Entries for the 'Drama' Category

One could eat as many carbohydrates as physically possible. One could turn to religion to find a deeper purpose in life. Or one could try to love again -- oneself, or others.

Going in to my screening of “Shutter Island,” I tried to steer clear of any particular expectations of what it would be like, although to say I was expecting it to be “good” would be a considerable understatement. A lack of expectations will only benefit the audience, because the mind exploration journey contained within “Shutter Island” can be difficult to put into words. Or thoughts.

Hollywood depictions of war are too often dripping with the political leanings of people at the top of the movie’s food chain. Don’t get me wrong: I’m as liberal as the next liberal media type, but I don’t need film producers, directors and actors force-feeding their liberal attitude on the Middle East situation to me after I’ve forked over $10.25 for the privilege. I like to let my war movies let me think for myself.

With the movie award season upon us, Sensenig at the Cinema will be taking a look at some of the movies garnering the most attention in an attempt to see whether they are worthy of the hype surrounding them.

"Rachel Getting Married" (released Tuesday on DVD) is the anti-"Watchmen" in this week of new-release films. Whereas the one is shot in a highly stylized, big-budget format featuring tales of superheroes in hiding investigating the murder of one of their own, the other is a simple tale, shot in a do-it-yourself manner, of a young woman in rehab home for the weekend to attend the wedding of her big sister.

On the surface, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" did little to interest me. A story of two women falling in love with the same man while spending the summer in an exotic locale (Barcelona, Spain in this case) sounds like it's treading pretty typical romantic comedy territory. The nondescript name — I wouldn't name a movie "Joel David Boise," for example — probably won't draw a lot of people in, either.

This is one of those movies that I really didn't care about seeing.  Fortunately for me - others in our group out-voted me.  It is simply one of the best movies I have ever seen.  It contains humor, adventure, drama, a love interest, exotic locations, human interest, and suspense - all packed into a couple hours. 

Walt Kowalski sure is a gruff, old sonuvagun. The Korean War veteran and former Ford assembly line worker is a chain-smoking, Pabst-drinking, old guy that grunts whenever witnessing things that ain't like they used to be. Which, for a racist, old-school coot like Walt, is pretty much everything: grandkids wearing football jerseys to funerals (his beloved wife just passed away), navel rings, Asian immigrants populating his old, formerly blue-collar, white-as-snow Detroit neighborhood.

There's nothing particularly unique about the story of "Twilight" on the surface. Boy meets girl. Girl falls in love. Boy turns out to have a long pair of fangs destined for her luscious young neck."Twilight" is a Romeo-and-Juliet tale with a twist. Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) is a sweet, clumsy high school student who moves to Forks, Wash. to stay with her police chief father, Charlie (Billy Burke), when her mother gets remarried. There she meets Edward (Robert Pattinson), the gorgeous, seductive young man who's impossibly fast and strong and his skin is ice cold.

Earlier this year, Angelina Jolie lost the Oscar for Best Actress for her role as Mariane Pearl in "A Mighty Heart," the story of a woman who lost her husband in Iraq while the two were working as journalists there. Come February, it may be another tale of deep personal loss that earns Jolie the Academy Award that eluded her just a year before. If she's not a serious candidate for her role as a woman searching for her missing son in Clint Eastwood's "Changeling," something's more off than a corrupt police department.

Edward Norton should really consider making more movies. In fact, I wouldn't be all that opposed to him being in every movie ever made. If it prevents me from having to watch another lame Vin Diesel or Brendan Fraser action picture, why not? Norton does action and drama so much better than almost anyone.

As someone who considers himself a big sports fan, it never ceases to amaze me the number of stories out there that have somehow went unknown to me.The story of Ernie Davis would certainly qualify as one that I really should know.

In the latest sign the iPod generation is exerting its influence over the rest of us old fogies comes "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist," a new era of romantic comedy in which the main characters look nothing like Richard Gere and Jennifer Aniston. This is a good thing, since I'm still not convinced we need more sappy love stories involving either an aging male star who could do a romantic comedy in his sleep or a woman best known for her hairstyle on popular 1990s sitcom.

"Lakeview Terrace" just might be the perfect guilty pleasure. It's got awkwardly presented social issues, barely established motives, beautiful homes in a ritzy southern California neighborhood, neighborly disputes on par with anything on "Desperate Housewives" and star presence supplied by Samuel L. Jackson.

The plot of “The X-Files, I Want to Believe” revolves around the disappearance of an FBI agent.  In investigating the abduction, the only lead the FBI has is provided by a defrocked Catholic Priest who is a convicted pedophile. Father Joe (Billy Connolly) is a psychic who claims he has visions of the missing agent.  The agent in charge, Dakota Whitney (Amanda Peet), doesn’t know whether to trust him or pistol whip him.