plus 4, Billy Ray Cyrus offers song for Hallmark movie - Hawk Eye

Billy Ray Cyrus offers song for Hallmark movie - Hawk Eye
'It's Complicated': chick flick with a man's twist - China Post
'Invictus': What Every Movie Theater Needs - iBerkshires.com
MOVIE REVIEW: 'Nine' adds up a few numbers shy of Fellini - North County Times
Movie review: 'It's Complicated' really isn't - Charleston Daily Mail

Billy Ray Cyrus offers song for Hallmark movie - Hawk Eye

Posted: 27 Dec 2009 08:31 AM PST

published online: 12/27/2009

By CAITLIN R. KING

The Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Billy Ray Cyrus has been preparing his whole life for the role of Daniel Burton in the Hallmark Channel movie "Christmas in Canaan."

"I started digging through like old boxes of stuff and finding old Polaroids of my dad from 1964," the 48-year-old country singer said. "I thought, if I can become my dad -- if I can be Ronald Ray Cyrus in 1964 -- then that's this guy. Just go be your dad."

Cyrus even cut his hair to look like his dad.

"I realized I just grew into my dad to be honest," he said.

Cyrus plays a widowed father of three, living in Canaan, Texas, at the start of the civil rights movement.

The script inspired Cyrus to write and record a song for the film. The song title, "We'll Get by Somehow (We Always Do)," is something that his character, Daniel, says four times in the movie. Cyrus acknowledges that the lyrics also reflect his own life, as he deals with criticism of his parenting from the media.

"I write about what is real. I write about what I'm living. 'We'll get by somehow, we always do.' That's not only Daniel's mantra, that is my mantra," he said.

"The second you realize that life ain't fair, you're one step closer to moving on," he adds. "But most importantly, have a vision of where you want to go and who you want to be, and no matter what the naysayers say, or no matter the negativity, you stay focused."

Cyrus got the idea for the song on his tour bus when he heard a guitarist strumming a Texas-sounding tune.

"As I got my guitar out of the case, he was playing that lick, I just started singing, 'We'll get by somehow, we always do. That's what makes a hope turn into truth. When the chips are down, we'll see it through. We'll get by somehow, oh yeah, we always do."'

By the time he had his guitar in hand, the chorus was born.

"Christmas in Canaan" is playing on the Hallmark Channel through the end of the month.

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'It's Complicated': chick flick with a man's twist - China Post

Posted: 27 Dec 2009 10:07 PM PST

While older men are most often portrayed in films and on television as guys chasing the skirts of women half their age, your new movie "It's Complicated" plays them somewhat differently.

It says: "They aren't always that way — not always, anyway, and not all of them." Judging by the advertisements, "It's Complicated" writer/director Meyers' new comedy which debuts in theaters on Christmas Day appears to be a woman's story. But audiences should not be fooled: men get their side, too.

"I don't know that many men marry women as old as (main character) Jane, but that's not to say that men don't like women their own age," Meyers told Reuters.

Still, she is quick to add, "That said, I'm sure there's nothing better than a woman half your age looking up to you."

Well okay, Nancy, you got us there. "It's Complicated," tells of an older woman Jane, played by Meryl Streep, who is divorced from Jake (Alec Baldwin). He has remarried a younger, well-toned woman, while she has gone on to raise their three kids and run a successful business.

When Jake reappears in her life at her son's graduation, an old spark rekindles and they resume their relationship. In essence, Jane becomes the "other woman" in Jake's life.

But complicating matters is that Jane falls for another man, Adam, and she is taken by the fact that Adam (Steve Martin) wants nothing to do with younger women. The two relationships at an older age both refresh and complicate Jane's life and, as they say in Hollywood, high jinks ensue.

Early reviews are mixed with many critics calling "It's Complicated" pretty straightforward, and meant to put a smile on moviegoer faces without having to think too hard. But reviews are less important in drawing a crowd for a movie like "It's Complicated" than are advertisements, and its release at Christmas is a counter-programming move by Universal Pictures to offer older audiences their own comedy, among "Avatar" and "Sherlock Holmes" and other flicks aimed at younger fans.

Meyers, who turned 60 years old this month, has made a very good living in notoriously male-dominated Hollywood by telling mostly female-oriented stories, starting with 1980 hit "Private Benjamin," about a woman (Goldie Hawn) who joins the Army.

While women have had some success breaking Hollywood's glass ceiling in television — see Oprah Winfrey and executives like Nancy Tellem of U.S. TV network CBS — there has been less of that in the arena for big-budget, studio flicks dominated by action-adventure and comic book films like "Spider-Man."

"The indie world has become so big, it allowed studios to make less-thoughtful movies, and that is where women have broken through ... women gravitate towards that world," she said.

What breeds success at the studio level are box office hits, Meyers' said, and her comedies have enjoyed plenty.

"What Women Want" generated US$374 million worldwide, and "Something's Gotta Give" raked in US$314 million. While her most recent "The Holiday," only had US$63 million in the U.S., another US$141 million was collected from theaters internationally.

Why? They weren't only about women; they were about women and men. "What Women Want" had its key character (Mel Gibson) getting in touch with his feminine side, and "Something's Gotta Give" showed an old skirt chaser (Jack Nicholson) turning his eye towards an older woman after years of chasing young gals.

Note to major Hollywood studios: not all men are that shallow — not all, anyway.

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'Invictus': What Every Movie Theater Needs - iBerkshires.com

Posted: 20 Dec 2009 08:49 PM PST

'Invictus': What The Movie Theater Needs Now

By Michael S. Goldberger
iBerkshires Film Critic
11:43PM / Sunday, December 20, 2009

Uplifting, high-minded and inspirational, director Clint Eastwood's "Invictus" is just what's needed in our movie houses at this juncture. Hopefully, this morally instructive saga about how South Africa's Nelson Mandela used rugby to instill pride in his nation won't only be preaching to the choir. It would be nice if a few ne'er-do-wells see it, too.

But then, one can't very well shanghai the ethically bankrupt and make them absorb this tale of selfless folk working for the commonweal. There's just too many of them. We can only hope that some of our burgeoning reprobates, perhaps intending to see "Ninja Baby Killers Revisited," find grace after mistakenly landing in a theater showing "Invictus."

But surely, whether you take it in to reaffirm beliefs long held dear or just because it's a rousing good story, Eastwood and company won't let you down. Morgan Freeman is splendid as President Nelson Mandela, and Matt Damon is also quite superb as Francois Pienaar, the national rugby team's captain. Plus, it's a fine sports saga to boot.

If anything, its shortcomings — a lack of surprise and experimental nuance — are doubtlessly due to the director's custodial reverence for the material. Like the long-distance runner cleaving to the flame, he is delivering the entrusted message, the dramatic gospel. And in doing so, he handsomely employs a rather traditional style of storytelling.

All the same, personalities are not lost among the majesty of grand principles extolled. Freeman creates an unmistakable aura. A longtime associate of Eastwood's, he obviously shares his director's monumental mission, generously managing to make the great man mystical but human, and yet not so saintly so as to be incredible.

It is empowering to be in his company for two-plus hours ... nice to be entertainingly reminded that every once in a while the good guy prevails ... that sometimes the ideals learned in our youth can be realized. In the same breath, and thus adding to the film's enchantment, we are made privy to one of history's most savvy and astute politicians.

There is whimsy in his forthrightness when Madiba, as Mandela came to be known by supporters old and new, asks the rugby star for his help in soothing the naysayers. The thought is that a national sharing in athletic victory will heal rifts. The conversations, pungent with philosophy and, of course, sports metaphors, provide food for thought.

While Matt Damon is not always easy to understand as a result, his total appropriation of an Afrikaans accent nearly challenges Meryl Streep's amazing Danish argot in "Out of Africa" (1985). He also bulked up a bit. But while Francois Pienaar is a tough customer, he's gentleman enough to know that destiny has joined him on the field of play.

We are brought into these historical circumstances in 1994, shortly after Mandela, who had previously spent 27 years in prison, is elected president of South Africa. Among his first diplomatic moves to seek reconciliation and not revenge, he seizes on the enmity that black citizens hold for Springboks, the national rugby team.

It just so happens that South Africa will be hosting the World Cup in 1995. With the planet certain to be looking in at the generally despised, formerly apartheid country, the stage is set for tactician Mandela's grand public relations plan. His strategy? Get blacks behind the team and then win the cup. Never mind that Springboks is hardly even rated.

Summoning what one could consider the combined talents of Disraeli, Bear Bryant and Red Auerbach, by inviting Piennar to the presidential mansion, Mandela tacitly elects himself über coach of Springboks. The two take tea. Later, when asked about his famed luncheon, Damon's dazed rugby captain says, "I think he wants us to win the cup."

Herewith, the sociopolitical ruminations intertwine with the sports story ... and not a bad one at that. Even the great unwashed, including this suddenly indoctrinated fan, become Springboks supporters. Naturally, we don't know any of the rules. Yet we Yanks sort of get the idea while never ceasing to be amazed that these guys wear no protective padding.

Good special effects reproduce Johannesburg's overflowing Ellis Park Stadium, replete with a bubbling excitement to match the rough-and-tumble action on the field. Balancing the momentousness, dramatic subsets tell the personal narratives. A running squabble between black and white members of Mandel's security corps is humorously illustrative.

Yep, 'tis a pity those who would benefit most from this gracious civics lesson will be too busy texting while driving or otherwise denying their membership in the human race. Still, it's good to know we can count on Eastwood who, via "Invictus" (Latin for unconquered), informs that mankind's love of justice and tolerance shall not be defeated.

"Invictus," rated PG-13, is a Warner Bros. Pictures release directed by Clint Eastwood and stars Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon and Tony Kgoroge. Running time: 134 minutes

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MOVIE REVIEW: 'Nine' adds up a few numbers shy of Fellini - North County Times

Posted: 23 Dec 2009 02:19 PM PST

By DAVID GERMAIN - Associated Press | Posted: Wednesday, December 23, 2009 1:35 pm

Title-wise, the musical "Nine" registers half a digit higher than "8 1/2," the Federico Fellini masterpiece that inspired the stage show that was the source for this new movie version.

On a scale of 1 to 10, though, "Nine" comes in somewhere around a 5, maybe 5 1/2.

Yeah, comparing the two is unfair, but "Nine" is the same story at its core. And despite stars with enough Academy Awards hardware to start their own metal works, Rob Marshall's musical ends up as an amiable but muddled music-video rehash of Fellini's study of a filmmaker adrift in personal and creative turmoil.

Maybe the lofty cast ---- Oscar winners Daniel Day-Lewis, Nicole Kidman, Penelope Cruz and Judi Dench among them ---- raises expectations too high. Certainly Marshall's revival of the movie musical on the sly and spirited "Chicago," a best-picture Oscar winner, also jacks up anticipation for "Nine."

Though the musical numbers are grandly staged and delivered with earnest, the songs are not all that memorable ---- including three new ones written expressly for the film version.

The crises of a filmmaker ---- pampered and fawned over by everyone he encounters, with a beautiful wife, a knockout mistress and other gorgeous women lining up to sleep with him ---- comes off as trifling. It's hard to care about this guy's little bout of writer's block when he's got it all and then some in his personal and professional lives.

Day-Lewis stars as Guido Contini, a 1960s Italian filmmaker besieged by paparazzi and hangers-on as he prepares to start his latest movie ---- even though he hasn't a clue what it's going to be about.

Guido's mired in a creative funk, and we follow him through vibrant musical fantasies as he tries to work through his problems with help from the women in his life, past and present.

They include his departed mom (Sophia Loren), his mistress (Cruz), a lusty fashion reporter (Kate Hudson), his costume designer (Dench), his screen muse (Kidman) and his wife (Marion Cotillard).

The women are stunning ---- Kidman a golden-goddess cousin to Anita Ekberg in Fellini's "La Dolce Vita," Loren a grand dame of class and dignity, Cruz sizzling as she gyrates through her bump-and-grind number in smoking hot lingerie.

From "Moulin Rouge," we all knew Kidman could belt out a tune, and there was no doubt about the pipes of Fergie, the Black Eyed Peas singer who co-stars as a sexual symbol from Guido's boyhood and captures old-school Italian sensuality that would have been at home in an early Fellini flick.

Calculated to be show-stoppers, the songs often end up as quaint throwbacks (Hudson looks great in her go-go get-up but looks as though she's stuck in a musical interlude on "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In," where her mother, Goldie Hawn, got her start).

Michael Tolkin and Anthony Minghella, "The English Patient" filmmaker who died in 2008, share credit for the screenplay, which has clever exchanges (some borrowed from Fellini) but mostly offers patter between songs.

The musical interludes are overly stagy and not well integrated into the story. It feels as though the actresses lined up single-file waiting for their big number, each woman getting a chance to croon a little something about the meaning of Guido's life before wandering off into the background of the film.

As the weary wife of unfaithful Guido, Cotillard gets two songs, appropriate since her character is the heart of the story and the actress herself is the best thing about the film.

Cotillard lip-synced through the songs in her Oscar-winning performance as Edith Piaf in "La Vie En Rose," and she may have the weakest singing voice among the "Nine" stars. Still, her performance, whether speaking or singing, is a marvelous mix of patience, virtue, melancholy and simmering fury.

The simple, sad stares of a disillusioned woman, conveyed by a gifted actress, prove more powerful than all the ostentation and extravagance that Marshall and his production team can throw up on the screen.

"Nine"

** (out of four)

Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Nicole Kidman, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Sophia Lauren, Kate Hudson, Fergie

Director: Rob Marshall

Studio: Weinstein Co.

Rated: PG-13 -- for sexual content and smoking

Running time: 118 min.

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Movie review: 'It's Complicated' really isn't - Charleston Daily Mail

Posted: 23 Dec 2009 10:04 PM PST

By DAVID GERMAIN

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

"It's Complicated" is lying from the moment the title appears.

Writer-director Nancy Meyers' latest relationship comedy isn't what the name promises at all. It's simple, almost as simple about grown-up romance and heartache as the average Hollywood teen comedy is about youthful love and sex.

That said, a simple-minded story can benefit enormously with Meryl Streep on screen for almost an entire movie.

Streep follows her delightful turn as Julia Child in "Julie & Julia" and sparkling voice work in "Fantastic Mr. Fox" with a charming performance as a divorced woman in an affair with her remarried ex-husband (Alec Baldwin) and a flirtation with a new man (Steve Martin).

It's got to be hard, hard work to bring authenticity to a character as potentially artificial and shallow as Streep's Jane Adler. Streep makes everything look effortless and real these days, singing, dancing single mom in "Mamma Mia!" over the summer, stern, inflexible nun in "Doubt" come winter.

She probably could have played one of the 10-foot-tall, blue-skinned aliens in James Cameron's "Avatar" in curlers and a housedress and made it seem as genuine without any of the elaborate digital enhancements used to top off that film's stars.

Too bad Streep has to put on this nice show to such superficial effect in "It's Complicated," and for that matter, too bad for Baldwin, Martin and the rest of an earnest supporting cast led by John Krasinski.

Meyers serves up fluff as light as the pastries Jane bakes for a living, a story to make divorced people wish their broken marriages and the ugly aftermath could be as fun and frolicsome as this.

Ten years after Jake (Baldwin) left her, Jane has reached an uneasy peace with her ex, who's now married to a younger woman (Lake Bell).

With three grown children (Caitlin Fitzgerald, Zoe Kazan and Hunter Parrish) and a rock-steady future son-in-law (Krasinski), Jane has put her life back together comfortably, serenely. She runs a successful bakery and restaurant in California and has a gorgeous house that she's about to turn into a palace with additions and modifications.

Then bam! Jane and Jake find themselves alone over dinner and many drinks at a hotel in New York City, where they and the rest of family have gathered for their son's college graduation.

Sparks are rekindled, a rash one-nighter leads to an affair, and Jane finds herself wooed by Jake, who's dissatisfied with the new wife and wants the old one back.

And wouldn't you know it? This happens just as Jane and her divorced and lonely architect Adam (Martin) start taking an interest in each other.

Even with Streep and Baldwin's drunken-debauchery scene, the first half of the movie is deadly dull, lingering scenes of uninteresting chatter, lame coincidental meetings between Jane and Jake, and annoying girl-talk sessions among Jane and her pals (Mary Kay Place, Rita Wilson and Alexandra Wentworth).

"It's Complicated" stutter-steps to life now and then, particularly during Jane and Adam's date on a good marijuana buzz.

Mostly, though, Meyers lets her stars mince about to varying effect. In Streep's case, that may be enough on its own to justify the price of a ticket. In Martin's case, it's not so bad seeing him play the nice, normal, low-key guy for a change.

In Baldwin's case, it's a tossup. Sometimes he's funny as he jealously stalks Jane, other times he mugs along in a toothless imitation of the overbearing self-absorption he does so well on "30 Rock."

The big laughs Meyers swings for never pay off the way she wants, and the three-way romance totters to an uninteresting conclusion that lacks anything approaching the heart of how her love triangle wrapped up in "Something's Gotta Give."

The story's not entirely predictable. Yet it's anything but complicated.

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