost in small supporting roles. From Sony Pictures.

THE BEST OF YOUTH (Italy)

This came and went in theaters with hardly a notice, but it is one of the best movies I’ve seen in years. If you only have time for one movie this month or year, see this one! Originally a miniseries on Italian television, it is now on DVD as a 6-hour movie on two discs. In Italian with English subtitles. Too long? When it ended, I wished it could go on for more hours. But I suggest you watch it on two successive nights, one disc each night. The engrossing story tells of the lives and loves of two brothers who couldn’t be more opposite, and the people in their lives from 1963 to 2000, following them from Rome to Norway to Turin to Florence to Palermo and back to Rome again. Their adventures are told against the background of the volatile politics and history of Italy during the period: hippies, the devastating flood in Florence, the revolutionary Red Brigades, economic downturns, joblessness, and social change. Luigi Lo Cascio plays Nicola who becomes a psychiatrist, and Alessio Boni plays his brother Matteo who becomes a policeman. Both give memorable performances, as do many others in the big cast. This synopsis intentionally does not give you much detail as to the plot, because to tell more would spoil it for you. Be assured the 6 hours will fly by, the plots are so involving and full of twists. This movie has heart, humanity, intelligence, wit, strong drama, beautiful sets and scenery and you are not likely to ever forget it. Other critics rank it among the great Italian movies such as THE LEOPARD, ROCCO AND HIS BROTHERS, OPEN CITY, and so do I. From Miramax.

SYRIANA

The plot is simple: how the oil industry works to control the world, including the United States and, yes, you. The execution is not so simple. Even Roger Ebert, who earns millions figuring out complex movies like this, admits he didn’t understand it. “The movie’s plot is so complex,” he reported, “we’re not really supposed to follow it, we’re supposed to be surrounded by it.“ But, like Ebert, I highly recommend seeing it because it is important. Very important. Be cautioned, though. It’s a very strong movie with terrorism and other violence. One quote from the movie gives a little idea of why many people -- and not only American businessmen, politicians, and lobbyists -- are in the oil business: Says one oil-opportunist in the film: “It’s like someone put a giant ATM on our front lawn.” The screenplay is episodic, the stock in trade of Stephen Gaghan, who wrote TRAFFIC, with the oil industry as the backdrop rather than the drug trade. One critic said “The drug trade is the less sleazy of the two because it does not exist with the façade of legitimacy that surrounds the oil industry.” Some say the film is not left-wing and is actually a-political and not anti-American, but you decide that for yourself. It is very thought-provoking, which alone makes it stand head and shoulders above most other new films from Hollywood. George Clooney won a best supporting actor Oscar for his role, and the strong ensemble cast includes Matt Damon, William Hurt, Christopher Plummer, and Chris Cooper. From Warner Brothers.

NANNY McPHEE (Great Britain)

I loved this fantasy and recommend it highly for the whole family. Emma Thompson wrote the screenplay from Christianna Brand’s book about a widower in Victorian times whose mischievous seven children cause seventeen nannies to flee the house and never come back. Who you gonna call? Nanny McPhee! As played by Emma the Great herself, made up with warts and hang-toothed, is the governess a wizard, a witch, or what? The fun goings on will keep kids roaring and parents wishing they had such a nanny to help them restore order to the house. Ever-popular Colin Firth plays the beleagured father charmingly and Angela Lansbury is wonderful as a rich aunt with a heart of granite. The kids are all lots of fun. No dogs in it, alas, but a hilarious dancing donkey. It’s pure magic for all ages. From Working Title Films and Three Strange Angels, distributed by Universal Pictures.

EIGHT BELOW

I may be a bit prejudiced, but I loved this dog movie about eight sled dog huskies trying to survive after being abandoned by their human caretakers in an Antarctic winter. Paul Walker ably plays the sled-dog handler who tries desperately to return to find and rescue the dogs over many months. He was probably cast because he’s so good-looking, but he seems to really care about the dogs. To please his female fans, he actually appears shirtless outdoors in an early scene, despite it being about 5 below zero. The movie was inspired by a Japanese film, ANTARCTIA, which was based on the real-life adventures of a team of nine sled dogs that unfortunately didn’t end as happily as this new telling of the story. I recommend it for teenagers and adults but not for the very young or those especially disturbed by violence to animals because of a few scenes that could well have been left out. Mercifully, sled dogs have been banished from the South Pole since the 1990s. Produced by Mandeville Films and released on DVD by Walt Disney Pictures.

THE DUCHESS OF DUKE STREET (Great Britain)

The fascinating true story of Rosa Lewis’s rise from obscurity in the kitchens of pre-World War I London to uncrowned duchess of the culinary arts in her own hotel-restaurant concludes with series 2 just released by Acorn Media. The enormously popular 1979-1980 BBC Masterpiece Theater series’ final 16 episodes follow the indomitable heroine, played to perfection by Gemma Jones, through the horrors of World War I to the “anything goes” 1920s, and they roared in England just as they did in the U.S. John Hawkesworth created the series that is set mainly in Lewis’s venerable Cavendish Hotel and co-stars Christopher Cazenove as her main love interest. Written by Rosemary Anne Sisson who brought us UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS. See this by all means, but if you haven’t seen Series 1, rent or buy that first so you take in the full wonderful story from the start. My master and I love this series and it is great to have it finally on DVD. Series 2 is on 5 DVDs in a handsome boxed set that includes a biography of Rosa Lewis.

THE LOST PRINCE (Great Britain)

This is just one of three movies on DVD that I highly recommend this month that were written and directed by one of Britain’s most interesting contemporary playwrights, Stephen Poliakoff. It’s the most ambitious of the three and won the British television award for best drama. It tells the sad but also joyful true story of Prince John, youngest son of George V and Queen Mary, who suffered from epilepsy and a learning disability but nonetheless was a boy full of love who craved for his parents to love him. But doctors encouraged them to hide him from the world, declaring him to be an imbecile and an embarrassment to the royal family. Isolated from the outside world as it became torn into World War I, the boy prince is cared for and loved by a devoted nurse who tries and finally succeeds in convincing the monarchy that far from being an embarrassment, he is a jewel in their crown. Beautifully told, with authentic period sets and costumes (and cars, which my master loves), the excellent cast includes Miranda Richardson as the queen, Gina McKee as the nurse, and Michael Gambon, Bill Nighy, and Tom Hollander. Wonderful drama from BBC Home Video and WGBH Boston Video. The other two new Poliakoff movies also on DVD are FRIENDS AND CROCODILES and GIDEON’S DAUGHTER. The former follows a Great Gatsby character through his ups and downs fortunes, and the latter focuses on a daughter who tries to live up to and with her father’s worship of her. Both intriguing stories very well told. I conclude this tribute to Poliakoff by reporting that what I consider to be his greatest work, PERFECT STRANGERS, is finally to be released on DVD in this country this year.

A HEART IN WINTER (France)

This a French drama with some of the most beautiful music in a movie in years. Beautiful Emmanuelle Baert plays a concert violinist who becomes intrigued by her lover’s business partner, played by the incomparable Daniel Auteuil. Trouble is, he is incapable of feeling or expressing love, thus the movie’s title. Claude Sautet directs this “superb, deceptively complex, haunting” menage-a-trios (The Washington Post). Beautifully filmed and acted, in French with English subtitles. From Koch Lorber Films.

PRESTON STURGES: THE FILMMAKER COLLECTION

Where is the great creator of some of the funniest movies of the 1930s and 1940s when we need him so badly? He’s returned in restored editions of some of his greatest comedy classics, some of which never have been on DVD before. The hilarious collection includes my personal favorites THE LADY EVE and THE PALM BEACH STORY, as well as SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS, CHRISTMAS IN JULY, THE GREAT MOMENT, HAIL THE CONQUERING HERO, and THE GREAT McGINTY. If you’ve tired long ago of the juvenile, mindless Hollywood movies that pass as comedies these days, treat yourself and your loved ones to this treasure trove of some of the best of Hollywood comedies of the golden age. Stars include Joel McCrea, Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Claudette Colbert, Brian Donlevy, Mary Astor, Veronica Lake, Betty Hutton, and Eddie Bracken. Close to stealing every scene from the stars are the supporting cast of Sturges’ films including Charles Coburn, William Demarest, Eric Blore, and Eugene Pallette. A must-have for your DVD collection, from Universal, although the movies were originally made by Paramount Studios. Now we can only hope a follow-up collection of the rest of Sturges’ comedies follows this one, especially REMEMBER THE NIGHT, a funny, romantic, heart-warming movie that is great anytime but especially over Christmas and New Year's.

THE PREMIERE FRANK CAPRA COLLECTION

Sony Pictures does the great director justice in its handsome new 6-DVD boxed set of five classic movies. “It Happened One Night,” “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” and “You Can’t Take It With You” were released earlier on DVD, but it’s very nice to have them in this set. It also includes a fifth film, Capra’s 1932 social-political drama “American Madness” with Walter Huston and Pat O’Brien that contains themes he later used in “It’s a Wonderful Life.” A bonus disc holds archival Capra film footage, rare photographs, new interviews, a documentary hosted by Ron Howard, and a 96-page collectible movie scrapbook about these five and other Capra films. A great Christmas gift for anyone who appreciates the best of Hollywood’s past.

See you next month at the same fire hydrant.