Serephine

Viewed at home via Netflix Instant Watch, by myself.

It's a French movie with subtitles.

I read the synopsis and viewer reviews on Netflix and seeing that it was about an artist, I had to see it. It was wonderful. The acting, the direction, the atmosphere, all top notch.

Love, love the way foreign movies show real women. I'm not an American basher, being an American myself, but in this area I have to say that American movies are so shallow. They seem to be only able to have beautiful women in them that are thin and look a certain way. Movies with Meryl Streep are the exception. Not that she isn't attractive, but she isn't the typical type. This is because is she the most incredible actress in the world in my opinion.

So, I appreciate that fact that women of age with a few bulges and wrinkles are part the foreign movie agenda. I think this also reflects the acceptance of those mature attributes by foreign society as a whole. Much healthier. Yes, I know men love to see a beautiful, perfectly formed, flawless face and figure. Good for them. I like to think that not all of the men of the world think that anyone who is older has nothing to offer. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Anyway, Serephine is played by Yolande Moreau. It's a sign of a great actress when she will play a physical character that is not beautiful in the typical sense and whose figure is a real one. There isn't a great deal of personal information about this actress during my cursory Internet search, but what I did find indicates that she is a multi-awarded actress of great repute. This movie certainly reinforces that reputation. She won the equivalent of the Oscar in France for her performance and what a performance it is.

The story is based on the life of Seraphine de Senlis, an artist discovered under unusual circumstances. The link above will take you to Wikipedia where there is a very interesting article about her life. I looked at her paintings and thought they were wonderful. She was a true, born-that-way artist. Genuine. Here is one of her paintings. It's fantastic.

She was very poor and so made some her paints out of found materials. Flowers, plants and in the case of red, she used animal blood from the butcher shop. She bought other basic materials with her meager earnings as a menial servant and she painted on boards or anything that would work as a painting surface. Once she was "discovered", she was able to purchase canvas on which to paint.

Seraphine de Senlis was a person who ended up in an asylum. Was she always slightly insane as so many great artists or did her art and events surrounding it affect her mind? The movie has it's own interpretation.

Seraphine

3 cow movie

Here is the movie trailer

AVATAR

Viewed in 3D at the local multiplex

3D always makes me feel a little claustrophobic, but only for a few minutes until I get acclimated. There's something about knowing that you cannot see the movie properly without the glasses, sort of like you are trapped behind them. Silly, huh? Well, anyway, I get over it.

Avatar was engrossing and very beautiful. When I eventually do watch it in 2D, I can tell you whether or not the 3D really enhanced it or not. I do know that sometimes it seemed blurry, but maybe that was my eyes trying to focus on those 3D pop out features like very cool jellyfish like creatures floating right before my eyes.

There were many imaginations at work in the making of this film, not the least, of course, was that of the director, James Cameron (he of the "Titanic" and "Terminator" films). Just thinking up the scenario of the avatar, which by the way, is a computer term meaning to make a computer generated creature in your own likeness, was very inventive. The avatars are big and blue, sometimes possibly a little skinny around the hind quarters, but nevertheless, very entertaining to watch. They have big thick tails that also serve as a sort of USB hookup - you have to see it to understand. A vast myriad of fantastic animals and plants exist on the avatar inhabited planet of Pandora, all in great peril to the evil, greedy mining company backed by the even more evil military. That's the story. Peaceful, new age avatars that are up against violent, nasty humans.

Aren't we humans just the pits?

OK, there are some nice humans - a couple of them.

My favorite actor in this film was not one of the nice humans. He is a guy I've seen recently in "Public Enemy". Below is a picture I pulled up from Google Images. He is very watchable and in Avatar menacing and nasty. When he is on the screen his performance is riveting, at least to me it was. According to IMDB he has been around for awhile and there is an impressive list of his acting accomplishments. I hope to see him starring again in something one of these days as it appears his career might be taking at turn into the movie star realms.

I'm not a Sigourney Weaver fan, but she did a good job of playing a good human/avatar. Her face has always been a little off putting to me. There's something about the mouth area that isn't appealing - at least to me. Most men just remember her when she kicked some serious alien ass back in her Alien movies days wearing skimpy, space station underwear and I think that's been why she has appealed to many of them. But now she's well into her 50's and although appears to be in good shape, is not skimpy underwear material as far as I can see. Then again, maybe she is. Lot's of older women are keeping it in shape these days.

The humans are there and other than Stephen Lang, they are secondary in importance to the avatars. We are mostly interested in their awesome appearance and how real they appear to be. It's a fantastic film and everyone should see it (according to the statistics, almost everyone already has).

Rating for "Avatar"

Here's the trailer.

"Ballerina"

Watched on Netflix Instant Watch. Narrated in English with some subtitles for Russian or French.

This is a documentary about ballet - specifically about a group of ballerinas at the Kirov Ballet Company in Russia. After watching this you cannot deny that ballet is a very beautiful athletic event. The dancers have incredible bodies, born for ballet and then, if they are lucky enough to get into the prestigious ballet schools of Russia, they refine that body so that it is muscular, graceful, coordinated and supple. When the hopeful beginners, who want to be chosen for ballet school are tested, it's painful to watch the "evaluator" lift the dancer's back leg, in it's straight position, toe pointed, up behind them until it almost reaches the back of their head. But, they do it and do it without complaint. A potential must have the "body type" - small head, long neck, long legs and slender (basically no boobs either). They look very delicate and tiny. However, physically and mentally, they are very, very tough.

The film focuses on 5 ballerinas. Some are already prima ballerinas, the highest level of ballerina and the others are hopefuls on their way to becoming prima ballerinas. They are all Russians. Apparently, all young Russian girls aspire to become ballerinas, but of course, very few actually do and only a tiny percentage ever become prima ballerinas.

We get to watch them work and they work very hard. The instructors demand perfection and the ballerina of this caliber, gives it.

Included are actual ballet performances that are breathtaking. The incredible grace and beauty of the ballet movements actually brought tears to my eyes. I was that moved. Wonderful. I appreciate the ballet so much more than I used to after this film.

I've attended a couple of ballets in the past while living in big metropolitan areas and was bored. They are usually lengthy affairs. Watching excerpts was not boring. So, I can't say I would want to sit through another entire ballet, but perhaps so, if these ballerinas were the performers - this is not likely to happen, though. Perhaps I will see if there are ballets on film - that would be a good compromise between attending one where I am somewhat captive and watching one on film, where I can move ahead in the performance or get up and get a snack or go for a hike and then come back later to finish it. I'm sure ballet purists would be horrified......gee I'm sorry about that.

Here's a beautiful excerpt of the ballet "Swan Lake" from UTube. OK, so the guys look a little "interesting". Despite this, watching the prima ballerina is an exceptional treat and when the prima guy dancer (I don't know if they are also ballerinas) does dance solo, you will see such controlled power. There are many other ballet excerpts that can be watched on UTube also by typing in Kirov Ballet.

...and here's the short trailer for "Ballerina".

Rating for "Ballerina"

"Lone Star"

Watched on Netflix Instant Watch - with earphones (as usual)

Chris Cooper, who plays Sheriff Sam Deeds, is such an interesting actor. He has a great voice, deep and gravelly, but not too much so. I like the way he pronounces his words and I am fascinated by his face. He is what I would call "out of prime handsome". In other words, his face is attractive and has hints of handsomeness, but there's a sort of droopiness to it that keeps him from being too attractive and that's all a good thing. He has a little pot belly too, at least in this movie.

He stars in this very good, very well constructed murder mystery. However, the 40 year old unsolved murder is only the cornerstone of this skyscraper of a movie. Many characters are introduced with all of their accompanying predicaments and stories. Layer upon layer is added. You become totally absorbed up until the ending that has it's own special twist.

All of the acting is good. The love interest for Sheriff Deeds is a Hispanic school teacher well portrayed by actress Elizabeth Pena. Petite and pretty, she and the Sheriff have a past together that comes to play throughout the movie.

There is a lot of skipping around between various "stories", past and present. In a couple of instances this is a little distracting but not so much so that you lose interest.

The old unsolved murder also has an unknown victim for a short time until forensics are completed and the skeletal remain are identified leading Deeds to begin the process of investigation of this death.

Kris Kristofferson plays a really bad guy - a corrupt Sheriff of a prior era who is cruel and has no compunction in shooting people who are brown or black at the slightest provocation. KK is another one with a great speaking voice and although I have never considered him a particularly gifted actor, he does manage to create a very unpleasant and threatening presence on the screen here.

I can't go into much of the plot without giving a lot of it away. You will have to watch this movie to find out what happens.

Oh and a very, very young looking Francis McDormand plays a bubbleheaded ex-wife named Bunny. You've got to see her to believe her. She really gets on your nerves, so it's a good thing she only has a small part.

Oh and Matthew McConaughy is also in this movie. It appears that some of the movie trailers and posters try to make him look like one of the main stars, but actually he is only in the movie for maybe a maximum of 10 minutes. I have to say that he is not one of my favorite actors - he seems like he would be very conceited and careless with other people's hearts, but I could be wrong.

Go the the Internet Movie Database here to see trailers and just about anything else you want to know about this movie and it's stars.

Rating for "Lone Star"

UP (Pixar's latest)

Viewed in3D at our local Metrolux theatre. Brought a drink, but actually bought popcorn although it was, as usual, ridiculously expensive and incredibly salty.

UP was, as all other reviews pretty much unanimously agree, very good. I wouldn't put it in the same category as the Toy Storys, Cars or the Incredibles, but it was very entertaining and great to view - especially in 3D.

That's me there in the second row in my formal laughing hysterically. I just wish I'd worn my hat like the bored blond in the third row who looks like she sucked a persimmon. Ah, dressing up for the movies.......a bit different from attire we typically wear now. I actually saw someone in the furry bathroom slippers one time. America is somewhat more casual now, to say the least.


We were wondering about those glasses, they were not the usual old flimsy paper glasses that were used to view 3D back when, but a newer version in heavier plastic and probably more sophisticated in how they work (though I could be wrong). Anyway, they were comfortable and fit over our glasses. At first, it was a little distracting to wear them, but after about 5 minutes, I forgot they were there.

The best part of this movie is that Disney chose an elderly person as the main character. He's a crotchety old bugger named Carl, but crotchety only because the love of his life left him behind after she died. Ellie, his wife, is depicted at the beginning of the movie in a little mini movie about how they met and loved and lived together. After that the story of UP takes off, literally.

It's an adventure story featuring Carl's old house, carried aloft by jillions of colorful balloons as you've probably seen on posters, tv, etc.. It's part of his clever plan to escape the city and find Paradise Falls, a place where Ellie had always wanted to eventually live. A chubby little boy is introduced into the story as Carl's sidekick.

Together they face danger, a bad guy, an exotic bird and some weird dogs in the land of Paradise Falls. All ends well, as you would expect.

The animation is beautiful with softly bright colors - somewhat like a painting, particularly when the house is floating through the cloud covered sky. Going through the clouds in 3D was especially delightful. The 3D experience was novel at first, but then you get used to it and the way things pop out at you isn't that new anymore. Not that it isn't great, it's just that the newness of the technique becomes natural. Did I feel like it added a lot to the movie viewing experience? No. I could still view Pixar movies without it and like them just as much. Based upon previews we saw, though, it looks like more 3D is on the way. Here's the trailer, simple, but beautiful.

"Star Trek" (2009)

The Originals

The "New" Originals

Viewed on the big screen at the local Metrolux with the usual contraband snack foods.

We are science fiction fans and especially science fiction with great special effects. Movies about space, the final frontier, tend to get us pretty excited too. So, after seeing the high movie rating on Rotten Tomatoes, we made the trek to the theatre on a rainy Saturday evening in anticipation of being entertained for a couple of hours.......and we were.

Totally engrossing, very well put together, full of action, with fine looking people and certainly the best Star Trek ever.

The movie, without giving away a lot of the story, goes back to the beginning, when each Star Trek character was just starting out. This had to be fun to write, nothing was pre-ordained regarding how the characters came into being (as far as I know) and ended up together on the Enterprise. So, we get to see James Kirk as a baby, a youngster and then as a brash, reckless but brilliant young man. How he gets to be the captain of the Enterprise involves lots of very fun to watch action and interaction with the other people who will eventually populate the bridge of the spaceship with him.

The casting was impeccable. You can see that it was done to try and come close to the original look of each character. But, it's different enough to make it better. Spock, played by Zachary Quinto, is perfection. There is no one else I can think of who would have looked so dead on. (He was the really bad guy in the TV series "Heroes".) His Spock interpretation and camaraderie (or not) with Captain Kirk is fun to watch. Captain Kirk, played by an attractive young man named Chris Pine was also perfectly cast. About the only resemblance between he and the original Captain (William Shatner) is the slightly stocky build and the thick neck topped with a nice thatch of thick hair. Beyond that, they don't look the same. The 2009 Captain Kirk is much more of a rowdy and has a rebellious streak that, combined with his apparently very high IQ, makes him a lethal combination when it comes to being a leader and dealing with arc enemies.

All of the sidekicks on the Enterprise bridge, Scotty, Bones, Uhura, Chekov, Sulu are superb. and of course, extremely smart or they wouldn't be in such lofty technical positions. Also sexy (in the case of Uhura), funny (Chekov), tough (Sulu), fiery (Bones) and precociously outspoken (Scotty). This Star Trek has a nicely added feature of romance between two of the characters that I won't reveal. Suffice to say, it's good and unexpected.

The Romulan bad guy, who I didn't recognize due to his makeup, was played with nasty gusto by Eric Bana. Throughout the movie I knew I sort of recognized him by his eyes, but was never able to place him. Now that I've looked at IMDB and know it was Bana, it's pretty obvious. The makeup job on he and his fellow nasties is very punk, with piercings, tattoos and sort of crudely rendered patterns of scar tissue. Their faces are broad, menacing and unshaven. The Romulan ship, the Narada, is a nightmare with sharp, barbed features, darkness throughout punctuated by the occasional green glowing something or other. Tubes. Leathery things. Dark Water.

Lively, intelligent story, lots of super spacey images and special effects. One of my favorite scenes is in the Iowa of the future where James T. Kirk has grown up. There are flat lands, corn fields and then suddenly a space station.

What a movie. Can't wait to see more of this next generation of Star Trek. They have hit the jackpot and with this successful new beginning are sure to reap a whole new set of fans to follow it's latest franchise. The only negative thing to say is that it will be hard to keep up this pace - this movie set a very high standard.

Rating for "Star Trek"

Here's the trailer.

"Diarios de motocicleta" ("The Motorcycle Dairies")

Watched on Netflix Instant Watch. Language is Spanish, movie is subtitled.

This seemed like a long movie. A little over 2 hours. I've watched movies of this length and didn't feel like they were long. So, either there were slow spots in this one or reading subtitles became tiring (I suspect the last). Nevertheless, it was very good.

I did not realize until the end that it was a story about part of the early life of Che Guevara. I have since read quite a bit about this revolutionary figure and found it to be very fascinating. This movie is based upon diaries he wrote on a cross country motorcycle trip through Latin America with his best friend, Alberto Granado. They were both educated, Che or "Fuser", his nickname, had almost completed medical school and his friend had already done so. Both came from educated, well-to-do families compared to the average Latin American citizen. However, this trip apparently opened Che's eyes to many injustices and inequalities that shaped him into the world renowned revolutionary he eventually became.

The movie depicts the travels of these two best friends in the early 1950's with pathos and humor. The plan is to travel an 8,000 mile route. They traverse all types of terrain, have many adventures and meet many people. They ride on an old worn out motorcycle that they name "The Mighty One". Eventually, "The Mighty One" dies and they travel on foot for the rest of the trip.

Both men are handsome. Alberto is fun. Fuser is more serious. To watch Alberto dance and concoct pickup lines to use on the ladies makes for lively entertainment and some laughs. Fuser is more contemplative, but nevertheless joins the fun occasionally.

Most of the movie centers on their visit to a leper colony in San Pablo. As physicians, they volunteer to help. Despite the rules imposed by the nuns of the colony that requires all visitors to wear rubber gloves when in contact with the lepers, they refuse to do so and in this way, Che shows everyone that he considers the lepers his equal, despite their disfiguring disease. They work hard, doing manual labor and treating patients. The lepers are on their own island across the river from the staff, but Che spends much time in the leper colony and as a result, endears himself greatly with the patients and staff. The movie conveys to us that this particular time in the colony, along with the prior trip encounters with poverty and helplessness, turn Che into another person, the one who will fight injustice.

I did read a history of Che Guevara on Wikipedia - see link above in Paragraph 1. Although I believe he was misguided, it is of note that he still had a great conviction that he acted upon and that is more than can be said of most of us. His ideals and methods were not necessarily good, though. There are millions who would disagree with me on that. It appears that he, although very compassionate in many ways, was also brutal. But, what do I know of revolution? In order to make changes of great magnitude, maybe armed warfare is sometimes the only solution.

The Motorcycle Diaries is a movie worth viewing in order to see one that is done well with a good story and acting. Also, it's based on fact, so that makes it more interesting. In addition, the scenery of Latin America is breathtaking.

We get to see the regular, real citizens of the country, not Hollywood stereotypes. I think that many times, those of us who live in comfortable, easy circumstances, do not think that people in other, less comfortable, less easy circumstances are as "good" or as "fulfilled" as we are. This movie made me think about how wrong that it is to assume such things. We have traveled some, not much, but some, and if you travel at all and see other places in the world, you realize that some places are much better than where we live. Not necessarily in material ways, but in peace and contentment and way of life.

Rating for "The Motorcycle Dairies: