Flame and Citron

Amreeka
Muna (Nisreen Faour), a Palestinian single mom living in the West Bank, leaps at the chance to provide a better life for her teen-age son, and emigrates to the United States. But the excitement of moving in with her sister's family in an Illinois town soon wears off. Muna can find only a low-paying job at White Castle -- and worse, the ongoing invasion of Iraq leaves the entire family open to harassment by the locals. Cherien Dabis' dramedy mines familiar turf: The grass isn't necessarily greener elsewhere -- or, as Muna explains to her frustrated son: "Life sucks everywhere." With the exception of an f-word or two, Amreeka could be a Hallmark TV movie: Its points are easily gleaned, and the themes are solid, if somewhat simplistic -- family, tolerance, perseverance and support from unexpected sources. Faour, though, gives a warm performance -- you can't help but root for Muna. In English, and Arabic, with subtitles. Starts Fri., Nov. 13. Manor (AH) [2 out of 4 stars] [November 12, 2009]

A Christmas Carol
Santa's bringing you a mixed bag with this latest iteration of Charles Dickens' popular fable of a miserly old man redeemed at the holidays. The motion-capture animation on Jim Carrey as Scrooge is very life-like (this is a deliciously creepy old man), but all the other characters look like rubber dolls. It's grand that director Robert Zemeckis kept much of Dickens' florid prose and the story's darkness, but that doesn't need to be mitigated by appended scenes that seemed ripped from "Tom and Jerry's A Christmas Carol." The enduring tale is about the fight for the last scrap of a man's humanity -- from the inside out -- and thus should never involve tacked-on-for-the-kiddies crap like Scrooge being miniaturized, being shot into outer space on a candle snuffer, or riding an icicle across rooftops. In 3-D! (The most affecting parts of this film simply reminded me of the far superior 1951 black-and-white adaptation, which packed an emotional wallop with "only" actors.) More than anything, Zemeckis, having harnessed all this fabulous digital technology, can't help being "magical," when, in essence, A Christmas Carol is a long, dark night of the soul, not a herky-jerky, gag-filled carnival ride. (AH) [2 out of 4 stars] [November 12, 2009]

The Men Who Stare at Goats

Did the U.S. Army really have a secret division devoted to alternative warfare rooted in mind-control, telekinesis and other forms of harnessed paranormal activity? (Why not -- especially if the Soviets might have been doing it, too.)

Adapted from Jon Ronson's book, Grant Heslov's nonlinear film is a Cold War comedy somewhat awkwardly shoehorned into the current Iraq conflict. In it, a bored reporter (Ewan McGregor) hooks up with a glib ex-solider named Lyn Cassady (George Clooney) while in Kuwait. Cassady claims to have been among the best and brightest at the army's First Earth Battalion. While the two wander through the desert on Cassaday's undisclosed mission, the former mind-control warrior recounts First Earth's rocky history, depicted in flashbacks. (Some of this lunacy is rooted in fact -- you just have to guess which parts.)

Men could have harnessed some of its goofy energies to make a point or two about the literal idiocy of war, or how institutions brainwash workers, but it's simply too busy having fun. Clooney plays cheerfully rogue-ish to McGregor's straight man, while Jeff Bridges and Kevin Clooney round out the crew. They, too, tap familiar characters: Bridges is the hippie savant, while Clooney is peevish and calculating.�

It's a fun if bumpy ride that unfortunately skids off the road in the last reel, with a few scenes that feel like rapidly scribbled exits. But you know what a hippie warrior might say: It's the journey, man, not the destination. (AH) [2.5 out of 4]

[November 12, 2009]

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