THAT IS THE QUESTION
……In order of perfection……

ALL IS LOST. Robert Redford (5’9″) is absolutely perfect in this non speaking role. Tense, lost at sea, survival, passing merchant ships (who, by the way rarely tie down their top most cargo freight containers and lose them constantly!!). Just see this film. Thrilling, believable, better than Gravity by far, and it will be a presence at Oscar time for sure.

MUSCLE SHOALS. Another fine documentary about the music business. I got curious about the word MUSCLE in the city’s name. The town website says, “No one knows when the name Muscle Shoals was first used for this area, however, there are many theories of where the name originated. One theory is that at one time there were piles of mussel shells found along the shoals in the Tennessee River. Another theory is that the shape of the river looks like the muscle in a man’s arm, therefore, Muscle Shoals. The last theory comes from several booklets that were published before Muscle Shoals incorporated. This theory states: “Muscle Shoals, the Niagara of the South, derives its name from the Indians, who, attempting to navigate upstream, found the task almost impossible because of the strong current.” Thus came the word muscle, symbolic of the strength required to “paddle a canoe up the rapids.” But the list of famous artists that made their first hit records at Muscle Shoals is staggering. Even much longer are the dozens maybe hundreds of albums recorded there that hit the top. Good fun, great music. Go see it for sure.

CARRIE. Julianne Moore plays Carrie’s mother and she’s the only reason to see this re-make. Buckets of blood, locked in the closet, teen age bullying, it’s all there …again. But you will sure remember Sissie Spacek and Piper Laurie in the original. I didn’t remember that John Travolta was in that 1976 Brian De Palma/Stephen King Masterpiece but Rotten Tomatoes says he was.You could rent it during Thanksgiving when the relatives are here.

ESCAPE PLAN. Sylvestor Stallone (5’9″) plays the brains in this prison break film. More than that, he actually plays the author of a book, which should give you some clue as to the I.Q. level of this numb- nuts movie. Nope, Arnold Schwarznegger (6’1 1/2″) isn’t any better at acting and lying, even after all the years doing the same thing in Sacramento.

COUNSELOR. You figure with script by Cormac McCarthy, stars such as Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz (5’4″), Brad Pitt, and Cameron Diaz (5’8″) that the film would be worth seeing…it isn’t!!! The dialogue sounds like grade school kids trying to do Shakespeare. Clumsy script, and very a totally confusing plot.Mostly set in Juarez which has changed a lot since 1955 when I spent every minute I could get away from being in the army at Fort Bliss. It was a big fun town with great bull fights and goiod music…not now. Anyways I digress, wait about a year and rent this one.

MACHETE KILLS. Lady Gaga is in this cruel, meaningless, murderfull, meandering, pointless, dumb, and stupid movie. It has no resemblence to Quentin Tarantino’s style as we saw in Kill Bill, Reservoir Dogs, or Pulp Fiction. You’ll hate it, and yourself IF you do go.

STILL PLAYING AT A THEATRE NEAR US
(from BEST 2 worst)

INEQUALITY FOR ALL. I thought I was complètely impressed and excited about the importance of all of us seeing « Robert Reich’s « Inequality For All » then I read Becky O’Malley co-owner and editor of The Berkeley Daily Planet review of this documentary of our world and how it got this way. She says, Berkeley Prof Tackles Inequality: Inequality Persists By Becky O’Malley Friday October 04, 2013. Almost by accident, the other night I saw the new documentary Inequality for All, which features Robert Reich, now Professor of Public Policy at the University of California here in Berkeley. I know, I know, Paul Krugman called him a “non-economist”… In fact, Krugman once wrote of Reich “talented writer, too bad he never gets anything right.” But he’s a pretty good teacher and journalist, skilled at communicating important points so that other non-economists like me understand them. This new movie, which relies heavily on animated graphs, is very simple, and much of it is incontrovertible.

A plus for the junior set is Reich’s self-mocking comic touch. He’s a master of the short end of the shtick. Well over four feet tall, he misses no opportunity to turn this genetic fact into funny stuff, starting with the lead-in scene where he drives up to the U.C. Berkeley campus in his Mini-Cooper. (You can watch this in the trailer on the film’s web site) The theme is simple, and very familiar to those—well, to those to whom it’s familiar. It’s a cliché in some circles: The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Some of us knew that already.

In fact, if you don’t have time to take in an hour and a half movie, you can quickly get the message, complete with clever animation; in this YouTubed short (see above) with Reich’s voice-over narration. Go here for her full review…

CAPTAIN PHILLIPS. A much better film than Gravity. More tension, better acting and like Gravity it deals with the dangers dealing with the elements.( water not space)Tom Hanks has always been an excellent actor but he’s even better in this « true story ». One of the most multi focused films I’ve seen in years. Give Hanks some more Oscars. See my new « Gravity II » script below.

ENOUGH SAID. Julia Louis Dreyfus and James Gandolfini create a perfectly complex and brilliant relationship movie. There are some genuine laughs in it, but the truth is you’ll bed deeply touched by the tenderness and the pain they go through. Gandolfini does an excellent acting job here. Far better than I ever thought he could….we’ll miss him. See this grand film asap.

FIFTH ESTATE. Another Benedict Cumberbatch starring role. I have to say Benedict Cumberbatch is probably my favorite actor, at least of this year. He plays Julian Assange the Wikileaks guy who leaked all those international espionage secrets. Laura Linney and Stanley Tucci are in it too, but they don’t count for much. The film sort of presents both sides of whether the leaking was good or bad. It pretty much makes Assange into a nerdy, kinky character…and you’ll leave frustrated because Assange looks into the camera and says it’s up to YOU. An odd film that will tell you more than you know about that leaking. Bradley Manning’s leaking plays a very small part.

GRAVITY. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a rare 98%, and many of my favorite reviewers went crazy over Gravity. George Clooney (5’10”) and Sandra Bullock (5’7″) are the astronauts in trouble and they float around in great 3D trying to fix everything and then battle to survive. Lots of Hollywood muck in this one in spite of director Alfonso Cuaron’s enormous talent.. He’s done some excellent films, Pan’s Labyrinth, Y Tu Mama Tambien, Children of Men but Gravity is not in my list of his best works. It’s about like a Saturday matinee war movie where you wonder if so and so will get home alive. BUT go see it in 3D, it’s probably just me. MY ERROR. Judi Grunstra was kind enough to point out that re Gravity I, Pan’s Labyrinth was directed by Guillermo Del Toro, not Cuaron. Thanks for that correction..; it didn’t seem right when I typed it, but deadlines etc, etc.

GRAVITY…FOR PEOPLE WHO HATED THE FILM. Many, many folks have asked, and told me that they really, really didn’t like Sandra and George’s Gravity film. Not just didn’t like it, they were disturbed by the attitude of the films’ fans. What’s weird is that so many millions love it and want to see Oscars evenly distributed. Then I came across Peter Hartlaub’s article in Friday’s Chronicle.. Read it, especially if you’ve seen Gravity. As I wrote in my critique I was only impressed by the 3D…the acting was non-existent, the plot was Hollywood, etc. etc.

GRAVITY II. With a deep bow and inspired by Lisa Jensen’s review I’ve scripted the Sequel to Gravity I now playing at theatres around us. Sandra Bullock and George Clooney are back of course and the new Gravity II opens with a shark biting off Sandra Bullock’s right leg as she continues her crawl up the beach. She rips apart of her tee-shirt off (adding more of the sex we saw with her “skin-tight boy shorts”) and wraps her shark bite, stands up and waves from the beach. Panning back, we see that she landed on Guantanamo Beach in Cuba in the free zone between the USA and the Cuban property lines. Both sides start firing at each other over this “invasion” Sandra crawls to the top of the nearest ridge just in time to grab on to some flying object just passing by. Lo and behold it’s none other that a very much alive George Clooney who has climbed into another space capsule, this time from India!! Painted on the side of the Indian capsule is Outer Spice. George looking even more like Buzz Lightyear than in Gravity I, gets Sandra inside and together off they go.

RUSH. Ron Howard directed it. That means it “feels good” and that it will end happily. It’s got a sound track of racing cars that sounds like Pacific Avenue on weekends. Hulky Chris Hemsworth appears to be a rare good looking actor who can act, at least he does in this 1970’s Formula One race car epic. The racing scenes are exciting, but the pseudo bios linking all the action fall very flat. Save your money and rent it, even though it should be seen on the big screen.

ACOD. (Adult Children Of Divorce) Even with our locally born actor Adam Scott (5’9″) and a cast including Richard Jenkins, Amy Poehler and Catherine O’Hara this so called comedy has a meaness, a bitterness and, there is nobody to like in it. The idea of studying and watching the growth of ADULT CHILDREN OF DIVORCE is absolutely fascinating because it seems like that covers almost all of us…you’ll squirm more than laugh. Go but go warned , or rent it locally in a week or two.bE very sure to stay and watch all the clips of actual ACOD kids during the ending titles.It is far more painful, shocking, and revealing than the film.

DON JON. Joseph Gordon-Levitt directed this nearly hot and sexy film and Scarlett Johansson does a great acting job as a New Jersey citizen. That’s the looney-crazy attempt at comedy part of the film…then Julianne Moore enters the plot and adds the only reasons to see this 1/2 comedy 1/2 tragedy attempt.

PULLING STRINGS. This film proves that just because distributors distribute “foreign films” ( in this case Mexico) it doesn’t mean the films are worth seeing. This simple minded Hollywwod reject plot has an American woman visa agent falling in love with a Mariachi singer in Mexico and it all ends exactly like you know it does. Don’t even think about it.