The film is directed by Lisa Cholodenko.  She also co-wrote the script with Stuart Blumberg, a former writer for MADtv.  I don’t know for sure if Cholodenko is a lesbian, but if I were to make a guess based on The Kids, this picture, and her history with the show The L Word, I’m going to stereotypically say that she just may be.  Either way, it doesn’t seem to matter as her film may have some subtle political subtext, but overall, it didn’t seem too… in-your-face-overturn-Prop-8-now!  Her story is simply about a family.  The ups, and downs, the joys and the pains.  It just happens that there are two moms in this family, and no dad.  Until the sperm donor, played by Mark Ruffalo shows up and starts spending times with Nic and Jules’ kids (played exceedingly well by Mia Wasikowska, and Josh Hutcherson).  As you can imagine, jealousy, mistrust, and confusion start to destabilize this otherwise established family.

What convinces me that Cholodenko doesn’t have any sort of political agenda is the completely lake of prejudice against the family because of the two women who have chosen to create a family together.  I’ll admit, this was a relief.  I personally don’t have a problem with gay marriage, but I prefer not to use the struggle for acceptance as entertainment in my films.  Cholodenko chose to spent her time examining the dynamic of this family, and she did it very well.  During one scene in the film, Nic and Jules decide to try and accept Paul the sperm donor into their circle.  Over dinner, Paul makes a toast to an ‘unconventional family.’  Perhaps this is the best quality of the film, it demands us to really contemplate what makes a family?

Cholodenko’s pacing is excellent and she makes the best of every shot.  She truly is a gifted filmmaker, and you should all go see her film as soon as possbile.  Even though the chances are that you’ve all, all ready seen it.

4 out of 4 stars

The performances are first rate.  Mark Ruffalo plays Stephen, the brother of Bloom, who is played by Adrien Brody.  They’re the core of a con team, surrounded by other, random characters.  One of the most prevalent is Bang Bang, played almost wordlessly by Rinko Kikuchi (Babel).  Despite Bloom’s shallow protests that the con game isn’t for him any more, Stephen and Bang Bang convince him to do one final score.  The mark is Penelope (Rachel Weisz), a terrifically wealthy, orphaned shut-in with nothing better to do than to collect hobbies.

Johnson’s writing has an edge to its humor that will sufficiently entertain most viewers throughout the length of film.  The actors have the skill and the know-how to pull off his sometimes cheesy punchlines, but whether he takes the high road, or the low, Johnson will get his laughs.  However, there are two main problems with the rest of Brothers.  The first is Johnson thinking himself much more clever than he actually is.  He exhibits this with bloated dialogue.  For example, Stephen, near the beginning of the film, states that he believes Bang Bang only knows a total of  three words of English, and that’s exactly the number of words she utters (except when she’s singing karaoke.  And despite his attempts at subtle foreshadowing, he basically gives away the entire final scene, fifteen minutes into the film.

The second problem is Johnson’s attempt at gravitas.  Yes, Brick was dark, and serious, and was very well done.  But the shallowly developed characters in Brothers makes it a very difficult pill to swallow when we’re expected to let this very flat, naive characters switch paces between manic, and hilarious, to complex humans full of strengths, weaknesses and emotions.  This problem takes away from the very climactic final that Johnson expects us to eat up.

The Brothers Bloom is fantastic summer fare, but shouldn’t be considered as anything more than that.

2.5 out of 4 stars

Reservation Road spends no time pretending like it will be a worthwhile movie.  It seems George’s thought process must have gone something like, ‘Character development? No time for that!’  The beginning of the film introduces us to some of the flattest characters in recent film memory.  We’re given the image of a picture perfect family: Grace, and Ethan (played by Joaquin Phoenix and Jennifer Connelly), and two talented and charming children Josh and Emma (played by Sean Curley and Elle Fanning).  We’re also introduced to the broken family: short-tempered, divorced, lawyer Dad named Dwight (when will we get tired of lawyers being a bad omen?) played by Mark Ruffalo, and his son, Lucas.  Dwight has just received permission from the court to have unsupervised visits with Lucas (it doesn’t explain why that right was revoked in the first place).  He takes his son to a Red Sox game, and on the way back home, he happens to hit the son of Grace and Ethan, who left the car at a gas station to release the jar of fireflies he caught for his sister after his cello concert on the beach.  In a moment of panic, Dwight leaves the scene, leaving the previously happy family broken due to the loss of a key player.  From this point on, Ethan can think of nothing but justice, even to the point of abandoning his family emotionally when they need his help the most.

In an attempt to cover the shallowly developed characters, George decided to exploit the sensation of losing a child, which is despicable.  The plot, and writing is so contrived, you’ll cringe when watching Road.  There was one scene where one character says to the other, without laughing, or giving off the impression of irony, “We had nicknames for each other: ‘Nitro’ and ‘Glycerin.’  You could say we had an explosive relationship.”  To mirror the poor choices of Dwight, his son takes part in a conveniently similar situation at school, to which Dwight preaches that he must take responsibility for his actions, and accept whatever punishment comes to him.

While the actors excel, they can’t do much with their parts.  Jennifer Connelly is the standout at the beginning of the film, but then resigns to the part that was written for her, and spends the rest of the film doing nothing but tearing up at the mere mention of children.  Similarly, Phoenix and Ruffalo act their hearts out, but can do little to change the horrendous direction the plot takes.

1 out of 4 stars

Rottentomatoes: 37% – Cream of the Crop: 27%

The basis of the story is that an epidemic of blindness triggers the downfall of a mysteriously international city without a name.  In fact, names aren’t used at all in the plot, as the blind can find no use for them.  The main characters are quarantined in an abandoned mental hospital.  After just a few days of unassisted living, the hospital turns into an enormous port-a-potty, trash, and dirty everywhere, unable to clean after themselves.  The small societal structure, and the humans in that structure, within the hospital quickly deteriorates as the lack of necessities drive them to extreme measures.  The circumstances are horrifying, and it is certainly a scene that is difficult to watch thanks to the skills of director Fernando Meirelles.

Oscar nominated director Meirelles (City of God, The Constant Gardner) brings us this adaptation of the book by the same name, written by Nobel Prize-winning author, Jose Saramago.  The cinematography is beautiful , thanks to the knowing hand of Cesar Charlone (City of God, Sucker Free City).  The shots Meirelles and Charlone manage to capture, perfectly framed in their lens are stunning.  They could belong to an intense, but intriguing coffee table book.  They masterfully manipulate light, darkness (playing on the theme of the White Blindness), focus and shadows to create a haunting world that you believe can exist.  Meirelles commanded quite the performance of Julianne Moore playing ‘Doctor’s Wife,’ who shouldered the burden of carrying the plot through most of the movie.

While the film is certainly beautiful to look at, and there are scenes that aggressively move the audience to feel at least something, the pacing and plot leave much to be desired.  Some of the central acts that should have been the most poignant, lack power.  It’s like the story was stretching too hard to try and be more than it is.  Some of the more dramatic elements were harped on the length of the film, leaving an unpleasant impression on the viewer.  What could have been a affecting, and poignant cautionary tale, ended up being an extremely beautiful, philosophically appealing, but nonetheless, unbalanced, and uneven story that’s not quite sure where it fits between the art, and thriller genres.

3 out of 4 stars

Rottentomatoes: 37% – Cream of the Crop: 31%

Rated R for violence including sexual assaults, language and sexuality/nudity.

This movie seems to have everything going for it.  Literally, everything.  It’s directed by Fernando Meirelles.  The man we can thank for the near perfect City of God, and the 2006 Oscar favorite The Constant Gardner.  This Academy Award nominated director knows his stuff, if you don’t believe me, watch either of the two previously mentioned movies, give me a call, and I’ll say I told you so.

Blindness is based on the book of the same name, written by Nobel Prize winner Jose Saramago, the plot follows a city wide epidemic causing blindness in 90% of the population.  The city’s ultimate and immediate goal becomes containment of the infection.  Those afflicted are quarantined to an abandoned mental hospital, where they are left with meager food rations and no contact with the outside world.  Left completely to their own devices, a sightless, savage society is formed based on gree and brutality.  Power is left in the hands of those that control food and supplies.  Left to their own devices, this ‘society’ quickly devolves and loses it’s humanity (a la Lord of the Flies).

The cast offers an endless supply of some of the most talented actors in Hollywood today. The Julianne Moore (Magnolia, Boogie Nights, Children of Men) plays the wife of a Mark Ruffalo (Zodiac, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) who’s infected.  She follows him to the quarantined hospital, keeping her sight a secret while leading/protecting the underdogs.  The film also stars the wickedly talented Gail Garcia Bernal (The King, Babel), Sandra Oh (Hard Candy, Sideways), Danny Glover and scores more.  Check out the full cast here.

Blindness is set to be released September 26th and while it’s not yet rated, if it stays true to Saramago’s novel, it will most likely be rated R.  Check out the official movie site at blindness-themovie.com.

Check out the following trailers and teasers as well (some of which feature the ridiculously awesome original score to Danny Boyle’s Sunshine).