Yours, Mine and Ours (2005)

Genre: Comedy

Directed by: Raja Gosnell

Starring: Dennis Quaid, Rene Russo, Rip Torn

Running time: 95 minutes

Frank, a Coast Guard admiral, and Helen, a handbag designer, were high school sweethearts, but life pulled them both in opposite directions. Now both widowed, their paths cross again, but, now they have extra baggage: Frank has eight kids and Helen has 10! They decide to get married, but the two groups of kids don’t mix so well, so they all decide to strike a plan to pull the two adults apart.

This 2005 comedy is actually a remake of a 1968 film that starred Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda. I haven’t seen the original; I guess I will have to do something about that.

Every cast member involved here is pretty efficient with the material they are given. Quaid and Russo have good chemistry and work well off each other. The kids, especially the older ones, are pretty good too. The young ones are cute, so the lack of acting skills does not really matter.

It is a predictable and cute little movie, but it is done well enough not to insult anybody’s intelligence. You know how it will end, but, if you’re in the mood to not think too much, you tag along for the ride while it lasts.

 Rating: «««

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

Genre: Comedy

Directed by: Wes Anderson

Starring: Ralph Fiennes, F. Murray Abraham, Mathieu Amalric

Running time: 100 minutes

In this latest film of his, Wes Anderson gave us a work of art that is more off-beat than his previous movies, and that is saying a lot. Here is where he has hit his peak, artistically, and I cannot wait to see where he goes from here on out.

The Grand Budapest Hotel is the story of a hotel concierge who takes a lobby boy under his wing as his protégé. Through multiple narrators, a prologue, five different parts and an epilogue, we are taken back in time to the period between the two world wars, in the glory days of The Grand Budapest Hotel.

Wes Anderson has really mastered the use of colors in this particular film. In a very deliberate way, he arranges his sets using different tones, shades and colors, giving diverse effects to suit his needs from one scene to the next. Three different aspect ratios were also used in the shots, depending on the timeline.  

It took me a while to get into this film, but once I finally got it, I was hooked. Ralph Fiennes’ work is commendable, as he was really good here. The rest of the cast also carried their weight. It was a nice touch to see, yet again, many of the Wes Anderson regulars come back in minor roles.

The Grand Budapest Hotel would probably turn off many casual moviegoers, because of its very different style and off-beat quality, but it is a very stylish and artistic movie that covers many deep emotional issues with a very light tone. The visual style used is very unique and makes for an interesting movie experience. I highly recommend this one, for the people ready and willing to invest some time and effort in a good film.

Rating: ««««

Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

Genre: Romantic Comedy / Drama

Directed by: Wes Anderson

Starring: Jared Gilman, Kara Hayward, Bruce Willis, Edward Norton

Running time: 94 minutes

My favorite Wes Anderson film, Moonrise Kingdom is a true off-beat masterpiece who could have easily failed but who stands proudly and strong on the shoulders of two young newcomers in cinema.

Moonrise Kingdom tells the story of a troubled young 12-year old orphan who runs away from his summer Khaki Scout camp to be with a girl his age he met a year before and had become pen pal with ever since. The two kids, who both feel estranged within their respective families and who just cannot seem to fit in anywhere else, will do all that they can to stay together and never be separated again.

The roles of Sam Shakusky and Suzy Bishop, the two main characters, are played by Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward, two newcomers in the film industry. With kids as actors, it can go either way; it can be really bad and come off really amateurish or it can be surprisingly good. With Moonrise Kingdom, we get the latter. The two young ones offer some solid, believable performances. They work it as old pros as they take us on an emotional, yet unconventional, ride through the lives of their characters and the world around them. Kudos to director Wes Anderson for finding them and for getting the best out of them.

Around the two main actors is an ensemble cast filled with talented experienced actors, and, in some cases, a few regulars of the Wes Anderson universe. A special mention to Bruce Willis, who shows some great vulnerability in his character, something he hasn’t really shown too often in the past.

True to his style, the director doesn’t tell his story in regular fashion here. Some issues, who could have come off as overly dramatic, are related to us in such a tone that it makes us smile instead of cry. That was a nice touch. The use of colors in the scenery and the decors and the use of music are also prevalent, true to Wes Anderson style.

Overall, Moonrise Kingdom is a great film that may not be everybody’s cup of tea, but it came off to me as a great off-beat tale about fitting in and finding your own little niche in this big world of ours.

Rating: «««««

Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

Genre: Comedy

Directed by: Wes Anderson

Starring: George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman

Running time: 87 minutes

In my quest to see and review everything in the Wes Anderson catalogue, I came upon his stop-motion animated comedy from 2009, Fantastic Mr. Fox. A list of talented actors, including a few Wes Anderson regulars, has given their voice to the characters. Among the voices, we can hear George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray and Willem Dafoe.

This film, which is based on the Roald Dahl children’s novel of the same name, tells the story of a fox who steals food over and over again from mean and rich farmers. Fed up, the farmers strike a plan to kill their robber and undertake to dig their way into the fox’s homes. Like all foxes, the animals will have to be cunning to survive the onslaught.

Maybe it is the stop-motion style of animation, that has never been my thing, but I had a real hard time getting into this film. In the end, I never really got there. Still, I must mention the soundtrack, which, again, in true Wes Anderson style, is remarkable. The wit of the dialogue is also something I noticed.

Fantastic Mr. Fox has appealed to many people over the last few years; I guess I was not the right public for it.

Rating: ««

Executive Decision (1996)

Genre: Action

Directed by: Stuart Baird

Starring: Kurt Russell, Steven Seagal, Halle Berry

Running time: 134 minutes

A group of men are summoned by the Pentagon to stop a plane that has been hijacked by terrorists. Using a stealth aircraft to capture the nerve gas on the hijacked plane, their original plan fail, but a few of the men manage to get on board, so they try to stop the terrorists from the inside before the Pentagon, unaware of their status, blows up the aircraft so as to prevent a major terrorist attack.

Executive Decision is not a movie that relies too heavily on great acting. It is a fast-paced high-level of action thrilling ride. Some of the plot twists do defy logic, but the story is compelling and the action is well delivered, so the viewer has no trouble suspending disbelief.

Kurt Russell is his usual self here, pretty solid for that genre. He makes you root for his character. Same thing can be said for Halle Berry, who didn’t have that much to work with but managed to be good. As for Steven Seagal, let’s just say it was good thing we did not see much of him. His presence was limited, and it only made the film better.

This1996 action film offers some good fast-paced thrills and a compelling story, well worth a watch for the fans of the genre. It is one of the good ones. It does not pretend to be anything more than what it is meant to be: A good action flick.

Rating: ««««

Children of the Corn (1984)

Genre: Horror

Directed by: Fritz Kiersch

Starring: Peter Horton, Linda Hamilton,  

Running time: 92 minutes

In this film, based on a short story written by Stephen King, the children of a fictional Nebraska town ritually kill all the adults under the power of a malevolent supernatural entity, so as to insure a successful corn harvest. A young doctor and his wife are driving through the area as they are heading to the physician’s new job. They will have to battle these possessed children if they ever want to hope to make it out of there alive.

I haven’t read the Stephen King story, or the screenplay he had written for the movie.  A different screenplay, written by George Goldsmith, and which put more focus on the violent aspect of the story, was preferred.

The end result though is a very cheesy and corny movie, filled with bad acting. Linda Hamilton, who was really efficient in The Terminator, is really awful here. Peter Horton is not much better. As for the children, they all come off as very fake and hammy.

Such a story could have been told so much more effectively, with a better backstory for the children and for that supernatural superpower, but the filmmakers seemed to want to rush right to the cheap thrills and violence. Problem is: None of those things were delivered in a thrilling way. It all just fell really flat. A real shame, because what could have been a great horror film ended up being a total waste of time.

Rating: «

The Whistleblower (2010)

The Whistleblower (2010)

Genre: Thriller

Directed by: Larysa Kondracki

Starring: Rachel Weisz, David Strathairn, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Monica Belluci

Running time: 108 minutes

Kathryn Bolkovac is a cop in Nebraska who is trying to relocate after her divorce so as to be close to her daughter, who will be living with her father. Unable to do so, she accepts a lucrative job with the UN International Police, in post-war Bosnia-Herzegovina, for a UK company. What she thinks will be short-term easy money grab turns out to be a lot more than that. After successfully fighting to help Muslim women who are victims of domestic abuse, she gets a new job title and realizes that people around her are aiding and protecting a group of human traffickers. She will have to give it all she has got to make it stop. But, can she?

The Whistleblower is based on a true story, which makes it even more shocking. It is quite disgusting to think that human beings would put each other through such hell in real life and not just in the movies.

Rachel Weisz did some real good acting work here, and so did most of the cast involved. It all felt very real and very dire for all the people in trouble. The ending is not very satisfactory, but that is a risk when you are dealing with a true story that you respect as a filmmaker. Nonetheless, The Whistleblower is a movie to see, a real compelling story that will unfortunately make you doubt the goodness of the human race.

Rating: ««««