Film Review: The Secret Life of Bees

After staying after school an average of 2 hours every day this week, I was in desperate need of a "me" day today. Thanks to Facebook, I am recently back in touch with a long-lost friend who is also a massage therapist. She came to the house this morning and we multi-tasked--she gave me a fantastic 90-minute massage and we caught up on each other's lives and the lives of people we know mutually.

We made plans to meet at the Santa Anita mall and go see The Secret Life of Bees. It seems our movie tastes are pretty near identical. So, 90 minutes after those first 90 minutes, we met to enjoy the movie.

I read the book, by Sue Monk Kidd, around 4 years ago when it was very popular, but I didn't remember much. It didn't matter, the movie was lovely and stood alone as a quality film that dealt with family, racial prejudice, and love.

Dakota Fanning (who I don't really like, but, I'll admit the girl can act) plays Lily Owens, a 14-year old in Virginia in the mid 1960's. Lily lives with her volatile father, T-Ray (Paul Bettany) and housekeeper Rosaline (Jennifer Hudson.) The only thing she knows about her mother is that she shot her dead by accident when she was 4 years old. And, depending on how angry he is, T-Ray manipulates Lily's feelings by telling her that her mother didn't want her.

When Rosaline insults a white man in town and is beaten and arrested, Lily decides they both need a new start. She rescues Rosaline and heads for a town named Tiburon. She is inspired by a small wooden plaque that belonged to her mother. On the front is a picture of a black Madonna and child. The word "Tiburon" is written on the back.

In Tiburon, Lily sees honey jars in a store with the same black Madonna on the labels. The shopkeeper tells her the honey is made by a woman named August Boatwright (Queen Latifah.) Lily feels that meeting August is her destiny. She's right, but for reasons different than she originally thinks.

I've said enough about the premise, but the film deals with Lily and Rosaline's time with the Boatwright sisters: August, June (Alicia Keys,) and May (Sophie Okonedo, in what will probably be a nominated performance.) Each sister's personality is very distinct , but they love and live and depend on each other.

The casting was excellent in the film. All of the actors were at the top of their game. I was actually most impressed with Alicia Keys. We all know the others can act, but I only know Keys as a singer. She was very, very good and has a strong presence onscreen. Queen Latifah, as she often does, plays the character who leads the others and is the voice of reason. And, like always, she does it in a very cool way. Doesn't she seem like she would be an awesome person to just hang out with?

This is a film for all ages that deals with racial issues that our young people need to know about. But it is a fair movie. It doesn't just show the injustices that black people suffered at the hands of the white people before the Civil Rights Act. It shows the hurt that people inflict upon each other within their own race. And, like throughout history, people often hurt the ones they love. The film has a lot of wisdom and balance and a satisfying ending.

Very highly recommended. It is PG-13, but I would say it is appropriate for mature kids as young as 10.

REVIEW: Wonder Boys

For the past week I've been on a little movie kick--looking for films that I've heard about for years and forming my own opinion of them. I loved Mean Girls, but I could not get through You Can Count On Me (the 1/2 hour I watched felt like 2 hours.)

One of the great things about Netflix is the search engine, which you can use for films and also for actors. Sometimes I'm an "actor watcher" more than a "film watcher." I don't even remember how I found Wonder Boys, but it was probably searching through the Robert Downey Jr. list of movies, because he is one of my favorite actors who never fails to surprise and impress me.

Like the others I've watched this week, I had heard about Wonder Boys for years. And when it was done, my first thought was, "It's like Dead Poet's Society on marijuana." That's not an insult, just an observation. Michael Douglas plays Grady Tripp, a creative writing professor at a small unnamed college in Pittsburgh, a city whose washed out colors seem to match this washed up writer. His one success, a book called The Arsonist's Daughter, is his biggest competition, because he has never been able to come up with anything that is its equal. And yes, he self-medicates. As a result, life's events seem to bounce off him without ever getting absorbed. This make him charming yet frustrating to everyone who knows him.

Tripp is just one of a group of interesting characters brought to life by some great actors. Robert Downey Jr., with his usual brilliance, plays Terry "Crabs" Crabtree--Tripp's editor--whose career has taken a downward spiral as he has waited for 7 years for Tripp's next book. Tobey Maguire is James Leer, Tripp's most talented and misunderstood student, who has parent issues, suicide issues, and an obsession with the gory details of celebrity deaths. The 2 women in the film, Katie Holmes and Francis McDormand, are the voices of reason--Holmes as a writing student who rents a room from Tripp, and McDormand as the college chancellor with whom Tripp is having an affair.

The story is a series of intertwined, twisted puzzle pieces that take place over 3 days, but the acting and writing are so good, that the viewer feels like they know everything about the characters by the time those 3 days are over. The director, Curtis Hansen, is also the director of LA Confidential, another great movie that plays in much the same way. The fragments seem very disjointed, but they come together at the right time and the viewer is left very satisfied.

I had read that Wonder Boys was underrated, and I agree. It's intelligence is probably also its downfall, because the larger population doesn't respond well to intelligent movies. Again, not an insult, just an observation. This movie is all dialogue and character development, not action sequences and special effects. And the story isn't for everyone, because the characters are all flawed, and they stay that way. Still, I was engrossed from start to finish, the definite sign of a good and worthy film.

(Good summary here.)

REVIEW: Mean Girls

Today was my first official paid day at school. We had a 3-hour staff meeting that left me feeling a little stressed and frustrated. I went into my classroom and worked in there for 2 hours, but left feeling like I hadn't accomplished much.

My mom called and said that she was babysitting my nephew for 2 hours. I needed some "baby time." For whatever reason I forget my troubles when I'm with Alexander.

When we dropped him off at my brother's, I came home tired and in need of a good distraction. Enter Netflix's instant viewing. I've known about this, but just started experimenting with it a couple of days ago. Most of the movies and TV shows available for instant viewing are not new releases, but there is some decent stuff.

I had always heard that the movie, Mean Girls, was really good, so I decided to give it a try with the "instant viewing" feature.

It was very good. How good? Good enough that I sat through a full-length Lindsay Lohan movie on my computer screen, fer cryin' out loud. She plays a girl that goes to regular public school for the first time in her life because she grew up in Africa, the child of 2 researchers, who home-schooled her. High school turned out to be a "baptism by fire" experience, but she did make 2 friends who warned her about the clique called the Plastics. When the Plastics invited her to sit with them at lunch, Lohan's character, Cady, started living as a double agent, hanging out with the clique, but feeding information back to her 2 friends, Janice and Damian. The problem is that popularity and the combination of fear and respect that it yields from others can be pretty seductive.

We've all known people like the girls in the Plastics. We've all done a little two-faced talking at one time or another in our lives. For me, I found the watching of this movie to be very timely, especially because my students start school a week from tomorrow.

Dr. Phil calls it "leveling." That's when someone is mean to someone else for the sheer pleasure of it and to make themself feel better. But the honest truth is that it doesn't. And, like the movie says, calling someone fat doesn't make you thinner. Calling someone stupid doesn't make you smarter. I'm going to remember that when the problems start in my classroom, because with 5th graders it is inevitable, and I have to try to appeal to their logic.

What I also liked about the movie was that it had a good message but it was still pretty funny. I laughed out loud at the Danny DeVito line, which you'll have to see in context.

Good movie! Highly recommended.

REVIEW: Mamma Mia!

Last night I experienced a pleasant and unexpected departure from all the recent family drama when my friend, Bobby, invited me to go and see MAMMA MIA. I had wanted to see it anyway, because I am a big ABBA fan, so I accepted.

MAMMA MIA is the movie version of the famous Broadway musical, which is about a girl named Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) who has been raised on a Greek island by Donna (Meryl Streep,) her aging hippie mom. Sophie is getting married and longs to know who her father is so he can walk her down the aisle. After reading her mother's diary from 20 years before, 3 possible dads emerge within its pages. Not expecting anything to come of it, Sophie invites them and is blindsided when all 3 men turn up a day before the wedding: dapper divorced dad of 2 Sam Carmichael (Pierce Brosnan,) introverted single guy Harry Bright (Colin Firth,) and Swedish outdoorsman Bill Anderson (Stellan Skarsgard.)

Naturally, the rest of the movie is a comedy of errors as the story works to reveal which man is the father. Sophie's mom, Donna, is also supported by her former girl-band back-up singers Rosie (Julie Walters) and Tanya (Christine Baranski.) ABBA's songs are peppered throughout the show and, being very familiar with all but one of them, it was fun to see which songs would be used in which situation. And I was surprised by the ending, which is not as predictable as you might expect.

The story moves forward at a good pace. ABBA's songs are always so fun that they never slow it down when they're planted in different places. I have never heard of Amanda Seyfried, but I thought she did a great job. My other favorites were Colin Firth and Julie Walters, but I'm biased because they are 2 of my favorite actors. Meryl Streep is a capable singer (I think she sounds a lot like Cher) and usually stole every scene she was in, although sometimes her character was so twitchy I wanted to strap her down. My least favorite was, amazingly, Pierce Brosnan, who sang so horribly and was so uncomfortable-looking in this role that he just had this constipated air about him throughout the entire movie. I guess you can't win them all. But, to loosen things up, it was hilarious to see Donna and her friends belting out songs while wearing their old sequined outfits and platform shoes. Streep, Walters, and Baranski were the heartbeats of the movie in my opinion.

I usually rate movies on whether I'd like to see them again and, possibly, add them to my DVD collection when they are released. In the case of MAMMA MIA I wouldn't mind owning it, but I can also see myself getting impatient sitting in front of it and downgrading it to something I would have on in the background.

The best character is still the music, with ABBA's sing-a-long melodies and driving beats, and you don't need to own the movie to enjoy them. Go buy their 2 greatest hits CDs, ABBA Gold and ABBA Gold II. The original group's voices are far superior than any in the movie and you can listen to the CD anywhere.

Overall, you'll enjoy the movie, but you'll love the music. Music: A / Movie: B

Rediscovery of a masterpiece...again...

When I went to bed last night I decided to put in my DVD of Amazing Grace. I figured I'd watch about half an hour of it and fall asleep. Before I knew it, I'd watched the whole film. It had been several months since I'd seen it and I had forgotten how incredible it is. It seems that whenever I watch it I want to write and tell others about it. I'm sure this won't be the last time.

It is the true story of William Wilberforce (Ioan Gruffud,) an MP (minister of parliament) in the late 18th century. When his best friend, William Pitt (Benedict Cumberbatch,) becomes Prime Minister of Great Britain, he appeals to Wilberforce's sense of fairness and morality and challenges him to take on the daunting task to push for the abolition of the slave trade throughout the British empire.

Wilberforce's efforts go on for years, mostly unsuccessful. However, he has Pitt on his side, a few maverick abolitionists, and John Newton--his former preacher in school and a former slave ship owner who repented of his sins and has sought to redeem himself in his later years. Newton (Albert Finney)also penned the famous hymn Amazing Grace. Wilber (the nickname Wilberforce is known by) visits him periodically for pep talks and encouragement.

After years and years, Wilberforce is tired, sick, discouraged, and ready to let someone else try what he has failed to do. But what he doesn't realize is how many admirers he's amassed, among them, Barbara Spooner (Romola Garai), who, thanks to the efforts of his cousin, Henry, he keeps getting thrown together with. After a luncheon at Henry's house, Barbara persuades Wilber to tell her about his work. His explanation becomes the film we see, which is told in flashbacks up until that point in time.

After that conversation, Wilber is inspired to try to get his bill passed in parliament one last time.

Amazing Grace is one of those special films that is perfect from start to finish. The story and acting are SUPERB. It did not get a lot of publicity and it's almost *too* good to appeal to the masses. There are no impressive special effects and adventure scenes, as it is mostly dialogue. It is also interesting to note that a movie about slavery hardly shows any slaves. To illustrate the mentality of the arguing lawmakers and social elite, the images of slavery are kept in the distance by showing us empty ships and a few haunting images that invade Wilberforce's dreams. But for the most part, you don't think about it until Wilberforce comes along and forces you to think about it. Yet somehow, slavery's looming presence is the strongest character in the film, only making its entrance at the most powerful moments.

Nothing I can say about this film is enough to do it justice, but at this time of year when many of us are thinking about America and freedom, what better time than now to learn about the struggles of others? Amazing Grace's story is one more piece of the puzzle that tries to unite all of humanity. It boggles the mind at how many were and still are resistant to do so.



“The grand object of my parliamentary existence is the abolition of
the slave trade. Before this great cause all others dwindle in my eyes.
If it please God to honor me so far, may I be the instrument of stopping
such a course of wickedness and cruelty as never before disgraced a
Christian country.”
--William Wilberforce

Atone for your assumptions...

Right now I've got Atonement playing in the background. Thanks to Netflix I get to give it another glance.

It is an epic-style movie with a lot to digest, but the themes are universal: making quick judgments, making assumptions with missing information, being stubborn about those assumptions, and then suffering the consequences and oft times making others suffer along with you.

In this case, those actions are all the result of 13 year-old Briony Tallis, the youngest of 3 who grows up in a monstrous estate in the English countryside. She's lonely, she's at an impressionable age, she longs to be part of grown-up things, she's a bit of a control freak, and she has a vivid imagination. Four events occur to create what she thinks happened one evening in the house: a play she wrote was never performed, she witnesses a flirtatious scene between her sister and a servant's son, later she witnesses a sexual scene between the two, and she witnesses a rape. Perhaps because her play was never performed, she created a real-life one of her own because she does say that " a play depends on other people..."

It is a lesson for all of us when we make snap judgments. We don't have the luxury of having the film rewound to show what really happened or having the blanks filled in to show the pieces of information Briony lacked while making her assumptions.

Briony, who is played by 3 stellar actresses at different ages, spends the rest of her life trying to atone for her childhood foolishness. Those who suffered at her hands have their lives changed forever as well.

Saiorse Ronan, Romola Garai, and Vanessa Redgrave do an amazing job as the 3 Brionys at ages 13, 18, and 77, respectively. You are convinced you are watching the same person growing, learning, repenting, and trying to make things right over her lifetime.

James McAvoy and Keira Knightley (both superb) are the long-suffering couple who fall victim to Briony's imagination and stubbornness, despite that fact that they are probably her 2 favorite people. What do they say? You always hurt the ones you love? Why is that? Is it because we feel like we know them perhaps better than we do? Is it because our emotional investment in our loved ones makes us put on blinders? This film raises those questions.

Set against the backdrop of World War 2 and its ravaging effects on England, Atonement shows what MAY have happened, what DID happen, and what COULD have happened. And it does these in a beautiful and compelling way. I have new respect for this film.