Movie Review Quiz Lady

Quiz Lady (2023) 

Directed by Jessica Yu

Written by Jen D'Angelo 

Starring Awkwafina, Sandra Oh, Will Ferrell, Jason Schwartzman, Holland Taylor

Release Date November 3rd, 2023 

Published November 7th, 2023 

Quiz Lady is a curiously boring movie. Despite having a spitfire star in comedian and actor Awkwafina, Quiz Lady sputters and drags its way through a dimwitted plot on the way to an unearned happy ending. As someone who is a huge fan of Awkwafina's work, Quiz Lady is uniquely disappointing. Playing against type as a grumpy, frumpy, afraid of the world shut-in, the typically appealing qualities of Awkwafina are dialed back to nothing. Why would anyone want to make a live wire like Awkwafina into a wet blanket? It makes no sense. 

In Quiz Lady, Awkwafina plays Anne Yum, an office worker who is obsessed with a Jeopardy-style quiz show, Can't Stop the Quiz. Hosted by Terry McTeer, the show became a life preserver for young Anne when her parents broke up. Since then, Anne has never missed an episode. She's memorized the questions, and is so familiar with the trivia and tropes, she can reel off the answers to any question right off the top of her head. No one knows yet that she can do this, she doesn't get out of the house much.

Naturally, that state of affairs will change. Anne's ordered, shut-in, life is upended when her mother goes missing from her nursing home. The disappearance leads to the return home of Anne's tornado of a sister, Jenny (Sandra Oh). Jenny is homeless and jobless, couch-surfing while she waits for what she claims will be a big payout from a lawsuit she filed against a chain restaurant. Jenny is coming home to stay but not long after arriving, she puts her sister on a path to get out of the house. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media

Movie Review Ramona & Beezus

Ramona & Beezus (2010) 

Directed by Elizabeth Allen 

Written by Laurie Craig, Nick Pustay 

Starring Joey King, Selena Gomez, John Corbett, Bridget Moynihan, Ginnifer Goodwin, Josh Duhamel, Sandra Oh 

Release Date July 23rd, 2010 

Published July 22nd, 2010 

The movie is called “Ramona and Beezus” but it really could be called just Ramona. Beezus, played by Disney Channel star Selena Gomez, is integral to the plot, but the story is unquestionably about Ramona played by 9-year-old Joey King as whirling dervish of sweet funny chaos. That's not to speak ill of Selena Gomez, she's a charming actress, but up against young Joey King's incredible performance, it's hard for anyone to stand out. 

Ramona Quimby is a precocious kid who doesn't really go looking for trouble but certainly finds it. With her huge imagination, Ramona can turn even the most straightforward activity, like the hanging rings on the playground, into a massive adventure that ends with her nearly missing a class because she has somehow hung herself upside down. There are some who will watch Ramona daydreaming, playing and finding trouble and diagnose her with attention deficit disorder but the movie, directed by Elizabeth Allen, has no time for diagnosing its star. The movie has far more serious and true elements to examine.

In a plot twist that was not part of Beverly Cleary's sunny fun vision of life on Klickitat St. in Portland Oregon, Ramona's dad (John Corbett) loses his job just as the family is building an addition on their already sprawling home. With Mom (Bridget Moynihan) heading back to work, the stress in the house begins to affect Ramona who finds new trouble in trying to help her parents keep their house.

This dramatic plot turn however, does not get overwhelmingly dramatic and for the most part Ramona and Beezus is breezy, warmhearted and sweet. 9-year-old Joey King is wonderful as Ramona, perfectly capturing her unintentional mischievousness and the soulful look in her eyes when she inevitably makes a giant mess of things.

John Corbett is terrific as the father who stays positive, patient and caring even as he seems a little dazed being over 40 and thrust back into the job hunt. Bridget Moynihan has far less screen time but her presence is felt early on. Rounding out the cast is a sweet romantic pairing between Ramona's Aunt Bea played by Ginnifer Goodwin and Ramona's neighbor Hobart played by Josh Duhamel.

Credit Goodwin and Duhamel for putting aside star ego to take minor supporting roles - both could be taking lead roles; Duhamel is in fact hard at work on another Transformers sequel but saw quality in Ramona and Beezus and could not pass it up. “Ramona and Beezus” is wonderful family entertainment. The drama of mom and dad's marriage trouble related to his unemployment is merely the underscore to a story about a big hearted little girl who finds adventure and trouble in equal measure just by being her slightly off-kilter self.

There is a reason that decades after they first appeared on Klickitat Street, courtesy of the pen of Beverly Cleary, why “Ramona and Beezus” are still around. These are quality stories and characters that resonate through time with their radiant, fun loving spirits and big, big hearts. Joey King is wonderfully well cast and though her radiance overshadows Selena Gomez as Beezus, it speaks to Selena Gomez's generosity as an actress that she is such wonderful support to King's lead performance. 

Ramona and Beezus is a delight. 

Movie Review: Under the Tuscan Sun

Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)

Directed by Audrey Wells

Written by Audrey Wells 

Starring Diane Lane, Raoul Bova, Sandra Oh, Lindsay Duncan 

Release Date September 26th, 2003 

Published September 25th, 2003 

It's hard to believe but Diane Lane has been acting since 1979.

Ever since her impressive debut in A Little Romance, Diane Lane was expected to be a star. Then came a series of flops, TV movies and impressive supporting roles. Then came 2002's Unfaithful, a drama about marital infidelity in which Lane fell for the romantic advances of a much younger man played by Olivier Martinez. The sexy, complicated role earned Lane an Oscar nomination and the kind of recognition that was expected of her years ago. Now with her first starring role since Unfaithful in the chick flick fantasy Under the Tuscan Sun, Lane finds true stardom.

Based on a best seller by Frances Mayes, Diane Lane stars as Mayes in this slightly fictionalized take on her personal experiences. Working in San Francisco as a college professor and book critic, Frances is happily married or so she thought. One night when attending a book release party for one of her students Frances is approached by a writer whose book, she panned. The writer tells Frances something about her husband that she doesn't know and soon the marriage is over.

Forced out of her home because of the divorce settlement, Frances temporarily holes up in a tiny furnished apartment with a group of other divorce victims. Luckily for Frances her friend Patti (Sandra Oh) is not about to let her wallow in her tiny apartment and surprises her with a trip to Tuscany. To assure Frances she can take the trip without being hassled by guys, it's a gay tour of Tuscany.

It takes some convincing but finally she accepts and she's off to romantic Tuscany. Once there, she falls irrationally in love with a villa called Bramasole and using all the money she has, she buys it. It's definitely a fixer upper with holes in the walls and floors and faucets with no running water. A quirky group of unusual Polish construction workers help her fix the place and get friendly over Frances's love of cooking for the guys.

Of course, in this romantic setting how can Frances not fall madly in love? On a day trip to Rome, Frances meets one of those men directly from a romance novel. In the best line of the film Frances asks the man his name and he say Marcello. Frances laughs and replies "of course it is.” Marcello is played by Raoul Bova, who does a fine job with an underwritten role.

The film isn't about Marcello, it's about Frances and this strange adventure that has brought her to the last place she ever thought she would be. This is a real terrific role for Diane Lane who needed to lighten up her work after Unfaithful. Nothing wrong with Unfaithful, she was Oscar nominated for the role and deserved it. I'm just saying that her role in Under the Tuscan Sun is a perfect change of pace that should guarantee her the stardom that has been expected of her since Time Magazine put her on the cover in 1980.

While Raoul Bova and Sandra Oh do fine work along with host of quirky supporting characters including Vincent Riotta and Lindsey Duncan, Diane Lane's true co-star in Under the Tuscan Sun is Italy. I have said it before and I will say it again, no country in the world films as well as Italy. The camera absolutely loves every inch of the sun-drenched coasts and cobble stone streets. When populated with characters as colorful as the country, it’s a wonder to watch.

Director Audrey Wells who also adapted the screenplay does a fantastic job in only her second time behind the camera, having also directed 2000's terrific Guinevere. Her story isn't overly complicated, and she does a great job of roping in the numerous subplots before one gets in the way of Frances in the main story. As sweetly absurd as some of these subplots are, it's a great task to keep them under control and Wells pulls off to near perfection.

Watching the commercials and trailers for Under the Tuscan Sun, I was amazed by Diane Lane's transformation from working actress to star. Her Oscar nomination only confirmed her ability, Under the Tuscan Sun shows Lane maturing into stardom in the classic Hollywood sense.

Movie Review Sideways

Sideways (2004) 

Directed by Alexander Payne 

Written by Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor 

Starring Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Virginia Madsen, Sandra Oh 

Release Date October 22nd, 2004 

Published November 13th, 2004 

Wannabe novelist Miles (Paul Giamatti) is sweating the fate of his first novel as he heads off for a week long bachelor send off for his friend Jack (Thomas Haden Church), though to hear Jack tell it, Miles’ novel will be on store shelves in no time. Jack has always done little things such as this that has made Miles uncomfortable but as “Sideways” progresses it’s clear that Miles will put up with it, Jack seems to be his only friend. 

Divorced for two years, Miles cannot get over his last relationship and has more and more come to rely on his love of great wine to get him through a dreary week as an 8th grade English teacher. Is Miles an alcoholic? He would say no but the evidence seems to say otherwise. Miles’ drinking isn’t really the subject of “Sideways” but rather a sad subtext.

The text of “Sideways,” the story that drives the film, is Miles and Jack’s week long trip to California wine country in Solvang, California. On the trip Miles thinks that they are going to drink wine, play golf and get back to L.A in time for the rehearsal dinner before Jack’s wedding. Jack, on other hand, makes one thing clear; he’s getting laid on this trip one last time before he gets married.

There is an element of “Sideways” that plays like “American Pie” for the mid-life crisis crowd. Jack is an overgrown child, a slave to his sex drive and the needs of the moment in front of him. Miles is lower key but in the way that he allows himself to be dragged into Jack’s world he demonstrates that he isn’t much more mature than the friend he constantly looks down upon.

On their first night in Solvang Miles and Jack meet Maia (Virginia Madsen) that Miles had spent a little time with on previous trips but she was married then. She’s not married anymore and when Jack makes the acquaintance of a local girl named Stephanie (Sandra Oh) who happens to be friends with Maia, Jack’s plans to get himself and Miles laid kick in even as Giamatti and Madsen’s maturity plays heavy against such childishness.

This brings us to arguably, the most famous scene in “Sideways,” easily the scene that won Virginia Madsen an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress and should have one Best Actor for Giamatti. As Miles and Maia chat about wine they each reveal themselves in elegantly crafted speeches; Miles revealing parallels between himself and his favorite wine, how this particular grape used in Pinot Noir is thin skinned, temperamental and can only be cultivated by the most patient of growers.

As Miles continues the metaphor turns to lament as Miles describes the taste of a good Pinot in the same way one might have described Miles if he ever reached his potential, haunting and brilliant but only under just the right circumstance. The side references Miles makes to Cabernet and how it can thrive anywhere and that it is ‘prosaic’ in an inescapable description of Jack.

Yes, the scene is a little too self aware but it works because Giamatti is so sympathetic in this moment. Then as the scene turns to Virginia Madsen and she describes the life of wine with this look of warmth and great beauty you quickly realize that this is the woman who could coax Miles to his full potential. The scene ends as it only can as early as it is in the movie; in awkwardness as shy fumbling Miles blows the moment only to even more awkwardly attempt recapture it.

These are wonderfully human moments that draw us in and glue us to our seat for the rest of the ride that is “Sideways.” It’s a film about characters that do some awful things but are never caricatures, never merely types of characters. Paul Giamatti especially delivers a performance of deep pathos, a sympathetic portrayal of a pathetic man striving to no longer be pathetic, failing more often than he succeeds.

Wine is the life blood of “Sideways” and Miles’ love of wine is his one respite, an area of expertise that he can fairly be proud of and yet offers another layer to his character, pomposity. The oenophile Miles is arrogant and snobbish and yet his expertise in the realm of wine also gives this otherwise pathetic character an air of dignity and sophistication that no other hobby could bestow.

Did you know that the success of “Sideways” has in just a few weeks done such damage to sales of some brands of Merlot that industry insiders are calculating the potential damages to their brand? It’s just one throwaway scene, Miles vehemently refusing to drink Merlot and yet the impact was felt and is still being felt among those who produce Merlot and champion it. 

Ah, the wonderful quirks of our popular culture. 

Movie Review: Rabbit Hole

Rabbit Hole (2010)

Directed by John Cameron Mitchell 

Written by David Lindsay Abaire 

Starring Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhardt, Dianne Wiest, Sandra Oh, Miles Teller

Release Date December 17th, 2010 

Published December 16th, 2010 

Grief is an individual thing, no two people, no matter how connected they are, react the same way to a catastrophic loss. Some will talk about the Kubler-Ross Theory, the five stages of grief, but Kubler-Ross is far too simple. No two people experience grief in the same way, attempting to simplify people’s reactions to trauma is a fool’s errand. 

The movie “Rabbit Hole” explores the different ways people experience grief, that individual experience, and how people recover or not from the most devastating of losses. Based on a play by David Lindsey-Abaire, who adapted his own script for this screenplay, and directed by John Cameron Mitchell, “Rabbit Hole” is a deeply humane drama filled with anguish and heartache but also with a longing hopefulness at its core.

Nicole Kidman stars in “Rabbit Hole” as Becca a stay at home mom whose 4 year old son Danny chased his dog into the street one day and was struck and killed by a car. 8 months later Becca and her husband, Howie (Aaron Eckhardt), are struggling with the different ways each is dealing with the loss of their son.

For Becca, comfort cannot be found in a grief counseling group where, in one of the films most remarkable scenes, Kidman says what is on the minds of so many of us though most would not have the nerve or seeming lack of compassion to say it. She does find something soothing in removing memories of David from she and Howie’s home beginning with the family dog that was the reason Danny ran into the street, and continuing with the removal of David's clothes, his pictures on the refrigerator and eventually a suggestion to sell their lovely suburban house.

Howie on the other hand does find comfort in the grief group and in the friendship of a veteran group member Gabby (Sandra Oh). Will this friendship offer him the comfort that Becca cannot? Meanwhile, Becca finds a much unexpected comfort visiting with the teenage driver of the vehicle that killed her son. Miles Teller plays Jason a mild, artistic, thoughtful kid who bears physical and emotional scars from the accident and despite the circumstances elicits deep sympathy from Becca.

Becca's relationship with Jason and Howie's friendship with Gabby are on an emotional collision course that unfolds in unexpected ways in the final act of “Rabbit Hole.” Director James Cameron Mitchell is best remembered for his outlandish musical “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” and his lesser known oddity “Shortbus” which earned an NC-17 for its explicit sex. In “Rabbit Hole” Mitchell subverts expectations by playing it straight, delivering in essence a highly conventional drama.

The distinct lack of oddity in “Rabbit Hole” stands out only for those unfamiliar with Mitchell's work. For the uninitiated, this stock approach to dramatic storytelling won't register in the same way. Both camps should find “Rabbit Hole” moving but only those who know Mitchell's work will be struck by the lack of playfulness, the standard approach and unfortunate lack of surprises.

Putting my expectations aside for a moment, “Rabbit Hole” contains scenes of heart-rending sadness and deeply moving emotion. A scene involving a video on Howie's phone that he believes Becca intentionally deleted is a powerful, gutty moment, exceptionally well played by Eckhardt and Kidman. The scene in which Howie discovers Becca's friendship with Jason is another agonizing scene filled with deep, passionate feeling.

I may have expected something else from director John Cameron Mitchell but what he delivers is quite strong even in its distinct lack of jaw dropping moments of surprise, the hallmarks of each of Mitchell’s previous films. “Rabbit Hole” has a strong sense of how individual the experience of grief is and it effectively shows the way two people as close as they could possibly be; experience the same trauma in different ways.

A strong cast that also includes Oscar winner Dianne Wiest as Kidman’s mother, playing her own grief storyline, and Tony Award winner Tammy Blanchard as Kidman’s newly pregnant sister, tackle a tough, perfervid story filled with inherent sadness and give it an uplifting and enlightening feel without losing that sadness that will never lift no matter how much time passes and healing takes place.

Resilience is at the heart of recovering from trauma and like grief, resilience is an individual endeavor. Some people will seem to bounce right back as if pretending nothing happened. Others will be consumed by grief and never emerge from the darkness. Only you know how you resilient you will be and likely not until you are forced to confront serious trauma.

The strength of “Rabbit Hole” is in knowing this, playing to it and delivering a drama filled with the understanding necessary to create resilience between the two devastated souls at its center. There are no simple answers for understanding grief and in that way “Rabbit Hole” is instructive and wonderfully understanding. Like the most resonant of dramas “Rabbit Hole” is going to help some who see it and likely move all who see it.

Movie Review: The Night Listener

The Night Listener (2006) 

Directed by Patrick Sterner 

Written by Armistead Maupin, Terry Anderson, Patrick Sterner 

Starring Robin Williams, Toni Collette, Bobby Cannavale, Joe Morton, Rory Culkin, Sandra Oh 

Release Date August 4th, 2006 

Published August 3rd, 2006 

In 2002 author Armistead Maupin, best known for the New York portrait Tales of the City, began a correspondence with a fellow author. This was, however, no respected colleague of Maupin's but rather, a teenager whose book was a chronicle of abuse and redemption. The author and the kid shared letters, then phone calls and eventually Maupin was promising the possibility of cash and gifts to help the kid and his adopted mother in their time of need.

Eventually however, cracks in the teens story began to show. Something began to nag at Maupin, who, along with his editor, began to suspect that this extraordinary teenage author did not exist. The hoax was later revealed to have taken in not only Mr. Maupin but a number of journalists and talk show host Keith Olbermann.

The story of the hoax became the source of a unique new novel from Mr. Maupin called The Night Listener, in which Maupin morphed the story of this child con-man, revealed to be woman in her thirties, into a thriller involving a national radio host and a hoax involving a teenage writer and his creeptastic caretaker. The Night Listener is now a major motion picture starring Robin Williams as radio host Gabriel Noone. Known for his storytelling, most often taken from his own life as a gay man in New York City, Gabriel has a national following that happens to include a young cancer patient and author named Pete Logand.

Through his book editor, played by the terrific Joe Morton, Gabriel begins a correspondence with Pete that begins with letters, progresses to long detailed phone conversations, and eventually the promise of money to help with the treatment of Pete's cancer. As in Armistead Maupin's real life experience, the cracks in the story begin to slowly emerge. Questioning Gabriel's intense commitment to his young unseen friend, Jess (Bobby Cannavale), Gabriel's ex-boyfriend, begins asking important questions that Gabriel had overlooked.

With his faith shaken by these questions and pressure to send help to the seemingly dying boy, Gabriel travels to where he believes the boy lives with his adopted mother Donna (Toni Collette), and what he finds begins the unfolding of a very compelling mystery thriller that never seems to go the way you think it will. Patrick Stettner directs The Night Listener outside the typical beats of a thriller. His interest is more in the story than in shocking audiences with bloody twists and turns. Allowing his story and characters to invent the tension, Stettner crafts a strong atmosphere and let's the thriller aspects of the film grow around the story organically.

Robin Williams delivers his best dramatic performance since his Oscar winning role in Good Will Hunting in The Night Listener. His Gabriel is a loving but wounded older man in just the perfect position to be taken in by this hopeful, worshipful young boy. Williams makes all of Gabriel's actions in the film feel natural and believable, never overplaying the shock or dismay that Gabriel encounters throughout the picture. 

Sadly, if there is a weak link in The Night Listener, it is Toni Collette's Donna who is something of a creepy cartoon in the film. Near the end, as the plot reveals itself, Collette has a scene that redeems much of her performance in just a few lines but overall, a dialing down of her persona throughout the movie would have helped the picture immensely.  There are little problems with The Night Listener, but thanks to the performance of Robin Williams and the sure handed direction of Patrick Sterner, in his second feature following 2001's The Business of Strangers, The Night Listener is an easy recommendation for anyone who enjoys a well acted, compelling mystery based loosely on a true story.