Some Newer Ones

Movies from 2010 occupy seven spots on this list, and there are only two from before 2000. I decided to peek at some current picks for a change of pace, but did not find them much different from the older films I have been watching. An exception is the documentaries, which cover more recent developments and take the top four spots on the list.

So again, here is what I have watched on DVD and streaming since I posted my last list. The ratings I give are on my own number system explained at the link on the sidebar. Those watched via Netflix instant view, include “Streamed” after the numeric rating.

Inside Job – 2010 (3.2). Charles Ferguson, who made the excellent No End in Sight about the Bush invasion of Iraq, also made this documentary about the financial crisis. The movie manages to legitimately simplify the technical aspects of the financial machinations of Wall Street, and also documents how Congress and our Presidents of both parties have been co-opted by the supposedly brainy insiders of the financial world, through campaign contributions and the resulting appointments to policy making and advisory positions. The film is particularly good for those who have followed this less closely; but for others there is not much new except for the shabby ethics of financial academics who allow the prestige of their university positions to be bought by means of undisclosed fees earned for writing articles supporting the questionable practices that led to the great recession, and the idea that our best young engineering minds were wasted on fabricating shoddy financial products rather than being put to good use inventing worthwhile tangible manufactures.  The fallen Eliot Spitzer is interviewed and comes across as a white knight against Wall Street blackguards, which is why they engineered his downfall as documented in Client 9.

The Tillman Story – 2010 (3.1). I was not familiar with Pat Tillman the NFL player, so when his death as an Army Ranger in Afghanistan was reported I assumed he was some sort of Toby Keith type patriot. What I learned about Pat and his family from this documentary was that they are free spirit humanists and that he and his brother volunteered for the Army because they believe in America as a nation that respects their beliefs whereas the 9/11 terrorists and the Taliban want to destroy them. When the military and the Bush administration tried to hide the truth of Pat’s death by trigger happy “friendly” fire, what was surprising was not the dishonesty and disrespect, but as this movie showed, the extent and shamelessness of it.

Restrepo – 2010 (3.0) Streamed. Spending a year in close quarters with an infantry platoon in an outpost on the edge of Taliban controlled territory in Afghanistan is a dangerous way to live, but a good way to make a documentary movie showing what it is like for the young soldiers facing mortal danger fighting a war that, at the extremely local level involved, is actually quite futile. The film makers let the soldiers tell their own story through scenes of firefights, down time and post exit interviews following their 15 month tour of duty.

Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer – 2010 (3.0) Streamed. This documentary was slickly made by Alex Gibney, who has a good track record as a documentarian. Gibney scored some inside interviews with former NY Governor Spitzer and some of those who wanted to see him taken down, but the film was a little disappointing in not giving enough background and in concentrating too much on the sexual aspects of Spitzer’s fall. I would like to have learned a little more about Spitzer the man and a lot more about how the Republicans influenced the FBI to pursue the escort service Spitzer used and how the Republican US Attorney geared the public phase of the charges to out only Spitzer as a patron. Spitzer made it clear than he blames no one but himself for his downfall. One commentator observed that if Spitzer was a French politician, this scandal would have helped his career.

Nowhere Boy – 2009 (3.0). This Brit movie tells about John Lennon’s rascally teenage years when he struggled with conflicted feelings on reuniting with his mother who had given him up to her sister to raise. Mom was a flakey free spirit and Aunt was somewhat of a tough love advocate. Mom brings out his hidden musical talent, while Aunt tries to keep him disciplined, which renews the conflict between the sisters and creates an awkward love triangle. The younger Paul McCartney meets and musically mentors John, and George Harrison signs on, but the film ends before Ringo and the evolving band being named The Beatles.

Dirty Pretty Things – 2002 (3.0). Deserved praise for the script attracted me to this movie, which tells the story of two undocumented aliens in London. As if their struggle to eke out a living isn’t tough enough, she is subjected to unwanted sexual advances and he is pressured to engage in illegal activities. Well directed and acted, the film maintains an underlying hopefulness.

127 Hours – 2010 (2.9). This movie struck out on all its Oscar nominations, but the one for best adaptation screenplay attracted me. It is quite a feat to hold attention on a man pinned in a tight canyon, even though it is a true story, but with creative writing interweaving subjective delirium it was accomplished. Throughout the ordeal I tried to figure how I would get myself out of such a predicament, even though I have no experience or particular knowledge of such endeavors.

Conviction – 2010 (2.9). A troubled childhood ends in a young man being in the 1980s convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Convinced of his innocence, his sister, who doesn’t even have a high school diploma, decides to become a lawyer so she can work to overturn the conviction. This drama of the true story shows a little of the childhood encounters with the law and shows a little of the personal life of the sister, mostly how she relates to her two teenage sons and how she finds a supporting friend in another older female law student, but it concentrates mostly on the woman’s perseverance through the years as her brother experiences emotional swings. Though the movie was intended to be a story about the sister, the drama could have been enhanced by showing a little of what was going on through these years in the lives of the incriminating witnesses and investigating police officer, and with the man’s daughter who grew up believing her father, with whom she had no contact since he was convicted when she was still a toddler,was a murderer.

Made in Dagenham – 2010 (2.9). Sort of a British Norma Rae, this movie is about the 1968 strike of 187 women who sewed seat covers in a Ford factory in England. They were led by an unlikely young activist wife and mother of two small children. She rose to the occasion at the right time and shut the entire factory down, caught media attention and the sympathetic ear of a female cabinet member in the Labour Party government, forcing Ford to back down and give the women a raise to 92% of what the men were paid, with equal pay legislation to come in two years. The script is straightforward, with some coverage of the personal toll taken on the young leader and some good business about a corrupt male union official and a very sympathetic one. I would like to have seen more drama about the hardball tactics of Ford and the pressure it put on the government by threatening to pull out of Britain. A little more on the personal lives of some of the women would also have enhanced the tale.

Vanity Fair – 1998 (2.9). This A & E miniseries of the classic novel was fairly well done, considering the obviously low budget production values. It is supposedly a faithful adaptation. I just found all the characters rather unappealing, Becky because she was such a terrible person and never got her comeuppance to my satisfaction and most of the rest of the characters because they were so stupid. This may be as much a compliment to the actors as a criticism of the novel. I don’t feel like I learned anything from the film about the era portrayed or about human nature. The music score seemed inappropriate and was much too loud.

Fat Head – 2009 (2.8) Streamed. This documentary does a pretty good job of debunking Super Size Me, the popular attack on McDonald’s junk food, attacking the holes in the methodology of that experiment in eating nothing but McDonald’s food for one month. Unfortunately, it seems to be a curious mix of parody, science and libertarianism. The science is the most worthwhile part of the movie, pointing out the fallacies underlying the conventional wisdom of the food pyramid and the cholesterol scare, and advocating the paleo type eating style. The doctor interviews and animated diagrams are very helpful, but seem rather scholastic compared to the sillier material that precedes it. Interviewing McDonald’s diners was a waste of time. Curiously missing is any mention of sodium in food, especially in McDonald’s.

Islander – 2006 (2.8) Streamed.  An island off the Maine Coast is home to a lobster fisherman who makes a mistake that sends him to jail for five years in this low budget indie movie. During his incarceration, his young wife divorces him and takes their young daughter with her as she moves in with another fisherman. On release from prison, the convict is shunned by most of the islanders, as he struggles to learn from his experience and move on with his life. Bottom line seems to be you either like living on a fishing island off the Maine coast, or you don’t.

A Simple Plan -1998 (2.8). This thriller novel must have been pretty good, because the Oscar nominated script for the movie tells a good morality tale of how one bad choice can seem to force a crescendo of cover up challenges. A dramatic triangle involving three male culprits gets expanded as two wives become involved. The acting seemed a little weak at first, but that disappointment was soon overcome by the interest in following the story. Billy Bob Thornton got a nomination for his acting as a bit of a dim wit, but I thought it was an uneven performance.You couldn’t root for these characters, but you were tempted to sympathize with them a little as their moral rationalizations continued to fizzle.

Breach – 2007 (2.7). Robert Hanssen was a highly respected FBI agent, devout Catholic and dedicated family man, with many years of public service, when he was arrested in 2001for having been a spy for the Russians for 15 years. His treason was the most serious security breach in US history and caused 50 US agents to be identified and executed. This movie about the final phase of the operation to catch him in the act should have been very exciting, but the script was too weak, trying to show his idiosyncrasies, both blatantly and subtly, and detailing a few supposedly suspenseful incidents of trying to gather evidence before he returns to find the searchers. We know from the start he is a spy and will be captured and we keep hoping for a twist or plot enhancement, but the film just plods ahead to its conclusion. Chris Cooper does a good job as Hanssen, but it is wasted.