The Bumblebee Flies Anyway (1999)

For a movie based on a Robert Cormier novel, this is surprisingly uplifting. I don't remember the book having nearly this positive an ending. Although I'm still not convinced of Elijah Wood's acting abilities, he was fine here for the slightly-off, somewhat-detached Barney Snow. His interactions seemed real and genuine, and the interesting cast of characters surrounding him made me want to know more about his story. I'd forgotten much of the plot - it's been years since I read the book. I found myself intrigued with where it was going and feeling very satisfied by the time the credits rolled. Still a dark essence to it, so it's hardly what I'd call "inspirational," and it's not for everyone (I'm not even sure it's for fans of Cormier's work) but it's very well done and I liked it a lot. 4 stars.

Alfie (2006)

I'm not sure there could be a more perfect actor to fill this role than Jude Law. The man is completely 100% charming - one smile and you believe every terrible thing he says. But he's also a dang good actor, and manages to bring personality and character to what could have been a very bland role. I think it's his acting that takes this movie from just being mediocre to being actually quite good. The story is fairly predictable - the story could only end one of two ways, and the way they chose to end it was consistent with the rest of the film. I enjoyed it quite a lot. 3.5 stars.

The Sunshine Boys (1975)

Neil Simon's dialogue is as clever as ever in this filmed version of his play. Someone on one of these movie sites described it as The Odd Couple for octogenarians, and I think they were right. Much of the dialogue is reminiscent of Odd Couple (especially when you have Walter Matthau playing one of them). The ending came as a surprise to me but was still full of heart, as Simon's work generally is. After so much hype about it, "The Doctor Sketch" was every bit as funny in vaudevillian terms as they had claimed it to be. A great retelling of a great story. Definitely one to watch! 4 stars.

Once (2006)

This movie is not about relationships. This movie is not about love. This movie is about music. Everything else comes second to that. We are not looking at how music influences their lives, we're looking at how their lives influence their music. When the girl hears one of the boy's songs that he's written himself, her first question is: "Who is she? The girl who you wrote the song for?" She knows there's a story. Behind every good piece of music there's a story. Later, as the girl plays a song she wrote about her husband, we hear all the pain and despair flowing out of her. Her past has made her music what it is now, for better or worse. (spoiler) When the two reunite with their exes at the end, it leaves us asking the question: Where will their musical journey go next, now that there are different challenges, different steps to climb, different pains to deal with? (/spoilers)

As it must be for this film to work, the music in the movie is superb. I am not a fan of the genre at all, but both musicians play with such passion and such conviction that I wanted to know their story, wanted to know what could have caused this music to pour out of them. And it made me want to write a few songs of my own as well. A must-see for any aspiring songwriter or musician, or even for those, like me, who find it so easy to become immersed in the emotion and stories found in music. 4 stars.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008)

(Lots of spoilers ahead, since the problem I had with it was with the ending.) This movie was nearly one of the very best. The young actor playing the German kid had some great dialogue to work with, but then on top of it just did a very good job acting it as well. The dialogue was intelligent, and it was chilling to see the family and society trying so desperately to poison the boy's mind toward the Jews. So why the low rating? Because the ending made everything fall apart. At the end of the story, the German boy decides it would be a great adventure to help his Jewish friend look for his father in the concentration camp. There's not much sacrifice here - the boy has almost no idea what he's getting into, he just thinks it would a great adventure. In the end, both boys are rounded up along with other men from the same hut, and burned en masse. The problem with this is that the tragedy becomes that of the German boy. The question is "How could something so terrible happen to that little boy?" That shouldn't be the question. The question should be, "How could anything so terrible happen to all those people?" The elevation and emphasis of the tragedy of the German's death made all of the other deaths trivial in comparison. If the boy had been sacrificially making the decision to give his life with or for his friend, that would be one thing - a tale of redemption instead of pointlessness. If the emphasis was on the parents and how their brutality came back on their own heads, it could be a very powerful film. But the story was mostly confined to being told by the young boy and through his eyes, indicating that it was he we should be most empathetic towards, rather than his parents, who were clearly secondary characters.

Overall, a brilliantly shot movie that made one very fatal (literally) error at the end of the story that undercut the entire thing. With just a bit more emphasis on the parents, or a bit more understanding on behalf of the child, it could have been a brilliant movie that I could have praised. But its senseless ending made me angry - not at the fact of injustice, but at the fact that only the German boy's injustice mattered. Very disappointing. That terrible, terrible misstep makes the entire film a disastrous undertaking. 1.5 stars.

The Visitor (2007)

This sort of story has been done before. Many times. The one thing that made this movie stand out from the rest was a small detail of the plot -- the drumming. The drumming part of this movie was magical. It's something I would never have expected to intrigue the main character, a very traditional older man, and yet somehow it did. The scene where he finds himself irresistibly drawn to join the long line of drummers in the midst of the city is superb. That, for me, was what held this movie together.

One other superb scene that is worth mentioning. (Spoilers ahead.) The Syrian boy's mother shows up after his arrest, and soon finds out he has been deported. She and the older man have formed a little bit of a bond, and when she hears this news, she goes to his room and crawls into his bed and begins crying that it is her fault. He holds her, gently, comforting her, just being there for her. The scene ends as we pan back and just see the two of them, not necessarily as sexual beings, just holding each other and trying to comfort each other in their loss. It's a beautiful scene that makes the entire movie come together.

The film moves very slowly and isn't for everyone, but is definitely worth checking out. A few brilliant moments make up for some of the slower ones - look for those and the rest of it makes sense. 3.5 stars.

The Kite Runner (2007)

When I read the book, I was impressed with the quiet simplicity with which it told its story - a story that was certainly far from simple. The movie manages to take the feel of the book and translate it beautifully onto the screen. One of the best movie adaptations I've seen in a long time. I like it at least as well as I liked the book, possibly even a bit more. It's a touching story that is served well by the medium of film. 4 stars.