The Thin Blue Line (1988)

10 Popcorn Boxes

Documentary filmmaker Errol Morris' ground-breaking film 'The Thin Blue Line' looks at a murder, the police investigation, the trial, and the outcome, and the aftermath.  Mixing interviews, taped interrogations, still photographs, and recreations, this film asks the simple question: was the right man convicted of this crime?

Morris originally wanted to make a film about 'Dr. Death', a Texas psychiatrist who helped get many men committed to death row.  While he was looking into that story, he learned of the case of Randall Dale Adams, who was serving life in prison for the murder of a police officer.  Questions had existed since the police investigation as to whether they had the right man, or whether a hitchhiker Adams had picked up actually committed the murder.

This documentary had me riveted; here's a man whom the state of Texas, and a jury,  decided was a killer.  Morris wasn't sure, and the more he dug into the case, the more it seemed as though something terrible had gone wrong.

Morris has made other documentaries which are admirable in their own way, but 'The Thin Blue Line' stands alone as a magnificent piece of film making.  I cannot recommend this more strongly.  See it!

The film is not rated, but probably should be PG-13 because of subject matter

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014)

7.0 Popcorn Boxes

Directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is a action movie set in New York, London, and Moscow.  The film also stars Chris Pine as Ryan, Keira Knightly as Dr. Kathy Muller, and Kevin Costner CIA operative Thomas Harper.

The film opens with Jack Ryan volunteering for military duty in Afghanistan after the attacks on the World Trade Center, which Ryan views on television while a student in London.  His helicopter is shot down, and he is seriously injured.  He's sent back to the States for rehabilitation and recovery, where he is placed under the care of Dr. Muller.  He's attracted to her, and asks her out.  They become a couple.

Later, he's recruited by Harper to work for the CIA.  He works on Wall Street as an analyst, where he looks for terrorist activity.  He goes to Moscow to look into this, where he is surprised to find Kathy in his hotel room.  She's followed him, suspecting his trip is to conduct an affair.  With the help of Harper, he finds that a Russian company headed by Viktor Cherenvin (Branagh) has planted a bomb on Wall Street, and who hopes to capitalize on the stock market turmoil that results from the terrorist act.

The movie unfolds as you'd expect from an action/thriller.  There are explosions, fights, gunfire, car chases and unremarkable dialog, thrown in with a few kissing scenes between Ryan and Muller.  The production design is very good, with London standing in for Moscow (though there are a few scenes shot in Moscow establishing outdoor shots).  The movie is heavy on the action, and little character development.  The acting is sufficient, though Branagh fails to convey a sense of terror and evil.  Pine is somewhat wooden as Ryan, and Knightly is as lovely as ever.  It's a good way to spend an evening.  You get what you expect here.

Antonia's Line (1995)

3 Popcorn boxes

Set in Holland right after the end of World War II (about 1945 or 46), this film stars Willeke van Ammelrooy as the title character,  Els Dottermans as her daughter Danielle, and several actresses as her daughter Sarah.

The film is more of a series of vignettes than a conventional film.  There is no plot to speak of; the film just drops in at various points of time and explores the relationship between Antonia and the other members of the small Dutch town she moves back to.  Since leaving some 20 years earlier, Antonia comments when she and Danielle move there, that things haven't changed at all.

The photography is very good, the set design fine, and the acting is on par with what you'd expect in a film.  However, the characters are abrasive and off-putting; somehow seem to get the whole village on their side in their running effort to close down the local Catholic church.  There are various births (though few of the women bother getting married), deaths, and a few farm animals thrown in.  This has been described as a feminist fantasy, but I found little to like here.

It's a subtitled film, and the subtitles are easy to read, and seem pretty accurate.   

Rated R for sexual content

The Notebook (2004)

8.0 Popcorn boxes

Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, James Garner and Gena Rowlands star in this film set both in the 1940s, and in the modern era.  Told in flashbacks and the present day, the film is an unabashedly romantic film.  Goslin stars as Noah Calhoun, as brash young man who works as a laborer in the local sawmill.  He meets Allie Hamilton (McAdams), from a well-to-do family, at a carnival.  She rebuffs his advances, but he persists and they finally go on a date.  They spend the summer together, much to the chagrin of Allie's mother Ann (Joan Allen).  Her father demurs, stating this is just a summer fling, and the two will soon part when Allie goes off to college.  After many years, they get back together.  Meanwhile, an elderly couple Duke (Garner) and an elderly lady with dementia (Rowlands), spend time together in a nursing home, as he reads to her from a notebook (hence the title).  She falls in and out of lucidity, while he is there to care for her under any circumstances.

The acting is generally very good; with all four actors winning or nominated for a variety of acting awards.  The script is sentimental, and the over-all tone of the film is likewise.  The film was shot in South Carolina, and utilizes existing and newly-built sets in that area.  Gosling's remodeled house is particularly affecting, and it was especially built for the film.  The set design is very good, and production values are also very good, capturing the lush, indolent life of the south in great detail.  The cinematography is excellent, with light and dark scenes very well lit.  The period cars and the re-done store fronts give the 40s era portion of the film an authentic look.

This is a 'chick flick' at its best.  Personally, this is not my favorite genre, since films of this ilk can be cloying and maudlin.  There are elements of each here, but overall the film avoids falling into an overly sentimental trap.     

Rated PG-13 for some sexuality

Flash of Genius (2008)

7.0 Popcorn boxes

Robert Kearns (Greg Kinnear) has an idea; why not have windshield wipers operat only as needed; in other words, intermittently.  He gets to work, and devises one.  He patents it, and thinks of starting a manufacturing plant to produce his wiper system, but realizes it's too expensive to do.  So he shops it around the auto manufacturers.  None of them want to buy it, but Kearns later finds out the one of the companies he's shown the device to, Ford, has introduced one of their own, without acknowledging it was Kearns who came up with the idea first.

 Kearns isn't ready to throw in the towel; he decides to sue Ford for stealing his idea.  Ford claims they've come up with the idea themselves, and they refuse at first to settle.  After Kearns sues, Ford makes a paltry offer, which his attorney Gregory Lawson (Alan Alda) urges him to accept.  Kearns wife supports taking the money, since the lawsuit has been taking over his life.  But Kearns refuses, noting the Ford sells millions of cars with his device, and he should get a cut of every sale.  He turns down subsequent offers, because Ford refuses to acknowledge the wiper system was his idea.  His obsession with the case becomes all-consuming, and puts strains on himself, and his relationship with his family.

Kennear fully inhabits his role as the obsessive Kearns, while Lauren Graham does good work as his wife Phyllis.   

My Life (1993)

8.5 Popcorn boxes

An successful and hard-driving public relations executive (Michael Keaton) is brought up short when he learns he has life-threatening kidney cancer.  He's forced to look at his life, and the relationship he has with his family, and with his pregnant wife (Nicole Kidman), and realizes that he may never even see his child.  He decides to make a video for his unborn child, giving him the fatherly advice he'll never be able to give.  Along the way, he pursues treatment options, until he's informed there are no options left for him to try.  He finally realizes all the anger he has inside, and comes to terms with the new reality of his life.

Some reviewers have criticized the film for being too distant and contrived, but cancer patients and others who have faced similar situations probably will identify with many of the subjects raised in the film, and rate the film more highly.  Keaton does a great job here, piloting the transition from successful, highly-charged businessman to one who can't control what is happening to him.  Kidman is good as well, though this is mainly Keaton's film.

Rated PG-13 for mature subject matter

If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (1969)

7.5 Popcorn Boxes

A large ensemble cast including Suzanne Pleshette, Ian McShane (as tour guide Charlie Cartwright), Norman Fell, Peggy Cass, Mildred Natwick, Murry Hamilton, Sandy Baron, Michael Constantine, Marty Ingels, and others star in this funny film about Americans on a quickie tour (18 days) of Europe.  Filmed on location, it gives a humorous look at post-war travel to the continent.

Starting in London, the group proceeds to see (sometimes by just driving by) well-known tourist destinations.  Then there off to Belgium, Holland, Rome, Venice, West Germany, Bastogne, Switzerland, Luxemburg, and Liechtenstein.  Charlie the tour guide has a girl in every stop on the way, but problems with the tour group keep getting in the way.  He soon is attracted to Samantha Perkins (Pleshette), but she keeps putting him off.  Other complications include one of the group getting on the wrong tour bus and going on a tour of Japanese tourists, complaints about the food, the early rising time, the fast pace of the tour (the tour company is named 'Whirlwind Tours') and homesickness.

The funny premise and the great locations throughout Europe are the main attractions here.  There are a few out-and-out laughs, and a lot of smiles throughout the film.  Since it was made over 40 years ago, the film is a bit dated, but the plot and the great photography on location redeem the film.  The dresses are short, the look is mod, and the word 'groovy' is tossed about on occasion. Singer Donovan makes an appearance here signing a forgettable song.

Rated G