Vicky Cristina Barcelona (***1/2)

Woody Allen makes me laugh. I mean that sincerely, I found myself shaking my head with laughter throughout this film silently saying to myself, "Woody Allen". It's not funny in the hunched over belly-aching-lose-your-mind kind of way, it's more the uncomfortable-I-don't-know-what-the-hell-to-do-but-laugh way. Either way, it was a great time and just when you think Woody is just amusing himself you come to find out that there is a much deeper ironic twist that leaves your mouth agape yet somehow still completely satisfied. Dare I say there's a method to his madness. Woody Allen the writer gives the film a nice snowballing effect that builds our feelings for each character as we discover their layers, almost on a scene to scene basis. Then Woody Allen the Director shoots the film in such a warm and fuzzy upbeat manner that he actually makes the most awkward encounters and peculiar circumstances appear as cozy as a night by the fire watching "It's a Wonderful Life" on the Lifetime Channel. There in lies the humor.

Allen's story in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" is simple enough superficially, and by design I might add. Two friends, Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) decide to spend the summer in Barcelona. See what I mean? Of course, the subtext of the story really being self discovery. As pointed out by the films Narrator (voice of Christopher Evan Welch), although Vicky and Cristina are best of friends they do have vastly different perceptions of what love is and should be. Vicky, engaged to be married, is very structured, rational and seeks the traditional married life with security. Cristina is free-spirited, adventurous, impulsive, romantic and looking to be seductively swept away. Vicky knows exactly what she wants, Cristina hasn't a clue. On the night of their arrival, while enjoying an elegant evening drinking wine, a few glances are exchanged across the restaurant with Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem), the artist they had seen earlier in the evening showing his works at an Art Gallery. Assuming a mutual interest the self assured Juan approaches their table mincing no words as he quickly expresses his attraction to each woman and subsequently invites them on a short plane ride to Oviedo for the weekend. He politely offers them the experience of sight seeing, fine wines, exquisite dining, oh yeah, and hopefully a threesome, which is says as if he were offering to take their order. After this exchange Vicky is repulsed and Cristina is intrigued. Cristina wins and Vicky reluctantly rides along as a source of company to her friend.

They spend the next day indulging in the wining, dining and sight seeing and as the end of the night arrives Juan again proposes a night cap with the ladies. Vicky, offended by his offering, declines and retires to her room while Cristina agrees to go to his room. Moments after things begin to get hot and heavy, Cristina becomes violently ill and rushes to the restroom to vomit. The next morning we learn that due to a reaction from her ulcer Cristina will be bed ridden for the day forcing Vicky and Juan to spend the day together sight seeing. As the hours pass and the two of them move from one venue to another, the romantic atmosphere and setting of each soon take it's toll on Vicky, as she now is beginning to grow fond of Juan. As her feelings grow the passion grows thus leading to a complicating cluster of emotions between the three of them that only grows as each day passes. Vicky is still scheduled to be married and her simpleton fiance, Doug (Chris Messina) moves plans ahead and decides to come to Barcelona and get married there for the aura of it all. Vicky gets married, Cristina and Juan move in together and all is well. If only it were that easy.

A little over an hour into the film we finally meet Juan's ex-wife, Marie Elena (Penélope Cruz), which he has been referring to a numerous occasions to this point, obviously feelings remain. Maria Elena and Juan share a deeply passionate relationship that teeters on love and hate, as evidenced by their crystal clear eternal love for one another sprinkled in with the fact that she stabbed him in one of their many verbal, and sometimes physical, feuds. Maria Elena is clearly unstable and a detriment to herself so Juan takes her into his home, now shared with Cristina, where he can help her pull herself back together. What follows is the differing dynamics between the three of them which inevitably leads to an open love triangle. Predictably, complications arise eventually causing friction between the three lovers leading to a parting of ways.

The beauty of the film comes via spoiler and I hate to do it, this is the very reason I refuse to read reviews prior to actually seeing the film for myself, but I'm doing it anyway. Consider yourself warned. The pieces have all been strategically and brilliantly put into place by Allen. The setting, the city, the timing, the dynamically different personalities, the circumstances and so on, nothing is missed and it all comes full circle so gracefully that your actually surprised after the fact of what you just witnessed. The structured Vicky knowing exactly what she wants in life discovers through her marriage that what she really wants is the free spirited life. The free spirited Cristina discovers through her openly sexual threesome that she can't live like that and realizes what she really seeks is the structure. What each thought they wanted was what the other had. The grass is always greener.

Allen does an amazing job and this script is very intelligent yet feels like another day in the life that you hardly realize it's intellectual prowess until it comes full circle in the closing moment and sinks in causing you to replay the entire movie in your head in fast forward to see it unfold mentally. The casting of the film is as equally important, if not more so, than the actual witty script and smooth direction. It took the dynamically different on screen personalities of each integral character to support and drive the story, you really find yourself caring for each character. A casting flaw could have proved to be a fatal flaw to the success or failure of the film. Penelope Cruz steals every scene she is in with a whirlwind performance, she may be beautiful and petite but she is an absolute powerhouse in every single scene as an emotional wreck and you can't take your eyes off her. It's also hilarious that at one point Scarlett Johansson's character, Cristina, feels as if she has no talent and nothing within her will ever inspire Juan like Maria Elena continually does. Sadly for Johansson, that couldn't ring more true and is quite obvious in her scenes with Cruz. In her defense, they were written as such and maybe Johansson is giving a strong performance being talentless but Cruz certainly makes her job that much easier.

Revolutionary Road (**1/2)

Sam Mendes, of "American Beauty" acclaim, tells this distressing story about a young couple's discontentment in their own individual lives causing the unraveling of their marriage in 1050's suburban Connecticut. The Wheeler couple is convinced by the local Real Estate agent (Kathy Bates) to move themselves and 2 young children, into the most beautiful perfect little house on Revolutionary Road. Despite it's proximity to the very suburbanite neighbors they feel far superior than they move in citing that it is far enough out as to make them feel they have distanced themselves from "those people". April Wheeler (Winslet) is having a difficult time coming to terms with her non-existent acting career. Frank Wheeler (DiCaprio) is dispassionate about his monotonous office job but keeps it because it's rather lucrative. Seeking some sense of excitement or adventure in their lives they each find themselves separately making morally questionable decisions which, unknowingly to each other, causes tension to mount at home.

In a nutshell, you have a very dysfunctional relationship within the walls of their own home that goes out of it's way to paint the picture of the perfect family to the rest of the world. As if moving into the fairytale little home will solve the deeper seeded problems between them. When that doesn't work, they impulsively agree to move to Paris where they share the same delusional fantasy of reinvigorating their inner artist and finding true love and happiness.

The film itself is getting critical praise and being highly touted as a certainty to firmly grab a Best Picture nomination but I don't see it as being that caliber. I may be wrong, I often am on these matters, it's just my opinion that this film is nowhere near the cinematic experience that "American Beauty" was. At the end of the day there are many things I can appreciate as this type of thing happens in the real world in far to many families but to sit and watch it for the 2 hour run time wasn't that pleasurable of an experience, frankly. It was difficult to watch, maybe it just hit home and I subconsciously resisted and have my own issues to deal with. I don't know.

That being said, DiCaprio was great as usual and Winslet was the consistent powerhouse she usually is and watching them work together in each scene made the movie tolerable for me. You absolutely cannot catch that woman "acting" in any scene. She takes on some pretty emotional material here and doesn't flinch. Part of the creepiness of her character is the bipolar way she moves from one scene to another. She makes April appear to be robotic, clearly some serious emotional instability that Winslet hammers home. DiCaprio gives Frank a supreme confidence exteriorly when the reality is he is jealous, afraid and insecure internally.

Milk (***)

The true life story of Harvey Milk is as moving as it is tragic. Gus Van Sant does a stellar job of taking us on this journey of one man's incredible plight for acceptance and change against seemingly insurmountable odds. As a biopic we know how the story ends with the tragic assasination of California's first openly gay elected official, San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk (Sean Penn) and Mayor George Moscone by San Francisco Supervisor Dan White (Josh Brolin). What we may not know is the obstacles he overcame to get there and how one man's courage to stand up for what he believed in created a movement that dynamically changed the perception for homosexuals in this country. On a relative scale, Harvey Milk has done and continues to do posthumously for homosexuals today that of which Martin Luther King, Jr. did and has done for African Americans. They were one in the same in that in the end they each paid the ultimate sacrifice for using a public platform to convey their message to inspire change, which is still being felt today. The possibility, and eventual likelihood, of same-sex marriage (California's widely controversial Proposition 8) and the now certainty of an African American President, with President elect Barack Obama taking office in January, were not possible without the efforts and sacrifices of Harvey Milk and MLK.

Is there anything Sean Penn cannot do? He's remarkable. He is so good that the label of being widely regarded as the "best actor of his generation" seems to be a grossly inadequate depiction of how talented he really is. Name another actor in his "generation" even worthy of being mentioned in the same breath, that's not a knock towards anyone else, it's deserving praise for Sean Penn. Go down his list of credits on IMDB and look at his body of work, he covers it all and you are undoubtedly convinced and moved with each performance. His work is remarkable, and according to co-star Josh Brolin in an interview with Charlie Rose, "his most admirable qualities are his humility and the fact that he is so unassuming."

The film opens in 1978 San Francisco with Milk sitting home alone speaking into a tape recorder regarding his fears of his own assassination. From there Van Sant takes you back to the free spirited Milk in 1970 with his lover Scott Smith (James Franco) pondering his current state of being and soul searching for what he wants out of life. He soon realizes that he wants to use politics as the forum to be the voice of homosexuals abroad and begins his first of four increasingly stronger campaigns to be elected to the Board of Supervisors for San Francisco. As each failed election passes his support continues to expand lead by his small team of young activists of Smith (Franco), Cleve Jones (Emile Hirsch), Anne Kronenberg (Alison Pil) and later Jack Lira (Diego Luna). In 1977 his persistence and ever increasing determination finally pays dividends as he wins the election.

Support continues to grow for Milk as he begins to plunge deeper and deeper into politics and the government with his political activism towards the rights of homosexuals. He is more than one man, his voice speaks for the entire homosexual community. Along the way friction mounts with Dan White (Brolin), who has befriended Milk in an effort to earn his vote. When Milk decides that he cannot vote with White as it would contradict his own political stance White grows increasingly agitated and unstable. Tension mounts and Milk's credentials and newly earned respect sways Mayor Moscone's decision to have White removed from office thus resulting in the nation jolting news that San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone have been assassinated by disgruntled Supervisor Dan White.

I am not a huge fan of biopic films per say, I enjoy them and always learn things I previously did not know from them but it's the retelling of a story that has already been told and although that is an art within itself I am not as drawn to them as I am to the figment of ones imagination being brought to life from scratch by the writing of it and the performances created. It's the old argument of what's more impressive, Sean Penn becoming Harvey Milk through hours of studying the real life man's every documented move or Penn's creating from scratch the multi layered vigilante Jimmy Markum in "Mystic River"? Maybe they're equal, maybe one's better than the other, I just know as uncanny as he was as Milk, my personal taste prefers the creation of Jimmy Markum, a fictional character completely created by his imagination and acting choices. At any rate, as far as biopic films go you will be hard pressed to find a more well done and more complete film than "Milk".

Changeling (**1/2)

Structurally Clint Eastwood's "Changeling" is 2 hours and 20 minutes of an air tight, unwavering film with strong performances and made with the same authentic stylistic accuracy we've grown accustomed to seeing with Eastwood. My lukewarm rating of this film has less to do with the fundamentals than it has to do with how I felt while watching it. Let's make no bones about it, this film is disturbing and the creepy factor is off the charts. The very definition of the title alone gives me the heebie jeebie's. Changeling, as defined by Webster's Dictionary, a child surreptitiously or unintentionally substituted for another. Now you throw in the plot elements which include child abduction, police corruption, morbid Psychiatric Doctors, delusion, serial axe murders, of children no less, a hanging and electric shock therapy. All shot film noir-esque, like an Alfred Hitchcock horror film, with Eastwood's very own eerie score to aid the creep factor. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention it's a true story! Writing this review is even disturbing, Clint Eastwood and Universal Pictures will be getting my therapy bills.

Deep breath. Exhale.

Screenwriter, J. Michael Straczynski's script starts out in Los Angeles, CA in March, 1928. We see a middle class working mother, Christine Collins, played by Angelina Jolie in another role that very well may earn her another Oscar nomination, kiss her 9 year old son Walter goodbye as she heads off to work. Upon her return she soon discovers that Walter is nowhere to be found prompting her to file an abduction report with the LAPD. She searches rigorously on her own as she lacks confidence in the LAPD, which has been under public scrutiny for corruption and poor performance. After about 6 months a boy is discovered in DeKalb, Illinois and believed to be Walter and confirmed by the LAPD and it's team of experts that it is, in fact, the Collins boy. The highly anticipated reunion between mother and son quickly turns as Christine instantly realizes that this is not her son despite the assurance from the LAPD, who is clearly trying to make themselves look like heroes, and even the young boy himself seeking love assumes the role as Walter Collins. She reluctantly takes the boy home with her but after numerous things are discovered such as a 3" inch height difference, among other things she begins to push the issue with the LAPD to their utmost disliking, especially considering their public reputation.

As Christine continues to push the envelope with the LAPD they realize they need her to disappear so they throw her in a Psychiatric Hospital to keep her secluded and sedated from the outside world. A local Preacher Rev. Gustav Briegleb, a fiery John Malkovich, takes his message and her story to the airwaves via a local radio station run out of his church in hopes to force the LAPD into revealing her whereabout and anything else they may know.

In the meantime, a terrified boy surfaces and is interrogated by an honest detective, Lester Ybarra (Michael Kelly) and reveals that he has fled the scene of a small ranch outside Winesville, California where he was held against his will and forced to serve as the right hand man of a serial child murderer, Gordon Northcott, creepily played by Jason Butler Harner. Ybarra immediately checks the boys story and and unravels the mystery and unsettling story of what really happened to Walter Collins.

The Wrestler (****)

Be warned, what you are about to read is my gushing over this film. I can't help it. It's my favorite of the year thus far although admittedly there are still a number of films I have yet to see.

Darren Aronofsky bounces back from his most recent and under appreciated fantasy film, "The Fountain" with his smooth and compelling Direction in "The Wrestler." Not the avant-garde style we've grown accustomed to with Aronofsky but he knocks it out of the park with the characters emotional prowess and his ability to make you deeply connect with them. The story, written by Robert Siegel, had only one credit to his name prior to this, is a captivating and brutally honest story about a man coping with life when the only thing he has and has ever known is taken away from him leaving him alone with nothing but a search for self.

The arc of this film is flawless and it starts with an adrenaline pumping rendition of 80's metal band Quiet Riot's "Bang Your Head" blasting over a slow horizontally crawling collage of fliers, posters, pictures and event tickets depicting the glory days of wrestling star Randy "The Ram" Robinson played by the talented but much maligned Mickey Rourke. You need not look any further than the lyrics of this song to find out who "The Ram" is. There is an obvious lovefest with the 80's in that there are parallels the film has with 80's heavy metal music and the WWF during that time with Hulk Hogan and the Iron Sheik being part of pop culture, as it was in the early years here between "The Ram" and his adversary "The Ayotolla". The music is great and every time you hear an 80's song you get goosebumps... or is that just me? The films closing credits are no other than Bruce "The Boss" Springsteen with his gruff voice and Oscar buzzing song titled, go figure, "The Wrestler". Everything in between those two songs is a clinic on film making and a beautifully well made piece of art, taking you out of the glamor and limelight wrestling stars can obtain but into the behind the scenes world where you must face the repercussions of the physical abuse taken by nature of the sport as well as the lonely empty feeling of the audacious lifestyle.

Mickey Rourke in a career reviving role plays "The Ram" magnificently as a physically beaten up hanger-on wrestling star in the twilight of his career. Due to health concerns he's forced to retire and begins thinking about life after wrestling. Outside of his career, his only source of companionship comes from the neighborhood kids, that actually seem to have enough sense to recognize "The Ram's" state of loneliness and a stripper that he's befriended at the local Strip Club that goes by the stage name Cassidy played rock solidly by a gorgeous Marisa Tomei. Tomei's fearless performance is so strong I would actually consider it to be her finest work to date, which is clearly a mouthful considering she won an Academy Award for her work in 'My Cousin Vinny'. She brings such a human element to a profession that you wouldn't likely find yourself rooting for, frankly, and she pulls off the challenging feat by leaving you actually feeling compassion and sadness for her. Incidentally, she looks amazing in this and let me just say there is plenty of her to see. Wow!

It's clear there is a connection between Cassidy and "The Ram" that runs deeper than a typical customer-client relationship and when "The Ram" tells her of his retirement plans and hopes to take their relationship to the next level she suggests that he get in touch with his estranged teenage daughter whom he hardly knows after walking out on her while she was very young. The uber-talented Evan Rachel Wood continues her rise to super stardom with another poignantly strong performance as a teenage girl that wants her father back yet clearly deeply hurt but the damage that has already been done. When these worlds collide it's just beautiful cinema between two characters and I can see their scenes together being widely used in acting classes abroad. They should be anyway.

It's to often stated that a specific actor was "born to play the role" when a career defining piece of work vaults them into critical acclaim and a legitimate Oscar contender, which I will be shocked and extremely disappointed if Rourke isn't recognized with a nomination here, but in this case it is warranted. Rourke doesn't play "The Ram", Rourke IS "The Ram". This is what they mean when they say "art imitating life." I couldn't help but get the feeling that I was watching the internal struggles brought on by the reckless lifestyle of actor Mickey Rourke rather than that of Randy "The Ram" Robinson even though they are very much one in the same. The movie will stick with you and it's performances are eerie and haunting in a way that leaves you longing for more, you genuinely miss them. You cannot help but acquire feelings for these characters on some level and there are many to subconsciously choose from. You name the emotion, and it is somewhere in the dynamics between the leads. For my money, 'The Wrestler' is easily one of the years best films, without a doubt.