A Walk in the Woods

First Hit:  Enjoyable, interesting at times and funny – it was “A Walk in the Woods”.

This film has two veteran actors past their prime, showing why they still have something left in the tank.

Bill Bryson (Robert Redford) and Stephan Katz (Nick Nolte) are two old friends who’ve not seen each other for quite some time. Bryson gets an idea that he needs to change something in his life and decides to walk the Appalachian Trail (From Georgia to Maine).

His wife Catherine (Emma Thompson) doesn’t want him to do this, thinks he’s too old and makes a stipulation that he has to do this with someone. He calls lots of people and everyone turns him down, except Katz who wasn’t asked directly but heard it from a mutual friend. He’s interested because he has arrest warrants out against him and this will give him some relief from those worries.

The characters are clearly defined, Bryson refined, well spoken, and intelligent, while Katz is rude, crude, and well worn. But during the walk we see their likeness and learn of their history together. All the while each is walking in this beautiful part of the country for their own reasons.

They meet people along the way that supposedly challenge their beliefs, but only one, hiker Mary Ellen (Kristin Schaal), challenge them as a team. I never got a solid clear feeling as to why Bryson did the hike in the first place but it probably wasn’t important.

Overall, Redford was strong and was perfect to play this reserved controlled character. Nolte has had a lot of hard miles on him and was perfectly cast in this role because his character called for his background. Thompson was effective in her small role. Schaal was perfectly annoying and wonderful in her role as fellow hiker. Rick Kerb and Bill Holderman wrote a good screenplay that effectively highlighted these two disparate characters. Ken Kwapis got a fair amount of great scenes from these two, but some of the scene sets were obviously done in a studio.

Overall:  This was a very enjoyable film.

Big Miracle

First Hit:  This film is predictable but interesting enough to stay watching.

The “Big Miracle” lets the audience know the outcome before you even buy a ticket. Nevertheless it is film version of a real story that took place back in 1988 when Ronald Reagan was president.

Three California Grey whales were trapped 5 miles from the ocean and were only breathing through an air hole in the ice. The air hole was closing fast and the native Eskimos wanted to harvest the whales for food.

Adam Carlson, local reporter (played by John Krasinski) had been trying to find fame in a story so that he could move to the lower 48, filmed a segment which got picked up around the world and all of a sudden the whales had a rooting gallery.

Adam feeling the plight of the whales call his former girlfriend Rachel Kramer (played by Drew Barrymore) who is a Greenpeace honcho. Rachel comes up to rally everyone to save the whales and also makes some enemies while she is as it. The one machine which can break up the ice is owned by an oil company which is run by J. W. McGraw (played by Ted Danson).

He’s always at war with Rachel over the oil drilling rights to a wildlife sanctuary. He thinks it will be good press to help. Everyone in this film has an objective to better their standing in the community. Rachel is the only one who is focused on only doing her job but as pointed out by others this publicized effort will provide a campaign boost for Greenpeace. T

he Russian’s assist in the end with an ice breaker ship and there is a reasonably happy ending to it all. However, the film is extremely predictable, even if you weren’t alive in 1988. The set-ups are very obvious and there is really no suspense to this.

I don’t know if the director made it this way to make it PG friendly or if the story really was this obvious. The highlight of the film was in the credits, where they showed the real people in scenes who really saved these whales back in 1988.

Krasinski does a good job of making us believe his character makes the right choices for his career and life. Barrymore wasn’t her best here. Some scenes she was great and others, she came off a little shrill and without a deep basis of the knowledge of her position. Danson was particularly over done as an oil company executive. Ahmaogak Sweeney as Nathan a native young boy caught between the modern world and his ancestral ways was good and very entertaining. Jack Amiel and Michael Beglar wrote this mediocre script. Ken Kwapis directed this with a lighthearted hand especially when he brings in two guys from Minnesota who have a machine that keeps the ice holes open longer.

Overall: A light-hearted film which was entertaining and interesting enough to have it be enjoyable.

He's Just Not That Into You

First Hit: Overall, I really liked this film because it does tell a truth about relationships: If a guy doesn’t contact you, he’s not interested and the converse is true as well; a woman will let you know they are interested.

This film is loaded with big name female talent with Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Connelly, Scarlett Johansson, and Drew Barrymore. Outside of Ben Affleck, the men’s talent, which performed admirably, consisted of lesser known actors.

However, the primary vehicle of this film is Ginnifer Goodwin who plays Gigi an open, forever hopeful and radiant girl who is looking for love. She is charming, available, and maybe a little too ready to the men she meets. She sees the good side in each of them, lets them know she is interested but they just don’t call her back.

Her anxiousness around getting called is displayed in a number of scenes of her watching and checking (to see if it still works) her phone and they are truthfully funny. She is getting advice from her co-worker, a married woman, named Janine (Played by Connelly) whose marriage isn’t working well but hides it well under a matter of fact and busy life.

Gigi finally gets some good men’s coaching from Alex (played by Justin Long) who simply tells her what the signals are and helps her to see things more clearly. Johansson does a good funny and realistic turn as Anna, a woman who hopes the married man (Happens to be Janine’s husband) she met is going to leave his wife for her.

Aniston and Affleck (playing Beth and Neil respectively) do a good turn as a couple struggling with different ideals around the form of a committed relationship. Barrymore is funny and really good in a lesser role.

Goodwin was excellent in her role as a forever hopeful person reaching for and learning about relationships. All the other actors were good as well and the direction Ken Kwapis was very good as demonstrated by keeping this 2+ hour film moving along, and interesting. The biggest downside for me were the 4 or 5 breaks (like chapter headings) where the screen goes black and they there is a statement indicating what issue will be addressed next. The film didn’t need it and only disengaged me from the well thought out script.

Overall: I was surprised by how well this film flowed and the points about relationships it made.