“Love is life. All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love. Everything is, everything exists, only because I love. Everything is united by it alone. Love is God, and to die means that I, a particle of love, shall return to the general and eternal source.”

~Count Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)

Michael Hoffman’s The Last Station is wonderful. Even if you don’t know much about Tolstoy or aren’t familiar with his writings, you’ll love this historically accurate movie.  James McAvoy, Helen Mirren, and Christopher Plummer offer a grand display of acting fireworks in The Last Station, writer-director Michael Hoffman’s juicy account of the tumultuous final year of Count Leo Tolstoy’s life.

In essence, the period dramedy is about the relationship between Tolstoy and his wife, Sofya (Mirren). It’s honest in its look at the ups and downs of married life. Tolstoy and Sofya are at war over Tolstoy’s legacy—a clash between ideals and reality, the flesh and the spirit. Tolstoy (Plummer) has renounced his title, thrown away material goods, his property, eating meat, and preached celibacy, (although he certainly didn’t practice it in his life) and helped develop the concept of passive resistance (one that he would pass along to Gandhi via letters). He is also about to sign away the rights to his novels to “the Russian people”—to the horror of his wife, Sofya. She’s determined to keep him from giving away his family’s inheritance, while the fanatical head of the Tolstoy movement, Chertkov (Paul Giamatti), is dead set on getting Tolstoy to sign.

Caught in the middle is young Valentin Bulgakov (James McAvoy), Tolstoy’s secretary, whom both Sofya and Chertkov try to inveigle to their cause. By the final year of his life, Tolstoy has thrown away material goods, preached celibacy (although didn’t practice it), and helped develop the very concept of passive resistance (one that he would pass along to Gandhi via letters).

In 1910, Tolstoy is still writing and riding horseback, and he is the most revered author of his time. He lives on a grand country estate and presides from a distance over a quasi-political cult/commune in which young adherents do farm labor while trying to adhere to tenets of Tolstoyan philosophy such as pacifism, social equality, vegetarianism and celibacy – all rules Tolstoy personally admits difficulty in adhering to.

It’s clear in this retelling of Tolstoy’s life, that the first and most important moon around this planet was his wife Sofya, a woman who was by his side during the writing of Anna Karenina and who transcribed War and Peace six times by hand. She’s stood by and watched in lonely horror and isolation as his new philosophies and increased fame has pulled her husband further away from her. (They were celebrities in their time and the paparazzi stalked them just like they stalk celebrities today).

Tolstoy loves his wife, but she is a devotee of Italian opera and is melodramatic herself. She has given her husband 13 children in their 48-year marriage. Sofya struggles to hold on to the work of her life – Tolstoy and her marriage. She tries to recapture the romance and fire of their earlier years of marriage, but doesn’t succeed very often.

Meanwhile, the abrasive Chertkov (Paul Giamatti) wants Tolstoy to leave his works to the Russian people and when he’s not bending the author’s ear to such an end, he’s hiring a young man named Valentin (James McAvoy) to infiltrate the group of followers circling the legend known as Tolstoyans and report back on the private conversations between Leo and Sofya. Sofya resents Chertkov – justifiably so. Chertkov seems a picture-perfect Communist-in-training. He tells Valentin that Sofya is very dangerous.

The film has received two Oscar nods: Christopher Plummer , for Supporting Actor and Helen Mirren for Leading Actress. Both of them deliver outstanding performances and could certainly win. James McAvoy is also wonderful as Valentin and Anne-Marie Duff is cute and spunky as Sasha.

The movie was written and directed by Michael Hoffman, based on the novel by Jay Parini.

The Last Station costars: 
Sofya – Helen Mirren
Tolstoy – Christopher Plummer
Chertkov – Paul Giamatti
Valentin – James McAvoy
Sasha – Anne-Marie Duff
Masha – Kerry Condon
Dushan – John Sessions
Sergeyenko – Patrick Kennedy

Shot on location in Germany, the film and costumes are gorgeous. The film is dedicated to the late Anthony Quinn.

About Leo Tolstoy (Count Lev Nikolayevich):  A Russian writer widely regarded as among the greatest of novelists. His masterpieces War and Peace and Anna Karenina represent in their scope, breadth and vivid depiction of 19th-century Russian life and attitudes, the peak of realist fiction. He is also the author of popular novellas such as Hadji Murad and The Death of Ivan Ilyich.  Tolstoy’s earliest works, the autobiographical novels Childhood, Boyhood, and Youth (1852–1856), tell of a rich landowner’s son and his slow realization of the chasm between himself and his peasants. Though he later rejected them as sentimental, a great deal of Tolstoy’s own life is revealed. They retain their relevance as accounts of the universal story of growing up.

The Young Victoria is a wonderful film. The cinematography is gorgeous and the pace and emotional tone of the film are exquisite.

French-Canadian director Jean-Marc Vallee begins with Victoria’s 1819 birth, then focuses on two storylines: the new queen’s declaration of independence from her mother; and her romance with her first cousin, Prince Albert (Rupert Friend).

Some of you may remember that in 1997, Judi Dench played Queen Victoria, Britain’s longest reigning monarch in history, during her later years; the story revolving around her relationship with manservant John Brown. Currently, The Young Victoria features the outstanding Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada) as the Queen during the first years of her reign, including her romance and relationship with husband Prince Albert (Rupert Friend.)

The movie tells the story of the short, but crucial first few years of Victoria’s 63-year reign. As King William IV (an amusingly impolitic Jim Broadbent) dodders toward the grave, the Duchess of Kent (Miranda Richardson) plans a regency so she can control her teenage daughter when she becomes queen. The king, who’s Victoria’s uncle, loves the girl as much as he loathes her mother and her top adviser, Sir John Conroy (Mark Strong, who plays another sort of Victorian knave in Sherlock Holmes).

Although just 18 when crowned in 1837, Victoria refuses the regency, spurning her mother and Conroy’s guidance. For political counsel, she relies instead on the prime minister, Lord Melbourne (Paul Bettany), and enjoys the time she spends with Albert, who’s been sent from Saxony by their uncle, Belgium’s King Leopold (Thomas Kretschmann), to sway Victoria toward support for Leopold’s ambitions.

During these early years, Melbourne and his party were falling out of favor in Parliament and his attempts to keep some kind of power by imposing the wives of his party members onto the Royal Household was viewed negatively by the public.

Her connection to Melbourne caused Victoria to be strongly disliked by the public during her early reign, but much of this dislike seemed to be forgotten when Victoria married Prince Albert. (Everyone loves a good romance – even in the 1800s!) The movie focuses much of its story on their courtship/romance which was, in part, arranged by Victoria’s uncle, King Leopold of Belgium. Victoria was wary of marriage at first, fearing that a husband would want to rule her, but Albert’s charms and his proclamation that she should marry someone who would want to rule with her, finally won her over.  And, Melbourne informs the queen that the reform-minded Albert is “a good man,” and advises her to “let him share your work.” An end note reports that the queen and her prince consort reigned together for 20 years. (As history buffs probably know, Albert died at 42, while the sturdy Victoria lived to 81. They had 9 children together!)

Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend are fantastic in their roles. Blunt does an excellent job of balancing the exuberance of Victoria’s youth with the seriousness of her station. It’s part of her vivaciousness which makes the romance with Rupert Friend’s Prince Albert all the more interesting and endearing. I would have enjoyed seeing more of the romance and less of the politics.

Co-produced by Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York — and featuring a cameo by her daughter, Princess Beatrice — the film is wonderful. You will enjoy it, I promise!

From left to right: Nicholas Hoult, Tom Ford, Colin Firth and Matthew Goode

This movie is absolutely wonderful. Heartfelt, brilliant, sensitive and beautiful. I loved it so much, I saw it twice. Colin Firth should be nominated for an Oscar for his role as George Falconer in A Single Man.

The story is simple; the complex layers of emotion are not. In 1962, George 52 years old, is a Briton who transplanted to L.A. There, he has been an English professor for years. George is also gay at a time – the early ’60s – when being open about such things wasn’t commonplace. Gay men and women were “invisible” to the rest of the world. No one talked about it. The man George loves, Jim (Matthew Goode), has died, sending him first into depression and then on a mission to simply end it all.

Matthew Goode

Our tragedy actually begins on the day George has decided will be his last. George was in a 16-year relationship with his lover, Jim (Matthew Goode), until Jim died in a car accident eight months earlier. The agony took hold at once: As he received the horrible news from a member of Jim’s family, he was told the funeral was for family only.

Fashion designer Tom Ford, who made a name as the glamour guy at Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and now with his own label, has constructed an impressive directing debut out of Christopher Isherwood’s dark novel. A character study is a good fit, giving Ford the chance to use what he knows about staging, which is considerable. Life and death are equally beautiful, equally seductive, as are the sets, the faces, the cars and the clothes of the 60s, which Ford designed himself. Everything on-screen mirrors the time “spot on.” No detail is random, whether the clocks that tick as George moves through his final day, the people he encounters, the vending machines, the burial suit meticulously laid out with “a Windsor knot” noted on the card placed over the tie.

This is a love story and whether you’re heterosexual, bisexual, gay or whatever – you will feel the depth of emotion in this film. You will cry for Jim and George – watching the beauty of love unfold on the screen like a paintbrush stroking colors and images onto a canvass. Director of Photography is Eduard Grau and he does a beautiful job. The film begins and ends with a kiss, gentle and chaste, setting a tone that will stay. (Even Jim’s death is beautiful and forlorn, exhibiting the kind of loneliness and pain that is almost too much to bear.) As a line in the movie points out, “Sometimes, awful things have their own kind of beauty.”

Since Jim’s death, George has walked through what’s left of his life. He lives in a beautiful “glass house” in Santa Monica and tries to teach literature to uninterested students; he waves at the neighbors next door while despising their shallowness. He lectures to his indifferent students, speaking in code about the hatred of minorities. He declines the advances of a flirtatious Spanish gay hustler. He shares cocktails and old jokes with a fellow Brit, Charley (Julianne Moore), a washed up divorcee with whom George once had a brief affair. She’s really his only true friend and even she doesn’t fully understand that gay relationships are “real” relationships. And at the end of the day, in the same beachfront bar where he met Jim, George finds himself pursued by an admiring, flirtatious and young student (Nicholas Hoult, the kid in About a Boy, who has grown into a blue-eyed beauty). Ford and co-writer David Scearce have added an element of suspense you won’t find in Isherwood’s book: George’s intention to commit suicide before day’s end.

George goes through the steps of tidying up his affairs before putting a revolver in his mouth and relieving the pain. Yet, judging by an almost-farcical scene of false starts, perhaps George is still a long way from the brink.

Ford’s movie, like the novel, is an inner journey, weaving pungent memories into the everyday details of George’s life. A Single Man derives its power from Firth’s coiled performance. In black-rimmed glasses that make him look like Nelson Rockefeller or Michael Caine, Firth is wonderful as a reserved professor who is concealing unbearable anguish and pain, without the emotional outbursts that most actors would need to make the point.

Firth’s work should earn him an Oscar nomination. He was already nominated for a Golden Globe, which went to Jeff Bridges instead. Firth should have won it. He is remarkable. His staunchest fans, though, will probably continue to pine for a sequel to Pride and Prejudice.

Go see A Single Man today. It will teach you about love and tolerance and maybe, even, make you a better person.

Leap Year, starring Amy Adams and Matthew Goode, is a wonderful, wonderful romantic comedy. I’ve seen it twice because it’s uplifting and warms my heart. The movie has been getting bad reviews, but I don’t understand why. It’s cute, funny, and romantic. Perfect for a “girl’s night out.” And perfect if you’d like to “go to Ireland” and escape for a while.  Sometimes, critics get it wrong. If there’s not a lot of blood, sex, action and violence, then critics will dismiss the movie as if it’s bland. In Leap Year, there is nothing to dislike and everything to love.

The actors are marvelous. Matthew Goode, who plays Declan in Leap Year, and who was born in Exeter, Devon, England, U.K., has been hailed by The Sunday Times Magazine as one of Britain’s finest rising stars. He not only stars in Leap Year, but he is now appearing in Tom Ford’s debut film, A Single Man and will be appearing with Ricky Gervais in the upcoming Cemetery Junction. This is one young actor to watch. He’s gorgeous and absolutely brilliant on film. If you saw him in Watchmen, you’ll understand what I mean. He was wonderful as Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias and he was outstanding in the film, Match Point.

According to Irish custom, women may propose to their boyfriends on February 29 – Leap Day. The woman in Leap Year is Anna (Amy Adams), a Boston apartment stager, (decorator), and her intended fiancé, Jeremy (Adam Scott), is a cardiologist who is more in love with his BlackBerry than her. Jeremy has flown to a medical conference in Dublin, which neatly coincides with Leap Day, so Anna follows — intending to propose to him on February 29^th.  But, due to bad weather, Anna’s plane lands in an area near Dingle. Schlepping through mud and rain, Anna ends up in an Irish pub, seeking help to get to Dublin. The “help” comes in the form of a cantankerous, but gorgeous innkeeper and bartender named Declan (Matthew Goode.) He agrees to drive Anna to Dublin for 500 Euros. He needs the money to save his pub from being repossessed. During their trip, after one hilarious escapade after another, the feelings grow between Anna and Declan. It’s clear they’re falling in love. And by the time Anna meets up with Jeremy, it’s unclear as to whether he’s the man for her or not.

Matthew Goode is one of the best things about this film. Amy Adams is cute and her usual sweet self.  But, hands down, Goode’s performance as Declan was the best part of this film. On paper, the character comes across as arrogant, selfish, and mean spirited, but somehow the actor turns him into Prince Charming. Not to mention Goode’s spot-on Irish accent, which was pitch perfect. His dialect was so on point, that it was hard to believe that underneath it all, he’s really British.

Ireland was a secondary character in Leap Year, and got just as much screen time as the actors. After watching this film you’ll want to book a trip overseas to see what the country has to offer. There were gorgeous shots that spotlighted the landscape, plus a few historical ruins.

John Lithgow had a cameo appearance and I was surprised he wasn’t used in the film more. He’s an outstanding actor.  He stars as Anna’s father and is the one who tells her about the Irish tradition.

Overall, Amy Adams and Matthew Goode have great chemistry in this film. And the scenery is beautiful. It’s a sweet love story that will make girls swoon. What’s not to like about this movie?  All of you critics out there who are bashing this film, get off your high horse. You’ve lost touch with what people really love and need. Go see Leap Year today.

Below are the names of the director and key members of the movie.

• Director: Anand Tucker
• Writers: Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont
• Starring: Amy Adams, Matthew Goode, Adam Scott, John Lithgow
• Cinematography by: Newton Thomas Sigel
• Music: Randy Edelman
• Executive Producers: J.C. Spink and Su Armstrong

Britain’s Leona Lewis (3-time Grammy Award nominee) performs the end title song, “I See You” for the epic movie adventure Avatar. The Hollywood Foreign Press has honored “I See You” with a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song – Motion Picture. Avatar was also nominated for Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director – Motion Picture (James Cameron), and Best Original Score – Motion Picture (James Horner).

Lewis, who just released her new album “Echo,” was hand-picked by Cameron to record the song for Avatar, which opened this weekend. “I See You,” is produced by James Horner and Simon Franglen, the team behind the movie, Titanic’s blockbuster theme song, “My Heart Will Go On.”

Avatar is a visual masterpiece and it is wonderful. Unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. It’s as if James Cameron, the Oscar winning director of Titanic, entered into his dream worlds and came back to earth and recreated scenes that are beyond the physical. Avatar is sensational entertainment. It is technology of the future. And, it comes with a message of love. Love for life. And, a message of anti-war. It’s a technical renaissance. In fact, it is a new way of making movies. It contains such stunning visuals that one could see it repeatedly and see new things each time. It also invents a new language, Na’vi, as “Lord of the Rings” did.  It is a moment in time that will live forever. What a great way to start the beginning of a new decade in the 21^st century.  

James Cameron wrote and directed Avatar, proving once again that he is a master when it comes to movie-making. There is no doubt about that. His use of visual effects, motion-capture mavens, stunt performers, dancers, actors and music and sound magicians, brings science-fiction movies into the 21st century with the jaw-dropping wonder that is Avatar. And he did it almost from scratch. 

Plus, he has written a story that has a profound message. There is no underlying novel, legend or myth to generate his story. He draws from the Native American Indians as well as today’s adventurous cliff-diving and parasailing, along with Western movies like Dances With Wolves. He touches on the problems of earth like our resources being depleted and the American tragedy in Vietnam.

Cameron conceived this story 15 ago, but didn’t have the technology to bring it to fruition. So, he went out and created it in collaboration with the best “special effects” minds in the business. This is motion capture brought to a new high where every detail of the actors’ performances gets preserved in the final CG character as they appear on the screen. The eyes are big and expressive as if the human entity walked into the blue body. It took Cameron 4 years to produce this, and after watching it, you can understand why. His attention to detail is impressive.

The story takes place in 2154, three decades after a multinational corporation has established a mining colony on Pandora, a planet light years from Earth. A toxic environment and hostile natives forces the human colony to interact with the natives on Pandora through the use of their “Avatar.”  

The lead male, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), is a disabled former Marine who has lost the use of his legs and is now in a wheelchair. He takes his late twin brother’s place in the Avatar program. His job is to study Pandora, become one of them (through the use of his Avatar which looks like the Na’vi) and hopefully, convince them to relocate from their current location on their planet. The earthlings want something that is priceless on this planet and in the specific location of this tribe of people.

Without any training, Jake must learn how to link his consciousness to an Avatar, a remotely controlled biological body that mixes human DNA with that of the native population, the Na’vi. Jake loves this because, in this new body, he can run and walk again. He immediately becomes entangled with Pandora’s inhabitants.

The planet is a fairyland – a fantasy land – dreamed up by Cameron. Sigourney Weaver, who plays Dr. Grace Augustine, a scientist who has studied the Na’vi for a long time and also uses an Avatar body to intermingle with them, commented on the Craig Ferguson TV show that Cameron used his extensive knowledge of the deep sea to create this planet, Pandora. And one can easily see the connection. There are flying dragons, magic plants, gigantic out-of-this-world colored flowers, wispy “seeds” that float with luminescent light and much, much more. Instead of looking like a far-flung corner of our own world, the lush, verdant planet of Pandora is like nothing we have seen before. The plant life here is shockingly unearthly, while the inhabitants appear to have followed a completely different evolutionary path to those we are used to; the sentient ones are sleek, ten-foot tall, blue-skinned creatures. They have large, round yellow eyes. Everything is in bright 3D realism. Along with the people, there are ferocious animals and hypnotic creepy-crawlies and feral dogs that fly through the air in a rain forest with a highly advanced spiritual design.  It seems there is a flow of energy that serves as a conduit through the roots of trees and the spores of the plants, which the Na’vi know how to tap into. This energy contains all the memories and thoughts of their planet – a kind “Book of Knowledge.”

The center of life is a holy tree where tribal memories and the wisdom of their ancestors is theirs for the asking. This is what the humans want to strip-mine. Jake manages to get taken in by one tribe where a powerful, dread-locked Amazonian/warrior named Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) takes him under her wing to teach him how to live in the forest, speak the language and honor the traditions of nature. And, eventually, they fall in love. When Jake is awake in his human body, he is “asleep” in his Na’vi body. And when he’s in his Na’vi body, he’s asleep in his human body. Jake pilots his Na’vi body remotely from an orbiting spaceship. What he doesn’t realize is that he may be part of a covert strategy to investigate the planet’s potentially lucrative natural resources.

Jake becomes so involved in his life on Pandora that he comments that he doesn’t know which world is real anymore. For anyone who has adventurous dreams, you’ll be able to relate. (Sometimes, a dream may seem more real than waking life.) It is this way in this movie. Cameron touches on many spiritual principles and beliefs, as well as love – no matter what your body looks like. Jake and Neytiri must overcome obstacles and learn each other’s heart. The Na’vi have a saying, “I see you,” which goes beyond the visual. It means I see into you and know your heart. Sigourney Weaver is wonderful as Dr. Grace Augustine and is a friend to the Na’vi. She provides the heart for her “team” of scientists and has more knowledge of the planet than anyone else. Joel Moore plays a wonderful supporting role as Norm Spellman, who also likes the Na’vi and travels to intermingle with them with his Na’vi body. Michelle Rodriguez plays a helicopter pilot who is one of the “good guys” and Giovanni Ribisi is excellent as Parker Selfridge, one of the corporate “greedy” guys. The entire cast is excellent.

Jake’s orders are to gain the trust of the Na’vi and provide solid intelligence about the Na’vi defensive capabilities to Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), the ramrod head of security for the mining consortium and the movie’s villain. But as Jake comes to see things through Neytiri’s eyes and the eyes of her people, he hopes to establish enough trust between the humans and the natives to negotiate a peace. But the corporation wants the land the Na’vi occupy for its valuable raw material so the Colonel sees no purpose in this.

Toward the end of the movie, there is a massive battle. The planet’s animal life, including the flying dragons and fierce creatures on land, all go into battle with the Na’vi. The humans attack them with projectiles, bombs and armor. The Na’vi have little hope of surviving against the humans.  

Mauro Fiore’s cinematography is dazzling as it melts all the visual elements into a science-fiction whole. You believe in Pandora. You could see yourself living there and romping through the gorgeous fields of light-filled flowers and rainforests. Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg’s design brings Cameron’s screenplay to life with disarming ease and stunning visuals.

James Horner’s score subtly transports the action on while the editing attributed to Cameron, Stephen Rivkin and John Refoua maintains a breathless pace that exhilarates and keeps you on the edge of your seat. I found myself holding my breath at times – the beauty was so intense – the romance so heartfelt.  Now, I am wishing for Avatar: Part II. This is a movie I will go and see several times.

 Note: Avatar storms worldwide box office with $232 million according to Screeninglog.com. Although hampered by furious snow storms in the north-eastern United States, James Cameron’s big-budget action feature Avatar took the No. 1 spot at the North American box office over the weekend. James Cameron’s Avatar also topped the international box office this weekend with a stunning opening of $159.2 million in 106 markets. Domestically, the 3D sci-fi epic adventure bagged $73 million. That brings the weekend total of the action spectacle to $232.2 million; an impressive result. The film’s budget is now estimated at a massive $280 million, not including the 100+ million for marketing.

Also making a lot of money is The Twilight Saga: New Moon, which bagged another $10.7 million at No. 2 for a total overseas gross of $381.1 million. Worldwide, the sequel has now grossed $655.7 million.  

Following are the lyrics for I See You, sung by Leona Lewis during the end credits in Avatar. To order the soundtrack, please go to Amazon.com.  

I see you
I see you
Walking through a dream
I see you
My light in darkness breathing hope of new life
Now I live through you and you through me
Enchanting
I pray in my heart that this dream never ends
I see me through your eyes
Living through life flying high
Your life shines the way into paradise
So I offer my life as a sacrifice
I live through your love
You teach me how to see
All that’s beautiful
My senses touch your word I never pictured
Now I give my hope to you
I surrender
I pray in my heart that this world never ends
I see me through your eyes

Living through life flying high
Your love shines the way into paradise
So I offer my life
I offer my love, for you
When my heart was never open
(and my spirit never free)
To the world that you have shown me
But my eyes could not division
All the colors of love and of life ever more
Evermore
(I see me through your eyes)
I see me through your eyes
(Living through life flying high)
Flying high
Your love shines the way into paradise
So I offer my life as a sacrifice
And live through your love
And live through your life
I see you
I see you

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This is a great season for movies. Oftentimes, there aren’t any good movies at Christmas time, but this year, there are a slew of them. Up in the Air is one of the best. It is the story of a confirmed bachelor who flies all over the U.S. to tell people they’re fired. He’s a high-flying exec whose goal is to rack up 10 million frequent-flyer miles. Just as Thank You for Smoking and Juno did in their own ways, Jason Reitman’s third film cleverly taps into specific cultural aspects of the contemporary zeitgeist, although in a somewhat less comically manner. I believe Up in the Air is much more sentimental and true to life than Reitman’s other films.

George Clooney is absolutely brilliant as Ryan Bingham, a career transition counselor (code for a gun-for-hire corporate assassin), who specializes in the dirty work some corporate bosses don’t like to do themselves –  firing employees. He’s cool, detached and an expert at suggesting to devastated workers that new horizons in life can now be explored. He loves the lifestyle of spending most of his time in business class seats and upscale hotels; given that, at last count, he’s on the move 322 days per year. When he does stop at his apartment in Omaha, it resembles a cold undecorated motel room. His “home” is in the air.

Having adapted Walter Kirn’s novel with Sheldon Turner, Reitman generates a lot of humor in describing Ryan’s life. Ryan delivers occasional motivation speeches on how you should be able to fit all that’s important to you into a backpack, and he practices what he preaches by traveling with just one carry-on bag. He receives top-level, members-only treatment at airports, car rental desks and hotels and, picking up a like-minded woman, Alex, played adeptly by Vera Farmiga, in a lounge one night, impresses her by revealing he’s very close to achieving 10 million-mile frequent-flyer status.

Ryan has never been in love and Alex is the feminine version of him. Their relationship is easy and fun. They have great chemistry in the movie with a wonderful sense of play.

All is going great in Ryan’s world until his boss, Craig (played by Jason Bateman), introduces him to their new whiz-kid, Natalie Keener, played by Anna Kendrick (of the Twilight Saga: New Moon fame). Keener, having come of age in front of a computer, has no grasp of the human. She’s cold, calculated and ruthless at the ripe old age of 23. Anna Kendrick absolutely shines in this movie and steals every scene she’s in. By the way, she has been nominated for a Golden Globe for this role. Craig explains to Ryan that he can slash expenditures by firing people via video conferencing. Natalie has introduced this new concept and Ryan doesn’t like it one bit. However, faced with a drastic lifestyle change at best and his own walking papers at worst, Ryan is ultimately obliged to accompany the humorless, tight-lipped, prim and proper hotshot on a tour to show her how he does it, and then attempt the changeover.

Throughout the movie are montages of workers reacting to their sudden professional demise and the incomprehension, fury, bewilderment, sense of injustice, hopelessness and despair with which these people express themselves is touching, honest and true. It makes one pause and take a look at what’s happening in our world. The movie touches on many important economic factors. It’s poignant.

The difference between the generations is acknowledged in a humorous way through Natalie’s eyes – a young, 23 year old. (Clooney’s and Farmiga’s characters are old to her.) Natalie thinks she has it all figured out, with career, relationship, marriage, babies, and life path all configured onto a timeline. For his part, Ryan believes he’s got it all worked out as well, and he does, as long as he doesn’t mind the lack of much human connection, not to even mention marriage or family, which he scoffs at as not for him.

Ryan has to attend the northern Wisconsin winter wedding of his younger sister, Julie (Melanie Lynskey), to regular guy Jim (Danny McBride). He asks Alex to come along with him for fun – or maybe they’re falling in love – and finds himself having a wonderful time. There are some poignant questions at the wedding – such as What happens when you get married? Or choose to spend life alone?

Clooney, Farmiga, and Kendrick are all simply brilliant in their roles. I would have enjoyed seeing a little more of Jason Bateman. His role could have used more layering to clarify his relationship with Ryan, as to whether it was personal or strictly professional.

Much of the action is played out on interchangeable airport-area locations as the characters zip from city to city, but there are some interesting overhead shots of numerous American cities. The production and editing of this film was impeccable and the soundtrack is fun.

Up in the Air is rated R, but only because there are a couple of crude words in the movie and partial female nudity (backside). Honestly, don’t let that keep you from seeing it. It’s a wonderful movie and is not offensive in any way. I can’t wait to see it again!

 Please Note: If you’d like to leave a comment, please double-click on the title above, and a blank box will open below. You can leave your comments there. I appreciate all comments! Thanks, Donna 

Invictus, meaning Unconquerable in Latin, is a poem by William Ernest Henley. The movie, Invictus, is a wonderful, wonderful movie. I’ve seen it twice and enjoyed it just as much the second time as the first. It is uplifting, inspiring and heartwarming. I cried through much of it – not because it was sad, but because of its uplifting message to mankind. Clint Eastwood directed the movie which was written by Anthony Peckham, based on the book by John Carlin: Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation. 

Invictus is not a biopic; rather, it is a glimpse into the world of South Africa when Nelson Mandela was freed from prison. It is a glimpse into the world of how one man strove to heal a nation that had been torn apart by apartheid. It’s about politic strategy through hope and inspiration. Morgan Freeman plays Mandela – a master of charm and soft-spoken gravitas. And Freeman does an incredible job. The message of the movie is soul-stirring and life-changing. If this were fiction, you wouldn’t believe it. The fact that it’s a true story is an amazing fact.

The movie begins with Mandela being released from prison and his winning the presidential election. We follow him through his earliest days as President, with special attention to his focus on the National Rugby team, named the Springboks, and its captain, Francois Pienaar, played superbly by Matt Damon.

To create harmony in their country, Mandela invites Pienaar to his office and discusses rugby and the young man’s sports’ strategies. The whole goal is to inspire his team to victory at the Rugby World Cup, which South Africa is hosting. Mandela aims to fuse nation and team, standing together in markedly underdog status, with the idea that while his bid for election was a victory to some, it was a defeat to others, and what his nation needs now is a victory for all.

Freeman doesn’t overplay his scenes. He is methodical, taking the time necessary to portray Mandela as both a leader and a family man who has problems with his family. And Matt Damon has never been better as the young South African rugby player. He underplays his scenes as well, giving breadth and emotional layers to his character, Francois Pienaar.

When Mandela starts studying the rugby team, he realizes that the nation’s racial tensions are somewhat symbolically tied to the team. As Mandela notes in an early match, the whites are cheering for their team, the Springboks, the blacks are cheering for the visitors’ teams and the one black player on the team: Chester. The Springboks, whose mascot had direct ties to the apartheid regime, would go on to defeat the New Zealand All Blacks that year in a victory that was given special significance by Mandela, who had hopes it would help unify the wounded and splintered aspects of his country.

There’s quite a bit of humor in the movie, too – especially amongst Mandela’s security guards. He has a staff of both white and black guards and it’s fun to watch them. At first, they are wary of one another, but as they work together, they find a common bond –  both groups love Mandela.

Eastwood is a classical director in most every respect, and sometimes those instincts result in a film of unique power like Letters from Iwo Jima. Other times, they bring about accomplished but stilted ones like The Changeling or Flags of Our Fathers. For Invictus, the award-winning director peers into the South African situation and Mandela’s time as president and hones in on a particular event; the president’s 1995 support of the nation’s rugby team in the World Cup. I think Invictus is powerful. It’s subtle, it’s underplayed. But, it possesses the same strength, emotion and power of Eastwood’s other movies.

In essence, this movie is about the way Mandela uses a national sports team as an instrument of healing. Mandela talks about poetry and how it helped him in prison. One of the poems that most inspired him was Invictus by William Ernest Henley. Freeman/Mandela narrates this poem in the movie. In fact, this poem was the soul of the movie. You’ll understand why once you read it. Everyone should go see this movie today.

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

William Ernest Henley

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I loved this film and believe everyone should see it. Especially young adults who are too busy to spend time with their parents during the holidays. Everybody’s Fine makes one realize how precious and valuable time is with our loved ones. And it makes one realize that it’s not doing anyone any favors to keep the truth from your parents. They can handle the truth. They just can’t handle the deceit.

Robert De Niro plays Frank, a retired blue-collar man who put PVC on telephone wires in a factory for a living. Recently widowed, he is lonely and bored with home repairs and gardening. The movie opens with him getting ready for his 4 grown children to come home for a family reunion. This involves buying groceries, wine, filet mignon, blowing up the swimming pool and other odds’n’ends that parents do when their adult children are coming home. You can tell he’s looking forward to this visit. He wants to impress them. It means everything to him. His kids haven’t been home since their mother’s funeral eight months before, but every single one cancels on him, saying they’re too busy. (It reminds me of life today, in general. Everyone is too busy to really spend time with their friends and family. I think it’s a worldwide epidemic.)  Frank is feeling disconnected — his wife held the family together — and so, against his doctor’s advice, he embarks on a cross-country road trip by bus to visit each one.

His children include: David, the artist who is now mysteriously absent from his Manhattan apartment; Amy (Kate Beckinsale), the Chicago ad exec who lives in an ultramodern Frank Lloyd Wright type of house; Robert (Sam Rockwell), a touring orchestra timpanist who Dad surprises in Denver; and Rosie (Drew Barrymore), a beautiful Vegas dancer who seems to be hiding something even though she appears to live in a gorgeous high-rise.

Frank knows right away that everyone is lying to him and that something is terribly amiss. The truth is – no one is fine or happy. The children skirt around the truth and leave their father feeling more frustrated than ever. What he finds is that his children aren’t doing as well as his wife had him believe — and they are reluctant to see this man who had such high expectations for them without the buffer of their mother. He thought Robert (Sam Rockwell) was a big-time conductor; instead, he’s a small-time percussionist. Amy (Kate Beckinsale) is doing well in her advertising career, but her family life is going down the toilet. Rosie (Drew Barrymore), ostensibly a lead dancer in a Las Vegas revue, has issues with both. And David is MIA, though his siblings know a lot more about his whereabouts than they’re letting on with their father.

Everybody’s Fine is a remake of the Italian film Stanno tutti bene, and is something of a departure for De Niro, who generally plays grittier roles. I think this film is a serious inquiry into how grown children treat their parents and how we as a whole treat the elderly. The movie depicts the children as quite selfish and self-centered and to be honest, I think it is very realistic of the way children are today.  

Robert De Niro is excellent in this role. He underplays it and in doing so, makes this one of his most interesting performances in years. His face wears the emotions of the movie and it will leave you in tears. The actors who play his children do a respectable job and Drew Barrymore is adorable in her role as Rosie.

Directed by Kirk Jones, Everybody’s Fine is written by Kirk Jones and Massimo De Rita.  I definitely recommend seeing this movie. It will make you appreciate your parents and family more than ever.

This movie is absolutely wonderful. It’s a great family film. It’s so uplifting and warm, it will make you laugh and cry. And what’s even more incredible, it’s a true story. To think that there’s this much good in the world simply is the most heartwarming story of the holiday season. The Blind Side is based on the true story of Michael Oher and Leigh Anne Tuohy. Grounded in the direct, disarming truth of their experience, the movie is brilliant. This could be Bullock’s award-winning role. Just as Julia Roberts reached a turning point and a high in her acting career with Erin Brockovich, Bullock could well be doing the same in The Blind Side. She is perfect as the saucy, direct Leigh Anne who has a heart of gold. (Bullock actually lived with the Tuohys and shadowed them in order to understand Leigh Anne’s character better.) One night, Leigh Anne sees Oher (Quinton Aaron) walking alone on a cold, rainy Memphis night and spontaneously invites him to stay the night with her family. She puts him on her sofa because her guest room is littered with boxes. (Let me just say here that Quinton Aaron is superb in the role of Michael Oher.) I love him.

Leigh Anne’s precocious youngest son, S.J., played by Jae Head, is adorable. He steals every scene he’s in. S.J. immediately befriends Michael and takes him under his wing as his “big brother.”  Lily Collins plays Collins Tuohy and she’s beautiful and a great, encouraging sister.

If viewers may experience a twinge of misgiving about the issues of race and class that are alluded to in The Blind Side, they can’t help but be enormously entertained and moved by its irresistible story. I didn’t see an issue with race. I saw love on a grander scale – one much larger that has nothing to do with skin color, religion, politics or socioeconomic status. This is a story about the authentic, compassionate response to vulnerability and need. It’s a story about family and it’s a story about love, above all.

The movie’s title is a football reference, which the voiceover of Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock) explains at the beginning. Michael Oher (Quenton Aaron) is sweating out a tough but unspecified situation in an office, when we flash back a few years and meet him as Big Mike. An African-American staff member at a mostly white Christian private school in Memphis, Tennessee, is trying to get his athletic son into the school, and the school’s coach also spots some athletic potential in Big Mike, granting him a scholarship. Big Mike has terrible trouble keeping up in school, and when his friend’s family stops helping him out, he is virtually homeless — sleeping in the school gym, eating popcorn left there after events, wearing the same thin clothes daily, which he washes out by hand in a Laundromat.

Big Mike is an oddity at the private school, but he is a gentle soul. When the Tuohys take him in, they encourage him and provide the first real family he has ever known. The Tuohys finally become Michael’s legal guardian. They’re very much into sports both as former participants and current fans, so they encourage him in football and in schoolwork so he can possibly win a football scholarship to college. S.J. takes on the role of a personal coach to teach Big Mike about football and these are great scenes in the movie. Will Michael succeed, or will he return to his neglectful, drug-addicted mother in the projects? 

The Blind Side is based on the nonfiction account of Michael Oher by Michael Lewis, which was adapted by the film’s director, John Lee Hancock. If you’ve read the book or know about Oher, the outcome of the movie won’t surprise you. But that’s not the point — this is a movie about characters and relationships, and the effects of great acts of kindness. In essence, it’s about love. Bullock, Aaron and Head are the highlights of the film. Tim McGraw plays Sean Tuohy, Leigh Anne’s husband, and he is perfect in that role. Kathy Bates, as Miss Sue, has a small but heartfelt role as a tutor. Her greatest line was when she had to explain to them that she was a Democrat.

The Touhy adults are actually Ole Miss alumni. Hancock does have some fun casting the college football coaches in The Blind Side –  they all play themselves. Some of the coaches are not exactly great actors, but the then-LSU coach, Nick Saban, was terrific.

Many of you probably already know Michael Oher’s story. I didn’t, but all of my brothers did. Michael Oher ends up being signed by the Baltimore Ravens. Honestly, it’s one of the best movies I’ve seen all year. Take your family to see it. You’ll love it.

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These violent delights have violent ends

And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,

Which, as they kiss, consume. 

            ~Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene VI

A sliver of a moon hangs high. Stars dot the sky and chill the air with a brightness. The wind rustles the leaves with a delicious expectancy that I’ve been waiting for all night.  I eagerly drive to the theater almost 2 hours early. After all, it’s the midnight premiere of Twilight Saga: New Moon, and I know there will be a long line. I pull my jacket tighter and wrap my scarf closer around my neck as I hurry to the doorway. Swarms of both men and women – of all ages – crowd the entryway and spill out into the foyer and onto the escalator. I go to the concession stand and get a small bag of popcorn and a diet coke. I’ve saved my calories all day for this treat.

Zig-zagging through the lines, I find my theater and go inside. Turns out, all the theaters in this 16-theater cinemaplex are showing the New Moon movie tonight. And, they are all sold out. I am grateful that I bought my ticket online at Fandango weeks ago. I find a seat on the top row, and sit there relaxing, while watching as young men and women stream in, filling the seats. Young girls huddle together and laugh, twirling their ponytails in their hands; some play cards, others play on their iPods, cell phones or Blackberries while waiting for the movie to begin. Many of them are wearing New Moon t-shirts as well as “Team Edward” and “Team Jacob” shirts. One young guy and his girlfriend come in dressed as Edward and Bella. Cute.

An attractive 30-something guy in blue jeans and a flannel shirt walks in, looks around and notices an empty seat by me. He approaches and asks if he can sit by me. I say sure. I’m impressed that a 30-something guy would come to this movie alone. He confides that he is a “closet” Twilight lover – that his “dude” friends would think he was silly. I tell him that he’s got great taste – that it’s one of the best series of books I’ve ever read and that the movies – so far – have been wonderful. My new friend Michael and I munch on popcorn and chit-chat about actors, movies and books. I like him.

The time passes quickly and before I know it, the lights dim and previews of upcoming movies pop up on the screen. The first one is the preview of Robert Pattinson’s upcoming movie with Emilie de Ravin, Remember Me, which is due in theaters February 2010. It looks terrific and Rob’s acting is heartfelt and emotional in the trailer. I tell Michael that Rob is destined to become one of the best actors of all time. He agrees. Soon, the screen goes to black and a beautiful, orange round moon appears. New Moon begins.

I am transported immediately back to green, rainy Forks, Washington, the hometown of Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and her father, Charlie Swan (Billy Burke) and her beautiful vampire boyfriend, Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson). (This movie was actually filmed in Vancouver, but looks very much like the setting in the first movie, Twilight.)

The movie is wonderful. The actors are brilliant. The pace is slow, deliberate and yet, fast-paced. Slow enough to build emotion and fast enough to move the plot forward. If one hasn’t read the books or seen the first Twilight movie in the series, then you may have a difficult time understanding what’s happening. It would be an enjoyable movie for anyone to see – regardless if you’ve seen Twilight or read the books. But, it is so much better if you know the story because of all the layers of emotions. This Twilight belongs to me – to all of us who love it. I am at home here. My friends are here. My thoughts are here.

The movie opens with a dream. Bella is in the field of wildflowers where she and Edward proclaimed their love for one another. Bella sees herself as old as her grandmother and there stands Edward with them – not a day older than the first day she met him. It’s Bella’s birthday and she’s 18 years old. She’s getting older by the minute while Edward remains 17. She wants Edward to “change” her into a vampire so she can live with him forever. This is a constant friction between the two in the story. Edward refuses to change her – thinking it will take away her soul in the process.

That night, the Cullens give Bella a birthday party and she slightly cuts her finger on some tape. Jasper (Jackson Rathbone) finds her blood too hard to resist and is getting ready to attack her, but Edward and the other Cullens intervene. The other Cullens are: Carlisle Cullen (Peter Facinelli), Esme Cullen, Carlisle’s wife (Elizabeth Reaser), Alice Cullen (Ashley Greene), Rosalie Cullen (Nikki Reed), and Emmett Cullen (Kellan Lutz).

Edward cannot bear the thought of Bella being in danger, so he and his family decide to leave the town of Forks, Washington to keep Bella safe. Edward tells Bella he will never see her again and that he doesn’t want her in his life.

Bella spirals downward into a deep, dark depression. On the screen, she sits catatonic in her bedroom while the seasons change before her eyes. The heartbroken Bella sleepwalks through her senior year of high school, numb and alone. Finally, after her father threatens to send her to Jacksonville, Florida, where her mother lives, she decides to go out with her girlfriend, Jessica, (Anna Kendrick). Bella soon realizes that she can see visions of Edward and hear him when she is about to do something dangerous. This spurs many dangerous acts on her part. Her desire to be with him at any cost leads her to take greater and greater risks.

Bella finds also finds comfort in her old friend, Jacob Black, (Taylor Lautner) who falls in love with her. Jacob is a member of the mysterious Quilete tribe and has secrets of his own that Bella doesn’t know about. Mainly, werewolves.  They are: Sam Uley (Chaske Spencer), Embry Call (Kiowa Gordon), Quil Ateara (Tyson Houseman) and Paul (Alex Meraz). The two elders are Jacob’s father, Billy Black (Gil Birmingham), and Harry Clearwater (Graham Greene).

Bella’s high school friends are back: Jessica (Anna Kendrick) – who stole every scene she was in; Mike, (Michael Welch) – who also stole every scene he was in; Eric (Justin Chon) who didn’t have much to do in this movie and Angela (Christian Serratos) who also didn’t have much to do in this movie either. It was nice to see them though. Taylor Lautner, of course, starred as Jacob Black and he was excellent. Sweet, lovable and the kind of friend you’d love to have. Bella’s father, Charlie Swan, is played by Billy Burke. As he did in Twilight, he steals every scene he’s in. I love him.

My favorite scenes were the ones with the Volturi in Montepulciano, Italy (Volterra, Italy in the books).  British actor, Michael Sheen stars as Aro and he is absolutely brilliant. Another British actor, Jamie Campbell Bower, is beautiful as the pale, blonde Caius. And, then there’s Marcus, played by another Brit, Christopher Heyerdahl. Dakota Fanning stars as the cunning Jane and her twin is Cameron Bright as Alec. Noot Seear is Heidi, the Volturi vampire that hunts for humans to feed on.  Other Volturi members are Charlie Bewley as Demetri and Daniel Cudmore as Felix. The action scenes are tense and will have you on the edge of your seat. And, Montepulciano, Italy is absolutely gorgeous.

On the vampire scene, Edi Gathegi is back as Laurent and Rachel Lefevre as the redheaded vixen, Victoria.

The way that the actors have all grown together and have blended harmoniously in their roles in the Harry Potter movies, the Twilight actors are doing the same thing and it’s obvious in New Moon.

I am not going to give away any plot secrets in this review – in case you have not read the books. If you have read them, you know the story. For those of you who haven’t, it will be more fun for you to be surprised. And surprised, you will.

In essence, the movie is about losing your love – your heart and soul – and trying to learn how to live without that love. It’s about not caring if you live or die once that love is gone. This loss is something that most every boy and girl past their teenage years can identify with. (Sorry, tweens and teens, you’ll probably experience this sometime in your life.) Questions like: What do you do when someone breaks up with you? Leaves you? That’s what makes these Twilight books and movies so appealing and so wonderful. They’re about relationships – about love.

Twilight was lush and romantic; New Moon is heartbreaking, exhilirating,  and action-packed with the introduction of all the werewolves and the Volturi coven in Italy. And, New Moon brings out the question about the soul. Not only is this movie about love and relationships, but it posits a more profound question: Do vampires have souls? Where do they go when they die?  New Moon deals with Edward’s belief that vampires do not have souls and that humans do. Edward thinks that by leaving Bella, he’s doing what’s best for his her. I like to believe that anything living has a soul. Animals have souls. Beings have souls. Actually, I believe we are souls who have bodies. Not the other way around. So,yes, Edward, you have a soul. You are soul!

To recap: This movie is wonderful and will not disappoint fans. Directed by Chris Weitz, (The Golden Compass), he takes the action scenes to a new level in this movie. Melissa Rosenberg adapted the screenplay from Stephenie Meyer’s book, New Moon.) (Rosenberg also wrote the screenplay for Twilight.) 

The music is quite good, although I have to admit I miss the score from Twilight. Leading off with Death Cab For Cutie’s infectious “Meet Me On The Equinox,” New Moon’s fifteen tracks are good, covering indie moods and attitudes. Some of the best material comes from unknown acts like Lykke Li whose sensuous “Possibility” is breathtaking.  Anya Marina’s “Satellite Heart” is whispery and soulful, Bon Iver and St. Vincent perform a beautiful song, “Rosyln,” and San Francisco’s Black Rebel Motor Cycle Club performs the wonderful “Done All Wrong.”

As the credits start rolling on the screen, I come back and remember where I am. I’m back from Forks, Washington…back from Montepulciano, Italy…I’ve said goodbye to Bella and Edward and Jacob…for now…

Michael loves the movie as much as I do. He and I leave the theater. He asks me if I’d like to get an early breakfast and discuss the movie. Sure, I tell him. After all, the stars are still bright, the air is crisp…and love is in the air. I put my arm through his and we head off into the night…

Bella, Edward and Jacob, see you next year (2010) in “Eclipse.”