Movie Reviews by Muslims

2011

2011-12-30T12:47:00.000-08:00

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - slow build cerebral thriller. Excellently cast, film noir-esque - very very careful about costumes and sets to really take you back to 1973 - very nostalgic. But, the lack of blue sky/sunshine the whole movie was a little over done.

We Bought a Zoo - Nice family story. Matt Damon is good and there's a darling little girl in it, too. A little saccharine, yes, but I like that.

Sherlock Holmes 2011 - Started out a bit rough, was ultimately fun. I have to set my Jeremy Brett and Doyle canon purist tendencies aside to get into these. Costumes very awesome.

Hugo - didn't love it - it tried to be charming and had a few moments, but ultimately failed for me. The best parts were interactions with people in the station.

Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol - ridiculously unrealistic, forgettable, but kind of fun. Still a little creeped out by Tom Cruise, though.

The Muppets - Nostalgic and wonderful! Just a very cute story, adorable.

Tower Heist - old school fun. Murphy with Stiller was a mix that worked.

The Big Year - very interesting - made me read the book, which is even better. I want to be a birder now!

Real Steel - very cool. Jackman is charming and the rock-em sock-ems are pretty awesome.

Dolphin Tale - very family friendly movie, safe and inspirational.

Midnight in Paris - This was a good, charming movie, although a tad slow at times. It had to be good for me to like it because Woody Allen is very very slimy to me.

Friends with Benefits - Raunchy, but excellent chemistry and humorous. I liked it in spite of myself.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes - I'm an old-school Planet of the Apes fan by virtue of my brother, and this is by far the best in the series.

Crazy Stupid Love - This one works, if you like Steve Carrell. I do.

Cowboys and Aliens - totally stupid premise but Daniel Craig can make anything believable. Quite fun!

The Change-Up - I like the two leads Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman, but this just didn't quite work - not terrible, but not so great, either.

Captain America: The First Avenger - I wanted to like this. I honestly found it boring, though.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 - Excellent ending of the series. The only movie since Avatar where I thought maybe the 3D was actually worth it.

Zookeeper - This is Mall Cop set at the zoo. Stupid but relatively harmless.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon - The new girl is ridiculous, the digs at Megan Fox were obvious, the story and action were way over the top. Transformers are cool and Shia LeBeouf has appeal, but the whole package was a little off.

Cars 2 - One of the dullest movies I saw all year. Maybe a 4 year old boy would like this.

Super 8 - This is darker than E.T., but has a lot of its charm and wonder. Love Kyle Chandler. This was very well scripted, acted, and casted.

Green Lantern - A lot more corny than most superhero films, but I enjoyed the whole Green Lantern origin story and the humor worked. Its look was a little dumb, though - couldn't quite decide if that was part of the humor, or if they just failed.

X-Men: First Class - All these superhero movies are starting to run together in my brain, but I remember thinking this was a rather successful addition to the X-Men franchise. Some of its tones were quite like Captain America.

Kung Fu Panda 2 - Not quite as good as the first, but still one of the better animated films I saw this year.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - Contributed nothing to the series that I can recall, had some fun moments and Jack Sparrow still has appeal, of course, but overall doesn't really work.

Something Borrowed - I like the actors, but this movie pretty much sucked.

Fast Five - Absolutely ridiculous story and action - but it is basically a fun amusement park ride.

Hop - Cute holiday film.

Water For Elephants - I liked this better than I thought I would. But come on, Pattinson is 10 years junior to Reese and it shows badly. The story is kind of dark but compelling.

Source Code - Not much in the way of good Sci-Fi this year, this was pretty much tops.

Rio - Cute bird cartoon, it works as an original story.

Arthur - Stupid as it gets, but kind of works. Kind of.

Limitless - So-so sci-fi action thriller. See Source Code instead.

The Lincoln Lawyer - Stellar role for McConaughey. Wicked story, Philippe is nasty and scary. Made me read the book - recommended.

The Adjustment Bureau - Sci-fi without all the tech, interesting story. I liked it.

Rango - I wanted to like this, but I pretty much hated it. Not a good story, creepy but well-done animation, not funny at all - quite dark.

Hall Pass - Yet another reminder that just because I like the actors doesn't mean I'll enjoy the stupid nastiness of rated R comedies.

Just Go With It - Aniston is beautiful as ever, but the whole movie doesn't work.

No Strings Attached - I'm not sure exactly what I don't like about Portman. This is basically the same movie as Friends with Benefits, but not as successful.

(I may add to this if I see a few more 2011 movies in 2012. Thinking of seeing Tin Tin, or Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.)

2010 Movies I Saw

2010-12-25T22:09:00.000-08:00

In backwards date order for 2010:

The Hereafter
- Not a thriller. Slow look at three people's lives, affected by death. Interesting, but not revolutionary nor particularly thought-provoking (although it seems to think so of itself). Liked it, but maybe I was biased by Matt Damon's presence.

The Social Network
- Decently made, and fairly interesting. I liked it, but I'm not sure what all the hype is about.

Tron
- Potential in concept and coolness, but seriously lacking in real story/character. The story is a shadow of a story and the characters are shadows of characters. Kind of neat, but incomplete.

The Fighter
- Great movie. Definitely rated R. Based on a true story. What a family. Now I hope Christian Bale goes back to a normal weight.

Little Fockers
- Average movie. Some funny moments, but not great. Owen Wilson was prolific but did not pick them well this year. Ben Stiller did all right here.

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
- I liked this one, but I find it hard not to like Shia LeBeauf. I did see what was coming but I thought it was a well-made, engaging, timely tale.

Remember Me
- Eh. Pattinson is a little wooden. Heavy-handed, brooding, with a 'surprise' dark ending that many hated but some loved. I don't think this piece worked.

Inception
- This movie should hold your attention. Intriguing and well-played.

Jonah Hex
- Interesting concept poorly executed - a lot of fight scenes where you can't even tell what is going on or why. Could've been much better.

The Town
- I'm not a Ben Affleck fan, really, but this is a pretty good movie.

How Do You Know

- Ugh this Reese Witherspoon movie was dull and stupid.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

- Nothing spectacular, but nice telling of the C.S. Lewis book.

The Kids Are All Right

- I liked the part about the kids meeting their dad, but the whole dynamic between the two moms and the dad I just hated.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I

- Just what I expected, and worth seeing.

Morning Glory

- Okay, formulaic, kinda like instant coffee.

Life as We Know It

- In a horrible year for romantic comedies, this was better than most, but still not great.

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole

- Beautifully animated, nice story, but a little weak for adults.

You Again
- Horrible movie. Nothing to like about any of the female characters at all, and I can't remember any of the men in it.

Easy A
- Fun and relatively fresh.

The American
- Very slow-paced and self-important. Well acted, but just not worth making in the first place.

Going the Distance
- Relatively charming. Big time bring-back-the-80's fashion for the cast.

The Other Guys
- Pretty dumb, but maybe okay if it comes on TV.

The Switch
- Nice casting, but a bit sleepy.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
- Too many boyfriends to kill, but cute and clever. If you're over 45 you might be too old to appreciate this.

Killers
- Charismatic cast but again not that great of a story - could've been better.

Charlie St. Cloud
- Nice, sweet movie.

Ramona and Beezus
- Absolutely darling, highly recommended, safe for all audiences.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice
- There's just something about Nicolas Cage and Disney. Nothing Oscar worthy but a nice basic adventure.

Grown Ups
- A lot more story than I expected, and some laughs, too.

Toy Story 3
- I can't imagine someone not crying at this very well-made movie.

The Karate Kid
- Very enjoyable movie - love Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith did very well.

Marmaduke
- Pretty lame.

Shrek Forever After (Shrek 4)

- What a waste of animation.

Robin Hood
- A little heavy or trudging at times, but a worthy rendition. A more serious 'epic' take on Robin Hood.

Letters to Juliet
- One good idea, but annoying-as-heck characters. Who are these people?

Just Wright
- Now here is a romantic comedy where the people seem like real people. As they all are, it is predictable, but at least the woman lead isn't a shrill insipid maniac and the man isn't a boorish thug or swooning gigolo fool.

The Book of Eli
- You could possibly be surprised by the ending, but will you believe it? Not destined to be a classic, but not bad.

Iron Man 2
- This one is over-cooked. It may satisfy a basic need for comic-to-movie fare but the first one was better.

Furry Vengeance
- Run, run far far away. This movie is just terrible!

Death at a Funeral
- Better than I expected it to be, should get at least some laughs.

Date Night
- In my book, this was one of the better 'light' movies of the year. Fun.

Green Zone
- My mom fell asleep in this, but I thought it was good.

Hot Tub Time Machine
- Like most comedies these days, lots of base humor, some of it just too much, but you might like some of the 80's nostalgia.

The Bounty Hunter
- What redeeming qualities do either character possess? They deserve each other, I guess.

Cop Out
- This movie felt like it was made 30 years ago and mediocre then.

Alice in Wonderland
- Fantastic and freakish rendition of the Lewis Carroll story.

When in Rome
- All of these stupid romantic comedies can be enjoyed a little if you can get past just how bad they are. This one has some stuff that's kind of 'cute', but I just don't like Kristen Bell.

Shutter Island
- This is the kind of 'horror' I like - suspenseful, thrilling, psychological, and intelligent.

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
- Not bad. Good enough I could see them making more of these. The same quality as Voyage of the Dawn Treader without trying nearly as hard or taking itself as seriously.

The Tooth Fairy
- Very cute movie for little kids.

Away We Go
- Interesting, not bad, kind of sweet.

The Spy Next Door
- I'm a sucker for Jackie Chan, so I liked this, but it will be too kiddie and lame for some.

Leap Year
- I could write the same thing for almost all the romantic comedies this year - if you really really don't think very much you can get some enjoyment out of it, but these characters are so unlikable and ridiculous, and the stories so trite that it is hard to overlook.

Recommended:The Fighter,Inception, The Town, The Karate Kid, Charlie St. Cloud, Toy Story 3, Date Night, Wall Street, Harry Potter, Easy A, Scott Pilgrim, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Ramona and Beezus, Green Zone, Alice in Wonderland, Shutter Island, Percy Jackson, The Tooth Fairy

My Name is Khan (2010)

2010-04-12T05:45:00.001-07:00

I know what you're thinking. "Bollywood?" But let me tell you, this isn't your typical Indian movie, other than the fact that it stars Shahrukh Khan and Kajol. No random bursting out into song or dance numbers in the rain. Instead, "My Name is Khan" is the story of a Muslim Indian man who suffers from Asperger's Syndrome, which is a form of autism. He moves to America to live with his brother after his mother passes away in India. There he meets a beautiful Hindu divorcee who sees him as the kind and interesting man he is, instead of just seeing him for his disorder like so many others do. The movie builds up to their wedding, as so many Bollywood movies do, but it doesn't end there. 9/11 happens, instead. Now this family of mixed faith but shared ethnicity is subject to harassment and the trials of being different in country shaken by fear. I loved this film. While some people are calling it an 'Indian version of Forrest Gump', I think it is a very original take on the Bollywood romance trope. Yes, there's drama and weddings and tragedy and humor, but the way it is framed is what really makes this movie special. Seeing Khan's hijabi sister-in-law who is a Psychology professor having her hijab yanked on campus after 9/11 and her subsequent decision to stop wearing it really hit home for me. I started wearing hats and bandanas myself after those tragic events, more for my mother's peace of mind than any perceived threat, but all the same it was a vivid reminder of that time for me.

The crux of the film lies in an angst-filled and dramatic argument between Khan (the main character) and his wife, who finally screams at him to go to the President of the US and tell him, "My name is Khan, and I am not a terrorist". To reveal the circumstances of the argument would be to reveal some very important plot points so you'll just have to watch to find out what drove her to say it. Khan, being autistic and not able to express emotion, does the only thing he can to prove his love. Start the journey to meet the President and tell him. It's a surprisingly poignant story, though some things may come off as cliché to those used to the regular movie tropes found in regular Hollywood movies. Later on in the film, Khan goes to help out at a Katrina-like natural disaster, which might seem over the top to some, but the parallels they illustrate between this disaster and his childhood memories make it meaningful and interesting. The portrayal of African-Americans from the South could come off as offensive, especially the Aunt Jemima-like character of Mama Jenny, but the stereo-type is not used in a negative light, so you kind of have to give them the benefit of the doubt in this case. Perhaps the next Bollywood film featuring African-Americans will have a more nuanced portrayal.

The parts of the film dealing with religion in particular were very nuanced on the other hand. We got to see Khan's brother disapprove his Hindu wife, while the hijabi sister-in-law attends the wedding despite that. Khan is shown praying salat at different intervals in the film with sincerity and dedication. The highlight of the film for me was when he happens upon a mosque where a man is trying to lead a small group of others into extremist behavior. The way that situation is addressed and handled was wonderfully creative and insightful. I think that part alone made the film worth watching, even if most of it is in Hindi with English subtitles. I feel like I'm not able to do the film justice in this short review, nor am I able to articulate all the minor shortcomings, but in the end, I highly recommend this movie to anyone who has the opportunity to see it!

2009 in Review

2009-12-25T17:57:00.000-08:00

The 2009 movies we saw:

The Favorites
Invictus
Where the Wild Things Are
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
(500) Days of Summer
State of Play
17 Again
Star Trek
Up
The Proposal
I Love You, Man
Race to Witch Mountain
Knowing
New in Town
Gran Torino
Imagine That

Average Rating
Sherlock Holmes
Avatar
Everybody's Fine
The Blind Side
Disney's A Christmas Carol
The Men Who Stare at Goats
Amelia
Whip It
The Invention of Lying
Julie & Julia
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
All About Steve
Love Happens
Angels and Demons
Fast and Furious
Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian
Confessions of a Shopaholic
Paul Blart: Mall Cop
Hotel for Dogs
It's Complicated

Less than Average
The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Pink Panther 2

Didn't Like That Much
G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra
The Informant!
Land of the Lost
The Ugly Truth
Made of Honor
Monsters vs. Aliens
He's Just Not That Into You

My Choices for Best (Favorite) and Worst (Least Favorite) of 2009:

Best: State of Play, Where the Wild Things Are, Star Trek

Worst: Made of Honor

2008 Movies -

2008-12-29T18:03:00.000-08:00

My favorite of 2008 - Wall-E and Gran Torino

Worst: The Women

The winners:
Eagle Eye
Secret Life of Bees
Mamma Mia!
Kung Fu Panda
Nim's Island
Iron Man
Wall-E
Yes Man (I saw this one in 2009, but had a great time! a bit long but fun, and funny ending!)
Gran Torino (I saw it in 2009, thought it was a very good movie.)

Honorable Mention:
Horton Hears a Who
Dark Knight
Henry Poole is Here
Bedtime Stories

The mediocrity pool:
Jumper
Drillbit Taylor
Be Kind Rewind
Madagascar 2

The Big time losers:
Four Christmases
My Best Friend's Girl
The Women
Don't Mess with the Zohan
every romantic comedy made in 2008 as far as I could tell

The favorites are in bold!

Marley and Me - good, but I don't like crying at movies. About a family and their difficult dog.

Jumper - forgettable, weak, but okay. About a young man who can instantly transport to any location and people trying to kill anyone with his ability.

Ghost Town - nice, a bit slow now and then, and a bit understated, but kind of refreshing even though it is predictable. About a man who has a near-death experience and sees ghosts who needs his help afterward.

Seven Pounds - good, although we had the whole plot worked out before we sat down. About a man who goes to extremes to try to atone for his role in an accident.

Drillbit Taylor - so-so. About kids who hire a bum as a bodyguard at their school.

Be Kind Rewind - I didn't like it. About guys who film their own short versions of movies after they accidentally erase the entire store stock of VHS videos.

Bedtime Stories - Adam Sandler stars in a movie in which he plays an uncle who tells bedtime stories to his niece and nephew while their mom is away and the stories start coming true. Very nice.

Australia - not bad, a bit too long. About a woman who goes to Australia and takes over her husband's cattle business and falls in love.

Tropic Thunder - okay. About difficult movie stars who are filming a Vietnam war movie and are tricked by being put in real situations to make a better film.

Four Christmases - I thought it was too adult and mean-spirited. About a couple visiting their families for the holidays and deciding to change their relationship.

Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden? - okay. Morgan Spurlock goes to the Middle East and asks a bunch of people if they know where Osama is.

Bolt - Good - see it in 3D Sweet story about a dog who plays a superhero on TV but thinks it is real.

Quantum of Solace - good, not as much as Daniel Craig's first, but still good. About Bond dealing with the aftermath of his love's death and the organization behind it all.

Madagascar 2 - take it or leave it. About the animals trying to go back home but finding love instead.

High School Musical 3 - okay for what it is. A musical about their senior year.

Secret Life of Bees - wonderful movie About a girl who runs away to learn about her mother and finds a new home.

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist - not as good as I hoped. About two teenagers who fall for each other while pretending to be a couple.

Eagle Eye - good, unrealistic but done well enough you can buy-in. Alien is too much like Hal from 2001. About a man and women who are forced into service in a "Big Brother" type scenario, but they discover what is going on and try to set things right.

My Best Friend's Girl - Having trouble remembering it, I think it was very nasty, mean, bad. About a guy who earns money by dating girls after they dump a guy and behaves horribly with them so they will want to go back to the other guy.

The Women - Just a horrible movie, stay away. About a woman who discovers her husband is cheating on her with a beautiful make-up counter girl at a department store.

The Longshots - Nice sweet story about a girl's relationship with her father and uncle and how she becomes a football quarterback.

The House Bunny - Lame. About a playboy bunny ditzo who becomes a house mother at the most cliche nerdy sorority ever.

Henry Poole Is Here - Very different, good. About a depressed man who moves into a home where people think they see a stain on the side of the house in the image of Jesus Christ and keep coming to his house for miracles, much to his consternation.

Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D - Fun. A take on the Jules Verne novel.

Mamma Mia! - Most fun and ridiculousless I had at a movie in years - a guilty pleasure - and no, it doesn't make much sense About a young woman of unknown paternity who is planning to get married and invites all potential fathers to her wedding to try to find out who her father is.

The X Files: I Want to Believe - I hoped for so much more being an X-Files fan. Nothing really paranormal here, really about serial killers and a person surviving by "extreme" organ transplantation.

The Dark Knight - good, of course. About the joker and Two-Face.

Hancock - good movie, but the "plot twist" kind of ruined it for me. About a superhero who doesn't want to be one.

Wall-E - Must see this. About a robot alone on an abandoned Earth until he meets a probe sent to look for life on Earth, falls in love with her, and then follows her back to the mother ship where all remaining humans reside in naive, unhealthy lifestyles.

Get Smart - Enjoyable, nothing Oscar worthy but who cares. A Maxwell Smart and Agent 99 caper.

You Don't Mess with the Zohan - Ugh, stay away from the vulgarity. About an Israeli super soldier/agent who runs away to the U.S. to become a hair-stylist and something much more vulgar.

Kung Fu Panda - Very nice! About a panda who wants to be an elite martial arts expert that is needed to save his village.

What Happens in Vegas - okay, mean-spirited, not as funny as I think the writers hoped, no real chemistry. About two people who get drunk in Vegas, get married on their first meeting, and upon splitting up the next day with plans to divorce win a large jackpot. The judge forces them to live together as man and wife as part of the settlement over the money.

The Andromeda Strain - good TV movie. About a very dangerous pathogen and efforts to save humanity from it.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - okay, a bit disappointing but is similar to previous Indys, just not as fresh. About aliens and Nazis.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - Fine. Based on the novel.

Speed Racer - A bit slow at times, but I loved this movie - you have to watch it understanding it is live-action anime. Based on the old cartoon.

Iron Man - best superhero movie I've seen in a long time Based on the comic book.

The Forbidden Kingdom - nice movie for the family to see About a young man brought to an alternate reality to be a martial arts hero and fix his own life, too.

Leatherheads - I do not like the girl! About the beginnings of a football league in the 1920's or so, when it is a dirty sport with few rules that are adhered to.

Nim's Island - Delightful! Based on the children's book, about a girl left alone on an island when her father goes missing and the neurotic author who tries to save her but is not up to the role.

Horton Hears a Who! - I loved this, too! Based on the Dr. Seuss story.

Penelope - Nice. About a girl with a piggish nose from a curse that only true love can break, in modern fairy-tale style.

Definitely, Maybe - Very nice. About a man trying to explain to his daughter the story of how he and her mother met at a time when they are divorcing.

27 Dresses - so-so. About a woman who has been the maid of honor for 27 weddings but remains single.

Fool's Gold - so-so. About a couple whose relationship and lives are endangered by the pursuit for lost treasure at sea.

Over Her Dead Body - pretty bad. About a ghost-woman who tries to interfere with her fiance's fledgling relationship after she dies.

Late additions:

Babylon A.D. - the story itself is not much of a story - disappointing plot or lack thereof. But there is still Vin Diesel.

Wanted - Lame - they try to make it really cool but the story/writing/plot can't support it. The idea could be cool, but the movie is a waste. The main character is alright, but no one else is - they aren't even characters - not developed enough.

War Inc. - This got some bad reviews but I liked it. I really enjoy John Cusack in just about everything I've seen him in. The satirical message was not lost in the entertainment.

21 - Forgettable film about an MIT genius who is recruited by a slimy professor to count cards in Vegas. I wouldn't give him the Harvard scholarship.

The Great Debaters

2008-01-11T21:10:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to encourage people to get out and see this film. Yes, its overall http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifstoryline is predictable and the debates are a bit canned, but this is a truly important, well-made story. This movie puts you in the shoes of racism and in the cradle of the civil rights movement with very real, human, interesting characters. You'll see some real courage and real horror in this film.

Here's a link to the review.

What was good in 2007?

2007-12-23T10:22:00.000-08:00

I will probably, insha'allah, see one more movie this year - I think my family will see National Treasure 2 next weekend.

I have seen a lot of movies as mom and I go most weekends, but still missed some I would've like to have seen and of course saw some I wish I hadn't.

I believe this is a complete list of what I've seen, in no particular order:

I Am Legend - saw this last weekend. It was well-acted, but the whole zombie thing just isn't my favorite.

Golden Compass - This movie was totally lame, and the agenda of the text author shows.

Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium - I actually really liked this movie, but didn't think I would up front. Very charming, clean.

Enchanted - I liked this, but not quite as much as I wanted to like it.

Fred Claus - Completely forgettable.

Bee Movie - Another forgettable movie.

Dan in Real Life - I liked this much more than I expected to. Most of it is quite awkward but somehow appealing.

Disturbia - Not bad at all for the type of movie it is.

1408 - If you want to see a thriller, this is a great one.

The Simpson's Movie - I didn't have high expectations, but I laughed more at this movie than any I can remember.

Shooter - I liked it.

Spiderman 3 - I thought it was kind of over done, but I still have to like Spidey.

Freedom Writers - I disliked this movie, the teacher made me quite angry from a teacher's perspective. Good idea, but didn't come out well in my eyes.

Stomp the Yard - Okay, not so great.

Ocean's Thirteen - Fine.

The Astronaut Farmer - I really liked this movie.

Wild Hogs - This was enjoyable overall.

Premonition - I hardly remember it, it wasn't that great.

Reign Over Me - This was pretty good.

TMNT - Okay, my nephew wanted to see it. Not easy for an adult to stay awake, but okay.

Blades of Glory - Not bad, totally stupid.

Firehouse Dog - Charming. No great plot, forgettable, but nice.

The Invisible - Okay, kind've hard to remember now.

Georgia Rule - The topic of this movie was unexpected and totally shocking, awful.

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer - I like superhero movies, but of course it isn't one of the best.

Michael Clayton - Well made movie, but soooooooo slow.

The Seeker: The Dark is Rising - Ummmm, plot anyone? Totally a waste of film - too bad because I really wanted to like this.

The Game Plan - Very cute, fun.

Sydney White - I liked the allegory with Snow White, better than I thought but totally typical teen/college movie lame.

The Brave One - My mom really liked this. It is well-made, but honestly I just hated the whole story, it made me too uncomfortable.

Superbad - Embarrassed I saw this one, it was sooooooo raunchy and bad, we didn't realize how bad it was. I did laugh sometimes but mostly I was just ashamed to be there and keeping my eyes and ears closed.

Transformers - A little light on plot but very cool.

The 300 - Much better than I thought, I kind of liked this.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End - I think most of these trilogies become a bit too big by the end, compromising some of the fun and charm. True here, but still not bad.

Norbit - One of the worst, most mean-spirited movies I have ever seen. Nothing that was supposed to be funny was funny, it was just sick!

Ghost Rider - Okay.

Music and Lyrics - Better than expected, it was a good girl's evening out movie.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - Pretty good, but completely flat compared to the books.

Hairspray - Not bad.

The Bourne Ultimatum - For a third of three, it came off well. I love the whole trilogy even though it deviated much from the books.

Rush Hour 3 - We love Jackie Chan, we loved the first Rush Hour. This just should not have been made.

Because I Said So - mediocre, annoying, but moderately satisfying on the chick flick level - only if you don't think too much.

National Treasure 2 - very implausible, but totally fun

The Great Debaters - wonderful and important

The Lookout - very good story, well-written and well-acted, beautiful too

Here are the year's favorites from my perspective:

Bourne Ultimatum
Transformers
Astronaut Farmer
The Great Debaters
The Lookout

And the least favorite:

Norbit
Superbad
Georgia Rule

The Golden Compass

2007-12-09T14:00:00.001-08:00

So I went with mom and nephew this weekend to see The Golden Compass. As with most fantasy, I don't think the movie is as good as the books it is based on.

But for me, there was a bigger problem. This fantasy series by Pullman has some not-so-hidden-agenda to it, but done in a way to apparently attempt to sugar-coat and influence the minds of children who read the books.

Snopes.com verifies my perceptions.
Pullman is an atheist who cannot understand or believe in God and has problems with organized religion.

So, his whole book series is a fantasy about a universe in which organized religion is evil, witches and demons are good, and religion is against reason and free-will. The culmination of the series is when the children destroy the fake God created by the church to control people. In this installment, the church (called the Magisterium) is kidnapping children and torturing them, trying to separate them from their animal-soul-demons so they can be good adults, free from the influences of dust, which connects all the universe together.

I wouldn't mind so much if this were just a genuine fantasy without an agenda. But as blue as Daniel Craig's eyes are and as cool as computer-generated warrior polar bears are, I find myself totally turned off by the veiled promotion of personal anti-religious agendas to the youth through fiction literature.

Sorry

2007-10-05T09:33:00.000-07:00

Well, I've seen lots of movies with my mom but just haven't felt like posting a review, and I see others haven't also. I guess I won't delete the blog for now, because maybe it will be active again. Did anyone see The Kingdom? I'm really not interested in any of those kind of movies.

Alpha Dog

2007-05-10T03:40:00.001-07:00

This movie is split down the middle in terms of critical reviews but I really liked it.  Firstly, the story is true and dramatised a bit, but it shows the mindset of "kids" today.  I say this because of the current culture of instant gratification and getting things NOW and getting a lot of it.  What I kept needing to remind myself during the movie was that these guys were acting all big and mob-like, but they were just kids.

The movie does tend to get a tense toward the end, and I mean really tense if you get involved in it.  But the point is made clearly as to where the mindset and the lifestyle may lead, and people can screw up the rest of their lives even if this movie portrays only one example and consequence of it.  If you see the movie at the ned you can think of a million other things that could go wrong just from the lifestyle these kids lead.

It is definitely not for kids, but the message is important especially for the 16-30 year old crowd.  It is one of the important stories to tell of how modern culture can poison a society.

Peace,

M.

Technorati Tags: Alpha Dog, Movie, Review

Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

2007-05-08T00:12:00.001-07:00

A Wonderful Fairytale intertwined with harsh reality.  This is not the light-hearted Tinkerbell fairytale you might hink it is... It's dark, Tim Burtonish type stuff, and it's beautiful.  It isa bit scary at times, defitniely not for children, might scare the hell out of them, but it has really interesting characters and a really interesting story, like a much darker "Chronicles of Narnia".

The fairytale is intertwined with a story of the Spanish Resistance in Red Spain during WWII.  The themes in the story cover resistance, rebellion, Trust, Ethics of warfare, Parent-Child Relationships, Imagination.

I highly recommend it, it is VERY Cool. A sort of Alice in Wonderland for grown-ups.  It is very captivating and I was enthralled for the entire time I watched it.  A Search for something greater amongst the obstacles of Darkness and Evil... and standing for something greater than yourself.  I loved the juxtaposition of the evils of torture and war set against the imagination of a child.

The movie is Spanish with English Subtitles and it got a 96% rating at Rotten Tomatoes.

I highly recommend it. :)

Peace,

M.

Reign on Me

2007-03-23T22:05:00.000-07:00

This movie stars Adam Sandler and Don Cheadle.

Don Cheadle's character runs into his old college roommate, played by Adam Sandler. Adam Sandler's character had lost his wife and daughters in the 9/11 tragedy and has suffered mental illness ever since. He has no family left, and has cut himself off from everyone. But, he welcomes Don's character back into his life because he had known him before the tragedy, not after.

We find in this movie that everyone has issues, not just the "mentally ill". It is a beautiful movie, one of Adam Sandler's best roles to date, and another great job by Don Cheadle. Don Cheadle plays one of the nicest characters in movie history in this story, I think.

Even though this is a beautiful and good movie, I doubt I would want to see it again, because some movies are too "real" for me, even if they're not exactly real.

As a whole, the movie did not dwell on the terrorism of 9/11. However, there was one tiny scene that bugged me. When Adam's character is finally starting to talk about his family again for the first time in years, he turns on the news and they elevating the terror alert for something, and then he turns the channel and they are showing young girls in hijab cheering while people burn the American flag. I know that stuff can really happen but I found it so cliche and giving the same stereotype of Islam and Muslims all over again. I forgave it however because the rest of the movie did not disparage Muslims or bring them up in anyway.

This is not a comedy and not for kids due to the serious nature of the content and some foul language.

Babel

2007-03-23T15:11:00.000-07:00

I liked this movie simply because it showed the dynamics of humanity, regardless of how far apart we are, we are all fundamentally the same. The movie covers a Moroccan family, focusing on the actions of the two sons who have just learnt to use a rifle for the purposes of shooting jackal which attack their sheep; An American husband and wife touring Morocco trying to overcome a family tragedy; A South American nanny who needs to get to her sons wedding; and a Japanese father and he's deaf daughter who's finding it hard living life deaf.

All these different families, having their own problems unfurl, and all of them inextricably linked together by a single action. The dynamics of humanity are covered both intimately and explored from a larger social perspective as well.

It does contain some bad language and nudity, not for kids, but very interesting in subject matter for adults.

M.

Notes on a Scandal

2007-03-23T15:06:00.000-07:00

This movie stars Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett. The acting is the best I have ever seen with both of these stars giving really really good performances. In terms of the story line, it's about an average woman who decides to become a school teacher and becomes sexually involved with one of her students. Another teacher, whom she has befriended finds out about this and uses it to her advantage.

Judi Dench plays a great part here as the social parasite posing as a friend. The subject matter is definitely not for kids though, but explores adult themes of friendship and boundaries in our lives.

M.

Wild Hogs

2007-03-19T15:03:00.000-07:00

This movie stars a set of popular actors including John Travolta, Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence, and William H. Macy as men who are life-long friends having simultaneous mid-life crises. They've always rode motorcycles together as a hobby and decide to go on a road trip to the Pacific coast and back.

Along the way, they run into troubles with a hoodlum motorcycle gang, become heroes of a small town, and work out some of their mid-life issues.

There are several hijinx jokes throughout the story.

This movie is pretty funny, but it would've been a lot funnier if I hadn't already seen at least half of the good jokes in previews. It is not very memorable or important and I would recommend it as a DVD more so than a night at the theater.

Content - there are some foul language scenes, fighting scenes, and some sexual situations in the movie.

Ghost Rider

2007-03-03T09:47:00.000-08:00

This is a Marvel Comics movie on the character The Ghost Rider, starring Nicolas Cage.

It has a very Catholic view of good vs. evil in the same vein as movies like The Order: The Sin Eater (with Heath Ledger).

It is also very much a comic book movie - totally implausible, silly-but-taking-itself-seriously and over the top in animation of the evil faces, etc.

Aside from the fact that he never really willingly sold his soul to the Devil and that the Devil does not seem to be as evil as his son, Mephestopheles (a bit blasphemous there!), the story is about a boy who makes a deal to try to save his father's life and ends up being the Devil's Bounty Hunter. He behaves very recklessly as a stunt motorcycle rider, trying to find out if he has any control over his own fate or if the Devil keeps him alive. Then, the Devil calls on him to get rid of his son and his son's buddies, apparently a challenge to his power - or something like that - it didn't make complete sense.

From a religious stand point, I think there is some objection to the personification of Satan and these ridiculous notions of how evil works, etc. But it is after all, a ridiculous comic book fantasy. 10-year-old boys like my nephew will like it, but is it good for them? Harmless? I don't know.

At least Nicolas Cage showed that his character was wanting to find the right path and regretted any past 'mistakes'.

The Astronaut Farmer

2007-03-03T09:43:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we saw The Astronaut Farmer. The basic premise is an ex-astronaut-contender rancher builds a rocket in his shed and decides to launch himself into space with the help of his loyal and charming family but against the wishes of the government.

The story runs a bit slow at time but is overall a very nice tale and the movie contains nothing particularly objectionable in content aside from seeing people drink beer. Billy Bob Thornton does a very good job deadpanning this role. And the two little girls playing his very young daughters are cute as buttons.

A few thoughts that ran through my mind while watching this movie, aside from the implausibility of this fantasy (but that's okay), were thoughts about how his family worked together. Here was a man who was quite possibly insane and on the verge of destroying his family over an obsession to go into space. Yet his family loved him very much and supported him in his obsession/dream because they believed in him when no one else did.

Music and Lyrics

2007-02-21T20:44:00.000-08:00

This movie stars Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore.

It is a non-memorable but cute romantic comedy. Hugh Grant is a has-been 80's band pop-star (think Wham!) doing gigs like state fairs. Drew Barrymore is a lady hired to water his plants. Hugh Grant gets an offer to write a duet with a Christina Aguilera or Britney Spears type, and while he is working on it Drew shows up and shows an aptitude for creating lyrics. So, the two end up writing the song together and falling in love, so on and so forth.

I did laugh at the 80's pop song video done VH1 pop-up video style. My 4th grade nephew, who had had his heart set on watching Ghost Rider (which was sold out), apparently liked this movie well enough anyway because in the car ride on the way home he was overheard singing and humming the two main songs from the movie.

The major moral downfalls of the movie are the Hollywood typical fall in love in one night and have sex right away stuff. But at least they spared showing all the details. And the Christina Aguilera type girl walks around half-naked. And then there is the whole Islamic take on music itself which there are lots of different opinions on. But compared to some of the fare I've seen recently, this movie comes off as mostly harmless albeit not very memorable.

Norbit

2007-02-10T10:05:00.000-08:00

This story is about an innocent orphan who ends up married to a very large, mean woman whose brothers are crime thugs. They use him to try to take over the orphanage where he and his childhood sweetheart grew up, preventing her from taking it over and turning it into a strip joint/bar.

This is supposed to be a comedy, but mainly it is just disgusting. There is excessive bad language in this movie. Every gag is about sex or racism or a fat joke. It is isn't funny most of the time, just gross and sad, and it is too raunchy and mean to be rated PG-13.

Yes, Eddie Murphy is talented, but this movie is nasty.

Because I Said So

2007-02-05T20:02:00.000-08:00

This movie starring Mandy Moore and Diane Keaton is about a single mother's attempt to set up her daughter with a intended-future-spouse without her knowing, to keep the daughter from becoming like the mother - alone in old age.

This is definitely a comedy, but it seemed to me it should've been rated R for highly suggestive sexual content. My nephew and nieces were at the movie with me and mom when we saw this and we were totally embarrassed that they were there, although we still laughed hysterically at times. There are references to private parts by name, simulated sex (with clothes on), and frank discussion about sexual topics like orgasms.

The Freedom Writers

2007-01-30T18:57:00.000-08:00

This movie is based on a true story. It is about students under forced integration living in desperate circumstances in a time and place of poverty and gang violence. Racism strongly divides the students and education is the least of their concerns. Teachers have given up on them and strive mainly to warehouse them.

A naive optimistic teacher finds ways to inspire the students and give them hope along with genuine opportunity for education through journaling and reading that they relate to, and building classroom community. She gives her whole life to the class at the expense of her marriage and two part time jobs to support her supply needs for her day job.

Union teachers are given a bad rap here as anti-reform and out of touch - not an accurate depiction as a generalization.

There is a strong anti-racism message. The movie has a good overall message but is a bit sappy and yes, I do think unrealistic in terms of mass application.

The Departed

2007-01-08T06:33:00.000-08:00

I've always loved Scorses flicks and why he still hasn't won an Oscar is beyond me, I wouldn't put it passed petty politics though.

The movie plays out in typical Scorsese style, but this time it's Boston, not his native New York where he bases most of this work. The movie is SO Gangster... and it has all the usual elements, love, betrayal, confrontation, deception all beautifully put together like an orchestral masterpiece and so reminiscent of a Shakesperean tragedy.

The acting is superb, all the players: Leonardo Di Caprio, Jack Nicholson and Matt Damon, work extremely well together as well as on their own. The direction is a brilliant mix of old and new, making it typically Scorsese but very refreshing, very different.

The movie isn't anything you would expect. The learnings however are interesting because the story line mostly revolves around deception and infiltration of the good guys by the bad guys and vice versa. Inevitably the entanglement and complex nature of all the characters makes you sometimes root for the bad guy and sometimes question the good guys... All in all it leaves you questioning around the nature of loyalty and how far a person would go to keep their loyalty to someone else.

It's something definitlely adult, not in the sense of nudity, but in the nature of the story, the violence, the language and the subject matter at hand. You have to note that all these elements, however, are only there to reflect the reality of the context the movie is set in.

Utter Brilliance.

M.

The Prestige Trailer

2007-01-02T18:37:00.000-08:00

The Prestige movie trailer - I think it's a great trailer!

Best and Worst of 2006

2007-01-01T14:09:00.000-08:00

This site has a list of most of the movies released (not counting foreign films, some of the smaller Indys, etc.): MovieWeb

There were several movies I liked in 2006, several that were okay or mediocre and one that I hated. There are sure to be both better and worse movies in '06 that I just didn't see.

My #1 favorite movie of 2006 is

1. The Prestige

Runners up are, in order:

2. Invincible
3. Casino Royale
4. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
5. Akeelah and the Bee

And the worst movie I saw this year:
1. Little Miss Sunshine

I'll refrain from talking about each for now, aside from saying critics loved Little Miss Sunshine but I thought it was awful. I don't see a lot of movies that I pretty much have a miserable time watching because I usually can pick them out first and avoid them, but I went to see this one without having heard much about it except that critics liked it but yuck!

And The Prestige, it isn't perfect, but it was something different, dark, and thrilling, with a nod in it to my home town and my favorite insane scientist Nikola Tesla. Invincible is a Disney movie but tells a great true story, Pirates of the Carribean is exciting and fun, and Akeelah and the Bee is light but delightful.

Chime in - what are your favorites and least favorites?

Night at the Museum

2006-12-22T21:26:00.000-08:00

Ben Stiller plays a divorced father with shared custody of his son who feels like he has to compete for his son's respect with mom's new boyfriend. He has had trouble finding his way since the divorce, with several failed career moves and financial troubles. He turns to a job agency to get him a job, any job, when his son tells him maybe he should quit trying to do something extraordinary because maybe he is just an ordinary guy who should go get a job. He is sent to the museum of natural history to be a night watchman.

His first night on the job, he undergoes a trial by fire, and he finds out it is nothing like he expected. Before long, he and his son both find out it is his chance to do something extraordinary and be someone great in the eyes of his son after all.

This is a PG rated film that is very family safe and friendly. It is just a tad corny from an adult perspective but very fun and enjoyable and full of amusing imagination and good clean humor. It promotes family values, interest in learning, and working together. I believe it will do well at the box office and will become a minor family classic for the next few years due to the small number of interesting films with a PG rating.

Flags of Our Fathers

2006-12-18T02:39:00.000-08:00

A film which covers the turning point for the US in World War II where public support for the war was waning, cash was running low, and how the entire situation changed by a single picture... of soldiers putting up the American flag in Iwojima. Now I know it sounds like a propaganda movie, however it is actually quite an effective assessment of the complexity of war on the ground.

It also looks at the concept of heroism and how the hypocrisy is exposed when soldiers who were in the field are suddenly woven into the war-propaganda-machine. The film is highly critical of how war is sold to the public, the manipulation of emotions, the use of images, words and imagery, all to glorify and promote the good work the soldiers are doing "over there". It does shed light on the truth that there is nothing honorable in killing or being killed.

The acting is pretty good and so is the Directing (Clint Eastwood). The war scenes do look a little like Saving Private Ryan, but then again, it is produced by Steven Spielberg... so expect lotsa blood, lotsa CGI, but it all looks pretty real, nonetheless.

Overall, a good movie to watch albeit not so much for entertainment value than education value. I recommend this one :)

Peace,
M.

P.S. There is a sister movie "Letters from Iwo Jima", this will be out in 2007.

Tags: Flags of Our Fathers, Clint Eastwood, Steven Spielberg, Letters from Iwo Jima, War

The Pursuit of Happyness

2006-12-16T10:16:00.000-08:00

Mom and I went to see this movie last night.

My 4th-grader nephew was with us. For him, it was a bit serious and a bit long, but he said he guessed it was alright. :)

This is "inspired" by a portion of the life of Chris Gardner. If you Google him, you can read about him and get some ideas of the Hollywood liberties taken with the true story. Not nearly as drastically different as the changes Disney made to the "real" story to make Eight Below, but a few differences are to be expected. This is a San Francisco Chronicle article that would give you a good taste.

First of all, it must be said that Will Smith and his son Jaden Christopher Syre Smith both do remarkable acting jobs in this film. Will Smith's Golden Globe nomination for this role is well-deserved. The quality acting really carries the story.

Another strength to this movie is that a person sitting in the audience will, for a brief while at least, really have an inkling of what it feels like to be homeless - and that is something we could all benefit from, to gain empathy of those in need, and perhaps a bit of compassion. Although it is not made a point in the story, if one pays attention, we also see something of the choices people make and the emotions involved that put them in such a dire situation and how they deal with it - how pride can hurt a man and his family and also help them. Thankfully, the telling is neither sapped over nor sensationalized -it feels genuine. But make no mistake that when you think things are bad they can get worse. The audience knew the ending would be a happy one and what a happy one it was, but when Chris Gardner was homeless with his two-year-old son (in the movie, his son is five) he didn't have the luxury of knowing that - he just had the dream.

A weakness is that the story runs long and you start to feel the point has been run into the ground, but it is still compelling. At times, you may find yourself questioning some of the choices made by the hero - could he have done more to improve his situation with a son involved if he swallowed a bit of pride? If you read up on the real Chris, you may find that in some instances he did do more but still had to endure some dark dark nights. On the other hand, you might get through the whole story and not think about it until afterwards - did he have family he could've gone to, friends, church? In truth, not everyone has these lifelines and some just can't bring themselves to ask for help when they need it. He is presented as a hero, but a fully human one who makes mistakes.

Did he have faith in God to pull him through? The real Chris has said a few things to suggest he believes he has a close line to Jesus, as he said, " Jesus loves me. He only likes you.' I don't know him to tell if he intended some humor in there, but he definitely maintains his pride.

From a Muslim perspective, there is a lot going for this movie - to learn about homelessness and feel a bit of it is a good thing. And as a Muslim I found myself thinking about would I trust God and keep faith if everything were taken from me? Would I hold and take solace in the belief that I am in God's care? Would I manage the balance between putting faith in God in desperate times and trying to improve my situation without losing my integrity? I suspect that no one really knows how they will respond to desperate situations until they are in them.

Casino Royale

2006-12-01T21:54:00.000-08:00

Well, I think over the years I've seen every James Bond film at one point or another, or pretty close to it.

I had no idea what to expect of this film or the new Bond. I had seen a few previews and was mildly interested. But I came out a big fan of the latest film, which brings new life to the genre.

That being said, I think Daniel Craig is probably the best of all the actors to play James Bond so far. This movie is better and different than the Bond movies of the past 10 or 15 years. It is an origin story - it is about James Bond's first mission as 007. It shows him as being more physical than other Bonds and more human - and that makes him much more intriguing. This version Bond, said to be truer to Ian Fleming's vision, is also capable of more intelligent dialogue. Mr. Craig is a talented actor, and it shows.

The "Bond girl" in this film is also different than others. She is more intelligent than most, contributes more to the plot, and actually has a genuine emotional impact on Bond, although I found the love story to have a bit of weakness to it. It wouldn't be a James Bond movie if the women weren't all "eye candy" - the objectification of women is toned down here compared to some previous films as the women are somewhat more empowered, and double entendres are at a minimum here, but there is a certain expectation of Bond movies that does not go unmet.

"M"'s interaction with Bond in this film is far more interesting than any I can remember from other films. Dame Judi Densch actually has at least a little occasion to demonstrate her acting ability with a real character this time.

The villain in this one, however, was weak and uninspiring, and only mildly interesting. He wasn't the real villain anyway, but by the end of the film Bond seems ready to move up the ladder to tackle some of the bigger fish.

Techno gimmicks and gadgets are not the drivers in this story - a few are present but they are appropriate rather than expensive attempts to wow an audience with the latest and greatest. Instead, the audience is quickly grabbed by a stunning opening action sequence including a memorable display of free running, and the action remains very good throughout.

There are some slow parts in the film and a few mini-twists that might strike as ridiculous but nothing to make you look at your watch or not buy in to the story as a whole. This is a satisfying movie and I hope to see another one with the new Bond Daniel Craig, building on a good beginning here. If you haven't been a fan of other Bond movies, this one could change your mind - unless your disdain is in response to the omnipresent sex and violence of the genre - in that case, stay away.

PG-13 is an appropriate rating, although there are a few particular scenes of violence that are not for the squeamish. Nudity (in a particular Abu-Ghraib-ish torture scene, of Daniel Craig - not so much of the females beyond the typical skin-baring $1000 prom dresses), sexual situations, and violence make this, of course, not a "family film".

Gangster No.1 (2000)

2006-11-29T22:16:00.001-08:00

This is a bit of an old movie, and is directed by Paul McGuigan (Same guy who directed Lucky Number Slevin) however, the two movie's have a sort of polarity in terms of the message they deliver. Both have the theme of Revenge, but where Lucky Number Slevin glorifies the act of revenge, Gangster No.1 shows its utter futility.

Malcolm Mcdowell plays "Gangster 55" an aged head gangster who retells his past and how he came to be in his current situation. Paul Bettany plays a young "gangster 55" and looks eerily like how Malcolm McDowell looked when he starred as the protagonist in the Stanley Kubrick Classic, A Clockwork Orange, in his younger days.

If you look at the movie from an Islamic perspective it does make you question your goals in life... What exactly are you looking to achieve by the actions you commit today? In the movie, all that is glorified in the beginning and looks so Shiny and Brilliant is shown to be a mirage and when the protagonist finally gets to the top, the view is a dull and dreary life of nothing to look for in the past and nothing hopeful in the future. So from an Islamic perspective... the movie does show you the farce of chasing anything material as the ultimate attainment and the ultimate destination.

The movie is definitely not for kids though, a mature audience is preferred if you really want to discuss the crux of the subject matter. I would consider a this a classic movie, somewhere near the top of Gangster and Mafia movies like Goodfella's and The Godfather, but with a different and more attuned message than those movies.

Warning: Rated R, It has strong brutal violence, pervasive language, and brief drug use and nudity.

The Guardian

2006-10-01T17:01:00.000-07:00

This movie stars Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher. It is a story of Coast Guard rescue swimmers. If this movie gets it right, being a rescue is one of the most hardest, dangerous and heroic jobs of all time and place.

Kevin Costner plays arguably the greatest rescue swimmer of all time on the downside of his career, struggling with recent tragedy. He gets sent to teach recruits for awhile to get him out of the water. In Ashton Kutcher's character, he finds someone much like himself, someone with the potential to carry the torch.

At the end of the movie, some choices are made and you can decide for yourself if Ashton's character carried the torch the way Kevin's wanted to but couldn't. And you'll be left with respect and awe for rescue swimmers.

This movie promotes the ideal of saving lives and at times while watching it I was reminded of the Islamic teaching that saving a life is like saving all of humanity.....

Volver

2006-09-14T14:59:00.000-07:00

Watching this, it is clear that Penelope Cruz has been completely wasted by Hollywood.

Her Hollywood career may be a clutch of dull flops, yet in this she is incandescent, her character utterly believable and involving

The basic plot of Volver is two sisters dealing with the death of their mother, but of course, this being an Almodavar film, subjects such as murder, incest and adultery are also featured.

The beauty of Almodovar is that such issues are handled without ever being sensationalised. More then this, his protagonists have a realness to them, they feel like people you've met. Wonderful.

Akeelah and the Bee

2006-09-01T21:08:00.000-07:00

This is one of the nicest movies I've seen in a long time. I think everyone should see it, especially with their children. Good for all ages.

Accepted

2006-08-20T04:11:00.000-07:00

This movie is about several kids who do not get accepted into college. To avoid facing their parents' disappointment, they end up creating a college of their own. It starts with a fake acceptance letter, then a fake website, then a fake campus, and when the website was accidentally made functional, they suddenly have a bunch of students show up at the fake campus for orientation and end up trying to run a real college, albeit a very unorthodox one.

This movie is pretty standard fare but enjoyable. It does promote fraud as "creativity" in a way and general irresponsibility, misuse of parents' money, and so on to a point, etc., but it is pretty obvious even to a young viewer that what they are doing is stupid.

Snakes on a Plane

2006-08-19T19:06:00.000-07:00

Nasty, nasty film.

Not recommended unless you want to see people being bitten in horrible places by the aforementioned snakes, and subsequently dying a most unpleasant death.

Miami Vice

2006-08-15T17:40:00.000-07:00

This is definitely not a family or kids movie.

And it isn't nearly as fun or even as cool as the television series.

The plot revolves around some sophisticated crime and some stupid and not-believable gratuitious lust. It is a violent movie - reminds me of the violent rated R movies so common a decade ago.

I didn't hate it but I didn't love it, it was just kind of there, it was kind of interesting and quite dark.

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

2006-08-15T17:38:00.000-07:00

The humor in this movie involves bad language, abusive behavior of children toward elders, and sex.

There is some more benign humor as well.

I didn't find this movie really all that funny. I like stupid movies if they are funny, but for me this one wasn't really, and I was embarrassed that my nieces were watching it.

Pirates of the Caribbean II

2006-07-30T23:38:00.000-07:00

Not writing a review, but just thought I'd see if we could discuss.

I thought this movie was just plain good fun. What did others think?

Click

2006-07-01T15:50:00.000-07:00

Mom, Laura, me and the kids went to see Click tonight. It has some standard Adam Sandler humor in it, but it is pretty different than a lot of his previous movies. There is a moral to this story big time and it made me cry. It is a really sweet story. Man, Adam Sandler movies always have such nostalgic music in them that make me think of my childhood..... But, that's not what brings tears, you'd have to see it yourself, I would recommend it. Some of the humor is just a bit mature (or maybe immature) so you might want to preview it before taking your kids.

Here's one of its favorable reviews (not everyone liked it, of course):

REVIEW
Fast-forwarding through life is fun. But it can also give a guy pause.
- Mick LaSalle, Chronicle Movie Critic
Friday, June 23, 2006

Click: Comedy-drama. Starring Adam Sandler and Kate Beckinsale. Directed by Frank Coraci. (PG-13. 115 minutes. At Bay Area theaters.)

Maybe Adam Sandler and his team intended to make a serious movie, and maybe they didn't, but in "Click" they've made one, all right, one of the best American films of the year so far. The filmmakers take what might have been just a gimmicky premise and pursue it meticulously, following wherever it leads. Along the way, they create a shrewd and moving metaphor for the way people live their lives in 21st century America.
That Sandler should appear in one of the year's best movies is astonishing enough. What's more astonishing is that he's good in it. For once he doesn't play a self-satisfied imbecile that we're supposed to regard as a savant, or a complacent slob who's right and everybody else is wrong. Instead, he's an ambitious family man, a talented architect who is slaving at the office and putting in late hours in the hope of someday making partner and achieving financial security.

With all the pressures at work, he finds himself resenting his family obligations as suffocating, even though his wife (Kate Beckinsale) is loving and accommodating, his kids are adorable, and his parents (Henry Winkler and Julie Kavner) are no trouble at all. He wants to work and get ahead and then finally start living, and soon he gets a chance to put his wishes into action.

He goes to the store to buy a universal remote for all his home electronics and is given a brand-new one by a mysterious inventor. The fact that the inventor is played by Christopher Walken should give him pause, but it doesn't, so he takes it home. There he finds that it not only works on the television but that he can use it to silence a barking dog. When he has to walk his dog, he can fast-forward through the boring parts. He can even fast-forward through a spat with his wife.

The seductiveness of the remote works on the audience as well as on the character, which is the beauty of the conceit. Who wouldn't want to fast-forward through a traffic jam? Or fast-forward through desk work? I'm five paragraphs into this review and would be very tempted to fast-forward ahead four paragraphs. But if we had the power to bypass every bit of labor, tedium or unpleasantness in our lives, how much would we actually bother to live? And how much would we lose as a result of not experiencing the process of living? Maybe a lot, or everything.

The point "Click" is making is simple but sharp and effective: That's what many of us are doing, even without the remote control, just going through the motions, digging in, pursuing our goals in the time-honored American way, but so fixated that we're barely present. The movie makes a crucial distinction, one that turns "Click" into a near-great movie instead of a routine piece of garbage: When our hero, Michael (Sandler), presses that remote, he doesn't change reality. He only changes his own perception of it. Thus, when he hits fast-forward, things aren't really going faster, but rather his consciousness is going away and then returning at a later point in time. The joke isn't on everybody else. The joke is on him.

While everyone else, for example, is experiencing a family dinner, he's floating through it on autopilot, functioning but not present. In that way, the magical premise becomes, for writers Steve Koren and Mark O'Keefe, not an end in itself, but the jumping-off point for a story about the consequences of the autopilot approach to life.

The magical element creates opportunities for visual flourishes, which the movie executes with aplomb. In the flashback scenes, live action is mixed with computer graphics to make Winkler and Kavner appear to be in their 30s. In scenes of the future, the 2020s are accounted for by differences in interior design, car design and license plates. Everything is handled with subtlety and intelligence, enhancing the story without calling attention to itself.

The remote is basically a DVD remote, with a menu that pops up as a hologram around the protagonist, another nice visual effect. The menu is for the DVD that's his life, for the life story that he's in the process of creating. That, in itself, is an interesting metaphor, because it speaks to a belief in self-improvement, a faith that life can be made into something magnificent -- and a concomitant narcissism that can infect such naive confidence. It's much more of an American than a European thing to see one's life as a movie.

Director Frank Coraci seamlessly blends comedy and drama, finding the right balance by ignoring genre convention and just telling the story. He gets a performance out of Sandler that I didn't know he had in him.

-- Advisory: Crude humor, sexual situations.

E-mail Mick LaSalle at mlasalle@sfchronicle.com.

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URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/06/23/DDGENJI4UT1.DTL

©2006 San Francisco Chronicle

Paradise Now

2006-05-31T22:13:00.000-07:00

So Netflix finally got around to sending me this flick, and we had a nice family viewing of it.

Summary from the official website:

"PARADISE NOW" follows two Palestinian childhood friends who have been recruited for a strike on Tel Aviv and focuses on their last days together. When they are intercepted at the Israeli border and separated from their handlers, a young woman who discovers their plan causes them to reconsider their actions.

This is the Palestinian response to Munich. Not literally, of course, but it tackles many of the same issues Munich tried to in describing the characters and lives of people who are willing to kill for their country. The two friends volunteered to become suicide bombers as long as they would be able to die together. The leader of the resistance group contacts them suddenly, telling them that they've been selected for an attack the next day. They get one last night with their families, whom they're not even allowed to tell about their plans or even say goodbye to.

The one important difference in the two films is that there is not one violent scene in the entirety of Paradise Now (except for a brief scuffle between the two friends). The genius of this film is that it is able to convey a human real-ness that you would expect to be impossible to find in a movie about two would-be suicide bombers. One of the key factors to that relatability is the presence of Suha, the daughter of a famed martyr who was raised in Morocco (aka Maghreb). She brings the "Western" point of view into the story, or at least the idealistic version of it. Her dialogue contains all the thoughts of every Western (Muslim or otherwise) sympathizer to the Palestinian cause: Suicide bombing cannot be the only solution. This cannot truly be a moral war until the violence stops on one end.

It's a film that definitely makes you think. Especially when given the main characters' responses to these points. Khaled says, "We are already dead. And I would rather go to that heaven than live in this hell." Said's position gives a broader insight into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "They say that they are the victims. If the oppressors have become the victims, then the victims must become murderers." (I'm paraphrasing because I don't remember the exact quote)

The one thing that's missing in this movie is a motive. We are given some personal motivations for these two specific characters, but they seem a little flimsy. There is no singular event (as there was in Munich with the death of the Olympic team) that seems to trigger the desire to kill for their country. Or at least it isn't shown to us. The film presents the conflict as a feud that has been running for generations and neither side really knows how it started anymore.

The best quality of the film was it's presentation of likeable characters. Despite knowing that they are suicide bombers in the making, you feel like these guys could have been your friends, the kind who you sit around and smoke hookah with and talk about your crappy jobs. It made me sad about the Palestinian conflict in a way I haven't felt since they released that footage of the Palestinian boy being shot by Israeli gunfire right before his father's eyes.

All in all, it's a movie worth taking 90 minutes to watch.

Brokeback Mountain

2006-04-04T01:28:00.000-07:00

finally got around to writing one of these.. (sorry Masooma!)

I am probably one of very few Muslims who actually went out and paid money to watch this movie, but as a self-proclaimed movie buff, I felt it necessary to defend my title. My first mistake was in not realizing that this was, after all, a cowboy movie. I don't like cowboy movies. Second, I'm not a big fan of sappy romance either. There's two strikes. I'm just presenting you with my biases before I let you know what I really thought.

The opening was very slow. Pretty much a staring contest between two very good looking men (if I do say so myself) which wasn't too bad from an eye-candy point-of-view but rather pointless and boring, in general. The two men are looking for jobs and end up tending sheep on Brokeback Mountain together and slowly fall into love (or lust, depending on your definition). They have the talkative and sensitive Jack Twist (the classic 'wife') and the quiet and reserved Ennis (the dominant partner). The fact that the writers so cleanly classified certain behaviors as masculine or feminine was rather irritating for me from a feminist point-of-view. Later, when they part ways and end up marrying women and raising families, Jack is shown as an ineffectual husband, and a person with a weak will and it is implied that this is because he is 'feminine' or subordinate and needs a "man" to support him.

They did try to avoid any stereotypical 'gay' behavior, though (as far as cleanliness, fashion sense or show tunes are involved) and kept any explicit scenes between the two men to a minimum. The two love scenes were mostly in the dark and only about a minute or two long each though there were about 4 or 5 kissing scenes. There were love scenes between each man and his wife as well which were considerably more graphic.

The story and plot were lacking, but the acting was very well done. Ennis' wife (played by Michelle Williams from Dawson's Creek) does an exceptional job in creating a sympathetic female character in this movie centered around the love between two men. The dialogue could have used some work too. "I wish I knew how to quit you"? Delivered in a Texan accent?? Save me from the cheese. PLEASE.

And with all romantic films there must, of course, be some tragic angst because we all know that true love was never meant for senior citizens. All in all, this film played out like any 90's drama romance (like Legends of the Fall or Before Sunrise) with the female lead substituted for a male instead. I didn't find anything orginal about the story or anything that might create a precedent or establish a brand new genre for any other films about 'alternate lifestyles'.

As you can tell, I can't understand why it would win (or even be nominated) for Best Picture or Best Screenplay, but I will admit that it wasn't quite as bad as I thought it would be.

For a more entertaining film about an unconventional love affair, I suggest Memoirs of a Geisha.

Munich

2006-03-26T23:16:00.000-08:00

I hated Munich. Because of all of the hype about the film I was looking forward to something new, perhaps even something slightly balanced. A very convenient controversy indeed. Zionists saying that Munich is unbalanced in favor of Palestine seems to legitimize the "non-bias" of the film. I had high hopes considering the hullabaloo. Was Zionist criticism of Munich just a ploy, my inner voice asks. Supposedly, Munich actually showed some sensitivity to Palestinian history and to what occurs in Occupied Palestine to this very day, which made pro-Zionists mad. Exactly which part of Munich was sensitive towards Palestine, I don't know. The film should have been titled “Nearly Three Hours of American Zionist Propaganda.”

The synopsis: Terror prone Palestinians force moral, righteous Israeli Jews to lose their humanity since Israelis must use unscrupulous tactics to fight and kill Palestinians.

Storyline: Some crazy multiple necklace wearing, Seventies Afro-sporting, side burned Palestinian terrorists, unorganized and whacky-disco looking as they are, take hostage some buff, brave Israeli Olympians in Munich in 1972. Everyone present dies, and moral and righteous Golda Meier commissions a hit squad to bump off the Palestinians thought to have had a hand in organizing the Munich incident. The clothes and scenery are so authentic to the Seventies that it actually brings you there down the pant leg of a pair of bell bottoms. An Israeli pant leg, not a Palestinian one. There was no cohesive explanation of how or why Palestinians would do such an ugly thing. Something about releasing prisoners whom Israel holds for security reasons, mentioned in a sentence long news clip. No light shed on the Zionist colonization of a land that had already belonged to someone else. Scarce mention of Palestinian refugees and the endless calculated Israeli military aggression.

We meet Avner, a hot looking, muscular, side burn sporting Israeli husband and father, and watch him and his hit squad pals lose their humanity and sanity as they compromise their Jewish moral values by being circumstantially forced to kill some shady Palestinians. Among the shady Palestinians are a well-spoken professor, a bitter to be in exile bourgeois dad, and a chatty, red-checked headdress and disco-suit wearing man who gabs with strangers on hotel balconies. All of these Palestinians give the impression that they are thoroughly intelligent and likeable guys. But of course, you can’t trust a Palestinian since even those in sheep’s clothing are wolves. These sophisticated, articulate, seemingly normal men are all secretly involved in terrorism. The message is less than subtle. The film is balanced only by the fact that one of the Israeli hit squad members has a little Afro-puff, too.

Throughout the film we get huge doses of Zionist propaganda: Palestine didn’t exist as a nation state before Israel was created. Palestine is just a bunch of olive trees in rocky soil so why do Palestinians want their land back so badly? Just give it up, you sods! Why don’t other Arab nations absorb the Palestinian people? Other Arabs don’t give a crap about Palestine and they only care about Israel because they hate Jews so much. Palestinians want to see Israel destroyed. Jews need a homeland. Jews need a homeland even more because of the Holocaust. Palestinian resistance to Israel has parallels to what happened to Jews during the Holocaust. Even Europe hated its Jews, so Israel is the only answer to keeping Jews safe. Jews outside of Israel are homeless Jews. Palestinians are fighting for Palestine because of some illegitimate esoteric notion of homeland, when it is Jews who really need a homeland in Israel. The Israeli government is ultimately good and hates having its arm twisted into the dirty job of occupation, expulsion, oppression, and murder of Palestinians. Palestinians are terrorists. Israel is likeable; Israelis are recognizably Western and good. Palestine is abhorrent; Palestinians are distastefully foreign and bad.

Basically, this is more of the same ole' same ole’ message that Zionists have been propagating for decades. Unfortunately since average American audiences never get an alternative message to this one, Munich is just reinforcement propaganda. Note that the film, which has been called “balanced,” only gives one line snippets and sound bytes from the Palestinian perspective, but gives hours of Israeli propaganda. Where-oh- where was the Palestinian side of the story in this movie? If this film were truly balanced it would have also addressed the story of Palestine from a Palestinian perspective and perhaps shown more than a single clip of the Arab land. Aside from a couple of scenes of the Palestinian reaction to the hostage crisis in Munich at the beginning of the film, and the men assassinated by the Israeli hit squad, there are NO Palestinians in the entire film. But the film was supposedly lauded as being balanced? Wait, there was a Palestinian perspective. One of the assassinated Palestinian guys, the only hot looking Afro-free one, is used as a manipulative tool. He, the film’s Palestinian voice, is used to reiterate the same ole’ same ole’ message of Zionist propaganda mentioned above. I know there aren’t a lot of good cash making roles for Arab dudes in Hollywood, even cute dudes like the one who played that character. But Arab dudes in Hollywood, how can you accept such roles and further the Zionist cause? Where the heck are your ethics?

Speaking of ethics, according to Munich, only Israelis really have them, and Avner struggles with losing his. Near to the end of the film there is this really grotesque sex scene that should have been edited out. Basically, Avner is bombarded with images of what must have happened in Munich at the Olympics while going at it with his spouse. The scene was icky, eeewh, gross, bleh, disgusting, simulation of rape-like, and just plain weird. It was supposed to symbolize how Avner has lost his ability to connect with his wife and family due to his experience as an assassin. This was the toll of the conflict on his personal life. Instead it made me as a female audience member feel really uncomfortable.

Anyhow, the plot of the film Munich is tired and trite. Yep, WE KNOW! War is bad. People who experience the violence of wars and conflicts get messed up in the brain. Good people suffer and lose their scruples. That is not a new story or a new movie plot. (The horror, the horror…) The lack of genuine sensitivity towards the Palestinian side of this particular conflict is not new either. Nor was any of the Zionist propaganda. Basically, it was just more of the same ole’ crapola.

Originally Published at LuckyFatima

Lady Vengeance

2006-03-23T13:34:00.000-08:00

Dark is an overused adjective in film reviewing, a lazy way of describing any film where the protagonists do not smile much and the weather is bad.

Yet dark is still the primary adjective in describing this, the third film in Chan-Wook Park's Vengeance trilogy. The subject of this part deals with the aftermath of the kidnappping and murder of a young boy and the plan for revenge by the woman wrongly imprisioned for the crime. Yeong-ae Lee produces a truly mesmerising performance in the main role. She is able to portray Geum-ja Lee as conflicted character plotting for revenge, yet ultimately striving for redemption, finding the former far easier to achieve than the latter.

It is to be hoped that this film is never the subject of a Holywood remake (although, Old Boy, the second film in the trilogy has been remade in Bollywood), as sadly it would probably be converted into a bland thriller and the complex lead character whittled into a cypher.

So much thought as gone into this film, from the opening titles onwards. Each shot feels carefully composed with visuals that will be remembered long after the film has finished. It is not an easy film to watch, but a memorable one, nonetheless.

Content: Some very strong scenes of violence and a sexual nature.

Syriana

2006-03-13T16:28:00.000-08:00

There is something metronomic about Syriana. A heady mix of corporate corruption, arms dealing and international relations, this film is very evenly, in fact rather slowly paced, yet never dull.

It's an ensemble piece and there are many strands to the plot, not all of which can be appreciated in a first viewing. George Clooney, looking ten days since showering and ten months from a heart attack, won an Oscar for his role, yet all the acting is of an equally high quality so he doesn't particularly stand out. There is a tautness to the script, no words are wasted and characters manage to convey a great deal in very few sentences.

The cinematography in this film is excellent, eschewing gloss for a gritty feel. You can almost smell what is happening on screen and the imaginative shot work makes the film more involving still.

The issues in this film feel very up to the minute (Iran features heavily) and are discussed in a fairly even handed manner.

However, the plot line involving Muslims is sadly stereotypical and feels like an unnecessary plot device, jarring with the realpolitick tone of the rest of the film.

Also, it is unfortunate that the very cheap cliche of having the Athan play as the opening soundtrack was utilised. The use of the call to prayer as signifier of film-set-in-Middle-East by the American fim industry is both lazy and offensive.

Unfortunately the simple truth is, if as Muslims we want to be portrayed accurately in films, we are going to have to make these films ourselves.

Content:Strong language, some graphic violence.

Failure to Launch

2006-03-13T16:03:00.000-08:00

Failure to Launch is Hollywood’s latest attempt at a romantic comedy, starring big box office draws Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker. McConaughey plays a charismatic 35-year-old son perfectly content to live with his parents indefinitely, but his parents want him to move out on his own. They hire Sarah Jessica Parker’s character to pretend to date their son in a tried-and-true scheme to get him to move out. But, as can be expected in a romantic comedy, girl falls for guy, guy gets upset at being conned, guy turns out to have reasons for staying at home girl didn’t know about that cause her plan to fail, and guy ultimately forgives girl and they hook up. In the mean time there is a lot of ridiculous comedy involving animal bites, paint guns, etc.

If you’re willing to just have a good time and ignore some inane dialogue and monumentally unfounded jumps in plot and character development, you can have a lot of fun watching this movie.

There is little to redeem this movie when looking at it from a Muslim ethical standpoint. Rampant fornication and deceit are central to the plot and character development – the whole story is based on these two things, because apparently Hollywood finds such things necessary for romance and humor.

Millions

2006-03-13T16:02:00.000-08:00

Millions is a British film that tells the story of a two young brothers who move to a new residence with their dad after the death of their mom. One day, the youngest brother, playing outside, is struck by a bag full of more than 200,000 British pounds in currency.

Convinced that the money came from God, he sets out to try to find ways to help the poor, while his brother attempts to find more practical uses for the money and keep his sibling out of trouble.

They have only a week to use the money because the changeover to Euros is at hand and soon any old currency will be worthless if not turned in for Euros. The money turns out to have a shady source that means danger for the boys and ethical challenges for the family over how to deal with the money.

With an ambiguous ending, this film won’t knock your socks off but it is a cute story that opens the question of what is one’s moral responsibility in dealing with found money.

This could be a nice movie for a young Muslim family to watch together. In terms of potentially objectionable content, the widower father finds a new potential girlfriend and sleeps with her, but nothing is shown.

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

2006-03-13T16:01:00.000-08:00

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is based on a novel that tells the classic teen girl coming-of-age story. Four girls, friends their whole lives, are about to spend their first summer apart at age 16. They find a pair of jeans that magically fits all of them even though they are different sizes. They decide that while they are apart, they will share the pants, each wearing them for a week and sending them on to the next person with a letter about what happened while wearing them.

This is the vehicle for telling the stories of what happens to each during the summer. One girl visits her grandparents in Greece and experiences forbidden love that helps her to come out of her shell. Another girl aggressively stalks a young soccer coach at soccer camp until he becomes her first, after which she is left feeling empty, realizing that sleeping around cannot replace the love of her dead mother. A third girl finds a terminally-ill 12-year-old neighbor attached to her as she works on a film project. The friendship gives her a less cynical perspective of the world. Finally, the fourth girl goes to visit her dad to find out he is remarrying into an instant family and she struggles with his ability to parent kids that aren’t his while he was never able to be there for her while she was growing up.

This movie has nothing to offer a Muslim audience. The stories of the girls with the film project and the girl trying to come to terms with her dad’s new relationships would have made a fine movie. But the addition of the other two stories ruins the appeal because they turn the movie into a teen dating and fornication movie. While the movie does not show a lot visually nor does it glorify premarital sex, it regards it as par for the course as part of the coming-of-age of a teenage girl.

Lucky Number Slevin

2006-03-12T17:26:00.000-08:00

Starring: Josh Hartnett, Morgan Freeman, Ben Kingsley, Bruce Willis and Lucy Liu

This film tries very hard to be more than a Saturday popcorn-standard thriller. Quality cast, lots of snazzy camera work and a script laden with pop-culture references, the latter being what passes for wit in our media-saturated age.

However, the key to any good thriller is the plot and this film is equipped with plot holes you could drive a van through without scratching the paintwork. The characters, while laden with quirks, Ben Kinglsey, for example is a Rabbi/Gangster boss, fail to convince and therefore do not engage the viewer.

It is against the (Hollywood) law to have a pretty person like Josh Hartnett in a film without giving him a love interest and this role falls to Lucy Liu who is here to do little more than provide a partner for the requisite make out scene.

Hartnett does the inscrutable/wooden thing well in order to try to conceal the twist, but you will have guessed what has happened long before the exposition speech.

That's the real problem here. A true thriller is a deft work of trickery, dazzling the viewer but not letting them in on the secret until the right moment. This film is too burdened with stale plot devices such as the eccentric gangster, key traumatic childhood event and random romance to ever achieve the necessary fleetness of foot.

Content: Contains strong language, violence, scenes of a sexual nature and Josh Hartnett in a towel for very long periods of time.

Crash Wins Best Picture: Re-examining Crash

2006-03-06T01:53:00.000-08:00

As I reside overseas, I watch Oprah on MBC 4 (a Saudi based TV channel) whenever I get a chance. MBC shows the previous season’s Oprahs, so they are always a little behind. I happened to catch the episode in which Oprah featured the cast of the movie Crash. Crash deals with underlying racism and prejudice in American society, and she and the cast of the film discussed those issues. She also had regular people come and confess to prejudiced behavior. I think that Crash was a good movie because in our era of political correctness, racial issues get swept under the rug with an everything-is-fine smile. Still, I felt that the movie had a lot of painful-to-watch contrived dialogue. Crash dealt with the white/black issue well, and even threw in a positive Mexican American character for good measure. Positive Mexican American characters are a rarity in Hollywood, but this character had a lot of dialogue that would definitely fall into the contrived category. Personally I was very critical of the way that the Asian and Middle Eastern characters were portrayed. Though the black and white characters had a lot of depth, the Korean and Persian characters were practically cartoons. Due to grueling, decades long work by certain minority advocacy groups, it is rare though not impossible to find the same deeply offensive portrayals of former times. People from ethnic groups which have a long history of activism against negative media images, like Jewish and African American groups, are examples of this. However, as Asian and Middle Eastern Americans weren’t a significant population in North America until after the 1970s, these groups have a shorter history in the country and lack the power and organizational clout of groups who have a longer established history in the US. Therefore, it is rare to hear loud voices standing up to negative and stereotyped images of South and East Asians and Middle Easterners. Also, the broader public is less sensitive to stereotyped images of people from these groups and probably don’t even recognize them as problematic or offensive. In Crash, the main Iranian character was an overly emotional Middle Eastern man, a confused foreigner who acts on instinct and feelings rather than on logic. Anyone who has studied Orientalist portrayals of Middle Easterners will recognize this character right away, for he pops up in both news and entertainment media from time to time. He is the same Iranian man from The House of Sand and Fog, and the same angry, emotive Arab crying or beating his chest on the nightly news. The Korean characters were typical “inscrutable Asians.” One was involved in organized crime (human trafficking), hence he was the Asian gangster who shows up in primetime cop shows along with the greasy haired Colombian drug lord, the unscrupulous Jewish diamond dealer, the irrational Arab terrorist, or the swaggering black male gangsta---come on, you know you have seen these guys from Miami Vice to CSI. The woman was the Dragon Lady. She was a shrewd bitch packed in a miniature frame, but screaming in a loud, choppily accented voice. She is another cartoon from the Canon of Oriental Females of Hollywood, along with the sexy massage parlor prostitute or the Good Earth farmer’s dutiful wife. Anyway, the movie Crash got people talking about the race issue again, which is a good thing. But I just wish that the non-black and non-white roles had more depth because America is not just black and white. The Oprah episode wasn’t earth shattering, but I think having regular people come and confess their prejudices was constructive because it fosters self-examination. We all try our best to be tolerant and open-minded, but it is hard to get away from internalized racist ideas. I was raised in an environment in which open prejudice towards more visible minorities like African Americans or Jews or Latinos (Latinos are very visible in Texas, my home state, anyway) was not tolerated at all. Note the emphasis on open, because we really do have a long way to go. However, being a Muslim has made me scrutinize in depth the history of stereotyped images of Muslims and Arabs, as well as other less visible minorities. Just like everyone else, I grew up with childhood movies and bed time stories about Aladdin and Sheherezadeh, and pantalooned harem girl tales. I had heard of fat, oil-rich sheikhs. I had seen Not Without My Daughter, and the day time talk shows in which white women came on TV and talked about being abused by daft, backward Middle Easterners. At the time I was exposed to those things, I was a child and I was not a Muslim. So, I too was implicitly raised to be prejudiced against Muslims. ALL Americans and Westerners are exposed to these images and have been since the Reconquista and the Crusades, they just don’t recognize these images as racist or offensive and accept them as part of everyday life. That sounds like a very strange statement unless you show parallels between Orientalist portrayals of Muslims and older portrayals of say, blacks or Jews. A story about a tar baby is just as damaging as story about a fantasy harem slave girl. A Mammy Doll is just as bad as a Genie in a Bottle. The wide spread European myth of old that Jews used the blood of Christian children in their Passover rituals is just as offensive and damaging as today's myth that Muslims are naturally violent and bloodthirsty and long to kill "infidels" due to our religion. All of these images otherize and demonize. They separate the us and them, making the “them” exotic and sub-human. The “them” are easy to discriminate against and in worst case scenarios, easier to wipe off of the face of the earth if they are thought of in exotic and less than human terms. These ugly things should be stamped out of our culture if we truly believe in tolerance and equality as American ideals. Unfortunately, Crash wasn’t as kind to some minority characters as it was to others, though based on the apparent message of the movie, it should have been. I’d like to share this to the writers of Crash. Think they’ll ever stop by this blog??? :)

An earlier version of this review appeared at luckyfatima.

Hoodwinked

2006-03-03T15:29:00.000-08:00

Summary from Gazette.com:
Little Red Riding Hood: A classic story, but there's more to every tale than meets the eye. In this retelling of the fable, the story begins at the end of the tale and winds its way back. Chief Grizzly (Xzibit) and Detective Bill Stork (Anthony Anderson) investigate a domestic disturbance at Granny's (Glenn Close) cottage, involving a karate kicking Red Riding Hood (Anne Hathaway), a sarcastic wolf (Patrick Warburton) and an oafish woodsman (Jim Belushi). The charges are many: breaking and entering, disturbing the peace, intent to eat, wielding an axe without a license, but these unusual suspects have a tale to tell first.

General commentary:

Rating: PG

This is a twist on the Brother’s Grimm fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood. When Red arrives home and finds the Wolf in Granny’s place, a few strange things happen and then officials arrive to investigate the crime scene. Red, the Wolf, Granny, and the Woodsman each tell their story from their own perspectives and provide humorous, creative twists to the plot.

This is a creative movie. It seems to try a little too hard to be hip or cool, kind of like Kill Bill. I found the story occasionally funny and intellectually enjoyed the creativity of the plot. My elementary-aged nieces and nephew thought it would be boring but they generally liked it, especially the spastic squirrel and the yodeling billy goat.

I would recommend catching it on DVD.

Content commentary:

Language: Sarcasm and attitude for character development and humor.

Violence: Minor cartoon violence. Suggestions of evil (plots to take over the world, etc.)

Relationships: Benign relationships.

Other: none

Chronicles of Narnia: Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe

2006-03-03T15:25:00.000-08:00

Summary from Gazette.com:

Based on the classic novel by CS Lewis, four London children are sent to a professor's country home for protection during World War II. There they find a magical wardrobe which leads to a mystical land called Narnia, that is being ruled by an evil witch. The land is being kept in a perpetual winter by the evil White Witch, Jadis, who turns anyone who doesn't obey her into stone. The children join Aslan and the animals loyal to him in an attempt to vanquish Jadis. To defeat the Witch, they must wage a great battle between good and evil.

General commentary:

Rating: PG

All of the Chronicles of Narnia books are somewhat allegorical for various aspects of Christian theology. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe presents the lion Aslan as allegorical for Jesus and proceeds to tell a passion play of the sacrifice and resurrection of Aslan. The story is told through the eyes of the children who are rather comparable to disciples.

People not aware of C.S. Lewis as well as most children would likely watch the films as fantasy without any awareness of the allegory. Neither the books nor the movie present as proselytizing so in that aspect I don't think it would be objectionable to a Muslim audience, and can be enjoyed as simply decent story-telling with the possibility for some moral or philosophical lessons.

I found the movie worth watching in the theater and visually beautiful, but the over-all product didn’t knock my socks off.

Content commentary:

Language: I don’t remember any particularly objectionable language in this film, but there was some strong language in the context of evil and violence.

Violence: Violence in this movie includes cruelty, torture, murder, and warfare. Although fanciful due to the nature of the imaginary creatures sometimes involved, the violence is realistic and can be frightening at times.

Relationships: Sexual suggestion between adult and child could possibly be inferred although it could be interpreted in other ways.

Other: none

The Pink Panther

2006-03-03T15:21:00.000-08:00

Summary from Gazette.com:
Steve Martin re-imagines the role of Inspector Clouseau, a man whose deductive powers are limited, whose command of the language is hideous and whose investigative approach is downright dangerous. But somehow - in spite of himself - he always gets his man. In this remake a world famous soccer coach has just lead the French team to victory over Team China. Surrounded by grateful fans and an international pop star, the coach is killed by a poison dart. In the ensuing panic a priceless ring, "The Pink Panther," mysteriously disappears. Clouseau and his new assistant are saddled with the case, which leads them around the world to New York City and a maze of suspects, thugs, bandits and secret agents. Co-stars Kevin Kline, Beyonce Knowles and Jean Reno.

General commentary:

Rating: PG

If you enjoyed the original Pink Panther movies or if you like slapstick comedy then you will enjoy this film. Clouseau is a well-intentioned but dim-witted character trying to catch a murderer. Personally, I would recommend it as worth seeing in the theater or DVD.

Content commentary:

Language: I don’t remember any particularly objectionable language in this film.

Violence: Violence in this movie includes use of guns, commission of crimes, murder, etc., but it is unrealistic and humorously portrayed.

Relationships: Heavy sexual innuendo and sexual slapstick humor takes place in Pink Panther.

Other: Alcohol consumption occurs in the film but it is a detail and not a significant part of the story.

Eight Below

2006-03-03T15:12:00.000-08:00

The film tells the story of a scientific expedition that leaves behind their team of beloved sled dogs in Antarctica. During the winter, the dogs must struggle for survival alone. This is VERY loosely based on the true story of a 1957 Japanese team to Antarctica that had to leave behind a sled dog team. Rating: PG

General commentary:

This movie is way too long for what it is. It is a solid two hours and many of the scenes are too drawn out. This isn’t a feel-good happy kids movie, either. Many of the scenes are written and carried out to make the audience cry. There are some happy scenes and cute scenes but the overall tone of the movie communicated to me was one of despair and sadness. It was not a terrible movie, but if you want to see it I would recommend waiting until it hits the dollar theaters, DVD, or cable television.

Content commentary:

Language: I don’t remember any particularly objectionable language in this film.

Violence: There is no human violence in this movie. There are, however, some scenes of death and injury to animals through accident or attacks of other animals, etc.

Relationships: There are some references to dating relationships in this movie and casual kissing, holding hands, etc., between dating couples.

Other: Obviously this is a movie about dogs. People have contact with the dogs and get najis from certain contact with the dogs. I don’t think that is a problem but I suppose some people might want to know……