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An Education: A Wonderful, World Weary Coming of Age Tale

BuzzSugar — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 05:30:00 -0700

There's very little time left for Carey Mulligan to be an unknown. She plays the central character in An Education, and it's a mesmerizing, star-making turn.

Nick Hornby is behind the screenplay, which follows 16-year-old schoolgirl Jenny as she navigates her strict school-minded parents and the affections of a man twice her age in '60s London. Though some might be turned off by the Lolita-esque premise, this isn't a movie about a May-December romance but the story of Jenny's discovery of the world and adulthood.

To see what I liked about the movie, just read more.

Peter Sarsgaard is the older man, whom he plays with the seductive blandness the role calls for. It's not Sarsgaard's character, David, who tempts Jenny; it's the idea of him. Before David shows up, Jenny has a path set forth by her parents and her English teacher: Oxford.

When David enters the picture by chance, Jenny suddenly has a choice: Oxford or the glamorous life David exposes her to that doesn't require a college degree. She declares her first date with David as the best night of her life. It's easy to see why: fabulous dinners and concerts in London with David's friends, played by Rosamund Pike and Dominic Cooper. Pike is really too worldly looking to be playing such a dim bulb, but she's luminous as a representation of Jenny's possible future.

Jenny soon learns that David’s seemingly easy life may not be what she truly wants, and she finds herself at a crossroads. The movie does an excellent job at making you live the conflict too - it's not obvious what life Jenny will choose, even though a traditional Hollywood movie would make it clear what the "right" thing to do is. Instead, you find yourself in Jenny's shoes thanks to the engrossing performance of Mulligan, whose angelic face and throaty voice shift easily from dedicated student to London sophisticate.

Mulligan's likability is matched only by her Oxford-pushing father, played by Alfred Molina. Some of the most entertaining scenes are those in which Molina is either brusquely insulting one of Jenny's suitors or being entranced by David himself. At first I wondered why Jenny's parents would let her go off so easily with David when I watched the trailer, but it plays out plainly: David is irresistible. Like a snake-oil salesman, that is. He feeds Jenny and her parents what they want to hear, and when things go awry, Jenny angrily confronts her father about how he could have been so seduced by David. This is one of the lessons Jenny learns from her affair with David; that despite education, maturity, and age, authority figures are fallible.

The other authority figures of this movie are compelling as well: Olivia Williams plays Jenny's encouraging teacher (whose radiance can't be hidden by a pair of horn-rimmed glasses) and Emma Thompson has a cameo as a rigid headmistress who seems to take pleasure in threatening Jenny about her future.

However, no one shines brighter than Mulligan. Her Jenny is a strong, bright young woman who never completely loses her way, despite the situation she gets caught up in. It's her performance in An Education you'll be talking about when you leave the theater - and maybe in a few months when awards season begins.

Photos courtesy of Sony Pictures

Movie Preview: Nick Hornby's An Education

BuzzSugar — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 11:45:12 -0700

The description for An Education goes like this: "A coming-of-age story about a teenage girl in 1960s suburban London, and how her life changes with the arrival of a playboy nearly twice her age." And the new trailer for the movie, written by Nick Hornby, shows just that. In fact, the whole movie seems to unfold within this trailer, and yet, I still really, really want to see the movie. In a rare occurrence, I'm anxious to find out what happens in between all the scenes we see in the preview. This is largely due to the engaging cast, which includes Carey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgaard, Emma Thompson, Alfred Molina and Rosamund Pike. Carey Mulligan, as the young woman at the center of the story, is particularly riveting, a spirited pixie with a sharp mind and the sweetest, most innocent face in the world.

An Education opens in limited release here in the U.S. Oct. 9. To watch the trailer, read more.

Nothing Like the Holidays: The Fruitcake of the Holiday Movie Season

BuzzSugar — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 07:30:52 -0800

The Christmas dramedy Nothing Like the Holidays really is like a fruitcake: Seasonal, obligatory and cliche. It's unoriginal in its presentation, but then again, it is the holidays and someone put in the effort to make it, so a part of you appreciates it a little. You just don't want to taste it ever again. And maybe another part of you is the teeniest bit resentful that you were given something so forgettable.

Having said all that, there are some refreshing aspects to this particular sweet-sour overbaked good. The plot relies heavily on that tiresome declaration of "look how totally wacky and loud we are but we are also so loving!" But at least this time it's a Puerto Rican-American family, an ethnic group that's pretty severely underrepresented in mainstream film. The adult children in the Rodriguez family are gathering together at their parents' Chicago home for Christmas, including big-time New York City lawyer Mauricio (John Leguizamo) and his Jewish fish-out-of-water wife Sarah (Debra Messing), aspiring Hollywood actress Roxanna (Vanessa Ferlito), and soldier Jesse (Freddy Rodriguez) who is just now returning from Iraq. A circle of extra players surrounds the group: cousin Johnny (Luis Guzmán), family friend with a history of gangster life Ozzy (Jay Hernandez), and Jesse's old flame (the one that got away) Marissa (Melonie Diaz) - along with her son and new boyfriend. For more on why there's just nothing like the holidays, read more.

The familial relationships are equal parts tension and love, anger and sweetness, cruelty and warmth. Emotions run high all the time and everyone's got some kind of drama going on. Sarah feels unfairly pressured to have kids, Roxanna fears her fledgling career in TV and film will never take off, and Ozzy is filled with rage toward the recently-sprung-from-prison guy who killed his brother. Jesse's storyline is the most intriguing, largely due to Freddy Rodriguez's wonderful onscreen charisma: Trying to adapt to civilian life again, he wonders what his purpose is and desperately wants to be with Marissa. Finally, there's the ridiculously lame plotline of the parents: Edy (the magnificent teddy-bear-dad Alfred Molina) is hiding something, Anna (Elizabeth Peña) thinks he's cheating on her and thus wants a divorce, leading the kids to think this is their last Christmas together.

All these storylines get knitted together in one big tangly ball of mess, which doesn't give any one character the space to grow beyond the one-dimensional stereotype he or she is given. The actors try mightily to counter this, however, and at times they succeed. These are heavyweight actors who are way above this material, and if there's a reason to see this movie at all, it's them. Their determination to be a part of this story is admirable, and in certain scenes they even manage to add some flavor to an otherwise bland Christmas offering. Overall, though, I'd say you can pass on this dessert - at least until it's re-gifted on TV during next year's holiday season.

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Movie Preview: Nothing Like the Holidays

BuzzSugar — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 05:30:24 -0700

Sure, when I first saw the poster and description for Nothing Like the Holidays, I kinda groaned inside. Nothing like another reheated family holiday flick! And yet, now that I've watched the trailer, I'm charmed by this new take on an old genre.

For one thing, the film focuses on a Latino family, which is unusual (embarrassingly so) in both film and television. For another thing, the cast is fantastic. John Leguizamo has already won me over (being one of my favorite actors ever helps), as has another favorite of mine, Alfred Molina. In addition there's the lovable Debra Messing and (ready, Getty Girls?) the winsome Freddy Rodriguez.

The movie's description goes like this: "A Puerto Rican family living in the area of Humboldt Park in west Chicago face what may be their last Christmas together." It starts out seeming tamely cute/funny, and then moves into some more poignant territory. Nothing Like the Holidays opens Nov. 21, and to watch the trailer, read more.

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Silk: Pretty but Empty

BuzzSugar — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 14:39:10 -0700

Silk is like that good-looking celebrity you admire from afar for a while, and when you finally get the chance to sit down and talk to them, they turn out to be vapid and uninteresting. The strength of this movie lies in the visuals, as was the case with another of director François Girard's aesthetically appealing films, The Red Violin. Nature appears to be at its most lush and there are some gorgeous costumes. François Girard and his cinematographer Alain Dostie also seem to have a love for Asian cultures, creating stunning shots of the landscape and people alike. Yet beyond the visuals the movie has an empty feeling to it.

Michael Pitt sleepily plays Hervé, a young silk merchant who travels to a remote part of Japan for healthy eggs at the prompting of his ambitious boss Baldabiou (Alfred Molina, bringing his usual strength and warmth). While there, he encounters a beautiful concubine with whom he becomes obsessed. Even when he's not required to return to Japan and despite political strife rendering the journey dangerous, he goes anyway, inexplicably drawn to this woman with whom he can't even communicate. For more about Silk, read more

Keira Knightley plays Hervé's willowy and devoted wife Helene, and she does just fine with the role. In many ways, this is Helene's story more than her husband's, and while Knightley is pretty and tries her best, the material she's given is flimsy at best. Pitt gives her blessed little to work with as well, his efforts to be (I think) introspective and thoughtful coming across instead as sluggish and confused.

Silk is based on a lovely, sensual, Italian novel by Alessandro Baricco, and I can easily understand why one would want to visually interpret the lyrical beauty of the words. It's a sweet story but doesn't lend itself to a lot of intriguing action or dialogue - only a succession of beautiful frames. That's nice and all, but I left the movie wishing the filmmakers' efforts had gone toward making paintings or photographs rather than an ill-conceived movie.

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Movie Preview: Silk

BuzzSugar — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 15:25:48 -0700

Opening in limited release this Friday, Silk follows "a married silkworm merchant-turned-smuggler (Michael Pitt) in 19th century France traveling to Japan for his town's supply of silkworms after a disease wipes out their African supply. During his stay in Japan, he becomes obsessed with the concubine of a local baron." Keira Knightley and Alfred Molina also star, so I look forward to seeing Silk as soon as possible. To check out the gorgeous trailer, read more

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TV Tonight: "The Company"

BuzzSugar — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 13:30:25 -0700

Here's the bad news: I didn't love the first installment of TNT's "The Company" the way I expected to. The two-hour segment, which airs tonight, seemed a bit jumbled, covering a lot of ground without a good hook to pull me in. The good news is that there was enough compelling content in the first episode that I'm still planning to check out the other two.

Broadly speaking, "The Company" tells the story of the CIA in the Cold War. More specifically, it focuses on two friends (played by Chris O'Donnell and Alessandro Nivola) who are recruited from Yale into the CIA, a third friend (Rory Cochrane) who ends up working for the KGB, and an American intelligence expert's quest to uncover a KGB spy within the CIA.

The book by Robert Littell on which the series is based weighs in at almost 900 pages, so I suppose it's no surprise that the miniseries (which will air in three two-hour segments) also plows through a lot of material. But what did surprise me was how disorganized the whole thing felt, so to hear more about that and see a video of Chris O'Donnell talking about his role, read more

The screener copy of "The Company" that I received came with a poster-sized chart of who's who, breaking down which characters work for the CIA, which work for the KGB or other intelligence agencies, and which are (or at least appear to be) civilians. And thank goodness; part of the idea of "The Company" is that you don't know who's really working for which agency, but I thought the first two hours contained too many characters with too little context.

Beyond that, "The Company" doesn't seem to have a coherent identity thus far. Is it a story of three college friends who end up working on opposing sides of the Cold War intelligence effort? Or is it a story of one man's lifelong quest to track down the KGB's mole within the CIA? I also had to roll my eyes at the "love story" portion of events; those who fall in love seem to do so in about 10 seconds, and of course all of the main characters' relationships are with people who could jeopardize their jobs and their lives. (One of those women, a ballerina who seems to do nothing but dance 24/7, is particularly grating.)

The first hour certainly had its good points, though. I mentioned I'm a sucker for spy stories, and there's some great code-cracking, phone-tapping and allegiance-switching here. Alfred Molina delivers a strong performance as a CIA agent nicknamed "The Sorcerer" who mentors O'Donnell's character and thrives on the danger of his job. And I hope Cochrane gets more screen time in future installments; his character, a conflicted Russian-born, American-bred spy, has more depth than anyone else so far. Overall, "The Company" looks to be a mixed bag - but fellow fans of spy stories still might find it worth a try.

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First Look: "The Company"

BuzzSugar — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 13:33:39 -0700

Sure, on the surface, I'm a pop culture-obsessed, concert-going, movie-watching maven. But behind it all, I'm really just a nerdy, somewhat spy-obsessed gal. So TNT's new miniseries, "The Company," easily earned a spot on my list of reasons to keep the TV on this summer.

The three-night, six-hour exploration of the history of the CIA, which premieres this coming Sunday, Aug. 5, has an excellent pedigree. Based on an acclaimed novel by Robert Littell, the miniseries is directed by Ridley Scott and counts Chris O'Donnell, Michael Keaton and Alfred Molina among its cast. I have high hopes that this miniseries - like "Mad Men" - can be not just a great period drama but a great drama, period. I'll share my thoughts on the first episode later this week, but in the meantime, you can check out
this tense trailer and a sneak peak from the first episode.

Photo courtesy of TNT

The Hoax: It's Fun to Be Duped

BuzzSugar — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 05:03:10 -0700

The Hoax is exciting in the way that casino/bank heist movies are exciting - only it's based on a real-life media heist. It's 1971, and billionaire Howard Hughes has captured the curiosity of millions for being extremely powerful and strangely resistant to any contact with the public. People are ravenous for information about Hughes, so when a desperate, off-kilter writer named Clifford Irving (Richard Gere) claims falsely to have been trusted with Hughes' life stories, everyone eats it up.

Irving concocts elaborate lies to sell his story and swindles publishing company McGraw-Hill out of outrageous advances - for himself and, incredibly, for Hughes as well. With the help of his wife Edith and his best friend Dick Suskind, Irving tangles himself further and further in all things Howard Hughes, until even he believes himself to be a Hughes expert.

In such a character-driven film as this, the cast is of great importance, and the actors pull off Hoax masterfully, so

Gere has the exuberance of a much younger man, bewitching everyone with his winning grin. Marcia Gay Harden movingly plays Irving's wife Edith, while Hope Davis is snappy and high-strung as Irving's publisher. If anyone deserves kudos, however, it's Alfred Molina, whose subtle, thorough character work just makes you ache for him. He plays Suskind, Irving's lumbering good-guy buddy who gets pulled into the deception, ultimately finding himself in over his head.

The costumes, music, and film techniques all help to make the movie heave with authenticity. This isn't the fun, glamorous 1970s of mini-dresses and frosted lipstick, but rather the dowdy world of publishing in the 1970s. The musical selections feature evocative popular tunes of the era, though the original score is also supremely effective, popping and bubbling almost optimistically through tension-filled scenes.

The film is peppered with real footage of political events at the time, highlighting the fact that talk of corruption and lies was prominent in the mass media, while also weaving together fact (real footage) and fiction (the movie). And as a most impressive tactic, director Lasse Hallstrom and director of photography Oliver Stapleton put the film through filters and then sharpened it digitally later, creating a softness that looks eerily like something out of the 1970s.

The success of Irving's attempt is dependent upon two assumptions: 1) that the publishers would give him the benefit of the doubt, and 2) that Hughes, in his desire to avoid the public, wouldn't call Irving out on the lies. It's nearly impossible to believe that the publishers would be so gullible, and yet the point of the film seems to be that people will believe anything when they so hungrily want to. On the second point, Irving was very close to assuming correctly about Hughes, a man Irving came to view, delusively, as a close acquaintance. Remarkably, the filmmakers also suggest that Irving had a hand in revealing the Watergate scandal. Far-fetched, it seems, but by the end of The Hoax, I myself was ready to believe nearly anything about this crazy con man.

Photos courtesy of Miramax

Movie Preview: The Hoax

BuzzSugar — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 05:36:03 -0700

Richard Gere looks so young and sprightly in the previews for The Hoax, a tale based on the true story of one of the greatest media deceptions ever attempted. In the early 1970s, writer Clifford Irving (Gere) sells a "biography" about Howard Hughes, featuring exclusive information about the mysterious and fiercely private billionaire.

Eager for the juicy story, Irving's publishers pay him exorbitant advances for the manuscript - which he promptly fabricates. Alfred Molina - who happens to be one of my favorite actors working right now - stars as Irving's friend and right-hand man in the hoax. You can read my review this Friday when the film comes out. Until then, to watch the trailer and tell me what you think, just read more