Under the Radar

I watched this movie a few nights ago and I keep thinking about it. It is a really, really good movie. It is the story of the man who invented the intermittent windshield wipers. Sounds pretty interesting doesn't it? Trust me, it is interesting. It stars Greg Kinnear, who I know most of us are pretty big fans of. He plays Dr. Bob Kearns, a university professor who invents the intermittent windshield wipers and takes the idea to Ford. I'm not going to say much more about the plot, I don't want to give it away. If you like movies where you root for the underdog, and you like courtroom dramas, you'll like this movie. Dr. Kearns is an interesting guy and Kinnear does a great job portraying him. It is amazing how something we all have in our vehicles and think nothing of, totally consumed one man's life. You'll like Dr. Kearns' kids too.

The movie is based on an article that was published in the New Yorker in the early 90's. I actually read the article when it came out. I was taking a creative writing class at the time and the New Yorker was our text book. It was pretty cool. We all had subscriptions and every week when the new one came out the professor picked out articles for us to read and write papers on and stuff. I love that magazine to this day. Anyway, trust me, this is a good movie and I highly recommend it. It is PG-13 and just came out on DVD a few weeks ago.

Under the Radar

Dan's most recent comment on Sunday's with Sue reminded me that I haven't done an Under the Radar posting in a long time. I decided it was time to do one, and the first movie that popped into my head was The Queen. This movie was released in 2006, and I love it! This movie did get quite a bit of attention when it came out, but I'm not sure a lot of people saw it. So I am counting it as an Under the Radar movie. I was just telling Emily about this movie a couple of days ago.

The movie takes place in 1997 right after the death of Princess Diana. The Queen decides the best thing to do for the boys (William and Harry) is take them from Buckingham Palace to another castle in the country so they can go hunting and get some fresh air. She has it in her head the Diana's death is a family affair and should be dealt with privately.

Tony Blair has just been elected Prime Minister and finds himself in the middle of dealing with the grieving public and the Queen who absolutely refuses to make any kind of public statement. As each day passes, the newspaper headlines become more and more scathing towards the Queen. In the end, Tony Blair has to put his foot down and demand that the Queen do something. He doesn't even give her a choice on what to do, he tells her what she must do, which in a Monarchy, just doesn't happen.

It may not sound all that interesting, but it really is. I think what I liked the best about it, is it shows just how out of touch the royal family is from the people. The Queen, the Queen Mum, and Prince Philip are really surprised by the grief people around the world felt, and not only are they surprised, they are kind of disgusted about it. It shows some behind closed doors scenes between the Queen and Prince Philip that are great. Prince Philip is really a jerk and could really care less about the people.

As I understand it, this is a very realistic portrayal of what really happened during the week before Diana's funeral. I remember hearing an interview with the screenwriter and director on Fresh Air. Someone who was very tight with the family at the time, I think it was the Queen's personal assistant or something, helped the screenwriter with the details.

The acting in this movie is great! Helen Mirren plays the Queen, and won the Oscar for it. James Cromwell is Prince Philip, he does a great job. I really like that actor. Another one of those actors you see all the time, but never leading roles. Like Richard Jenkins in the Visitor, he was also in Six Feet Under. He played the mom's second husband who comes down with Alzheimers. And Michael Sheen plays Tony Blair, and does a fantastic job. He looks just like him! If you aren't familiar with his name, he plays David Frost in Frost/Nixon, which comes out today! Can't wait to see it. I also just found out he is going to play Aros in New Moon.

If you've seen The Queen, let me know what you thought of it. If you haven't, you should see it. I've noticed it on cable a couple of times, so you can watch for it there.

the Visitor (again)

I had the kitchen TV on at 6:40 this morning while I was feeding Duncan and fixing my Pero and Peanut butter sandwitch. They announced the Oscar nominations on the TV and Richard Jenkins was nominated for best actor in the Visitor. I watched the movie last night by my self as mom was at the Phister doing the American Idol thing and doing something else. Anyway, I loved the movie. Do see it. Tarek and Zainab and the mother were just great as was mr. Jenkins. Read Sue's Posting about the movie and then go rent it.
Hard to believe "The Dark Knight" didn't get best picture nomination. Snobs and elitest creeps that vote are nuts, but they do get a few things wright as per Richard Jenkins.

Under the Radar

It's been awhile since I've done one of these postings. It's not that I've been neglecting to, it's just the Under the Radar movies I've seen recently, haven't been worth recommending. For example, The Savages and Smart People. I was so hoping The Savages was going to be good! I love Philip Seymore Hoffman, but alas, it wasn't that good. Smart People totally sucked.

Anyway, The Visitor! This is such a good movie! You guys have to see it. It's about a college professor who owns an apartment in New York City, even though he doesn't use it very often. He teaches college in a different state, and the college sends him to New York for a conference. He gets to his New York apartment to discover an illegal immigrant couple have been living there without his knowledge. They didn't break in or anything, they were victims of a real estate scam and thought they were legally subletting the apartment. Walter, the professor kicks the couple out. He then starts feeling kind of bad that he kicked them out, and goes looking for them. He finds them just sitting in the doorway of some building, and asks them to come back to his apartment. He has the room and he is kind of lonely because his wife had recently died. So he strikes up this great friendship with them. Especially with the man, Tarek who is a musician from Syria. The woman, Zainab, is from Senegal, and she is very quiet and shy. Tarek starts giving him drum lessons and invites Walter to play drums with him and his friends at the park. It is great. One day, Walter and Tarek are at the subway station after playing their drums. Tarek has to kind of jump over the turnstile thing because of the size of his drum, he put a token in the slot, but the security guards see him and think he is suspicious and they arrest him. So now, Tarek is facing deportation, Walter tries to help, Tarek's mother comes to New York to try and help. Tarek's mother lives legally in Michigan or someplace like that, and she and Walter become good friends. That's all I'm going to say about the plot.

I seriously highly recommend this movie. The characters are great. The guy who plays Tarek is wonderful. Tarek has the best personality, he really brings Walter out of his shell. Richard Jenkins plays Walter. He is one of those actors that has been in like a million movies, but never a lead role. The most significant role he has played was the father in Six Feet Under. (The dead father that comes back in ghost form all the time to his boys.) It's rated PG-13, so it's safe for everyone to watch. If you end up watching it, or have watched it, let me know what you think!

Under the Radar

I wasn't expecting to do another Under the Radar so soon, but I watched this movie yesterday and decided everyone must watch it now. This is posted mainly for you Matt, you told me once you really like documentaries. Well this is a documentary about a chorus in England. The average age of the chorus member is 80 and they sing rock songs! The Clash, Rolling Stones, Sonic Youth, Talking Heads etc.

I read a feature about them in the New Yorker probably 5 years ago. I thought it sounded interesting, but never really thought of it again. Then last year, I heard there was a documentary made about them and it was showing at Sundance. I also heard a radio interview with the chorus director and the filmmaker, and I knew I had to see it. I put it on my Netflix que and waited for it to be released on DVD. It finally was, and everyone needs to see it.

Seriously, Em, Cat bump it to the top of your que. Wyoming people, someone needs to put it at the top of their que. Or just buy it. You will love this movie. Watch it with the whole family. You will laugh out loud several times and then cry. You will fall in love with these old people. Some of them are in their 90's and they are singing Sonic Youth! And there are like 3 music videos in it with them singing. They do David Bowie's Golden Years, hilarious! But the Bee Gee's Staying Alive is the best. I'm not just recommending this movie, I'm demanding that everyone watch it.

They did a performance here in Salt Lake a few months ago, and I am kicking myself for not going.

Under the Radar

I've decided to start a new feature on the blog called "Under the Radar", unless I come up with a better name. Emily doing the post about Lars and the Real Girl made me think of it. I am a huge fan of the smaller, low budget, independent films, that a lot of times go unnoticed (under the radar), but are really excellent movies. I like a lot of the bigger budget, mainstream movies too, but independent films are my favorite. So, every couple weeks or so, I'm going to highlight one that I've seen and really liked. You guys can take my recommendations or not, my goal is just to put them out there. You never know some of them could end up being Wright Family Classics!

I'm also going to really try to pay attention to the movie ratings and try to only highlight ones the whole family can watch, (and that won't scar B for life). Well, except for this first one. It's rated R, but it's really good and I think the R rating is sort of a stretch, one of the cable channels showed it about a month ago, so maybe you can see it that way.

As you have probably guessed, my first pick is Shopgirl. It came out in 2005, and stars Steve Martin, Claire Danes and Jason Schwartzman. Steve Martin also wrote the screenplay.

Claire Danes plays Mirabel, a girl who works at Saks selling evening gloves. Within a couple of days she meets 2 different men. Ray (Steve Martin), an older, sophisticated rich man, and Jeremy (Jason Schwartzman), a broke musician who is somewhat socially inept. The scene where Mirabel and Jeremy meet in the laundry mat is the best. Jason Schwartman is so funny in this! I really like him. He was Max in Rushmore, another favorite of mine. As a side note he is Francis Ford Copolla's nephew, which makes him Nick Cage's cousin.

Anyway, Mirabel and Jeremy go on a date and have a one night stand. He then leaves for a couple of months to be a roadie for a band. He really likes Mirabel and decides he needs to improve on some things in himself so she'll like him back. He buys a bunch of self help CD's to listen to while on the road. Very funny. Mirabel doesn't really think about him again, and starts seeing Ray.

That's about all I'm going to say about the plot. The characters in this movie are great. I can't say enough about Jason Schwartzman. I like Claire Danes and think she does a great job with Mirabel. And Steve Martin is the best. I like him so much. His character is pretty serious, but Martin's sense of humor comes out in great ways. I read that Martin had Tom Hanks in mind for the role, and Hanks was going to do it, but the director insisted on Martin playing the part himself.

The cinematography in the movie is really good too. There are some really beautiful scenes and interesting uses of color and light. For instance, if you watch it, notice how the color and light in Mirabel's apartment change subtly with her mood.

So, watch it or don't. If you do, let me know what you thought. I'm still trying to think of why it is R. I watched it when it was on cable a month ago, and I don't think anything was cut out. There is a scene where you see Claire Dane's butt. But they showed that big fat guy's butt on NYPD Blue, and that was on TV. There is another scene where a girl in lingerie seduces Jeremy because she think's he is Mirabel's rich boyfriend Ray. But that scene is more funny than anything. And I don't think it's because of language. None of the characters are really the cursing type. So, I don't know!

Please also let me know if you want me to make this a feature on the blog.