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A four star film to me is one that breathes new life into film or sometimes even life. This film touched on aging and coming to terms with death like no other film I’ve seen and did it with dignity, grace and a lot of humor. Before I saw this film, I thought it would be all serious and somber, but I was wrong. It’s very funny. I laugh out loud more at this film then a lot of so-called comedies.

The plot is pretty simple — Ethel (Katharine Hepburn, THE AFRICAN QUEEN) and Norman Thayer (Henry Fonda, GRAPES OF WRATH) are a old couple who spend their summers at their lake front home. Norman is turning 80 and Ethel has invited their estranged daughter, Chelsea (Jane Fonda, BARBARELLA), her boyfriend, Bill (Dabney Coleman, WHERE THE HEART IS) and his son, Billy (William Lanteau, TV’s NEWHART) to Norman’s birthday party. Tensions between Norman and Chelsea run thick and by the end of the weekend, she has asked her parents to take care of Billy for a month while she and Bill run off to Europe. Norman is pretty crotchety and complains a lot and Billy doesn’t like the idea of being dumped with two old strangers for the summer. However, before too long, Norman and Billy strike up a friendship.

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I guess you could call this a romantic comedy, but it’s more of a character study. Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise, MAGNOLIA) is a high-powered sports agent, who one day has a crisis of conscience and writes a mission statement that urges his business to focus less on money and more on the clients. Its title is “The Things We Think, But Do Not Say.” Despite a standing applause for the gesture, he is quickly fired. Bringing to mind the statement – some things should be left unsaid.

Maguire tries to round up his clients to come with him, but he is only able to sign cocky wide receiver Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding Jr., AS GOOD AS IT GETS) and a verbal agreement from the father of college quarterback sensation Frank Cushman (Jerry O’Connell, TV’s SLIDERS). In a dramatic exit from his work, he calls for people to come with him, creating a very nervous silence. However, accountant Dorothy Boyd (Renee Zellweger, CHICAGO) stands up and joins Maguire in his noble (if not foolhardy) cause.
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I am impressed with the complexity of the characters in this film. Based on a book by Andre Dumas III, the film is a harrowing look at the intricate drama of a dispute between two people over the ownership of a house.

Kathy (Jennifer Connelly, DARK CITY) is a recovering drug addict who is going through a deep depression following the death of her father and departure of her husband. Due to a bureaucratic mistake, she loses her house over a $500 unpaid tax, which she never really owed. In the meantime, the state auctions her house, which is purchased by Iranian immigrant Massoud Amir Behrani (Ben Kingsley, SEXY BEAST). Behrani was a coronal in the military and used to own seafront land in his homeland until the Shah came into power. He works two jobs as a road maintenance worker and a clerk at a convenience store. He does this to try and keep up his family’s wealthy lifestyle. He is angry at his state in life and rules over his wife Nadi (Shohreh Aghdashloo, MARYAM) with strong authority. However, down deep, he cares immensely for his family especially his teenage son Esmail (Jonathan Ahdout, film debut).
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I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that this film is one of the best slice of life films ever made. It does for the 1970s what AMERICAN GRAFFITI did for the 1950s. And yet both films seem to be telling the same story. I guess kids of all generations pretty much go through the same sort of stuff.

The story follows various groups of high school students on the last day of school in 1976. Seniors, both girls and boys, look forward to starting the hazing traditions of the new freshmen when the bell rings. If the film really has a main character it’s Randall “Pink” Floyd, played by Jason London (THE MAN IN THE MOON), the starting quarterback and Mr. Popular. His couch has given him a “Pledge” form to sign stating that he will not do drugs. It’s one of those silly things that schools make kids do to make parents think that the school is actually addressing an issue. It’s the kind of thing kids sign, while smoking a joint. Pink out of principle doesn’t want to sign the form and debates in his head the purpose of sports, cliques and living by other people’s rules.

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This romantic comedy is one of the best and most unorthodox ever made. It really doesn’t follow the typical formula of boy meets girl, boy falls for girl, boy and girl fall apart and boy and girl come back together (most often having to run somewhere to meet up). As the title suggests, the film is made up of the characters attending weddings and one funeral. The title is a stroke of brilliance adding a level of tension to the film that makes one anxious about whom is getting hitched next and whom is going to die.

Charles (Hugh Grant, LOVE ACTUALLY) is a hopeless bachelor trying to find Mrs. Right. He has a way of always putting his foot squarely in his mouth though. His group of friends include: Tom (James Fleet, CHARLOTTE GRAY), an awkward man who happens to be one of the richest in England; Tom’s brooding sister Fiona (Kristin Scott Thomas, THE ENGLISH PATIENT); Charles’ deaf brother David (film debut); the flashy Scarlett (Charlotte Coleman, MAP OF THE HUMAN HEART); the fun-loving Gareth (Simon Callow, NO MAN’S LAND); and the soft-spoken Matthew (John Hannah, THE MUMMY). At the first wedding of the film, Charles meets American Carrie (Andie MacDowell, GROUNDHOG’S DAY) and falls for her instantly. This brief affair sets up other chance meetings at weddings and funerals for the course of the film. It seems they are meant for each other, but fate seems to pull them apart.

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Based on a true story, the film chronicles the unimaginable treatment of the girls imprisoned in the Magdalene Sisters Asylums of Ireland. The crux of the story revolves around four girls. Margaret (Anne-Marie Duff, ENIGMA) is sent to the Catholic home after she is raped by a cousin. Rose (renamed Patricia in the home) (Dorothy Duffy, film debut) is sent away for getting pregnant. Crispina (Eileen Walsh, NICHOLAS NICKLEBY) is a slow girl who was also sent away for having a child, who is given to her sister. Finally, Bernadette (Nora-Jane Noone, ELLA ENCHANTED) is sent away from her orphanage for no more than flirting with boys.

Sister Bridget (Geraldine McEwan, ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES) is the head of the home and rules over it with sadistic flare. The fact that McEwan was able to infuse some humanity into the character is amazing. The idea is that through hard labor the girls will save their souls from sin… and make a lot of money for the church from the laundry services they provide. The girls are treated like slaves and many stay there for the rest of their lives. Girls who escape and are brought back are brutalized. Some of the nuns subject the girls to sick humiliating games, ruling over them like the girls are subhuman.
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A lot of debate has arisen over the splitting of KILL BILL into two parts because it was indented to be one film. Does the film work as two films? Yes. Mainly because they have two different tones. Audiences going into VOLUME 2 thinking they are going to get the same non-stop action as the first film will be disappointed. The first film was closer to samurai and kung fu films, where as the second is closer akin to spaghetti Westerns.

What’s so strikingly different about this film from the first is the time it pays to developing the characters. The film starts with a black and white recap of the first film by The Bride (Uma Thurman, GATTACA), reminiscent of old film noir trailers. Then the story flashes back to the massacre at the Bride’s wedding rehearsal where we get more background on The Bride, including what she’s been doing with her life since leaving the assassin’s crew of Bill (David Carradine, TVs KUNG FU). This is the quiet before the storm.
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