Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome my first Guest Movie Reviewer! Mary and I had the opportunity to see this sneak preview as well but unfortunately could not attend. That being the case I drafted Jeff into service to provide this reviews. And without further ado…

My wife, Keri, and I had the opportunity to attend a preview screening of an upcoming film entitled The Thing about My Folks. It was written by and stars Paul Reiser. Paul is a forty-something father whose own father, played by Peter Falk, shows up at his apartment one night and drops the bomb on him: that Paul’s mother, played by Olympia Dukakis, has left him after 47 years of marriage and he doesn’t know why. That is how this wonderful film begins.

This is a film about family dynamics and things that go unsaid. This leads to the things going unsaid turning into many years of emotional wounds. Reiser writes a film in which anyone can see parts of their own family in numerous moments. It challenges you to think about your own family. It also is funny and uplifting as it shows the good along with the bad. You can see how Paul’s character is different from his father. Peter Falk is wonderful though in handling his son’s emotions and then giving him insight into events of the past from his point of view. As in life it is perilous to jump to a conclusion after hearing only one side of the story and the movie is great at showing us how much clearer the picture is once you’ve seen and heard events from both sides. Too many times each day I hear or see people say things with just their gut reaction instead of taking a breath a getting all the facts so they can make an informed decision.

The stars of the film do a wonderful job of getting you to think through the use of humor. Keri and I each laughed out loud at least a dozen times in this film. Don’t let the above paragraph lead you to believe this film is a heavy film. It’s really a comedy that masks, like most humor, the real story which is underneath. It is great to view a comedy with a point in contrast to so many of today’s comedies which are slapstick or go low brow with no real point. Sure some of the bits are funny and we laugh but there is no clear message.

When the screening was over we were fortunate to have the stars of the film on hand to conduct a question and answer session with the audience. Peter Falk and Paul Reiser were wonderful speakers and implored us to get the word out on this small independent film. If I didn’t believe in it I wouldn’t, so here goes. This film is only opening in select theatres on September 16th. If it does well that first weekend maybe they will be able to expand it. This is a film with no car chases, no explosions, no sex, no violence, and no major film studio believes in it because it lacks these things. This film has what many films today lack: story, humor and character development. If people vote with their wallets maybe Hollywood will realize that if they put out quality films people will watch and pay for them.

This film has a PG-13 rating because of language. Do the characters swear?Yes, but it is not F-this and F-that. The swearing they use fits the story. It’s not a film for small kids but this is just they type of film you can watch with your parents. It’s message about family is for 30 somethings to 60 somethings. Three quarters of the audience we watched it with where over 50 and they stood and applauded this film when it was over. So if your my age, 36, and are hesitant to recommend many of today’s films you enjoy to your parents then I believe this is one you can recommend to them.

This film’s main stars are on the screen ninety percent of the time (Peter Falk and Paul Reiser). However I don’t want to leave out noting great supporting performances by Olympia Dukakis and Elizabeth Perkins. Their roles are important and their acting is spot on.

GO SEE The Thing About My Folks SEPTEMBER 16th

When you do and hopefully enjoy it, Spread the word. Thanks for listening.

-Jeff Smith

Fairytales, folklore and mythology permeate literature, films, comics, art…many of the stories that entertain us today owe their structure, content, themes and ideas to the ancient oral traditions of various cultures. My favorites among these types of stories are those that delve deep into folklore, mythology and tradition and stay relatively true to the source material. Neil Gaiman and Mike Mignola have done this to great effect with The Sandman and Hellboy, respectively. The archetypes of fairytales are such that they lend themselves to whimsical, fantastical film making. The latest of these happens to be The Brothers Grimm.

I was excited from the very beginning about this film for many reasons. The source material is a favorite. The director is known for quirky, eccentric film making. And the look of the film, similar to that of films like Sleepy Hollow and Van Helsing, is one that I thoroughly enjoy. The problem with having high anticipation for films is that one can be easily let down if the film doesn’t deliver. I’m happy to say that for the most part this film met all my expectations.

The Brothers Grimm is in no way a biography of the actual men who recorded hundreds of fairy tales gleaned from the oral traditions of various European cultures. Instead it is fantastical tale of two con men who make their fortune preying on the superstitions of isolated villages. With the help of a couple of mentally challenged henchmen they secretly set up elaborate hauntings for which the villagers pay them to perform equally elaborate exorcisms. This all works great until they are forced to deal with a village whose hauntings are by no means manufactured by man.

Terry Gilliam, famed member of the Monty Python troupe and director of such films as Jabberwocky, Brazil, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas brought his unique talents to The Brothers Grimm and more than anyone can be credited with the look and feel of this film. His films, like the films of Tim Burton, tend towards the bizarre, the whimsical, and the quirky both in look and content. Far from being a straight forward scary adventure film, The Brothers Grimm is peppered with odd, eccentric characters and settings that mark it as a Gilliam film. The settings are dark, spooky and rich with texture. The enchanted forest and its decaying tower which are part of the main setting for the film are particularly well done. The menacing, moving trees are especially fun as they scamper like spiders and writhe like snakes and call to mind images of eerie childhood tales. I especially loved the tower as it looks strikingly like an Alan Lee drawing of a ruined tower in a cherished book I own entilted Castles (scroll a quarter of the way down to see picture to which I’m referring). Gilliam’s color palette, dark and moody but touched here and their with splashes of crimson, was excellent.

I was pleased with the cast of this film. Heath Ledger and Matt Damon inhabit the title roles. Both easily fall into that category in which they are liked by some and despised by others. I happen to enjoy both of these actors and, with the exception of Damon’s awful wig, they looked great as the Grimm brothers. Lena Headey was a great choice for the lead female. She was attractive but not cutesy which made her headstrong, fearless character Angelika more believable. Monica Belluci was the perfect choice for the beautiful but too briefly seen Mirror Queen. It was wonderful to see Jonathan Pryce back in a villain role. He has been a favorite since Something Wicked This Way Comes. Without question, however, the show was stolen by Peter Stormare as the Italian officer-executioner Cavaldi. His performance was eccentric, wacky, over-the-top and very fun. My only complaint is that early on in the film I had difficulty understanding his lines as his voice seemed to be drowned out by background noise. Other than this he was outstanding.

I would have liked to see more editing to the length of this film. Normally I don’t find movies too long but at almost 2 hours this film could’ve benefited from some early trimming, or perhaps a better use of the first act of the show. I feel they spent too much time establishing just who the Brothers Grimm were and it is time that would have been better employed fleshing out the Mirror Queen and Woodsman roles in the middle and end of the film. Despite an early action sequence the first twenty minutes of the film seemed slow and flat. Thankfully the film picks up after the introduction of Cavaldi and the subsequent relocation to the haunted forest. And make no mistake, even with the fairytale references this is not a film for young children. There is the presence of a typical happy ending but along the way some very dark things that happen to children and adults…things very true in spirit to the original Grimm’s fairy tales.

Gilliam does a marvelous job of weaving together elements from many of the classic Grimm tales into this film and I found it highly enjoyable. If you’ve enjoyed previous Gilliam films and/or you like the darker, quirkier films of Tim Burton then you should be entertained by The Brothers Grimm.

It was a dark and stormy night…what better night to see an atmospheric scary movie? Thus Thursday evening found me with James and Jeff at Skeleton Key. The brief synopsis of the story is that a hospice worker moves in with an elderly couple in a decrepit, backwoods Louisiana home to care for the wife’s ailing husband. Upon arrival she is given a skeleton key that is said to open every room in the house. Late night sounds from the attic quickly make her aware that her key does not open every door in the home and from there the mystery ensues.

Contrary to my usual style I will give a rating right up front: this movie is, at best, a 2 out of 4 star film. This film falls into the same “horror” category with movies like The Others or The Gift. It is a suspenseful, mysterious, atmospheric film not a “jump out” or slasher film like so many others in this genre. I have been known in the past to rail against critics who do not seem to have the ability to review a film on its own and frequently compare it to other films. This time I am guilty of the same transgression because as I watched I could not help comparing it to The Others, a film I love and a film that does this type of horror to perfection.

Despite the 2 star review there were things that I absolutely loved about this film. The cast in this film is very small and with the wrong choices for actors could have been dreadful. Fortunately the cast was terrific. I’ve enjoyed Kate Hudson in every movie of hers that I’ve seen and this is no exception. While the material doesn’t stretch her acting ability I found her believable and she did a good job of drawing you into the mystery as it was unfolding to her character. Gena Rowlands does an excellent job playing the slightly sinister elderly Southern matron. John Hurt, who I enjoyed immensely in Hellboy, has a rather thankless role here as he is mostly in a vegetative state throughout the film but he does it very well. I also enjoyed Peter Sarsgaard as the elderly couples’ attorney.

Like The Others this was a slow building suspense film, creepy from the beginning but done in a deliberate, unhurried fashion. I enjoyed this aspect as well. I appreciate intense, fast-paced suspense films but there is just something about a slower paced mystery that reminds me of the ghost stories I used to read as a kid. The setting was perfect. The decaying plantation house in the backwoods of Louisana, surrounded by swampland and trees dripping with foreboding was the best haunted house I’ve seen in a long time. The film was lit to intensify the sense of isolation and there were some incredible camera angles and shot selections that really intrigued me and added to my enjoyment of the film. Among my favorites were views through keyholes and shots from inside of old, antique door locks as the key turned to open them.

I like collecting old keys. Whenever Mary and I are at antique stores we look for interesting old keys that we use to place around our home or to decorate gifts. I’ve always found these old keys to be interesting and creepy and the symbolism of the skeleton key was used with great effect in this film. I also found the the part of the storyline related to old folk magic and Southern mythology very interesting.

There were some truly great things about this film. Why then does it only rate 2 stars? To be honest, that is hard to pin down. The climax was slightly anti-climatic after the earlier suspenseful build-up. But even with that the denoument wasn’t horrible. I think what I disliked most is the way that the writer tried to flesh out this story. A usual complaint with horror films is that they have no substance and there were elements in this story in which they tried to imbue the characters with more dimension and it distracted from rather than added to the story. For example they spent unnecessary time giving Kate Hudson’s character Caroline a reason for being a hospice worker. She had an unreconciled relationship with her father and he died suddenly and alone. While other movies might have benefited from this type of backstory it really did nothing for this film. Another example was the ending. There was a definite place where they could’ve ended the film after its sinister conclusion. Instead the film maker chose to tack on an extra 5-10 minutes to give the viewer an idea of what happened to the characters after the climax. It was unneccesary.

But more than anything my reason for rating the film as I did was that they did so many things well early on that made me feel like I had found another film that I would like as much as I like The Others and in the end they were not able to pull it off. Forgive me for becoming the type of critic that I loathe!

When this comes out on DVD I will no doubt sit down with Mary on another dark and stormy night as I think she would enjoy it but I cannot recommend spending money at the theatre for this film. I can highly recommend a visit to the website, which has a nice eerie quality to it.