Latest movies

The Last Station. Good, not great. Terrific performances of course. But James McAvoy is the most interesting person in the movie. I learned some Russian history, but it wasn't a terribly satisfying movie. Sad. The most compelling part of it was the dilemma of Helen Mirren's character - she was obnoxious, but the movie did a great job (mostly through James McAvoy's character) of showing her legitimate frustration with being treated as so unimportant after she helped and supported her husband all those years. There are many similar famous couples (like Einstein and his wife) where the wife was a major help to the husband, but he got all the credit and she basically got screwed. So that was thought provoking, but it's not like it was the major point of the movie. And I wondered how James McAvoy's character could have any idealism about love or marriage after watching the Tolstoys self-destruct. My friend Suzanne pointed out that you never see the end of love portrayed in a movie, only the beginning, so that comment helped me see the value of it. I'm glad I saw it, but I don't know that it will stick with me.

Tin Man. I didn't see this Sci Fi channel mini series a couple of years ago when it was on TV; it's a remake of the Wizard of Oz story. Quite fun, much more so than I expected. Awesome cast. Lots of sly references to the much more famous movie. We (me, Matt and Cal) all enjoyed it, though Cal had nightmares about the flying monkeys. I love Zooey Deschanal, but she relies just a bit too much on wide-eyed reaction shots in this one. A minor complaint about a really weird fun entertainment. We want to check out a similar retelling of Alice in Wonderland called Alice.

Closing the Ring. WWII melodrama from 2007. Christopher Plummer and Shirley McLaine are played as youngsters by Gregory Smith (from Everwood) and Misha Barton. It's genius casting and I think it improves a rather overly sentimental and somewhat uneven movie (strange and out of place IRA violence in the modern story - sort of confusing and unnecessary). Overall a pretty affecting romance and family drama about love and forgiveness and all that good stuff, but not quite as good as it could have been.

I've been watching some older movies with the kids. We saw Caddy Shack, Ghostbusters, and Short Circuit over the last couple of weeks. They liked them all. Caddy Shack is not really for kids - I didn't realize there was nudity in it (I'd never seen it, though it's one of Larry's favorites). Even Short Circuit is a little too old for them - there's quite a bit of cursing and some sexual references; I wonder if it would get a PG rating now. They are remaking that, supposedly; I'm sure they will clean it up considerably. And what will they do with the funny, but totally offensive Indian character? Hmmm.