As I’ve gotten older, Thanksgiving has quickly become my favorite holiday. I do nothing for four days. I leave the city and escape to the great north woods. Sure I put up some Christmas lights, I eat a boatload of food, split some logs for me pa, eat some more food, take a lot of naps and build the occasional bon fire, but mostly I just watch movies. Many movies. So here is a chronicling of the last four days for me and this is what I’m truly thankful for (or not):
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (1.5/5)
Being one of the biggest Star Wars fans on the planet, I couldn’t ignore this one forever. Although maybe I should have – or maybe I just should’ve seen it in IMAX while I had the chance. But take all the battle scenes from the last two Star Wars movies (episodes II-III) and cram all of them into two hours. Admittedly some of it did look nice and it was well directed for an animated film, but the characters and story line were so hollow that for the last 45 minutes of the movie it just turned into an episode of MST3K for my sister and I. We mocked it mercilessly. When it was over and quiet and my dad stepped into the room, my sister reviewed the movie better than I ever could by simply saying, “Dad, you just missed Jabba the Hutt’s gay uncle and his son… which they called a ‘Huttlet’.” So, yeah.
Maria Full of Grace (4/5)
Here’s a quietly harrowing story that I’ve been meaning to catch up with for years and finally got around to it. A young Colombian girl discovers she’s pregnant, which doesn’t stop her from quitting her crappy job at a flower “factory.” Soon enough however, she finds work smuggling drugs into the United States along with a bunch of other “mules” by swallowing pellets and then flying into the country illegally. Of course nothing goes quite exactly to plan and what she had hoped would be easy money quickly descends into a whirlwind of problems and close calls. I think it is these close-calls that really keep the character of Maria interesting and watching her make compromises and big moral decisions on the spot is what is so compelling. Maybe it could have benefited from a little higher budget, but on some levels, it’s that rawness to everything that keeps it fresh and real. This is a little bit lighter version of 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days meets Blow.
Enchanted (4.5/5)
This is the third time I’ve seen this film but the first time I’ve seen it outside of the theater. It has lost a bit of its luster by the third viewing but it sill works incredibly well and is loads of fun. Amy Adams works sheer magic bringing an animated Disney Princess into the real world and the screenwriters took great pains to ensure they lovingly mock all that is Disney in a completely delightful way. Great songs (yes, lots of Oscar nods for those) and wonderfully fun characters, it has got to be one the most adorable (yet enjoyable for all) films of all time.
Becoming Jane (3.5/5)
Continuing with my Anne Hathaway kick as of late I come to find more and more that I really like her in nearly everything. I keep discovering these hidden gems that I avoided like the plague after only knowing her from such filth as Princess Diaries I & II or Ella Enchanted (though I haven’t seen those so maybe they’re not filth after all). This isn’t nearly the film that Pride & Prejudice is, but it’s still intriguing for a “slow”, period piece. James McAvoy, who I always forget about (but shouldn’t), is just as great here as he is in everything else. Knowing generally how things will end up doesn’t really help the enjoyment of the film, but it’s sort of like the Casino Royale for Jane Austin. Learning how she becomes the woman and writer that makes her famous is part of the “fun.” Though a bit on the depressing side and not exhibiting much in the way of originality, I’m still a sucker for a well made, period drama with nice acting (Cromwell, Maggie Smith) to boot. And Hathaway is gorgeous as always – even when they make her old.
Deception (1/5)
I knew this was junk food for the brain when I picked it up from the video store. I thought it might be something good to just throw on around midnight and just sort of halfway pay attention to. Turns out, you don’t really need to do much paying attention at all. The film is so full of obviousness that it was easy to call every move minutes (even an hour) before it happened. It is the most trite of any thriller I’ve seen… ever? I’m not a huge fan of either Hugh Jackman or Ewan McGregor. Now there is half naked Natasha Henstrigde, Maggie Q and Michelle Williams. That’s almost enough to make it worth the 2 hours, but not quite. The end is not only predictable, but absurd. It crosses the limits of my intelligence in the wrong direction and I have to say I’m almost offended.
Jarhead (2/5)
The second of only two films over this mini-festival that I’d already seen one other time (on the big screen). It was as I remembered it perfectly. I think in my original review I mentioned something about 20 year old dumb-shits playing grab ass on screen for 75 minutes. That’s about all this film amounted to a second time as well. The filming aesthetic is gorgeous – especially in the final 30 minutes or so of the film when the platoon is out on patrol through raging oil fields. But until that point, showing the mild psychotic state of these “jarheads” during the first Gulf War is not only tedious, but frankly annoying. The film tries to show a different side of the horrors of war – one that most people don’t think about – but in doing so, it’s a 2 hour dick tug that doesn’t really show me anything I don’t already know. Guys get antsy, depressed and horny when away from the girlfriends and wives for 6 months and forced to run around in field gear in 120 degree heat. Big surprise. And again, boring.
Picnic at Hanging Rock (2.5/5)
I’m not exactly sure what this film is or what it is trying to say. I’m also hard pressed to assign to it a genre. I had expected sort of a haunting creep fest, but instead got a sort of a messy drama piece. Three girls disappear during a picnic outing from a group of girls of a turn of the century girls school. With no trace of their whereabouts, the movie becomes sort of a mystery, but with nary a clue for the audience to follow. Instead, the film all but forgets about the disappearance of the girls and follows another plot involving a different girl who is unable to pay her tuition. This plot line develops seemingly out of nowhere and changes the film’s storyline for no reason. I don’t necessarily need an ending that is tidily wrapped up with a nice, neat bow, but by the end, the movie hasn’t even given me anything to think about. It is shot gorgeously however and well acted and I’m not surprised that once director Weir took to the States to make his films, things look up considerably (Witness, Mosquito Coast, Dead Poets Society). All in all for this film however, I’m not a big fan.
Don’t Come Knocking (2.5/5)
Without getting into specifics of this story, lets just say that something is missing. Despite the fact that this writer/director duo won a Palme d’Or at Canne 20 years ago, they don’t seem to have much magic anymore – or it feels like it was rushed together or something. For starters, the whole thing is entirely miscast. Sam Shepard has cast himself in the lead and it doesn’t seem to be the right fit for him. All of the other characters all seem equally out of place as well (save for Jessica Lange who is perfect here). No, it has a nice idea at its core of a washed up western movie star heading back to his home town after 30 years and what could be a heartfelt family drama is left to the absurd and unemotional. The sub plot of a security agent, played by the great Tim Roth in usual odd way, feels forced and unnecessary. I give the film points for trying, but in the end, I just didn’t care.
The Straight Story (5/5)
What a way to end the festival! One of the best movies I’ve seen all year and it’s directed by none other than David Lynch of all people. Had I not known better and someone told me it was Lynch after the viewing I’d call them a liar. While the gimmick of a man riding cross country on his lawn mower was the initial attraction, the deeper inner working of an old timer are far more interesting and insightful. The wise anecdotes, the painful past and the hopeful future are captured so vividly by the late great Richard Farnsworth that it’s hard not to go back and watch the whole movie all over again straight away. Perhaps it is fate that this was Farnsworth’s farewell film and it feels like it. An old timer’s last hoo-rah as he ponders his life and passes on that knowledge and advice to others. Directed spectacularly by Lynch to give us the feel of this journey right along side Alvin in his cross country ride, I’m considering calling The Straight Story Lynch’s finest film. Certainly my favorite.
In the tradition of the classic epics, think 
