Spy Games: Body of Lies and Eagle Eye

Watching from above. Body of Lies (pictured above) and Eagle Eye deal with both the power and limitations of US technology (Warner Brothers)

I'm not sure what it says about the state of Hollywood movies - or the taste of audiences -- when a talking Chihuahua film holds the top spot for two weeks in a row, beating out even Ridley Scott's new action thriller. So while alpha males Leo and Russell may command multi-million dollar salaries, they took a back seat to the bitch in Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Body of Lies (opened October 10 throughout San Diego) serves up Leonardo DiCaprio as a CIA operative working on the ground in the Middle East and Russell Crowe as his stateside boss who watches from above with spy satellites, moving people around like chess pieces. The film arrives on the heels of the more mindless pseudo spy flick Eagle Eye (opened October 3 throughout San Diego). But both films reveal a U.S. government with a ton of technology at its fingertips and an apparent inability to put it to good use.

Trouble the Water

Kimberly and  Scott Roberts in Trouble the Water (Zeitgeist Films)

Trouble the Water (opening October 10 at Landmark's Ken Cinema) took home the well-deserved Grand Jury Prize at this year's Sundance Film Festival. The film offers a very personal account of Hurricane Katrina by essentially focusing on Kimberly Rivers Roberts, an aspiring rap artist who with her husband Scott was trapped in the 9th Ward when the hurricane hit. Kimberly had a home video camera and began shooting footage as soon as she and her neighbors starting seeing hurricane warnings on the news. Their remarkable home video footage was then incorporated into the documentary Trouble the water. Fahrenheit 9/11 and Bowling for Columbine producers Tia Lessin and Carl Deal were fortunate enough to hook up with Roberts and to further document her story in the weeks and months following the devastation of the hurricane. The result is an amazingly intimate, powerful, and ultimately hopeful film about survival and unexpected second chances.

Kimberly and Scott described themselves as street hustlers but when the hurricane hits, Scott proves to be something of a hero helping others in need. In the aftermath of the hurricane, the couple run into problems with FEMA and witness the devastation to their neighborhood and surrounding areas. One of Kimberly's relatives describes how the aftermath is something that she would have expected in a third world country but not in the U.S. She feels that an underlying racism prompted the lack of response from the government and she tearfully explains how she won't let her son join the army of a country that has so neglected African Americans in the aftermath of Katrina. There's also an effectively enraging moment when a perky young woman plays a tourism video showing all the splendor of New Orleans and then we see the still devastated areas of the region, places where no help or money is coming in. Scenes like these are what make Trouble the Water so effective.

Trouble the Water (unrated) maintains a devastatingly effective first person narrative as it chronicles Katrina and its aftermath. You feel a sense of outrage that more has not been done to help these people. But the amazing thing is that despite all the hardships, all the government indifference, all the losses, the Roberts remain stunningly positive and hopeful. Their strength of spirit buoys what could have been a much bleaker film.

Companion viewing: When the Levees Broke, Bowling for Columbine

Teen Critic Says Blindness Has Vision

Julianne Moore stars in Blindness (Miramax)

By Janeane White

The movie Blindness (opened October 3 throughout San Diego) is a sci-fi type film where almost everyone in the country goes blind with out any medical explanation. The government tries to keep the numbers down by creating a type of quarantine where the blind stay without any control or rules other than the fact that they are not to leave. From this they create their own rules and try to get by as best they can. One man's wife (Julianne Moore) doesn't want him to go into quarantine alone so she claims that she is blind just so she can go with him. Because of her, the different wards are able to get by and get what needs to be done, done. She is the one who holds everything together. She is the anomoly in this strange epidemic..

The movie had many twists and turns with unexpected outcomes. The nation is forced back to primal life as people fight to survive. People need to learn to not take life for granted. These people learned this important lesson the hard way unfortunately, but they eventualy did learn it.

If you are into films such as The Happening, The Mist or other paranormal movies in which the life and future of humanity are threatened, and which teach us lessons, then this is a movie for you. There are a few graphic scenes but they are relating to the basic needs of people to survive in a world with no sight, and where all basic ground rules and guidelines crash.

Blindness (rated R for violence including sexual assaults, language and sexuality/nudity) is a good example of how much we take for granted and how much our economy needs to change.

--Janeane White is a senior at Mount Miguel High School. She enjoys movies and spends all her time at the theater. She is also interested in special effects makeup done in the movies.She is an honors student and is currently working towards early graduation. Some of her favorite movies include Queen of the Damed, Hellboy, The Descent, the Underworld series, and the Saw series.

Religulous

Bill Maher interviews Christ at the Holy Land Experience in Religulous (Lionsgate)

With nearly a dozen films and two festival to cover this week, I'll get to as much as I can today. Top of my list, though, is the Bill Maher-Larry Charles documentary Religulous (opening October 3 at Landmark's Hillcrest and La Jolla Village Theaters). Maher describes himself as a non-believer and he sets out to ask believers why they believe. Now this is not designed as a comprehensive, balanced exploration of faith and religion. It is a very personal take on faith and religion, and on the role they both take in American culture, society, and politics. Think of it like a humorous op ed piece, and as the funniest film so far this year.

Burn After Reading

Brad Pitt as a gym instructor who's in way over his head in Burn After Reading (Focus Features)

Sorry for the delay in getting to the new Coen Brothers film but I figured it would top most people's list for what to see this past weekend while something like In Search of a Midnight Kiss was in much more need of coverage. Last year, the Coens scored big with No Country for Old Men. They won the Best Picture Oscar, an armload of critics' awards, and solid box office returns. It was a film in which not a single word or gesture was wasted. So how do you follow something that good? Well if you're the Coens you try switching genres and immediately turning around to deliver a dark comedy. Burn After Reading (opened September 12 at Landmark's La Jolla Village Theaters, AMC Mission Valley, AMC FashionValley, UltraStar Mission Valley, UltraStar Chula Vista and Regal Rancho Del Rey) also serves up a deliciously eclectic cast that includes Frances McDormand, John Malkovich, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Tilda Swinton and Richard Jenkins.

You can also listen to the discussion from The KPBS Film Club of the Air.

The X-Files Teaser

Together again! David Duchovney and Gillian Anderson in The X-Files 2 (20th Century Fox)

With the new X-Files movie opening in the midst of Comic-Con, I fear I may not get to my review up until Monday. So here's a little teaser. This Friday,The X-Files proves you can go home again... or at least you can return to a cancelled TV series on the big screen. Six years after the Fox TV show was cancelled and ten years after the first X-Files movie, creator Chris Carter is bringing the characters of FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully back in a feature film. Arriving in theaters on July 25, the second film takes its title from the slogan on the poster that adorned Mulder’s office: "I Want to Believe." That title holds particular significance for series creator Chris Carter.

“I always thought of The X Files as a search for god,” Carter said, “and that was a big part of the inspiration. As for a particular religion? There is no particular religion. It was really, ‘the truth is out there’ is for me, is the mantra, but “I want to believe,” that poster on Mulder’s wall, says it all.”

Charlie Wilson’s War on DVD

Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks in Charlie Wilson's War (Universal)

All right, I have to apologize for losing this film in the holiday shuffle at the end of last year. Despite its big name celebrity stars (Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts), Charlie Wilson's War (coming out on DVD April 22) was no surefire box office draw. It probably could have used all the help it could have gotten to inspire people to overcome their fear of films about recent history and politics, and about the unsexy subject matter of Afghanistan. But with Mike Nichols at the helm, Aaron Sorkin adapting from George Crile's non-fiction book, and a disheveled Philip Seymour Hoffman as a boozing CIA agent, Charlie Wilson's War has a lot going for it.

It probably says something about both the state of our politics and our filmmaking that Charlie Wilson's War was up for best comedy and not best drama at the Golden Globes back in January. One filmmaker I spoke with recently said that he feels the current administration is writing comedy every time they open their mouths or hold a press conference so maybe the comic absurdity of Charlie Wilson's War is extremely apt and its place in the comedy category all the more fitting.

The Best and Worst of 2006

South Korea's A Bitter Sweet Life

As 2006 comes to an end, it's time to reflect back on the films that came out during the year to sort out the best from the worst. First of all, in determining the best of the year there are always a few films that have quirky releases, and I never know whether it's fair to include them or not. But two films that played for only a day each at the San Diego Asian Film Festival deserve mention even if they never received a theatrical release here.

Hou Hsiao Hsien is quite simply one of the world's premier filmmakers. For Three Times, the Taiwanese director serves up three segments involving a romance and each set in a different time period but with the same pair of actors (the lovely Shu Qi and Chang Chen) performing the leads. Hou's film explores how the culture and social limitations of each era affect the relationships of the characters. The film is ravishing to look at, with Hou crafting a dazzling and deceptively complex work. A film of a very different nature but equally worth checking out is Kim Ji Woon's A Bittersweet Life from South Korea. With A Bittersweet Life Kim delivers an action film with a dark soul and aching vulnerability buried at its heart. If you can find either of these on DVD, check them out. They would make my Ten Best in any year.