"Carnage" Review

Hello All!
Its me Jacqui. I am sorry I have been away. I started a new job a few months back and I have been trying to get used my new schedule and fitting my movie habit into my new "life". Well, we'll just say the past couple weeks I have gotten some more movie time in.. This is review 1 of 3!



First up on the Jacqui magical movie tour is "Carnage". This is Roman Polanski's newest film starring Christophe Waltz, Kate Winslet, Jodie Foster and John C. Reily. The movie is based on the french play, "Le Dieu du carnage" aka "God of Carnage".

The movie begins with group of kids fighting on a playground in Brooklyn. All of the sudden, one grabs a stick and strike another. The next scene (and the rest of the movie) is a meeting at the home of Penelope and Michael Longstreet (Foster and Reily) with the Cowans (Waltz and Winslet).  What started as a reasonable conversation about getting one boy to apologize to the other turns into an exploration of life, values and the relationship of the two couples.


This rarely happens with me and movies so get ready... 5 Stars. Yes, I give this movie my highest rating. There is no fancy special effects. Just four actors doing their craft and a great script. Fans of one liners and zingers, will love this movie. But again, don't go in expecting anything extraordinary besides the acting. I would highly recommend this movie be seen in theatres.

"Company" Review

I am cleaning out the draft cue and found this review I had started for the Lincoln Center production of Steven Sondheim's Company. I saw it on a movie screen so I figured I should have a review prepared, haha.

(I moved the more personal version of this to My other blog.)


I recently saw Lincoln Center's production of Steven Sondheim Company. The cast included Neil Patrick Harris ("How I Met Your Mother") in the lead as "Bobby" as well as Christina Henricks ("Mad Men"), Steven Colbert ("Colbert Report"), Jon Cryer ("Two and Half Men") and Patti Lupone ("Evita", "Sweeney Todd"). The show was staged in a concert format with very little scenery and props and the Orchestra on stage.

The plot summary of the show is Bobby (NPH) is the last single guy in his group of married friends. He's the godfather of their children, go-to babysitter, and confidante for them all. They take it upon themselves to make him feel like he's somehow missing something because he's not living their "kind of life". Two songs, I've got a girl for you (sung by the male ensemble) and Poor Baby (sung by the women while Bobby has sex with a Flight Attendent) makes this clear how they perceive Bobby's current life. However, throughout the show the audience sees the pitfalls of the relationships that his friends have and how they are not perfect or ideal. We also get to see Bobby's life and his view on relationships.

"Beginners"

“Beginners” is a movie about a son learning about his father and in the process fixing himself. Starring Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer, Mike Mill’s (Writer/Director) presents semi-autobiographical look at his own relationship with his father. 

The movie tells the story of Oliver (McGregor) and his father Hal (Plummer). Following the death of Oliver’s mother, Hal comes out of the closet, takes a younger lover and is then diagnosed with terminal cancer. The movie is told is a series of Vignettes and flashbacks showing all the secrets that had been kept in Oliver’s family even before he was born.

Good points. The acting was great. McGregor and Plummer are a great team.  The writing was witty and the banter between the two was what you would expect in a movie like this one with complexities in personality and character. The dog was also hilarious adding comic relief and commentary to the story.

Cinematically, it was hard to follow at times. While movies that don’t go in chronological order is nothing new, I found the organization of the vignettes too disorganized.  I found myself wondering where this part fits in chronology.  Another annoying aspect was the use of truly stock characters.  Goran Visnjic’s “Andy” (Hal’s young lover) is an example of the uncomfortable gay man who still thinks everyone dislikes him because he’s gay. While his character added a something because you saw the happiness he added to Hal; the refrain of  “you don’t like me because I’m gay,” got old quickly.

Overall, this movie was very good. Good but heavy. This is not a movie to watch when you relaxing is your overall goal. Getting to the overall lesson of the movie is a journey worth taking. 

I give it 3 out 5 stars.

-Jacqui