2012 Animated Features: The Pirates! Band of Misfits, ParaNorman, Frankenweenie, Brave, Wreck-It Ralph

2012 Animated Features: The Pirates! Band of Misfits, ParaNorman, Frankenweenie, Brave, Wreck-It Ralph

2012 The Pirates! Band of Misfits

"Fire the long things that go bang!" -Pirate Captain

Darwin, Pirate Captain, Number Two and Polly.

I had not heard of this movie, but it was really funny.  It is by the Wallace & Gromit people, and features the always hilarious Hugh Grant as Pirate Captain, a pirate trying to win the long coveted Pirate of the Year award.  He is a long shot, not being successful at acquiring booty (I'm talking treasure, not women, just to be clear), but has the support of his loyal crew.  A chance encounter with Charles Darwin leads to the discovery that the ship's beloved parrot, Polly, is actually a thought to be extinct Dodo bird, and Darwin convinces Pirate Captain to enter Polly in a science competition back in England.  Martin Freeman is his devoted right-hand man, Number Two, and the voice of reason throughout the movie.  The villain of the story is Queen Victoria, who likes to eat exotic animals -a very different take on the character!  It's a very smart and funny movie, and I think Amelia enjoyed it, though not as much as Wreck-It Ralph.

Pirate Captain battles Queen Victoria.

2012 ParaNorman

 

Courtney: I just knew something like this was going to happen tonight.
Mitch: You did?  Wow, cause that zombie bit really threw me.

Alvin: Are they going to try to eat our brains?
Norman: I think you'll be safe.

ParaNorman was not quite as enjoyable as The Pirates! Band of Misfits, but it was still pretty good.  Norman is a young boy able to see and speak to the dead.  When his uncle dies, he inherits the task of keeping in check a witch's curse that threatens the town every year on the anniversary of her death.  He is assisted by a new friend (Neil), his friend's dim but buff older brother (Mitch), the school bully (Alvin), and his cheerleader older sister (Courtney).  The movie is a bit scary for kids, so I'm glad I didn't watch it with Amelia.  It was an interesting story, but the themes were actually rather dark and mature, so I think it may have served better as a live-action film more suited for an older audience.




2012 Frankenweenie

Victor: I was doing my experiment, my project, and the first time it worked great, but the next time it didn't.  I mean, it sort of worked, but then it didn't.  And I don't know why.
Mr. Rzykruski: Then maybe you never really understood it the first time.  People think science is here [points to his head], but it is also here [places his hand on his chest].  The first time, did you love your experiment?
Victor: Yes. [thinks of Sparky licking his hand]
Mr. Rzykruski: And the second time?
Victor: [Thinks of the invisible fish] No.  I just wanted it over.
Mr. Rzykruski: Then you changed the variables.
Victor: I was doing it for the wrong reason.
Mr. Rzykruski: Science is not good or bad, Victor.  But it can be used both ways.  That is why you must always be careful.
-Quoted from Rottentomatoes.com


I didn't love this movie -it wasn't on par with Tim Burton's classic The Nightmare Before Christmas -but the relationship between Victor and his adorable dog Sparky was really sweet.  This is basically a retelling of Frankenstein, but Victor Frankenstein in this version is a kid who is devastated by the untimely death of his beloved pet, Sparky, and brings him back to life.  This leads to other students deciding to try to revive other animals for less noble reasons (Victor tries to keep his feat a secret, but Sparky won't stay inside -he has a ladylove in the form of the next door poodle who must be visited).  Victor and Sparky must work to restore order to the town and save the townsfolk, who try to lash out at poor Sparky in their fear and anger.  It was okay, but nothing remarkable.

2012 Brave



King Fergus: Pretend I'm Merida...I don't want to get married, I want to stay single and let my hair flow in the wind as I ride through the Glen, firing arrows into the sunset!



Brave was better than I anticipated.  Merida, the teen heroine of the story, was about as annoying as I expected -rebelling and being obstinate and not listening to her parents.  To be fair to her, I wouldn't have wanted to marry any of the three candidates proposed as potential husbands either.  Still, teen angst is exhausting.  She mellowed as the story progressed, however, and she and her mother had some nice bonding moments.  In the end, they learned to listen to each other, compromise, and appreciate each other.  The mother turning into a bear was quite funny, and the little brothers and father were amusing as well.  It was, in general, good for a laugh, and worth seeing.



2012 Wreck-It Ralph




Sergeant Calhoun: Doomsday and Armageddon just had a baby, and it...is...ugly!

Vanellope and Ralph.

Rumor has it that Brave is expected to win the Oscar, but that Wreck-It Ralph should win, and that's probably pretty accurate.  Wreck-It Ralph was quite inventive, and it actually appealed to Amelia and Tyler both, which is a plus for an animated movie.  It's about a video game character named Ralph, who is the villain in the arcade game Fix-It Felix Jr.  He decides that he doesn't want to be the bad guy anymore -ostracized by all the other characters in his game and forced to sleep in a dumpster -so he sets out to win a medal in another game.  He obtains a medal in a game called Hero's Duty, but ends up stuck in a candy-themed go-cart racing game (Sugar Rush), befriending an outcast girl named Vanellope who takes and uses his medal to enter a race.  He has to help her win the race in order to get his medal back.

Felix and Calhoun.

Then, chaos ensues.  Ralph is assisted by a very funny Fix-it Felix Jr. (Jack McBrayer) and Sergeant Calhoun from Hero's Duty (voiced by the always amusing Jane Lynch), who are trying to save Sugar Rush from aliens that have escaped from Hero's Duty, Calhoun trying to avoid her increasingly amorous feelings for Felix along the way.  It's really pretty innovative and fun, and John C. Reilly is great as the voice of Wreck-It Ralph.  Vanellope was a little annoying, but she grows on you.  Very clever.  Tyler says that it avoids the cliches that run rampant in Brave.  His words, not mine.

2012 Documentaries -5 Broken Cameras, How to Survive a Plague, The Invisible War, Searching for Sugar Man and Inocente

2012 Documentaries -5 Broken Cameras, How to Survive a Plague, The Invisible War, Searching for Sugar Man and Inocente

There are 5 documentaries nominated for Best Documentary Feature, and I have watched and reviewed 4 of them (still waiting for The Gatekeepers, an interesting looking movie from the perspective of the past leaders of the Isreaeli anti-terrorism organization (Shin Bet), to be released, so that one will be a little delayed).  In addition, I have watched 1 of the 5 nominees for Best Documentary Short (Inocente) -the only one currently available.  As I am not all that knowledgeable about world issues (I know, shame on me), and don't pretend to be, and this is not a political blog, I will not comment on the accuracy of the documentaries or on the validity of the subject matter.  I will simply be reviewing them as films, and on their effectiveness at capturing the interest of the viewer.

2012 5 Broken Cameras



This was an interesting documentary, and the filmmaker was very brave to capture the footage obtained.  The material was filmed by a Palestinian olive farmer living in a village (Bil'In) that is being encroached on by Israeli construction.  He and his fellow villagers peacefully (he claims, I was not there, so I am just basing this on what I saw) resist this construction, which the Israeli government declares unlawful, but Israeli soldiers support.  It's pretty intense, as villagers are arrested, wounded, and killed.  We get to know the filmmaker, Emad, and his family (his wife and four sons) over the five years that he films.


During this time, 5 of his cameras are destroyed (broken by soldiers or shot).  Emad definitely put himself in danger to obtain the footage that he did, and it's quite raw.  We see how hostilities are learned at an early age.  Emad's youngest son, born at the beginning of the documentary, starts out completely pure, at one point even innocently handing one of the Israeli soldiers an olive branch, which is touching and hopeful.  Later, after a very close friend of the family is killed, the little boy expresses a desire to hurt the soldiers because they hurt his "uncle."  A sad progression.  It's an intriguing film about a conflict that is still ongoing, and about the lives of the farmers living in Bil'In.

2012 How to Survive a Plague


How to Survive a Plague covers important subject matter (the fight to cure AIDS, focusing particularly on the efforts of the ACT UP organization); however, I cannot say that the documentary itself was very well done.  It includes a lot of coverage of protests, and insider footage of ACT UP members debating what actions to take, without really telling a cohesive story or capturing the attention of the viewer.  It would have benefited from a narrator, or from a central figure to make the story more personal and focused.  Increasingly, the messages became hate-filled, which was off-putting.  I could certainly empathize with the frustration and sadness of the activists, but telling government officials that they are murderers, and that their friend's soul will haunt them and curse them to their dying day...a bit out of control.  They also put a lot of emphasis on finding a medical cure (specifically on speeding up the release of experimental drugs), and not enough on prevention, in my opinion.  The best cure is to avoid contracting the disease in the first place.  Of course the medicine is important as well, but until there is a real cure, there are ways to prevent infection.  I think most certainly there are better documentaries out there.  To be honest, I doubt this would even air on TV, as it was just not concise or gripping enough, which, considering the subject matter, is surprising and disappointing.

2012 The Invisible War



Now THIS was a powerful, emotion-evoking documentary.  I cried twice.  It is about rape within the military (of both women and men) -the prevalence, and the lack of action taken against persecutors.  Multiple women are interviewed, and tell their stories, which are heart-wrenching and infuriating.  While devastated by their attacks, many of them were even more traumatized by the treatment they received afterwards, when they tried to report the crimes and reach out for help.  They were more often than not ignored, told that they had brought it upon themselves, accused of lying, or even counter-charged with conduct unbecoming or adultery (because their rapists were married).  None felt that they had received justice (none of those interviewed, I am sure that there are commanders out there that do take action), and most were made to feel invisible and ashamed.

Trina McDonald (Right): “They made it very,
very clear that if I said anything
they were going to kill me.”

Ariana Klay. Her husband, Ben,
a fellow marine, broke down
when recalling his wife's suicide
attempt: “To call the police with
one hand, while you’re restraining
her from killing herself
with the other…”

 The release of the documentary, as it states at the end, gave the push necessary to finally take the power away from unit commanders in determining courses of action in these cases.  I went straight from watching the movie to checking out the website (notinvisible.org) to see how I could help.  The documentary was extremely well done, and really got my attention and delivered a message.  This is what How to Survive a Plague was missing -personal stories to really make you connect with the victims (I can tell you that the movie Philadelpha, a drama about AIDS, had me in tears, and How to Survive a Plague had me bored -striking an emotional chord is key if you want your message heard).

Hannah Sewell's father,
Sergeant Major Jerry Sewell,
tearfully reassures his daughter:
“You’re still a virgin,
’cause he took something
from you that you didn’t give.”

2012 Searching for Sugar Man

Tyler didn't seem to like this one (though he was only sort of listening while I watched it on my computer), but I actually ended up finding it pretty interesting.  It's about a singer/songwriter named Sixto Rodriguez, who released two albums that flopped in the U.S., but (unbeknownst to him) became huge hits in South Africa.  Fans in South Africa wanted to track down information about the mysterious singer, who was rumored to have killed himself on stage.  Eventually, they discover that he is alive and working construction in Detroit.  They contact him, and he agrees to do a tour in South Africa.  With the release of this documentary, he is now planning to release another album, and his previous albums are now available in the U.S.  I actually downloaded his song I Wonder, as it keeps getting stuck in my head (forgive me, Tyler!).  My biggest complaint: too many scenes of Rodriguez walking around outside for a long time while music plays.  And plays.  And plays.

2012 Inocente

Inocente prefers to paint in bright colors.

This 40 minute long documentary short follows 15 year old homeless artist, Inocente, as she prepares for an art show.  She has been chosen out of thousands of young artists to present her art, and is clearly very talented and creative.  None of her friends or classmates are aware that she and her family are homeless, and have been for most of her life.  Her father was deported when she was very young for beating her badly for forgetting to ask her mom to prepare dinner, and she blames herself for him leaving.  Her mother is clearly depressed, unable to express her love for her daughter, and she admits that she has had thoughts of killing all her kids and herself.


Inocente is finally able to get a living situation in a shelter without her family, where she can focus on her art and prepare for college (her show makes her a good chunk of money for her college fund), and I have high hopes that she will be successful in life, which she deserves after what she's been through.  Her mom is not happy about her leaving, but finally agrees when a lawyer helps Inocente approach her.  It is especially sad when Inocente's mom unexpectedly shows up at her art show (her little brothers in tow) and watches Inocente hugging the people who have supported her, unable to bridge the gap and embrace her daughter herself, which you can see in her face she longs to do.  Worth watching.

2012 Amour

2012 Amour

Anne: What would you say if no one came to your funeral?
Georges: Nothing, presumably.

At last I've seen Amour, the last remaining Best Picture nominee I had left to see.  It's an elusive film.  I'd been told by multiple people that it is one of the most brutal movies I would ever see, so I distanced myself from the movie while watching it.  It's about a married couple: two music teachers, Georges and Anne, who have led happy lives and are still in love.  Anne suffers a stroke, and needs to be taken care of.  She feels like a burden, and doesn't want to go on, but Georges remains devoted to her.  Her mind is still strong, though she can't move one side of her body.

After a second stroke leaves her completely helpless, things continue to go downhill rapidly.  Anne is bedridden and unable to speak properly or make sense.  It only gets worse.  As Georges tells their daughter, who doesn't want to accept how things are (she believes that there must be something they can do, and doubts the steps Georges has taken, though he has been as thorough as possible, while honoring Anne's wish not to return to the hospital), "Things will go on as they have done up until now. They'll go from bad to worse. Things will go on, and then one day it will all be over."

It's a movie about the end of the life, and about the people who love the person and have to watch them deteriorate and die.  It's a tough movie, but in a way I found the ending peaceful after all the pain and suffering (I won't reveal the ending here).  It's powerful, but probably not a movie that I would have chosen to watch if it hadn't been nominated.  It makes you think about things that are unpleasant to contemplate, but maybe that's okay.

2012 Movies -Prometheus, Mirror Mirror, Snow White and the Hunstman, Skyfall, and Looper

2012 Movies -Prometheus, Mirror Mirror, Snow White and the Hunstman, Skyfall, and Looper:

Having seen all the best picture nominees (except for Amour, which I will be trying to see in the next week in one of the few theaters playing it), and all of the best actor/actress and supporting performances possible (again, except for Emmanuelle Riva in Amour), I watched all of the movies nominated for technical awards as well.  Here are the ones not already reviewed:

Prometheus is nominated for Visual Effects.

2012 Prometheus

Meredith Vickers: If you're really going down there, you're going to die.
Peter Weyland: Very negative way of looking at things.  Exactly why you should have stayed at home.
Meredith Vickers: Did you really think I was gonna sit in a boardroom for years arguing over who was in charge while you go look for some miracle on some godforsaken rock in the middle of space?  A king has his reign, and then he dies.  It's inevitable.  That is natural order of things. 

Noomi Rapace as Elizabeth Shaw.

I had no idea what it was about when I rented it.  At one point I observed to Tyler that it seemed a lot like Alien, and at that time he pointed out to me that it is an Alien prequel.  Aha.  It started out with an interesting premise: Scientists searching for their creators on an alien planet, funded by a rich business man (Weyland), and led by his representatives, a tough gal (Vickers) played by Charlize Theron and an android named David.  Noomi Rapace plays Elizabeth Shaw, one of the scientists, and I was excited to discover that she played Lisbeth in the Swedish version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (I couldn't place her at first, she looks very different without all the goth makeup and when speaking English).  Despite the intriguing beginning, it quickly devolved into a straight-forward monster movie, with all the characters getting wiped out by various alien entities, with the exception of our heroine, Sigourney Weaver -whoops, I mean Noomi Rapace.  I wanted to follow her character to see where she ended up after the movie ended, but oh well.  It really felt like it could have been more, but I guess Ridley Scott decided not to stray from the tried and true aliens killing humans in all sorts of gruesome ways formula.

2012 Mirror Mirror

Prince Alcott: I think Snow White is the most beautiful woman in the whole world.
Evil Queen: Agree to disagree.




Snow White: You know, all that time locked up in the castle, I did a lot of reading.  I read so many stories where the prince saves the princess in the end.
Prince Alcott: Open the door.  Open the door, Snow.
Snow White: I think it's time we change that ending.
Prince Alcott: No, you're messing with tried-and-true storytelling.  It's been focus-grouped and it works.  Just let me save you.

Lily Collins as Snow White receiving the poison apple.

Snow White is hot right now, kicked off by the great TV show Once Upon a Time, in which Snow, played by Ginnifer Goodwin, is most prominent fairytale character, and now featuring in two movies: Mirror Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman (reviewed below).  Mirror Mirror is the whimsical, funny take on the story.  Julia Roberts plays the queen, and she's extremely entertaining.  Ditto Nathan Lane as her faithful servant.  I was pleasantly surprised by Lily Collins as Snow White.  She was far more appealing and endearing than the previews made her out to be, though her eyebrows are distractingly bushy, which makes no rational sense considering the budget they had for makeup and costumes.  The dwarves she befriends are fun and comical, and the prince is amusing as well.  The whole movie is silly, but it's silly on purpose, which is enjoyable.  It ends with a random, colorful, Bollywood dance number, which pretty much sums up the tone of the movie -goofy but entertaining.  I will enjoy watching it again to get a good laugh.

Mirror Mirror is nominated for Best Costumes.

Ginnifer Goodwin as Snow White
in Once Upon a Time.

2012 Snow White and the Huntsman

"Our scars protect us.  Without beauty we are worthless to the Queen.  It's a sacrifice we made so we could raise our children in peace while their fathers are at war.  And you, your sacrifice will come."

Charlize Theron as Ravenna the Queen.

Nominated for Costume Design and Visual Effects.  This is the darker take on the Snow White tale.  Charlize Theron is the opposite of the hilarious Julia Roberts portrayal.  She is dark, menacing, and spends her time eating the hearts of birds and sucking the souls out of young women to maintain her youth and beauty.  To be honest, it's her story that feels more intriguing than Snow White's.  Her mother put a spell on her as a child in order to protect her right before she is abducted by soldiers, making it so that she gains power from her beauty: "Your beauty is all that can save you, Ravenna!  This spell will make your beauty your power and protection.  By fairest blood it is done.  But be warned, by fairest blood this spell can be undone."  I want to know more of her back-story.  It seems that she had a pretty traumatic upbringing to lead her to this way of life: "I was ruined by a king like you once.  I replaced his queen.  An old woman.  And in time I too would have been replaced.  Men use women.  They ruin us and when they are finished with us they toss us to the dogs like scraps."  Sadly, we aren't to learn much more.

Kristen Stewart as Snow White.

Snow White is played by Kristen Stewart of Twilight fame, and the director knew just how to use her to best advantage -she speaks very little, and spends most of her time gazing around or fleeing from danger.  Near the end she gives a speech to her soldiers to inspire them before battle, and that was the low point -it's just not her forte.  Chris Hemsworth plays the huntsman, a drunkard mourning the death of his wife, who ends up helping Snow White.  Chris Hemsworth is always fun to watch somehow, even in silly movies.  Snow White's childhood friend William is played by Sam Claflin, who is mostly interesting because we know that he will be playing Finnick Odair in Catching Fire later this year -I hope he is up to the task!

It's not a tough movie to watch, and it keeps your interest, but it's nothing phenomenal.  The one thing the movie can't escape is that Charlize Theron is certainly fairer than Kristen Stewart -there's just no way around it.  Kristen Stewart doesn't have hair black as night, lips red as blood, or skin white as snow as the prologue claims she will.  Charlize Theron, on the other hand, is looking terrific -that is, when she maintains her diet of the souls of pretty young women and doesn't overdo it with her magic (she can start to look a bit haggard if she lets herself slip in these areas!).

2012 Skyfall

M (Riding in Bond's car): Not very comfortable, is it?
Bon (Indicating a red eject button): You gonna complain all the way?
M: Go on!  Eject me!  See if I care!
 
Skyfall was nominated in the following categories: Cinematography, Original Score, Sound Editing, and Sound Mixing.  Now, the Sound Editing was excellent, but I have to say, I think the Sound Mixing may have been even better...who am I kidding?  I don't care or know anything about those categories, but I'm sure whatever they are, they are wonderful and important.  And can it really be called an Original Score?  The same music has been used in countless Bond movies in the past.  Anyway, the cinematography was alright -Tyler thought it looked a bit Blade Runner-esque.

The traditional "Bond Girl."

I would say that Skyfall is a bit better than the average Bond movie, because the cast is very good (Daniel Craig, Ralph Fiennes, Judi Dench, Javier Bardem), it develops the relationship between Bond and M, and it has a bit more humor than usual.  Otherwise, it is pretty much your average Bond movie.  If you are a Bond fan (it's not really my cup of tea), then you will like it.  It has action, women,  flashy cars, a villain bent on destruction, and a good old fashioned "If you take another step I will shoot you" "But wait until you hear the evil plan I have to stop you" "Okay, let's hear it" "I am going to push this button and drop a train on your head and escape" "Oh dear, I wish I had shot you instead of listening to all that and letting you push the button" scene.

2012 Looper

"Then I saw it.  I saw a mom who would die for her son.  A man who would kill for his wife.  A boy, angry and alone.  Laid out in front of him, the bad path.  I saw it, and the path was a circle, round and round.  So I changed it."

 

Looper was not nominated for anything, but I had heard good things about it, and Tyler was interested in seeing it.  It was actually pretty gripping right from the beginning.  The opening scene shows a man waiting in an abandoned field with a gun, checking his watch, when all of a sudden a blindfolded man appears out of nowhere in front of him, and the character shoots him without hesitation.  The gist of the movie is that in the future there is time travel, and they send people back to the past to be executed, because murders are too tricky in the future.  The executioners in the past get lots of money, but a limited life span.  They have to kill their future selves at one point, which completes their "loop".  Bruce Willis is the main character's future self, and he escapes being executed by his younger self in order to try to bring down the child that will become a terrible criminal boss in the future.  It's a really interesting plot, and a great idea; however, unfortunately, it stops making sense as it goes along.  The inconsistencies become glaring, and the ending doesn't quite work.  It kind of ruins what was a really promising and entertaining movie, which is disappointing. 

2012 Movies -The Master, The Sessions, and Flight

2012 Movies -The Master, The Sessions, and Flight:

2012 The Master

Peggy Dodd: This is something you do for a billion years or not at all.  This isn't fashion.

Saturday afternoon my mom and I went to the Crest for a double-feature: The Master followed by The Sessions.  We were expecting to enjoy The Master, and not so much The Sessions, which we thought would be a bit vulgar.  We were very wrong.  The Master is a bizarre movie, from start to finish.  Joaquin Phoenix plays Freddie, who served in WWII apparently, though we don't see any of this.  The movie starts with him goofing around on the beach for a while with some of the guys.  They have made a woman out of sand, and he, er, molests the poor sand woman, then finishes himself off in the ocean, all set to weird music.  Charming.  I knew I was in for a long, strange movie already.  He then becomes a photographer, but goes nuts and assaults one of his clients for no apparent reason.  He makes booze out of paint thinner and other gross stuff, drinks a lot, has some sexual relations with a co-worker in the backroom, which feels really unnecessary since her character plays no further part in the story.

Describing the window in an exercise.

Then he stows away on a ship and stumbles into The Cause, and its leader Lancaster Dodd, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Dodd's wife Peggy, played by Amy Adams.  The Cause is supposed to be based on Scientology, and we get to watch some of their weird methods -for a long, long, long time.  For example, in a really dragged out montage, Freddie has to walk back and forth across a room with his eyes closed, touching the wall and the window alternately, then describing them over and over and getting increasingly crazy and agitated while everyone watches.  When it finally ends he is supposed to have accomplished something.  Not sure what.  There's also an exercise where he has to stare into Peggy Dodd's eyes and make her eyes a different color with his mind.  That's always useful.  Dodd's recently married daughter makes strange overtures to Freddie, which he doesn't reciprocate -strange since he is a horny pervert for most of the movie.  Freddie doesn't believe in Dodd's teachings, but if anyone else questions Dodd, Freddie goes nuts and beats the crap out of them.  Freddie is really, really crazy.  You know he's crazy when he makes the crazy Cause people seem almost sane by comparison.

Peggy telling Freddie to change her eye color with his mind.

There's another strange scene where they're having a Cause party, and all of a sudden all the women, young and old, are naked -going about their business but completely naked.  I think Freddie was imagining this, but I'm not sure.  The movie ends as inexplicably as it began.  Freddie leaves, sleeps with another random woman, and then thinks back to the time he was spooning with the sand woman.  Ah, the memories.  Don't waste your time on this movie.  The critics that liked it are obviously more artsy than me -or more something, anyway.  Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Amy Adams are all nominated, and they are all talents, but I doubt any of them will win -though I must give kudos to Joaquin Phoenix for altering his appearance to transform himself into the thin, sickly Freddie, and for creating a wholly abhorrent character.

2012 The Sessions

Cheryl: Picture yourself as a six year old boy at the beach.  Can you do that?
Mark:  Yes, very easily.
Cheryl: Describe some of your feelings.
Mark: I feel very exhilarated, running next to the Atlantic Ocean, feeling the wind and the wet sand between my toes.
Cheryl: Do you really feel like him?
Mark: Yes, I really feel like him.
Cheryl: But can you really picture him?...From the outside, I mean, as an adult, as you are now, looking at him with his crew cut and his little face?
Mark: Yes.
Cheryl: And are you mad at him?  Do you blame him for getting polio?  Was it his fault?




The Sessions, based on a true story, was the movie I thought would be crude, considering it is about a disabled man's relationship with a sex surrogate, but though female nudity and sex are present, the scenes are far from crude.  In fact, while The Master had an icky feeling about it, the interactions in The Sessions somehow felt very pure and innocent.  John Hawkes is fantastic as Mark O'Brien, a man in his forties who contracted polio as a young child, and has spent most of his life unable to move his body below his neck and restricted to an iron lung for all but small chunks of time (he can use a portable breathing machine for 3-4 hours at a time to leave the house).  He has lived with a lot of guilt, feeling like he ruined the lives of his parents, and that his younger sister died because they were too busy caring for him.

Consulting Father Brendan.

Despite this, he lives with a mostly upbeat and hopeful attitude, an amazing sense of humor, strong faith (he is a Catholic and religiously attends church and confession, befriending and confiding in the church priest, played with wonderful kindness and humor by William H. Macy), kindness, and determination.  He has earned a college degree, and earns a living as a writer.  It is when he is asked to write an article about sex for disabled people that he begins to consider his own lack of experience.  Though he has fallen in love before, he has never found a woman willing to take on the challenges of dating a severely disabled man like himself, and has begun to regret the fact that he may die without ever having a sexual experience.

Enter professional sex surrogate Cheryl, played by Helen Hunt.  After a consultation with his priest, Mark gets the go-ahead ("In my heart, I feel He'll give you a free pass on this one.  Go for it.") to have 6 sessions (the maximum she allows) with Cheryl, who will help him discover his sexuality so that he can potentially go forward and have a relationship in the future:
Cheryl (On the phone to Mark): We'll be talking for a while to begin with.  Then, if you agree, we can also start doing some body awareness exercises in your first session.
Mark (Looking at a picture of the Virgin Mary on the wall later that night while in his iron lung): Holy Mother of God, what are “body awareness exercises"?

Their relationship blossoms into something special, but realizing that she is getting too close to him, Cheryl ends the relationship after 4 sessions.  In that time, however, she helps Mark in many ways, and both of them have a hard time saying goodbye.  The supporting characters are deep and interesting (his caretakers and friends are nuanced and well developed), and the movie is sweet, funny, and meaningful.  I was very pleasantly surprised.  Helen Hunt was nominated, and she did a terrific job.  I think John Hawkes deserved a nomination as well -I preferred his performance over Denzel's in The Flight (see below).  Definitely worth watching IF you are not squeamish about sexual themes and about seeing Helen Hunt do the full monty.

2012 Flight

"The FAA and the NTSB took ten pilots, placed them in simulators, recreated the events that led to this plane falling out of the sky.  Do you know how many were safely able to land the planes?  Not one.  Evey pilot crashed the aircraft.  Killed everybody on board.  You were the only one who could do it."

"Hey, don't tell me how to lie about my drinking, okay?  I know how to lie about my drinking.  I've been lying about my drinking my whole life."

Flight was overall pretty disappointing.  It has an interesting plot: A pilot named Whip Whitaker, played by Denzel Washington, captains a commercial airliner while drunk and having done cocaine.  The plane suffers a mechanical failure and is going down (completely unrelated to Whip's condition -he is, in fact, asleep when the failure occurs, with his co-pilot keeping an eye on things).  Miraculously, Whip manages to stay calm, and using remarkable intuition and skill is able to pull the plane out of the dive and set it down in a field, saving the lives of 96 of 102 people on the plane.  The plane failure and crash made for a nail-biting, harrowing sequence, and the effects were great.  At one point the plane is even inverted:


Whip: When I say, I want you to retract the flaps, retract the gear, trim us nose-down, okay?  But everything's gonna be opposite, so make sure you trim us nose-down.
Evans (Co-pilot): Trim down?  What are you gonna do?
Whip: Margaret, when I tell you, I want you to push these forward, full throttle, can you do that?
Margaret (Flight attendant assisting from the jump seat): Okay.
Evans: What do you mean, sir?  What are we doing?  Why would I trim down?
Whip:We're gonna roll it.
Evans: Whoa!  What do you mean, "roll it"?
Whip: Got to do something to stop this dive.
 
This scene, however, was probably the best the movie had to offer.  The investigation into the cause of the crash makes up the rest of the movie, and Whip is being investigated because of evidence of his inebriated state while flying.  At first you feel sorry for him, because he did, after all, save all those people, and his condition did not cause the crash -oddly, it seemed to help, because he was able to stay completely cool under the pressure.  His behavior after the crash, however, is so horrible, with him guilting people into lying about his drinking and going on drunken, drugged binges in which he yells and swears at those trying to help him.  It makes you really not care whether he is found guilty or not.  And let's face it, hero or not, a pilot should not be flying a plane drunk and coked up.  It's mostly a movie about alcohol and drug addiction, which I am not especially interested in (see my The Lost Weekend review: http://kaleenasmith.blogspot.com/2012/10/1945-lost-weekend.html).  There's also a subplot with a drug addict woman that he begins a relationship with, which felt superfluous, and John Goodman appears briefly as a sleazy coke dealer, another character I could have done without.  Denzel Washington was nominated for Best Actor, and he did a pretty good job, but I wouldn't give him the award.  I say if you can get this movie for free from Netflix, then watch the plane crash, because it's a pretty gripping scene, but don't bother with the rest of the movie.