Category: Amy Adams

MOVIE REVIEW: Sunshine Cleaning


Carol’s and my long weekend away was coming to an end, and so we decided, as a last hurrah, to drive back to Albany’s Spectrum 8 Theatre to see Sunshine Cleaning.

Amy Adams stars as Rose, the former high school head cheerleader whose life hasn’t turned out as she planned, but she works hard to take of herself and her son, even though she sometimes has to drop him off into the hands of her slacker sister Norah (Emily Bluth). Rose is also involved with her married high school beau who recommends Rose quit being a maid and start cleaning up biohazard at crime scenes.

Ultimately, the story chugs along to its more-or-less happily ever after conclusion, after some detours. I remember Amy Biancolli’s review addressing a plot device in the story that one either believers or not; I bought the conceit. I realized that I had seen a couple very solid performances. Yet the story, while initially intriguing, tended to wander off and so did I.

The makers of the indie hit Little Miss Sunshine also made this movie, right down to casting Alan Arkin as the grandfather; it’s a different role, but not so dissimilar that one would find it a variation on the theme.

Ultimately, in spite of the fine actors, and the initial intriguing premise, the story of Sunshine Cleaners didn’t always work, much to my regret, for I wanted to really like this film. This is one of those movies that’s quirky, but that’s not always equivalent with good. I don’t regret seeing it, but at best, I recommend with strong reservations.

ROG

ROG

MOVIE REVIEW: Doubt


For the second weekend in a row, I saw a movie at the Spectrum Theatre, this time alone. The wife and I developed a system whereby one of us goes to the movies on Saturday and the other on Sunday. I went Saturday; unfortunately, Carol fell ill on Sunday, so she won’t see it until Super Bowl Sunday.

Doubt is set in New York City in 1964, the year after JFK. Just the visage of the Catholic school’s old-line principal, Sister Beauvier (Meryl Streep), will bring fear into the hearts of some of the lapsed Catholics of a certain age that I know. She seems to have developed some suspicions about the trying-to-be-modern parish priest, Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and she ends up in a power struggle with him.

This a very well-acted movie, as one would expect with actors of this caliber. This movie represents Streep’s 15th Oscar nomination, though she hasn’t won since 1982. Hoffman was nominated twice before, winning once. This is Amy Adams’ second nomination and Viola Davis’ first. Adams in particular is the sweetest nun since Sally Field played Sister Bertrille in The Flying Nun.

As it is based on award-winning stage play, there is some great dialogue. I particularly liked the sermons offered as not so subtle messages.

And yet…there was something about it that is at arm’s length. Perhaps it was too stagy, that the adaptation did not fully take in the differences that cinema requires. Though I never saw the play, I can imagine this same scene-chewing dialogue produced on stage, quite possibly to greater effect. There were powerful themes and yet I never quite got caught up in them. It’s not unlike abstract art or avant-garde jazz you believe has been well crafted but just does not engage you.

I do recommend Doubt. Maybe it will take you away in a manner that I did not experience.
ROG

ROG

VIDEO REVIEW: Enchanted


Friend Fred , way back on February 23, extolled the virtues of the 2007 cartoon-and-live-action Disney film Enchanted. It starred Amy Adams, who Roger Ebert loved in Junebug. A couple months later, I went to my local library to put it on reserve. And waited and waited until, when a call came from the library saying my item is in – without actually specifying what item it might be – I had forgotten about it.

Two days later, I get the DVD and the family sits down to watch it. Big mistake. The four-year-old is terrified of the ogre, and by the time we get to the slaying of the bus dragon, she’s done.

So I watch it by myself (and later my wife, herself). You know what? Fred was correct! It’s fun! It’s romantic! It has some great songs, including “Happy Working Song” that Adams sang at the Oscars this year, a great riff on “Whistle While You Work” from Snow White. In fact, what was truly remarkable were some of the exact shots used in various animated and live action Disney films.

The art was great. I recognized the cartoon version of Susan Sarandon before I recognized her voice. The other characters that inhabited both worlds were likewise well-rendered in animated form. The DVD extras enhanced my appreciation of the moviemaking. Those birds and rats that were cleaning? NOT CGI, but actual trained animals. New York City at the climax? CGI.

In fact, the only quibbles I had the DVD touched on. A couple deleted scenes, one of which would have explained the motivation of one character better, I might have kept. But this is a minor thing.

I had forgotten that Patrick Dempsey was that McDreamy guy from Grey’s Anatomy. But, as Fred noted, the film lives or dies with Amy Adams, and she was radiant. Perhaps coincidentally, Giselle spoke to her prince (James Marsden) about what happens after “happily ever after”; a recent TV Guide promises that Grey’s will answer the very same question this coming season.

Highly recommended for people who know the Disney oeuvre or like musicals. Recommended for most everyone else who isn’t grumpy. Not recommended for very sensitive four-year olds.

ROG

ROG
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