The Lyric Theatre Blog

First and foremost, a movie that has excellent use of subtitles - readable, left on long enough and good contrast.  That off my chest, on to the actual movie.  If I were teaching a class on symbolism in film, I would consider this movie which is almost overly rich in clocks, tickings, eyes seeing, eyes to look at, tides rolling in and moving out, and more.

The movie traces Colin Firth as he prepares to die at his own hand after the death of his partner of 16 years.  His partner, Jim, dies in Colorado and Jim’s parents do not respect his life choice of a life mate.  Sort of timely what with Attorney General Cucchinelli’s recent ruling on homosexuals’ rights in Virginia Universities, Jack finds he cannot attend Jim’s funeral.  As he prepares to commit suicide, he meets with many people who sense there is something wrong and that there is about to be something bad happening.  The story is told in a dizzying array of flashbacks and camera angles.

Timely, timeless and a timepiece, the clocks tick and the hands move and the tides and waves roll in and roll out.  Birth and death and rebirth and death, the film is a study in what a director can do with a simple subject, a simple man, and a surprise ending that is totally fitting.  If homosexuality is not your thing, you might want to pass this one by, but if you want to see a good portrayal of the human condition, of a man who feels deeply and lives an existential life, a portrayal that, if it were heterosexual would be “a great love story,” take a look.  The themes are universal and the acting, the actors and storyline are very good indeed.

I just saw THE IMAGINARIUM OF DR. PARNASSUS at the Lyric.  Monty Python with shades of Heironymous Bosch, Salvador Dali and a touch of Goethe done in a rich tapestry of animation.  A very interesting movie! Terry Gilliam’s work from Monty Python clearly is the high point of this movie, although it is much darker than  his work in the past.  The policemen’s chorus, for example, is much like “I’m a Lumberjack.”  The head popping through the earth and having a road come out his mouth, the driver popping out of the woman’s head after it is taken off her body, and the animated landscapes are pure Monty Python but he adds touches of Salvador Dali and Hieronymous Bosch to spice up the tapestry of facades.  The bets with Satan and the trickery add a darkness to the movie, since Dr. P’s daughter is the ultimate prize after youth and longevity/immortality run their courses.  I don’t know if I would recommend this movie to just anyone but it is a movie that, 10 years from now, you will say “I saw that at the Lyric.”

This time of year the Lyric gets a lot of heavy dramatic films.  It is refreshing to have a romantic comedy slash drama to cleanse the palate.  I didn’t really see this as an Oscar winning movie bu it was a good change of pace and it was a good movie.  It made me want to rent a Hertz car and fly off on an American Airlines jet to, say, upper Wisconsin.

I worked for a not to be named copy company (no product placement in this review) for twenty years and spent a bunch of time flying between Colorado, California and New York.  I had a lot of miles but no where NEAR Ryan’s miles.  While he enjoys traveling and “has a number in his head” for just about anything, what the audience sees is the sameness of how cities look from the air and how even the graphite level credit card still gets you a room with a bed.  Ryan is teamed with Natalie, an efficiency expert who is about to revolutionize the job Ryan is so good at - firing people.  The recurring theme in this movie is two sides of the same coin.  I’ll not spoil the rest of the movie because I want you to see it.  It is a good movie and the repetitious storyline really works.

Academy Award winning movie?  Nah, I don’t think so.  Good movie and something to watch on a cold winter night with someone you love or at least want to get down and boogie with?  Yeah!  I liked it.

As the father of a son currently serving in the US Army, I found this movie very hard to watch.  There were some glaring incongruities - the wrong uniforms, Woody Harrelson’s commander calling him Lieutenant when he was wearing Captain’s bars, little things like that - but those incongruities do not take away from the sheer force of the movie.  The emotions, the language, the comraderie even though they didn’t understand one another, all of these came together in a tour de force that grabs your gut and doesn’t let go.  My son constantly talks of his battle buddies and how he is never alone but always has someone to watch his back.  The SSG and the CPT have very different points of view but they work them out, just as they help each other through their personal difficulties and grow to respect one another.  The SSG is preparing to ETS (End Term of Service) and leave the Army.  The CPT has no where to go.  There are broken families, broken homes, then there is the horror of having to tell parents, wives, husbands that their loved one is dead.  Not “departed,” not “passed away,” but dead. They need to follow the book and the book is very specific.  The compassion they feel versus the stone cold front of professionalism is abattle both within themselves and between each other.  The way they cope with the reactions of the families was hard to watch.

This is not a pretty movie but there is a strong honesty that the actors portray that makes it much more real than say Hurt Locker, a movie that needed some serious editing.  I would urge people to see this movie to see the human side of the Army.  I found the scene where a chicken hawk talking head is on the radio a delightful incongruity.  If you think war is important and we need to send the boys and girls overseas to protect America, this movie points out the importance of making sure there is a method to “bring them back” to their home world with out jarring them beyond endurance or alcohol.  If you think the war is wrong and that our troops need to come back home, you will find fodder for your beliefs.

I recommend this movie but be prepared to feel strong emotional pulls at your heart and your gut.

An Education is the story of growing up in the early 1960s, a simpler time before drugs, cell phones and the Beatles.  It portrays the conflicts of a young girl confronted with choices that she is not equipped to make and how an education, both scholarly and in the rudiments of life, changes her and her family’s lives.  I found the sound track very revealing.  The characters were totally believable and totally in context with their time.  Pre-woman’s movement, the sexism of the times is accurately portrayed.  The songs in the background were pre-British Invasion, sort of mindless late ’50s, early ’60s pop tunes that were innocent and mindless.  Along with this was the conversations of the school girls, again innocent and mindless high school talk.  While the teachers wanted Jenny to go on to read English at Oxford, the harsh realities of life - her father telling her she needed to find a man with “deep pockets” - forshadowed her finding a much older man.  While the forshadowing for my jaded self had me waiting for something darker, more sinister, the realities were refreshing.  This is a very enjoyable movie and highly recommended.

Depressing?  A little.  Inconsistent? Yes.  Stupid?  Very.  Viggo, ya should have boogied earlier or joined your wife.  As far as post-apocalyptic movies go, I would give this a C.  I could see Kevin Costner in this movie in Viggo’s place.  When Robert Duvall’s character shows up, I didn’t recognize him but thought to myself, that should be Robert Duvall.  And it was.  I think what was missing was there were no Zombies.  That would have made the movie more enjoyable.  Bad plot, mediocre characterizations, and with the mediocre characterizations came a movie that I could not believe.  How did the teddy bear go through the rain and mud and yuck and never get dirty?  How did Mortensen and his son survive the first six or seven years after the disaster and still do so many stupid things when they were chased by the cannibals?  Too many inconsistancies of plot.   SPOILER ALERT:  Kid, watch out, they are going to eat you.

I was overwhelmed by Precious.  There have been many movies about the poor kid who gets a good school teacher to mentor him or her and goes on a to wonderous future. Akeela and the Bee ran along those lines in a middle income, family friendly home.  Precious, however, has a documentary feel that is gritty, horrendous and real.  It grabs you in the opening scenes and the characters seem so real that you think they can’t be acting, that they really are that gritty, horrendous and real.

Precious is a young teen with a special needs daughter and a son on the way, both by her mother’s boyfriend who is also Precious’ father.  Her life is so bad that she lapses into fairy tale style daydreams about how life really should be.  She is sent to an alternative school where she is encouraged to learn to read and write.  She works with her teacher and a social worker played by Mariah Carey who did a magnificent job in this role.

The cinematography and the locations’ shots in what looks like Harlem, if not some other urban ghetto, reek with authenticity.  As authentic as it seems in a black urban ghetto setting, the story is universal.  At a local high school graduation two years ago it seemed that every  other girl graduate was wither pregnant or carrying her child.  Babies having babies.  Without education, there is no hope, even the slim hope Precious feels by the end of the movie.

I highly recommend Precious.  It is depressing, sad, yet also lacks a feeling of hopelessness.  There is a better life, even if it will be grim and without a McDonald’s restaurant.

Fantastic Mr Fox is … well … fantastic.  It is in a different animation style than most animated movies this days, definitely not a Pixar type, but there are times when the animals go wild! and Looney Toons shock scenes pop out of nowhere. There are at least three distinct styles of animation, maybe more, in play.   If you are not familiar with the voices in the film, based on a book by Roald Dahl, don’t look it up.  I had a great time figuring out who’s voice was each character.  Zack, from Bones is there, and the lead?  think Oh Brother, Where Art Thou.

The animation was beautifully done, the characters very well animated and well drawn.  But while you watch the visuals, the sound track will blow you away.  The banjo song while sitting around the campfire is a knock out and when the Rolling Stones start to rock, ya gotta tap your feet.  In addition to the actual sound, this movie makes good use of surround sound.  There were times when I felt the need to duck as bullets and pine cones whipped overhead.

I thoroughly enjoyed Fantastic Mr Fox.  I am not sure how well it was received by the youngest members of the audience, but as an adult, I thought it was most satisfactory.

The Maid.   Que?  Was there a point to this movie other than having one friend for a few weeks in your entire life can make you want to jog?  Better subtitling might have helped, although I don’t think so - I hate white on white subtitles! Outtakes from a Telemundo soap opera? Don’t feel sorry for the cat - it escaped.

I am interested in hearing what people thought were the best in movies and live events at the Lyric over the past year and 10 years.  We have a FaceBook group - Lyric Blacksburg Best Events Ever - or you can post them here.  Let us hear what you liked and what programming you’d like to see.  We are facing a possible huge budget cut on the coming year, so it can help us program what the community wants within our budget means.

Become a member!  Join the Lyric as a member and get money off tickets, special advance tickets to live events, and know that you’re helping keep the Lyric the living, beating Heart of Downtown Blacksburg.  As a member, you are also able to vote for board members at the February Annual Meeting of the Lyric.  We can use your support and you know you need the Lyric as a healthy, viable entertainment source now and in the coming years.

Volunteers Welcome!  the Lyric needs volunteers to staff the concession stand, sell tickets and help with office work.  Volunteers are also needed to help staff the Community Arts Information Office.  Not only will you get the satisfaction of keeping the Lyric alive and relevant, you get FREE POPCORN! How can you pass up a deal like that??

So join the Lyric.  Tell us what your favorites of the past were and what you’d like to see in the future.  Help keep the Lyric Theatre YOUR Theatre!