Thursday, December 20, 2012

Week of December 21 to December 27 (Rhoades)

Historical Drama, Biopic, Road Trip Comedy,
And Global Warming Doc Fill Tropic Screens

Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades

 With all your last-minute gift shopping it may be hard to squeeze in a movie during the countdown to Christmas – but you’ll want to make the time! This is a season of the year when you can expect to see some great films.
For example, still playing at the Tropic Cinema is Steven Spielberg’s masterful historical drama “Lincoln,” the story of the political infighting it took to pass the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery. History comes alive with Daniel Day-Lewis’s portrayal of Honest Abe … perhaps the most accurate depiction of Lincoln in screen history.
Film buffs (and aren’t we all?) will want to see “Hitchcock,” starring Anthony Hopkins as the famous director and Helen Mirren as his wife Alma Reville. Watching these two Oscar winners is like peeking through the blinds at the Hitchcock house. And Scarlett Johansson makes a very credible Janet Leigh.
Focusing on the making of “Psycho,” we see the influence of his wife’s collaboration on his work. “That was the most terrifying film I'd ever seen,” Anthony Hopkins says of “Psycho.” “I couldn't believe it: Where's Janet Leigh? She's got to come back. She's the star of the movie!” Well, here Hitch and Alma are the stars.
If you want a giggle or two, don’t miss “The Guilt Trip,” an amiable Jewish mother joke with Barbara Streisand and Seth Rogen as a mother and son who go on a cross-country trip together. Oy vey.
Here, Seth Rogen swaps the raunchy humor he is so well known for, for an honest, toned-down comedy about a boy and his mother. And the chemistry between Rogen and Streisand appears genuine, a gentle bickering between generations.
Rogen says, "A lot of people see the movie … and they're like, 'Oh man, she reminds me so much of my mother,' and I think it's probably because your mother is a fan of hers and acts like her. I think there's a whole generation of mothers who kind of model themselves off of Barbra.”
“Mothers develop guilt trips,” she admits. “I know that feeling, a lot.” 
Filling out the Tropic’s slate is “Chasing Ice,” the documentary about National Geographic photographer James Balog’s Extreme Ice Survey, a program that charts climate change. Using time-lapse photography, the haunting images of melting glaciers and receding ice sheets will remove any doubts you ever had about global warming’s affect on this planet.
One way get in your holiday gift shopping is to sign up a friend for a membership to the Tropic when you’re there catching one of these movies.
srhoades@aol.com

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