I Love You Phillip Morris,Going the Distance, The Ref and other CHRISTMAS Themed Movies

It is easy to see why the outrageous, quirky and amusing film I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS has been kept on the shelf for over a year by the studio--they just didn't know how to promote it, and they were scared that the "in your face" sexuality would be a problem for the general public. YES and YES, but as for sophisticated film-goers, this is a treat. Based on a true story, the larger than life Jim Carrey stars as a married, church-going family man, but when he survives a spectacular car crash, he decides to come WAY out of the closet and become a GAY man. When his new gay lifestyle becomes too expensive, he resorts to fraud and ends up in prison, where he quickly falls for the sweet blond queer boy Ewan McGregor. The rest of the film shows the length to which he tries to keep this relationship together, and in the money, which leads to wilder and more complicated scams, returns to prison, escapes, and more scams, etc. The manic comic energy is exhilarating at times, and sometimes it wears you out, but the film is NOT DULL, and does NOT pull punches when it comes to the sexual relationship of the two. A bit broad at times, I liked Carrey's chutzpah and commitment to the role, and McGregor, who has the quieter "straight man" role is quite charming. You haven't seen anything like this before. GRADE------B

GOING THE DISTANCE is a trifle from this past September that I saw on an airplane last week, and it still wasn't very good. Drew Barrymore and Justin Long play would be lovers who must struggle to keep their relationship going when she moves back to San Francisco from New York for a job opportunity. They rack up a lot of miles (I hoped they had signed up for frequent flyer programs) trying to keep their relationship fresh and important. Really, I didn't care, because the film has little plot and features every predictable cliche about long distance relationships that you've ever heard of. GRADE------- D+

It played at SIFF and then for a brief week just as I was going on vacation, so I missed writing about LEAVING, a French film notable for the luminous performance of the intense Kristin Scott Thomas, who plays a middle-aged woman seriously smitten with an illegal worker (the hunky Sergi Lopez) from Spain who has been hired by her husband to remodel the basement apartment. So smitten, in fact, that she suddenly leaves her husband and teen aged children to take up life with him, and of course her husband does all he can to make her financial life miserable to force her to return. We've seen this before, but never with such fascinating actors, and Ms Scott-Thomas keeps us riveted through to the tragic ending. GRADE-----B

I also missed writing about MARWENCOL, a documentary about a man who, after he becomes seriously beaten, begins creating tableaus out of Barbie and Ken and GI Joe dolls that reenact scenes from World War II military conflicts, and then photographs them. These photos have become an artistic sensation, and the film raises the questions of "What is art?" and "What is reality?" for this mentally challenged artist. This would make an interesting double bill with the recent EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP, which I found even more disturbing. GRADE---B

Every year my wife and I enjoy the brilliantly witty acerbic comedy THE REF (1994) in which a cat burglar played by Denis Leary takes as his hostages a bickering couple in small town suburbia, played with GREAT timing by Judy Davis and Kevin Spacey. The entire film is set on Christmas Eve, with five more family members coming over for dinner and a delinquent son home from military school, who has just blackmailed his teacher......There is a lot of meaty plot points, and amusing characters, and very funny lines, both irreverent and poignant, and we laugh out loud a lot. This is one of the great Christmas themed movies of all time (for adults, due to some very rough but funny language) and a good antidote to the treacly sweet Christmas crap that keeps boring you to death this time of year. GRADE------A-
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's a list of some of my favorite Christmas themed films--and all are available on DVD----

IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1942) is still the top, and it seems to get better than ever with age.
FROZEN RIVER (2008)--a single mom tries to raise Christmas money by--human trafficking!?
THE REF (1994)--cat burglar must deal with funny dysfunctional family to escape police.
THE LION IN WINTER (1968)--Katherine Hepburn and Peter O'Toole as Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II who fiercely fight over a successor in a brilliantly funny script about Christmas Eve survival, with Anthony Hopkins and Timothy Dalton.
MEET ME IN ST LOUIS (1944) --It covers a lot of seasons, but there's a wonderful Christmas scene where Judy Garland sings "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"
MIRACLE OF 34TH ST (1947)--very sentimental and charming, with Natalie Wood as the skeptical child learning about love and truth and Santa.
THE APARTMENT (1960)--cynical yet heartwarming Billy Wilder comedy-drama with Fred McMurray, Jack Lemmon and Shirley McLaine features a long segment set at Christmas.
A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1938 and 1951)--still the best versions of the Dickens tale,with the later one starring the very effective Alastair Sims the best.
SINCE YOU WENT AWAY (1944)--this home front film set in WWII covers several years, but has some very effective scenes set during the holidays.
ABOUT A BOY (2002)--a self absorbed bachelor (Hugh Grant, of course) becomes involved with a lonely boy whose mother is chronically depressed in this unique comedy-drama set during the holiday period.

The above films are a solid Grade A . Below are some great films I'd rate a B+

LOVE ACTUALLY (2003)--a big cast and multiple story lines has many falling in love during the holiday season in London, with some memorable characters portrayed by Bill Nighy as an aging rock star looking for one more hit, Emma Thompson as a betrayed wife, and Hugh Grant (again) as the Prime Minister.
THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER (1941)--Monty Wooley stars as an acerbic, eccentric man who breaks his leg and must stay at the home of Bette Davis over the holidays, driving everyone crazy in this amusing story.
BRIDGET JONES DAIRY (2001)--Renee Zellwiger, Hugh Grant and Colin Firth, with several comic scenes set at the holidays--check out the Christmas sweaters!
MEET JOHN DOE (1941)--Sentimental but interesting Capra film with Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck--lots of social commentary, with emotional climax set on Christmas Eve.
BAD SANTA (2003)--outrageously profane and at times very offensive, this is not for the faint of heart, but there are many funny moments as an alcoholic, criminal Santa (Billy Bob Thornton) tries to set up a series of department store robberies with his black elf, but becomes sidetracked by young boy who still believes in Santa. Disgusting and amusing and poignant, this is one-of-a-kind.
HOME ALONE (1990)--the first and best (with three sequels) has an eight year old mistakenly left alone at Christmas while the rest of the family flies off to Paris, and he must fight off some clumsy burglars who have targeted his house. Macaulay Culkin is terrific as the child.
MIXED NUTS (1994)--a very odd black comedy set on Christmas Eve in a suicide hot line center has some laughs and quirky moments--hit or miss, but every time I see it, it grows on me. Stars Steve Martin, Madeline Kahn, Rob Reiner Adam Sandler, Jon Stewart, Rita Wilson, Juliette Lewis and others.

Others worth checking out---THE BISHOP'S WIFE (1947) with Cary Grant, THIS CHRISTMAS (2007) with large black family coming together with problems and love, THE NATIVITY STORY (2006)--a serious, reverent depiction of the birth of Christ, and POLAR EXPRESS (2004) but only on the big screen with the eye-popping (at the time) 3-D effects, which made it seem a lot better.

Not films, but A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS gets me every time, and MR MAGOO's CHRISTMAS CAROL is a lot of fun.

I know I've missed a few--send me an email or comment if you have a neglected Christmas film.


COMING SOON-----THE TOP FILMS OF THE DECADE-----and in early February---the TOP FILMS OF 2010--just in time for the Oscars.

Alamar, Social Network, Love and Other Drugs, more BB

A lot has been written about SOCIAL NETWORK by others as well as myself, but I want to add that this is the film to beat for the year end awards so far. I took my wife to see it on the last day of operation of the now closed Uptown Theatre on lower Queen Anne. I shall miss the Uptown because it was never hard to find parking nearby (unless there was a major event at the Seattle Center), never terribly crowed, had a nice urban neighborhood feel to it and was the closest and easiest "in town" theatre to reach for me--and right on the (single) bus line for me. I hope someone else can take over this fine theatre with three screens and get better programming for it. Seemed like they were always showing second runs and low key foreign films, and they were all held over for weeks and weeks. But as for SOCIAL NETWORK, the characterizations and actors continue to fascinate on second viewing, and the script is so sharp and literate and delivered at the fastest pace possible, that you marvel at the cleverness of it all.
GRADE-------A

Part documentary, part reality film, all dreamy ALAMAR floats by like a beautiful reverie. A young boy who lives in Rome with his mother, spends his first summer with his Mexican father and grandfather on a house built on stilts on a coral reef island off the coast of Mexico, and discovers the joys of swimming, boating, fishing, and watching a bird eat insects off the floorboards of this humble shack--in other words, communing with this lovely watery-world. He takes to it effortlessly and with great enthusiasm, and it is a pleasure to watch him discover the joys of nature. The film is unstructured--no plot to speak of, with only a little talking (subtitles), and at times the uncertain camera movements moving with the waves or in the boat can make you a little sea-sick, but if you are patient, the ethereal film becomes quite moving and affecting. GRADE-----A-

LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS benefits from having two very attractive leads (Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway) cavorting in the nude many times during this love story/sex story/disease-drama/comedy film set in the 1990-s. (They made a nice, effectively hostile married couple in BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN.) Unfortunately, the film wants to be all things to all viewers, so it throws in some vulgar sex jokes, dreary disease of the week cliches, satirical jabs at the medical drug industry, and unconvincing social commentary, and introduces characters only to never have them show up again. This is probably the last film of the recently deceased Jill Clayburgh, but after her first brief scene, she disappears completely from the film. It is watchable, thanks to the leads, and if they'd kept the film edgy, with the sex, nudity and relationship angles, which are the strongest aspects, then it would be much more satisfying. GRADE-----B-

The following were viewed on DVD from the library.......
The recent independent Mexican film SIN NOMBRE (2008) was quite a revelation to me. A lot of characters are introduced early in the film, but the film narrows itself quickly to a young man who is trying to break away from the violent gang life he leads when his girlfriend is callously killed by the gang leader, the newest, younger member still a child who he has pulled into the gang world and who is to become his downfall in powerful ironic terms, and a young girl who is trying to escape the poverty of Guatemala by traveling north to the United States with her father and uncle, and who finds a dangerous attraction to this ex-gang member. These characters all come together throughout the film at various times, and it makes for a fascinating socio-ethnic collision with very intense, sobering moments. The reality seemed so vivid that it's hard to believe that many of these characters were played by first time locals. GRADE------A-

A beautiful actress tries to hide her Jewish director husband from the Nazis in the basement of his theatre during occupied Paris in the low key film THE LAST METRO (1980). The film, directed by Francois Truffaut, seemed to romanticize the occupation, with many situations that could have been intense softened by humor or mugging or the glib actions of the theatre group. The final scene was particularly odd--it seemed to tack on a fairy tale ending to what could have been a tragic ending. Still, the film has some charm and interest, especially when the leads are the beautiful Catherine Deneuve and dashing Gerard Depardieu (about 100 pounds ago.) GRADE-----B

THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER (1941) is a curious film, beautifully photographed in black and white, and with a great soundtrack by Oscar winner Bernard Hermann (who did many of Hitchcock's great films) and featuring a terrific supporting role for Walter Huston (as the Devil Scratch). It's the story of a struggling farmer who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for some wealth and good fortune, but later comes to regret his decision. I was into this story all the way until the end, which features a not-so-convincing speech by the Daniel Webster character, and I didn't buy it. Still, oddly entertaining and well worth watching. GRADE-----B

One of Brigitte Bardot's most famous films, the once scandalous ...AND GOD CREATED WOMAN (1956) seems a bit tame by today's standards, but as usual, I found BB to be believable and enchanting as a young "wild" bride who causes havoc among her husband, his older brother and her would be older lover. This is the third BB film I've seen in the last two weeks, and in each she has some peek-a-boo nudity and some extended (!) dance scenes--in this one she dances with wild, sexual abandonment in front of all three men for what seems like 5 minutes, until finally her husband steps up and slaps some sense into her. Not too politically correct, but very watchable. GRADE------B-

Since I was in college, I occasionally have had what I call APOCALYPTIC dreams--where the world is on the brink of disaster and there I sit watching it all happen, helpless to do anything about it. Many films have exploited this theme, especially the recent 2012 where the whole world is destroyed while one (lucky?) family manages to avoid death dozens of times over while all around them are sent to fiery deaths. My dreams have witnessed the atomic mushroom explosion and cloud, the moon plunging to the earth, a fireball rolling towards me, the fall from a tall building, and many variations. Unfortunately, there are NO SPECIAL EFFECTS in the Stanley Kramer film ON THE BEACH (1959) which starts when the world has already killed off the northern hemisphere with massive nuclear attacks, and the resulting poisonous cloud has killed off everyone and is slowly making it's way to Australia, where Gregory Peck and Ava Gardener must decide whether or not they want to fall in love before they die. (He's lost his family in the US while he was in a submarine in the Pacific, and she's a drunk who's never known love). Ava's friend "Julien" has also never been in love (and possibly gay--played well by Fred Astaire) but has ambitions to be a winning race car driver (!!!!!) and submarine Lt. Anthony Perkins must deal with a young wife who can't face the reality of their grim situation. The premise is VERY SERIOUS to these characters, and there are no laughs in the story---it is handled without the hint of camp. I found it intriguing, but it made me think that I wish the story had been a bit more----LURID ? LIVELY ? SENSATIONAL ? It's thoughtful, but I missed the giant mushroom cloud heading their way. GRADE-------B-