Movie reviews

Movie reviews this week looks at the biographical drama War Eagle Arkansas.

This is a fairly recent biographical tale made for the big screen, that tells the story of two boys living in a rural community, War Eagle, Arkansas. The title might elude to it being a war story but it is far from it.

It is a story of a charming disabled boy known affectionately as "Wheels" played brilliantly by Dan McCabe (The Cake Eaters), and his best friend Enoch who has a speech impediment (played impressively well by Luke Grimes [Ryan in Brothers and Sisters]). Enoch lives with his grandfather better known as "Pop", played by the stalwart Brian Dennehy (Gladiator).

Pop is trying to get Enoch a baseball scholarship into one of the best sporting universities around their area, and it soon becomes obvious to the audience that Pop seems to have regretted giving up his dreams of being a major baseball star and staying in War Eagle, and he doesn't want that for Enoch, but you are not quite sure if Enoch dreams are to leave War Eagle.

The friendship of the two boys is so close, that at the first few scenes you automatically assume that they are siblings, spending as much time in each other's company as possible, and Enoch even gets to say the last word to Wheels, after his mother Jessie played by the ever brilliant Mary Kay Place (Adalene Grant in Big Love) gets him ready for bed.

Pop is in charge of the local baseball team, and in his attempt to get Enoch a baseball scholarship, pushes him as best as he can, as he sees it there is nothing in this town, to keep him there. Apart from baseball, there is an allusion to watching wrestling on TV, and one can't miss the obvious focus on Jerry "The King" Lawler, and can see the symbolism he represents as someone who made it out of war Eagle, Arkansas. There is the usual romantic interest as Enoch has the hots for a lovely girl, Abby played by the surprisingly young looking Misti Traya, and there are a few embarrassing moments for Enoch as he summons the courage to ask Abby out, but of course his speech impediment gets in the way, unless Wheels is by his side to speak for him, and in one painful scene, where Enoch tries to do it alone without Wheels, he leaves in a rush, as the words cannot come out and a few of Abby's friends can't help but giggle at his attempt. When he does eventually ask her out, the audience will feel the loneliness and pain Wheels feels, on a life he aspires for but is not realistic of seeing come true.

War Eagle Arkansas, is an endearing movie of two boys, and their friendship as they decide what path their lives are going to take, and they seek advice from the sole preacher at this close knit community, Jack played by James McDaniel (Lt. Arthur Fancy in NYPD Blue).

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Labels: baseball, biographical, Brian Dennehy, Dan McCabe, disablity, film review, film reviews, films, friendship, Luke Grimes, Mary Kay Place, Mistri Traya, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, romance, War Eagle Arkansas

This is a fascinating drama, shot in a documentary style with excellent performances from the largely unknown cast.

It stars Nisreen Faour as Muna Farah, a single mother living in the Palestinian Territories, working in a bank, and recently divorced from her husband, we meet her as she goes shopping for groceries. She sees a well dressed woman, and she immediately hides from her, we find out later that the well dressed woman is the new woman in the life of her husband, and hence the reason for the furtiveness.

We get to see and commiserate with her life, as she deals with the hours of road checks, to get to and from work, as well as pick up her son Fadi played by Melkar Muallem (he reminds me of Lou Ferrigno of the Incredible Hulk) from his private school, as well as looking after her mother.

Muna's life is about to change, she receives a letter because a visa application to the U.S. when she was still with her husband has been approved, and although Muna is reluctant to go, leaving her elderly mother with her brother, on showing the letter to her son, he encourages her, and she sees this as a new lease of life especially for him, to get away from the hardship of life in the Palestinian Territories.

We get a glimpse of the problems faced by many Palestinians at customs in airports all over the world, because when she arrives, she is asked which country she is a citizen of, she replies that she has no citizenship, the clerk asks her which country she is from, she says she has no country, which the clerk seems amazed, and asks if she is a Palestinian or an Israeli, she says she is from the Palestinian Territories. Prior to this there is a slightly humorous scene when he asks her occupation, and although she speaks English, as well as French and Arabic, she says "Yes we are occupied".

On arriving she is met by her sister Raghda Halaby (played by Hiam Abbass) and her husband Nabeel who has a medical practice, played by Yussuf Abu-Warda.
Unfortunately customs had seized several belongings including a cookie box, which had her entire savings in it, so she arrives with nothing but the two hundred dollars Fadi's uncle gave him as a going away present.

She enrols Fadi at a local high school, and goes about looking for a job, but is soon downcast, as even with a degree she is unable to find suitable work. Fadi on the other hand is having to deal with the usual taunts that he is a suicide bomber from his classmates, while his cousin Salma played by the lovely Alia Shawkat tries her best to get him to fit in.

The movie is set soon after the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and the audience will feel for the plight of Muna and her sister's family, with undeserved animosity being shown towards them in many areas of their life for simply being Arabs.

It is a lovely movie with superb performances from the stellar cast, that at the end resounds hope.

Labels: Alia Shawkat, Amreeka, drama, film review, film reviews, films, friendship, Hiam Abbass, immigrants, immigration, Melkar Muallem, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, Nisreen Faour, palestinian, Yussuf Abu-Warda

This is a very entertaining comedy drama, focusing on Tracy Orbison played by Hubbel Palmer, a very talented poet working at a Walmart type store, but feeling very low on confidence because of his weight.

His weight has brought some friction between him and his mother Agnes, played by Kathleen Quinlan (Scofield's mother in Prison Break). His sister Peggy played by the lovely Mary Lynn Rajskub (24), tries to keep the peace between them, while Tracy just takes whatever his mother says as deserved punishment.


As Tracy day dreams with his poetry, he comes upon a chance meeting to visit a theatre show, where Truman Hope played by William Baldwin (Forgetting Sarah Marshall), plays the lead, Tracy is so mesmerised by Truman's performance, when he finds out that Truman is undertaking an acting class locally, he is eager to sign up, and hopeful for a meeting at the end with Truman.

At work Tracy is promoted to assistant manager by his well meaning boss Mr. Grigoratus, played amicably by Bruce McGil (Time Cop). We get a feeling of the relationship between the two, in the beginning when Mr. Grigoratus tries to set Tracy on a double date with him and his wife, he notes down on a piece of paper to ask his wife if she has any "fat friends". Tracy is also in charge of looking after the new recruit Kendis Coley, played by Vincent Calo (The Guild), Kendis asks Tracy to help him out by pretending to be his father in order to meet the Principal at his school, as he is in trouble, he says the Principal has never met his father and he is from Laos, at first Tracy refuses, but sees that this would be an impressive stunt to pull for his acting credentials, and that it would also get him the friends he craves, so he agrees to do the favour by pretending to be Kendis's father in order to get the Principal at his school to go easy on him. After the stunt, Tracy is so impressed that he stays in character a little longer, equally Kendis's friends are impressed that Tracy was willing to do this for Kendis and pulled it off, and soon become friends with him. Tracy sees this as a window to blossom his acting, and a door into the minds and hearts of the misguided youths, however the leader of the teenage gang Shawn played by Nick Lashaway (The 40 Year Old Virgin), has some ominous plans for Tracy, he indicates this by having Tracy go into the local store and get them some alcohol, when he comes out with the alcohol the teenagers all take it and disperse from him, while Tracy naively asks "I thought this was for your parents"?

It turns out that there is a painful lesson on life for Tracy to learn, and although he is well meaning at most times, he finds out that people are not to be trusted not even Truman, who he idolises at first but finds out he is being used, when he gets tickets to a play for himself and Truman, but on the day Truman turns up with another student from the acting class, and asks Tracy to relinquish his ticket to her. He eventually finds out Truman also has eyes on his sister, much to his despair. The movie also delves into his weight problem, and the possible issues that might have contributed to it, especially from his mother's side.

It is a very well acted drama, and viewers will be impressed by how the issues are tackled.

Labels: Bruce McGil, drama, film review, film reviews, films, friendship, Hubbel Palmer, Humble Pie, Kathleen Quinlan, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, Nick Lashaway, Vicent Calo, William Baldwin

This is a very well made war related drama, following two soldiers who notify relatives of their loved ones who have died in combat.

It stars the stalwart Woody Harrelson (No country for old men, Zombieland) as Captain Tony Stone, who has hand selected Staff Sergeant Will Montgomery, played by the brilliant Ben Foster (Pandorum, Birds of America, Angel in X-men: The Last Stand) to join him on his rounds.

Will has just come back from a deployment in Iraq, where he had three months left for his tour, but he and his platoon were caught up in an IED (Improvised Explosion Device) that has left him with a limp, and constantly needing eye drops for his left eye. We meet Will as he is called in to see his commanding officer, where he is told he is to be assigned to Tony (who is in the room, and a veteran of Operation Desert Storm). His commanding officer says for the job of notifying relatives of the passing of their loved ones, they need someone who is absolutely calm, and they believe he fits the bill, although Will resists that he has no counsellor training, he eventually agrees.

Tony discusses the job and responsibilities of the role, he stipulates there is to be no touching of the relatives, not even a hug, no mincing of their words, use either "dead" or "died", not "gone missing", he tells a story of a woman who was told her son "was no longer with us" and she spent a considerable amount of time thinking that he had defected to the other side. He is given a manual of the rules, and a beeper, that he should respond to at any hour of the day or night.

It turns out apart from his injuries Will had another heavy issue on his heart, that of his girlfriend Kelly played by the lovely Lena Malone (Donnie Darko), who he let go, and is soon to be married to someone else, although they do have some kind of a strange relationship, it turns out as Will puts it he let her go so she wouldn't get any visits from the likes of Tony.

The two soldiers who are at disputes over the interpretation of the rules, and their duties, soon become close, and reveal to each other some of their deepest pain, Tony in his battle with alcoholism, and Will with the pain of his ex.

In amongst this they constantly face up to a barrage of abuse from relatives who have just been told of the terrible news of the passing of their loved ones, and each time you wonder and hope it doesn't escalate into something ominous for the two soldiers, as there is no one else for the relatives to take out their rage, anger and frustration at that precise moment after learning of the death of a loved one than the two soldiers who are unfortunate enough to have brought them the news.

On one occasion, a wife Olivia Pitterson played by the gorgeous Samantha Morton (Minority Report, The Libertine), who had been told of the bad news, does not display the typical reactions Will and Tony have come to expect, she even thanks them for telling her the news, and mentions it must be difficult for them, Will goes back to find out if there is anything she needs, or maybe to determine why she displayed hardly any emotion, and it soon becomes obvious he is falling for her.

It is a very emotionally charged tale, and puts in focus the very difficult job of passing on the terrible news to relatives of members of the army, who have been lost in combat; in a scrutinizing and raw light.

Labels: Ben Foster, drama, film review, film reviews, films, friendship, Iraq, Lena Stone, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, romance, romantic, Samantha Morton, The Messenger, War, War dead, Woody Harrelson

This is a lovely movie encompassing sadness, hope and suspense.

It is shot almost as a documentary in the life of one charming Senegalese taxi driver played wonderfully and humanely by Souleymane Sy Savane , who is commonly referred to as Solo.

He is trying to get into flight school, as well as looking after his new wife, adopted daughter and baby on the way.

He happens to come across an elderly gentleman, William played with a great deal of melancholy by Red West (former bodyguard of Elvis) in his cab, who wants him to pick him up on a certain date no questions asked, and take him to "Blow Rock" where he is never coming back all for a considerable amount of money for a taxi driver.

Solo is a little saddened at this, as he says in his country, everybody looks after the elderly, even so much as to put food in their mouths if they have no teeth.

Solo is a little apprehensive, but takes the money, but he is hoping whatever William is planning on doing he can be dissuade him. He reckons he probably just needs a friend to get him to see how much life is worth living, and so Solo takes on the task of being his friend, introducing him to his lovely step daughter Alex played by the adorable Diana Franco Galindo, and his pregnant wife Quiera played by Carmen Leyva who isn't too pleased with Solo bringing in a stranger into the house.

Solo charms his way into the William's life, at least the little he knows of it so far, and tries to get William to reveal a little about himself, any family if any, and the reasons why he would like to go to "Blow Rock" and never want to return, Solo tries to get William introduced to his family, his friends and associates, surprisingly the gentleman does seem cordial and sociable at these moments, but there is a deep sadness in his eyes when alone. Just as the audience begins to believe Solo is making headway it suddenly changes, which keeps the suspense enthralling throughout.

Labels: Carmen Levya, Diana Franco Galindo, drama, film review, film reviews, films, friendship, Goodbye Solo, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, Red West, Souleymane Sy Savane, suspense, taxi, taxi-cab