Raising Victor Vargas

Grade: B+

It’s not difficult to understand why this was all the rage at the Sundance film festival. This is an independent movie in the finest tradition – authentic, original, completely organic to its subject. A cast of total unknowns, each character feels so genuine they might almost exist within a documentary. Set in New York City’s lower east side, writer/director Peter Sollett has set aside stereotyped conventions of a young Latino surviving amidst crime, weapons, and drugs, and instead unfolds a coming of age story told within the context of a nuclear family struggling to understand one another against the landscape of a richly detailed community. A grandmother, living in a clueless world of old country morality that simply (and thankfully) doesn’t exist here. An inherently good teenager, branded by a code of expectations that bear no reality to his life or surroundings -- his pain, fear and bewilderment ultimately overtaking his outwardly machismo image. Friendships that have one believing these characters have been hanging out at the public pool together their entire lives, and sibling relationships and interactions so real it would be hard to believe they haven’t shared an overheated and decrepit bedroom together their entire lives – their petty rivalries, roles within the family, and quietly profound love for one another is altogether heartwarming and heartbreaking.

More Movie Info: http://imdb.com/title/tt0316188/

The Core

Grade: F

“The Towering Inferno” was a masterwork compared to this thing. “Airport 79 – The Concord” was a profound statement of man’s inhumanity to man next to this embarrassment. “Armageddon” was virtually Shakespearian alongside this monstrosity.

I love a good disaster pic as much as the next guy – cool special effects, loud and overpowering music, cringingly melodramatic dialogue -- that so bad it’s good feeling. Part of me even appreciated “The Swarm” for cryin out loud, which is really saying something. How often does one get to see a wheelchair bound Henry Fonda suffer a massive coronary due to a test injection of bee serum?

But this, good lord stop the madness, is so bloody awful it’s just, well, so bloody awful. If the Academy Awards could rescind an Oscar, Hillary Swank’s statuette would be in the return mail, and Alfrey Woodard, Stanley Tuchi and Aaron Eckhart (okay, maybe not him – he gets a few extra points for taking his shirt off in one scene, providing the flick’s only mildly enjoyable moment) would be taken out of the running for life. Hey, you do a movie in order to afford a new swimming pool, it’s the price you gotta pay.

What, oh what, is so misguided in Hollywood that anyone could have actually read this screenplay and thought, “Hey, I’m gonna’ sink $85 million into this baby!” Who actually believed such horrifically dreadful animation could pass for special effects (let’s be clear here – we’re not simply talking poor computer generated effects here, we’re talking staggeringly amateurishly laughably fake not-to be-believed awful) And why, oh why, did this excruciating mess have to last for over two and a quarter mind numbingly bad hours?

Why did our earth’s core stop rotating properly? Just how stupid is our military? Will Aaron and Hillary kiss before the final credits? Where is Irwin Allen when you need him??

More Movie Info: http://imdb.com/title/tt0298814/

Bend It Like Beckham

Grade: B

Anyone who wants to know why “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” was such an offensive and mindless work of garbage need only see this movie to understand how a comedic take on an ethnic family can and should be done. This is a sweet, funny, if also pat and predictable “Indian Family meets Rocky Balboa.” Parminder Nagra plays a young Indian woman in London with dreams of becoming a professional soccer player. Her story provides nary a surprise, her triumphs never for a moment in any doubt, yet there is more than enough charm here for a light-hearted and nicely moving entertainment.

Not to anyone’s surprise, a very traditional family objects to the teenager’s dreams, expecting a traditional life for their traditional daughter. Yet instead of caricatures, over-the-top accents and juvenile buffoonery, this is also a story of parental love and concern, expectations for one’s children coupled with a desire to protect them from a world of judgment and prejudice. There is much humor at the parent’s expense to be sure, but it is never based on dumbed down scenarios or uninteresting ethnic one-liners. Instead, this is a family movie that at its heart teaches about acceptance, striving to achieve one’s goals no matter the odds, and embracing one’s heritage without being straight-jacketed by it.

A really nice diversion during one parched moviegoing dry spell.

More Movie Info: http://imdb.com/title/tt0286499/

Laurel Canyon

Grade: A-

The most frustrating thing about this exceedingly sophisticated, adult, provocative and erotically charged movie is the fact that it will no doubt be all but forgotten by the time Academy voters fill out their ballots almost a year from now. Not unlike last year’s equally fine “Unfaithful,” this is a film likely to suffer from a far too early distribution strategy, and some brilliant screenwriting and acting talent will be forgotten in the December swirl of last minute Oscar hopefuls.

As the film opens, in one of this movie’s very few false moments, we are introduced to the wealthy east coast parents of a 30-something graduate student, busily expressing their distain for the chosen profession of her psychiatry student boyfriend as well as for his recording industry mother. These stereotyped snobs stand out like a sore thumb, but only because the moment the setting shifts to the west coast – nary five minutes into the picture – the film becomes a strikingly real, thoughtful, and achingly honest portrayal of relationships at a precipice during a time of some agonized self-exploration.

Christian Bale (forever on my official laminated list) is excellent here as a man forced to live in the bohemian home of a mother whose lifestyle he has long fought to escape from. His portrayal reeks of backstory and baggage only alluded to on screen, and his quiet but determined defiance of a non-conventional upbringing is palpable on the screen. One hopes Bale, usually known for far more eccentric roles, will have many more everyman roles in his future. Kate Beckinsale is also fine here as the fiancée taken from her stable life of grades and finite expectations and thrown into a world of free spirited decadence.

The true stunner in the film, however, is the impeccable Frances McDormand, who takes a role that in lesser hands could have quickly become an obvious caricature – a pot smoking, heavy drinking, relationship hopping, failure of a mother, record producer – and instead creates a multi-layered and enormously sympathetic and charismatic woman. She falls into the “note to the Academy” category – it would be a crime if her work were forgotten during next year’s award season.

This is not a film for those seeking a play by the rules, paint by numbers experience – the film is slowly paced, often ambiguous, and fails to come to a final resolution. If one wants to see a movie, enjoy it for 2 hours, then forget about it, please stay away. If one is looking for a film to be discussed and thought about long after leaving the theater, then this is one highly rewarding experience.

More Movie Info: http://imdb.com/title/tt0298408/