Happy 5th Anniversary!

WOW!!! What a way to start the New Year and celebrate the official 5th anniversary of movie club. Our first meeting of the year was fantastic. We had overflow attendance with almost all recent members of the group present. Then we had a surprisingly, to me, boisterous and passion-filled discussion about the film, House of Sand and Fog. The level of passion associated with this one was surprising to me, but that's what is so wonderful about movie club.

House of Sand and Fog was chosen by the newest member of our club, Nero. She said she chose the film because it is one of her favorites and she wanted to see it again. Judging by the ratings it was given, it is probably a favorite of a lot more people now.

It is a very good movie, on that everyone was agreed. The acting was superb, especially Ben Kingsley's performance, which was exceptional. In truth, all the actors in the film were perfect in their roles; the photography was beautiful and story was told with dialogue and actions that seemed true-to-life. There was no black or white in this movie. The characters were all flawed, no one all good or all bad as we too often see in film.

Carl and Lori both gave the film an A+. Lori commented that while she'll cry at sentimentality expressed in movies, it is "not easy", for a film , "to evoke a lot of different emotions" from her as this one did. Carl felt that it was a "great movie, with great acting" but wondered why Jennifer Connelly's character didn't just open her mail. A sentiment that was shared by many in the room. Of course, if she had, there would have been no story to tell. Harold felt that the "sum was not equal to its parts". For him, the movie didn't add up to a great film although there were a number of great moments in it.

As often happens in our meetings, the arguments and passions stirred during our discussion had little to do with the film's quality but with the issues highlighted in it. The issues addressed in this movie were were complicated, demonstrating how one's perspectives are shaped by cultural and social beliefs. What is right or wrong can be based on how one is taught to view the world, and that being said, both parties can be claim to be on the right and moral side of an issue. I was somewhat surprised that there were so many movie club members who seemed to have chosen a side. Many members latched on to what was legally right and supported the character who had the system on his side. Others, like myself, felt that while the law was on his side, the right path to take would have led him to other actions to solve the problem.

In the end, tragedy happens and everyone loses, some their very lives, because no one was willing to step back and take the time to evaluate what was really at stake. Instead it was more important to win rather than to communicate with one another and look for ways to make everyone a victor. There must be a lesson in that somewhere.

In an effort to make the blog a little more interesting, I decided to try embedding some video to give readers a taste of what this film is all about. Here's the trailer for House of Sand and Fog.

And here are the ratings:

• Nero A
• Zorah A-
• David A
• Tiffany B
• Ramona A
• Carlito A+
• Zanetta A
• Kathy B+
• Yvonne B
• Lori A+
• Harold B
• Ron A
• Rita A
• Hope B+

Average = A-

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Our next film, I Am Legend, was selected by Zanetta because of Will Smith. Period. Unfortunately Zanetta didn't see the movie because, being susceptible to nightmares, she was warned that watching it might cause her to have them. Unfortunately too despite our collective support of Will Smith, I Am Legend didn't fare as well as our previous film.

Well Will there's good news and bad news. Let's get the bad news out of the way first, only two A's for the movie. Now for the good news. Most of us really liked your performance and thought you did a really good job carrying almost the entire movie by yourself, of course with great supporting help from Sam. Puts you right up there with Tom Hanks in Cast Away http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0162222/. Tiffany and John really had high praise for the film. John thought that "Will Smith is finally at the point where he can say he can act" and that this was a "breakout" for him and that his "respect went through the roof". He also praised the technical aspects of the film. Tiffany said that she likes horror/thriller style movies and that the monsters in the film, "were cool",plus she like movies shot in New York City.

On the other side of the ratings table Ron said that "this is the third time this movie has been made" citing The Omega Man http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067525/ as one incarnation. He thought the special effects "stunk" and that "if it hadn't been for Will Smith, it would have been an F". Ed, who also gave the movie a C- rating thought "the plot had too many holes. It was too trite, too Hollywood." Finally Damon who originally gave the movie a C- changed his rating too an even lower D- because he thought that too many good things were being said about the film by those who didn't like it. He thought it was "a corny movie" and only reason to see it was Will Smith. He fell asleep.

Personally I didn't think it was so bad but a lot of my movie going time was spent hiding my face and jumping out of my skin. I was physically sore when I left the theater from tensing up so much during the movie. If you like that kind of thing I guess I Am Legend is the film for you.

Here are the ratings:

• Carl A


• Ramona C


• Gregg C-


• John A


• Kathy B


• Lori B+ (for the movie)/A- for Will's performance


• Yvonne B+


• Rita B


• Ron C-


• Zorah C


• Harold B


• Ed C-


• Tiffany A


• Damon D-


• Hope B-


• David C (for the movie)/A for Will's performance

Average = C+

http://iamlegend.warnerbros.com/

December Movie Club Notes

Hello to all our Movie Club members and friends. (Warning: if you have not seen these movies, there may be spoiler information below.)

This is late, late, late I know and I apologize. I had a bit of writer's block. Actually I didn't take very good notes at this month's meeting so it was difficult to remember what went on. (It must have been those appletinis Carl made.)

As always we had a spirited Movie Club meeting and we reviewed two very good movies; Tsotsi and Gone Baby Gone. We also welcomed a new member, Nero, who we hope we didn't discourage her with all the shouting and talking over one another. Of course we know she'll be back next month because she has selected one of our movies for January. (See sidebar)

As we've noted so many times before, it is surprising how often movies selected completely at random, have very similar themes, and this was certainly the case this month.

The first movie discussed was Tsotsi, http://www.tsotsi.com/english/index.php the winner of the 2006 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, a fact I don't think most of us were aware of during our review. Everyone enjoyed this film, evident by the ratings it was given:

David - A, Carl - A, Greg - B+, Harold - B+, Yvonne - B+, Zanetta - A+, Zorah - A+, Lori - A, Hope - B+, Ramona - A-, Nero - A-.

Zorah chose the movie because she felt it was a "better character study" of a gangster than American Gangster, one of last month's movie picks, and was really well done. It also gave us a look at the townships in South Africa and how people are really living.

The title character didn't have a lot of dialogue but who he was came through anyway. Zanetta gave the movie an A+ rating despite the fact that she was annoyed that the film tried to justify what Tsotsi,(the slang word for thug in South Africa's ghettos), did by pulling at your heartstrings. Of course, this comment led the group to a sidebar conversation about what creates a predator like Tsotsi and while no one excused what Tsotsi did, robbing and shooting people , participating in a murder and finally the focus of the movie, the life-changing accidental kidnapping of a baby, there was an understanding of what the factors were that made him who he was. All in all we all felt that this was a great movie. I guess the Oscar voters knew what they were talking about.
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Our other movie for the month was Gone, Baby Gone, http://www.gonebabygone-themovie.com/ Ben Affleck's directorial debut starring his brother Casey and a wonderful cast of professional and first-time actors. This film also dealt with a missing child and while many of us were certain at first if the movie would work, most of us enjoyed it. Here are the group's ratings:

Ramona - A, Lori - A, Zorah - B, Rylona* - A, Carl - B+, Zanetta - B, Harold - B+, Ron - A-,

Rita - B+, David - A(for acting) D(for the film)

David gave the film its lowest rating and felt that fantastic acting performances were wasted. The movie "just didn't hang together" for him. Lori however like the storyline but thought at first that Casey Affleck was a bad casting decision. But she felt that he transformed himself during the film becoming "more believable" as it progressed. As with Tsotsi, this movie gave us a realistic portrayal of some of the less affluent Boston communities and caused a discussion about the moral issues explored here. Should the child have been returned to her mother? Was he right to kill the child molester and murderer?

As another year closes, we get ready to celebrate the 5th year of movie club. As you can see from the list on the side, we've seen a whole lot of movies. Some really good ones, some really bad but they've taught us to look at film in a whole different way and most importantly, they've brought us closer together as a group.

Have a very Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa and a Peaceful and Blessed New Year. See you in 2008!

November Movie Club Notes

Hello Everyone,

Time is moving so quickly, I can hardly believe that Thanksgiving is almost here, but what can we do about it?

For those of you who do not read all the way to the bottom, here's the info for December. But please continue to read because there is exciting and new information at the end.

Our movies are:

Gone Baby Gone, selected by Ramona. This is in theaters now but I suggest you see it soon since it has been out for about a month now and may be leaving screens soon.

Tsotsi, chosen by Zorah and on DVD.

Our next meeting will be held on Saturday, December 8. Of course I will be sending a reminder ahead of time but put it on your calendar now. This will be our holiday celebration so watch for emails for details.

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We had a great movie club meeting last week and although we didn't enjoy the presence of some of our regulars like Zanetta and David, we were graced by a few new folks who were either visiting or just checking us out, hopefully to join us our group on a permanent basis. So hello to Sherry, Robert and UB. We were happy to have you with us and hope that you will come again and again.

Our movies for this month were as different as different can be. Unlike times in the past when the movies we viewed had similar themes, even when chosen randomly, these two films were not alike at all.

The first film we discussed was Nuts starring Barbra Streisand and Richard Dreyfus. Selected by Ron the film explored the meaning of sanity, competency and who had the right to make decisions about a person's state of mind. Ron said he chose it because the issues highlighted in the film are more prevalent today then they were in 1987 when the film was made and because he felt "we look at people as being 'nuts' but we don't know what brought them to that place." Unfortunately only three of us actually had the chance to see the movie, so discussion was limited but here are the ratings it received:

Lori - B+
Ron - B+
Hope - B

Not hard to do the math here so Nuts ends up with a strong 3.33 rating which rounded up makes it a B+.

Our second choice for this month was American Gangster. Lori chose the movie because she wanted to see it herself, but also with the ulterior motive of pleasing Zanetta, who hosted last month's meeting, so that she could leave with a doggie bag of Zanetta's delicious picadillo which she served us at the meeting.

Starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe, some felt the movie focused too much on Russell Crowe's character and not enough on Denzel's. Others felt the movie was either too long or too short, (it was 2 hours, 37 minutes long) and still others felt that, while it was a good movie, the reviews which called it great were a long ways off.

Of course there was discussion about whether or not the film glorified the life of Frank Lucas who, without a doubt, was responsible for a good deal of misery and death. Those of us who remember those times in New York City, remember it as a sad time when stories of the destruction of families due to drugs was commonplace. None of us felt that movie cast him as a hero, but given the crimes he committed, 15 years wasn't enough. Looking at the movie dispassionately and judging it only on its merits as a film, no one was particularly blown away by it. I did ask whether folks thought it would stand as a classic 'gangster' film when compared to others in that genre, e.g. Goodfellas, The Godfather, Scarface, etc., and most people thought it would. I guess that remains to be seen.

We all felt that there were a few really good performances that deserved to be recognized. Most thought that Russell Crowe did a good job as Richie Roberts and that Josh Brolin as the crooked cop, Trupo, was also good. We were very mixed on Denzel's performance. Many people felt that it was another case of Denzel playing Denzel. Too many pat Denzel facial expressions and movements. Our resident actor, Stephanie, said that if she had the directed the film she would have asked him to try to show the particular emotion another way and that he is not challenged enough to really pull a great performance out of him. Don't get me wrong, we are Denzel fans, I certainly know I am and Zanetta, who unfortunately missed our meeting, is probably yelling at us as she reads this. We just wish that he was directed in such a way that his true talent is showcased better. He is a very good actor but sometimes falls back on tried and true methods rather than risking taking another track.

Here are the individual ratings for American Gangster:

Lori C+
Ron B
Sherry B-
UB B-
Stephanie C+ (B for the acting)
Zorah C+
Yvonne C+
Greg B
Damon C
Tiffany A
Carl B
Ed C
Harold C+
Ramona C
Robert B
Hope B -
Zanetta* A
David* B+

* Ratings were phoned in.

Have a happy and blessed Thanksgiving.

hope

In the six degrees of separation category, Barbra Streisand is Josh Brolin’s stepmother