District 9
  Sharlto Copley, David James, Jason Cope, Nathalie Boltt,
  4 out of 5 stars
  Reviewed for Coffeerooms by Mike Jefferson

"District 9" isn't your run of the mill aliens invade earth with bad intent sci-fi thriller. It's in a district all by itself. For one thing it takes place in Johannesburg instead of New York, Los Angeles or some other city that thinks it's the center of the universe. How many sci-fi movies can you name that take place in South Africa? "District 9" also mirrors the nasty, racially-charged undercurrents of Apartheid, with aliens being treated like second class vermin. In most sci-fi films humans are either inferior in strength or intellect, and in other flicks we're just lunch. In "District 9" mankind has the upper hand and we're using it to repeatedly bitch slap a needy species.

The aliens are referred to as "prawns," a disparaging reference to their resemblance to a surf and turf special minus the turf. The shrimp-meets-cockroach aliens have been stranded on earth for the past twenty years, their crippled spaceship hovering silently above Johannesburg. We're told the prawns' sorry situation sprang from a malfunction that damaged their ship's engines, followed by a biological epidemic that killed the intelligent commanding officers, leaving the inferior worker bee subordinates to fend for themselves. Starving, diseased and marooned, the remaining prawns were rescued by humans, who segregated them in a crime-ridden section of Johannesburg, where they were preyed upon by Nigerian gangsters. In order to survive, the prawns now trade the weapons they salvaged from their ship for cat food. (I'm not sure if its shrimp flavored.) The weapons, which are organic, can only be fired by the prawns. Obesandjo, the wheelchair bound leader of the Nigerian gang, is convinced there's a way he can adapt his broken body so he can fire the weapons. Unfortunately for the prawns, Obesandjo believes that the best way to become a prawn is to eat one, so he frequently murders the prawns he deals with in the hope of literally chewing up their technology. And even worse for the prawns - unbeknownst to everyone but a handful of high security honchos, Multinational United (MNU), a government agency, has been experimenting on kidnapped prawns, trying to develop their own method of integrating the alien technology into the human body.

  Paranormal Activity
  Kate Featherston, Micah Sloat
  4 out of 5 stars
  Reviewed for Coffeerooms by Mike Jefferson

There's plenty of gripping activity - paranormal and otherwise - in this claustrophobic ghost story. "Paranormal Activity" proves you don't need a big budget, endless slasher scenes or mutant mayhem to register high grade chills.

Writer/director Oren Peli's simple script uses fear and the audience's apprehension to create an edge-of-your-seat tension-filled atmosphere that fires up the imagination. There were moments in this iconic Indie production when my heart skipped and I jumped in my seat - and I haven't done that since a dead body popped out of a sunken hull in "Jaws."

"Paranormal Activity" centers around Kate, a college student and her boyfriend, Micah, a day-trader. The only crimp in the San Diego couple's connubial bliss is the spirit that's haunted Kate since her childhood. It's followed her from place to place, and is now making its presence known in the couple's two-story apartment.

Micah buys a video camera in the hope of catching the ghost going bump in the night. At first the camera doesn't register anything more than the couple sleeping peacefully. As the nights pass, lights click on and off by themselves, objects appear to move on their own, raspy voices whisper and shapeless shadows silently stalk across the room. The ghost's actions escalate, prompting Kate to contact a psychic who immediately feels the spirit's "negative energy" and urges the couple to seek help from a higher authority (not God, a more qualified psychic). The psychic also warns the couple not to try and communicate with the spirit. To Micah, the warning is like telling a precocious child not to stick a wet finger into a light socket. Against Kate's vehement protests, Micah gets a Ouija Board, challenging the ghost to talk to him. That night the camera records the Ouija Board going up in flames. Challenge answered - and the ghost is now very, very angry...

  Star Trek
  Chris Pine, Zackary Qunito
  4 out of 5 stars
  Reviewed for Coffeerooms by Mike Jefferson

Star Trek is a science fiction dynasty. Even though it aired on TV in the late 60s, there's a legion of fans that can quote you entire passages from episode six, season one. They're called Trekkies (or is it Trekkors?) and they made so much noise after the TV series was cancelled prematurely in 1969 that their cards, letters and conventions finally prompted Universal Studios to bring back the cast for a big screen adventure in 1979's "Star Trek: The Motion Picture." Trek revisited was an extravagant bore, but was enough of a financial success to warrant a second classic film, "The Wrath of Khan," which featured Corinthian leather King/Fantasy Island father figure Ricardo Montalban chewing up the scenery alongside a very hammy William Shatner. Unfortunately, the cast got too old to pretend to be thirty something's gallivanting around the universe, and sadly, two members of the crew, DeForrest Kelly (Dr. McCoy) and James Doohan (Scotty) have been beamed up to that great transporter room in the sky.

The franchise was revived when "The Next Generation" crew hit the screen, but age and lukewarm plots caught up to Patrick Stewart's bunch as well. As the new millennium dawned, what Star Trek needed was new blood - an entirely new cast of young guns that could bring the next generation of movie goers back into the theaters.

  Public Enemies
  Johnny Depp
  4 out of 5 stars
  Reviewed for Coffeerooms by Mike Jefferson

A good gangster film like "Bonnie and Clyde" or "The St. Valentine's Day Massacre" will take grim moments in criminal history and turn them into romantic folklore. Great gangster movies like "The Godfather" or "Goodfellas" make you feel like you're part of the action - and will leave you quoting the character's signature lines.

With that in mind, "Public Enemies" is a very good gangster/bank robber movie; there aren't any iconic lines, but the action is fast and dangerous. "Public Enemies" is a realistic recreation of the Depression era, a time when working stiffs betrayed by failed banks looked up to the criminals that pilfered those same lending institutions.

  Drag Me to Hell
  Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Ruth Livier, Lorna Raver
  3.5 out of 5 stars
  Reviewed for Coffeerooms by Mike Jefferson

What the hell? A funny horror movie? "Drag Me to Hell" is an inventive, entertaining horror flick pulled from the twisted imagination of Sam Riami. Raimi gave us the very visceral "Evil Dead" series and "Army of Darkness," a hilarious howler in which hardware store hero Bruce Campbell gets teleported back to the 14th century and winds up battling skeletons with a chain saw attached to his arm. "Darkness" was rife with blood and guts, but was balanced by witty one-liners and gut-busting visuals. (Campbell's Three Stooges inspired eye-poking scene with a bunch of skeletal appendages will tickle your funny bone.)

Riami's latest, "Drag Me to Hell" isn't your typical slasher, mangled mutant or poltergeist blood bath. Riami deftly employs tension, surprise and slapstick to create some must see madness.
 
Christine Brown's future looks heavenly - she's up for a promotion at the bank and has an ideal relationship with her boyfriend, Clay Dalton (pretty All American boy Justin Long). It all goes to hell in one afternoon. Her chief competition for the assistant manager job, sleazy, posterior-kissing Stu Rubin (weasely Reggie Lee), is making progress buttering up their bottom line boss, Mr. Jacks (uptight David Paymer). Mr. Jacks tells Chris (squeaky clean Alison Lohman) she might have a better chance at getting the job if she can show him she can make the tough decisions. In walks Mrs. Ganush (a rave perf by Lorna Raver), an old, sickly gypsy with a milky blind eye and rotting finger nails (which figure heavily in helping to establish tension in the plot). Mrs. Ganush asks Chris for a third extension on her mortgage. Seizing the moment, Chris turns Mrs. Ganush down. Mrs. Ganush prostrates herself in front of Chris, begging her to reconsider. Surprised and befuddled by Mrs. Ganush clawing at her, Chris panics. Mrs. Ganush takes Chris' reaction as an insult. As the security guards haul her away, she screams she'll get her revenge against Chris for shaming her in public.

After work, Chris notices Mrs. Ganush's beat up Chevy in the parking lot and hears the old woman's phlegmy death rattle. When Chris gets in her car, she's attacked by Mrs. Ganush, who tries to sink her stained dentures in her face. During their struggle, Mrs. Ganush tears a button from Chris' jacket, using it to put a curse on her. Soon after, things really begin to go to hell for Chris. An unseen demon tosses her around her apartment, and she dreams that Mrs. Ganush attacks her in bed. Seeking relief and forgiveness, Chris goes to Mrs.Ganush's soon to be foreclosed home, and literally stumbles into the midst of the old woman's wake, knocking her body out of its coffin. (A sure bet she'll have trouble getting that forgiveness she's seeking!)

  Shrink
  Kevin Spacey, Robin Williams, Saffron Barrows
  2 out of 5 stars
  Reviewed for Coffeerooms by Mike Jefferson

In "Shrink" the doctor is out - and he's usually out cold. "Shrink" is a satiric drama that begs the question, "Where does the psychiatrist to the stars turn to when he realizes his life is more screwed up than his patients?" The answer is he seeks solace in massive doses of mind-massaging marijuana. Attempting - and succeeding in numbing the recent loss of his wife in a car accident, Henry Carter (a spaced out Kevin Spacey) has become prodigious at the art of puffing down, guzzling down, and then falling down.

Henry Carter is a best-selling psychiatrist with an A-list of loonies, including Kate Amberson (a transparent Saffron Barrows), a comely actress saddled with an obnoxious, philandering rocker spouse, and Jack Holden (an uncredited Robin Williams, oozing uneasy sleaze), a barely functioning alcoholic actor past his prime who's clinging to his image as a legendary lothario. Other pitiful personalities in Henry's personal circle of hell waft in and out of his life like the pungent clouds he produces with his spliffs, such as Seamus, a dead set on overdosing actor (Brit bad boy Jack Huston), Henry's well stocked and stoned supplier Jesus (Jesse Plemos, sporting a crew cut and looking all of twelve), and Jeremy, a shy doorman/aspiring writer (wearisome Mark Webber). Seeking to save his sanity and his soul, Henry agrees to counsel Jenna (miscast Keke Palmer), a troubled teen unable to deal with her mother's suicide. Jenna would rather spend her afternoons in the make believe atmosphere of a movie theater than in the harsh reality of high school. Naturally, Henry and Jenna's relationship begins brusquely; he's shocked that such a vibrant, brilliant young girl would withdraw from the world so easily, and she's appalled by his indiscriminant drug abuse. A bond forms between them as they analyze each other's lifestyles:

Jenna: Are you high?
Henry: No, its walrus tusk from Little Antarctica...Strictly medicinal.

Henry gets Jenna to come to grips with her mother's desertion, and their co-dependent relationship forces Henry to admit the truth behind his wife's death -- and to own up to the role he played in her demise.

Jeremy's career is catatonic; he doesn't just have writer's block, he's got writer's wall. His creativity rebounds when he strikes up a relationship with Jenna, whose shaky psyche becomes fodder for his new screen play. Jeremy takes his script to Patrick (Dallas Roberts, as enjoyable as root canal without anesthesia), an obnoxious, obsessive talent agent who refuses to read it on principal alone. In his attempt to get Patrick's attention, Jeremy strikes up a romantic relationship with Daisy (a pell-mell performance by Pell James), Patrick's very pregnant secretary, who champions his work.

  The Proposal
  Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds
  3 out of 5 stars
  Reviewed for Coffeerooms by Mike Jefferson

I think Sandra Bullock is a funny comedienne with an innocent girl next door appeal. Occasionally, such as when she played a spoiled yuppie racist in "Crash", she can be a dramatic worth reckoning with. Bullock's most consistent box office successes have come when she played lovelorn losers or ultra successful business women who've forgotten what love is. (In "The Proposal", she plays the later.) I watch "While You Were Sleeping" whenever it's on. No matter how many times I see it, I still get the urge to reach into the T.V. and give Sandy's character, Lucy, a big hug. Aside from "Sleepless", Sandy's been awkwardly loveless in "Two Weeks Notice" (aha, another character named Lucy), and the two "Miss Congeniality" flicks -- and that's just off of the top of my head. So when I rented "The Proposal", in which Sandy plays a snippy editor-in-chief of a publishing house, I wondered if she could successfully go to the well one more time. Well, the bucket is at least ¾ full, and that's not bad.

Margaret Tate (beautiful Bullock) is so feared by her staff that when she enters the room her beleaguered assistant Andrew Paxton (rascally Ryan Reynolds) sends out an office E-mail that reads "It's here." Margaret's take no prisoners management style hasn't made her any friends, which is too bad because she could certainly use one when she finds out that unless she can find a way to become a U.S. citizen within three days she's in line to be deported back to her native Canada. In a desperate attempt to keep her job and gain citizenship, Margaret announces that she and Andrew are going to be married. Here comes the bribe... In exchange for his name, Margaret agrees to promote Andrew to editor. Immigration investigator Mr. Gilbertson (frequent "Law and Order" guest star, Dennis O'Hare) is suspicious, but allows the couple a weekend getaway to Alaska so Andrew can break the news to his parents and celebrate his grandmother's 90th birthday. The tables are turned on control freak Margaret when they arrive in Andrew's hometown of Sitka. Nearly every storefront in town bears the Paxton name, and his ultra rich family lives in a mansion on the waterfront. (No pigs in a blanket wedding hors d'oeuvres for these well-healed walrus watchers.) Margaret's determination to get to the altar begins to waver as she reluctantly gets to know Andrew's quirky family. Margaret and Andrew's Nanook nuptials might also be nullified if Andrew rekindles his romance with his childhood sweetheart, or if they can't stop bickering long enough to say "I do" and fool Gilbertson. 

While you're not likely to find yourself quoting lines from "The Proposal" or even going back for seconds, there are several silly scenes, including Margaret trying to keep the family's adopted dog from being kidnapped by an eagle, and her hip hop homage dance in honor of Mother Nature with Gammy Annie (bubbly Betty White). And watching Margaret's iron maiden manner melt in the Alaskan environment is one of the film's more heartwarming subplots.

  Julia
  Tilda Swinton
  4 out of 5 stars
  Reviewed for Coffeerooms by Mike Jefferson

Whenever Tilda Swinton drifts down the red carpet at a movie premiere resembling David Bowie during his "Aladdin Sane" period (which was anything but), I often think she's the ideal embodiment of beauty being in the eye of the beholder. And what I'm beholdin' makes me think she's more ready for a rubber room than a screening room. On the surface she qualifies as the white Grace Jones, an androgynous wisp straight out of a Sy-Fi Channel movie.

So giving her the lead role in "Julia" as a worn, easy, but oddly still alluring alcoholic was bound to be a casting calamity or had to be a tax write off, right? Wrong. Tall Tilda is a titanic talent who turns "Julia" into a tremendous one woman show.

As the movie opens, Julia is being laid off for sleeping in once too often. (When she did make it in she was often too drunk or hung over to function.) This would be a wake up call for most folks, even someone who uses vodka as mouthwash, but according to Julia, her bad luck is everyone else's fault. She continues to drink until she blacks out, waking up dry-mouthed and embarrassed in strangers cars or wrapped in her wrinkled covers like a rotting sausage. Mitch (Saul Rubinek, the chubby man's Woody Allen), her one true friend and financial supporter, convinces Julia to go to an AA meeting, where she meets her twitchy neighbor, Elena (creepy Kate Del Castillo). Elena immediately opens up to Julia, and knowing she's hard up for cash, offers her $50,000 to help her kidnap her son, Tom, away from his abusive grandfather. Julia agrees, but rewrites the plan: she'll kidnap Tom and extort a few million from his grandpa. Julia makes a rash of ransom-wrecking mistakes, such as panicking then pancaking Tom's guardian, forgetting to wear her mask when she admonishes the boy, and stuffing Tom with enough sleeping pills to shut him up without realizing they can also cause him to shut down. 

  State of Play
  Russel Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Jason Bateman
  3 out of 5 stars
  Reviewed for Coffeerooms by Mike Jefferson

Murder. Adultery. Political intrigue. Just another day at the keyboard for award-winning old school reporter Cal McAffrey.

Over the course of a moderately paced two hours, "State of Play" weaves together several seemingly unrelated incidents that have created a state of political panic in Washington, D.C. Sonia Baker, the head researcher for Senator Stephen Collins' investigative team, takes a tumble off a subway platform. Coincidentally, prior to her three and a half gainer, Sonia uncovered a trail of lucrative government financed projects leading to PointCort, a covert company made up of contract killers. After Sonia's ticket is punched, a career criminal making off with a coveted briefcase is starched by a trained assassin, and the lone witness to the hit takes a few rounds too, winding up in a coma. When Senator Collins (Ben Affleck in his Robert Kennedy mode) owns up that he played Capitol Hill hi-jinks with his dead lover, it appears Sonia Baker was murdered in order to cripple his career. Collins' college crony, Cal McAffrey (brave and beefy Russell Crowe), a respected veteran staff reporter for the Washington Globe, comes to his defense as the senator's opponents line up to smear his name and divert attention from his investigation of PointCort. McAffrey teams up with the paper's internet ingénue, Della Frye (an animated Rachel McAdams), to clear Collins' name and expose PointCort as the lawless, lucre-loving louses they appear to be. After all, any company that makes $250 million off of the Iraq War and oversees a property nicknamed "Little Baghdad" has to be an enemy of the state, right? But the deeper the nosey newsies dig, the more they begin to wonder who's behind the assassin's bullets and why.   

In an effort to show he's an "ak-tor," Russell Crowe literally allowed himself to go to pot -- pot belly that is. He's given better performances of late, especially as the murderous, morally bankrupt Ben Wade in the credible remake of "3:10 to Yuma" (4 out of 5 stars). He isn't as convincing when he's using his brain instead of his brawn. Russell's performance is nothing to Crowe about, but he ably serves as the film's defiant bastion of morality, remaining Collins' unwavering faithful friend:

Collins (standing at McAffrey's doorstep after his extra marital scandal breaks): I know what you're thinking. This guy must be pretty desperate to show up here.
McAffrey: No, I was thinking I could finally give back that Roxy Music CD you left in my car.

Ben Affleck's term as Senator Collins is sexy but stiff, although he effectively projects the charismatic crusader attributes of Bobby Kennedy while maintaining the behind the scenes horny goat sex drive of Bobby's brother, John. Amy Adams is perky and feisty as blog babe Della Frye, and she's an effective emotional foil for Crowe's distrustful old timer. Helen Mirren continues to mine her spunky old hag image as the newspaper's managing editor. As Lou Grant once said, "I hate spunk." Mirren is a noisy annoyance with a classy British accent.

It's the film's all-star supporting cast that gives the film a stately presence. Jason Bateman ("Arrested Development") twitches and cowers his way through his scenes as a sleazy public relations agent (is there any other kind?). Neglected in real life by philandering hubby Sean, Robin Wright Penn plays Senator Collins' put upon spouse, Anne, who tries to suppress a burning desire to rewrite history with the man who got away (McAffrey, of course). It's one of those "Psst, suspend all belief" moments when you see the potential love triangle straining to develop. Should Anne stick with the Barrymore-profiled political power-broker, or try and bed the schlumpy, grumpy newshound who's too loyal to respond? Uh-huh.

Thanks to "Dumb and Dumber," fans have forgotten that Jeff Daniels was an effective dramatic actor in films like "Pleasantville" and "Gods and Generals." As George Fergus, Collins' humorless, not so trustworthy political lieutenant, Daniels portrays the type of God, County and N.R.A. right winger with clout we should all fear.

Crowe doesn't strain himself physically, although he does demonstrate a talent for creasing his brow. The action comes from the supporting players: Affleck administers a spur of the moment beat down, Daniels has a seething confrontation with Crowe, and Adams does a chuck and duck to avoid a spray of bullets. But "State of Play" requires you shift your state of mind if you're expecting endless chase scenes and gunplay. It's more about talking heads than taking prisoners. "All the President's Men" will likely still get your vote as one of the political genre's top films, but "State" is worth a play.

 

  The Soloist
  Robert Downey, Jr., Jaime Foxx
  3 out of 5 stars
  Reviewed for Coffeerooms by Mike Jefferson

When I commuted in New York City in the 80s, there was a musician who worked the urine soaked subways for change. He sported tin foil antenna in his Afro, a Technicolor vest, bug-eyed Bootsy Collins sunglasses, and called himself "The Man from Galaxy Seven." His game was to board a train just before it departed, whip out his baritone sax, and bleat like a scatological Charlie Parker until the terrified passengers capitulated, throwing him money in order to stop the torture. The Daily News eventually exposed The Man From Galaxy Seven as a lucid working musician who took the train into the city from his summer home in tawny Westchester every day and made just as much money panhandling as he did playing steady gigs.

The Man from Galaxy Seven played the role of a troubled, down and out musician and profited mightily from it. In "The Soloist," Jaime Foxx plays Nathaniel Ayres, a schizophrenic violinist who lives for music rather than money. I reacted to Foxx's peculiar performance the same way I did to The Man from Galaxy Seven. I wanted to give Foxx a few dollars to go away. Luckily, "The Soloist" isn't a one man show. Robert Downey, Jr. co-stars as L.A. Times reporter Steve Lopez, Ayers' mentor and the film's narrator. Downey doesn't disappoint, delving deeply into his character's mission to save a lost denizen of the streets overflowing with God given talent.

The storyline follows the unlikely relationship between Lopez and Ayres. Lopez is looking for a new story angle when he hears Ayers, a homeless Skid Row inhabitant, playing a two-string violin. Ayres claims he was trained at Julliard, and Lopez smells a riches to rags story until he researches Ayres and can't find his name among any of the graduating classes. When he's told Ayers attended but never graduated, Lopez sets out to tell the story of a promising musician whose career was short circuited by mental illness. As Ayres begins to trust - and admire - Lopez, a bond grows between the two men. Lopez becomes determined to help Ayres achieve his dream of playing before an audience, but slowly realizes the biggest obstacle standing in Ayres path is Ayres himself.