"Do you know where the wicked go?" To Jane Eyre!

Last night, we were fortunate to get an early preview of Jane Eyre in Evanston, IL, since we live in an area devoid of theatres that get independent films. There is something wrong when our local movie theatres have four screens dedicated to Never Say Never (Justin Bieber's movie), but a quality film like Jane Eyre is only available in Chicago. After carefully letting this movie simmer like a fine stew, we've concluded that it is, indeed, a good one. Jane Eyre is the story of a young orphan girl in northern England who must overcome many obstacles to survive and find an ounce of love. At first the movie seems a little confusing with flashback scenes. Believe us, there was a viewer seated next to us who could have used a summary or bullet points because he kept shouting "Are we in Scotland?" or "now what's going on!" Jane Eyre, however, does not take place in Scotland. The movie is a little slow to start, but Mia Wasikowska brings the screen a breath of life when she enters. She effortlessly captures the torture of her state and the lack of self-pity upon herself. When Mrs. Fairfax appears, played by the ever beguiling Dame Judi Dench, the movie starts to gain some more steam. For those of you obsessed with Dench's career, you will thoroughly love her portrayal of the hysterical Mrs. Fairfax role. Dench plays a wonderful elderly creeper lady and it is comforting to know that in some moments she is a lot like her Academy Award® Nominated role of Barbara Covett from Notes on a Scandal. Wasikowska does a wonderful job at portraying this iconic character as well as Michael Fassbender (from Inglourious Basterds) in his portrayal of Mr. Rochester. The film is visually elegant. The cinematography captures Jane's isolation and the multiple doorways and curtain backdrops easily act as tools to capture Jane's expressions. There are little luxuriant backgrounds and numerous stark locations, so don't expect to get your period-movie freak on. The real stars of this film are Wasikowska and Dench. Dench captivates audiences in her role and steals a few scenes. Wasikowska, on the other hand, is so finely calibrated as Eyre it is obvious this young actress is going places. Overall, the movie was well made and quite enjoyable. One complaint would be the audio because at times it was rather difficult to understand the whispered utterances. If or when this movie comes to a theatre near you, go and see the film.

This film receives 7 Mendys!

Tale that is Now as Old as Time

Boy is attractive. Boy is a jackass. Boy tries to anger a witch in his school. Witch casts a spell on boy to reflect on his actions. Boy can only be turned back to his former state as long as he finds someone to love his inner self while looking "grotesque". What could possibly go wrong with this movie? I mean there hasn't been a movie in existence that was nominated for an Academy Award® has there? Oh wait, there was and it was called Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Beastly is a modern retelling of the classic tale, but with a twist...awful acting on Beauty's part. Alex Pettyfer plays the role of Kyle, the egotistical handsome guy who miraculously runs the school. After being turned into a "hideous" biker kid, he then is banished, by his loser father, to Brooklyn where he lurks and stalks Hudgens' character. Vanessa Ann "I take a lot of nude photos" Hudgens plays Lindy, the "Beauty" character. Well perhaps to the average viewer she might be passable, but to the trained eye, like myself, she could not be further than a lead heroine. When an animated character brings more depth and soul to the character, it seems to me that it should be the time to call it quits as an actress. Thank god for Mary-Kate Olsen (I know how many times would we ever think to say that?) for being the "witch" character in the film. Not only does Olsen steal the show, but she is also quite enjoyable to watch on the screen as well. Pettyfer doesn't do a horrible job in his role, but with that being said, he doesn't really add anything to the character. Clearly for this film the tale has bloomed and the petals have fallen. After viewing the film, the dialogue is predictable and you'll be finding yourself trying to add lines from the Disney film like "He's finally learned to love" or "That is not enough Lumiere; she must love him in return." A person in the audience that was near me kept yelling at the Jamaican house keeper that she was Mrs. Potts and Neil Patrick Harris' character was a mixture of Lumiere and Cogsworth. All in all was it the worst movie I have ever seen? No...but was it the best? Far from it. Had there been a different actress in the role of Lindy, the movie might have been able to be saved, but sadly we have to deal with Hudgens. I guess we should count our blessings that Taylor Swift wasn't the lead or in it.

And the Mendy is...4/10

A Nice Treat: Reservoir Dogs

Well well well... I can't ever seem to find a flaw in Quentin Tarantino's work. This American gangster classic, released in 1992, is about bad-ass men in great suits with color names for code. But really, it's about a simple jewelery heist that goes terribly wrong. The surviving criminals begin to suspect that one of them is a police informant and one by one they whittle down the possibilities. For those squeamish with blood or offended by dirty language, this movie may not be for you. After all, the film uses 272 uses of the word "f***." Since this is our first Tarantino entry, and I (Tara) am more the expert on QT's work, let me explain a few things about his style. He lives for scenes of long, skillful dialogue, cruel violence that can make the viewer uneasy, and unique hidden touches for those Tarantinophiles out there. For example, in almost every Tarantino film made, there is a scene in which the camera focuses on the listener of the conversation while the speaker is somewhere else. He also likes to keep the contents of whatever the characters are looking at unknown while the camera looks up at the characters from inside that object. That's a bit confusing to understand, but if you've seen the Pulp Fiction briefcase or the Kill Bill trunk scene, you know what I'm talking about. You may be wondering who are some of the big actors in this movie, so here they are: Steve Buscemi, Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth, and Chris Penn. Not to mention, Quentin makes an appearance in a few scenes as well. I strongly recommend this movie, and I'm actually embarrassed that it has taken me this long to see it. I regret not watching this years ago because it is certainly a movie I will be itching to watch again and again. Oh, and if that's not convincing enough, the ending can be a source of argument and opinion. Rating: a definite 9 Mendys - MUST SEE. If you want a movie to stimulate your imagination, give Reservoir Dogs a run.

Who Is Afraid of the Big Bad Movie?

For anyone who has ever read Little Red Riding Hood, they will be happy to know that this movie is nothing like the original story. Apparently the story of a girl going to her grandmother's house and a visit from a scary wolf does not have enough appeal for a large audience. Let's fast track to the actual movie - an adult, doe-eyed girl with a strange affinity for axes lives in a ridiculous town straight out of Forks, Oregon. One expects Edward Cullen, with his Maybelline product in hand, to pop out behind a mossy knoll. Cue - a giant werewolf with expressive ears attacks the entire village with a voice channeling that of a Rachael Ray chain smoker. Last I checked this is a similar story out there by name of Twilight. The movie then takes an awkward turn to a "who-done-it" mystery. Catherine Hardwicke should be stripped of all directorial privileges, and the paycheck to go along with it. Hardwicke maintains her reputation as a ridiculous director caught up in unrestricted doses of testosterone and estrogen. In other words, she has an unusual fetish for teenager angst and lust. When a twenty or thirty something woman makes movies about teenagers, it's passable because she knows how to relate to her audience; however, when a 50-year-old woman is devoutly in love with werewolves and vampires, then we have some problems. Some of you might be familiar with Hardwicke's groundbreaking (rather like highly grossing) Twilight movie, where once again we have werewolves and vampires dueling it out for the affection of some homely, glossy-eyed, trolley mouthed, mousy girl by the name of Kristen Stewart. This movie, on our famous 10 point scale where 10 is Genius (Tara would say a movie such as Pulp Fiction is 10 Mendy-worthy, whereas Michael would say Casablanca or Black Swan) this movie is, at best, a 1. DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY - unless you like to shred money and watch your cinematic dreams turn into paper pulp.