Gil Mansergh’s Cinema Toast

New Releases 2/06/09

Coraline (PG)
Voices of: Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Keith David
Director: Henry Selick
Tim Burton’s stop-motion animator tries it on his own (and does it in 3-D as well). The story is based on Neal Gaiman’s popular children’s book about a little girl who moves to a new house and finds a parallel universe on the other side of the living room wall. Adults should love this movie, but kids may find it too leisurely compared to video games.
3 and 1/2 piece of “Pink Palace” toast

He’s Just Not That Into You (PG-13)
Starring: Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Connelly
Director: Ken Kwapis
Overwritten by the “Sex and the City” guys, and starring the people from the front pages of the tabloids, this series of interconnected tales is carefully crafted to lure dating twenty-somethings into the theater and not alienate either the guys or the girls. People don’t talk this way in real life, and perhaps the predictable plot won’t seem so obvious to others in the audience
2 pieces of too much or too little toast

The Pink Panther 2 (PG)
Starring: Steve Martin, Jean Reno, Alfred Molina, Emily Mortimer
Director: Harald Zwart
Not as much of a stinker as the first Steve Martin as Clouseau outing, but only by the narrowest of margins.
1 piece of pointless French-accented toast

Push (2009)
Starring: Dakota Fanning, Chris Evans, Camilla Belle, Djimon Hounsou
Director: Paul McGuigan
Comic book-based story of rogue paranormals who want to destroy the government because the government is genetically transforming the citizenry into an army of psychic warriors. Apparently the way to combat this is to use the power of your brain to have people smash backwards through windows, walls, neon signs, mirrors or anything else shiny and bright.
1 piece of derivative, paranormal super people toast

Note: The Rialto in Santa Rosa is the only local theater showing the shorts nominated for an Oscar. This is for one week only, so hurry!

2008 Academy Nominated Animated Shorts
Lavatory – Lovestory – dir. Konstantin Bronzit – Russia
Oktapodi – dir. Julien Bocabeille – France
Le Maison en Petits Cubes – dir. Kunio Kato – Japan
This Way Up – dirs. Adam Foulkes and Alan Smith – UK
Presto - dir. Doug Sweetland – United States (PIXAR)
Plus the following “Commended Films”:
Varmints – dir. Marc Craste – UK
John and Karen - dir. Matthew Walker – UK
Gopher Broke - produced by Blur Studios – USA
Skhizein – dir. Jeremy Clapin – France
Hot Dog – dir. Bill Plympton – USA

2008 Academy Nominated Live Action Shorts
Auf Der Strecke (On the Line) dir. Reto Caffi – Germany/Switzerland
New Boy – dir. Steph Green – Ireland
Toyland - dir. Jochen Freydank – Germany
The Pig – dirs. Tivi Magnusson and Dorte Hogh – Denmrk
Manon on the Asphalt – dirs. Elizabeth Marre & Olivier Pont – France

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VIDEO/DVD

Tell No One (NR)
Starring: Francois Cluzet, Kristin Scott Thomas, Marina Hands, Marie-Josee Croze, André Dussollier
Director: Guillaume Canet
A doctor who believed his wife was murdered eight years ago, receives an e-mail with a video showing she is still alive. “Tell no one.” The message warns. This French thriller has enough twists and turns to keep even the most jaded audience engaged.
3 and 1/2 pieces of Hitchcockian toast

Secret Life of Bees (PG-13)
Starring: Queen Latifah, Dakota Fanning, Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys
Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood
Sue Monk Kidd’s novel gets dipped in so much honey that it becomes cloyingly sweet and untrue to the original source material. Yes, there is still the postcard of the Black Madonna with the words Tiburon, South Carolina on the back, and yes, there is a matriatrchal society of African-American women, and yes the power of love and redemption is still tangible “so why does it all seem so contrived onscreen?
2 and 1/2 pieces of where’s the Buzz? Toast

Happy-Go-Lucky (R)
Starring: Sally Hawkins, Stanley Townsend, Eddie Marsan
Director/Screenwriter: Mike Leigh
Director Mike Leigh has his actors live together for months before filming begins so they can explore all facets of their characters. The result is always exciting and often quite revealing, uncovering some of the inner demons which haunt all of us. But this time, the center of the film is a refreshingly upbeat London schoolteacher who really loves her job and makes a determined choice to find joy in those minor setbacks that plague even the sunniest people. Polly is one of those exuberantly happy, Polyannish people who collect all those pennies from heaven in a large pitcher to make the lemonade from the lemons life sometimes brings.
3 and 1/2 pieces of upbeat toast