The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep

"The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep" gets the reccomendation of LA Times critic Kevin Crust:

This enchanting tale of friendship and evolving relationships engagingly grafts coming-of-age movie chestnuts onto a Scottish folk tale. Though most of the narrative won't surprise anyone who has seen "E.T. The Extraterrestrial" or numerous similar stories, director Jay Russell and screenwriter Robert Nelson Jacobs create a realistic world where the fantastical is credible.

Synopsis of The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep

When Angus, a young Scottish boy, finds an enchanted egg, he takes it home and soon finds himself face-to-face with an amazing creature: the mythical water horse of Scottish lore. Angus begins a journey of discovery, facing his greatest fears and risking his life to protect a secret that would give birth to a legend.

Opened December 25, 2007 Runtime: 1 hr. 51 min.
PG- mild action/violence, some language and smoking
Cast: Emily Watson, Alex Etel, David Morrissey, Ben Chaplin
Director: Jay W. Russell
Genres: Children's Fantasy, Fantasy

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There Will Be Blood

LA Times critic Kenneth Turan recommends "There Will Be Blood":

"There Will Be Blood," the joint venture between actor Daniel Day-Lewis and director Paul Thomas Anderson, might be the most incendiary combination since the Molotov cocktail. Though it can be over the top and excessive, this morality play set in the early days of California's oil boom also creates considerable heat and light and does some serious aesthetic damage. (Read Turan's full review of There Will Be Blood)

Synopsis for "There Will be Blood"

The story chronicles the life and times of one Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), who transforms himself from a down-and-out silver miner raising a son on his own into a self-made oil tycoon. When Plainview gets a mysterious tip-off that there’s a little town out West where an ocean of oil is oozing out of the ground, he heads with his son, H.W. (Dillon Freasier), to take their chances in dust-worn Little Boston. In this hardscrabble town, where the main excitement centers around the holy roller church of charismatic preacher Eli Sunday (Paul Dano), Plainview and H.W. make their lucky strike. But even as the well raises all of their fortunes, nothing will remain the same as conflicts escalate and every human value – love, hope, community, belief, ambition and even the bond between father and son – is imperiled by corruption, deception and the flow of oil.

Opened December 26, 2007 Runtime: 2 hr. 38 min.
R - some violence
Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano, Kevin J. O'Connor, Ciarán Hinds, Dillion Freasier
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Genres: Period Film, Drama, Family Drama

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Persepolis

Persepolis is recommended by the LA Times critic Carina Chocano who writes:

A familiar story set in an unfamiliar context, it's a paean to the universality of human experience, a testament to the endurance of individuality during great political and fanatical upheaval, and a reminder that even the most complex situations, identities and stories are heartbreakingly simple. (Read Chocano's full review of Persepolis at the LA Times)

Synopsis for "Persepolis"

We meet 9-year-old Marjane when the fundamentalists first take power; she cleverly outsmarts the “social guardians” and discovers punk, ABBA and Iron Maiden, while living with the terror of government persecution and the Iran/Iraq war; as a teenager, her parents send her to school in Austria in fear for her safety and she has to combat being equated with the religious fundamentalism and extremism she fled her country to escape. Marjane gains acceptance in Europe but finds herself homesick, and returns to Iran to be with her family, though it means putting on the veil and living in a tyrannical society. She enters art school and marries, continuing to speak out against the hypocrisy she witnesses. At age 24, she realizes that while she is deeply Iranian, she cannot live in Iran. She then makes the decision to leave for France, optimistic about her future, shaped indelibly by her past.

Opened December 25, 2007 Runtime: 1 hr. 35 min.
PG-13 mature thematic material including violent images, sexual references, language and brief drug content

Cast: Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve, Gena Rowlands, Sean Penn, Iggy Pop
Director: Marjane Satrapi
Genres: Drama, Coming-of-Age
In French with English subtitles.

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Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

Kenneth Turan of the LA Times recommends "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story"

It's not easy to "Walk Hard," not easy to live the life that led to being immortalized in "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story." Dewey Cox -- singer, songwriter, legend -- would be the first to tell you that, if he were for real. He's not, of course, but there are moments during this smart and genial satire when you could swear he was.That's because this gleefully jaundiced skewering of American popular music in general and biopics like "Walk the Line" and "Ray" in particular knows that humor comes from both loving your source material and knowing it inside out. (Read Turan's full review)

Synopsis for "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story"
America loves Dewey Cox! But behind the music is the up-and-down-and-up-again story of a musician whose songs would change a nation. On his rock 'n roll spiral, Cox sleeps with 411 women, marries three times, has 22 kids and 14 stepkids, stars in his own '70s TV show, collects friends ranging from Elvis to the Beatles to a chimp, and gets addicted to--and then kicks--every drug known to man. But despite it all, Cox grows into a national icon and eventually earns the love of a good woman--longtime backup singer Darlene.

Opened December 21, 2007 Runtime: 1 hr. 36 min.
R - sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use and language
Cast: John C. Reilly, Jenna Fischer, Kristen Wiig, Tim Meadows, Raymond J. Barry
Director: Jake Kasdan
Genres: Parody/Spoof, Musical Comedy, Comedy

Showtimes and tickets online from Fandango.com

Starting Out in the Evening

Kenneth Turan recommends "Starting Out in the Evening" (search at Amazon.com) writing

Intelligent, involving and conspicuously adult, this film creates high drama from an unlikely source: the life of a New York novelist in his 70s. Making this happen is the presence of top actors Frank Langella, Lili Taylor and Lauren Ambrose. You won't see more convincing acting by a committed ensemble anywhere this fall. (Kenneth Turan's capsule review)

"Starting Out in the Evening" Synopsis
All that remains for Leonard Schiller (Frank Langella) is to finish the novel he has been laboring on for almost 10 years. His solitary writer's life is shaken by the arrival of Heather (Lauren Ambrose), an ambitious graduate student who persuades him that she can use her thesis to spur a rediscovery of his work. But as her inquiry proceeds, Heather displays a profound personal interest in Leonard, which unsettles him and stirs up his long-dormant need for intimacy. Meanwhile, Leonard’s daughter Ariel (Lili Taylor) reconnects with her ex-boyfriend Casey (Adrian Lester), a man Leonard firmly disapproves of. Leonard’s encounters with Heather lead him down an unfamiliar path that threatens his writing, his health, and his relationship to his daughter. But in living out in the open, in the evening of his life Schiller puts into practice the core theme of his novels -- life is not designed for our comfort but for our struggle, for in struggle there is growth.

Opened November 23, 2007 Runtime: 1 hr. 51 min.
PG-13 sexual content, language and brief nudity
Cast: Frank Langella, Lauren Ambrose, Lili Taylor, Adrian Lester
Director: Andrew Wagner
Genres: Drama

Times and locations for Starting Out in the Evening at Fandango.com

The Savages

LA Times movie critic Carina Chocano gives recommends "The Savages"

Tamara Jenkins' second film, after the equally wonderful though not as mature "Slums of Beverly Hills," is a reckoning, a brutal encounter with mortality told with uncommon humanity, wit and humor. Jon Savage (Philip Seymour Hoffman) gets a middle-of-the-night call from his sister, Wendy (Laura Linney), informing him that their father (Philip Bosco) has been scrawling nasty messages on the bathroom wall with his feces. Jenkins has called it a "coming of middle age story," about siblings who are forced to grow up when their father becomes a child. LA Times capsule review

"The Savages" Synopsis
Wendy Savage (Laura Linney), a struggling playwright, has little to do with her brother, Jon (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a college professor and author. However, the siblings must find a way to work together when their aged father, Lenny (Philip Bosco), slides into senility and must be placed in a nursing home.

Opened November 28, 2007 Runtime: 1 hr. 53 min.
Rated R
Cast: Laura Linney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Bosco, Peter Friedman, David Zayas
Director: Tamara Jenkins
Genres: Comedy Drama, Medical Drama, Family Drama, Domestic Comedy

Tickets and times for "The Savages" at Fandango.com

Juno

Juno gets a recommendation from the LA Times

Ellen Page plays a pregnant teen who tries to find the right set of adoptive parents for her unborn baby in this seriocomic tale from writer Diablo Cody and director Jason Reitman. With Jason Bateman, Jennifer Garner and Allison Janney. PG-13 for mature thematic material, sexual content and language. (LA Times capsule review of Juno)

Juno - Synopsis
Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page) is a whip-smart teen confronting an unplanned pregnancy by her classmate Bleeker (Michael Cera). With the help of her best friend Leah (Olivia Thirlby), Juno finds her unborn child a perfect set of parents: an affluent suburban couple, Mark and Vanessa (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner), longing to adopt. Luckily, Juno has the total support of her parents (J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney) as she faces some tough decisions, flirts with adulthood and ultimately figures out where she belongs.

Opened December 5, 2007 Runtime: 1 hr. 32 min.
PG-13 mature thematic material, sexual content and language
Cast: Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jason Bateman, Jennifer Garner, Allison Janney, J.K. Simmons
Director: Jason Reitman
Genres: Comedy Drama, Coming-of-Age, Ensemble Film, Domestic Comedy

Best 10 Movies 2007 LA Times Reviewer Kevin Crust

LA Times published the Top 10 Movies of 2007 list from reviewer Kevin Crust today in this story The Movies that Mattered. Crust, in his preamble states:

It's unclear to me whether it's a commentary on the movies of 2007 or the state of my life that throughout the year I found the best of them burrowing their way into my core in ways I never imagined. Through both literal and lyrical conveyance, the stories and characters onscreen aligned with my own experiences in manners profound and unsettling. And everywhere I turned, Philip Seymour Hoffman seemed to be staring me in the face.

Crust's List for Best Movies of 2007

• The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Find it at Amazon.com)
• Once (Once at Amazon.com)
• Into the Wild (Into the Wild at Amazon.com)
• No Country for Old Men
• 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days
• I'm Not There Find it at Amazon.com
• Away From Her (Away From Her at Amazon.com)
• Michael Clayton
• This Is England (This is England at Amazon.com)
• Anything with Philip Seymour Hoffman. The films did not always match up to his prodigious presence, but that ultimately didn't seem to matter

Crust finishes off with a comment about the worst films of 2007:

It's deeply lamentable that the sheer volume of films makes it so difficult for audiences to find the great ones. Whether they're drowned out by the sound and fury of the summer spectacles or jockeying with one another for attention during the overcrowded fall and holiday seasons, quality films and the marketing and publicity people behind them increasingly face an uphill battle.

And that's just why I run this blog; so that with the help of the LA Times movie reviewers we can sift out the good from the bad. I just added several movies to my Netflix's queue using my 2007 posts. The holiday season is going to act as catch-up for me on all the great movies I've missed seeing throughout 2007. I hope this record of what the LA Time's reviewers consider the best helps you also sort out those films worth watching from the worst.

Grace is Gone

Kevin Crust of the LA Times gives "Grace is Gone" a "recommended" rating in his review:

The directorial debut of screenwriter James C. Strouse, "Grace Is Gone" is an emotionally rich and satisfying drama featuring a terrifically understated performance from John Cusack. In a year that has seen wave after wave of films addressing the war in Iraq with varying degrees of anger and frustration, "Grace" serves as a gently thoughtful coda and reminder of what continues. Read Crust's entire review of Grace is Gone

Synopsis: Stanley Phillips (John Cusack) receives the kind of news that every spouse of a soldier dreads: His wife, Grace, has been killed in Iraq. He must find a way to break the news to his two young daughters, Heidi (Shélan O'Keefe) and Dawn (Gracie Bednarczyk), but cannot bring himself to do it. Stanley takes the girls on a road trip to Florida, all the while searching for the right time and place to tell them about their mother's fate.

Grace Is Gone
Opened December 7, 2007 Runtime: 1 hr. 25 min.
PG-13
Director: James C. Strouse
Genres: Art House/Foreign, Drama

Local screening times and tickets online at Fandango.com

The Golden Compass

The Golden Compass gets an "Also Recommended" award from Kenneth Turan of the LA Tmes

The first of the novels in Philip Pullman's landmark "His Dark Materials" trilogy, about an alternate England where souls manifest themselves and creatures and a mysterious group plots to control the world, is turned by writer-director Chris Weitz into a formidable piece of craftsmanship, as some 1,100 effects shots are used to create a physical world that has the ability to take your breath away. The voice of Ian McKellen as a fighting bear is the icing on the cake.

Synopsis "The Golden Compass"
Lyra Belacqua (Dakota Blue Richards) is an orphan who lives happily in Jordan College, Oxford, playing with local boys and terrorizing the professors. However, when Lyra overhears scholars discussing a plot against her uncle, Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig), centering a mysterious substance called Dust, her curiosity is roused. Soon Lyra is in over her head as she uncovers a frightening plot and a whole new world of possibilities.
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Dakota Blue Richards, Daniel Craig, Sam Elliott, Eva Green
Director: Chris Weitz
Genres: Fantasy Adventure, Fantasy
Opened December 7, 2007 Runtime: 1 hr. 54 min.
PG-13 sequences of fantasy violence

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Kenneth Turan LA Times gives "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" an Also Recommended award

Director Julian Schnabel has avoided the obvious pitfalls and won the best director prize at Cannes for dramatizing a true story of a man whose perfectly functioning brain is trapped in a paralyzed body. This imaginative and sensitive film, starring France's gifted Mathieu Amalric, is simultaneously uplifting and melancholy, suffused with an unexpected sense of possibility as much as the inevitable sense of loss.

Synopsis "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
The astonishing true-life story of Jean-Dominic Bauby - a man who held the world in his palm, lost everything to sudden paralysis at 43 years old, and somehow found the strength to rebound - first touched the world in Bauby's bestselling autobiography The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (AKA La Scaphandre et la papillon), then in Jean-Jacques Beneix's half-hour 1997 documentary of Bauby at work, released under the same title, and, ten years after that, in thisCannes-selected docudrama, helmed by Julian Schnabel (Basquiat) and adapted from the memoir by Ronald Harwood (Cromwell).

The Schnabel/Harwood picture follows Bauby's story to the letter - his instantaneous descent from a wealthy and congenial playboy and the editor of Elle Paris, to a bedbound, hospitalized stroke victim with an inactive brain stem that made it impossible for him to speak or move a muscle of his body. This prison, as it were, became a kind of "diving bell" for Bauby - one with no means of escape.

With the editor's mind unaffected, his only solace lay in the "butterfly" of his seemingly depthless fantasies and memories. Because of Bauby's physical restriction, he only possessed one channel for communication with the outside world: ocular activity. By moving his eyes and blinking, he not only began to interact again with the world around him, but - astonishingly - authored the said memoir via a code used to signify specific letters of the alphabet.

In Schnabel's picture, Mathieu Almaric tackles the difficult role of Bauby; the film co-stars Emmanuelle Seigner, Marie-Josée Croze, Anne Consigny and Patrick Chesnais. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Opened November 30, 2007 Runtime: 1 hr. 52 min.
PG-13 nudity, sexual content and some language
Cast: Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, Marie-Josée Croze, Anne Consigny, Patrick Chesnais
Director: Julian Schnabel
Genres: Docudrama, Drama

Won Best Director Cannes Film Festival 2007
Won "Vulcain de l'Artiste-Technicien" Prize Cannes Film Festival 2007


Screening locations and times for "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" at Fandango.com

Atonement

Kenneth Turan of the LA Times gives "Atonement" a critics' choice award and writes:

…this is one of the few adaptations that fives a splendid novel the film it deserves. An assured and deeply moving work, “Atonement” is at once one of the most affecting of contemporary love stores and a potent mediation on the power of fiction to destroy and crate, to divide and possibly hear. About the affect a young girl’s false accusations have on her older sister and her lover.

"Atonement" Synopsis

In 1935, 13-year-old fledgling writer Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan) and her family live a life of wealth and privilege in their enormous mansion. On the warmest day of the year, the country estate takes on an unsettling hothouse atmosphere, stoking Briony’s vivid imagination. Robbie Turner (James McAvoy), the educated son of the family’s housekeeper, carries a torch for Briony’s headstrong older sister Cecilia (Keira Knightley). Cecilia, he hopes, has comparable feelings; all it will take is one spark for this relationship to combust. When it does, Briony – who has a crush on Robbie – is compelled to interfere, going so far as accusing Robbie of a crime he did not commit. Cecilia and Robbie declare their love for each other, but he is arrested – and with Briony bearing false witness, the course of three lives is changed forever.

Opened December 7, 2007 Runtime: 2 hr. 3 min.
Rdisturbing war images, language and some sexuality
Cast: James McAvoy, Keira Knightley, Romola Garai, Saoirse Ronan, Vanessa Redgrave
Director: Joe Wright
Genres: Period Film, Drama, Romantic Epic, Romance

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