Mirror Mirror (2012)

In this refreshing spin on the classic "Snow White" fairy tale, Lily Collins shows flashes of Jennifer Love Hewitt and Winona Ryder and is cutely fitting for the lead role. The fantasy atmosphere is a delightful touch. This way, the film avoids being dreary and flows well. The costumes are dazzlingly bursting with rich color and the sets are lovely. Julia Roberts compliments the picture in what is more of a backstage role, which opens the gates for great humor, creative props and lively dialogue. The shining stars of this picture are the 7 dwarves. Their exchanges are merry, solemn and yet sympathetic. Rather than being a rehash, this film sparkles with charm that the whole family will enjoy.

Driving Miss Daisy (1989)

Morgan Freeman plays a righteous caretaker and Jessica Tandy plays a goodhearted and sensitive elder in this heartwarming and magical gem by Alfred Uhry. I had heard about it once or twice, but until I saw the trailer I wasn't "driven" to watch it. Boy, how wrong I was!

It is a beautiful portrait about human emotion, how everyone has their own strengths, weaknesses, needs and hearts. It is filled with delightful humor and silliness, adequate production quality but most importantly a deeper message. It is not a message that is new or hasn't been conveyed before, but Driving Miss Daisy cruises past other attempts to instill such a pacifying and sweet meaning.

My only criticisms are few. I'll start with the erratic time displacement. Years fly by and it is jarring, especially since I wouldn't have minded a much longer run-time that continually shows the ripening bond between the two central characters.

There is a mild focus on (the obvious) racial tension, but I didn't mind it because it cemented the time period and it didn't feel forced. I am glad the film wasn't pinned down by escalating elements in this regard and it was best portrayed on a mild scale.

By the conclusion, I was deeply touched to a definite degree by this picture, far more than from others in recent memory, but had the film been longer and perhaps included more dramatic tension (at least between the two central characters), I would have been even more moved by the picture. Still, a wonderful ending that epitomizes the intimate bond between Miss Daisy and Hoke is fine by my standards. A truly magical experience, with credit to all who helped bring this splendid portrait to life, as it is truly worthy of its acclaim.

Ballet Shoes (2007)

Ballet Shoes is a sophisticated tale set in the 1930s that focuses on three orphans from across the world that are adopted by a rich British paleontologist. They grow up, but when he vanishes on a journey, the family falls upon hard financial times. Meanwhile, the trio of girls are aching to grow up and find themselves, grasp their dreams and realize their potential. One is fond of aviation, another yearns to be an actress and the other is destined to be a ballet dancer. This is where the film finds its title, for when the latter was a baby, her mother left a pair of ballet shoes with her, hoping she would use them well.

The film plays like a typical British affair, dainty and otherworldly, from language to the mentality of the characters. As the girls struggle with their respective aspirations, they retain their sense of frivolity and childhood which was a joy to see. Despite the abrupt ending that leaves the characters trotting on the surface level, Ballet Shoes is still devoid of major problems and hindrances. Sadly, the run time is too short and doesn't let these characters truly transform into something remarkable. I wish the plight and resolution of each character could have been extended and shown more clearly.

When a character obtains a moment of joy, it is premature and underwhelming. Other characters aren't given any breathing room whatsoever. It feels like a C+ book report that a student rushed through and glanced over the heart of the story. We don't get to truly know these people, which is odd considering other emotional British films from the past.

They're all likable people, but it is clear that the source material would be a better representation of their evolution over the years. The conclusion is an impasse, one I was left stuck in. The film couldn't pry me free because it had already ended. So, it's only natural to forget these characters.

Tightrope (1984)

The opening sequence will have you thinking it's a Hitchcock film.

Tightrope definitely tries to be, deviating far enough from the Dirty Harry series to be diverse. Eastwood (despite looking no different than that other detective) degrades himself in a good way, in this murky 80s film that features some nice background locations and atmospheric touches. I would deem it the heterosexual Cruising, a ripe and splendid mixture of kinky, dark, spooky and adult themes with Clint Eastwood as a part-time sexual deviant, part-time frank detective, detached father and lonely man.

The dull parts, believe it or not, come with the standard cop thriller elements, e.g. trying to solve the case as a good cop, making due with scant evidence, a rising body count and balancing the "tightrope" of being a flawed but still likable protagonist. Yet as overdone and repetitive as they are, it is the sexually-themed and eerie sequences that offer the most refreshing qualities.

Overall, I'd been waiting a while to watch this one and finally gave it a viewing. It was worth it. The film isn't optimistic or poetic; it offers a bleak sleazy view on human (primal) nature with lots of nudity and darkness, in which the killer is always lurking. Tightrope offers a pleasant, risqué and working mixture that is missed in most of today's films.

The Babysitters (2007): Mostly BS

David Ross writes and directs this strange film (off a cliff) about the mutual discontentment of high school girls and married men. I was humored by the opening quarter of the film, but ultimately confused and disappointed by the whole picture. But is there a whole picture here? The premise develops between the two major characters (one being John Leguizamo, of whom I am a fan) but then the misguided resolution smacks it off course. The result is a three-headed hydra that thinks it is a fire-breathing dragon. At times, this film reflects the work of Larry Clark, but doesn't allow much natural process or thought to explain the actions of its characters.

All it winds up doing is chipping away at an iceberg (a concept that requires far more elaboration) that never truly melts into tea. Whether this film was meant to be hot or iced, or even tea at all, is impossible to say from the 90 minute run-time. I honestly would've preferred sweet tea (the cute bond between Leguizamo & Waterston), something akin to The Panic in Needle Park, but I was left moved, but only intermittently, as if half of my mind was still trying to explain what happened elsewhere in the film--or better yet--why something happened (because it made zero sense) at all.

I don't know what they were shooting at because it seems they failed to load the gun. All I received was "corruption has terrible effects on confused people", i.e. "greed corrupts", but in today's age, a film has to offer more--something deeper--and this film failed to do it. Why? Because in-between creating that simple concept of corruption's harm, it threw in other foreign elements that didn't belong or contribute at all.