Circumstance

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A pair of teenage girls (Nikohl Boosheri & Sarah Kazemy) fall in lesbian love in Iran, where it's illegal to be gay.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Nikohl Boosheri, Sarah Kazemy, Reza Sixo Safai, Soheil Parsa, Nasrin Pakkho, Sina Amedson, Keon Mohajeri

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. Those of you who love truly independent should run to see this movie because you will love it. For the rest of you, I'm going to throw out some keywords, and you can decide for yourself if it sounds up your alley: lesbian teens, oppression, surveillance, religious fanaticism, men controlling women, secret lives, secret clubs, lack of freedom, rape. So, you in?

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: As part of their rebellion, they decide to dub the movie Milk into farsi... but mostly we watch them do the sex scenes.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: More like rise up and fight for these poor Iranians.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Best Foot Rape scene. Did you know that it's possible to rape someone just by rubbing their foot? Well, you do now... Oh, and it also won the Audience Award at Sundance.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Superb. Every single actor in the film brings something unique and unexpected to their role.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Very independent. At times it jumps around, leaving scenes abruptly and entering others without warning. You are often left wondering what a scene was doing in the film, and yet you find yourself giving the director the benefit of the doubt, thinking to yourself that it probably needed to be there and you're just a little too dumb to figure out why.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: This is a script of few words. And many long stares. Sometimes too long, bordering on melodrama. But sometimes just right, bordering on letting you in on the storyline.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: Circumstance Trailer

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W.

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: Biopic about a man (Josh Brolin) who becomes president of the United States (George W. Bush) to prove to his father (George H.W. Bush) that he's not a disappointment.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Josh Brolin, James Cromwell, Elizabeth Banks, Richard Dreyfuss, Ellen Burstyn, Thandie Newton, Jesse Bradford, Rob Corddry, Dennis Boutsikaris, Scott Glenn, Michael Gaston, Toby Jones, Stacy Keach, Bruce McGill, Jason Ritter, Marley Shelton, Jeffrey Wright

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. All the facts we already know. What's interesting is getting to see W's emotional state as these incidents unfold, his relationship with his father, and finding out who said and did what within his cabinet... Unfortunately, all those parts of the movie are based on pure speculation, and not to be trusted.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Not nearly as much as when you watch the real W. trying to speak English.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Again, not nearly as much as when you watch the real thing.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: The whole thing would be a lot more insightful if it came out 30 years from now.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: In many cases the cast of Saturday Night Live could have done these characters more justice. While they are all reminiscent of the actual people they play, either by their looks or by their speech cadence, there is at least one false thing in each of them which keeps you focused on the actor playing the real person, rather than the real person they're playing. For example Josh Brolin sounds right, but he's much too good looking. Thandie Newton looks like Condoleezza Rice, but her speech sounds as if someone has glued her lips together. And Richard Dreyfuss just smiles way too much to be Dick Cheney.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: As is to be expected, watching this film causes you to learn more about Oliver Stone, and his personal fantasies of what it might be like to be George W. Bush, than it teaches you about what it's actually like to be George W. Bush.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: It would have worked better as a Reality TV show... In fact, I think there was a similar show on TV once. Wasn't it called something like, "The News"? I don't know, who can remember such things.

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Persepolis

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: The animated history of how Iran has evolved in the last 40 years, as told through the eyes of a rebellious girl born in the early 70s, who watches her country become less evolved as she becomes more evolved.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: The voices of Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve, Danielle Darrieux, Simon Abkarian, Gabrielle Lopes

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. Telling a historical story through a first person "biopic" point of view is an interesting approach, but it doesn't completely hide the fact that this is more of a lesson in history than a character study. On an intellectual level, it is possible to infer a lot about our world, and how people respond to their governments by either feeling empowered to rebel against them or worn out, apathetic, and helpless to make a change. But you will not leave the theater having gained this insight on a visceral level, you will have to make the effort to think about it afterwards.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: There is one highly comedic montage to Rocky's, "Eye of the Tiger," which feels severely out of place in this movie which doesn't include Will Ferrell.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: If you're from Iran, you will certainly feel depressed about the backwards direction of the people's freedom, as depicted by this film.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Many. Though I would not have predicted this outcome, had the nominations not been announce before my review. It has won and been nominated for too many awards to mention. Mostly in the uncrowded Animation categories, but sometimes in the Foreign Film categories, as well.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Animated.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: The directing was the highlight of this movie. The animation was highly artistic and seemed to move in unpredictable yet organic ways. The closest animation I can think to compare it to would be The Beatles' Yellow Submarine -- though Persepolis is more sophisticated, and doesn't require dropping acid.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: I was happy to learn a little something about the history of Iran, but I would have liked to be more emotionally compelled by the film. It played like a biopic. And anyone who's been reading this blog knows how I feel about biopics.

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