April 5, 2005

"The Corporation"

This documentary is based on Joel Bakan's book "The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power." The film's thesis is that corporations, by their very nature, tend to behave in ways that exploit workers, subvert good government, harm the environment, and upset the ecology. The argument is buttressed by a number of specific examples, and the movie features talking heads, including Noam Chomsky and Milton Friedman.

"Sideways"
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Winner of the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, "Sideways" was nominated for four additional Oscars, including Best Picture. This bittersweet comedy involves two guys (Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church) journeying to the wine country north of Santa Barbara, and while there they become romantically involved with two women (Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh). The film's principals won the Screen Actors Guild award for best ensemble performance.

April 12, 2005

"Bad Education"

Directed by Pedro Almodóvar, this Spanish-language gay-themed drama starring Gael García Bernal was liked by an overwhelming majority of critics. The setup is that a man (García Bernal) who does a stage act in drag comes to a filmmaker with a story based on when they were boys together in Catholic school. As "Bad Education" moves back and forth in time, we get different versions of events, and gradually we begin to figure out what is going on.

"Hotel Rwanda"

Don Cheadle gives an outstanding performance in this inspiring fact-based drama set in the African nation of Rwanda. Cheadle plays Paul Rusesabagina, manager of a luxury hotel in the capital city. In 1994 one of the country's main tribes, the Hutu, went on a rampage that slaughtered roughly a million people in another, the Tutsi. Amid the chaos, Paul, a Hutu, undertook a course of action that saved the lives of some 1200 Tutsis.

"The Woodsman"

Kevin Bacon gives a strong performance in this audacious drama, which is the first feature-length film directed by Nicole Kassell. The movie takes an objective look at a child molester named Walter (Bacon) after he completes a 12-year jail term. As he struggles with his yen for young girls, he gets a job in a lumberyard and begins dating a co-worker (Kyra Sedgwick). But his past eventually becomes known, and he has lots of problems to deal with.

April 19, 2005

"House of Flying Daggers"

This Mandarin-language martial arts film was directed by Zhang Yimou. The story is set in 9th-century China when insurgents are trying to bring down the Tang Dynasty. The government sends two male deputies (Takeshi Kaneshiro and Andy Lau) to deal with the Flying Daggers rebel group. The deputies use a blind female dancer (Zhang Ziyi) to guide them, leading to romantic complications. But the movie is mostly about visual beauty and kinetic action.

April 26, 2005

"Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events"

Jim Carrey stars in this darkly comic movie based on a series of children's books ostensibly written by a man named Lemony Snicket, but actually by Daniel Handler. The three Baudelaire kids are orphaned and taken to live with their closest relative Count Olaf (Carrey), but he wants to kill them so he can have their inheritance. They get away and embark on a series of adventures, but Count Olaf pursues, with Carrey donning a number of disguises.