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MOVIE REVIEW
Broken English
Magnolia Pictures
By Amy Steele
It is the story of Nora [formidable, immensely talented Indie Queen Parker Posey], a 35-year-old who seems stuck in a rut-both personally and professionally. Nora has become complacent and settled at her hotel job. She is beginning to delve into the Bell Jar after years of seeming to know what she wanted and now being at the age where she feels she should already be there. Date after date leads to further frustration until she meets a French man, Julien [Melvil Poupaud]. He might really like her or just be another guy leading her on. Is it a merely a charming facade or is he being honest with Nora?
Posey turns out a tour-de-force performance under the direction of Zoe Cassavetes. At times darkly reminiscent of Looking for Mr. Goodbar and steps above Sex and the City type single girl stories, Broken English does not look through rose-colored glasses but tackles Nora's issues head-on. Her best friend Audrey [a solid performance by Drea de Matteo] is happily married and is supportive, understanding and concerned about her friend. Their conversations and connection are aptly real. Nora's chemistry with Julien is palpable, enviable and genuine. The film does not gloss over anything from Nora's morning-after bed head hair to her depressive, insecure moments. Nora and Audrey travel to Paris in hopes of finding Julien and Nora discovers herself, as cliché as that may sound. She lost his number.
In one scene, she is sitting with the French guy who she has spent a few days with and suddenly a look of intense fear washes over her eyes as the color drains from her face and she looks like she's going to cry, shake and/or explode. It is a heart-pounding portrayal of that wave of anxiety that starts to erupt inside. She bolts out of the café and into her nearby apartment and lunges for the bottle of pills in her medicine cabinet, downs a few and then gets in bed. "I'm okay. I'm not going to kill myself or anything," Nora says to this guy who has followed her back, confused.
Parker Posey, one of my favorites, is a brilliant actress. The film is raw, real and honest. Cassavetes's spot on, direct, honest script captures this woman's fears, disappointments and frustrations. This is one of the best, most resonant, films of the year.
OUT ON DVD:
Reviews by Amy Steele
Hot Fuzz
Rogue Pictures
We all appreciate your efforts. You're making us all look bad. If we let you continue running around town, you'll continue to be exceptional and we can't have that, you'll put us all out of a job.
As Shaun of the Dead spoofed the slasher genre, Hot Fuzz tries its hand at action. Fresh opening scene and quit editing makes Hot Fuzz stylized and quick. There are some funny, clever moments but falls flat in some areas. There's the good-do-er cop [Simon Pegg] who gets transferred to a small village and is partnered with a lazy, bumbling cop [Nick Frost]. Pegg and director Edgar Wright co-wrote the film. Hot Fuzz has a star-studded cast including an unrecognizable Cate Blanchett, the always strong Jim Broadbent, hysterical turns by Martin Freeman, Bill Nighy and Steve Coogan and Timothy Dalton.
Disturbia
Dreamworks SKG
Placed under house arrest, a teen goes Rear Window and takes to watching his neighbors during the day. The result? He wins over the cute girl-next-door by knowing what she does on a typical day ["You read. And not magazines but real books!"]. He provides the cop cousin of the teacher he punched with many Jean Valjean moments. And he thinks his neighbor is a serial killer and he and his friends try to prove it to the doubting adults [including his own mother]. It's suspenseful and well-done. 21-year-old Shia LeBeouf, while not so much the boy you route for to get the girl, plays a convincing, solid suburban teen with some issues.
Roving Mars
Buena Vista Pictures
This is the story of the search for evidence of life [water] on Mars via a special operation with NASA. Two robots are built and sent to explore Mars. The true excitement is when the robots reach Mars and are able to transmit pictures back. There's hugging, cheering, clapping and tears of joy. The film combines computer-generated recreations as well as some real footage. It may have been more exciting in IMAX or on a large screen. The extras are a hoot as these geeky scientists talk about knowing they wanted to be scientists at a young age-with inspirations ranging from watching Sputnik soar over the United States in the 50s to Neil Armstrong walking on the moon to technology in general. The director is very soft-spoken and every time he speaks, I found it strange against the animated explanations of the NASA guys and gals.
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