Personal Effects (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)This plays more like an indie flick, and you wouldn't think so with a cast like Michelle Pfeiffer, Ashton Kutcher and Kathy Bates, but in order for this picture to be evaluated properly it needs to be understood that this isn't a fast paced Blockbuster movie, but rather a moody, slow character piece with an unraveling beautiful love story in the subtext. Ashton Kutcher plays a young man whose sister was brutally raped and murdered. He's a silent, but tough guy who has trouble with communicating what's really going on underneath. He's a man's man. He does an impeccable job at conveying what he's thinking just by watching his face and his eyes. I've never seen him do more honest acting work than in this film. Michelle Pfeiffer is a true gem in this, not just a stunning beauty, but she brings a great spirit to the screen and with her character, showing raw emotion to charismatic and charming humor. She plays a woman whose husband was killed by a friend with a gun. Ashton and Michelle's characters have that first common understanding between each other when they meet at a group therapy session for those that lost someone close to them. They slowly begin to develop a friendship that later grows more intimate, clinging onto one another in an underlying way to connect with someone they can relate to. Michelle's character has a deaf son who holds a lot of bottled up anger and rage over his father's death, but is befriended and helped by Ashton's character taking him out of pain and into new heights. Ashton has his Mother played brilliantly in a small, but significant supporting role by Kathy Bates who is raising her daughter's daughter. The love story aspect between the two leads is very real, honest and sexy, poignantly done. This is a sleeper, a slow methodical and feel good piece on loss, love, friendship and family. I don't consider my five star giving for this overly generous, it's five stars for the kind of movie that it is, for this kind of genre, a unique film about the human condition.
There's a scene between Michelle Pfeiffer and Ashton Kutcher that is so erotically charged, practically everything, but taking off their clothes that I'm surprised they didn't give this an NC-17 just for that. The three leads show some absolutely incredible dramatic realism. Kathy Bates should've got some kind of award acknowledge for this one, but if only someone could've put it out there and market it.

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Walter (Ashton Kutcher) is a rising star in the NCAA wrestling world until his life is ripped apart by the brutal murder of his sister.Returning home to console his mother Gloria (Kathy Bates) he seeks vengeance on the man who is accused of the crime.A chance meeting with a beautiful mature woman (Michelle Pfeiffer) gives him solace to the situation.Personal Effects is a heartbreaking and ultimately uplifting romance that is a testament to the power of love.

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The Deep End of the Ocean (1999) Review

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(More customer reviews)Trust me-----this does NOT play like a TV movie. It is a well written story about a mother of 3 who has her youngest boy kidnapped from her. Michelle Pfieffer's performance was great as always----but the REAL star of this movie was Ryan Merriman (as her son, Ben Cappadora). Such talent and emotion for someone so young.

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Wolf (1994) Review

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(More customer reviews)For those who had never seen Jack Nicholson play it meek in a movie, this may be as meek as dude gets (and then it only lasts for about half an hour). In WOLF, Nicholson plays middle-aged softie Will Randall, a mild-mannered hubbie locked in a marriage of indifference. Will is also the editor-in-chief of a respected New York publishing agency - that is, until he gets demoted, at which point he assumes this indignant but resigned look. As it turns out, this would only be the first in a series of betrayals, and Will Randall looks to be just another in a long line of easily dismissed victims. Except...
WOLF starts out in a snowy, moonlit scene in which Will Randall, motoring from Vermont to Manhattan, is bitten by a wolf he had accidentally run over. And soon the shocking changes begin to manifest. Will feels strangely rejuvenated, even as he develops extremely heightened senses. Suddenly he's able to eavesdrop from across the atrium, sniff out morning liquor on a co-worker's breath, and hurdle tall walls in slow motion. His newly gained confidence allows him to take charge of his life and even revenge himself on those what done him wrong. And then, one day, a disconcerted Will Randall wakes up, soaked in blood.
Once in a blue full moon, a schlock genre spits out a gem. I happen to think that WOLF is one of the better, smarter entries in werewolf cinema, and I'd even put it up there with An American Werewolf in London, The Howling (Special Edition) and The Company of Wolves. I dig WOLF for the various elements which come correct. For a contemporary film, it wallows in this marvelous gothic atmosphere. There are wicked, unexpected flourishes of humor, and even a smattering of social satire, if one presumes that Will Randall's gradual descent from reserved refinement to uninhibited wolfishness is a metaphor for the predatory, in-the-trenches facet of the New York publishing world.
It's weird seeing Jack Nicholson in an underdog role, but it's very neat seeing his docile, dumped-on character - whose traits of "taste and individuality" suddenly become liabilities in his job - gaining a huge pair and constructing such a ruthless yet elegant get-back. Nicholson submits a layered interpretation, delivering a fascinating study of a cultured man's growing horror as he succumbs to his baser instincts. The fascinating bits all have to do with that part of him which revels in this turn to savagery. While Nicholson does get moments to chew up scenery, for a good part we're treated to a restrained performance, although, having said that, there's a whiff of that devilish Jack just underneath most of the scenes. Casting dude as a lycanthrope is a no-brainer; there's always been something feral about Jack. And, when he chooses, who else can apply a more baleful, wolfish glare?
Nicholson is supported by sharp performances by Michelle Pfeiffer (still very much in her babedom, in 1994) as surly heiress and wounded soul Laura Alden, in whom Will Randall finds a kindred spirit, and Christopher Plummer who, as Randall's boss and Laura's father, flaunts just enough equal doses of sophistication, despicability and worldly understanding that he invites this ambivalent, just-on-principles form of dislike. And James Spader rocks. James Spader for a while had cornered the market on those oily backstabbling yuppie parts. This is never more exemplified than in his role of Stewart Swinton, Randall's friend and underling, whose calculated smarm and brand of "heat and gossip" contrive to betray Randall in all ways.
Having recently reseen WOLF, I'm again startled that the violence is so low-key. The werewolf scenes are understated, the werewolf make-up not as dynamic or viscerally rendered as, say, that in THE HOWLING or AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON. WOLF instead relies more on suspense and the sense of horror being evoked thru effective use of lighting and score, thru adroit character study and spot-on acting. The disappointing thing is that WOLF, in its climactic scenes, resorts to a typical werewolf fighty fight. And I'm still not quite sure whether I like the ending or not, although the closing shots certainly smack of the darkly poetic. In the final tally, WOLF is overwhelmingly a terrific horror movie, dark and subtle and literate, romantic and wicked funny. So, er, go ahead... take a bite of this (sorry, I groaned too).

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Hairspray (Two-Disc Shake & Shimmy Edition) (2007) Review

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(More customer reviews)`Hairspray' is a non-stop, exhilarating song and dance extravaganza. This exuberant remake of the John Waters' musical is funny, fast, and fabulous. Adam Shankman's direction is appropriately lilting in the right measure, but balanced with social commentary highlights. Unlike 'Dreamgirls,' there are no Oscar worthy performances, but the production is so fun there doesn't have to be. The entertainment is winning on every level, and, as for the songs, it never goes limp.
Once again we are transported to the early sixties in Baltimore, where flannel is uniform, Blacks and Whites are segregated, and beehives are in fashion. The plot is fairly simple: Overweight teen Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky) wants to break the mold on her favorite TV program "The Corny Collins Show" (an "American Bandstand"-like feature) while discovering a more urgent need to end segregation on a show that only sometimes features "Negro Night". She gets her big break when teen singing sensation, Link Larkin (Zac Efron) makes advances that bring her to the stage floor. In the meantime, her success is challenged by the show's program manager, (played with overbearing skill by Michelle Pfeiffer) and her daughter, Amber, the show's reigning "Miss Teenage Hairspray," a nasty nemesis . Joining forces with her Afro-American friends, especially Motormouth Maybelle (Queen Latifah) and dancer Seaweed (Elijah Kelly), she works for equal time on the dance floor.
`Hairspray' is set as perfect entertainment. John Travolta provides likable loopiness as Nikki's mother while he dances and cross-dresses his way into our hearts. The villains are nasty enough, and the sweetness pervades even amongst important demonstrations on key social issues. When it all comes down to balance, 'Hairspray' fills the bill.

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It's 1962, and change is in the air in Baltimore. Tracy Turnblad, a big girl with big hair and an even bigger heart, has only one passion--to dance. She wins a spot on the local TV dance program, "The Corny Collins Show" and is transformed overnight from outsider to irrepressible teen celebrity. But can the trendsetting Tracy win the heart of teen-dream Link Larkin and stand up for what she believes in, despite the program's scheming stage manager? All she needs is her best friend Penny, a toe- tappin' beat - and a little HAIRSPRAY!

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