True Grit (2010)

I have a love/eh relationship with the Coen brothers. I mean, I'm crazy about some of their films (e.g. Big Lebowski, Raising Arizona) but am rather less impressed with others (e.g. O, Brother Where Art Thou, The Hudsucker Proxy). True Grit falls somewhere in between those feelings.

Hailee Steinfeld does a bang-up job as Mattie, the whip-smart daughter of a murdered man, looking to avenge his death with the help of a hired marshal. Jeff Bridges is fun as the grizzled marshal, chosen for his reputation of shooting first, who is annoyed at her tagging along. Matt Damon as the Texas Ranger also on the murderer's trail and Barry Pepper as the leader of a little gang of outlaws shine in their roles as well.

Perhaps it's the disappointing epilogue that shows us the grown-up Mattie as an almost sour spinster that had me leaving the theater less-than-satisfied. Whatever the reason, my thoughts boiled down to this: it's not a masterpiece but I enjoyed the heck out of it.

B+

Please Give (2010)

The first scene in Please Give seems to be "a day in the life of a mammography machine," with a progression of older breasts being positioned onto the machine's shelf. It's in-your-face and uncomfortable and, eventually, just a little too much -- which is what I think Nicole Holofcener was going for with the movie as a whole.

I am generally on-board for Holofcener's films: Walking and Talking is a favorite and I also really liked Friends with Money. Here, however, we have no one with whom to identify. There's the successful wife and mother who's going through a crisis of conscience about the used-furniture shop she owns with her husband, which results in escalating attempts to "give back" in ways she's simply not wired for. Her husband is a bland nice-guy who nice-guys himself into an affair. Their daughter is a normal teen -- that is, she's sulky and self-indulgent and seems to live to make her parents' lives hell. We also spend time with a "good girl" milquetoast and her sister, the sexy selfish bitch, who are granddaughters of the family's next-door neighbor who's crotchety and old. I think we're supposed to identify with the milquetoast and the husband -- they're the "nice" ones -- but I can't be sure since I felt nothing for either of them.

I certainly didn't hate this movie, but I felt as though the things I liked were NOT the things I was supposed to like and the things/characters that should've made me nod in recognition were exactly the components I would've snipped out of the story. I spent the whole time feeling as though I was missing the intended message...but coming up with one of my own.

B-

Countdown to Zero (2010)

The agenda of this documentary is to get rid of all of the nuclear arms across the globe. See what they did there? They're not talkin' 'bout a launch countdown, they're hoping to reduce inventory -- bring the nuclear count down to zero! Clever, no?

Talking heads with facts and figures do a good job of convincing the viewer that any nuclear weapons are too many. The best argument probably came from Iran's President Ahmadinejad, who said something like "If the bomb is good, we should have it. If the bomb is bad, why do you have it?"

So, good message well-researched -- it would've gotten an "A+" as a presentation in current events class, but about a quarter of the students would've been falling asleep and most of the rest would've been checking their watches.

B

The Christmas Card (2006)

During the Christmas season, I load up the DVR with every movie that has "Holiday" or "Christmas" in the title. At the moment, there are fourteen of them -- from ABC Family and Hallmark -- sitting unwatched in my movie folder. I'm not sure why I do this...let's just call it a low-level addiction to televised cheer.

Well, this film may be my cure.

The leading man has all the good looks and charm of a Ken doll and the leading lady's character is defined by her love of "counting dots," which has earned her the almost-never-used-but-alluded-to nickname of "Dottie." The whole thing is absolutely devoid of any magic or chemistry, despite the fact that we keep being TOLD how obvious it is that he loves her and she loves him. I couldn't help but wonder if the exposition was added in as an aid once the editors saw how little emotion made it through.

F

Farewell Mr. Kringle (2010)

Christine Taylor plays Anna, a sad singleton masquerading as a go-get-'em journo without an ounce of Christmas spirit. So, of course, she's the one who gets sent on assignment to Mistletoe, Ca. to blog the big story of their Kris Kringle's 50th year on the job.

It's not all-out awful. There's a little bit of romance and a few weepy backstories, but you know exactly where it's going and there are no surprises along the way . The worst thing about it was how muted the Santa was -- as though they woke him up right before each take.

C- (though on the "Christmas-TV-movie scale" it'd probably be more like a B)

The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story (2009)

I was amazed by how many of the songs that are part and parcel of my youth were created by Richard and Robert Sherman. Each time this documentary would play a snippet of one of them, my heart would start singing right along and my memories would zoom to a rainy day on a scratchy couch in front of a small TV housed in a gigantic wooden floor console or to a sweaty night sitting on the top rack of our station wagon at the drive-in.

They were an incredible and prolific songwriting team but they just weren't close. This is no great shock as Robert is a serious, quiet man who was injured during World War II while just a teen and is still haunted by what he saw at Dachau, while Richard is garrulous to the point of interruptive rudeness and seems to have led a relatively charmed, easy life. Other than music, these two have very little in common. It's true that they seemed to take their distance to unnecessary extremes -- their children, though living just blocks away from each other, weren't allowed to spend time together -- but I've never thought "family" should dictate a forced togetherness, so I may have been less bothered by their distance than the filmmakers (cousins and sons of the brothers) wanted me to be.

In short, I was fascinated by the process of getting the music out and enjoyed the time capsule of show business. I was much less interested in the family drama and the hoped-for catharsis that drove the cousin filmmakers to create this documentary.

B

The Secret in Their Eyes (2010)

A retired Argentinian detective has decided to write a novel about a case that has haunted him for 25 years: the rape and murder of a young wife. We follow the twin timelines of the original case and the current day seamlessly -- it was so well done that I had a hard time deciding which version of the characters were closer in age to the actors portraying them.

There's a lot packed into the two hours and I was impressed and affected by it all. Simply magnificent.

A

Silent Night (2002)

Near the end of World War II, a German mother and her pre-teen son journey from their home to an old hunting cabin near the front lines. They are quickly invaded by American soldiers desperate to tend to their seriously wounded friend and then by German soldiers. The strongwilled Elisabeth welcomes them all but insists that all guns be left outside and that her home be treated as neutral territory.

It's a pretty moving story that's been slightly too sanitized for broadcast as a Hallmark movie.

B