I'll See You in My Dreams

First Hit:  Thoughtful and very well acted film about loss and growing older.

Carol (Blythe Danner) is alone, her husband died twenty years earlier.

She has a dog that dies early in the film which adds to the sorrow Carol carries. Her mood has a heaviness to it that is palpable. Her friends Georgina (June Squibb), Sally (Rhea Perlman), and Rona (Mary Kay Place) play bridge regularly. Sally and her play golf at a golf club and her life seems set, unexciting, and, at times, meaningless.

Her pool guy Lloyd (Martin Star) is a lost young man who has no direction, little purpose except to clean the pool he’s cleaning at that time. He’s philosophical with his predicament and shares his belief with Carol. Given his place and her place, it creates a bond of understanding and friendship.

When he sings the song he's written to Carol, the mood is so sweet, beautiful and heartfelt. It adds to his beauty as an understanding person. Carol tries speed dating, which has its own funny moments, but when she finds herself attracted to and giddy about Bill (Sam Elliot), the life in her begins to show. How she expresses it with her visiting daughter Katherine (Malin Akerman) was very touching and real.

Danner is exquisite. She really embodied the dullness and sadness of her life and the rise of hope when Bill arrives into her life. Squibb, Perlman, and Place are perfect as friends having strong personalities that support and care about Carol.  Star is amazing as the guy who sings off key, is lost in life, cleans pools and finds a friend in Carol. Akerman is very good as the daughter that knows her mom well enough to draw her out and support her next steps. Elliot is strong as the self-assured older man who has a hankering for Carol. Marc Basch and Brett Haley wrote a strong and insightful script. Haley did an excellent job of directing this cast as well as making the script feel full of heart.

Overall:  This was an amazing performance by Danner and the entire cast.

Smashed

First Hit:  For my money, this was one of the better films depicting the struggle to lose an alcoholic addiction.

Kate and Charlie Hannah (played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Aaron Paul respectively) are a good time couple. They go to the bar, play pool and drink every night. They love each other but it is all through the haze of alcohol.

Kate is an animated school teacher teaching young kids. One day because of her excess the night before she throws up while teaching class. To cover the incident she tells the school and class that she is pregnant.

This lie, of course, will be uncovered in the end. Kate decides to get sober and her teaching peer Dave Davies (played by Nick Offerman) and her AA sponsor Jenny (played by Octavia Spencer) give her the support and drive to get there. When she and Charlie go visit her Kate’s mother Rochelle (played by Mary Kay Place), we see the history of her illness.

How alcoholism is represented in this film is excellent and the audience is given insight to what can happen.

Winstead is outstanding and give a truly strong performance. Paul is very good as the husband who loves his wife, but loves drinking as well. Offerman gives a great performance of the friend who also breaks the AA rules and has to look at himself as well. Place is very good as the enabling mother. Spencer is wonderful as Kate’s sponsor. James Ponsoldt and Susan Burke wrote a very strong script. Ponsoldt did a wonderful job of directing this film with realism and sensitivity.

Overall: A well-acted film.

Youth in Revolt

First Hit: A film with potential, and eventually fails the farther it progresses.

Expectations are not good things to have. With a film title of "Youth in Revolt" I wanted a film worthy of this title (Think "Rebel Without a Cause" but with a comedic twist?).

Michael Cera has the nerdy milquetoast character down pat and I was hoping something really good out of him. In this film his name is Nick Twisp (Which could be a play on milquetoast) a guy who pines for a relationship and wants to have sex before he gets any older.

The opening scene of this film is hearing him masturbate while in bed to start his day. I'm not sure why this is funny or interesting and it was the choice the director made to begin this film. His closest friend is also in the same position, pining for a girl he cannot have.

Lucky for Nick his family takes a vacation to a lake where he meets Sheeni Saunders (played by Portia Doubleday). She is very forward and prompts Nick to make a date with her. She lets him know she is dating a guy name Trent who is 6' 2", swims, speaks French, and writes “futurist percussive poetry.”

However, Sheeni plays Nick along to the point where Nick falls totally in love with her and will do anything for her. To prompt himself along, Nick creates an alternative persona Francois Dillinger.

Francois convinces Nick to “burn down half of Berkeley” by blowing up his mother’s boyfriend’s car and trailer. Nick becomes a fugitive from justice but is able to easily hide because his mother’s new boyfriend Lance (played by Ray Liotta) is a cop and promises to keep Nick clear from suspicion.

Sound far fetched? It is, and this is the film’s failing. It does nothing really well despite some great actors. The failings of this story are its script and director.

Cera is good as the milquetoast guy and a little more interesting as Francois but the combination is wasted in this film. Steve Buscemi, Fred Willard, E. Emmet Walsh, and Mary Kay Place are all great actors and are also wasted in this film because it just doesn’t work. Doubleday is too sophisticated and not believable as a 16 year old girl.

Overall: This film is not believable and the farther it gets the worse it gets. In the end it simply fails and with a title like Youth in Revolt, I wanted something better not something revolting.

City Of Ember

First Hit: I thought the concept was interesting and there was some good acting, but I don’t think the staging, or why this city came into existence was introduced very well.

The essence of this film was that there was a destruction of the earth on the surface and therefore a few people built a city under the earth’s surface.

They built a generator which was built to last a very long time. The initial builders also left instructions on to how to leave the city and go back to the surface. These instructions were left in a box which had a timer and set to unlock in 200 years. The box was to be handed down from mayor to mayor.

However, along the way it was forgotten and left on the floor of a closet. As time when on the blackouts from the failing generator were becoming more frequent and the city was slowing dying. Two young kids decided they were going to follow their instincts, clues, and the partially destroyed information from the unlocked box which was found in a closet.

Saoirse Ronan plays a young messenger named Lina Mayfleet and Harry Treadaway plays a pipe works worker named Doon Harrow. These two were outstanding and made the film interesting. I also thought Martin Landau was perfect as the pipe worker who just does his job. However, the scenes with Mary Kay Place seemed forced and it felt as though scripts on cue cards were just out of camera range. Bill Murray, as Mayor Cole, was being Bill Murray and it worked for the most part.

Overall: I did like the film but I thought the beginning scene “set up” was poorly constructed. Above all I thought Ronan and Treadaway were wonderful and a joy to watch.