Presumably, you don’t even have to acknowledge anymore the borrowed idea of the appearance of three ghosts: Past, Present, and Future, or cite “The Christmas Carol,” or give any reference to Charles Dickens or his estate or his descendants.
Based on a true story, “The Soloist” is about Steve Lopez (Robert Downey Jr.), a Los Angeles columnist, encountering a homeless man with a violin, and being unexpectedly moved by the technique, and the passion, of the musician.
C’mon, admit it, the thought has occurred to you that you’d like to be 17 years old again. Maybe this time you’d try out for the track team, just to see what would happen.
Saving Paradise: How Christianity Traded Love of This World for Crucifixion and Empire, by Rita Nakashima Brock and Rebecca Ann Parker. Beacon Press, 2008. Pb., 552 pp., $34.95.
Race to Witch Mountain is about a Las Vegas cab driver, played by Dwayne Johnson, discovering that the two children who just appear in the back seat of his taxi are actually aliens, they just look like ordinary kids.
It’s hard to know what to think of this movie. Yes, it’s reportedly a faithful rendition of a famous graphic novel. However, that doesn’t guarantee a good film, though it might help insure a few faithful followers.
Hot, Flat and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution — And How It Can Renew America, by Thomas L. Friedman. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008. Hb., 448 pp. $27.95
This is an old story: a fast-track corporate executive is sent to Podunk, U.S.A., to take over the operations of an unprofitable factory and lay off all the deadwood so the bottom line improves. But when she arrives there, all business and clacking high heels and attitude, she’s not exactly received with warmth by the locals, who are wary of her for good reason. She’s likely to fire them all. Plus she’s a bit full of herself. Not a winsome combination in a small town.
“Marley And Me” is the story about a dog. Oh, there are some humans who happen to be around at the time, but this movie is all about the big, mischievous Labrador. See him chew holes in everything from couch cushions to drywall. See him bolt with such enthusiasm as to drag the poor leash-holder behind him, desperate to keep the pace. See him cower during thunderstorms, eat his weight in puppy chow, hump the legs of strangers, and generally make himself, well, a forceful presence in the lives of everyone around him.
Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connelly star in “The Day The Earth Stood Still,” a remake of the 1951 classic. Connelly plays Dr. Helen Benson, a scientist who is kidnapped by government agents in order to deal with an urgent emergency: a certain fast-moving object from space is going to collide with earth in an hour, and it appears to be on an irregular flight pattern, that is, guided. All attempts to intercept fail.
There is plenty of light-hearted movie fare for the holidays, but the great performances are usually to be found in the more serious films. Here are several that are hard to watch, but worth the effort:
“Punisher: War Zone” — Pure comic book. This kind of pulp fiction features the evil criminal literally deformed (Dominic West as Jigsaw), and his deranged brother, Looney Bin Jim (Doug Hutchison), terrorizing at will until The Punisher (Ray Stevenson) arrives on the scene, the indestructible vigilante who serves as self-appointed judge, jury, and executioner, just blasting away the bad guys.
“Doubt” opens with the parish priest, Father Flynn (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) delivering a brief, eloquent homily about doubt. This is the 1950s, and the well-dressed, clean-scrubbed congregation sits in rapt attention, in part because Sister Aloysius (Meryl Streep) is the self-appointed behavior modifier.
