Water for Elephants ( 2011 )

Water for Elephants ( 2011 )

Water for Elephants stars, Reese Witherspoon as Marlena Rosenbluth , the star attraction at the Circus and wife of the owner / ringmaster ; Robert Pattinson as Jacob Jankowski , the lonely poor orphan boy , intelligent and bright , wandering the open road of America ; Christoph Waltz as August Rosenbluth , as the Ringmaster ; but the star and hero of the film is "Tai" as "Rosie, the elephant" who saves the circus .

Set in the Great American Depression of the 1930s , where no one has any money , and worse than that , any booze . Prohibition just stinks , good hard working circus performers need a bit of the good stuff to carry them thru the day .

The story line is a little thin , but takes a long time getting to the end . The acting is good , and the period of the 1930s comes across well , but the hard sell is the chemistry between these people . The hubsand and wife seem to be in a loveless marriage , and in the end the film seems like a loveless movie .

But what is love ?

This is Francis Lawrence third time in the director's chair the first and second being Constantine (2005) with Keanu Reeves , and I Am Legend (2007) with Wil Smith · Water for Elephants (2011) also has the star power of Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson .

The question now is does Robert Pattinson have the box office draws of the Twilight Movies , or is it the popularity of the Twilight books ?

Coming back to Francis Lawrence , he has wandered away from a strong action based / special effects in his first two films , to a more character driven films in the story of the People of the Benzini Brother's Travelling Circus .

As many of my friends pointed out in the end , the real stars of the film were the animals , cause that is all they talked about , imagine you have a circus movie , without animals . It just does not work . Everyone you could tell wanted more animals , and more story to the animals . You wanted to know more about the horses , the lions , the dogs , the monkey and of course the ELEPHANT .

By the way all you PETA members , out there walk with your box of tissues , this one is a real tear jerker for you PETA guys and gals .

The movie is nice swing away from the Romantic-Comedy , but hardly fits the mold of a Love Story .

Watch for the old time New York Scenes , with the Empire State building and the Brooklyn Bridge in the background .

Also there is not stinger , after the movie , but if you do stay through the credits , you will notice the cast credits are done in the old time layouts :

"Marlena Rosenbluth..................................................................................Reese Witherspoon"

The list of Stuntmen goes on and on and on , but the stunts are so intergrated into the movie you do not see them , in train jumping and the stampede scenes .

The movie is a classic piece of movie making , and could be used to teach film students "HOW TO MAKE A FILM" , yet the story and the acting does not appeal to the mass audience . I am worried if it should make back it's $40 million budget .

The Kids Are All Right ( 2010 )

The Kids Are All Right , was never released in Trinidad and Tobago , so look out for it at you local DVD vendor .

The story line is really simple , and only gets complicated . Eighteen years and nine months ago , a loving couple get pregnant by means of artificial insemination . Three years later , so does the partner . Yup lesbian couple , with half brother and sister , using the same sperm donor . No Problem we are hip society , we are down with that .

Fast forward to the eighteen birthday of the older child , and forms filled out with request for Daddy's name ; and of course fifteen year old brother know that is his papa too . Sneaking around behind mommies' back , the three of them with their shared DNA , meet .

Later to bring Moms into the picture , and slowly the entire ball of string unravels .

The core to this film , Who is your Daddy ? or What is your Daddy ? Asking modern day question for families outside the normal nuclear family . Even within the context of this story there is four members of the family , two parents and two children , keeping the space in the house normal . But as usual what happen when an outside person is brought in , where do they fit ? How does it work ?

Threatening are the normals , not the heterosexual normal , but the normals of the last 18 years of their own little bubble . Why do things change ? And can we keep them from changing .

Annette Bening received a Oscar nomination for Best Actress , and got snubbed for Natalie Portman in Black Swan .

The Film has had good reviews in all quarters , EXCEPT for the Lesbian community .

The cry is that all films involving Lesbians are apologetic , as is this one . Even though the director is an open lesbian . The community complained of the girl-girl sex scenes , and their misbehaver outside the bedroom . And truth be told , I could see the film very easily been drafted into a heterosexual movie , and remove the lesbian element from the film .

The film is worth being seen , though it may not be for everyone , themes are for the enlightened and not the bias . The film portraits the "alternative lifestyle" not as normal , but accepted .

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