War Horse

War Horse is the story of a young farmer-boy, Albert, and his beloved horse, Joey. Set against a sweeping canvas of rural England and Europe during World War I, War Horse begins with the remarkable friendship between the horse and Albert, who tames and trains him. When they are unfortunately parted, the film follows the extraordinary journey of the horse as he moves through the war, changing and inspiring the lives of all those he meets--British cavalry, German soldiers, and a French farmer and his granddaughter--before the story reaches its emotional climax in the heart of no man's land, the trenches of The Great War.


If you put "All Quiet on the Western Front", "Black Beauty" and "Saving Private Ryan", in a blender, and threw in some Gone-with-the-Wind-size landscapes, you've got War Horse. Remember to suspend disbelief, it's an animal movie, and gallop along with Steven Spielberg and the grandiose John Williams score to a resounding good cry at the end. 

MONEYBALL

Mickey Mantle once said, “It’s unbelievable how much you don’t know about the game you’ve been playing all your life.” Was he referring to baseball as a metaphor for the game of life? Is wining what counts or how you play the game? Moneyball doesn’t answer the big questions, but it’s a hell of a 9 innings.

Brad Pitt plays Billy Beane, Oakland A’s GM, in Moneyball which begins on 10/15/01 with their loss to the NY Yankees and ends with the A’s ALDS loss to the Minnesota Twins. The low budget A’s are gutted by the big spending Yankees and Bambino chasing Red Sox.  Beane enlists Yale economics major Pete Brand, quietly played by Jonah Hill, and the science of numbers to build a winning team.

Beane hardballs his staff and puts together a group of misfits and injury laden has-beens who go on to a record-breaking 20 game winning streak that no one can quite explain. Even if you don’t know the story, the A’s 2002 season is a home run. But it’s Pitt’s real life acting which makes this movie a solid hit. Why does the movie work? Because it’s damn good! 

When the “Beane counter” comes to Fenway on a $12.5 mil GM offer from Sox owner John Henry, the scenes of Yawkey Way and our beloved park are simply magical. We all know how it turned out. We’ve exorcised our “curse”, while Beane remained in the wasteland which is Oakland. The A’s have not yet won the only game which really counts in baseball, the last game of the season. Pitt’s Beane captures the romantic notion of baseball while questioning what is all means. Pitt is simply “pitch” perfect. At the end, Beane is still enjoying the show and so will you.

Baseball is a game of numbers yet played with emotion.  We all have our most memorable baseball moments. Here in Boston it’s coming back to beat the Yankee’s after going down 3, the year after we lost an October game to them we should have won because of a hitter named Boone.  Most recently I was lucky enough to be at Fenway when Jacoby Ellsbury hit an inside the park homerun, yet the Sox lost 3 out of 4 to Baltimore and are in jeopardy of not making the playoffs. No matter which team you root for, you’ll enjoy the story, acting, and MLB footage of Moneyball.

P.S. My thanks to KL and my three sons for teaching me to love the game.

The Trip

The Trip is where travel meets food with an on-ramp to hilarity. A smart, British road trip through the "north" of England follows Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon for a funny week of competing impressions
(Michael Caine- "She was only 15!", and Sean Connery- "Come, come Mr. Bond, you derive just as much pleasure from killing as I do!"), consumption of pretentiously prepared food (yes, there is foam), and picturesque scenery. Movie and literary references abound as the pair realize a few things about themselves, the price of fame, and their lives. I laughed and sang along for the entire Range Rover ride. Watch "Small Man in a Box" or Steve Coogan "Impressions" on YouTube for more on this pair with real British flair!

A Single Man

Caught the last half hour of A Single Man last night on TV. Tom Ford did a beautiful job with not only the costumes, but also with the fade in, fade out color schemes. The dialog was crisp and intelligent, the acting impeccable, and the music is exquisite. Julianne Moore as Charley is mesmerizing, and Colin Firth should have won Best Actor two years in a row. A movie of "absolute clarity". Worth a second watch.

Beginners

Beginners is a quirky comedy entwined in five cathartic love stories, mildly entertaining on a rainy afternoon. Ewan MacGregor, as a 38 year old artist, Christopher Plummer, as a recently out 75 year old dying of cancer, and Melanie Laurent, as a lonely french actress, all find love before the credits roll. It's easy to be sad and alone, but harder to find love and recognize what it feels like. Stylistically original, using long pauses to convey emotions, simplistic drawings to trace progressions, and newsreel repetitions for historical context, the film touches everything from family and death to Judaism and homosexuality between 1938 and 2003. There is even a talking, charismatic Jack Russell named Arthur. The Freud, Charlie Chaplin, laryngitis bit at the Halloween party seemed forced.
Overall, "You make me laugh but it's not funny."

Tree of Life

After almost 40 years, Terence Malick, who thrilled us with the Martin Sheen/Sissy Spacek wild ride "Badlands", returns to the stark life and landscape of 1950's Waco, Texas in "Tree of Life". Before embarking on an almost dialog free expose of a hardscabble family, one is subjected to the most visually stunning creationist movie making since I took LSD in 1968 and watched Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey". Dinosaurs stand in for the apes, but you get the point. Questions of Nature vs. Grace, the meaning of life & love, and the existence of God are just a few of the themes. This movie might not be everyone's cup of tea (Gary dozed at the end and claimed "too heady for me!"). For me, the gift of Brad Pitt and Sean Penn on screen were enough. The acting was mostly facial expressions but the feelings and emotions conveyed were real. The older of the three boys is incredible as he loses his childhood innocence under his father's strict hand. I don't recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys special effects, as one might see in X-Men, yet for thought-provoking cinema, this is the real thing. Plus I loved the word "Tree" in the title!

Midnight in Paris

Midnight in Paris is a must see delight! Woody still has it in his 41st film. Who remembers Annie Hall and Sleeper?! Owen Wilson can act, Rachel McAdams is sufficiently bitchy, but Paris is the real star! Listen closely for all the writers and artists, and don't miss Woody's smart and funny lines!