Movie Review: Nonnas (2025)

Genre: Dramedy  

Director: Stephen Chbosky  

Starring: Vince Vaughn, Linda Cardellini, Susan Sarandon, Brenda Vaccaro, Talia Shire, Lorraine Bracco  

Running Time: 114 minutes  

Synopsis: Raised in a food-loving Brooklyn-based Italian family, transit worker Joe (Vince Vaughn) decides to honor his deceased mother by opening a restaurant and having the food prepared by actual Italian grandmothers, or nonnas. Joe's buddy Bruno (Joe Manganiello) helps with renovations, and Joe recruits his mother's best friend Roberta (Lorraine Bracco), hairdresser Gia (Susan Sarandon), former nun Teresa (Talia Shire), and Antonella (Brenda Vaccaro) to run the kitchen. He also reconnects with Antonella's neighbour Olivia (Linda Cardellini), who was his high school prom night date. Despite good intentions, transitioning from an idea to a successful business will not be easy.

What Works Well: Based on actual events, this is a heartwarming dream-turns-real story. Nostalgia, love of family, homeland traditions, and some spiky humour (the nonnas don't all necessarily always like each other) underpin Joe's unlikely aspirations to build and run a business from scratch. A glorious group of veteran actresses brings quality to the stovetops, and the script takes care to round the nonnas into real women with backstories, struggles, and disappointments worth sharing.

What Does Not Work As Well: This is an ultimately small-scale story that marches to familiar against-the-odds beats, with a foregone conclusion. The attempts to wring admittedly humorous tension out of Bologna versus Sicily hostilities and Joe's clashes with Bruno are never more than obvious narrative speed bumps.

Key Quote:

Teresa: We are strong women with Italian blood in us.

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Movie Review: Maybe I Do (2023)

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Director: Michael Jacobs

Starring: Diane Keaton, Susan Sarandon, Richard Gere, William H. Macy, Emma Roberts, Luke Bracey

Running Time: 95 minutes

Synopsis: Michelle (Emma Roberts) gives her long-term boyfriend Allen (Luke Bracey) 24 hours to commit to marriage. Michelle's parents Howard and Grace (Richard Gere and Diane Keaton) then invite Allen's parents Sam and Monica (William H. Macy and Susan Sarandon) for dinner, exposing the four-month affair between Howard and Monica and the one-night friendship between Grace and Sam. Multiple discussions about commitments ensue.

What Works Well: The stellar cast maintains a base level of interest, with Emma Roberts and William H. Macy most engaged. The script at least dares to break away from most of the standard rom-com genre cliches.

What Does Not Work As Well: Michael Jacobs adapts his own play, but the material as presented is ill-suited to the screen. Confined to theatrical sets, the characters repetitively - and endlessly - explore the viability of long-term relationships, the courage required to leap into marriage, and the risk of familiarity yielding to staleness. The unconvincing dialogue never sounds credible and circles the same drain for 95 minutes. The wild coincidences of the parent couples' illicit liaisons ultimately add nothing of consequence.

Conclusion: Too much ardent talk, not enough genuine substance.



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Movie Review: Blackbird (2019)

Genre: Dramedy

Director: Roger Michell

Starring: Susan Sarandon, Kate Winslet, Mia Wasikowska, Sam Neill, Lindsay Duncan

Running Time: 98 minutes

Synopsis: Suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease), Lily (Susan Sarandon) has decided to end her life. She invites her family over for a final weekend reunion. Joining Lily and her supportive husband Paul (Sam Neill) are their grown daughters Jennifer (Kate Winslet) and Anna (Mia Wasikowska), Lily's life-long best friend Liz (Lindsay Duncan), plus Jennifer's husband and son, and Anna's girlfriend. The weekend features a mix of sadness, celebration, humour, and no shortage of flashpoints.

What Works Well: This remake of a 2014 Danish movie enjoys a stellar cast in top form, with Susan Sarandon, Kate Winslet, and Mia Wasikowska shining brightest. Director Roger Michell embraces the theatrical setting (most of the scenes take place at Lily and Paul's home), but the performances remain organic and subdued, capturing the awkwardness familiar from most family gatherings. Lily's life-ending decision casts the most obvious thematic shadow, but other issues are also explored, including a dysfunctional sibling relationship, murmurs of resentment between daughters and their mother, and a life-long friendship with a twist. Dashes of humour, brisk pacing, and idyllic cinematography add a quiet sense of quality.

What Does Not Work As Well: The sorrowful melodrama knob is steadily turned up in the final act, overwhelming more subtle family dynamics.

Conclusion: A reunion weekend enriched by the complexities of life - and death.



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Movie Review: The Other Side Of Midnight (1977)

A sprawling romantic drama, The Other Side Of Midnight is a beautifully mounted steamy story of passion, betrayal, and revenge spanning 10 years.

In Greece of 1948, Noelle Page (Marie-France Pisier) is imprisoned ahead of being tried for the murder of Catherine Alexander (Susan Sarandon). During a visit by her business tycoon husband Constantin Demeris (Raf Vallone), she recounts her story in flashback.

In Marseille of 1939, Noelle is young and beautiful but from a poor family. Her father sells her to a store owner in a sex-for-cash transaction, and Noelle starts to discover her power over men. She flees and makes her way to Paris, where she meets dashing American fighter pilot Larry Douglas (John Beck), who is volunteering with the RAF as World War Two erupts. They fall deeply in love but he then leaves for service and never fulfils a promise that he will return and they will get married. Noelle lands a job as a fashion model then discovers she is pregnant with Larry's baby.

In Washington DC, the enterprising Catherine lands a job as an assistant to Bill Fraser (Clu Gulager) at a public relations firm. With America about to enter the war, she meets Larry. They experience a rough start then fall in love and get married. After the war Larry finds it difficult to hold a job. Back in France, Noelle embarks on a long-term plan to win back her man, using her sexuality to achieve movie stardom then luring Demeris into a marriage.

Sidney Sheldon's 1973 best-selling page-turner comes to the screen at an epic, no-expenses-spared length of 165 minutes, screenwriter Herman Raucher seemingly intent on capturing all the book's details. The go-big-or-go-home approach works. Director Charles Jarrott delivers a big-budget, handsome-looking production, with rich cinematography by Fred J. Koenekamp and evocative (but judiciously deployed) Michel Legrand music. Costumes, hairstyles, and set designs (before, during, and after the war) are all stellar, with extras animating every scene. The relaxed pacing never slips into boredom, and each of the four lovers involved in the quadrangle are afforded time to develop.

The whirlwind romance between Noelle and Larry is crafted with care to capture a young woman's devastation - then fury - when abandoned, her difficult-to-watch bathtub scene a red punctuation mark. Noelle's desire to reclaim what she believes is hers propels the rest of the drama, Catherine a mere hurdle and Demeris a step-stool to the ultimate objective.

The acting is mostly excellent. Marie-France Pisier covers a lot of ground, sometimes slipping into overclocked emotions but mainly conveying a woman discovering with wonder her inner strength and ability to manipulate with beauty and seduction. Susan Sarandon is the more innocent counterpoint, and Raf Vallone hovers near the edges before stepping into the spotlight with devastating impact. John Beck is adequate but too often slab-like, over-relying on a hunky presence. The impressively deep cast also includes Michael Lerner and Charles Cioffi. 

Brimming with plot, scheming, and sensuality, The Other Side Of Midnight finds a twist to suggest hell may indeed have a fury worse than a woman scorned.



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Movie Review: Moonlight Mile (2002)

An unconventional drama about loss and love, Moonlight Mile finds new angles to explore and tidbits of humour in the journey from grief to recovery.

The setting is a small Massachusetts town in 1972. Diana Floss has just been shot dead at the local diner - she was in the wrong place at the wrong time when a gunman attempted to kill his wife. Diana's soft-spoken fiancé Joe Nast (Jake Gyllenhaal) is living with her parents Jojo (Susan Sarandon), a writer, and Ben (Dustin Hoffman), a commercial real estate agent. They navigate the funeral and memorial service together, and meet with prosecutor Mona Camp (Holly Hunter) in preparation for the killer's trial. 

Ben wants to move on quickly, and brings Joe in as his new business partner without much pause. They start working on a land assembly deal for big-time developer Mike Mulcahey (Dabney Coleman). But beneath his calm facade Joe is struggling with a couple of secrets: his relationship with Diana had already ended before she was killed; and he is starting to fall in love with Bertie Knox (Ellen Pompeo), who works at the post office and the local bar.

Writer and director Brad Silberling was dating actress Rebecca Schaeffer when she was murdered in 1989, and subsequently he lived for a while with her parents. Moonlight Mile is loosely inspired by his experience. The film adopts a pragmatic, almost detached, attitude towards the loss of a daughter and fiancée, avoiding histrionics but still finding patches of quiet anger, disbelief, and disorientation. Layered on top of the grief are observations about the long-term relationship between Jojo and Ben; Joe sensing entrapment within an unearned son-in-law status; and a burgeoning complex romance with Bertie, who is dealing with an unresolved loss of her own.

The uniquely reflective mood challenges norms and ironically provides the drama with an edge. Jojo becomes snappy and her prose dries up, Ben drowns his emotions in work, but their mental state remains remarkably steady, their rage at losing Diana relatively subdued. Susan Sarandon and Dustin Hoffman stay within themselves as a couple well past expressing passion about anything.

Meanwhile Jake Gyllenhaal fills the screen with silent quandary as Joe defaults to present absenteeism in response to shock, guilt, and displacement. He harbours the awful truth about a breakup that now cannot be mentioned, and tags along as Ben unilaterally charts his future, all while hopelessly developing an attraction to Bertie. 

The town with one main street is a comfortable cradle, and the 1970s setting is stealthy - the set design is unobtrusive, and only the car models and references to the Vietnam War reveal the era. More prominent is a unique music score featuring eccentric selections from the Stones, Dylan, Bowie, Jethro Tull, and Sly and the Family Stone among others. 

Moonlight Mile navigates towards a standard truth-shall-set-you-free moment, but covers the distance with a quizzical attitude set to idiosyncratic tunes.



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Movie Review: Atlantic City (1980)

An engrossing character study and crime drama, Atlantic City focuses on people, time, and a sense of place, with just the right dose of tense criminal activity.

Atlantic City is undergoing a transformation, with old heritage buildings and hotels being knocked down to make way for new casinos. Old-timer Lou (Burt Lancaster) is a low-key runner in a small numbers racket, and scratches a few more bucks by caring for his neighbour Grace (Kate Reid), a bed-ridden but demanding widow. Also living in the same building is Sally (Susan Sarandon), a server at a hotel fish bar training to become a croupier and dreaming of a career in Monte Carlo. Through his window, Lou admires Sally's nightly cleansing-with-lemons routine.

Sally's no-good husband Dave (Robert Joy) has run off with her sister Chrissie (Hollis McLaren), but now both show up in Atlantic City and want to stay with Sally. The free-spirited and pregnant Chrissie bonds with Grace over foot massages, while Dave recruits Lou's help to sell drugs he stole from thugs in Philadelphia. When Dave's drug-dealing career comes to a sudden end, Lou is left holding plenty of drugs and cash, and finally has an opportunity to impress Sally and experience his version of the big time.

Set in a milieu of questionable renewal, Atlantic City breathes deeply from the dust of demolition and reconstruction. Director Louis Malle ensure the city is an important lead character and a noisy participant in the process of erasing the past and striding into a future defined as better by virtue of investment. 

With the city in a half-state of renewal, no one is satisfied with the present, and Atlantic City is populated with a memorable set characters interacting during personal transitions. In an achingly honest script, writer John Guare laments the past with the romanticized lyricism necessary for the soul's survival. Lou's inclinations to harken back to yesteryear reveal a sometimes pathetic recasting of non-existent past glories, Lou living in a grandeur he built for himself to cover for so much nothingness. 

Meanwhile, Sally hates her past and lives for a future in Europe, her awful present consisting of peddling fish, battling the stink, and surviving the advances of a casino manager who may hold the key to her future. Her no-good but still soft-touch husband Dave is hustling for better days through drug dealing, Chrissie lives simultaneously in the past and future thanks to her reincarnation beliefs, and Grace feeds off exaggerated references to her dead husband's status in the old underworld.

When even the grandest old hotels are being demolished for something new, hope for a change in fortunes is eternal, and Lou is about to experience the best of times. He inherits more money than he ever handled, and awkwardly, but predictably, buys the most expensive outdated suit he can find. He then sets out to transform his voyeurism into courtship by throwing money at Sally's problems. And for a brief interlude, it appears possible that a sad old man without much of a past and a sad young woman with a vague future can find happiness together. 

The entire cast shines, led by Burt Lancaster in a soulful mood, allowing Lou to relax into his advancing years but deftly revealing his small-time foundations. Susan Sarandon conveys Sally's state of constant aggravation in search of a ticket to elsewhere, her eyes quick to realize she needs help from men she will never tolerate. 

Atlantic City will change but persevere, in some form. Lou and Sally will also dream of better days past and future, but have less time and ability to redefine who they truly are.



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Movie Review: You Don't Know Jack (2010)

The factual story of the doctor who forced a discussion on medically-assisted death, You Don't Know Jack portrays a maverick shaking up the world of medicine.

In Detroit of the early 1990s, semi-retired Dr. Jack Kevorkian (Al Pacino) starts to act on his conviction that doctors should be allowed to help their patients die. With support from his sister Margo (Brenda Vaccaro) and friend Neal Nicol (John Goodman), a medical technician, Kevorkian develops the rudimentary "Mercitron" machine, allowing patients to self administer a cocktail of lethal chemicals. He is careful to videotape interviews with each of his patients as they convey their wish to die, and also records their final moments.

As news spreads of his activities, more patients suffering from debilitating conditions seek his services. Kevorkian triggers a national controversy and debate about the right-to-die, and becomes known as Dr. Death. Michigan's state prosecutors haul him into court on several occasions, but his lawyer Geoffrey Fieger (Danny Huston) is victorious every time, because there is no law against assisting suicide. By the late 1990s, Kevorkian becomes eager to enshrine the right to die into law.

Dr. Kevorkian created his legacy in the moral morass where medicine, religion, and the law intersect. This HBO production tells his story in a rather grey semi-documentary style, the controversial material sidelining any attempts at artistry. Director Barry Levinson and writer Adam Mazer focus on the actions and motivations of a unique historical character, tracing factual events and leaning on Al Pacino to embody the doctor's headstrong idiosyncrasies.

Mazer is sympathetic to Kevorkian's convictions that the medical profession needs to re-assess how patients who want to die are treated. His actions stem from a desire to end suffering and respecting patients' wishes. His opponents in the form of street protesters and state prosecutors are driven by religion and dogma, pushing court cases based on no viable laws. Kevorkian and his lawyer Fieger are able to swat away the court challenges, emboldening the doctor. He then pushes further and starts to challenge new limits with the intent of seeking an audience with the land's highest court.

As a single man with no family commitments and near the end of his career, Kevorkian is presented as having nothing to lose as he challenges the status-quo. His motivations stem from personal experiences, and are gradually revealed through Pacino's soulful performance. Levinson rounds out his protagonist with character quirks including frumpy clothing, picky dietary habits, willingness to go on hunger strikes, and, ironically, a steadfast determination to never lend a helping hand when it comes to carrying physical objects. 

As portrayed by an animated Danny Huston, lawyer Geoffrey Fieger radiates swagger pushing into arrogance. In comparison, the other characters surrounding Kevorkian are short-changed. Sister Margo and medical technician Neal barely progress beyond props, and advocate-turned-friend Janet Good (Susan Sarandon) is lost in the shuffle.

It may lack panache and cinematic creativity, but You Don't Know Jack does set the record straight in revealing the human behind the moniker.



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Movie Review: Elizabethtown (2005)

A romantic drama-comedy exploring themes of loss, Elizabethtown is a sweet but uneven journey through the complexities of family ties and coping with failure.

In Oregon, Drew Baylor (Orlando Bloom) is a superstar shoe designer at the Mercury sportswear company. When his latest design flops, eccentric owner Phil DeVoss (Alec Baldwin) faces a billion dollar loss, and Drew's girlfriend Ellen (Jessica Biel) distances herself from their relationship. Drew considers suicide, but his sister Heather (Judy Greer) calls with news their father Mitch has died suddenly while on a trip to his hometown of Elizabethtown, Kentucky.

On the near-empty overnight flight, Drew befriends perky flight attendant Claire Colburn (Kirsten Dunst). In Elizabethtown he meets his father's friends and relatives, and understands the depth of affection towards Mitch, although the Baylors never welcomed Drew's mother Hollie (Susan Sarandon). Over the coming few days Drew and Claire continue to see each, while Hollie causes waves by showing up for the memorial service.

Written, directed, and co-produced by Cameron Crowe, Elizabethtown is an uncoordinated but still engaging mishmash. Humour, drama, romance, culture shock, grief, a travelogue, and familial conflicts take turns setting the tone. The result is awkward, sometimes jarring, but always reasonably watchable despite an overstuffed, often whiny, soundtrack, although the inclusion of Lynyrd Skynyrd's Freebird makes up for a lot of the dross.

The film suffers most trying to define a narrative flow and logical transitions, and never really finds the magic formula. Segments exist in isolation almost as stand-alone ideas. A chunk of time is occupied in developing the romance between Drew and Claire, although their conversations border on obtuse. Frustratingly, Claire is confined to the prototypical perfect potential girlfriend who just happens to land in the protagonist's lap as an emotional saviour in his most desperate hour.

Then another long sequence gives the stage (literally) to Susan Sarandon as Hollie, trying in one night to make up for a lifetime of estrangement from Mitch's family. A final chapter steers (again, literally) into a road trip of southern landmarks. Drew grieving his career fiasco and the loss of his father are supposed to provide an arc, but the dramatic themes are only modestly refined.

The humour is derived from some typical familial quirks, including the uncles, aunts, cousins, and nephews Drew has to get to know in a hurry. Cousin Jesse (Paul Schneider), once in a Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute band, is now raising a very loud kid and is a particular source of laughs. At the hotel, Drew's room is on the same floor as a raucous wedding event, another venue for passable chuckles. 

A running joke is that Elizabethtown is difficult to find on the map. This hometown contains some charm, but is also easy to bypass.



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Movie Review: Tempest (1982)

A midlife crisis drama, Tempest explores a painful transition from the vigour of youth to the wisdom of experience. The film enjoys a stellar cast and some excellent highlights, but is also both overlong and emotionally truncated.

New York architect Phillip Dimitrius (John Cassavetes) is experiencing a severe middle age crisis. His work designing casinos for his boss Alonzo (Vittorio Gassman), a semi-respectable mobster, is now a boring chore, and Phillip has lost interest in his wife Antonia (Gena Rowlands), a retired actress attempting a comeback. He also finds his teenaged daughter Miranda (Molly Ringwald) irritating.

When he stumbles upon Antonia seeking intimacy outside their marriage, Phillip packs up his life and heads to Greece with Miranda, desperate to rediscover his passion. In Athens they meet nightclub singer Aretha (Susan Sarandon), and she quickly becomes Phillip's lover. In search of a rustic lifestyle Philip, Aretha and Miranda relocate to a rugged and isolated island, where the only other resident is goat farmer Kalibanos (Raul Julia).

Inspired by Shakespeare's play, Tempest is directed, co-written and co-produced by Paul Mazursky. At a meandering 142 minutes, the signs of bloat are obvious, particularly when the third act loses all focus and falls well short of capping the preceding profundity.

Philip's story is presented in two timelines. On the Greek island, he desperately tries to reinvent himself as a happy recluse, satisfied without all of modernity's luxuries. Aretha and Miranda are less impressed and quite tired of the isolation. In  multiple flashbacks, Philip circulates among New York's elites, living in an elegant condominium of his own design, married to Antonia and working for Alonzo. He has all the ingredients for happiness but is imprisoned by the eternal is-this-all-there-is question.

Mazursky plays lightly on many themes. Phillip's tortured state of mind is represented by electric storms, conjured up as bookends to his crisis. His attempt at island celibacy, leaving Aretha quite hot and bothered, is the product of a disoriented psyche still partially loyal to Antonia. Philip's inability to come to terms with Miranda blooming into a young adult is a further demonstration of his creeping shortcomings. And joyous singing interludes punctuate the drama, often helping to boost spirits threatened by the eccentricities of a futile battle with the advancing years.

With Raul Julia unconstrained, Kalibanos' buffoonish pursuit of Miranda occupies too much screen time, although his lecherous quest affords Molly Ringwald plenty of scene-stealing opportunities. The rest of the cast members find depth within their characters, Cassavetes allowing the weight of unmet expectations to etch his face, Rowlands matching him as a resilient wife who will find alternatives to an inattentive, distracted and self-obsessed husband.

Phillip's old and new lives are on an inevitable collision course, but whilst the Tempest build-up is spasmodically turbulent, the resolution is simplistically tepid. 



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Movie Review: The Meddler (2015)

A mother-daughter dramedy about grief and letting go, The Meddler is comfortably predictable and enlivened by a sparkling Susan Sarandon.

After her husband died leaving her lonely but rich, middle-aged Mamie Minervini (Sarandon) moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles to be close to her single daughter Lori (Rose Byrne), a script writer. Both are still processing their grief, and Mamie cannot help but meddle in every detail of her daughter's life.

The exasperated Lori takes a break and moves for a few weeks to New York to film a pilot. Mamie fills her time by volunteering at the hospital, helping a technology store employee pursue night school, babysitting for Lori's friend Jillian (Cecily Strong), then organizing Jillian's vow renewals ceremony. She also meets and starts dating retired police officer Randall Zipper (J.K. Simmons). But she can only tolerate the separation from Lori for so long, and follows her to New York to meddle some more.

A light-hearted character study tracing a woman coping with profound loss and life's curves, The Meddler offers few surprises. But with Susan Sarandon in fine form and enjoying the internal consistency of irritating helpfulness, writer and director Lorene Scafaria stays close to fundamentals. The film avoids large emotional swings, operating instead within a narrow range of plausible eccentricity, and always anchored by a mother and daughter who care enough about each other to seek refuge in forgiveness.

Underlying themes, all tackled with a soft touch, include Mamie's slow journey towards giving herself permission to love again, and Zipper providing her the time and space to do so. Mothering spills into smothering when natural worries about a daughter's love life and career are unbound, while largesse is used as a shortcut to secure attention and relevance.

Humour is judiciously deployed, Mamie's cell phone, Zipper's chicken, Lori's dogs and Mamie's dinner back in Brooklyn with the animated family of her deceased husband all a source of chuckles. The blatant single company product placement and boosterism are less enjoyable.

The Meddler ends just a bit further ahead from where it begins. Mamie inches forward in her life as a widow and the mother-daughter bond strengthens while remaining a reliable source of love and vexation. The absence of major transformations ensures a relatively staid experience, but also rings true.



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Movie Review: In The Valley Of Elah (2007)

A military murder mystery, In The Valley Of Elah is a brooding drama exploring post-war trauma and a father's persistence.

Retired military police sergeant Hank Deerfield (Tommy Lee Jones) learns that his son Mike, a US Army soldier, recently returned from combat duty in Iraq but has now gone missing. Hank leaves his wife Joan (Susan Saranson) behind and travels to Fort Rudd, New Mexico, to investigate. The Army's First Lieutenant Kirklander (Jason Patric) and local police detective Emily Sanders (Charlize Theron) have no clues explaining Mike's whereabouts.

Before long Mike's dismembered and burned body is found in a field. Kirklander suspects the soldier may have been caught up in drug smuggling activities, while after a thorny start Sanders teams up with Hank to trace his son's movements on the fateful night. Mike's squad members are interviewed, and gradually a disturbing story starts to emerge.

Dark, serious and level-headed, In The Valley Of Elah reveals its secrets slowly. Directer Paul Haggis co-wrote the script with Mark Boal, and uses Tommy Lee Jones' craggy, weather-pummelled face to delve deep into a proud multi-generational military culture hiding the potential for tragedy. With deliberate pacing, the narrative focuses on a compelling small-town investigation complicated by jurisdictional tensions, eventually leading to startling revelations.

Haggis and Boal do have a destination in mind and an agenda to highlight, but they apply a soft touch in delivering the message. Hank as a proud former military man is in no rush to judge the army or his nation's military adventurism. Instead he despises investigative incompetence, bureaucratic foot-dragging and lack of transparency. The disquieting realities of combat-caused dehumanization speak for themselves, and Hank's sorrow deepens with institutional failures placing young men in impossible situations.

The narrative weaknesses reside in the relatively poorly defined individuals making up Mike's surviving squad members. This group of young men becomes more influential as the story evolves, but they are afforded little time to emerge as people before suddenly being thrust into the final act's spotlight glare.

Haggis surrounds Hank with small-town context. Detective Sanders operates in the shadow of a military base, and is waging her own low-key battle against workplace sexism. The community is beset by cases of domestic abuse that may be limited to dogs getting hurt, or much worse. And the local businesses consist of eateries, bars and strip joints catering to young men either getting trained to kill or returning from the horrors of killing. 

Charlize Theron, Susan Sarandon and Jason Patric support Jones without having to stretch. In a relatively small but impactful performance, Sarandon does convey a mother living under the suffocating shroud of worry imposed by the realities of sons in the military. James Franco, Josh Brolin and Zoe Kazan appear in small roles.

In The Valley Of Elah is a reference to the site of David's battle with Goliath. Combatants still require exceptional courage to step into the jaws of battle, but also exceptional support to step out intact.



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Movie Review: Stepmom (1998)

A family drama, Stepmom barely rises above rudimentary levels, wasting a stellar cast on a listless and unfocused script.

New York City fashion photographer Isabel Kelly (Julia Roberts) is the new live-in lover of attorney Luke Harrison (Ed Harris), but struggles to connect with his two children, 12 year old Anna (Jena Malone) and the younger Ben. The kids are still attached to their mother Jackie (Susan Sarandon), a former book editor who can barely contain her disdain and resentment towards the younger Isabel.

Luke attempts to maintain the peace, but Anna is not interested in evolving a relationship with Isabel, and Jackie uses every opportunity to disrespect her husband's new lover. But Luke is determined to marry Isabel, while Jackie receives health news that will alter her life.

Stretching for an interminable 125 minutes and with a schmaltzy John Williams music score over-amplifying the sentimentality at every opportunity, Stepmom steps into a pile of television-level drivel despite movie superstar talent. Christopher Columbus sleepwalks through directing duties as a wayward script steers in every wrong direction, five different writers adding layers of clutter.

The film cannot sustain cohesive focus, starting with a title that refer to no character since Isabel is not even married to Luke. The story initially settles on her struggle to gain the kids' respect, but that idea is abandoned with Julia Roberts effectively sidelined as suddenly a disease enters the picture. Stepmom becomes all about the original mom endlessly prolonging aversion towards her replacement while a death-in-slow-motion narrative extends forever.

Roberts and Sarandon cannot help but rise way above the material, and together they maintain a basic level of watchability despite the wash-dry cycle of cliches their characters suffer through. In an early role Jena Malone is also much better than the film as a woman-in-the-making caught in an emotional purgatory between mother and stepmom-to-be. Her scenes exploring the evolving dynamic with Roberts are among the few bright spots, and Stepmom would have been much stronger investing in that fertile territory.

Instead the film goes for cheap tears and creates a moist mess.

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Movie Review: The Calling (2014)

A serial killer drama, The Calling benefits from a frigid rural aesthetic and a good cast, but never quite grabs an enigmatic emotional hold.

In the small community of Fort Dundas, Ontario, hard-drinking Hazel Micallef (Susan Sarandon) is the local Sheriff, suffering from back pain and not over the breakup of her marriage and loss of an unborn child years prior. Hazel and fellow law enforcement officer Ray Green (Gil Bellows) are stunned to confront the community's first murder in years, an elderly woman found nearly decapitated. Soon another murder is committed and in both cases the victims' faces and mouths were contorted post-death.

Detective Ben Wingate (Topher Grace) relocates to Fort Dundas from Toronto and starts researching cases from across the country, uncovering other victims, all terminally ill, Catholic, and poisoned to death. Hazel connects with the elderly Father Price (Donald Sutherland), who suggests the murders may be related to an ancient prayer and the sacrifice of disciples in anticipation of resurrection. Meanwhile creepy fake healer Simon (Christopher Heyerdahl) is roaming the land, promoting his brand of unconventional herb-based medicine.

A Canadian production overlaying echoes of a gloomier Fargo with murderous carnage inspired by twisted interpretations of religious doctrine, The Calling succeeds in creating a chilly evil-roams-the-land vibe. Hazel is a deeply flawed protagonist spurred into action despite the fog of pain and alcohol, while Simon is the personification of the grim reaper cloaked in ancient Catholicism. Together they create two decent bookends, and the film wisely stays away from cheap thrills and instead derives momentum from characters inhabiting an isolated community.

Scott Abramovitch wrote the screenplay as an adaptation of the book by Inger Ash Wolfe, and director Jason Stone recognizes the locale as one of the narrative strong points, capturing the natural beauty and grounded resilience of a snow-covered small town. No one is surprised when every rumour instantaneously spreads through the community, all residents are on a first name basis, and they all know each other's history and emotional baggage.

As much as the film's strengths are apparent, so are the mushier components. Some of the police work falls through plot holes, and pieces of background between Simon and Father Price are sketched-in at best. Hazel's mother Emily (an underused Ellen Burstyn) putters around the house seeking a purpose, while the marriage break-up and baby loss tragedy never evolve past plastic plot devices.

But with Sarandon in the crunchiest of crusty form and Heyerdahl weaving a spell of death with dreamy eyes and marvellous oral delivery punctuated with unhitched pauses, The Calling makes it through the winter.

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Movie Review: Little Women (1994)

An amiable adaptation of the 1868 Louisa May Alcott novel, Little Women strives for a cozy tone of sisterly bonding.

Concord, Massachusetts during the Civil War. The March family's financial fortunes take a downturn when father goes off to serve in the war. Marmee (Susan Sarandon) nevertheless stays calm as she instills charitable values in her daughters Jo (Winona Ryder), Meg (Trini Alvarado), Amy (Kirsten Dunst) and Beth (Claire Danes).

The girls meet next-door neighbour Theodor Laurence (Christian Bale). Despite coming from wealth he becomes a constant companion of the sisters and starts to fall in love with Jo. But she is an aspiring writer more interested in starting a career than settling down. With Meg attracting the interest of Theodor's tutor John Brooke (Eric Stoltz), Jo sets off to New York where she meets professor Friedrich Bhaer (Gabriel Byrne), while the grown-up Amy (Samantha Mathis) heads to Paris with the elderly Aunt March (Mary Wickes).

45 years after the 1949 version starring June Allyson, Hollywood returned with the fifth big screen adaptation of the classic story, and the first to be directed by a woman. Gillian Armstrong aims for and generally achieves a Normal Rockwell-inspired mood, the script by Robin Swicord structured as a mostly quaint and family-oriented coming-of-age story.

Which is both an asset and a burden. Little Women never threatens to evolve into anything other than charming storytelling, often flirting with antiquated. The film always looks gorgeous, but also emit the whiff of staginess and almost perfect posing into just the right angle with fireplace lighting to achieve the nostalgic painting resonance.

Armstrong effectively uses the two hours of running time, every incident in the ups and downs of the March family given its due, but without bursting through a fairly narrow band of emotional involvement. The four girls remain short of memorable, just missing a cutting edge or breakout moment, all in favour of calm whimsy.

The talented young cast perform admirably within the confines of the material. Winona Ryder's Jo deserves more bite than provided by Swicord's script, while Christian Bale glides through the film with an appropriate reserve, a young man caught in love with a woman deciding her potential career matters more.

Capable but less than notable, Little Women is faithfully decorous.

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Movie Review: The Hunger (1983)

A vampire erotic horror thriller, The Hunger invests all its effort in an overabundance of style at the expense of narrative and character depth.

In New York City, vampire Miriam Blaylock (Catherine Deneuve) is living with her latest long-term lover John (David Bowie). They feed by luring unsuspecting victims to Miriam's lavish house then violently killing them and drinking their blood.

John is shocked to discover that although Miriam had promised him eternal life, he will eventually age rapidly and expire. He progresses from young and handsome to old and derelict in a matter of hours, but not before making contact with Dr. Sarah Roberts (Susan Sarandon), an expert on aging. Miriam sets her eyes on Sarah to be her next long-term partner and proceeds to orchestrate an emotional and physical seduction.

An adaptation of the book by Whitley Strieber, The Hunger's plot points would fit neatly on a small napkin, and the story could be easily told in about 20 minutes of screen time. The serious themes of longevity and the human desire to extend life are used as a juvenile springboard for an inconsequential froth of blood, gore and titillation.

But Tony Scott, making his directorial debut, uses the thin material as a basis for an exercise in stylistic muscle flexing to dazzle the eyes and distract the mind. And so every single frame is drenched in blue light, flowing curtains make a guest appearance at 10 minute intervals, and stroboscopic lights, silhouettes, odd camera angles, manic editing, thumping music, screeching caged monkeys and fluttering white pigeons are deployed to create sensory overload.

While the visual buffet is entertaining and the premise of Catherine Deneuve seducing Susan Sarandon is rich with undeniable eroticism, eventually all logic is jettisoned in favour of a climax full of attempted gothic horror (from the skeletons on the loose variety) but completely devoid of contextual coherence.

The special effects focus on aging, David Bowie the primary victim as he endures decades of physical decline in a matter of minutes, appropriately while he sits in a hospital waiting lounge. Deneuve exudes the icy patience of a person who will live forever, while Sarandon is adequate, despite the script never quite getting a handle on her Dr. Roberts.

The Hunger revels in artistic excess, sucking in blood while avoiding all substance.

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Movie Review: The Big Wedding (2013)

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Movie Review: Shall We Dance? (2004)

A romantic comedy, Shall We Dance? is a gentle twirl through the turbulent waters of middle age.

In Chicago, John Clark (Richard Gere) is a well-established lawyer specializing in executing wills. Happily married to Beverly (Susan Sarandon) and the father of two teenagers, John is nevertheless hitting a full-fledged middle age emotional crisis, feeling empty inside after nearly 20 years of the same marriage and the same career. On his daily train commute he regularly spots a sad-looking Paulina (Jennifer Lopez) staring out of the window of Miss Mitzi's ballroom dance studio. On a whim John signs up for evening dance classes and keeps his new hobby a secret.

At the studio John meets fellow novice dancers Chic (Bobby Cannavale) and Vern (Omar Miller), and veteran resident dancer Bobbie (Lisa Ann Walter), who still dreams of competing to win. He also stumbles onto co-worker Link Peterson (Stanley Tucci), who leads a secret life of dancing. John learns that Paulina is recovering from a broken relationship, but she rebuffs his tentative advances. John is reinvigorated by the joy of dancing and new friendships, but Beverly starts to suspect that her husband is having an affair and hires a private detective (Richard Jenkins) to investigate.

Directed by Peter Chelsom, Shall We Dance? is a remake of a 1996 Japanese film. The Hollywood version settles down for a relaxed tone, sprinkling mild humour and melancholy in equal measures while avoiding extremes in any direction. The film is easy to like as it works its way to the predictable uplifting resolutions, but also stays at the shallow end of the pool.

Unusually for a relatively lightweight film about dance and angst, this is a male perspective. While Chelsom never quite explains why the first world problems in John Clark's privileged life are worth caring about, the numbness brought upon by a daily routine simultaneously drudgerous and frantic is familiar enough. Gere does a fine job as man quietly venturing outside his zone of comfort without knowing quite why and feeling deeply guilty about keeping any secrets.

The dance sequences are staged with a mixture of fun and flamboyance. None of the performances are meant to showcase expert dancers, and the film benefits from the self-deprecatory attitude conveyed by dance amateurs stepping out for personal reasons. Paulina is the exception, and Jennifer Lopez delivers a subdued performance as the temporarily fallen star licking her wounds as she gathers the courage to go again.

Mimicking the studio awkwardness, the relationship dynamics between the characters remain refreshingly clumsy, John never quite knowing how to say the right things to neither Beverly nor Paulina. And that may not be a bad thing. The loudmouthed Bobbie speaks her mind, causes carnage and may be the loneliest character in the film.

A simple message delivered in a fleeting package, Shall We Dance? is an invitation to refresh a stale psyche by embracing small risks.

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Movie Review: Snitch (2013)

A muddled action thriller, Snitch tries to remain grounded but offers up an unlikely plot and makes poor use of a decent cast.

John Matthews (Dwayne Johnson) owns and operates a long-haul trucking company. Divorced from his first wife Sylvie (Melina Kanakaredes) and now married to Analisa (Nadine Velazquez), John is shocked when his son Jason (Rafi Gavron) is arrested on drugs charges. Jason was pressured into accepting a shipment by his overseas friend Craig, but is left with no recourse except a long stint in prison unless he helps convict other drug traffickers.

John strikes a deal with District Attorney Joanne Keeghan (Susan Sarandon) to infiltrate a drug gang and help arrest an important trafficker in exchange for Jason receiving leniency. John leans on Daniel James (Jon Bernthal), a new employee with a criminal record, to connect with violent gang leader Malik (Michael Kenneth Williams). John pretends to be financially stretched and offers the services of his trucks to transport Malik's drugs. Despite the help of Agent Cooper (Barry Pepper), John and Daniel find themselves in over their heads when Mexican cartel kingpin El Topo (Benjamin Bratt) is identified as the second party in Malik's transactions.

Directed and co-written by Ric Roman Waugh, Snitch makes some unwise choices. Dwayne Johnson is admirably cast in the central role, but is then asked to portray a relatively docile, by-the-rules character chafing about the injustice of a system ready to throw his son in prison for a relatively minor offence. All credit to Johnson for willing to stretch, but in this context he lacks the screen presence or ability to play a mostly anguished dramatic role.

Snitch then idles and waits for the best part of 100 minutes until John Matthews gets frustrated enough to pick up a shotgun, get behind the wheel of large truck, take justice into his own hands, and teach not one but two heavily armed gangs not to mess with an angry father. By then the film has been tied up in knots made up of rival nondescript bad guys, with small detours to the prison holding Jason and the domestic lives of John and Daniel to fill the time. Neither the script nor the performances of the willing cast are strong enough to build genuine empathy for the characters.

Susan Sarandon mails in her performance as a testy District Attorney. The rest of the cast bite into their roles but cannot overcome mostly stale lines and the overall absurdity of the premise and execution.

Snitch ends with an overdue bang, but by then it's the hollow sound of indifference.

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Movie Review: Arbitrage (2012)

A drama set in the super glitzy but pressurized world of cut-throat high finance, Arbitrage explores the art of white collar money-making where ethics take a back seat and the bottom line is the only line that matters.

In New York City, respected business tycoon Robert Miller (Richard Gere) is turning 60 and desperate to close a deal to sell his family-owned private investment firm for a handsome profit. Robert is hiding a $400 million hole in the company's books due to a copper mine investment opportunity gone terribly wrong. He is also carrying on an affair with art gallery employee Julie Cote (Laetitia Casta) behind the back of his wife Ellen (Susan Sarandon).

With the deal taking longer than expected to close, Robert's daughter and the firm's chief financial officer Brooke (Brit Marling) uncovers evidence suggesting the books are cooked. Then Julie is killed in a late night car accident on a remote road after Robert dozes off behind the wheel. Robert flees the scene of the accident with the help of Jimmy Grant (Nate Parker), a young man from Harlem and the son of Robert's former loyal employee. But police detective Bryer (Tim Roth) starts to suspect Robert had something to do with Julie's death, jeopardizing everything Robert has worked for.

A slick independent production written and directed by Nicholas Jarecki, Arbitrage is a compact and fast-moving business drama. The film focuses purely on the character of Robert Miller, and adopts both his strengths and weaknesses: smooth, determined, and magnetic, Miller is also soulless. ruthless and cold. Jarecki ensures that Arbitrage makes for compelling viewing as an insider's look into the world of the very rich where money governs, arrogance dictates, and rules are for others.

Jarecki succeeds in making his loathsome main character somewhat sympathetic. Thanks to an effortlessly fluid Richard Gere performance, Robert Miller emerges as a charismatic and radiant man who immediately dominates every room he enters. He is also a liar, a fraudster and a philanderer, and attempts to cover up his role in a fatal accident by pressuring an innocent man into taking the fall. At this level of wealth the package is inseparable, and since Miller and his ilk effectively control the levers of finance, he is a character at least worth understanding.

The film's limitation as a drama reside in the lack of character development. The narrative is unapologetic in zooming in on an unscrupulous man facing multiple concurrent crises in one week. While damage will be caused and a price paid as Robert looks for the wriggle room needed to survive, there is no space in Arbitrage for growth or reflection. Indeed, the scenes where Miller tangles with his daughter Brooke and his wife Ellen are the weakest. Jarecki is more comfortable portraying Miller in his element manipulating the business environment rather than grappling with the human consequences.

Stylistically Arbitrage oozes power and wealth, the film capturing the glittering world of expensive homes, lavish parties, and snooty art galleries and fund raisers. The one percent live the life, but it's a life where the heart can also grow awfully cold.

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