Movie Reivew: "I Am Legend" by L Dormois

As I thought about the movie on the way home,it was the typical movie plot with redemption at it's core.
Will Smith was first made to be a hero. We see him loose his wife and his only daughter while following his higher calling to save the world and remain on his watch. We are made to sympathize more with him when he looses his dog. The dog gives his life protecting his master. The villians are demonic like creatures who live in the dark, attack humans, are drawn to blood.

In the end he gives his life to save the mankind.

What is the means of their salvation???? Blood.

What a legend.

Larry D

Movie Review: Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium

Dustin Hoffman plays Mr. Edward Magorium, a 243 year eccentric old man who owns a toy shop in NYNY. Edward Magorium is on the cusp of retirement and “departure” i.e. voluntary death. Natalie Portman portrays a young female composer, Mollie Mahoney, who manages the toy shop for Mr. Magorium. Having writer’s block, Mollie’s life is at an apparent standstill. The bulk of the plot involves the interplay of Edward Magorium’s final plans for his Magic Emporium and Mollie’s quest to recover her musical creativity.

Dustin Hoffman’s acting versatility shines in his role as the elderly eccentric. Natalie Portman’s acting is lackluster. The basic plot had much promise, but really did not connect very well at movie’s end.

Movie Review: "Lars and the Real Girl"

The stories centers around Lars, a shy delusional young man in a small northern Midwestern town, who purchases a sex doll. Lars lives a quiet life working at a mundane office job and lives in a garage apartment next to his brother and sister-in-law. In his intense search for intimacy, he constructs a fantastic platonic relationship with his doll “Bianca.” In an attempt to not offend Lars, friends and family pretend to interact with his doll. The concepts of intimacy, maturity and mercy are slowly developed through the film.

Ryan Gosling and Nashville native Paul Schneider give better-than-average performances as Lars and his brother Gus. The movie is comical and inciteful.

Review of "Pissarro: Creating the Impressionist Landscape"

Camille Pissarro is known as “The Father of French Impressionism.” Most of the landscapes on display are from the decade of 1864-1874. During this decade, Pissarro developed his impressionist style. Representative works include his early years at Louveciennes, his seven months of London exile during the Franco-Prussian War, his return to Louveciennes, Pontoisse and his final years in Paris.

Throughout the procession of paintings, you can see Pissarro’s gradual transition from the use of black and dark colors. His depiction of snowy scenes become more sophisticated as he develops more loosely painted landscape and cityscapes.

My favorites were “The Farm on the Grounds of the Château of Marly” and “The House in the Woods.”

Admission includes a personal audio guide, a thirty minute video by art historians and thirty nine of his paintings. This exhibit is running at the Brooks Museum of art through January 6, 2008.

Movie Review: Elizabeth: The Golden Age

This visually stunning movie chronicles the struggles and intrigues of Queen Elizabeth I. The starts just after her ascension to the English throne after the death of her Catholic step mother, Mary. Elizabeth’s father, Henry VIII, had separated the English church from Rome. England is in a state of flux. A large minority of English is loyal to Rome, but the English government and her Queen are Protestant. Mary, Elizabeth’s Catholic sister and rival to the English throne, schemes to reunite England with the Catholic Church.

The film’s conflicts include Elizabeth’s struggles with her half sister, Mary, her chief counselor, Sir William Cecil, Sir Walter Raleigh and King Phillip of Spain. Throughout the story, Elizabeth is torn between the necessity of being royal and authoritative and the need for intimacy, friendship and council.

Sir Walter Raleigh is in turn torn between the need for the queen’s royal patronage and sincere admiration of her intelligence, sensitivity and will. The interplay between these two characters is well developed, sophisticated and for the most part virtuous.

The visuals, costumes, setting and musical score are stunning. Some theatrical license was taken in some of the pivotal points of the story- including a Joan of Ark-like scene on the Cliffs of Dover as Elizabeth looks over the destruction of the Spanish Armada in shining armor on a white charger delivering a warmed over version of Richard’s St. Crispin’s Day speech.

The movie is rated “R” mainly because of the violence and brief nudity.

Movie Review: “3:10 to Yuma”

This is a remake of the 1957 classic western of the same name. Dan Evans, a crippled Union Army veteran trying to survive bad times as a rancher in Arizona, is pitted against Ben Wade, a sophisticated sociopath outlaw who must be escorted to a train station in Yuma, AZ. In the course of their travels, Dan and Ben build an unlikely bond. Both Dan and Ben make sacrifices in the end in an attempt to redeem both their characters and situations. If not for the salty language, it would have earned a PG-13 rating. Christian Bale (Dan Evans) and Russell Crowe (Ben Wade) gave masterful, powerful performances. Peter Fonda and Luke Wilson made cameo appearances.