Criminal

I like a con film where everyone is working to out-con everyone else and you really aren't sure who is in on the scheme and who isn't. John C. Reilly stars here as a small time con-man who finds a new partner (somehow leaving his past partner without notice), is fighting with his sister and avoiding the cops while trying to sell a fake copy of rare currency to a collector. Of course, the rare currency sale is "the big score" and we watch it play out. We know all of this is happening and there are enough ambiguous clues to keep us jumping from one scenario to the next while working to predict the outcome. I always like to follow the money in watching these since somewhere there must be real money for someone to steal and things are no different here. This is not a big film with grand ambitions. Instead, it is a personal story of a guy, his sister (well played by the always good Maggie Gyllenhaal), desperation and the struggle to be realistic about life. Everybody is on target and in the end I was satisfied, looking back to the clues I missed to see how they could have pointed me in a different direction.
4 stars (out of 5)

Lust, Caution

Ang Lee presents an account of political intrigue and corruption in World War II Shanghai. With the Japanese in control of China, dissidents work to assassinate the Japanese sympathizers who use the occupation as a opportunity to gain power and wealth. I am not sure about his target audience, but Lee seems to be crossing genre's. On one hand, this is an excellent period drama, giving the viewer a vivid picture espionage among the wealthy in the occupied east. We get to see how passion and affection can sneak up on everyone, changing the course of decisions. I would compare this to an eastern version of Remains of the Day. On the other hand, Lee's decision to use sex as the manifestation of that passion will probably make this film inaccessible to many. The sex is not titillating, but a clear display of power. It is disturbing and, while likely realistic considering the circumstances, doesn't fulfill any viewing interest of the "period drama" crowd or the "gratuitous sex" crowd. Perhaps the reason why this film didn't do big box office numbers ... it couldn't find its audience. I wonder why Lee couldn't be more discreet, more suggestive with his passion. It seems that the affair would have been more powerful if hidden in the shadows or a blurry focused, dimly lit shot. Granted, the power differential of the characters would have been also hidden, but I think that the net benefit for the film would be an easier watch and larger audience for a generally quality film.
3 stars (out of 5)

Babel

There are enough films in this initially-divergent-multiple-plot-line-converging-into-single-story genre that they should have their own genre name. Here the ensemble cast pieces together several stories across both geography and time that eventually weave together into a whole. The theme here seems to be that each story develops around a tragic episode that is pretty much random or unavoidable. We see how people deal with tragedy in different ways and we see how relationships hold different value in each scenario. Unfortunately, the premise of each scenario is sufficiently contrived that I didn't buy in to this being a realistic possible sequence. For these films, in order for the stories to mean something as a whole, there must be a sense that the connection/sequence is possible and not just set up to manufacture tension individually to get a "greater" whole. Beautifully filmed and raising issues that are important to think about and discuss is a good beginning, but does not make a great film.
3 stars (out of 5)

A Home at the End of the World

Collin Farrell stars in this story which starts with a young kid Bobby experiencing a series of family tragedies. The resulting relationship that Bobby develops with his best friend Jonathan and again with his girlfriend Clare all show how trauma can affect personality in quirky ways. The three friends are all in love and form a family that is not really complete with any two of the three. At the same time, three means that at any one time, there is a relationship between two with one left out. As the family learns how to live and love together, their lives become more rich and full. This was a good film, but in the end largely dissatisfying. There was something missing (dramatic story arc? conflict and resolution?) that left me feeling flat. Perhaps that was the intention, to show that life is pretty regular in even an irregular family. But I don't think so. So we leave disappointed, not that the protagonist life didn't end up happy, but that the protagonist leaves ordinary.
3 stars (out of 5)

After the Wedding

This Danish film focuses on Jacob, a relief worker in India who has championed a local orphanage. He is soliciting money from corporations back in Denmark and when he has the opportunity to land a big donation that will save the orphanage, he travels "home" to seal the deal. What he discovers is that Jorgen, the wealthy potential benefactor, has an alterior motive in setting up this donation. Jacob is faced with answering for himself many of the questions that his orphan family asks on a regular basis. Along the way, we also ask ourselves about the value of family and the role of relationship in a meaningful life. Very well done.
3 stars (out of 5)

Top 5 L.A. films

After watching The Kids are All Right, I began to think about my favorite films starring L.A. By starring, I mean that L.A. has to be a significant part of the film and not just a backdrop. And I will restrict my picks to films that are worth seeing (4 or 5 rating, out of 5 stars). Here are my top five right now, in no particular order...

Blade Runner
Speed
Collateral

10 Items or Less
What's Cooking

The first three utilize the physical space of L.A. while the last two expose the cultural space. If you haven't seen either of these later two, I highly recommend them.

Didn't quite make the cut, but deserve some mention...

Father of the Bride
Dogtown and Z-Boys
Crash

I have definitely left out many great L.A. films, but since these are in my long term memory I will trust that they are my Top 5 (for today).

Riverworld

It is amazing how even a good concept paired with poor production values identifies a film as obviously made-for-TV. It is kind of like when you are scanning through the radio stations and find a "Christian Rock" station. You know what it is after hearing two or three notes. In Riverworld, I really liked the concept. After death, people are transported to a strange world that is... well, lots of rivers. What I like is the investigation of what happens after death and how different people end up in different physical locations of the afterlife, with different ideas of purpose. Based on this treatment, I can see storylines following things like -what factors cause you to end up in one place over another, -what personalities in life lead some to be questioners in the afterlife and others to live like sheep, -how does one get out of the afterlife, etc. Instead, we get a pedestrian (or should I say riparian) conflict between those who want to destroy Riverworld and those that want to protect it. Enter the caretakers (also on both sides of the conflict) as supreme alien species resembling blue man group that know more than they are letting on (but never reveal anything) and the story gets pretty lame, pretty fast. I guess what do you expect for TV, but the premise has promise. Any big time Hollywood or small time independent writers out there want to pick up the treatment and give it a good story? I would watch a better version again...
2 stars (out of 5)