Friends With Money

Every 5 years or so, the film viewing public gets a special treat; a Nicole Holofcener film. I'm absolutely ecstatic that 2006 happens to be one of those years, and Holofcener doesn't disappoint. The story follows the friendship between three married women (Catherine Keener, Joan Cusack, and Frances McDormand) and their single friend (Jennifer Aniston). The structure, like Holofcener's other films, is very loose. The beginning is particularly odd, as it basically amounts to a series of episodic scenes that don't seem to add up. However, by the middle of the 2nd act the film really comes into focus, and that's mostly because of Jennifer Aniston's terrific performance. While this is essentially an ensemble piece, it's Aniston's character that provides the film's central emotional core and the way she delivers her final line is incredibly moving. The rest of the ensemble is also wonderful, especially Holofcener vet Catherine Keener, who I still claim to be the most talented actress working in Hollywood these days. The journey of each of the main characters is touching, funny, and original. Nothing in this movie is trite or predictable. Friends With Money is further proof that Holofcener is a rare talent in Hollywood, and I can't wait for her next movie, even if it won't happen until 2011.

Inside Man

Inside Man was billed as a departure for Spike Lee. It's the story of a bank robbery and the match of wits between the mastermind (Clive Owen) and the detective (Denzel Washington) sent to stop him. It is true that the film fits into a genre mold moreso than most other Spike Lee films, but he still clearly leaves his stamp. The sequence that most comes to mind involves an Arab hostage complaining about his civil rights, and Denzel's character responds with what seems like a throwaway joke, but do you really think Spike's kidding? As with most of his films, Inside Man could not exist in any other city than New York. Even in this genre film, Spike plays up language barriers and racial prejudices. That makes this far more interesting than most films of this kind. It's not a completely successful affair, though. The prolonged ending really sucks some life from the film, and the characters could have used some more development (particularly Chiwetel Ejiofor, who was wasted in a supporting role).

Gilmore Girls

This has been a most frustrating season for one of my favorite ongoing shows, Gilmore Girls. Coming off a terrific 5th season, the show's finest since it's freshman year, Gilmore Girls has fallen prey to some terrible choices in writing. The first half of the year revolved around the fractured relationship between Lorelai and Rory. While this was an interesting direction to go, it unfortunately deprived us of the show's most memorable quality; the brilliant chemistry between Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel and the strong bond developed between their two characters over the first 5 years. Exploring a rift in that relationship is fine (which they had done before, and never better than in the 1st season Christmas two parter), but they spent way too much time with this.

It seems like part of the reasoning for this split was an excuse to delay Lorelai and Luke's wedding, and this theory gains more strength when the show introduces a long lost daughter for Luke that causes problems right after the Lorelai-Rory rift was repaired. You'd think that a storyline involving Luke's daughter would be a massive mistake and cause the show to slide quickly downhill. You'd be wrong. It's actually not even much of a problem and has been handled fairly well. In fact, in the most recent episode, young actress Vanessa Marano really seemed to fit in nicely with show's fast paced dialogue style.

The real problem is that Rory and her best friend Lane are stuck in terrible relationships that just do not make sense. Rory's current boyfriend is Logan, a character that has been dragging this show down for quite some time. He wasn't able to do much damage last year, but has now been added as a full time cast member. He's an annoying preppie jackass and the writers have given us very little reason to like him. It didn't help matters when we see Jess reappear twice this season, reminding us of a couple that actually had some chemistry.

Meanwhile, Lane has been stuck in a terrible romance for the past two seasons with bandmate Zack. Similar to the problem with Rory's romance, the writers don't give us much reason to like Zack. He was a jerk when they started dating, a jerk when they broke up, and still they have him acting like an ass after he's proposed marriage to her. Sadly, she accepted. The season seems to be winding down to a Lane-Zack wedding, instead of, I don't know, A LUKE-LORELAI WEDDING. It's sad because given the history of Lane's character throughout the show, her wedding should be a rich, fulfilling moment. Instead, it might very well ruin her character forever.

I don't have much hope for the future. Previews for the next few episodes don't lead me to believe the Zack-Lane wedding will be called off, and the actor playing Logan has been locked up for next season. The Luke-Lorelai wedding angst will probably be carried out as long as possible (although I hope I'm wrong). It's going to be a while before this show gets fixed, and at the moment I'm not very confident that it will ever happen.

P.S. Didn't there used to be a character on this show named Sookie? Just wondering.

Thank You For Smoking

Thank You For Smoking is a satire about the tobacco industry and lobbyists. Aaron Eckhart is Nick Naylor, a Tobacco lobbyist who begins having moral quandaries about his job because he's worried what kind of message it will send to his son. At the same time, he gets involved with a reporter (Katie Holmes) whose doing a story on him, and initiates a plan with a Hollywood producer (Rob Lowe) to make cigarettes sexy again. Writer/director Jason Reitman is obviously very clever, and many of his satirical jabs hit the mark. One of my favorite lines ("thank god we invented the whatever device") actually comes at the expense of Hollywood. Reitman has populated the film with a plethora of strong performers. Unfortunately, Reitman doesn't have it in him to take the premise as far as it could go. He's more interested in nicely tidying things up than really going after his targets. It's a shame because there are few people in Hollywood as good as Aaron Eckhart in playing sleazy, corrupt men (witness his brilliant performance in In the Company of Men, a film that didn't pull it's punches). It's hard to deny Thank You For Smoking is a funny movie, but unfortunately it's writer/director doesn't have the nerve to make it a great one.

Slither

Slither is a horror/comedy written and directed by James Gunn. One of the great pleasures of Slither is the lack of cynicism. While most horror films in the last decade (since Scream) have felt the need to be self-referential and hip to distance themselves from the genre, Slither uses it's humor in a way to embrace it's predecessors. There's lots of campy humor, but it's easy to tell that Gunn is a big fan of classic zombie films and is honoring them, more than picking them apart. Gunn has a perfect eye for casting, with leads Nathan Filion and Elizabeth Banks both experts at sticking their tongue firmly in their cheeks. Also on hand is Gregg Henry, who gets some of the film's best lines, and Tania Saulnier, whose bathtub encounter with slugs is the film's most frightening moment. Slither is a fun horror movie that hits it's mark more often than not.