April Rentals

There Will Be Blood: There will be a waste of time...there will be boring...there will be 2 hours of my life I won't get back. Sorry, to be so harsh but when a movie is nominated for an Oscar and the lead actor wins...I just expect ALOT more from a movie. Daniel Day Lewis, basically, is a one man show in this movie about a success obsessed oil man from the beginnings of oil's importance in this country. Lewis pulls it off and does present an excellent performance but it is not enough for me to tell you to watch this plodding, dark, boring film. Best Picture nominee? What are the Academy members thinking?
M (out of 5 M's) - just for Lewis' performance.

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story: The problem I had with this movie is that it wasn't what I expected - in a bad way. I thought that with a multi-talented actor like John C. Reilly that I was going to see something more like Taladega Nights, probably better. A fun send up of the music industry with some hints of Walk The Line. Instead it was a total parody of Walk The Line. Don't get me wrong...I have no problem with the art form of the parody. After all, SNL and the Abrahams brothers (Airplane!, Hot Shots!, etc.) have done very well off them. But those were funny. I have to admit I am not into Scary Movie, Date Movie, Epic Movie, etc. You really have to have seen all the movies they are making fun because of the lack of creativity and originality involved. Same thing with Walk Hard. If you saw Walk The Line (which I did) then you might find some of the stuff amusing. My husband laughed at the slap stick physical comedy and some gross bits. But I found my mind wandering waiting for something new. I did giggle at one part - when Cox returns home to make things right with his Dad and finds him quietly singing, "The wrong boy died..." Like I said, you have to be there to find the stuff funny. As much as my friends don't like Will Ferrell, they have to admit that his stuff is original. He pokes fun at different industries like Nascar, figure skating and TV news but he does it with is own fresh, pushing the edge of decorum, irreverent and often sick fashion. I was expecting the same from Walk Hard. I have to say that the music in Walk Hard was impressive. If the movie was as original and funny as the songs...this movie might have worked for me.
M (out of 5 M's)

The Seeker: The Dark is Rising: Based on a series of children's books this movie was a pleasant surprise compared to my recent disappointing rentals. Nothing real new here: On a boy's birthday (his 13th) he finds out he is destined to save the world from an ancient darkness that threatens it...oh, and finds out he has magic powers. The nice pace and honest acting make this movie enjoyable for the sci-fi/fantasy fan. It doesn't give everything away but instead counts on some intelligence of it's viewers to pick some things out. It is slow in the beginning as we meet this boy's family and see he is a frustrated teen in a very big family in a country that is not his own (they are American's living in a small village in England). But stay with it as this story unfolds and develops into a cascading climax. I recommend it as something fresh and original...something I yearned to see these days.
MMM1/2M (out of 5 M's)

Becoming Jane: Anne Hathaway plays 20 year old Jane Austin as she learns about love and is frustrated by being a woman in the time she lives in. I think Hathaway is a charming actress who does a great job in this okay vehicle. I love Jane Austin. Gimme Sense & Sensibility, Pride & Prejudice and Emma any day and I am happy. The movie tries to show how Austin was inspired by the people she knew and how she incorporated them into her stories. It also tries to be a romance but I feel that fell flat. I would rather has seen a movie about her later years and how she tried to get published in a world where a woman that was independent was a disappointment to her family, a woman could not inherit wealth or earn her own. A movie like that (or like Miss Potter, see "Movie Time!" from July 14th blog posting) I feel would have done Austin more justice than seeing her frustrated in love. I think if you want to know Jane Austin then read her books and/or see the movies based on them. I can recommend a few!
MM (out of 5 M's)

Available as a Rental:
My Boy Jack: Caught this last night on PBS' Masterpiece Theatre and was so glad I did! The film follows the story of Jack Kipling, the son of the famous author Rudyard Kipling whose works(Jungle Book, The Man Who Would Be King, Gunga Din, etc.) were (and remain) wildly popular during his lifetime. Rudyard Kipling (David Haig, who also wrote and directed) is a strong proponent to England entering WWI and makes inflammatory speech's to the same (even though the King asks him not to). At the same time Jack Kipling (Daniel Radcliffe, yes, Harry Pottter) is trying every avenue available to join the military. Because of his class and status he needs to be an officer and because of his poor eyesight (without glasses) he is refused at every turn. War is finally declared and every young man in the UK is ready to go fight. Rudyard Kipling uses his influence (he works for the military propaganda office) to get young Jack into the Army. He is only 17. It is a sad fact that almost an entire generation was lost during this most ferocious war and the Kipling family is not without it's pain at the news of Jack's status of missing in action. The second half of the story is about the search for news of Jack. Caroline Kipling (Kim Cattrall), Jack's mother, will stop at nothing to find out if her son is alive, including contacting the Red Cross and interviewing damaged soldiers that were at the battle that day. Beautifully filmed and and acted. Available as a rental.
MMMMM (out of 5 M's)