Whip It

Anyone who's ever roller skated will love this movie. I remember strapping on my skates, key around my neck, no pads or helmet, flying down the hill in front of my house, hair flying. The sense of freedom plastering a big smile on my face. Roller derby was on the tube once a week. The girls were bruisers. I can't remember if they were a local team or not. Ok, I'm dating myself. Written by roller derby star-turned-author/screenwriter Shauna Cross Whip It tells us how Bliss Cavendar (played by Ellen Page, think "Juno") beauty pagent princess rebels against her parents (Marcia Gay Harden and Daniel Stern) by becoming Babe Ruthless of the Hurl Scouts, an Austin Roller Derby team. I'm impressed by Drew Barrymore's ability in her directorial debut. I liked that she played a small part as one of the team. Barrymore has been around since she was a child and watching this film you get the sense that they, the newbies and the stars we love, are all working as a team and enjoying what they are doing. Bonus, the music was great. I'd pay to see this again, or use the money to buy the CD. So strap on your gear and head to your local small town theatre for a great ride.
In case you've forgotten how...
Check it out...
Wheel excitement : the official Rollerblade guide to in-line skating by Neil Feineman (796.2 FEI).


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Surrogates

I really enjoyed this film. Oh, sure, it's still the standard Sci-Fi cautionary tale: loss of humanity through overuse of technology. However, it's also a sad story of a married couple, who after losing their only child, retreat from each other emotionally, communicating only through their surrogates. Personal surrogates, operated their "owners" go to work and socialize. Operators experience daily life via their surrogate while isolated in their homes. Some humans reject the "surrogate lifestyle" and create their own "territories" where only humans may enter. When an operator dies while "linked" to his surrogate FBI agent, Greer (Bruce Willis), sends his surrogate in to investigate. His surrogate is destroyed by the humans there, but not before Greer disconnects from it. Willis does a good job playing deadpan surrogate Greer, but an excellent job playing the human Greer searching for connections with his wife and trying to get his wife step out from behind her surrogate to face their pain together. He is not the only human trying to deal with the death of a child. James Cromwell plays the inventor of the surrogates and even before his son dies (when his surrogate is killed) he regrets where his invention has taken human kind. Both men try to redeem themselves with varied success. I think this film has something to offer on many different levels. See it in the theatre for the action and special effects, or rent it for the story.
Check it out...I really enjoyed Bruce Willis in this film. Here's some more of his action: Armageddon (DVD ARM); Friends - the complete 6th season (DVD FRI); Pulp fiction (DVD PUL); The sixth sense (DVD SIX); Twelve monkeys (DVD TWE); The whole nine yards (DVD WHO); Die hard (VIDEO DIE); Mercury rising (VIDEO MER).

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Fame

Fame is a remake of the 80s movie/TV series of the same name. Great music, wonderful dancing, and a little bit of high school drama. Veterans Debbie Allen, Charles S. Dutton, Kelsey Grammer, Megan Mullally, and Bebe Neuwirth portray the instructors. A group of very talented young actors portray the students. You might recognize Kay Panabaker (Jenny Garrison) from such TV series as Lie to Me, Grey's Anatomy, CSI, Ghost Whisperer, Boston Legal, etc., etc. Even though the students' stories were a bit thin I did thoroughly enjoy watching and listening to them dance and sing and grow up. This is a great family film with an upbeat finale'. Worth the price of a ticket for the production scenes.


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Love Happens

Love Happens is the story of Burke Ryan, who after losing his own wife writes a self-help book and leads others through their own grief via seminars. While in Seattle he literally bumps into Eloise (Jennifer Aniston), a florist who writes words like "quidnunc" and "poppysmic" under hotel artwork. After a few weak attempts to connect, Burke tells Eloise she is the first woman he's dated since his wife's death. Eloise helps Burke come to terms with his own grief and reconnect with his wife's father (Martin Sheen). Noteworthy, in this otherwise light diversion, is Judy Greer (27 Dresses, Elizabethtown, and all over TV)as Eloise's assistant and John Carroll Lynch as Walter, an ex-contractor grieving over the death of his son. Rent this chick flick for a rainy afternoon.

According to Wikipedia a "chick flick" is typically used only in reference to films that are heavy with emotion or contain themes that are relationship-based (though not necessarily romantic).

Check it out...The Library has many self-help books on grieving. Here's just a few:
After the death of a child : living with loss through the yearsby Ann Finkbeiner (155.937 FIN)
After you lose someone you love : advice and insight from the diaries of three kids who've been there by Amy Dennison (J 155.937 DEN)
Coping with grieving and loss by Sandra Giddens (J 155.9 GID)
Good grief : healing through the shadow of loss by Deborah Morris Coryell (155.937 COR)
The grieving teen : a guide for teenagers and their friends by Helen Fitzgerald (YA 155.9 FIT)
How to survive the loss of a parent : a guide for adults by Lois F. Akner (155.937 AKN)
How we grieve : relearning the world by Thomas Attig (155.937 ATT)
I miss you : a first look at death by Pat Thomas (J 155.937 THO)
This thing called grief : new understandings of loss by Thomas M. Ellis (155.937 ELL)
Unattended sorrow : recovering from loss and reviving the heart by Stephen Levine (155.937 LEV)

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The Informant!

Finally, a thoughtful, well-played flick you can sink your intelligence into. It's been a long summer of slick 3-D animated flicks, sci-fi dramas aimed at prepubescent minds, a couple chick flicks, and one half-baked drama saved only by well-seasoned actors. As crisp and fresh as the recent early morning dew, director Steven Soderbergh gives us a smart and funny story that opens up like a well tended late blooming rose. In The Informant! Matt Damon plays Mark Whitacre a corporate whistle-blower who is, or isn't, more than he appears to be. Scott Bakula is FBI Special Agent Brian Shepard to whom Whitacre "confides" his corporate secrets. We are made privy to the inner workings of Whitacre's mind via a stream-of-consciousness voice-over by Damon. Surprisingly, this technique doesn't distract from what's happening on screen. However, the wigs that Damon and Bakula sport, do. Which is all a part of the "joke" in this somewhat off-beat comedy based on the true story of an Archer Daniels Midland executive who supplied information to the FBI in a price-fixing investigation. I enjoyed this thoughtful, believable, quirky film. See it now or rent it later. P. S. You might recognize Melanie Lynskey, who plays Whitacre's supportive wife, from TV's Two and a Half Men.
Check it out...Other great films about corporate whistle-blowing, The Insider, Silkwood, and The Firm (which is mentioned in Whitacre's "self talk") can be borrowed from the Nesmith Library on DVD.

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9

I think I've been over-animated this summer... My latest animated film, 9, based on Shane Acker's 11-minute, Academy Award-nominated short (2005), is a post apocalyptic vision of the world where machines have eradicated mankind. Except, that is, for nine cloth and metal dolls somehow endowed with the last souls of humanity. If these dolls can figure out their creator's plan to save themselves, they can save humanity. I left the theatre wondering if they were successful, and if I hadn't slept through the climax. Thankfully the movie only lasts one hour. I'd skip this one.

Check it out...Sorry, I'm not even sure what you might want to check out after seeing this film.

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Final Destination

This 3-D thriller is not for the faint of heart. The first time I saw "Final Destination", it was the second movie of the series, on television. I was fascinated by the writers concept of fate. Do we control our own destiny or do we have a preset appointment with death? If, somehow, we learn the time and situation of our death, can we change it? So... I watched the other two "Final Destination" films, again on TV. For someone who does not watch "scary" movies, I thought I was prepared to step out of my comfort zone, and paid money to see The Final Destination 3-D. Bad decision. The 3-D had me regularly jumping out of my seat. And the "accidents" playing two or three times for each character was just too much to bear. I went home an emotional wreck. So, for those of you with gentler constitutions, I suggest you skip this one. For those of you who love to scare yourselves with pithy scenes of destruction... this one's for you.

Check it out..."The Soul's Code : In Search of Character and Calling" by James Hillman (150 HIL)suggests every person is born with a defining image that affirms his or her inherent uniqueness and destiny.

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