United 93

After hanging out at film festivals for a while, its good to get back to regular film watching and trying to catch up with all the releases Ive missed.

Today I want to tell you about two films you should catch before they disappear from the theatres--United 93 and Akeelah and the Bee.

United 93 is an exceptional film. It had me on the edge of my seat all the way from beginning to end. And what makes United 93 even more incredible is the fact that it is true. It really happened!

We all know what took place on September 11, 2001. Two planes were hijacked and flown into the World Trade Center towers in New York City. Another plane was crashed into the Pentagon building in Washington. A fourth plane, United Flight 93 was also hijacked that day, but very little was known about what happened to it, except that it didnt reach its target and wound up in a field in Pennsylvania.

This film, United 93, fills in some of the details. It is done almost in real time--from the passengers boarding the plane, until the plane is hijacked, and until the passengers revolt and try to overwhelm the terrorists.

Much of the information came from black boxes on the plane, from transcripts of telephone calls made by the passengers and from radio transmissions heard by air controllers.

The film does not exploit or sensationalize the events. It is a factual telling of the story. The cast is made up of solid character actors with no stars to hog the limelight.

We watch an ordinary flight, with ordinary passengers. When the flight became extraordinary, so did those on board, as a group of them huddled at the back of the plane and decided that they would not allow the plane to reach its destination. The passengers knew that their chance of surviving the flight was slim, but they wanted to make certain that the hijackers did not succeed.

As we watch the film unfold, we are drawn into the drama, whether we want to be or not. We know what the eventual outcome will be, but we still root for the good guys.

This is not a film for someone looking for empty-minded entertainment. This is a film that will drain you emotionally and make you think.

Akeelah and the Bee

If youre under the impression that there is a scarcity of good family films, you have to see Akeelah and the Bee. It was the opening night film for Sprockets, the childrens film festival in Toronto and it is a perfect film for the kids.

The film deals with a young African-American girl from South Los Angeles. The girl has a gift--she is a spelling whiz and her teachers ask her to enter the local Spelling Bee.

Akeelah is reluctant to get involved. She doesnt believe she can compete with kids from rich, white high schools and she has to deal with a mother who is just trying to get by and with friends who think shes a bit of a geek.

Laurence Fishburne gives a terrific performance as Akeelahs mentor and tutor and Angela Bassett is great as the overworked and overwhelmed mother.

Akeelah, of course, makes it through her first competition and as she climbs the ladder to the Nationals, she realizes how much hard work will be necessary in order to do well at the higher levels.

Keke Palmer gives a brilliant performance a Akeelah and this is a film that will appeal to the entire family and hopefully will get some recognition during award season.

See it if you possibly can!

Starring: Keke Palmer, Laurence Fishburne, Angela Bassett, Curtis Armstrong, J.R. Villarreal, Sean Michael

Recent DVDs

The Family Stone

This is a comedy about the annual Christmas reunion of a New England family. The Stone family does not comply with the norms of the ordinary American family. No topic is taboo and pranks are common place.

When the eldest son, Everett, shows up with his new girlfriend Meredith, the rest of the family decides to put the newcomer to the test. The result is a nightmare for Meredith, but a series of high jinks that reveal a lot about each member of the family.

In the end, love of family and love for each other wins out.

Starring: Claire Danes, Diane Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Dermot Mulroney, Craig T. Nelson, Sarah Jessica Parker, Luke Wilson.

The New World

This is one of the few movies this past year that I have absolutely hated. It was slow; it was uninteresting; it was boring. And that says a lot when the film is based on the legend of John Smith and Pocahontas. But you dont have to take my word for it. See it for yourself. You may actually like it. I didnt!

Starring: Colin Farrell, QOrianka Kilcher, Christian Bale, Christopher Plummer.

Cheaper By The Dozen 2

Sequel to a funny, uplifting original comedy. This film brings Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt back to try to bring their 12 kids together for a family vacation. With the kids growing up, it looks like this may be the last chance to get everyone together again.

So Steve Martin rents a place by a lake where many of the familys happiest memories took place and the fun begins. The family gets caught up in a competition with another large family, but the film is much better than I imagined and contained a lot of funny moments.

Starring: Steve Martin, Bonnie Hunt, Eugene Levy, Hilary Duff, Tom Welling, Piper Perabo, Carmen Elektra.

Tristan & Isolde

An excellent adventure story set in medieval times and based on the Celtic legend of Tristan & Isolde.

An English warrior and an Irish princess become star-crossed lovers who eventually destroy the peace and harmony of their respective kingdoms.

Starring: James Franco, Sophia Myles, Rufus Sewell.

Match Point

Director Woody Allen finally comes up with a winner, but he had to go to England to do it.

This is a story of ambition and obsession among the British upper crust as a former tennis pro tries to enter the world of the rich and the super rich. He marries a wealthy heiress, but he truly lusts after his brother-in-laws fiancee.

Starring: Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Scarlett Johansson, Emily Mortimer, Matthew Goode.

Heimat

A lengthy, sprawling tale of a family in Germany from the 1920s to the 1980s. That in itself should be enough, but this 15 1/2 hour mini-series produced for German television has the entire World War II period to deal with, as well as the post World War I era, the Great Depression, the rise of Naziism and the miracle of the post World War II recovery.

Thats quite a bit of history to digest, but this film does it by concentrating on a few characters and therefore never loses its intimacy or its interest.

Starring: Marita Breuer, Rudiger Weigang, Gertrud Bredel, Dieter Schaad, Eva Maria Bayerswaltes, Willi Berger, Kurt Wagner.

Comedy Gold

This three-hour documentary combines a great mix of film clips, interviews and genuine humour as it takes the audience on a journey outlining the history of Canadian comedy. It celebrates the outstanding achievements of such Canadian comic geniuses as Rich Little, Colin Mochrie, Dan Aykroyd, Dave Foley, Dave Thomas, Howie Mandel, Ken Finkleman, Lorne Michaels, Martin Short, Don Ferguson, Rick Mercer, Tom Green, the Royal Canadian Air Farce, and many more. This is the definitive study of Canadian comedy and should be seen by all Canadians.