The Debt

The espionage thriller begins in 1997, as shocking news reaches retired Mossad secret agents Rachel (Academy Award winner Helen Mirren) and Stephan (two-time Academy Award nominee Tom Wilkinson) about their former colleague David (Ciarán Hinds of Focus’ “Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day”). All three have been venerated for decades by their country because of the mission that they undertook back in 1966, when the trio (portrayed, respectively, by Jessica Chastain [soon to be seen in “The Tree of Life”], Marton Csokas [Universal’s upcoming “Dream House”], and Sam Worthington [“Avatar,” “Clash of the Titans”]) tracked down Nazi war criminal Vogel (Jesper Christensen of “Casino Royale” and “Quantum of Solace”) in East Berlin. At great risk, and at considerable personal cost, the team’s mission was accomplished – or was it? The suspense builds in and across two different time periods, with startling action and surprising revelations.

Opens Wednesday, August 31st.

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The Help

Based on one of the most talked about books in years and a #1 New York Times best-selling phenomenon, “The Help” stars Emma Stone (“Easy A”) as Skeeter, Academy Award®–nominated Viola Davis “(Doubt”) as Aibileen and Octavia Spencer as Minny—three very different, extraordinary women in Mississippi during the 1960s, who build an unlikely friendship around a secret writing project that breaks societal rules and puts them all at risk. From their improbable alliance a remarkable sisterhood emerges, instilling all of them with the courage to transcend the lines that define them, and the realization that sometimes those lines are made to be crossed—even if it means bringing everyone in town face-to-face with the changing times.

Opens Wednesday, August 10th.

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Flipped

When second-graders Bryce and Juli first meet, Juli knows it’s love. Bryce isn’t so sure.

Beginning that day, and for the next six years, young Bryce (Callan McAuliffe) does everything he can to keep his outspoken wannabe girlfriend at arm’s length…which isn’t easy since they go to the same school and live across the street from each other.

Smart, dreamy, independent and willing to stand up for what she believes in, Juli (Madeline Carroll) is different from anyone else he knows and, frankly, it’s a little overwhelming. What’s a guy supposed to do when a girl tells him his hair smells like watermelon or wants him to sit in a tree for the spectacular view? There’s just no telling what Juli will do next, and Bryce is one guy who’d rather be safe than sorry.

Though disappointed by Bryce’s unwillingness to see things her way, or even to see the things in life she finds most meaningful, Juli continues to give her potential dreamboat the benefit of the doubt. Until those doubts stack up so high that she finally thinks maybe she was wrong about him.

It’s just about the same time Bryce starts to think maybe he was wrong about her, too. But is he too late?

The coming-of-age romantic comedy “Flipped,” from director Rob Reiner, takes Bryce and Juli from Grade School to Junior High, through triumph and disaster, family drama and first love, as they make the discoveries that will define who they are—and who they are to each other.

“Flipped” stars Madeline Carroll (“Swing Vote”) as Juli, and Callan McAuliffe (Australian TV’s “Comedy, Inc.”) as Bryce. Rebecca De Mornay (“Wedding Crashers”) and Anthony Edwards (“ER”) star as Bryce’s parents, Patsy and Steven Loski; and Emmy Award nominee John Mahoney (“Frasier”) as his grandfather, Chet Duncan. Penelope Ann Miller (TNT’s “Men of a Certain Age”) and Emmy Award nominee Aidan Quinn (HBO’s “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee”) star as Juli’s parents, Trina and Richard Baker; and Kevin Weisman (“Alias”) as her Uncle Daniel.

“Flipped” is directed by Oscar® nominee Rob Reiner (“A Few Good Men”) and produced by Reiner and Alan Greisman, who most recently collaborated on “The Bucket List.” The screenplay is by Rob Reiner & Andrew Scheinman (Oscar®-nominated producer, “A Few Good Men”), based on the novel by renowned author Wendelin Van Draanen. Martin Shafer, Liz Glotzer and David Siegel serve as executive producers.

The creative team includes Emmy Award-winning director of photography Thomas Del Ruth (“The West Wing,” “Stand By Me”), production designer Bill Brzeski (“The Hangover”) and Oscar®-nominated editor Robert Leighton (“A Few Good Men”). The music is by five-time Oscar®-nominee Marc Shaiman (“The American President”). The costumes are designed by Durinda Wood (“A Mighty Wind”).

Castle Rock Entertainment presents a Rob Reiner/Alan Greisman Production, a Rob Reiner Film: “Flipped.” Rated PG by the MPAA for language and some thematic material, it will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

Opens in limited release August 6th. Opens in wide release August 27th.

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Review – A Single Man

A Single Man is a movie that I have a serious love/hate relationship with. But before I continue, I must warn you that this will be a spoiler-filled review, as it is impossible to detail my major complaint with the film without discussing the scene in question.

A Single Man is a beautiful film about grief and moving on. It centers on George (Colin Firth), who plays a British-born English professor living and working in Los Angeles in the 1960’s. His long-term partner (Matthew Goode) dies a sudden tragic death and he is forced to move on. That’s pretty much it, as plot goes. It’s basically a day in his life…how he deals with his grief and how the various interactions he has with people that day shape and change his outlook.

The film is directed by Tom Ford, who was already a famous fashion designer before he decided to get behind the camera and make this movie. As first-time filmmakers go, this is quite a debut. The film is exquisitely painted and gorgeously photographed. He uses various recurring motifs such as clocks and close-ups of people’s eyes. (But don’t ask me to explain the reasoning behind that!) The costumes and set design are impeccable, re-creating the 1960’s to great detail. All of the performances are amazing in this movie, starting with the best: Colin Firth. I believe this is by far the best performance he has given to date and I would be quite pleased if it led him to an Academy Award. Julianne Moore gives a rollicking fun yet brief performance as George’s next-door-neighbor, best friend and fellow expatriate. Also wonderful is Nicholas Hoult as a student who enters George’s life at the right place and time.

This is one of the best films I have ever seen in regards to showing how people deal with grief. It is impossible to watch the film without your heart breaking for George. To see him left alone, unable to see his lover again or even attend the funeral. To watch as he so resolutely tries to go on with his life and retain his composure. To see the profound loss and loneliness he feels that leads him towards suicide. And it fills your heart with joy to watch him fill that hole in his heart, even if only a little bit…enough to keep him from pulling that trigger. You watch him discover that even in the darkest pit of despair, there is hope and see him find new love, wherever it may lead him. And then, after this glorious rebirth, he dies. THIS is my problem with the movie.

I have many problems with this ending. First, I think it does a major disservice to everything that comes before it in the movie. The story was told and a beautiful story it was. So to tack on a “kill the puppy” ending is just ridiculous. Some people may argue that this is the way the story ended in the book by Christopher Isherwood, which this film is based on. But I’ve never read the book so I have no idea if the ending is the same, and I feel the movie should stand on its own merits anyway. Killing off George after seeing his epiphanic transformation is just insulting…especially for someone like me. As a gay man I have spent my whole life needing positive gay male images in my life (as anyone in a minority group would need). Mostly I’ve been stuck with the funny sidekick or, sadly, tortured souls and lecherous villains. I think that’s why this movie hit me so hard. It’s a masterfully crafted piece about a very realistic gay character dealing with grief and overcoming it. To kill him off just adds to the age-old trend of gay characters never achieving happiness.

An Education

From the official site – It’s 1961 and attractive, bright 16-year old schoolgirl, Jenny (Carey Mulligan) is poised on the brink of womanhood, dreaming of a rarefied, Gauloise-scented existence as she sings along to Juliette Greco in her Twickenham bedroom. Stifled by the tedium of adolescent routine, Jenny can’t wait for adult life to begin.

Meanwhile, she’s a diligent student, excelling in everything but the Latin that her father is convinced will land her the place she dreams of at Oxford University.

One rainy day, her suburban life is upended by the arrival of an unsuitable suitor, 30-ish David (Peter Sarsgaard). Urbane and witty, David instantly unseats Jenny’s stammering schoolboy admirer, Graham (Matthew Beard). To her frank amazement, he even manages to charm her conservative parents jack (Alfred Molina) and Marjorie (Cara Seymour), and effortlessly overcomes any instinctive objections to their daughter’s older, Jewish suitor.

Very quickly, David introduces Jenny to a glittering new world of classical concerts and late-night suppers with his attractive friend and business partner, Danny (Dominic Cooper) and Danny’s girlfriend, the beautiful but vacuous Helen (Rosamund Pike). David replaces Jenny’s tradition education with his own version, picking her up from school in Bristol roadster and whisking her off to art auctions and smoky clubs.

Under the pretext of an introduction to C.S. Lewis, David arranges to take Jenny on a weekend jaunt to Oxford with Danny and Helen. Later, using an ingenious mix of flattery and fibbery, he persuades her parents to allow him to take their only daughter to Paris for her 17th birthday. David suggest that once again his “Aunt Helen” will act as chaperon. Jack and Marjorie do not know that Jenny has chosen the date and place to lose her virginity.

Paris is all that Jenny imagined it would be, sex with David is somewhat less so. On her return to Twickenham Jenny’s school friends are thrilled with her new-found sophistication but her headmistress (Emma Thompson) is scandalized and her English teacher Miss Stubbs (Olivia Williams) is deeply disappointed that her prized pupil seems determined to throw away her evident gifts and certain chance of higher education.

Just as the family’s long-held dream of getting their brilliant daughter into Oxford seems within reach, Jenny is tempted by another kind of life.

Will David be the making of Jenny of her undoing?

Opens New York and LA October 9th.

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