Sunshine Cleaning

— I expected to like "Sunshine Cleaning". Too bad it worked so hard for an "indie" feel, did so little with a good premise, and had Alan Arkin doing his "Little Miss Sunshine" role again. Only Amy Adams seemed to have more than a single dimension to her role.

---

[2008. 91 min. Directed Christine Jeffs. Starring Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, and Alan Arkin.]

Taking Woodstock
(and District 9)

— I have to wonder how much my age has to do with my enjoyment of “Taking Woodstock”. Some portions were unbelievably funny! Depicts a more "gay" sixties than I remember, but with the culture clash I do remember. A really interesting coming of age film with one of the pivotal points of a generation happening just a few fields away. (Also saw "District 9" - Great film!)

---

[2009. 120 min. Directed Ang Lee. Starring Demetri Martin, Henry Goodman, Edward Hibbert, and Imelda Staunton.]

The Class

— Laurent Cantet's "The Class" is a look at a year in the life of a junior high teacher in a "rough" Paris school. Kind of a "Dangerous Minds" done right. Nothing very black and white with lots of subtle ethical issues. I liked it much more than I thought I would.

---

[2008. 128 min. Directed Laurent Cantet. Starring Francois Begaudeau and Agame Malembe-Emene.]

Lars and the Real Girl

— Netflix "suggested" “Lars and the Real Girl” based on my likes. It was quirky, well written and acted, sort of funny and quite a bit preposterous. Ryan Gosling is always good, and the amazing acceptance of his character’s delusion by everyone in the town made me yearn to be in a place where everyone really does try to do the right thing.

---

[2007. 106 min. Directed Craig Gillespie. Starring Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer, and Paul Schneider.]

Julie & Julia

— I can’t help but laugh at Nora Ephron’s sense of humor which was evident throughout “Julie & Julia”. Meryl Streep’s wonderful, and Amy Adams does a decent job too. Too bad the parallels are a little forced and Julie’s story just doesn’t have the depth of Julia’s. I’m not likely to turn to French cooking anytime soon, but I sure am hungry for Beef Bourguignon.

---

[2009. 123 min. Directed Nora Ephron. Starring Amy Adams, Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci, and Chris Messina.]

Moon

— "Moon" is much more linear than I expected and appears to have no MTV generation effort to confuse time and space (and focus), no deafening soundtrack, and no overuse of computer animation. Sam Rockwell is wonderful and Duncan Jones' direction must have been pretty good because it didn't bother me. (Trivia: Jones was born Zowie Bowie—David Bowie's son—so it's easy to understand why he changed his name.)

---

[2009. 97 min. Directed Duncan Jones. Starring Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey, and Dominique McElligott.]