Gil Mansergh's Cinema Toast
NEW RELEASES 11/24/06

Deja Vu (PG-13)
Denzel Washington, Jim Caviezel, Paula Patton
Directed by: Tony Scott
It's fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras), and a ferry leaves the New Orleans dock loaded with school children on a field trip, Navy sailors by the hundreds going on leave, newlyweds, geriatric couples, and a young girl who cries when her doll falls overboard. Then, after a suitable amount of tension building, a terrorist bomb explodes and sends the ferry and hundreds of passengers to their deaths. Enter ATF Agent Carlin (Washington) to save the day and fall in love with a dead woman.
3 pieces of Jerry Bruckheimer style toast


Deck the Halls (PG)
Matthew Brodrick, Danny DeVito Kristen Davis, Kristen Chenoweth
Directed by: John Whitesell
Two neighbors feud over competing Christmas displays in a film which makes you remember "National Lampoon's Family Christmas" with nostalgic fondness.
1 and 1/2 pieces of bah, humbug toast


Bobby (R)
Emelio Estevez, his dad (Martin Sheen), Demi Moore, Lawrence Fishburne, William H. Macey, Ashton Kutcher, Sharon Stone, Heather Graham
Written, Directed by: Emelio Estevez
Striking parallels are drawn between America in 1968 and our country today in this interesting focus on the nameless, faceless, behind the scenes people who just happened to be at the Ambassador hotel the fateful moment that Bobby Kennedy was assassinated.
3 pieces of Estevesian toast


Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny(R)
Jack Black, Kyle Gass, Tim Robbins
Directed by: Liam Lynch
An ego-driven waste of film stock hopefully seen only by diehard Tenacious D fans. The rest of us should save our money.
1 piece of fatuous toast

For Your Consideration (R)
Christopher Guest, Eugene Levy, Bob Balaban, Michael McKean, Catherine O'Hara, Parker Posey, Harry Shearer, Fred Willard
Directed by: Christopher Guest
The ensemble of mockumentary players who have gently skewered little theater groups, dog shows, folk singers and rock stars, now takes aim at Hollywood. As Oscar nominations are being selected, the "buzz" starts to build over a very low budget documentary. Mostly improvisation by some very talented buddies, (the script was only 20 pages long) this is for those who revel in understated, intelligent humor.
3 pieces of the envelope please toast

Fountain (PG)
Hugh Jackman, RAchel Weisz, Ellen Burstyn
Directed by Darren Aronofsky
Comparisons to the last scenes of Kubrick's "2001" are inevitable. This confusing, nonlinear, back-and-forth between the centuries telling of three different tales seems like a film school project gone horribly askew. The quest (or is that McGuffin?) is to find the tree of immortality in the New World or Africa or in a test tube. Unfortunately the audience doesn't know (or care about) what's going on.
1 and 1/2 pieces of confusingly beautiful toast


NEW ON VIDEO/DVD

An Inconvenient Truth (NR)
Al Gore
Directed by Davis Guggenheim
Box Office: $23,727,472
Former VP and Presidential candidate Al Gore displays that when he's not trying to sell himself, and fervently believes in his message, he's very convincing. Gore narrates a whiz-bang slide show on the potential results of global warming. This time, after New Orleans, the concept of flooded downtowns doesn't seem so farfetched. Designed to spark debate on a critical issue, Bush has boldly announced he won't see the movie.
3 pieces of warming toast

Ice Age: The Meltdown (PG)
Voices of: Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Dennis Leary
Directed by Carlos Saldanha
Box Office: $195,251,850
Ask anybody what he or she liked most about the original "Ice Age" movie and they will probably mention the acorn-obsessed squirrel named Scrat. The kids around me enjoyed the film while in the theater, but had forgotten about it by the time we hit the lobby. Except for Scrat, whose Heaven-bound final scene saves the movie from mediocrity.
3 pieces of Scrat toast

Gil Mansergh's Cinema Toast
NEW RELEASES 11/17/06

Casino Royale (aka Bond 21) (PG-13)
Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Mads Mikkelsen, Eva Green, Jeffrey Wright
Directed by: Martin Campbell (Goldeneye, Mask of Zorro)
Not to put too fine a point on it, but James Bond, 007, is a paid government assassin and the 00, with its license to kill, has to be earned. Daniel Craig, the newest personification of James Bond, has the correct movie resume for the job (Karas in "Renaissance" and Steve, the South African hit man in "Munich" for example). This movie is a flashback to Bond's beginnings, street-smart but uncouth, he must learn to be suave and sophisticated (for example, this beer-drinker doesn't really like vodka martinis be they stirred or shaken or sipped through a twisty straw). The film, and the blond Daniel Craig, are top notch, sure to satisfy the legions of Connery and Brosnan fans.
3 and 1/2 pieces of shaken, not stirred toast


Happy Feet (PG)
Voices of Robin Williams, Elijah Wood, Nicole Kidman
Directed by: George Miller
The Australian wunderkind who created "Babe" and "Mad Max"somehow manage to combine those two sensibilities with CG Emperor penguins and Antarctic snow slides and a dash of lively songs (but what ever happened to those singing mice?)
3 and 1/2 pieces of toe tapping toast


Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing (R)
Natalie Maines, Martie Maguire, Emily Robison, Simon Renshaw
Directed by: Barbara Kopple Cecilia Peck
The Dixie Chicks were at the peak of their popularity as the top-selling female recording artists of all time until the group's lead singer Natalie Maines made an on-stage comment criticizing President Bush while performing in England, in 2003. Filmmakers Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck follow the lives and careers of the three singers for the next three years, while their CDs and tapes are publicly burned, death threats are received, and their record sales and concert receipts tank. But will Natalie apologize? Or should she? (At the Rialto in Santa Rosa)
3 and 1/2 pieces of Dixie Chick toast

Fast Food Nation (R)
Greg Kinnear, Patricia Arquette, Bobby Cannavale, Ethan Hawke, Kris Kristofferson, Wilmer Valderrama
Directed by: Richard Linklater
I suggest you avoid seeing this movie the night before a tradiltional Thanksgiving meal is served. This film follows a fast-food executive who goes behind the scenes to find out why his restaurants received contaminated hamburger patties. Although uneven at times, this view at the underbelly of our food supply can't help but make you wonder about it all. (At the Rialto in Santa Rosa)
3 pieces of belly full toast


NEW on VIDEO & DVD

Who Killed the Electric Car?(PG)
Directed by Chris Paine
Box Office: $1,324,335
This documentary came and went so fast that it was almost as big a secret as tires that never have to be replaced or the razor blades that never gets dull. Now, in the comfort of your own home, you can watch it and enjoy a film that entertains us as it makes us angry. The electric car of the future was actually built and road-tested by several thousand American drivers who say it was one of the fastest, most efficient vehicles ever made. So why aren't any of them on the road?
3 and 1/2 pieces of well documented toast


The Da Vinci Code (2006)
Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellen
Directed by Ron Howard
Box Office: $217,536,138
Golden boys, Hanks and Howard, have created their first humungous clunker. With all the "secrets" revealed in advance, and afraid to offend, they stick to a middle road that drags on so long you hear members of the audience lamenting "Are we there yet?" Sadly, when we finally arrive, there is "no there there."
1 and 1/2 pieces of disappointing toast

THE QUEEN
by
Gil Mansergh

According to Wikipedia, Her Royal Highness (HRH) Queen Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor), is Queen of 16 sovereign states (The United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, and Saint Kitts and Nevis). Elizabeth also holds the positions of Head of the Commonwealth, Lord High Admiral, Supreme Governor of the Church of England (aka Defender of the Faith) and Lord of Mann. Following tradition, she is also styled Duke of Lancaster and Duke of Normandy, and is Commander-in-Chief of the Armed forces of many of her Realms. During her reign, she has had 128 prime ministers at her service.

As Stephen Frears new movie, "The Queen," opens, Tony Blair is running for election as Britain's Prime Minister. Following protocol, after winning the vote, he must report to the Queen and answer "yes" when she asks if he will serve her and their people. It doesn't take long for the Queen to put Mr. Blair in his place. "You are my tenth Prime Minister," she tells him. "Mr. Churchill was the first, and he sat where you are sitting right now." To the audience's delight, the actor playing Tony Blair (Michael Sheen) looks at a loss at how to respond. Does one stand up? Nod graciously? Move to another chair? Or apologize for taking the Queen's time? Mr. Blair decides that a nod is his best choice.

The woman sitting on the embroidered sofa opposite him is formidably anachronistic. Although they are in her home, she has a plain black handbag on her arm, and when she sits, she places it carefully beside her. We wonder what is inside, but as the movie goes on, we learn that the handbag is always there. Whether she is walking the palace gardens, tramping across the Scottish hills, driving her recalcitrant Range Rover, or greeting a new prime minister, she carries her pruse.

She also carries "the look" with her. We first see it when she is having an official portrait taken. Dressed in robes and jewels, she chats with the artist about voting and wondering what it would be like to do it "just once. In answer to a comment, she offers "the look" "a steady stare directly at us, unblinking, impervious, her lip held firmly in the proper British stiff-upper fashion. And although we know it is the marvelous actress Helen Mirren's face we see, we are instantly in her control. This woman is "The Queen."

A month after the election, Elizabeth and Prince Philip (James Cromwell) are awakened with the news that Diana, the mother of their grandchildren, has been in a horrific traffic accident. As people awake, each has a different reaction. Prince Charles (Alex Jennings) wants to fly to his former wife's bedside, but the Queen balks at the expense, "The press would have a field day with that," she points out.

When news arrives that Diana has died, a grief stricken Charles tearfully breaks the news to the boys. Elizabeth stands outside the door, ramrod straight. In fact, we never see any grandmotherly interaction with the children. But Grandpa Prince Philip immediately knows what to do, "They need to get outdoors," he prescribes and takes them deer hunting.

Tony Blair calls with his condolences, and is surprised to learn that there will be no royal announcement and no public burial. "It's a private matter," Elizabeth says. "She's no longer part of the royal family so, we will adhere to her family's wishes for privacy."

In the following days, public grief turns to anger toward the monarchy and to the Queen in particular. Insulated by walls and acreage at Balmoral Castle, everyone offers advice, often in a catty, vindictive way. When Princess Anne is called and told to return from a vacation to attend the funeral she remarks that "Diana manages to mess things up even after she's dead."

This is not a popcorn movie. It is one you need to see from the beginning, and stay with through the end. This way, you will appreciate the subtlety and nuance of the direction and performances and the screenplay (by Peter Morgan who also wrote the superb "Last King of Scotland" starring Forest Whitaker). This is Oscar-worthy material all around.

After is all said and done, you may wonder the significance of the deer. Although the14-point stag keeps eluding the hunting Princes, it doesn't avoid the Queen. When her car breaks down while crossing a stream, the majestic animal suddenly appears, quite close by. The two metaphorical creations watch each other for awhile and then, in response to the sounds of guns and dogs coming closer, the Queen shoos the animal away. The next day, she is told that the deer has been shot a killed by a hunting guest on a neighboring estate. Climbing into her now repaired Land Rover, the Queen sets off to see for herself. What she learns cuts her to the core. The first shot only wounded the stag, and it took several hours for professional hunters to track it down and take it out of its misery. Helen Mirren was asked about what all this means: "I love that scene because you know the Queen is just dying inside, and all she wants to do is scream, 'How could that stupid man have been so idiotic as to not have a clean kill?' But her sense of politeness form is to say, 'Congratulations to your guest.' And, to me, in those words, it's just all the depths of emotion and the British sense of self control. I love that one."

Comments? E-mail gilmansergh@comcast.net
Hear Gil's "Cinema Toast" radio show 7:35 Thursday mornings on KRSH-FM

Gil Mansergh's Cinema Toast
NEW RELEASES 11/10/06

Stranger Than Fiction (PG-13)
Will Farrell, Emma Thompson, Maggie Gyllenhall, Dustin Hoffman, Queen Latiffah
Directed by: Marc Forster
IRS man wakes with a woman's voice narrating his life (at least the boring bits) and discovers that she is a novelist who thinks the man is her fictional creation "which he may be. Sort of a Charlie Kaufman lite, with Farrell once again being the glue that holds everything together.
3 pieces of imaginative toast


Babel (R)
Cate Blanchett, Brad Pitt, Gael Garcia Bernal, Rinko Kikuchi
Directed by: Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu
Every time that this movie's four stories (two boys accidentally shoot a tourist in Morocco, her husband tries franticly to summon aid, the couple's children are taken to Mexico by their baby sitter and a deaf Japanese girl rebels after the death of her mother), begin to combine like a patchwork quilt, the film makers cut things up seemingly because they can. This hodgepodge technique worked better with Innaritu's movie "21 Grams" than now. It just made me wonder if the four stories would be better told with a beginning, middle and end (or even with those spit-screens that were popular in some "hip" 60's movies like the original "Thomas Crown Affair").
2 and 1/2 pieces of too many scissors used on this toast


Jesus Camp (PG-13)
Directed by: Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady
We follow two six-year-old girls as they go to a born-again-Christian summer camp in Devil's Lake, North Dakota where they are indoctrinated into "God's Army" and practice their "prophetic gifts" to help other Christian soldiers "take back America for Christ." The documentary makers try to present an unbiased portrait, but when "How to Kill Harry Potter " is part of the camp curriculum, the true horror slips through. (At the Rialto in Santa Rosa)
3 and 1/2 pieces of Stepford children toast

The Return, aka "Revolver" (PG-13)
Sarah Michelle Gellar, Joanna Mills
Directed by: Asif Kapadia
The former vampire slayer, Buffy, plays a plucky Midwesterner "determined to learn the truth behind the increasingly terrifying supernatural visions that have been haunting her."
unavailable for preview

Harsh Times (R)
Christian Bale, Freddy Rodriguez
Directed by: David Ayer
"Taxi Driver" must have been the concept behind this story of a psychotic war vet (home from the Persian Gulf instead of the Tonkin Gulf) who manages to wear a civilized mask long enough to get a girlfriend and a job with homeland security. Unfortunately, all the the gallons of testosterone-fuelled fury portrayed onscreen don't make up for the weak script.
2 pieces of call a real Taxi Driver toast

Deliver Us From Evil (NR)
Oliver O'Grady, Thomas Doyle, Nancy Sloan
Directed by: Amy Berg
In one of the postdoctoral classes I present to psychologists, I compare two different movie versions of Dr. Hannibal (the Cannibal) Lector (the Anthony Hopkins "Silence of the Lambs" version and the Brian Cox "Manhunter" version) and then ask which one is most dangerous. I suggest that the non-threatening, avuncular Lector created by Brian Cox is scarier because he is so ordinary. Father Oliver O'Grady seems just as ordinary when we first see him onscreen in the documentary "Deliver Us From Evil," but this convicted pedophile candidly admits to sexually abusing dozens of girls and boys (and even an infant) and seducing several parents as well.
(At the 3rd St. Cinemas 6 in Santa Rosa)
3 pieces of true danger toast


A Good Year (PG-13)
Russell Crowe, Albert Finney, Marion Cotillard
Directed by: Ridley Scott
A London bond-trader inherits a winery in Provence and has the difficult decision of deciding what his future life shall be (poor thing). Apparently the director and star wanted to spend a summer in Provence (which is almost as good as spending one in Sonoma County), so why not have the paying public finance the adventure by filming a fish-out-of-water, pratfall-filled, supposedly romantic comedy and have great fun doing so. It gives you something to chat about on all the talk shows "Oh, we had great fun filming that scene..." However, the end result is (to use winery terms) green, murky, thin, pedestrian, flabby, empty, and barnyardy. (At the Rialto in Santa Rosa)
1 and 1/2 pieces of short-legged toast


NEW on VIDEO & DVD

Cars (G)
Voices of: Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, Bonnie Hunt, Larry the Cable Guy, Cheech Marin, Tony Shaloub, George Carlin
Directed by John Lasseter
Box Office: $244,052,771
It takes a minute to realize that there are cars, not people, in the stands during the race for the Piston Cup, but you quickly accept the premise and delight in everything that follows--superb animation, artistic incomparability, a strong story, marvelously talented voices and Pixar's American sensibility. Works best if you've actually been to an auto race, traveled Route 66, and stopped for gas, repairs or a bite to eat in a timeless town like Radiator Springs.
3 and 1/2 pieces of Pixar toast

Wordplay (G)
Mike Mussina, Will Shortz
Directed by Patrick Creadon
Box Office: $2,857,745
How, you wonder, can a movie be made about writing letters in a grid of tiny squares printed in newspapers and magazines? The answer is "Quite amusingly." From meeting the greatest puzzle "setter" on the planet to observational pieces on warm-ups, writing implement selection, and facial expressions displayed while in the throes of solving a particularly difficult crossword oh.....did I forget to mention that is what this film is all about? Yep, Crossword puzzles. (Some people do them in ink!)
3 and 1/2 pieces of puzzling toast

Gil Mansergh's Cinema Toast
NEW RELEASES 11/03/06

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation Kazakhstan (R)
Sacha Baron Cohen, Pamela Anderson
Directed by: Larry Charles
The Borat character has burst free of the oppressive chains which bound him to cable's "Da Ali G Show." Sent by the Kazakhi government to make a documentary about what makes the USA so great, Borat sees Pamela Anderson on TV and decides to make her his wife. Cohen combines scripted scenes with his candid man-on-the-street interactions with real people, and manages to offend almost everyone. " As George Burns once said: " "Acting is all about honesty. If you can fake that, you've got it made."
3 and 1/2 pieces of satirical Kazakhi toast


Flushed Away (PG)
Voices of: Hugh Jackman, Shane Richie, Andy Serkis, Bill Nighy, Ian McKellen, Kate Winslet
Directed by: David Bowers, Sam Fell
What does happen to all those hapless pets that are flushed down the commode? The "Wallace and Gromit" Wizards at Aardman Animation have transformed their plasticine critters into CG critters (but retained an occasional fingerprint or two) and combined British humor with American Whiz Bang. The result is a film worth several viewings so that you can catch all the sight gags in the background and the sotto-voiced side commentaries. Fun for all ages, it will make you want to see the original stop-motion Aardman films (i.e. "Chicken Run") again.
3 and 1/2 pieces of Aardman toast


Santa Claus 3, The Escape Clause (G)
Tim Allen, Martin Short, Elizabeth Mitchell
Directed by: Michael Lembeck
Allen dons the fur-trimmed red costume (hopefully for the final time) in this formulaic holiday movie guaranteed to have pratfalls galore. In this one, Short plays an irritated Jack Frost and Mrs. Claus is pregnant. Can't you just imagine the jokes?
not available for preview


Old Joy (NR)
Will Oldham, Daniel London
Directed by: Kelly Reichart
An audience favorite at Sundance, two longtime buddies head into the Oregon wilderness for a camping trip that moves as slowly as, well, a camping trip. This film proves you don;t have to have bears or flash floods or attacks by crazed cannibals to keep things interesting. Just two guys talking about the past ("Didn't that store used to sell used records?") and the future ("What happens after my wife has the baby?") works just fine. (At the Rialto in Santa Rosa)
3 and 1/2 pieces of Oregon forest toast


NEW on VIDEO & DVD

Mission Impossible III (PG-13)
Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Directed by J.J. Abrams
Box Office: $133,382,309
The director who brought "Lost" and "Alias" to TV, and the actor who won the Oscar for playing "Capote," combine talents to make a thoroughly satisfying Summer flick. Too bad that Tom Cruise fellow is still connected with the franchise.
3 pieces of the power of the impossible toast