Pray The Devil Back To Hell

Pray The Devil Back To Hell - This is the inspiring story of a network of Liberian women, regular women from all walks of life, who became fed up. Fed up with the constant struggle for power and wealth between dictators and war lords that turned young boys into rapists and murderers and turned the country into hell. The women begin by establishing an interfaith group that prays for peace, then courageously establish a peace vigil outside the presidential palace. When Ghana sponsors peace talks between Liberia's warring factions, some of the women travel to Accra to demonstrate for peace and monitor the talks. The war lords enjoy the good life and talk in circles, until the women get their attention with a sit-in that traps them in the the negotiating room until they promise to get serious. After a peace agreement is signed the women stay organized, supporting disarmament, voter registration and the election of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as Liberia's President.

The story is genuinely fascinating and inspiring, but the film is flawed. It's built around interviews with six of the women, and each is terrific, but something is missing: News stories that captured the concerns and the courage of the women that first stood up to the murderous dictator Charles Taylor by demanding peace outside his window; News stories of the sit -in by mothers and grandmothers at the peace talks in Ghana that trapped the macho warlords at the peace table. It's not director Gini Reticker's fault that the mainstream news coverage was limited mostly to atrocities. She uses what she can find and there is some archival footage, just not enough.

Pray The Devil Back To Hell is worth seeing just for the story, but wait for a video rental or PBS showing, don't spend $10 on a theater seat. There is a great movie in here somewhere, but this one spends a little too much time on talking heads. A full blown fictionalized epic with an exploration of Liberia's fascinating history could be a hit. A documentary that somehow captures the real tension of the story's highlights could do well, but this one needs at least a few more ingredients.

Dear Zachary - Just See It

Dear Zachary - Doctor Andrew Bagby is dead, murdered. His childhood friend, Kurt Kuenne creates a documentary about Andrew, one that begins as a letter to Zachary, Andrew's then unborn child. Much of the film is a powerful eulogy of a beloved, very human and immensely likeable friend, son and colleague who died too young. Like most moving eulogies, it has moments of hope and humor, but you will be crying throughout this movie.

Dear Zachary is also a true crime story, one with real suspense that will not be spoiled here. It's a telling indictment of the Newfoundland child welfare, extradition and bail systems. Finally, it is a tribute to Andrew's parents, who persevere through tribulations that make Job look pampered.

Kuenne is on the inside of this story twenty years before it begins, with footage of Andrew from the movies Kuenne shot as a preteen. He has the complete cooperation of Andrew's family and friends and he makes this film as a friend of Andrew with no bones about objectivity. This trips him up only once, when he overuses a mechanically yapping still photo of a judge who did not need any help from Kuenne to look ridiculous.

Kuenne has a lot of footage to work with and he generally edits wisely. While distracting you with the heartwrenching eulogy (most of the many tributes develop something new, but a few seem repetitive) Kuenne sneaks in character and story development and the documentary is suddenly grabbing you like a drama, one that's more powerful because it's real.

Kurt Kuenne produces, directs, scores, etc. MSNBC is distributing this film and it will open soon. Watch for it. An extended eulogy may not sound like a commercial smash, but see this movie. you will be glad you did.

The Lucky Ones

The Lucky Ones - Three wounded Iraq vets who meet on the plane home are stranded at Kennedy Airport by a power failure. Cheever (Tim Robbins) is a middle aged sergeant who has finished his hitch and can't wait to get back to the wife and life he had in St. Louis before his call-up intervened. Cheever decides to drive. His new buddies TK (Michael Pena) and Colee (Rachel McAdams), both headed for Vegas on 30 day injury leave before heading back to war, tag along to get to a functioning airport and a road trip ensues.

The road buddies establish their own family-like rapport as they deal with major personal problems and encounter civilian America in a trek that includes a tornado, an auto accident, faith healing, and a surprise sexual enounter. A more detailed plot summary runs quickly into the spoiler danger zone, as the film features a myriad of small twists, several driven by coincidence.

Pena handles the role of the know-it-all, hard case TK with just enough obnoxious edge and scared center. McAdams is believable and endearing as the very young and unsophisticated private Colee, whose fearless nosiness, good cheer and groundless optimism might be wisdom in disguise. TK is reluctant to talk about his groin injury, but Colee's going to get him help anyway - no matter how many people she needs to tell. Robbins as Cheever is probably the least convincing performance of the three, but he's more than good enough as a mature every-man hammered by a series of body blows just as he thought his life was about to go back to normal.

As Good As News enjoyed the film. For those who might not want to see an Iraq War movie - 1) there is only one, brief war scene, this is a USA road trip; 2) there are sad moments, but there are wacky developments and the atmosphere on the road is often light; 3) there is a significant component of humor. The film was getting some out-loud laughs from the symposium audience and it wasn't driven by slick Juno-esque banter but by the kind of things real people might say and a keen eye for the occasional absurd note in Americana.

Hats off to Captain Abu Raed

Captain Abu Raed - A brilliant performance by Nadim Sawalha in the title role anchors a moving debut from Director/Writer/Producer Amin Matalqua. Captain Abu Raed is a lonely airport janitor who lives in a world of books and imaginary travel. Raed claims a discarded pilot's cap from the airport trash and is suddenly thrust into a relationship with the children of his working class neighborhood in East Amman, Jordan. The kids assume he's a real pilot and demand to hear stories of his travels. Raed obliges, and his fiction is a hit. Suddenly the loner is the neighborhood grandfather, trying to keep young Tareq in school when his father puts him to work as a street vendor. Another boy, the angry Murad, calls Raed a liar, since no pilot could come from their neighborhood. Raed accepts his insults with grace, knowing that Murad and his family are victims of violent abuse from their father.

At the airport, Raed is befriended by Nour, a glamorous pilot in her thirties. Nour is happy to find one literate friend who isn't lecturing her about turning into a spinster or fixing her up with social basket cases. Raed is thrilled, but a little overwhelmed, as the new friendships with the children and Nour open up memories of his late wife and child and a life lost to grief and guilt over the infant's accidental death.

Murad leads some of the boys on an expedition to the airport, exposing Raed as a janitor. Raed reacts with more kindness, giving Murad the pilot's cap, and continues to worry about the neighborhood children, even when they no longer listen to his stories. The focus shifts from Tareq to Murad as the father's violence escalates and Raed's efforts to save Murad and his family from disaster become bolder.

Amin Matalqua starts his feature film career with a bang. Captain Abu Raeb works effectively with limited dialog. Visual elements - the jaunty pilot cap, the long flights of steps leading to Raed's lonely lair, his collection of books and souvenirs, the place set for his dead wife and the memorial on her pillow next to the sleeping Raed, the forbidding door to Murad's home, a hand flexed into a rising aerofoil - connect the viewer so firmly to the development of plot and character that the subtitles seem almost superfluous. Amman offers a fresh background, rich in color and texture. Matalqua made a host of good decisions in bringing this story to the screen, but one casting choice stands out: Nadim Sawalha was unforgettable as Captain Abu Raed. Sawalha was in almost every scene, working mostly with untrained child actors. The role was complex and absolutely pivotal to the film's success. Sawalha knocked it out of the park, and he did it with his eyes, shoulders, hands and, once in a while, even some dialog. Mr. Sawalha will look familiar from a hundred small roles, but after this film you will remember his name.

Captain Abu Raed has a few problems. All three subplots revolve around leisurely character development that becomes a little too slow. When Matalqua finally does bring on the action, it seems jarring and forced. The ending was true enough to Raed's character to survive this pacing disconnect and on balance As Good As News agrees with Sundance, where Captain Abu Raed won the Audience Award. See this film, watch for future efforts from Mr. Matalqua and hope that Mr. Sawalha gets many more major roles.

The Chicago 10

A documentary on the Chicago 7 (7 plus severed defendant Bobby Seals plus Bill Kunstler and another lawyer who drew prison sentences for contempt = 10). Most interesting are animated scenes created using the trial transcript, but live footage from the environs of the 1968 Democratic Convention was also used effectively. Captures 1) the dementia of Judge Julius Hoffman, 2) the media savvy, humor and ego of Abby Hoffman - in retrospect his cause seemed to be, well - pretty much Abby Hoffman, 3) the earnest David Dellinger who was willing to accept a violent confrontation in which many students would be hurt - so long as the police started it; and 4) the constantly enraged Mayor Daley - who was only too happy to oblige Dellinger. Watch for it on PBS.

Owl and the Sparrow

Owl and the Sparrow - Thuy (Han Thi Pham) is a ten year old orphan working in her uncle's bamboo furniture factory in the suburbs of Saigon. When her uncle berates her, warning her that she needs the factory work because she can't survive on her own, she takes off for downtown Saigon. Thuy survives in Saigon selling roses, thanks to some help from Lan and Hai, two adults who befriend her. Lan (Cat Ly) is a glamorous stewardess with a company paid hotel room and a life that is starting to seem like a dead end thanks to a long affair with a married pilot. Hai (Le The Lu) is an unassuming zookeeper, happy in his work but heartbroken by the recent desertion of his fiance and concerned by the zoo's impending sale of his favorite animal, an elephant he has raised from birth.

Thuy is ready to take on any challenge, escape her uncle, save the elephant, even make a romantic match of her reluctant friends to create her own family. This sweet, simple story features modern Saigon as its fourth star, weaving the theme of the old versus the new, sometimes ruthless Saigon into a reasonably engaging character study.

W.C. Fields notwithstanding, writer/director Stephane Gauger succeeds in working with both children and animals in his first film, shot in Saigon in fifteen days entirely with hand held cameras. The story is predictable, dragging a bit at times, but Saigon and little Thuy make it work well enough.

Mr. Foe

Mr. Foe - Hallam Foe (Jamie Bell) is confused. He's an aging boy who likes to hang out in a tree house, no he's a creepy peeping tom with a notebook. He's a disturbed adolescent who's mother died and now he hates, no loves, no blames his stepmother Verity (Claire Forlaini). After a particularly creepy scene with Verity, young Mr. Foe runs away from home to Edinburgh, where he spots his dead mother, well Kate (Sophia Myles) her younger doppelganger. More confused love ensues until Father (Ciaran Hinds) and Verity show up to drive Hallam into crisis and ultimately, resolution . This sounds awful, but Hallam Foe, with his badger hat, Braveheart makeup, serious mother issues and unnerving propensity for heights, is an engaging character coming of age in a minefield of stereotypes, most neatly avoided. The stepmother is a step or two beyond credulity and the film drags a little in the middle, but Jamie Bell's performance and an ending that dodged a lot of bullets carried the picture for me. The Igby crowd will thrive on Mr. Foe and most of the rest of us will have that confusing I liked it, well except for... well I think I liked it, reaction when we get home.

The Village Barbershop - Drop In For A Trim

The Village Barbershop - Art (John Ratzenberger) is struggling. He's never recovered from the death of his wife eleven years ago. Now his partner has just died, his barbershop is failing and the barbershop's sleazy landlord is trying to evict him as Art avoids his problems with beer and gambling. Gloria (Shelly Coles) is struggling too. She's living in a small trailer with a truck driver who shows up twice, once to go to the bathroom and run, once more to dump her, leaving Gloria homeless, penniless, jobless and pregnant. Gloria is not avoiding anything. She solves her housing problem immediately by towing her ex's trailer right out of the park, then responds to Art's ad for a new barber. Sparks fly in the job interview, but Gloria parlays her spunk and business sense into a dual role as the savior of the barbershop and a surrogate daughter who helps Art pull his life back from the edge of disaster. As the landlord strikes one last time, Art recovers just fast enough to support Gloria in her own moment of crisis and ...guess how it all ends.

Writer/Director/Producer Chris Ford is making his first film, and it's a nice study of characters overcoming real life adversity. The reason Hollywood doesn't make many pictures like this any more is because mass audiences find them boring - and The Village Barbershop does stretch on somewhat predictably at times, with those double and triple helpings of adversity. Do not let this scare you away. The Village Barbershop does some things exceptionally well. See it whenever and wherever you can find it. Art is a well written, well played character, a grumpy stoic who breaks out with small moments of personal vengeance even before Gloria and Josie (Cindy Pickett, an old friend and new romance) begin to crack his hard boiled shell. Shelly Coles shines as Gloria, bringing not only zest, but credibility to a character that seems too good to be true on paper. Mr. Ford includes recurring comedic elements that will keep the film lively enough for most viewers. Art's one woman neighborhood watch from across the street, his running war with the party animals next door, his surveillance of the local Chinese restaurant/brothel and his counterattacks on his landlord using anonymous porn as ammunition all earn enough laughs to make As Good As News wish that Ford would try his hand at a comedy next.

Mongol - you khan steppe on in

Mongol is a love story, but no one will confuse Sergei Bodrov's Oscar nominated epic tale of Genghis Khan's early years with a chick flick. The blood flows freely in one stunt filled combat scene after another as Temudjin (the Mongol who will become Genghis Khan, played by Tadanobu Asano) is born the son of a khan, but loses all when his father is murdered as they return from selecting Temudjin's future bride. Temudjin, only nine years old, is thrown into a life of deprivation, at times slavery. In a survival of the fittest world, Temudjin is different. He values his wife Borte (Khulan Chuluun), listening to her counsel and reuniting time after time when one nightmare after another forces their separation. He respects the Mongol god. He leads by example and shares the spoils of combat with his men. Eventually he builds an army large enough to challenge Jamukha (His blood brother and former ally) and unite the Mongol world. The film ends as Temudjin is poised to begin the world conquest that will engrave the name Genghis Khan in history.

The battle scenes include massive armies on horseback, spread across the steppes, who fight with swords and pikes. It's as if Temudjin is killing Orks in a fourth Lord of the Rings spectacular, but Director Bordov is very effectively using real stunt men and extras, not computer animation, and the only special effects are some extra gore. The director is Russian, the three leads are Chinese, Mongol and Japanese and I don't know what language the actors are speaking (the version I saw had English subtitles). Long stretches of dialog are very guttural and this combines with the location shots and soundtrack of Mongolian throat music to create a real feeling of the steppes from 800 years ago. Many scenes rely heavily on cuts between facial expressions with very little dialog (think Russian spaghetti Western). Chuluun thrives on this approach, playing Borte with a face that is somehow simultaneously stoic and expressive.

Mongol may have one battle too many, but I enjoyed it. So will most audiences, but stay home if you can't stand the gore.

In real life Genghis Khan's armies went on to conquer most of Eurasia with ferocity, horsemanship and innovative battle tactics, the original shock and awe. They held a massive geographical area with a small army by leaving few troops behind. A conquered city would be allowed to run itself, subject to some basic laws including payment of taxes to the great Khan. The mere prospect of a return visit from a Mongol army was enough to keep most cities in line.

Young@Heart - Should I Stay or Should I Go? -Go.

Young@Heart documents a senior chorus that performs rock and punk hits to cheering crowds on international concert tours. Seniors and punk - an unlikely pairing. Young@Heart begins by capturing the group as a successful musical act that trades on its novelty but pivots into an examination of purpose and dignity in the life of these senior singers, whose show goes on despite two deaths in the week leading to the concert that forms the dramatic conclusion to the documentary.

The chorus, Young at Heart, is far more than a novelty act at times. Based in Northampton, MA it's led by Bob Cilman, who isn't kidding around in his experimental song selections and sometimes harshly critical rehearsals. The band accompanying Young at Heart, a highly professional group including some non-seniors, is no joke either. The singers themselves are a diverse group but several have some vocal chops. Joseph Benoit masters David Byrne's lyrics, tone and attitude in his first rehearsal of "Life During Wartime". Fred Knittle unveils a surprising (considering he's on oxygen for congestive heart failure) bass range when he introduces himself with an a cappela "Ghost Riders in the Sky". Both Benoit and Knittle have a sense of humor that generates out loud laughs from the audience and Knittle's a showman as well, the dramatic star of the music videos edited into the documentary. Many others hit some sweet notes and even the musical amateurs can capture something in a specialty number like Sonic Youth's "Schizophrenia".

The film turns serious with the deaths of Bob Salvini, a Young at Heart member attempting a comeback after a prolonged illness, and the sudden passing of Joe Benoit, one of the group's current standouts. The chorus members are moved, especially by the surprising death of Benoit, but never waiver in their drive to put on the show. The film let's the seniors tell the story of what performing as part of Young at Heart means to them - and it's a lot.

Young@Heart is definitely worth seeing. More back story on some of the chorus members might make it even better, but the film, like choral director Cilman, takes the seniors on their own terms and the result is entertaining, often moving.

Housekeeping Note - Regular readers may have noticed that As Good As News missed last week's review. A reliable source characterized Row Hard, No Excuses as good but not great. Given the subject it would have been overrated here.

Flawless? - Would you settle for multifaceted?

Flawless opens on an interview. A haughty young reporter puts her cell phone down for long enough to patronize an old lady with a question about her not so successful career as a manager working for London Diamond in the 1960s. The old woman, Laura Quinn (Demi Moore), responds with a few enigmatic remarks, then pulls an enormous diamond out of her pocket,explains that she stole it and leaves the reporter with a manuscript. A heist caper, of sorts, unfolds from the manuscript. Much of this film is occupied by Laura Quinn, a bright, hard working beauty who suggests all the right decisions at London Diamond (a fictionalized Central Selling Organization -see historical note below) but can't get ahead thanks to sexism in the old boys club. Passed over for promotion year after year, Quinn's frustration boils over when Hobbs (Michael Caine), a mysterious janitor, tells her she's about to be fired. Why? Because her brilliant strategy to keep the Russians in the cartel is so secret that it must be confined to only the most senior management - she will actually get the axe because she's too junior to be trusted with knowledge of her own idea. Hobbs has a heist all planned and he's looking for an accomplice, someone like Quinn, to steal the vault combination.

Hobbs is a surprise package. This janitor on the brink of retirement is more than a would-be diamond thief, he's planned a master theft with a target, a motive and a modus operandi that are all far more than Quinn bargained for. Quinn struggles with the pressure as Hobbs takes control. Lon Di's executives (see historical note) battle with its insurors (see historical note). Lon Di tries to keep the theft quiet as insurance investigator Finch heads in the right direction, but will he put it together in time?


There is real suspense here, will the theft succeed, what's Hobb's really up to, how does Laura Quinn emerge from the heist to become the old woman we meet in the opening interview? Caine's understated Hobbs hits just the right notes, saving a character that might seem too good to be true in lesser hands. Moore does reasonably well as a bright, hard working executive and a panicky co-conspirator but stumbles when the film dwells overlong on her role as sexism victim. Demi is just not that convincing as an executive who's unceasing and unrequited devotion to the company has left her on the brink of cat ladydom, partly because the film as a whole bogs down on this issue at the same time it raises and resolves the mystery of Hobb's motive in the blink of an eye. The sexism theme is worth developing, but it could be more powerful with a lighter touch, one meshed more carefully with the suspenseful plot strains.

Not flawless, but an enjoyable film that more than held my attention, even as the back end of a double feature on a Monday night.

Historical Note - The fictional London Diamond is based closely upon a real organization, known in the 1960s as the Central Selling Organization, now the Diamond Trading Corporation. This organization effectively controlled the global supply of diamonds to maintain prices, not unlike today's OPEC (although OPEC, as an organization of governments, has no problem with the antitrust laws that led to criminal prosecution and civil claims against the CSO) . The CSO was essentially dominated by De Beers. De Beers Chairman from the 1950s into the 1980s was the South African billionaire Harry Oppenheimer. Although portrayed as a rough, gruff Boer in Flawless, Harry was the Oxford educated son of an English peer with a German Jewish background. Harry was also Chairman of Anglo-American, a global mining power with extensive gold and platinum operations. His son Nicky has succeeded him. Nothing wrong with a little dramatic license, but the Oppenheimers are an interesting family - worthy of a movie in their own right. Aside from being one of the world's richest men, Harry was an Anglican who supported Jewish causes throughout his life and a leading figure in South African politics despite his opposition to apartheid.

Lloyd's of London is not actually an insurer, but an intermediary for the "names", wealthy private individuals who underwrite the risks insured and are, as Flawless notes, personally liable for payment. For the names, the policies are an investment (usually just part of a much larger diversified portfolio). A name might participate in the risk on several policies, collecting a pro rata share of the premiums and return on required reserves and betting that the income from fractions of several policies would outweigh the cost of any claims paid down the road. No name would bet his entire fortune on a single policy.

Priceless - Do Not, Repeat Do Not, Give This Woman Your Mastercard

Priceless -Three days playing "uncle" to gold digger Irene (Audrey Tautou) on the French Riviera? - $17,486. Winning her cynical heart? Priceless.

Irene, a well-equipped niece if ever there was one, seems mercenary to the core when she meets Jean (Gad Elmaleh), a shy, overworked bar tender in a five star hotel. First she seduces him, believing (with a little help from Jean) that he is a rich hotel guest. Irene's wealthy fiance notices her dalliance and dumps her. She tries to liaise with Jean on a more permanent basis, then learns he is a lowly hotel employee and races to the Riviera to find another sugar daddy. Jean trails her like a lovesick bloodhound. When a simple "get lost" doesn't keep Jean out of her way, Irene decides to let him join her, but only for a few days. That's all she needs to bankrupt Jean with a non-stop spending spree. The sound of the machine processing Jean's credit card when Irene makes her first purchase at Jean's expense is the sound of a cell door clanging shut, one of several nice comic touches from Director Pierre Salvadori. The hotel discovers Jean can't afford his bill, but just as the manager phones the police, Jean is enlisted as a gigolo by Madeline (Marie-Christine Adam). This keeps him near his adored Irene, who shows him some tricks of the trade. Eventually the reluctant gigolo wins the gold digger's heart and they embark together on a motor scooter ride into the unknown future, penniless and happy.

In some ways, this is a very French film, it features luxurious settings in Paris and Nice, depicts a society that accepts gigolos and "nieces" without question and deftly doles out an engaging blend of farcical and sophisticated humor that keeps the audience smiling wryly with an occasional chuckle. Even had I missed those cues, I would have noticed that I was reading subtitles while everyone in the film spoke French. In other ways, the film could play in Peoria. Yes, no one seems to mind that Irene is basically a hooker, but it's the dogged, unquestioning romantic love of Jean that wins the day. True, there's no car chase, but the elimination of transitional action scenes that would not aid plot, character or comedy actually speeds the film and avoids what might otherwise have been a serious pacing problem.

Priceless? As Good As News would not go that far, but the film is worth seeing. A nice movie for a date if you are going out, definitely worthy of a rental.

Trainwreck: My Life As An Idoit - Trainwreck A Near Miss

Trainwreck: My Life As An Idoit - Jeff (Seann William Scott) is a young man aging fast as he stumbles through a life muddled by severe ADD, dyslexia (hence the title), tourette syndrome and a loving mother and stepfather who solve his problems with a checkbook so that he never has to grow up. Based on The Little Yellow Bus, a memoir by comedian Jeff Nichols, Trainwreck's closing credits feature Nichols killing with his stand-up act at Caroline's while the text explains that he finally earned his merchant marine license. As the only reviewer with a merchant marine license and a dozen appearances at Caroline's, I wish I could say I loved this movie, but despite a story with tremendous potential and a fine cast, the film misses as both comedy and drama.

The core of the drama is Jeff's successful battle with his disabilities to find a niche as a comedian and construction worker and make a real life for himself, one that includes romance and independence. Most of the time Jeff's problems show up only as bad decisions with disastrous consequences, but two scenes delve a little deeper into his synapses. The film opens with Jeff buying a yellow shirt on his way to a job interview, then fleeing the interview because he's obsessed with the fact that his shirt isn't white like everyone else's. The whole scene, last second purchase, maniacal interaction with store clerk, inner turmoil leading to flight at the interview - captures both the reality of Jeff's disabilities and the resulting humor. A later scene demonstrates Jeff's complete inability to handle daily life, as the need to perform a sequence of basic tasks - find paycheck, open account and deposit check, find phone bill, pay phone bill, call Mom's accountant about parking tickets - creates confusion and panic. These two scenes show what could have been, but Jeff's affair with the beautiful Lynn (Gretchen Mol), his career in stand-up (which requires booking gigs and consistently showing up on time - not just developing an act), his dream job (literally) in construction and his maritime captains license all seem to appear by magic. Whatever happened to Jeff Nichols in real life, on-screen Jeff never really grapples with his problems, gets help and learns to deal with them, he just skips straight to the relatively happy ending, leaving the drama with a major whole in the middle.

Trainwreck has tremendous potential as comedy, and the writers and director understand this, but the film never recaptures the balance that produced successful comedy in the opening "yellow shirt" scene. Jeff hones his stand-up act at AA meetings, although he has been sober for a decade and seems more interested in an audience than the program. This brilliant premise captures one fundamental of humor - Jeff gets laughs at AA when he is honest, even if he is honest about tragedy - but instead of using the AA meetings to showcase a few minutes of Nichol's best stuff, Trainwreck sticks to long-winded stories that got few laughs in the screening. Disasters that could have produced a strong element of farce, a sunken yacht and a family home burnt to the ground, are presented without effective comic set-up or timing. They generate empathy for Jeff and his family, but they just don't produce any laughs.

Despite the potential and the cast, As Good As News can't recommend Trainwreck. We can recommend that you see Jeff Nichols at a comedy club near you.

Penelope - Fun but missing one twist

Penelope begins "once upon a time", ends with a first grader explaining the moral of the story and fills the time in between with the reasonably engaging tale of Penelope (Christina Ricci), a rich girl born with a pig nose thanks to an old family curse. The curse comes with a cure, only undying love from "one of her own kind" will change Penelope's snout into a human nose. Plastic surgery is out due to a pesky arterial complication, so Mom (Catherine O'Hara) teaches Penelope that she is not her true self and seizes upon this legendary cure as the core of Penelope's life. Mom isolates Penelope from the world, lines up battalions of blue blooded potential beaus with aid from a professional matchmaker, then exposes the potential beaus to Penelope - triggering panic, flight and then capture by the mysterious butler, who somehow obtains a secrecy agreement from each staggered suitor. Finally one blue blood escapes and talks to the press, embarrassing himself and his wealthy family, rearrousing the interest of a long suffering reporter (Peter Dinklage) and triggering a series of changes in Penelope's life. Her last arranged beau, James McAvoy, is a compulsive gambler with an agenda of his own, but their meeting produces a spark, followed by a new level of frustration that gets Penelope out of the house where she's befriended by Annie (Reese Witherspoon). The plot then twists its way to an ending in which Penelope learns that accepting herself is the key to happiness.

Penelope's web site bills the movie as the anti-Barbie, but fear not plastic surgeons, the movie announces its moral, but supports it halfheartedly. Penelope may run behind Shrek and The Truth About Cats and Dogs as the anti-Barbie, but it is well-played fun. The gags built around Penelope's snout generally work, although an uglier, piggier nose would improve them. Director Mark Palansky knows when to back away from the snout and tell the story. Ricci stays believable in a tough role. Catherine O'Hara is comedically adept as the mom, but the closest Penelope comes to breaking ground on the anti-Barbie front is the mother, torn between pushing her daughter to reach her human nosed potential and accepting her as her pig nosed self - even if this means letting her daughter give up. O'Hara is consistently controlling, rebounding in the blink of an eye from disappointments that crush Penolope, always ready with the next plan to make a match with one of her own kind. A more nuanced mom would probably be less funny, but might offer an interesting perspective on the theme.

Co-producer Witherspoon has a blast playing a wacky Vespa jockey who tutors Penelope on the subject of all things real world and she's completely contagious. Witherspoon was so much fun I found myself hoping she would turn out to be a princess in exile (or maybe just "one of Penolope's kind" on a gender based alternate interpretation) who would lift Penelope's curse with a lesbian romance.

Amexicano: If Only I Had Gone Out For Popcorn

Amexicano - Bruno, a lonely, unemployed Italian-American schlub from Queens played engagingly by Carmine Famiglietti, takes a construction job to stave off eviction. Step one is a street corner stop to hire a day laborer from a group of waiting Mexicans. After a false start with the aggressive and angry Diego (Manny Perez), Bruno finds the hard-working Ignacio (Raul Castillo). A sweet, deceptively simple buddy comedy ensues, as Bruno and Ignacio form a genuine friendship despite the language barrier and Bruno's cultural preconceptions. The plot thickens when Ignacio's attractive wife Gabriela (Jennifer Pena) applies some heat and then swirls in two new directions, each fundamentally consistent with the characters and story set in motion by screenwriter Famiglietti and Director Matthew Bonifacio - until the final moments of the picture. The ending clashed jarringly with my expectations and changed my view of the film radically. As an actor, Famiglietti shines in an odd couple comedy, as a writer he avoids stereotypes throughout the story but works too hard to do so in the ending, converting a film with a genuine feel into a somewhat awkward political statement. Despite this, the film is worth seeing - I cared enough so I was angry about the ending. Cast and crew were remarkably productive with a very limited budget and you will be seeing them again

Love In The Time of Cholera -...

Love In The Time Of Cholera -As a young man Florentino (Javier Bardem) falls deeply in love with Fermina (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) based on little more than a glance and an exchange of messages. Florentio's devotion endures unrequited through over 53 years and a series of discouraging events: a separation enforced by Fermina's father (John Leguizamo); a sudden, nearly brutal rejection by Fermina herself, who sees her youthful love as infatuation; Fermina's sometimes stormy marriage to a handsome and successful doctor (Benjamin Bratt); and Florentino's own diarized succession of over 600 carnal partners, only one of whom (Laura Harring) seems to threaten Florentino's devotion to Fermina. We will partially spoil the ending here by noting that Florentino, a man who has duly recorded his own affairs with over 600 women in an eccentric "dual love" quest to survive the pain of living without the object of his devotion, somehow seems to be telling the truth, or at least a truth, when he comically claims to be a virgin who has waited fifty-three years for his true love in a climactic scene with Fermina.

Florentino is so odd at the film's outset that he pushes the boundary where suspension of disbelief fails, but this character, a product of a Pulitzer prize winning novelist, an Oscar winning screenwriter and a brilliant actor, all of whom had something they wanted very much to say about love, never crosses that boundary and the film succeeds on his back. It's no accident that letters and written messages seem to be the media of romantic love in scene after scene. Many of the film's characters are finely drawn, wisely cast and well acted but Florentino's odd combination of Don Quixote and Don Juan, with a dash of Sancho Panza, is one for the ages.

I confess, I am the only person on the planet who has not read Love In The Time Of Cholera. Gabriel Garcia Marquez provided notes as the film was written and apparently appreciated the final product. Much of the film was shot on location in Cartagena, Columbia, the novel's unidentified setting, where the light, the mountains and the river all contribute a flavor of magic while interior scenes are shot in buildings that actually date back to the novel's setting at the turn of the twentieth century. The cast includes several North American stars, but the Europeans and South Americans more than hold their own, even though the picture is filmed in English. The sound track, including three original compositions written and performed by Shakira, adds to the Columbian texture.

Terror's Advocate - Revisited

Building A Case Against The Worldly Lawyer to the Notorious - The Times gives this documentary far more credit than As Good As News did. Kudos to A.O. Scott, his extensive review ably summarizes much of the film's content. As Good As News recommends that you read it carefully, then watch the Time's "movie minute" (available at the same link as the review) of the smug, unctuous avocat, Jaques Verges. You will then have received 95% of the benefit from this film while avoiding the unpleasant experience of actually sitting through it.

Terror's Advocate - It might have been a great novel

First, apologies for the delay in posting this week's review. I did my stand up act at Caroline's on Monday night and didn't see this weeks preview until Tuesday night.

Terror's Advocate is a documentary built around an extended interview with Jaques Verges, a French (half Thai by birth) lawyer who has represented defendants in many high profile political cases. After WWII service in the French resistance, Verges starts his legal career as an anti-colonialist, representing Algerian bombers. He thumbs his nose at the French court and the legitimacy of French rule in Algeria, a blue print for many political trials. By the time this movie is shot, Verges is taking on ruthless, genocidal dictators as clients, and has an ego that keeps him talking, smugly and endlessly, to the camera. Terror's Advocate covers a lot of ground, including some strong indications that Verges was aiding, perhaps even managing, terrorist actions at some points in his unusual career. And then there was his mysterious 7 year disappearance, unexplained to this day. There is material here for a fascinating narrative film with at least two sequels, or an investigative journalism series that runs every week for a year. Director Barbet Schroeder finds great subjects, does some fascinating interviews and strikes glancing blows at a dozen issues that could be headline stories, if only he nailed something down once in a while. As Good As News can appreciate the issues this film raises, but cannot send its readers to sit through over two hours of talking heads and subtitles that seem determined to avoid going anywhere.