Sunshine Cleaning (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)Every review I've read has been quasi-negative but not being one to listen to critics, I took a chance. I was very pleasantly surprised. Depending on why you go to a movie, you may not like this because it is not escapism. It deals with real life issues and things most of us can relate to. I found the movie to be very refreshing and all the characters real to life. The main character is a single mom trying to raise a precocious son. She has to deal with a dead-end relationship and an aging father, an irresponsible sister and a job she hates. How she copes and what she does is more believable than most of the "chick flick" films out today. I think this is one of the better movies in a sea of fluff to spend time and money on. Amy Adams is wonderful and it is always refreshing to see Alan Arkin. Please don't dismiss this film because of iffy reviews. It is worth going to see.

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Academy Award® Nominee Amy Adams, Golden Globe® Winner Emily Blunt, and Academy Award Winner®Alan Arkin find an unexpected way to turn their lives around in this “colorful, refreshingly quirky comic drama” (Leah Rozen, People). Desperate to get her son into a better school, single mom Rose (Amy Adams) persuades her slacker sister Norah (Emily Blunt) to join her in the crime scene cleanup business to make some quick cash. With the help of their ill-fated salesman father (Alan Arkin), they climb the ranks in a very dirty job, finding themselves up to their elbows in murders, suicides, and… specialized situations. But underneath the dust and grime they also come to discover a true respect for one another, and create a brighter future for the entire Lorkowski family.

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Rachel Getting Married (2008) Review

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(More customer reviews)Sitting through a movie about sibling rivalry at a wedding, especially one starring the doe-eyed and normally facile Anne Hathaway, sounds like a potentially painful way to spend an evening. However, as directed by Jonathan Demme and written by Jenny Lumet (daughter of master filmmaker Sidney Lumet), this 2008 drama is not a lightweight star vehicle à la Julia Roberts circa 1997 but a darkly realistic look at the dysfunction within a family thrown into disarray. Using an almost cinéma vérité style, Demme explores how a wedding reopens old wounds within a family in a naturalistic way made all the more palpable by the emotional acuity in Lumet's screenplay.
The focus is on Kym, a chain-smoking former model who has spent the last several months in rehab. As a substance abuser whose only armor is cutting sarcasm, she is absurdly hopeful that her sister Rachel's wedding will be a harbinger for unconditional love from her upscale Connecticut family. Therein lies the problem as her narcissism provides the catalyst for long-simmering tensions that uncork during the preparations for a lavish, Indian-themed wedding weekend (the movie's working title was "Dancing with Shiva"). It soon becomes clear that Kym's link to a past tragedy is at the core of the unpredictable dynamics that force confrontations and regrettable actions among the four principal family members. Rachel appears to be Kym's sensible opposite, but their alternately close and contentious relationship shows how they have not fully recovered from past resentments. Their remarried father Paul is a bundle of loving support to the point of unctuous for both his girls, while their absentee mother Abby is the exact opposite - guarded and emotionally isolated until she is forced to face both her accountability and anger in one shocking moment.
Anne Hathaway is nothing short of a revelation as Kym. Instead of playing the role against the grain of her screen persona, she really shows what would happen if one of her previous characters - say, Andy Sachs in The Devil Wears Prada - went another route entirely. The actress' studiousness and persistence are still very much in evidence, but the story allows her to use these traits under the guise of a self-destructive, often unlikable addict who gains attention through her outrageous self-absorption. As the put-upon title character, Rosemarie DeWitt realistically shows Rachel's sense of pain and resentment as the attention veers to Kym during plans for the most important day of her life. Bill Irwin is winning as the unapologetically grateful Paul, but it's really Debra Winger who steals her all-too-brief scenes by bringing the remote character of Abby to life. Now in her early fifties, the famously tempestuous actress seems to rein in her innate fieriness to play a woman who consciously disconnects herself from the family she raised. What remains is a crumbling façade of propriety masking this obvious gap. It's similar to Mary Tyler Moore's turn as the cold mother in Ordinary People, but casting the normally vibrant Winger (who probably would have played Kym a quarter century ago) is a masterstroke.
The film is not perfect. Demme's home-video approach, while novel at first, proves wearing over the 114-minute running time. Pacing is also a problem, especially when the focus turns to the minutiae of the wedding ceremony and reception. I wish Demme could have cut this part of the film, so we could get to the icy, unfinished resolution sooner. As a filmmaker who obviously enjoys making music concert films (Stop Making Sense, Neil Young - Heart of Gold), there are quite a few musical performances presented in total. However, for non-aficionados, it may prove too much over time. While it's refreshing to see interracial marriages treated so casually (Lumet's grandmother is legend Lena Horne), Demme makes almost too big a point in presenting a global community though the diverse music and the wedding's multi-cultural themes. The movie starts to feel like a Putumayo collection of third-world performances. Still, Demme's intentions can't be faulted, and neither can the piercing work of Hathaway and Winger.

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When Kym (Anne Hathaway - Golden Globe Nominee, Best Actress, Motion Picture (Drama)), returns to the Buchman family home for the wedding of her sister Rachel (Rosemarie DeWitt), she brings a long history of personal crises, family conflict and tragedy along with her. The wedding couple's abundant party of friends and relations have gathered for a joyful weekend of feasting, music and love, but Kym - with her biting one-liners and flair for bombshell drama - is a catalyst for long-simmering tensions in the family dynamic. Filled with the rich and eclectic characters that remain a hallmark of Jonathan Demme's films, Rachel Getting Married paints a heartfelt, perceptive and sometimes hilarious family portrait.

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Cyrus (2010) Review

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(More customer reviews)Cyrus is a "Romantic" Comedy film from the Duplass brothers starring Jonah Hill, John C Reilly and Marisa Tomei. It's a film I had been looking forward to seeing after enjoying the trailer and being intrigued by what appeared to be a brilliant cast in an original idea. But does it deliver?
Still single seven years after the collapse of his marriage, John (Reilly) has given up on romance. Forced by his ex-wife and now best friend to attend a party, he surprises everyone by meeting Molly (Tomei) and the instant chemistry leads to what seems a perfect partner for the lonesome John. That is until he meets Molly's son, Cyrus (Hill), whose relationship with his mother is a touch unconventional and he is definitely not ready to share her with anyone.
Before seeing Cyrus I was on the back of two rom-com screenings of The Switch and Going the Distance, both slightly different tales of relationships and both films I enjoyed with different levels of appreciation. I was kind of expecting a third rom-com scenario in Cyrus but actually found a film where romance and comedy were never really the dominating genre as character and relationship took centre stage and it took me by surprise. It's positively brilliant.Jonah Hill is so good is this film, it's by far his best performance and he keeps growing as an actor as well as a comedic presence. He comes across as a few notches short of being a serial killer but having a surreal childlike calmness to his evil which works so well and is at times hilarious, especially his performance playing his new song to John when they first meet or his long vacant stares at John which just say "I want to kill you", Creepy is not the word.
Marisa Tomei is wonderful, I've not seen her in anything since My Cousin Vinny and she plays the difficult role of the over caring mother and wanting lover so well, it feels natural and believable and worked perfectly. Her chemistry and wonderfully flowing dialogue with John C Reilly helps the film succeed, feel natural and through almost the entire film, not a single line felt scripted, greatly adding to the appeal of the film. Reilly is also in his element, I can't remember a film where he has been this good, offering genuine laughs and an wonderful emotional rivalry with Jonah Hill which must have been so funny to film.Not only is Cyrus darkly funny and incredibly well made, it has a very strong story at its centre, surrounded by excellent and well rounded characters that you will completely invest in, it's a joy and a complete triumph. Cyrus is a film which feels fresh, filmed using the "Mumblecore" style of low budget, improvised script, digital cameras and a lot of talk about relationships, Cyrus benefits from the style as it feels unpredictable and genuine. The Duplass brothers have created a visually interesting film with creative camera movements and sharp focusing on people's expressions that set it apart from any romantic comedy movie I've seen. I'm now looking through the Duplass back catalogue as a new fan.
Cyrus is not going to be to everyone's taste and I'm sure people are going to find it tedious and not full of "gags" like they expected from that big guy from Superbad and the `Shrek' looking guy from Step Brothers. I hope people can understand this is not a quirky rom-com, this is not full of gross out jokes, this is not a vehicle for a pretty actor and a pretty actress to ride the roller coaster of relationships. This is a film about a messed up young adult in a single parent family who has had a very strange upbringing and how mother and son fail at letting new people into their family. It's a film which favours relationships and character examination over a deluge of gags, and it's all the better for it.
I highly recommend Cyrus, more than many films I've seen this year. Gary Phillips
Marisa Tomei: Core & Curves
My Cousin Vinny
In the Bedroom
Step Brothers (Single-Disc Unrated Edition)
Superbad (Unrated Widescreen Edition)
Happy Accidents
The Perez Family

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John C. Reilly, Jonah Hill and Oscar® Winner Marisa Tomei star in this quirky, hilarious story about love, family and cutting the cord. Not-so-recently divorced John (Reilly) thinks he’s finally found the perfect woman when he meets the sweet and sexy Molly (Tomei). There’s just one problem – Molly’s son Cyrus (Hill) clings to his mom like lint on a T-shirt, and he’s not about to let another man come between them. It’s one hysterically awkward moment after another as John and Cyrus fight for the right to be Molly’s #1 man.

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