G

GANGS OF NEW YORK: Our country's history is a violent one and no place was more violent than the Five Points on the Lower East Side of New York City in 1862. Scorcese has set his testosterone-driven story of the conflict between native-born Americans and Irish immigrants in Five Points, and he has timed the climax of the film to coincide with the infamous New York draft riots. (*See NY Draft Riots, below.) In Scorcese's version of history, the "Natives," as they called themselves, are led by Bill The Butcher, one of the most colorful and villainous characters we've ever seen on film. Daniel Day-Lewis is unforgettable in a stunning, Oscar-worthy performance. You simply can't take your eyes off him. Leonardo DiCaprio is Amsterdam Vallon, the son of a man who was killed by Bill The Butcher in the historic gang fight of Five Points in 1846. Amsterdam vows revenge. It takes Scorcese rather a long time to get to their final confrontation. But, since it takes place along with the draft riots, it is spectacular. I think the film is weakened by its length, and would have been a great film at about two hours. At 165 minutes, it is merely a good film. For me, there were too many fights, too much blood, and too much macho posturing. I was interested in the history and awed by Scorcese's depiction of life in New York at the time of the Civil War. But there was nothing to inspire me here, and I never really got caught up in the story. Jim Broadbent appears as "Boss" Tweed, one of the more crooked of Tammany Hall politicians, and John C. Reilly is a Vallon family friend who becomes a crooked constable. (Just about everyone in this film is crooked!) Cameron Diaz appears as a woman who is loved by both Bill and Amsterdam, but her presence did little to mitigate the overwhelming testosterone. Gary thinks it deserves a B because of Scorcese's skill in bringing this story to such vivid life. I can go along with the grade, but if I were judging it based solely on my enjoyment, it wouldn't earn more than a GRADE C.

GARDEN STATE: Zach Braff wrote, directed and starred in this engaging film. He plays Andrew Largeman, a Los Angeles actor who supports himself by waiting tables. (Don't they all?) After a nine-year absence, Largeman returns to New Jersey for his mother's funeral. It's apparent from the opening scenes that he is seriously depressed, and, as the story unfolds, we begin to learn why. Ian Holm is Largeman's psychiatrist father and their relationship is strained and distant. Largeman reconnects with some of his high school friends and finds that one of them has made a lot of money with the development of "silent Velcro." They are a quirky bunch--Too quirky for some of the reviewers but not for us. However, it is Natalie Portman as the new woman in Largeman's life that really vitalizes the film. She is truly captivating in her role as Sam and may be the most adorable presence in movies today. Braff, so funny on TV's Scrubs, is equally good here. Ebert wrote that he has "one of those faces, like David Schwimmer's, that seems congenitally dubious." Even when deeply depressed, we found his face interesting. Gary had the film at A-, but so liked the ending that he elevated it to an A. I was thinking B+, but so liked Portman's performance that I elevated it to an A-. GRADE A/A-

GEORGIA RULE: Many critics were repulsed by this film. In fact the average grade given by multiple critics on Yahoo Movies was C-. Barbara and I liked the film far better than most critics. I have the suspicion that Jane Fonda and Lindsey Lohan will never be able to rise above their off-screen behavior in the eyes of many. Lohan plays a rebellious teen who is "acting out" as a means of coping with some pretty heavy incidents in her childhood. Her behavior may seem extreme, but it follows pretty closely the kind of behavior psychological studies would predict. Fonda and Felicity Huffman are both experienced and talented actors and very effective in playing, respectively, a hard-nosed grandmother and an alcoholic mother. Garry Marshal directs this honest hard look at a very messy family. It is not your typical romantic comedy, and I fear it will pay a price for that at the box office. The film is not without flaws, but we think the acting and directing is strong enough to recommend it. GRADE B.

Barb: We first became of aware of Lohan when we saw her in Freaky Friday (2003), and we were both impressed with her talent. In this film, she holds her own with Fonda and Huffman. I hope she can get her personal life straightened out and concentrate on her not inconsiderable acting skills. We also liked Dermot Mulroney who played the town veternarian and Lohan’s sympathetic boss. We both liked Fonda, too. Shirley MacLaine had better watch out, because Fonda may compete with her for feisty grandmother roles.

GIRL INTERRUPTED: This is another one of those movies in which the actors are better than the material. Winona Ryder is a young woman who is depressed and suicidal because she feels she doesn't fit in. And when you don't fit in the Sixties, you really have a problem! She signs herself into an expensive mental facility, but discovers she can't sign herself out. She has to wait until "they" decide she is well. Whoopie Goldberg is a sympathetic nurse who tells Ryder she is a lazy, spoiled girl who is driving herself nuts. Angelina Jolie is a girl who has been in the institution for eight years, diagnosed as a sociopath. Ryder and Jolic become friends, and it may be that friendship that helps keep Ryder in the hospital for a year. The film provides a look at a disturbed woman who eventually helps herself get better. The nurses and doctors are helpful and caring, so there is no real villain here, unlike such great nut house films as One Flew Over The Cukoo's Nest. We liked watching Ryder and Jolie, arguably two of our best young actresses, but found it hard to believe that some of the events in the film could have really happened. At times, I found the storytelling tedious. Jolie won a Golden Globe for her role as Lisa. GRADE: B-

GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING: Peter Webber has created a visual masterpiece, effectively re-creating the lighting and the look of Vermeer's paintings. Credit must go to cinematographer Eduardo Serra and production designer Ben van Os. Almost every frame of the film could be produced as a work of art. For centuries, people have wondered about the model in Vermeer's famous painting Maiden With a Pearl Earring. Tracy Chevalier wrote a novel speculating about the model and the painting and that work of fiction is the source for this film. Scarlett Johansson plays Griet, a young woman who supposedly worked in the Vermeer household as a maid. Colin Firth plays Johannes Vermeer as an intense and quiet man who is totally absorbed in his work. Griet doesn't talk much either, so dialogue is not a major factor in this film. But so much is said without words, and both Johanssen and Firth are very good at communicating with their eyes. Johansson was a perfect choice for the role because she does look remarkably like the girl in Vermeer's painting. Tom Wilkinson appears as Vermeer's lecherous patron. The New York Times reviewer said watching the film was like watching a painting dry. The story is told slowly and the film doesn't have any violence or overwrought dialogue, but we think that is a good thing. GRADE A-

GLORY ROAD: (2006 Release) I’m a sucker for a good sports movie and this is a good one. The historic 1966 game was not just an NCAA Championship game; it wasn’t just one of the biggest upsets in NCAA history; it was, as Pat Riley says during the final credits, "the Emancipation Proclamation of 1966." Josh Lucas is terrific as the legendary basketball coach, Don Haskins. Haskins went from coaching a high school girls’ basketball team to Texas Western University. The University’s basketball program was weak, but it was Haskins’ chance to coach a Division I team. Because he couldn’t afford to recruit the best players, he took the players that other teams were afraid to recruit—the black players. As in Remember The Titans, Haskins had to create a team of black and white players in a school that had never before had a black player on the court. The players are appealing, the basketball is exciting, and the social and political ramifications of the final game, when Coach Haskins sends five black players onto the floor again Kentucky’s all white team, are emotionally stimulating. Jon Voight plays Kentucky's famous coach, Adolph Rupp. (Four years after the 1966 upset loss, Rupp signed his team’s first black player.) Derek Luke (Antoine Fischer) is the team’s star player, and Emily Deschanel (TV’s Bones) is Haskins’ supportive wife. Be sure and stay for the final credit role because you will see some of the real men portrayed in the film. Gary gives this one an A; I say B+. GRADE A/B+

GONE BABY GONE: This film boasts a star-turn acting job by Casey Affleck and a first time director who may have found his show business niche. Ben Affleck directs his brother with a sure hand as he brings Dennis Lehane’s novel to life. Lehane, who also wrote the novel that inspired the Oscar-nominated 2003 movie, Mystic River, writes complicated stories that blur the lines between right and wrong. The story starts out as a straight-forward crime drama about a missing child, but it evolves into much more. It is bound to generate many discussions about the definitions of "right" and "wrong" and whether the end ever justifies the means. Casey Affleck is amazing. Slight of stature, he manages to evoke the toughness necessary for his role as Patrick, a private detective hired to help the police find a missing child. Patrick was born and raised in the tough South Boston neighborhood in which he works. It is a neighborhood well-known to the Affleck brothers and their familiarity with the rhythms and the people of this marginal society give a sense of reality to the film. Lehane has written four stories about Patrick Kenzie, a P.I. specializing in tracking down deadbeats, and I wouldn’t mind seeing the Affleck brothers collaborate on another one. Gary and I agree on a B+. GRADE B+

GOODBYE LENIN: (2003 Release) This is a German film with subtitles and it got some favorable reviews. It was a smash hit in Germany, but I'm afraid it lost something in translation and never won our hearts. The idea behind the film is cleaver. A loyal Communist in East Berlin before the fall of the Berlin Wall sees her son beaten by police. She has a heart attack and for some unexplained reason goes into an eight-month coma. During her coma, the wall falls and huge changes occur in Berlin. She miraculously regains consciousness, but the doctors warn the loving son that "the slightest shock could kill his mother." The rest of the movie is spent frantically trying to protect mom from learning of the changes that have happened while she was in the coma. The film never rose above the level of "C" for us. GRADE C

THE GOOD GIRL: This film is an interesting mixture of humor and sorrow. Jennifer Aniston proves that she is a fine actress, creating a woman so believable that we forgot about her TV character, Rachel. Aniston is Justine, a depressed 30-year-old who hates her job at the Retail Rodeo, and thinks her house-painting husband, Phil (John C. Reilly), is a pig. She sees her life stretching out before her and she doesn't like what she sees. When a good-looking young man starts working at the store, she is attracted to him. Holden (Jake Gyllenhaal) is equally depressed, and the two of them feel a connection almost immediately. The story of what Justine does and what happens as a result of her actions is constantly engaging and always unexpected. The talented Mike White, who surprised us in 2000 with Chuck and Buck, wrote the screenplay for The Good Girl, and he appears in the film as a Bible-thumping security guard. (White also wrote Orange County which we loved and reviewed earlier this year.) Reilly, one of the best character actors around, is excellent, and we also liked Tim Blake Nelson (O Brother, Where Art Thou?) who plays Phil's best friend, Bubba. Jake Gyllenhaal seems to be making a career playing the "younger man." In Lovely and Amazing he romanced Catherine Keener. The movie we most remember him for, however, is the boy who built a rocket in October Sky. The Good Girl opened in the one theater in Phoenix that shows independent and foreign films. It may not get wide release in your city, but we think it is worth searching for. Both Ebert and Roeper loved it, and we give it a GRADE B+.

GOODNIGHT AND GOOD LUCK: Beautifully directed, photographed and acted, this is one of the best movies of the year and must not be missed. It’s the first movie we’ve seen in quite a while where the audience spontaneously and enthusiastically applauded when the film ended. To give you some background, by January, 1954, Joseph McCarthy was at the height of his popularity, and his Senate Subcommittee was holding the first ever televised hearings. McCarthy had burst into national prominence in 1950 by declaring that he had a list of 205 known communists in the State Department. Although he had never produced documentation for a single one of his charges, many people were so fearful of communist infiltration that they were willing to accept the Machiaveliian principle that, in politics, the end justifies the means. Others were appalled at his assault on people’s civil liberties. Edward R. Murrow, CBS news anchor, and his producer, Fred Friendly believed that McCarthy had repeatedly stepped over the line between investigating and persecuting. On March 9, Murrow took a stand and devoted his See It Now program to McCarthy. Using newsreel footage, Murrow was direct in his criticism of the Senator’s methods saying, "We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty," a statement that resonates as much today as it did then. This film is the story of that broadcast and of the courage of Murrow, Friendly and CSB chief, William Paley. David Strathairn is one of those actors who can completely disappear into a role and he does so here—brilliantly. You almost believe you are looking at the real Murrow. George Clooney, who both co-wrote and directed the film, appears as Friendly, and Frank Langella is William Paley. Patricia Clarkson and Robert Downey, Jr. appear as news room employees. Joseph McCarthy appears only in actual newsreel footage. Clooney shot the film in spectacular black and white, which adds to the 50s mood. (We were struck by how much people smoked in the 50s!) The outstanding musical background in the film is provided by jazz singer Diane Reeves. GRADE A

THE GOOD SHEPHERD: There is an old saying, "keep your friends close and your enemies closer." The problem is knowing which is which. You will need to stay focused for the full length of this three-hour-long film and even then you may struggle with the twists and turns. The film focuses on the life and career of Edward Wilson (Matt Damon) from his college days at Yale when he is recruited to join the secret society Skull and Bones through his career as a government agent (OCC/CIA). There is a great deal of intrigue, but not a lot of excitement. Barbara and I were never bored with the film. We do not require chase scenes to hold our attention, but the film never quite moved past "good" on our thermometer of excellence. The supporting cast was filled with big name stars: Angelina Jolie, John Turturro, Alec Baldwin, William Hurt, Billy Crudup, Timothy Hutton, Joe Pesci, and Robert De Niro who also directed the film. As you would expect they were all excellent. In The Good Shepherd, government agents are like robots, colorless and humorless, and Matt Damon’s controlled performance is fascinating to watch. The life of a government agent is not portrayed to be pretty. It is a life defined by mistrust. What may start as idealism can ultimately get sucked into a black hole of amorality justified as service to one’s country. It is a thought provoking film. GRADE B.

GOSFORD PARK: This movie is a gem: beautifully directed and flawlessly acted. It is a complete delight. Robert Altman is at the top of his form in this Agatha Christie plot with a liberal dose of Upstairs Downstairs. The time is 1932 and the setting is a country estate near London. Wealthy guests have come to Gosford Park for a shooting weekend, and we see the action both upstairs and downstairs. We see the guests at dinner--the table setting scene is fantastic--shooting pheasants, and relaxing in the drawing room over a game of bridge. And we watch the hustle and bustle of the servants working tirelessly and mostly out of sight. What a wonderful glimpse into a way of life that is no more. Among the mostly titled guests is an American film director, Morris Weissman (Bob Balaban), and his valet, Harry Denton (Ryan Phillipe). Weissman is making a Charlie Chan movie that involves a murder at a country estate full of guests. He came to Gosford Park to absorb the atmosphere, but he gets a bit more. During the weekend, the host, Sir William McCordle, is murdered. Enter the inept Inspector Thompson played in hilarious bumbling style by Stephen Frye (Wilde). Who did it? I'll never tell! You'll have to see it yourself, and we hope you do. The cast list is exceedingly impressive: Maggie Smith, Emily Watson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Derek Jacobi, Alan Bates, Jeremy Northam, Helen Mirren and Clive Owen (The Croupier) as a valet with an attitude. All are splendid. GRADE A

GLADIATOR: This movie has epic scenery, epic battles, epic treachery, and epic heroism. Why, I think what we have here is an EPIC. Unfortunately for us it was also an epic bore. And much too long. If it weren't for Russel Crowe as Maximus, the general who becomes a slave and a gladiator, our grade would have been lower. We did like him. We also liked Oliver Reed as Proximo, Richard Harris as Marcus Aurelius, and Derek Jacobi as Gracchus, a roman senator. Jocobi is the Claude Raines of the 21st century. It was good to see Djimon Housou, the rebellious slave in Amistad, as Juba, a slave/gladiator who becomes a friend to Maximus. I suppose the opening battle scene was well done but it held no interest for me. We were both lukewarm on Joaquin Phoenix as Commodus the weasly emporer and Connie Nielsen, as his sister, did not delight us. (For strangeness, their sibling relationship rivals that of Angelina Jolic and her brother.) There were some big hunky guys in Gladiator but that wasn't enough to hold my interest for long. Gary didn't even have that diversion. GRADE: C

GRACIE: Barbara and I have closely watched the career of Elizabeth Shue since 1995 when we were both overwhelmed by her Oscar-winning portrayal of Sera in Leaving Las Vegas. Now Elizabeth teams with her brother, Andrew Shue and her Oscar-winning director husband, Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth) to bring us this predictable but appealing story loosely based on the family’s near obsession with soccer and Elizabeth’s real-life experiences. It is nearly impossible to produce a sports film that does not seem derivative. Gracie, is set in 1978 New Jersey, a time young people today may have difficulty understanding. Title IX, the federal anti-discrimination act had been on the books a few years, but was often ignored by schools. When Gracie tried to join her high school all male varsity soccer team, she was told she should forget about it and do something more feminine, like girl’s field hockey. Gracie is brilliantly played by Carly Schroeder and Elizabeth Shue plays her concerned but compassionate mother. The omnipresent and very talented Dermot Mulroney plays her father. You will not be surprised by the ending to this familiar underdog story, but we thought it was up lifting and with enough verisimilitude to recommend it. GRADE B

THE GREAT DEBATERS: Both Barbara and I were moved by this powerful story inspired by actual events in 1935. Since I liked it even more than Barbara, I will share my thoughts, and hope I can motivate you to see a film directed by and staring Danzel Washington. There seems to be no film role Washington can’t comfortably play. Here he shares the screen with the powerful acting of Forest Whittaker, John Heard, and three young actors who hold their own with the best of the veterans. Washington plays Professor Melvin Tolson, poet, teacher, Union organizer, and passionate coach who leads an unlikely debate team from a small all-black college in Texas to national prominence. If you are old enough, or if you are a film buff, you may see some resemblance between Washington and Sidney Poitier playing an East London teacher in To Sir With Love. Be prepared to witness the harsh realities of prejudice in the Deep South in the 1930’s. If a touching story has been known to move you to tears, I recommend taking a handkerchief or a handful of Kleenex to this film. GRADE A-/B+

THE GREAT RAID: The strength of this movie is that it tells the true story of the 6th Ranger Battalion who undertook a daring rescue mission in the Philippines in 1945. Traveling behind enemy lines, the Battalion, composed almost entirely of new recruits, liberated over 500 American prisons-of-war from the notorious Cabanatuan Japanese POW camp. It was the most audacious and successful rescue in military history. The weakness of the movie is that it takes 90 minutes to set up the rescue, and that is at least 15 minutes too long. The raid itself is exciting, but the build-up is frequently too slow-moving. Benjamin Bratt plays Lt. Col. Henry Mucci, and James Franco appears as the Captain who conceived the rescue plan. The rangers were assisted by Philippine guerillas led by Capt. Juan Pajota, who is played by Cesar Montano, a local actor. Two Rangers and 21 Filipinos died in the rescue attempt. Joseph Fiennes is a Major interred in the prison camp—a fictional character—and Connie Nielsen plays a real-life nurse who helped smuggle drugs into the prison hospital. The film is based on two books: The Great Raid on Cabanatuan by William B. Breuer and Ghost Soldiers by Hampton Sides. The most moving thing for us was the newsreel footage shown at the beginning and end of the film. Roger Ebert said in his review: It is good to have a film that is not about entertainment for action fans, but about how wars are won with great difficulty, risk, and cost. GRADE B

THE GREATEST GAME EVER PLAYED: Francis Ouimet was 20 years old when, as an amateur, he won the 1913 U.S. Open Golf Tournament, beating British Champions Harry Varden and Ted Ray. At that time, Varden had already won 5 British Opens and 1 US Open and was considered the greatest golfer in the world. This movie is the story of that tournament. Shia LaBeouf (Holes) is Ouimet and Stephen Dillane (Leonard Woolf in The Hours) is very good as Harry Varden. Ouiment, had a 10-year-old boy as his caddie for the tournament, and Stephen Spreekmeester adds a lot to the film. According to Roger Ebert, he steals many of the scenes. The basic story is the stuff of all sports movies: poor boy struggles to succeed and eventually wins big game/tournament/race/etc. This movie is no different, and the first half of the movie hammers home the point that golf was, at that time, a game for gentleman, and a former caddie whose father was a lowly laborer was not welcome on the course. After the 5th or 6th time we definitely "get it." The irony is that Harry Vardon came from the same kind of background, and was barred from membership in private golf clubs. However, his movie differs from other golf movies because here the actors playing the golfers have really good golf swings. It helps if the viewer knows that in 1913 golfers didn’t use wooden tees, but teed their ball on a little pile of sand. Also, in those days there was a "stymie" rule: you didn’t mark your ball on a green, and if someone’s balls lay between your ball and the hole, you had to go around or over it. Gary loves all movies about golf and freely admits that he can’t be objective. He gives this movie a purely emotional grade of A-. I, too, am an avid golfer and enjoyed the movie, but as a critic, I can’t give it more than a B. I do think that director Bill Paxon did a good job making the tournament scenes exciting—at least for golfers in the audience. In several scenes he shows how important focus and concentration are to a golfer. And the pint-sized caddie gives Ouimet the advice that all golfers have heard over and over again: "Keep your head down." GRADE A-/B

GRINDHOUSE: It is with trepidation that I approach the review of Quentin Tarantino’s and Robert Rodriguez’s double feature ode to 70’s low-budget exploitation movies. The films are intentionally scuffed and scratched and some reels are conveniently missing. As Ty Burr in the Boston Globe points out, "it is the cinematic equivalent of stressed jeans. As would be expected, the films are filled with blood, gore, and language that would make a celebrated swearer feel challenged. The first feature is "Planet Terror" by ‘Sin City" director Robert Rodriguez. If you have seen any of the trailers, you may remember the lethal machine-gun prosthesis that replaces a shapely, but bitten off leg of Cherry Darling, a go-go-dancer. The action is non-stop and all the acting including from the hundreds of flesh-eating Zombie extras is "over-the-top." The second feature is "Death Proof" by "Kill Bill" director Quentin Tarantino. The action slows considerably and the focus is on cars, vintage music, and cool-chick dialogue. The biggest name actor in either film is Kurt Russel, playing a charming/evil scar-faced Stuntman Mike who, after a thrilling car chase, gets his "cumupance" at the hands of three justifiably angry chicks. Barbara and I hesitate to recommend "Grindhouse," knowing many of our readers would hate it. Still, it probably accomplishes its goals and we give it a qualified B-. GRADE B-

(Just wanted to mention Rose McGowan who plays Cherry Darling in Planet Terror and Pam in Death Proof. She has real star potential. Also, Freddy Rodgriguez (TV’s Six Feet Under) is very good in Planet Terror. We also enjoyed seeing Sydney Poitier (Actor Sidney Poitier’s daughter) in the Tarantino film. I particularly liked the fake trailers. In fact, Gary and Nathan thought one of them, called Machete Man, might make a pretty good movie.)

A GUIDE TO RECOGNIZING YOUR SAINTS: It was hard to believe while watching this powerful and sometimes brutal film that it was the first directing effort of Dito Montiel. Dito was the director of the film, the author off the autobiographical book on which it is based, and the writer of the screen play. It is a coming-of-age film set in the mean streets of Astoria, Queens during the long hot summer of 1986. The action cuts back and forth between 1986 and the 20-year-later return of the author to the old neighborhood. The film won some well deserved awards at Sundance Film Festival and I have to say that the 98 minutes of running time actually left me wishing it had been a little longer. This is in sharp contrast to my more frequent reaction that a film could have been better if judiciously cut. The cast is uniformly good, but some of the performances just blew me away. Robert Downey Jr., playing the older version of Dito, is, as you would expect, terrific. Playing the younger version of Dito is an enormously talented actor named Shia LaBeouf.* Chazz Palminteri plays a tortured father in a role I think should earn him an Academy Award nomination. Dianne Wiest, Rosario Dawson, and Eric Roberts have small roles but turn in riveting performances. As you may have guessed by now, I was very moved by this film. I may have liked it more than Barbara. (He’s right. Gary says A-, I say B+) GRADE A-/B+

*LaBeouf starred in the 2003 film, Holes. If you missed it, you might want to put it on your rental list. It is a Disney movie adapted from a popular book for young people, but equally appealing to adults. Siguorney Weaver and John Voight also appear in this entertaining family film.