Things We Lost In The Fire (2007)

I had not heard of this movie starring Halle Berry and Benicio Del Toro until it was recommended by Mike (Thanks Mike).

Audrey and Brian Burke (Halle Berry and David Duchovny) are a happily married, well off couple with two children, daughter Harper 10 (Alexis Llewellyn) and son Dory 6 (Micah Berry). Audrey gets the devastating news one evening that Brian has been killed trying to intervene in a domestic dispute. She realizes the day of the funeral that she has not informed Brian's best childhood friend Jerry (Benicio Del Toro) about Brian's death. She send her brother to give him the news and take him to the funeral.

Audrey has issues with Jerry as he is a heroin addict and has sometimes come between her and Brian.

After the funeral, Audrey asks Jerry to move in to help him out while he works on his recovery and he becomes close to her children and has an effect on her as well. She becomes upset at him after a while and asks him to leave the house. He relapses and she finds him and brings him back. He goes through heavy withdrawals and finally agrees to go into a treatment program.

The film flashes back often to events including David Duchovny's character Brian and Jerry.

I am not a big Benicio Del Toro fan, but I feel that he did a great job here especially during the withdrawal scenes. This movie kept me interested and moved along smoothly.

Rated R. 119 Minutes. I give this film THREE STARS.

The September Issue (2009)

This film is a documentary that follows Vogue Magazine's editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour, through the making and publication of the magazines September 2007 issue.

The September issue of the magazine is their largest for the year as it introduces the fall fashions and is filled with advertisements. This particular issue was their largest ever. It weighed five pounds and had 840 pages. I recently flipped through the latest Vogue magazine and had a hard time finding anything other than advertisements for the first quarter of the issue. For those who know me well, fashion isn't exactly my forte considering that some of my favorite pairs of shoes are still Vans.

There is much speculation that Meryl Streep's character in "The Devil Wears Prada" is based on Wintour and I was all set to see this. She is definitely a strong and aggressive personality and I found that most of her staff would back down in an instant and not try to push their opinions. One of her creative directors, Grace Coddington, a former model, has dealt with Wintour for around 20 years and they seem to have a wary working relationship as Grace is able to stand up to Wintour. Wintour apparently recognizes Grace's creative genius and even brings it up at the end of the film.

With the success of this documentary, sales of this particular issue of Vogue has sold from a high of $80-$115.

I found this film to be an interesting overview of how an issue of a magazine is prepared.

Not Rated. 90 Minutes. I give this film THREE AND ONE HALF STARS.

The Ugly Truth (2009)

Gerard Butler and Katherine Heigl star in this he against she film.

Abby Richter (Heigl) is the producer on a morning show that has falling ratings. She happens to see a show called "the ugly truth" hosted by Mike Chadway (Butler) that highlights his ideas on male/female relationships and they are not good. Abby calls the show and argues with Mike on the air.

She goes into work and finds that the station owner has hired Mike to help boost ratings. Needless to say, the two do not get along.

Abby begins to date a man from her building and agrees to let Mike help her with the relationship. If it doesn't work, he will quit the station. You can guess what the outcome is, everyone can guess. Not original or good. Someone should tell Gerard Butler that being a hot Scottish guy (the accent is half the hotness) does not a romantic comedy actor make (he wasn't bad in P.S. I love you though). I am hearing bad things about his new movie coming out with Jennifer Aniston called "The Bounty Hunter".

Rumor has it that the Mike Chadway character was based on Adam Corolla on the Adam Corolla show.

Not entertaining for me, I lost interest within the first half hour.

Rated R. 96 Minutes. I give this film TWO STARS.

Land Of The Lost (2009)

This film, a parody of the Saturday morning show by Sid and Marty Krofft, is one of the worst films that I have seen in the last year.

It stars Will Ferrell (who I usually like)as Dr. Rick Marshall a paleantologist, Anna Friel as Holly, and Danny McBride as Will. None of the characters are as they were in the original show. They fall into a space/time vortex and find themselves in a quasi desert, jungle situation with evidence that there have been others there before them.

Most of this movie varies from the original although Chaka, the Sleestak and the T-Rex are still there but that is about it. This was made for adults and therefore has the usual sex and adult jokes. At least the older one had the excuse that it was from the 70's and the cheesy effects were funny.

It sucks, nuff said.

Rated PG-13. 102 Minutes. I GIVE THIS MOVIE ONE AND ONE HALF STARS.

Here is the lead in for the old Saturday morning show. Memories people?

Herb And Dorothy (2009)

This documentary profiles Herb and Dorothy Vogel, a regular couple who managed to amass one of the most important modern art collections in history.

The Vogels live in a very small one bedroom apartment in Manhattan and have been married since the 60's. He was a postal worker and she was a librarian and they would spend his salary on art and live on her salary. Their commitment to their art is astounding and it proves that you don't have to be rich to acquire art.

They seem to concentrate on up and coming artists and their only requirements are that the art be affordable and that it be able to fit into their apartment. They eventually filled up their small apartment with more than 4000 works of art worth millions and in 1992 they had their collection moved to the National Gallery of Art. They have since refilled the apartment.

I am not much on contemporary art, but I found this documentary to be interesting and have much admiration for this couple.

Not Rated. 87 Minutes. I give this film THREE AND ONE HALF STARS.

Sherlock Holmes (2009)

It is late 19th century London and Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) and Dr. John Watson (Jude Law) are trying to stop a human sacrifice occult ritual that is being performed by Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong). They are able to stop the murder and Lord Blackwood is sent to prison.

Poor Holmes has no new cases and Watson is about to marry his sweetheart Mary (Kelly Reilly) and move out of their shared residence at the famous 221B Baker Street. At the same time, the soon to be hung Lord Blackwood requests to see Holmes before his execution. Blackwood tries to mess with Homes' head (a la Silence of the Lambs) and is soon hung and declared dead by Dr. Watson who checks to see that there is no pulse.

Holmes is offered money by an old adversary and paramour, Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams) to find a red haired man by the name of Reardon. Holmes and Watson try to find out who is employing Irene, but have no luck. Days after Blackwood's execution, a gravedigger says that he saw Blackwood walking away from the site. When the coffin is dug up, they find the red haired man inside. They search Reardon's house and find evidence of all kinds of science and chemistry experiments. They are attacked in the house by some men and are arrested after causing all kinds of damage trying to get away from the villains. Watson is sprung by his fiance, but Holmes is brought before the occult society, "The Temple of The Four Orders" who fear Lord Blackwood. Holmes and Watson continue to investigate and soon a couple of the high members of the Order are killed, supposedly by unexplained means. Blackwood then takes over the Order and wants to take over the world, especially America.

Holmes hides out as he finds that he is wanted by the police. He and Watson figure out what Blackwood's next move is and they find that Blackwood wants to kill Parliament members by using a machine devised by Reardon that will release poison gas into the chambers. Holmes, Watson and Adler foil the plan and Blackwood goes after them, losing in a major way. It is left wide open for the next Sherlock Holmes installment.

I will not reveal how Blackwood survived, try to figure it out for yourself. This film is adapted by the stories written by Sir Conan Doyle and was directed by Guy Ritchie. I have not been thrilled by most of the last movies directed by Ritchie, but "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" is quite good. Not for the children though. The movie set reminded me of the Johnny Depp movie "From Hell" about Jack the Ripper. Speaking of, if you go to London, do the Jack the Ripper Tour. For about ten dollars, they take a group of people on a walking tour that lasts about an hour or so around the area where the murders occured. They talk about what happened and the knowledgeable guides answer questions, very interesting!

Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law are great together as Holmes and Watson. They remind me of a bickering married couple. It seems that Holmes would be devastated by Watson marrying and moving away, not unlike today's "bromances". I found the movie to be very entertaining. Lord Blackwood looked amazingly like Andy Garcia only taller. Rachel McAdams part could have been played by anyone, her performance was not very significant.

Rated PG-13. 134 Minutes. I GIVE THIS MOVIE THREE AND THREE QUARTER STARS.

It's Complicated (2009)

This film opens as divorced couple Jane Adler (Meryl Streep) and Jake Adler (Alec Baldwin) are at an anniversary party for another couple. We are introduced to Jake's wife Agnes (Lake Bell), the woman that Jake left Jane for. After ten years, Jane and Jake are able to finally get along. Jane leaves the party and drives home where her youngest daughter is packing up the car to leave for college. Her other two children, Lauren (Caitlin Fitzgerald) who is marrying Harley (John Krasinski of "The Office") and Luke (Hunter Parish of "Weeds") who is graduating from college are making Jane feel like her home is an empty nest. Jane also has a group of women that she confides in that includes Mary Kay Place, Alexandra Wentworth and Rita Wilson.

Everyone meets in New York for Luke's graduation and Jane is left to fend for herself for dinner as the kids go to a party. Jake sees her in the restaurant as Agnes did not attend, and they proceed to get drunk and sleep together. When they get home, Jake wants to continue, but Jane resists...briefly. Their children know nothing about their mother being their father's mistress except Harley who spots them checking into a hotel during lunch when he is meeting with Lauren and the wedding coordinator. Agnes realizes that Jake still loves Jane at a party at Lauren and Harley's and kicks Jake out of the house.

Jane is also interested in the architect who is designing her new kitchen addition, Adam (Steve Martin). Adam is sweet and newly divorced for a couple of years himself and is still having a hard time coming to terms with it.

Adam finds out that the person that Jane had sort of been seeing was her ex-husband Jake and stops seeing her when he sees a naked Jake on her bed while the computer is on (thanks Skype). The kids run into the bedroom when Jane screams after finding Jake on her bed and are upset as they are still recovering from the decade long divorce themselves.

Jane tells everyone that she is not with their father anymore. In the end, the remodel starts on Jane's house and Adam is there and they walk into her house with smiles.

The director, Nancy Meyers, has directed many romantic comedies such as "The Parent Trap", "Something's Gotta Give", and "The Holiday". She has been involved in several films that have had Diane Keaton in them including "Somethings Gotta Give", "Baby Boom" and both of the "Father of the Bride" movies.

I thought that this movie was entertaining and really funny in a couple of parts. Alec Baldwin can be quite funny. Everyone in this movie seemed to have quite a bit of money, never seemed to work and had loads of free time to do what they wanted. Why can't that be me?

Rumor has it that Meryl Streep may be nominated for best actress for this. I hope not since she was much better in "Julie and Julia".

Rated R. 120 Minutes. I give this movie THREE AND ONE QUARTER STARS.