The Critical Filmmaker

Writer/director Debbie Goodstein shares the true story about a man wrestling with anger issues to the point where it terrifies his family. Joe Fine (Chazz Palminteri) owns a garment business in the mid 1970's.  He has moved his family to New Orleans to start fresh.  It is not the first move, as explained in voice-over by his daughter, Natalie (Jodelle Ferland), and soon we see why.  When his business dreams are dashed, he takes his stress out on his family.  Older daughter Maddy (Rainey Qualley) reveals that this is not the first time he has acted so violently. The film shows an interesting angle as to how abuse can affect people.  In this case it's often more verbal than physical, but he does lash out at times as well. Palminteri does a good job, but as with his other roles he seems to be playing the father like a thug at times.  Andi MacDowell is terrific as his wife,  a Holocaust survivor.  She is scared of her husband, although she loves him very much. Rainey Qualle

Film:  Frozen River Synopsis:  It's about a woman whose husband up and leaves the family without warning. She's desperate, because they had enough for a final payment on a modular home, and he's ran off with the money. So she has only a few days to pull together the funds, and she can't earn the amount needed on her salary. So she has to resort to some desperate means to get the money in time, taking a huge risk that could not only put herself in danger, but also her kids as well. My review:  This is a powerful film and very compelling. ------------------------------------------------- Film: Away We Go My review:  It's a cute film, though somewhat over the top at times. I'd recommend it, but I wouldn't rank it at the top of the list of comedies. ------------------------------------------------- Film:  Beeswax My review:  Boring. The production values were very amateurish - lower than low budget - and the writer/director decided to throw away

This is a fictional Holocaust film, taking a very real, alarming subject and making a children's story out of it. Considering the sensitive subject matter, I thought it was well done. It stars David Thewlis (Harry Potter) as a German soldier whose son befriends a boy in a concentration camp. The plot requires you to have to suspend reality, since there are some scenes that just wouldn't make sense otherwise.  Based on a children's book, the writers of both the book and the film called it a "Fable", but in the end this misled the audience and caused some negative reviews. I cried of course. I always do, but I did think it was a good film so long as you ignored a couple of obvious flaws.

Film:  For My Father Review:  A very good film about a Palestinian who has to redeem his family name by becoming a suicide bomber. We see what he encounters when he goes into Israel to do the deed. It was a very interesting and poignant film. ------------------------------------- Film:  The Young Victoria Review:That was very good, although I think it would have worked better as a Masterpiece Theatre mini-series with more episodes added to it chronicling her whole reign. The film only covers her early years, and even that scratches the surface. Still it was entertaining with a nice bit of romance. They did bend the truth in one scene, which I heard bugged the British audiences a bit, so that might not sit well with purists, but overall it was a nice film. --------------------------------------------------- Film:  Wonderful World Review:  This is the fourth time since I started attending the film series that I've seen a Matthew Broderick film, and I've come to the

Film: Defiance Synopsis: Based on a true story of three Jewish brothers who find themselves concealing 100+ Jews in the woods of Belarus during WWII, while butting heads with each other as to whether they should fight or survive. My review: It was a bit too commercial for my taste, though the director (Edward Zwick) had said he did that to lure people who might not know Daniel Craig as anyone other than James Bond. He thought it would be a good way to send a message to the audience about these people. In the end it only made me like the film less.  Pass on it. -------------------------------------------- Film:  The Wrestler Starring: Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood Synopsis: It's about an aging wrestler (Mickey Rourke), who has a heart attack and has to come to terms with the fact that he will have to retire from wrestling or die. The struggle for him is that he has no idea what to do with his life, as wrestling is all he knows. My review:  I'

Film:  The Cove Review:  This was very interesting. It's a documentary about a former dolphin trainer (Richard O'Barry) who saw the error of his ways and has spent his life freeing dolphins that are captured for one reason or another.  It has brought some much needed buzz to the plight of dolphins in Japan. The film shows him in Japan with a team of activists who are exposing the slaughter of 23,000 dolphins a year. Interesting stuff. Bye the way, he used to be the dolphin trainer on the TV series Flipper. -------------------------------------------------- Film:  Surveillance Review:  It's an interesting film, but it's not my cup of tea. If you like David Lynch movies, or you like suspense of any kind, then you might enjoy this. I personally like suspense, but this film was disturbing. The script was written by David Lynch's daughter Jennifer. She seems to have her dad's penchant for morbid subject matter. --------------------------------

Kathleen Turner stars as Eileen Cleary, a devout Catholic, loving wife and doting mother.  She spends her days helping out at the church, serving communion and bringing food to the less fortunate. One day her priest (Richard Chamberlain) tells her that she's been nominated (by him, I believe) for "Catholic Woman of the Year" a very daunting competition involving a home visit by a bishop, letters of recommendation from her family and a pristine family life. Well, two out of three might not be so bad. You see, Eileen has been living a lie.  Her family isn't as clean and pure as she so desperately wants them to be.  And she wrestles with that fact as the competition hangs over her.  The movie depicts her constant struggle between being devout and saintly and coming to terms with her family's collection of "sins". It's lighthearted and - I'm pleased to say - entertaining.  I've often struggled with Kathleen Turner's raspy voice, but f

I love British films and TV. I can't explain why.  I just do.  So I was really looking forward to this film. As a whole I enjoyed it.  There were scenes that were a bit too predictable and pat, but most of them worked for me.  I loved Judy Dench at the call center.  Ronald Pickup's character is a lot of fun, especially when you learn his true experience with women. They all did a great job.  I really enjoyed it. I would have liked a few more scenes in Maggie Smith's story in order to really feel the impact on her character, but one could just imagine how things unfolded, so I didn't have a problem with that. Overall it's a nice feel-good film that I highly recommend.  And one doesn't need to be in a certain age bracket to enjoy it. :)

Title:  Turn Me on Dammit (Norwegian) Review:  An interesting twist to an old theme about a teenage girl who has to suffer through alienation, when a classmate lies about an encounter of an explicit nature.  The twist?  I won't give it away, but while it is a comedy, it does explore female sexuality in an interesting way that might appeal to teenagers of both sexes.  However, it has adult themes, so parents be warned. -------------------------------------------- Title:  Downtown Express Review:  A lighthearted tale about a Russian violinist, studying at Julliard and tackling his desire to follow his own path vs that of his father.  A nice film although some of the acting feels a bit stilted.