Hilary Swank in "Amelia"
courtesy of Fox Home Entertainment
“How Do You Solve A Problem Named ‘Amelia’”?

Was making a movie about the life of famed aviatrix Amelia Earhart an exercise in futility? After all everyone knew the story of her life and death. So what could draw audiences to see a movie about a person who has been done to death in books, TV and other movies? In Mira Nair’s film “Amelia” an attempt was made to solve the problem by concentrating a lot of effort on Amelia’s love life. It didn’t work, the movie flopped. Still on DVD it might find its elusive audience.

The movie still showed scenes of Earhart’s aviation triumphs. The plot takes them as they occur with her being the first woman in a plane that crosses the Atlantic (she was basically just a passenger). Next she was the first woman to pilot a plane solo across the Atlantic.. Then comes an attempt to fly around the world.

In between these adventures Earhart (Hilary Swank) meets George P Putnam (Richard Gere). He is a man with a vision and pushes Earhart’s career. He also is the brains behind her career in terms of marketing and making money. Eventually he becomes her husband.

Earhart did not want to be married. She wanted freedom to fly and also to have other relationships in her life. She is openly honest with George about this and he marries her anyway. When handsome Gene Vidal (Ewan McGregor) enters her life she is attracted to him and begins an affair. The whys and wherefores of their attraction are not explained. 

There must have been more depth to Earhart than is shown in this film. She mentions her father and how he influenced her life but he is never seen. A little background in this area might have helped explain who and what she was. The audience is also never made aware of why she has such a compulsion to fly. The fact she saw a plane as a little girl is hardly an explanation.

Swank does her best to bring Earhart to life. She certainly looks the part with her bobbed hair and slender frame. Too bad her interpretation of Earhart’s manner of speaking comes and goes. Opposite her Gere also has trouble with Putnam’s dialect. It seems to change from scene to scene. Still there is good chemistry between the two leads and this adds to the enjoyment of the film.

As Vidal, McGregor appears to be searching for his character. It doesn’t help that his role seems introduced solely because the man was the father of Gore Vidal. Little Gore (William Cuddy) keeps popping up in scene after scene.

The musical score by Gabriel Yared adds to the impact of the romantic moments of the film. It also soars when Amelia is soaring in flight.

This movie made an honest effort to solve the problem called “Amelia”, but focusing on her loves and leaving out information about her early life made for an unbalanced movie. Amelia flies high in the skies but on the ground she remains a mystery.

In an effort for full disclosure let me say up front I am not much of a Woody Harrelson fan. He was okay in “Cheers” but I haven’t liked him in anything since then. Now he is in “Zombieland”, a zombie comedy and I would have liked it only if he had played a zombie.

Instead he plays a drifter named Tallahassee who is roaming the country hunting down zombies to kill. It seems the entire world has become infected in some way and all but a very few people are in a zombie state. All of these creatures are hungry for flesh.

Also alone and doing battle is a young man named Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg). He is trying to get home to Columbus, Ohio where his parents live. To stay alive he has developed a series of rules that he lives by when he comes into contact with zombies. So far these rules have stood him in good stead.

He and Tallahassee meet up and join forces. They then meet up with two sisters who are headed for California. Witchita (Emma Stone) and her little sister Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) don’t really trust anyone so they keep their eyes open even when around Columbus and Tallahassee.

The mood of this film is light-hearted even if it is all about survival. There are zombies everywhere and bad things do happen to good people. Still the violence is more gross than gory and more hysterical than heinous. These four people manage to kill tons of zombies and never seem to run out of ammunition when they need it.

The plot of the film is okay as it is a more comical take on zombies than we usually are offered. The problem is the cast. Harrelson is just an annoying actor, never injecting anything into his character other than smug satisfaction. He is the same in this movie as he has been in his last four movies. The names may change but the essence of the characters doesn’t.

Then there is Eisenberg. He comes across as a second rate Michael Cera. They sound alike and act alike. This is not to say I wish Cera had been in this movie. I just wish Eisenberg hadn’t reminded me so much of Cera. Cera is like Harrelson in that he plays the same role in every film.

Of the two women only Stone makes an impression. She looks like a throwback to the sixties with her heavily mascarad eyes and her black hair with bangs. She also has the smoky voice to go with the look.

Breslin is now a tween and is awkward in her role. She seems detached from all that is going on around her. She is eager to ride the rides at an amusement park in California but also likes shooting zombies.

One bright spot for the film now on DVD is a cameo that takes place about half way through. It is a surprise and is totally entertaining. If the whole movie had the spark that occurs when the guest actor arrives it would have been a much better film. But the “guest” is only on screen for a short time and then the movie focuses back on Woody, yawn!

There are some laughs to be had in “Zombieland” but not enough to make it much better than average. Woody is wooden and Eisenberg is too Cera-like to pep things up. 

There’s not much good to say about the new DVD/film “The Time Traveler’s Wife.” A plus is that it is based on the best selling novel by Audrey Niffenegger. The plot concerns a man who is destined to travel through time until he dies. Eric Bana plays the time traveler, Henry, and Rachel McAdams is his true love, Clare. 

The film is one that defies any kind of logic and keeping up with the time, setting, etc is difficult at best but romantics who will flock to get this movie could care less. It is a love story that overcomes all odds and that is what these viewers want and need.

Henry has a life but from time to time he is hurtled through time to the past or the future. He has no control over where he goes or when but he always ends up stark naked as his clothes don’t travel with him. This is awkward and especially so when he turns up in the woods surrounding the estate of the Abshires.

Clare (Brooklynn Proulx) is nine or ten the first time Henry lands in her area. He hides himself in the woods while he talks to her and eventually she gets him a blanket to cover himself with. He asks her to get some of her father’s old clothes and leave them in the woods for his next visits which she does.

Eventually Clare meets Henry in his real life and they are drawn to each other. Clare is willing to put up with Henry’s “affliction” even though she never knows how long he will be gone. They seek medical help for his problem but nothing seems to work.

The movie is very romantic with McAdams being luminous throughout the film. You can see her love for Henry in her eyes. The same can’t be said of Bana. He is an awkward leading man with a too weak jaw and a too small mouth. He is not the one who should be playing opposite McAdams in this role. A stronger leading man would have lifted the movie to greater heights of drama and romanticism.

“The Time Traveler’s Wife” is a fairly satisfying movie that should please the audience for which it is intended. It has that same ethereal quality that “Somewhere In Time” had and we all know how popular that movie has become. The same is true of another similar film which is “The Notebook.”

There are gaps in the plot that can’t be figured out no matter how accepting of time travel the audience is. Still romantics will add it all up and find the movie to be just fine. Oh but if only they had cast someone other than Bana, then the movie could have soared.

Finally there is “New York, I Love You,” a DVD that tells eleven stories that take place in and around New York City. Each short film has a separate director and a separate cast. The connection is they all tell a special story of sorts that takes place in the New York.

Among the stars in this huge cast are Bradley Cooper, Natalie Portman, Shia LeBeouf, Robin Wright Penn, Cloris Leachman, Drea de Matteo and many, many others. My favorite story starred Leachman and Eli Wallach. They are pros and make anything in which they participate interesting.

I love these kind of star fest movies even if all the stories are not the best. It is still enough just to watch to see who pops up next. I enjoyed it and I think you will too.
 

 

 

 

 

©2010 Jackie K. Cooper

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