Movie Review: Rabbit Hole

Walking with someone through tragedy and grief is no easy task, and that is what makes this move a difficult “sell.” Rabbit Hole is about a couple, who eight months after a moment that destroyed their suburban family bliss, are only just starting to come out of the ‘daze’ of grief, and are wondering how to begin life again. This is where we are introduced to Howie (Aaron Eckhart) and Becca (Nicole Kidman) who lost their son Danny in a car accident but find their grief is driving them apart since they want to deal with it in different ways.

Becca has shut herself down behind an emotional wall, she cannot even begin to think of having sex with her husband, and wants to remove all traces of Danny from their lives. Howie, on the other hand, needs to wallow in his memories of Danny - by keeping his room as it is, and watching old home movies. It is well known that over 80% of couples divorce after the death of a child, and after watching this movie you will understand why. The divide between Howie and Becca is stark throughout - a constant reminder how grief can dislocate and destroy other important relationships. What does a couple say to each other when nothing seems to be the right thing to say? Well, Rabbit Hole bravely explores this territory with some very interesting results.

The strength of Rabbit Hole is that it does not offer cheap answers and pithy sayings. In fact, it shows just how far these fall short in truly helping someone negotiate through their grief. One incidence of this is seen where Becca blows up in a couples therapy group with another couple who seem to be accepting easy answers because of their Christian faith. As a church minister, I cannot tell you how often I have seen people tell the grieving that their loved ones “are in a better place now” and “God must have wanted another angel” but in each and every case, far from helping, these comments only caused anger and further grief. Really, sometimes there are no ‘answers,’ there is just the journey each person needs to undertake, and this can only be done one painful step at a time.

The best part of Rabbit Hole is that it reminds us of this and that there is no right or wrong way of coping with loss, there just needs to be intentional journeying, (hopefully) with friends and family who don’t feel the need to provide answers but will offer loving support. Rabbit Hole reminds us that it is possible to pick up the broken pieces of a life and start again, and that you can honour someone's memory in a way that enhances life rather than detracting from it.

Both Kidman and Eckhart put in strong performances, although it does seem that Kidman’s role is more fully fleshed out and as a result she has something extra to work with. This move is by no means perfect, since there are a few unlikely incidents that occur, but overall its integrity, courage and empathy make it a strong study in human drama.

Three and a half stars out of five for Rabbit Hole.

Movie Review: I am Number Four

In Hollywood, shameless is often considered a virtue and if that is true, then “I am Number Four” should apply for sainthood. It surely won’t win anything else. The movie itself makes entirely clear why it has the title it does, but the cynical part of me could not help wondering whether the number four is used because it has shamelessly ripped off a least four (probably more) previous hits in this genre.

Let me count ‘em up. The Twilight series definitely (compare handsome loner of a vampire who holds mysterious attraction for virginal teenage girl with handsome loner of an ‘alien from outer space’ who holds mysterious attraction for virginal teenage girl). Then there is the whole Spiderman/ X-men angle of a teenager struggling to get to grips with great power, and with great power comes ...? Of course, don’t forget the Transformers rip-off (Michael Bay being involved as executive producer) with a young couple being chased around by aliens - this time replete with gills rather than machinery. Finally, there is the inevitable and formulaic teenage romance angle, which we have seen replayed countless times not just in movies but in popular series like Beverley Hills 90210 and others. Essentially, it as if the “I am Number Four” creative team sat down and made a list of every popular teenage movie, and then created a paint-by-numbers production that included them all.

For all that, I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a total waste of time and money. The movie is pleasant enough, but neither could it exactly be called deep and meaningful. The basic plot has an alien sent to earth as a child (ooh wait did I mention the Superman similarity!), who is one of eight outer-spacers wandering our globe for some incomprehensible reason, and who is then hunted down by other aliens. In between, he tries fit in at high school, defend nerds from bullies and falls in love with the prettiest girl around. Yes, yes, you HAVE seen it all before.

Some of the action scenes are pretty decent, although it feel suspiciously like all the dialogue in between is just a setup for the CGI enhanced scenes to come. Lead actors Alex Pettyfer and Diane Agron are not too bad, and actually generate some positive chemistry. The movie does touch on relevant issues for school goers such as bullying, but really does not have anything valuable to teach in this regard other than the lead character’s realisation that running away does not necessarily solve your problems (but hey, neither does violence although that message doesn’t sell movie tickets).

Look, if you really have nothing better to do then go see this movie. You might even enjoy it if you have never seen a superhero action, science fiction, teenage romance or anything from Twilight before. Otherwise, don’t bother.

Five stars minus four for “I am Number Four”.

Movie Review: Freakonomics

The book ‘Freakonomics’ was such a cult hit that it was only a matter of time before it was made into an expose/documentary - a freakumentary if you will. ‘Freakonomics’ caught people’s attention because it took common, everyday ‘truths’ and made readers doubt the actual accepted reality behind them. In other words, it made make people question why they accept some things as truth, when a little careful analysis and thought might well reveal otherwise. The movie keeps to this theme and uses the book’s authors in economist Steven Levitt and journalist Stephen J. Dubner as presenters in introducing some ‘freaky’ thoughts.

The movie is split into a number of different segments, including 1) how a person's name might affect his or her life; 2) whether corruption exists in the mysterious world of Sumo wrestling; 3) why crime rates dropped in the U.S. in the 1990s; and 4) could bribery actually motivate high school students to do better in class. Five different documentary-specialist directors take care of the various segments of the movie, and they all do a fantastic job using humour and true-life enactments to make the entire production quite entertaining. The use of different directors does have a drawback, however, in that it makes the overall movie lack cohesion.

While ‘Freakonomics’ is both thought-provoking and entertaining, it does have one great weakness. There is a total lack of contrary opinion or any real consideration given to the other side of the arguments it presents. It feels like the fight is a little fixed as the deck is stacked in favour of Levitt and Dubner’s own hobbyhorses. In this sense, ‘Freakonomics’ does come across as a little self-satisfied and probably is not as smart as it makes out. However, as far as challenging us to ask questions and cautiously analyse what we are spoon-fed as truth, ‘Freakonomics’ does a first-rate job. Overall, it is a ‘freasonable’ effort that is well-worth your time.

Three and a half stars out of five, with elements of violence, sexuality/nudity, drugs, and brief strong language.

Movie Review: The Rite

If you have a demon that needs to be busted down to size, who you gonna call? Well, the Catholic Church apparently. ‘The Rite’ is another in a long list of Hollywood-produced movies that details the adventures of a Catholic priest working as an exorcist. Not that I have anything against the Catholic Church, or even exorcists, you understand, but really this is all beginning to feel rather tired.

Sowhat.mobi tries to review ‘movies that matter,'and initially I was hesitant to see 'The Rite' because of the fatigue factor I feel about movies like this, and because my experience has been they do not have anything balanced and meaningful to say in regards to issues like faith, and the nature of good and evil. However, early promotions convinced me to see ‘The Rite’ because they promised a more intelligent and thoughtful approach to this topic, and in some senses it actually delivers on this promise. ‘The Rite’ is slightly more intelligent than your average movie in this genre, and actually presents Christianity and Christians in a very positive manner, which is rather refreshing. ‘The Rite’ handles matters of doubt, fear and evil fairly sensitively, but (and this is an important ‘but’), it is certainly not an above average movie, and definitely does not have enough thoughtful clarity to make it worth your while.

The movie begins with a priest-in-training, Michael Kovak (Colin O’ Donoghue), who is thinking of abandoning his training because of his profound struggles with doubt. Through a tragic turn of events, he ends up under the tutorship of a veteran priest and exorcist Father Lucas, (Anthony Hopkins), who hopes that if he exposes the younger man to some of his work in confronting raw evil, then he might become more open to the reality of God. The movie then moves into ‘scary’ territory as we view scene after scene of exorcisms, with the line between psychological and demonic manifestations being realistically blurry. Nothing really convinces Kovak either way, until a surprising and frightening turn of events results in his religious skepticism butting up against phenomena he cannot quite explain. Kovak’s journey ends up in belief, which again is a somewhat refreshing turn for Hollywood but ultimately is not gratifying enough to cover over some of the uneven and confusing theological conclusions the movie stumbles into.

Hopkins is typically strong in his role as Father Lucas, but O’Donoghue does not have enough acting muscle to match him, which again contributes to the overall lack of balance. There is quite a bit of vulgarity present in some scenes, but nothing gratuitously inappropriate to a movie about the darker sides of life. Overall, however, there is nothing particularly interesting about ‘The Rite’. It treats faith with respect, but really does not say anything profound. ‘The Rite’ has a few jump-in-your-seat moments, and if you are of a sensitive nature then it is best to give it a miss, although I could not work up enough interest to get scared. This is why I just cannot bring myself to recommend you spending money to see this rather average religious-themed movie that takes spirituality seriously and tries hard to have something important to say, but is ultimately so dreary and entirely forgettable.

Two stars out of five for ‘The Rite’.

Bucket List Movie: Jane’s Journey

Jane’s Journey has been out in our movie theatres for a little while now, but unfortunately it has received very little fanfare. Having just seen it, and because on SoWhat.mobi we always try to discuss movies that matter, I decided to review it here as an absolute bucket list must see.

Dr. Jane Goodall is an incredible force of nature, if you will excuse the pun. She was sent by the famous paleontologist Dr. Louis Leakey into the wilds of Gombe in Tanzania as a raw and untrained twentysomething to study chimpanzees. Since then she has become a world renowned primatologist who made landmark discoveries that placed both Gombe and her particular field firmly on the world map. With her beauty and vivacious nature combined with a razor-sharp intellect and natural passion for her subject, Goodall was one of the first 'celebrity scientists' in contemporary culture. She popularised her subject, making it accessible and attractive for the average layman. At the age of 55, Jane's life journey took on a new turn as she became convicted about the desperate environmental challenges our planet faces, and for the last 20 years she has spent 300 days out of the year travelling as she educates people and develops programs to make a difference.

In Jane's Journey, German filmmaker Lorenz Knauer chronicles Dr. Goodall's story, using archival footage and photos to depict her very early days as armed only with notebook and pencil, she courageously followed chimpanzees through the dangerous wilderness. The movie then tracks the growth of her fame and the establishment of Gombe as an academic centre and national park, and then follows her personal evolution in becoming an iconic and tireless activist environmentalism.

We learn about the different programs Jane Goodall has been instrumental in setting up, such as Roots and Shoots which assists children in developing projects that help people, animals and the environment. Her natural magnetism and joyful hope-filled personality shines through the screen as we learn more about her fascinating life. We also learn through actual interviews how she has impacted other famous people such as Angelina Jolie, Pierce Brosnan and Kofi Annan. Jane’s passion to help anyone and everyone who is suffering - people, animals and environment - is utterly inspiring, and watching this movie will not only educate you but also bring hope as it details the differences her efforts have already made.

Jane’s Journey is highly, highly recommended. Four stars out of five.