THE LAST STATION (2009)

After almost fifty years of marriage, the Countess Sofya, Leo Tolstoy’s devoted wife, passionate lover, muse and secretary—she’s copied out War and Peace six times by hand!—suddenly finds her security threatened. For the sake of his newly created religion and in the final year of his life, the great Russian novelist has renounced his noble title, copyrights, property and even his family in favor of poverty, vegetarianism and celibacy. Sparks fly! Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren are extraordinary as Tolstoy and his one minute loving and one minute raging mate, and the story is both riviting and moving.

GREENBERG (2010) Memorable quotes

Ivan: Youth is wasted on the young.
Greenberg (Ben Stiller): I’d go further. I’d go: ‘Life is wasted on people.’
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Greenberg (writing letter): Dear Starbucks, in your attempt to manufacture culture out of fast food coffee you’ve been surprisingly successful for the most part. The part that isn’t covered by ‘the most part’ sucks.
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Greenberg: Wish it wasn’t too late to get my medical degree.
Ivan: It’s not too late.
Greenberg: I’d be over 50 by the time I graduated.
Ivan: What is it? Four years, right?
Greenberg: Yeah, but I know myself. I’d procrastinate, take time off. Eight years at best. Who’s gonna hire a 49… Let’s just call it 50. A 50-year-old vet?
Ivan: I’m confused. Are you going to vet school or regular medical school?
Greenberg: Neither, clearly.
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Florence: You like old things.
Greenberg: A shrink said to me once that I have trouble living in the present, so I linger on the past because I felt like I never really lived it in the first place, you know?

THE ROAD (2009) It’s long and winding, and you can’t take your eyes off it for a second

In a devastated, monochromatic post-apocalyptic world, a man (Viggo Mortensen) and his young son (Kodi Smit-McPhee, in an amazing performance) head for the ocean, dragging their few belongings in a cart. Along their difficult journey they must constantly forage for supplies and hide from cannibal hunters. Along the way, the man recalls in dreams and brief flashbacks the good moments of his past life with his wife (beautiful Charlize Theron, seen only in flashback), but these respites are few and far between. Eventually, the journey becomes so difficult that the man begins to turn savage, much to the horror of his son, and when they do finally reach the beach, the boy is faced with the toughest decision of his young life. DO NOT let anyone tell you THE ROAD is too depressing a journey.

PATRICIA NEAL (1926 – 2010)

From the young and incredibly sexy Dominique Francon in THE FOUNTAINHEAD to the much older, crustier, yet still sensuous Alma Brown in HUD (for which she won an Academy Award), Patricia Neal was one of America’s great actors, despite many personal trials and tribulations. Read more

FAIL-SAFE (1964) Technology 1, Mankind 0

A series of human and computer errors sends a squadron of American B-58 bombers past their fail-safe point and onto a direct course to nuke Moscow. The stalwart President (Henry Fonda), seeking to convince the Soviets it’s a horrible mistake, not a preemptive strike, orders the Strategic Air Command to help the Soviets shoot them down. But one jet manages to evade the Soviet missiles, which dooms the Russian capital. The President is then forced to make a trust-building decision that still makes me squirm. Directed by Sydney Lumet, FAIL-SAFE is a brilliantly crafted and suspenseful essay on the heavy price we risk paying by putting too much faith in technology – and if you think this 46-year old film has lost any of its relevancy, you haven’t been reading the headlines.

ZOMBIELAND (2009) Bloody good fun for boys and ghouls!

ZOMBIELAND is a not altogether bloodless farce about four survivors of a zombie post-apocalypse. With the wonderful Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg (channeling Michael Cera) and Bill Murray in a very funny cameo, Zombieland is more fun than a barrel of, well, zombies.

THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962) Starch with your brainwash?

I’ve seen THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE so many times and know its plot so thoroughly that it no longer holds any surprises for me. Yet I still find it riveting and never cease to marvel at all the performances, especially Frank Sinatra as the military intelligence man who tries to foil a Communist plot to do a very bad deed. In 1953, Sinatra won his only Oscar, as Best Actor, for his G.I. role in FROM HERE TO ETERNITY, but it’s for CANDIDATE he truly deserved it. His acting is superb, as is that of co-stars Lawrence Harvey, Angela Lansbury and James Gregory, thanks in no small part great part to John Frankenheimer’s strong direction. PLEASE don’t bother to see the 2004 remake with Denzel Washington. A mess. (Trivia notes: In his karate fight scene with a Korean bad guy, you can see Sinatra actually break his hand as it slices through a table. JFK loved this film, and Sinatra was so upset after his assassination that he had the film shelved for years.)

CRAZY HEARTS (2009) Bridges is Bad to the bone

Jeff Bridges has played grumpy bears so well for so long that his latest, Country singer Bad Blake, wouldn’t appear to be much of a stretch. But after spending 112 minutes in the company of this down-and-almost-out, growling booze-and-cig-throated character convinced me why Bridges won Oscar for Best Actor for the role. And not just for acting – singing, too. From the start of the movie when Bad discovers his latest gig is in a beat-up Arizona bowling ally to the end when he finally realizes that songwriting is more important to him than love or even whiskey, CRAZY HEARTS is full of heart and worth your time.

VOYAGER (1991)

Sitting alone and grief-stricken in the Athens airport after suffering a heart-breaking loss, globe-hopping engineer Walter Faber (Sam Shepard) flashes back to his student days in Switzerland just before World War II, when he abandoned his pregnant lover Hannah after she announced she was getting an abortion and refused his proposal of marriage. As the film unfolds over a 20-year period, Walter recalls via flashbacks within flashbacks that Hannah subsequently married Walter’s best friend and bore a child, that she later divorced him and he committed suicide, and that recently, on a sea voyage from New York to Paris, Walter had an affair with a spectacularly sweet and pretty young student (Julie Delpy) who reminded him of Hannah. The affair ended abruptly and tragically when Walter made a startling discovery about the girl. VOYAGER is a beautifully acted fiim, and despite its sensitive theme, tastefully scripted and photographed.

THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU (2004)See-worthy

LIFE AQUATIC, like director Wes Anderson’s first film, HARD EIGHT, serves up an offbeat plot, strong cast, quirky characters and clever dialogue. The inimitable Bill Murray stars as Steve Zissou, an eccentric oceanographer and film documentarian in the Jacques-Yves Cousteau mold. Steve and his eclectic crew (“Team Zissou”) – including his granite-faced wife (Angelica Huston); sharp-tongued pregnant magazine feature writer (Cate Blanchett); and a young pilot (Owen Wilson) who may or may not be Zissou’s son by a previous relationship – set out to find and take revenge on a monster shark that recently chewed up Steve’s beloved friend and partner. It’s not all smooth sailing, but along the way Zissou learns a few lessons about himself and the others. This litttle film is a gem. Every scene, whether featuring a cartoon seahorse suspended in a champagne glass, a Team Zissou military-style raid to rescue their accountain (Bud Cort) from pirates, or simply a static shot of Zissou staring across the ocan, is slightly askew and worth repeated viewings. And be sure to stick around for the end credits, an homage to BUCKAROO BANZAI. Also check out the soundtrack, a collection of familiar David Bowie songs all sung in Portuguese