Talk to Her: Women are Mysterious

Another excellent movie by Pedro Almodovar, about the intricacies of the female gender. The two male characters express characteristics that are feminine; one learns to accept this quality and the other never questioned it. They both yearn to understand the true inner workings of female nature.

The acting is great, like his other films. The colors also play a role, though not as significant as in All About My Mother. I remember vivid pinks and reds in Talk to Her.

I'm thinking he might be one of my favorite directors for his consistently excellent films; both real and imaginary at the same time, but totally believable.

Bonnie and Clyde: When Criminals Had Morals

I think that this story shows how most crimes and violence is not done without some kind of regret. Today's images of guns, violence, rape, and abuse are often shown with people who feel nothing about killing someone, etc. It is strange because this is not human nature. Those that truly don't have a conscious are unusual and mentally or emotionally disturbed. Bonnie and Clyde was the first movie to show graphic violence and it is fitting that its story was about much more than their desire to be somebody that is remembered or that robs banks. They didn't want to kill anyone. They didn't want to rob the poor. Their love for each other is enough to show how human they are.

The other aspect that this film confronts is that of the law and its constituents who protect it. Before police, etc, popular justice would keep social balance by rising up against what they deemed wrong. THe law set standards and put a "neutral" judge to decide what was right and what was wrong. Because the upper income levels hold more sway, they inevitably effect the law and its judicial outcomes. Therefore, it is hard to say whether people like Bonnie and Clyde would have been seen as such criminals if it weren't for the fact that they broke the law of robbing banks, where the wealthy kept their money. Would the general society have banded together to rise against them? Probably not.

To great acting and great looking leads, Beatty and Farrow.

Please Give: An Honest and Sweet Story

This movie was about people that want to be a good person and those that don't care. Keener plays a worrier mother who owns an antique shop and always is wanting to help those in need. Her neighbor, a ninety year old crass and sometimes racist woman, is taken care of by her granddaughter, Hall, who is humble, selfless, and caring. The sister of the granddaughter, Peet, has a hard shell, or so she tries to portray. The teenager, don't know her real name, is the one who sees it all, as most children do. Throughout the movie, I found myself relating to Hall and Keener's characters. I find myself going back and forth on being a good person naturally but then worrying about if I'm being good enough or to the right people. My sister is like Peet- hard talking and blunt. But I know she does really care about people even though she can be extremely insensitive at times. Keener tried to volunteer at a few places but couldn't because she was too scared of those she wanted to help, or really too scared of not being able to help. Meanwhile, she withheld money that she obviously had, from her daughter but bought nice things for herself and gave money to the homeless. I think, in the end, everyone is good, they are just trying to get by in life and life can be hard. The most important thing is to not be afraid of being not good enough or making a mistake. When, at the end, Keener finally buys the jeans her daughter had been asking for for a while, and she sees her daughters excitement, she is relieved from her worries for a moment because she has given happiness.

You Will Meet a Tall, Dark Stranger: What else could Woody be talking about?

Death, of course. To be fair, he is not always doing movies about death directly, but they are usually about the unstructured nature of life and the lack of control we have over life and death. Save 'Sweet and Lowdown' which was about regret (and his best film yet). Anyway, Stranger was interesting, but nothing new. The characters became slightly obnoxious about halfway through, and thats about the time you are thinking you get the point. new to his movies was the topic of fortune-telling/psychics. And how absolutely looney is but really what difference does it make if you base your actions on whether the planets are aligned correctly or your "gut" feeling or what your dog advises, or how much money you have in the bank. Either way, you don't know how any decision will turn out and you die in the end. Not a dark thought but a real one. I like that about Woody.

The Kids Are Alright: Is Alright

A little forced, in my opinion, contrived would be a better word. Specifically, the lesbian characters who are the stereotypical California lesbians to a tee. When they had their hands in their pant pockets, they seemed awkward so it was a mix of too much stereotype and actors with little experience playing that role. When I put my hands in my pockets, I look gumpy but natural because I do it a lot but when Bening did it, it looked like the director had to remind her every time. Moore was better, but I guess I like her acting moore any way;) I think that, this being a first of Hollywood's Lets-get-comfortable-with-gay family movies, it came off as trying way too hard to feel natural. What I did like about the story was that the children both emulated the parent who was not the parent that everyone compared them too. The son, who was less academic or "lost" was quick to judge their biological father, while the girl clearly wanted to be more open-minded and accepting of him. Though this was never discussed, I think this behavior was meant to show that children will pick up the behaviors of the parent who they admire more. The son felt criticized by his doctor mother and so he, in an innocent way, admired her. The daughter was growing out of this phase and was sick of the pressure put on her by this mother and so she admired Moore more. Parents have a lot of influence on their children's mentality and behavior.