One of the last films in the bachelor's film festival was Invincible (2006, PG) (ScreenIt! Review).  From ScreenIt!:

Despite the long odds, his age, size, and lack of experience, an unassuming 30-year-old man tries out for a spot playing professional football for the 1976 Philadelphia Eagles.

I liked this one so much and it was so clean (check out all of the moderates, minors, nones, and milds in the ScreenIt! review), that I watched it again as a movie night selection with Lisa and the boys.  Since my boys are crazy about football, I knew they would love it...and Lisa did too.  It's an enjoyable film and an inspiring story.  It's not exactly deep or anything, but I thought it was excellent for what it is.

I give it 5 out of 5.

- Jonathan

Posted by Jonathan at 10:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last night we watched Children of Men (2006,R) (ScreenIt! Review).  From the Wikipedia:

Set in the United Kingdom of 2027, the film explores a grim world in which two decades of global human infertility have left humanity with less than a century to survive. Societal collapse, terrorism, and environmental destruction accompany the impending extinction, with the United Kingdom, perhaps the last functioning government, persecuting a seemingly endless wave of illegal immigrant refugees seeking sanctuary.

I'm surprised I hadn't heard of this one before.  It was fantastic.  I never would have guessed it was a "companion piece to Cuarón's Y tu mamá también."  You couldn't help but think of The Road and also 28 Days Later, and it was interesting for many of the same reasons...but also because so much of it felt so familiar...pervasive anti-immigrant sentiment, soldiers with German shepherds, hooded prisoners, etc.

I give it 5 out of 5.

- Jonathan

Posted by Jonathan at 10:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Another race-related documentary film I watched today was Banished, from PBS' Independent Lens series.  From the Independent Lens site:

From the 1860s to the 1920s, towns across the U.S. violently expelled African American residents.

Today, these communities remain virtually all white.

As black descendants return to demand justice, BANISHED exposes the hidden history of racial cleansing in America.

At least 12 different counties in eight states banished their black populations. More than 4,000 black residents were expelled from their homes.

The film takes the approach of visiting four of the counties where this occurred, discussing the historical events as well as examining the towns today.  What it finds is that the counties remain almost completely white and that they are generally of two minds regarding blacks: either they still aren't welcome or they are (even though somehow that doesn't translate into any residents of color).  I tend to think about this kind of thing as being long ago in the distant past.  However, the film shows footage of  a visit to Forsyth County Georgia in 1987 (75 years after blacks were driven out) by a group of whites and blacks who planned to march in honor of MLK and in memory of what had happened in that county.  They were met by huge crowds of people from the KKK and other racist organizations who made it abundantly clear with signs, shouts, and even thrown rocks how unwelcome their visit was.  This was only twenty years ago.  It was also interesting to see the difficulty in coming to resolution about what happened...the conflict between the fact that these black folks basically had their land and property stolen when they were driven out long ago and the fact that the current owners were not the wrongdoers but rather just people who happened to buy land that at some point in the past was stolen.  Like the documentary about the Little Rock high school, this film left me depressed about where we came from and how far we apparently still have to go.

I give it 5 out of 5.

- Jonathan

Posted by Jonathan at 11:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I recently watched a documentary from HBO Films titled Little Rock Central: 50 Years Later.  From the HBO web site:

The wave of desegregation that transformed the South during the 1960s began in Little Rock in September 1957. After Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus defied the Supreme Court's 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling and ordered the National Guard to prevent nine black teenagers from entering Central High School, President Dwight D. Eisenhower responded by sending troops from the 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army to protect the students as they entered the building.

But what is the legacy of the Civil Rights struggle for equal education today? To mark the 50th anniversary of the forced integration of Central High School, Little Rock natives Brent and Craig Renaud provide a candid look at the lives of contemporary Central High students in the documentary LITTLE ROCK CENTRAL: 50 YEARS LATER.

Brent and Craig Renaud followed the lives of contemporary Central High students, teachers and administration, as well as community leaders, over the course of a year for this intimate documentary, visiting classes, school meetings and assemblies, teenagers' homes and community events. Sharing the stories of both black and white students, the special reveals the opportunities and challenges facing them in and out of the classroom.

There are many interesting aspects to this film.  One of the most striking was how the school that was forcefully desegregated 50 years ago is today voluntarily segregated on the common line of race and wealth.  Another was hearing some of the black kids face the realization that their black peers don't care about school and neither do their parents, and they don't try very hard to succeed.  Another was how many of the black kids resent the advantages that the wealthy white kids have (which, admittedly, they do have) without acknowledging how hard the white kids work to succeed in their advanced coursework.  Another was a segment of a black kid admitting how prejudiced he is against whites.  In the end, the film was pretty depressing...both in terms of the situation we were in 50 years ago and the ones we are still in today.  We're certainly moving in the right direction...but it's obviously a long, slow process and we're nowhere near the end.

I give it 5 out of 5.

- Jonathan

Posted by Jonathan at 10:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

The third (and best !?!) film that I watched on the flight back from Germany was Balls of Fury (2007,PG-13) (ScreenIt! Review).  From ScreenIt!:

A former child ping-pong prodigy is recruited by the FBI to lead them to a mysterious crime figure with an obsession for the sport.

You don't start watching a movie like this with your expectations too high, but I was pleasantly surprised.  It was goofy and funny and pretty consistent throughout...never running out of gas.  Maybe it was the mood I was in, or lack of sleep, or something, but I really enjoyed it.

I give it 5 out of 5.

- Jonathan

Posted by Jonathan at 09:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Back in December we watched The Departed (2006,R) (ScreenIt! Review).  From ScreenIt!:

Members of the Massachusetts State Police plant an insider within a mob boss' inner circle in hopes of bringing him down, unaware that he has a mole within their organization.

With a cast including DiCaprio, Wahlberg, Nicholson, Baldwin, Sheen, and Damon and Scorsese in the director's chair, this one had a lot going for it (plus the 237 f-bombs that ScreenIt! counted. though I'd hesitate to categorize those as assets or liabilities).  It didn't disappoint.  It was excellent.  I give it 5 out of 5.

- Jonathan

Posted by Jonathan at 05:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last Saturday we took advantage of the other set of grandbabysitters and went to see No Country for Old Men (2007,R) (ScreenIt! Review) with Matt and Laura.  From the ScreenIt! Review:

After finding several million dollars at a crime scene, a hunter goes on the run with it, trying to avoid a ruthless and deadly hitman who's after him, all as a world-weary sheriff tries to intervene before anything else bad happens.

The film was interesting to discuss afterwards since 3 of the 4 of us had read the book. Anton Chigurh was right on.  Like Juno, I thought the dialogue and the film in general were fantastic.  I give it 5 out of 5.

- Jonathan

Posted by Jonathan at 10:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Last night we decided to stay up late and take advantage of being in a major metropolitan area with grand-babysitters.  We went to see Juno (2007,PG-13) (ScreenIt! review).  From Wikipedia:

Juno is a Golden Globe-nominated 2007 comedy film from Fox Searchlight, starring Ellen Page as the titular character, a sharp-tongued teen confronting an unplanned pregnancy by her classmate Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera).

It was fantastic.  Lots of laughs and a variety of good messages.  The film's namesake channels Sarah Silverman a little too much (the witty snarkiness, not the gross-out), but I was very glad that the film didn't go for the cliche car accident that I kept expecting (when you see it coming, don't worry cause it ain't).

I give it 5 out of 5.

- Jonathan

Posted by Jonathan at 10:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Earlier this week I watched the documentary China Blue from PBS' Independent Lens series. From Wikipedia:

China Blue is a 2005 documentary film directed by Micha Peled. It follows the life of Jasmine, a young worker in a Chinese jeans factory, hence the title. The documentary discusses both alleged sweatshop conditions in factories in China and the growing importance of China as an exporting country on a global scale.

I thought it was really interesting. The poor living conditions, the ridiculously long working hours, the contrast betwen the workers and the boss, etc. It reminds me that the extremely cheap price we pay, for a pair of jeans for example, necessarily comes at the expense of someone making them for next to nothing.

I give it 5 out of 5.

- Jonathan

Posted by Jonathan at 10:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One of the films I watched on the flight home from Amsterdam was Grand Canyon (1991,R). From the Wikipedia entry:

Grand Canyon is an ensemble drama directed and co-written by Lawrence Kasdan. It was advertised as "the Big Chill for the 90s", in reference to one of Kasdan's earlier successes....The film chronicles how [the] characters – as well as various acquaintances, co-workers, and relatives – are affected by their interactions in light of...life-changing events.

I'd seen this one before too, and it was good. I give it 5 out of 5.

- Jonathan

Posted by Jonathan at 08:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)