Aaron Eckhart Dazzles in No Reservations

This summer, Pixar brought Ratatouille to the big screen, and I've been itching all summer to make the trek to Tinseltown to watch rats preparing gourmet meals. I haven't seen it yet, but yesterday I got a sneak preview of another film involving the love of food.

No Reservations, a rare PG-rated live action film, is the benign tale of Kate (Catherine Zeta-Jones), an exceptional chef at an upscale Bleecker Street restaurant who has plenty of reservations. Her life is ordered by rules, and she thinks these restrictions are helping her to live a more fulfilled life. Her boss Paula (Patricia Clarkson) isn't so sure, and neither is the hapless therapist (Bob Balaban) Kate is seeing at her request, but Kate doesn't really begin to doubt it herself until two events turn her life upside-down.

While on her way to visit Kate, her sister dies in a car crash, leaving Kate with the responsibility of caring for her young daughter, the sullen Zoe (Abigail Breslin). Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, Kate feels threatened by the arrival of cheerful, opera-loving sous chef Nick (Aaron Eckhart), who claims that his whole reason for applying for this job was the opportunity to work with her. Undeterred by her icy reception, he continues to let his goodwill seep into the rest of the staff until a turning point occurs when Kate brings Zoe along to work with her one day and Nick charms her with his ability to get Zoe to smile and to eat dinner.

Kate doesn't have the foggiest idea how to be a guardian to this girl, but once she lets Nick into her good graces, she finds a powerful ally in giving Zoe a sense of normalcy and security. But how long can she keep her tendency toward jealousy at bay when Nick begins putting down especially deep roots in her kitchen? Will competitive ambition ruin this fledgling relationship?

No Reservations is a pretty typical romantic film, with touches of comedy and a large focus on the bond that develops between Zoe and Kate, as well as Zoe and Nick. It's refreshingly chaste, with very little profanity and nothing more intense than a couple of French kisses, and a jaunty opera-heavy score sets a nice, mostly light-hearted tone.

Zeta-Jones and Breslin both bring an appropriate solemnity to the film that blossoms into joy as they begin to rebuild their lives around each other. Balaban manages to make his brief, dry appearances enormously entertaining, and Bryan F. O'Bourne plays the role of smitten neighbor Sean with understated sweetness. But it's Eckhart who really steals the show, with childlike, guileless enthusiasm. And his Viggo Mortensen-esque looks only sweeten the deal...

You won't find a terribly complex plot in this family-friendly film directed by Scott Hicks. You'll see most of the key scenes coming long before they happen. Though the movie begins with a death and includes a hefty dose of romance, it's unlikely to plumb your emotional depths very far. But it's the sort of flick that is just the ticket for a pleasant evening out, and I have no reservations about recommending it.

Lots of Razzle Dazzle, But Not Much Else

Two years ago I watched as Chicago took home half a dozen Oscars and wondered whether I would feel bitter about them when I finally got around to seeing the movie. I like musicals, so I wanted to withhold judgment, but when I did get around to watching it I was gravely disappointed. I watched in the company of a roomful of people who loved the film, so I kept my criticisms to myself until I got in the car upon our departure. As it turned out, the members of my immediate family shared my lack of enthusiasm. Maybe we’re just too old-fashioned.

First off, Chicago takes place in probably my least favorite decade of the 20th Century: the 1920s. Anything I see depicting that era seems awash in a haze of cigarette smoke and cynicism. I hated the supposed Great American Novel The Great Gatsby and Chicago didn’t redeem the 1920s for me. I found the dingy nightclub scenes bursting with slinky costumes more depressing than those in the jailhouse.

Don’t get me wrong. This is visually a very impressive film. I happen to dislike all the locales pictured, but I’ll still concede that it looks good. The costumes are flashy, the fantasy sequences are imaginative and the choreography is astounding. I wanted to like this movie, not least because a good friend of mine told me I had to see it. So I gave it a fair shot, but there’s just very little in the film that appeals to me.

I generally find Renee Zellweger irritating, and never more so in this movie, where she plays aspiring star Roxie Hart. When she discovers that the man with whom she is having an affair doesn’t intend to get her into show biz like he promised, she is so enraged that she kills him. Her steady husband Amos (John C. Reilly) rushes to her defense, claiming guilt for himself, until he discovers the affair and has a slight change of heart. I found Amos the only likable character in the whole shebang, and even that isn’t a very strong draw. We feel sorry for him, especially in the song Mr. Cellophane, but in the end he’s bland and not very memorable.

The guy who gets all the attention is Billy Flynn (Richard Gere), the slick lawyer who takes on Roxie’s case and tries to sweet-talk the public into sympathizing with her. This job is made more difficult by the fact that she possesses very limited reserves of tact and restraint, amusingly illustrated in We Both Reached for the Gun. Also making her life harder is Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones), the slinky star-turned-murderess she once idolized. Now she stands as her rival to the public’s affections, and Velma’s been around the block a few times and knows how to play the game.

While I can’t find anything remotely likable about either of these leading ladies, Matron “Mama” Morton (Queen Latifah) does hold a certain appeal for me. She is also too cold and conniving for my taste, but she puts forth the appearance, at least, of being warm and motherly at times. There are moments when I think she really does care about the women under her watch, and her African-flavored introductory number is enjoyable enough. She’s my favorite of the gals, but given the company that’s not saying too much.

The whole idea of switching constantly between real life and some dream sequence in the minds of the characters didn’t work for me. I guess I like my musicals more straightforward than that. I have no trouble accepting people bursting forth into song. I do, however, tend to find self-referential theater less than satisfying. It’s a conceit that won many viewers of the movie over, but I’m afraid it turned me off. Add to that the dearth of sympathetic characters, songs that failed to stay with me and an overriding sense of cynicism and what I was left with was a masterfully executed movie that I didn’t get anything out of. It echoed the reaction I had when I saw my alma mater’s production of On Your Toes: Gee, the cast, crew and orchestra are doing a brilliant job, but this is the most pointless play I’ve ever seen. Obviously a lot of moviegoers disagreed with me, so I won’t tell you not to bother with it. But if you’re looking for a good musical, there are a couple dozen others I’d point you to first.

Leavin' On a Jet Plane, Don't Know When He'll Be Back Again

I am drawn to movies for a variety of reasons. One of them, which does not happen terribly often and is perhaps a silly excuse to see a movie, is that the preview contains a song that I like very much. It was the playing of Simon and Garfunkel’s America in the trailer that first attracted me to Almost Famous, and it was the melodic strains of a lovely cover of John Denver’s Leavin’ on a Jet Plane that grabbed my attention when I first saw a trailer for The Terminal. I cannot claim, however, that my interest stemmed from the song alone. I am generally a big fan of both Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. Throw John Williams into the mix, and that’s one heck of a winning combination. I added it to my list of films I wanted to see.

I suspected that I probably wouldn’t catch The Terminal while it was still in the theater, but Mom proposed a trip to Tinseltown as a capper to Father’s Day, with this as the movie of choice. I’ve heard and read a number of negative reviews of this movie, though my favorite critic, Good Morning America’s Joel Siegel, loved it. As is generally the case, I agree with him. This will probably not go down as one of the major films in either Hanks’ or Spielberg’s career, but it is a perfectly enjoyable movie nonetheless.

Hanks turns in one of his most endearing performances yet as Viktor Navorsky, the gentle traveler from the fictional Krakozhia who becomes stuck in limbo at the airport when a coup breaks out in his homeland and his visa is declared invalid. He comes across as a very simple man, partly because his command of the English language, even at its best, is shaky, but also because of the naive decency he constantly displays. It’s not that this character lacks intelligence, but rather that he boasts a certain spark that can’t help but touch many of the airport denizens with whom he comes into regular contact. In addition to his overabundance of common courtesy, his skills as a builder and artisan are considerable and help him to pass his days in the airport in a useful manner.

Though Hanks is the film’s focal point and his performance is a brilliant mixture of befuddlement, devotion, charity and charm, the supporting cast members all enhance the film with their unique characterizations. Stanley Tucci brings an interminable twerpiness to the role of Frank Dixon, the airport administrator who antagonizes Viktor after the latter refuses to enter the United States through illegal or dishonest means. He’s an annoying fellow who generally lacks both common sense and compassion, yet Tucci brings a comedic touch to the role that prevents us from disliking him too much.

Catherine Zeta-Jones plays Amelia Warren, a stewardess with a knack for landing in bad relationships. Viktor is smitten with her on their first meeting, while she gradually comes to realize that he is unlike the men she has unsuccessfully romanced in the past. Although they have several sweet scenes together, the female cast member I most enjoyed was Zoe Saldana as Delores Torres, the icy security clerk softened by Viktor’s visits to her as romantic liason for his lovestruck friend, food service worker Enrique Cruz (Diego Luna). When she finally melts entirely, she is luminous.

Along with Enrique, Viktor bonds with Joe Mulroy (Chi McBride), a gentle baggage handler, and Gupta (Kumar Pallana), a crusty old janitor who gets his jollies from watching people slip on his freshly mopped floors. These three help Viktor navigate his way through life in the airport, providing equal helping of heart and humor along the way. Also very enjoyable is Barry Shabaka Henley as Ray Thurman, Dixon’s personal assistant. He is the first major character we meet after Viktor, and his quiet, sometimes statuesque manner stand in contrast to Dixon’s manic panic. Although his interactions with Viktor are limited, Thurman subtly demonstrates to the audience Ray’s growing respect and affection for the unintended guest. Aside from Hanks, he probably gave my favorite performance in the film.

Although this is a drama, at no point could I take the movie as seriously as, say, The Green Mile or Forrest Gump. There is a fairy tale air about it. We never have a sense of Viktor being in any real danger or discomfort. He’s such an easy-going guy, it seems as though he would be content in any circumstance, and if you’re going to be stuck somewhere for weeks on end, an airport isn’t such a bad place to be stuck in. Moreover, Viktor’s ability to re-align rows of chairs to his liking, support and repaint an entire wall and construct an intricate work of art on airport property without being stopped seems highly suspect. But it didn’t bother me. Balancing out the more unnatural aspects of the film are brand-name establishments, which reeks of product placement to some but which made it easier for me to accept this as a functioning current-day airport.

I found The Terminal to be funny and heart-warming. I enjoyed hearing Hanks take on an accent other than some sort of Southern dialect, and the character he produced stands among my favorites of his. Although the film is rated PG-13, there is little within its two-hour span to merit that rating. The profanity in the film is unusually sparse, there are only a few passing references that would make a prude squirm and the most violence we see is some silent video footage of a war-torn Krakozhia. With a cast of fine actors and an engaging story, The Terminal is a feel-good, family-friendly movie that I would readily recommend.