Our Idiot Brother
  Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel
  3 out of 5 stars
  Reviewed for Coffeerooms by Mike Jefferson

I consider myself fortunate to be an only child. After viewing "Our Idiot Brother" my opinion hasn't changed - if I want in fighting I'll go to work. But if you want an amusing, light comedy about sibling civil war with feel-good life lessons -- brothers and sisters this is it. 

  The Company Men
 Ben Affleck, Kevin Costner, Maria Bello, Chris Cooper
  4.4 out of 5 stars
  Reviewed for Coffeerooms by Mike Jefferson

If the plot to "The Company Men" seems familiar, it's because it's a reflection of the new American Dream, or should I say the new American nightmare. 

  ConSINsual
  Keena Ferguson, Kathryn Taylor
  1 out of 5 stars
  Reviewed for Coffeerooms by Mike Jefferson

"ConSINsual's" tag line is "Some doors were never meant to be opened..." Well, some movies were never meant to be filmed.

It's obvious from the get that the main characters, Terrance and Angel Moore, have no business being together for anything other than a cage match. Terrance is a whiny weakling and Angel is a bitchy hellcat. The only thing they have in common is they both get their jollies role playing.

One night a masked intruder breaks into the Moore's abode while the couple is coupling. Terrance leaves Angel in the clutches of the intruder and runs away like Michael Jackson with his Jheri curls on fire. Angel brains the intruder with a bottle, escaping further anatomical invasion. As you can imagine, Angel isn't impressed with her husband's show of cowardice.

Worried that his marriage may be falling apart (ya think?) Terrance listens to the advice of Angel's sister, Jazzmine, a successful and seemingly wise lawyer. Jazzmine tells Terrance to take what he wants - to seize the moment, and, if necessary, Angel. Our not so bright Lothario takes this to mean he can reignite the passion in his marriage by restaging the attack - only this time he'll play the role of the intruder. Terrance grabs Angel, pulls her to the floor and misinterprets her passionate screams as an open invitation to continue. (Which of course it isn't.) Humiliated and angry, Angel goes to the police and Terrance is brought up on rape charges.

At this point you would think a major apology or a loving selfless act by Terrance would somehow repair the damage - and indeed, Angel, on the advice of Jazzmine - drops the charges. But these are some seriously damaged, sinful folk which means there's no guarantee there'll be a happy ending.

One of "ConSINsual's" most blatant problems is the cast, which is wholly inexperienced --and it shows. Keena Ferguson, who plays the morally corrupt, success-driven Angel, has a few scant credits that include Bridesmaid #2 in an episode of "Two and a Half Men" called "Rough Night in Hump Junction." She's hardly the type of siren men, women or aliens would lust after - there are three noticeable divots on the side of her face, she's shaped like an "S" and she telegraphs every stare and sneer. It's much harder to play sexy if you ain't. Carnival looks aside, she's saddled playing a character that's controlling, hateful and impossible to root for, not a quality you want your leading lady to display in abundance.

Siaka Massaquoi (Terrance) is a dead ringer for frog-eyed actor Omar Epps. Too bad he doesn't have Epps' agent. Massaquoi's biggest role prior to Terrance was "bartender." His character is so spineless you won't care if he redeems himself, although he does have the ability to cry on cue.

Kathryn J. Taylor's character of Jazzmine is a classic example of a stereotype meets overly ambitious actor, with the subsequent fallout causing the character to go from cunning to koo koo. A twist in script requires Jazzmine to degenerate from intelligent to perverse to controlling to sadistic. It's too much of a leap and takes the jazz out of Jazzmine. When the reason for her personality shift is revealed you'll still ask yourself why a successful, intelligent, relatively sane person would start acting like the spawn of Ma Barker.

In most films these days there's a character Spike Lee refers to as "the magic Negro." This particular black character is usually the main character's friend, neighbor or co-worker and helps enlighten him or her through their homespun wisdom or a magnificent act of kindness. In black entertainment films the tables are reversed, so you get the obligatory white angel. In this case the faithful best friend is blondie licious Tara, played by Alexis Zibolis. Zibolis seems to be playing an actual person rather than an oversexed cliché. She actually has a resume, having previously played characters with names rather than titles. She appeared in several low-budget sci-fi thrillers including "Plaguers" and "The Blackout," which, compared to the other actors, is like having been in "Gone With the Wind."

Ironically, Zibolis, who can actually shoot a gun, doesn't wield one in the film. Zibolis and Bryan Keith (who plays Terrance's Neanderthal-minded friend, Dillon)  are the only ones who seem to have read the script beforehand and tried to figure out how to leave an impression, good or bad, on the screen.

There are many sins -- gluttony, avarice, coveting thy neighbor's wife and murder. "ConSINsual" tries to incorporate all the sins of the flesh into 98 minutes and makes as much sense as locking a sex offender in a room full of virgins and telling him to play nice. "ConSINsual" is a potentially titillating concept gone awry -- and that's its biggest sin. 

  Truth in Numbers
  Everything, According to Wikipedia
  4 out of 5 stars
  Reviewed for Coffeerooms by Mike Jefferson

"Truth in Numbers" documents the creation and subsequent world-wide popularity of Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia maintained by the people for the people.

"Truth in Numbers" is a well balanced, entertaining insider's look at how a dot.com bomb turned into a not-for-profit phenom. The most compelling "character" is Wikipedia's founder, Jim Wales, an energetic cross between a Keebler elf and confidence man H.B. Barnum. He's equal parts dreamer, entrepreneur and huckster and comes off as one those starry-eyed optimists who walks along the street and discovers that the piece of paper stick to his shoe is a hundred dollar bill.

Among the many under the radar facts divulged about Wikipedia is its origin. Wales started Boomis.com, a search engine for porn actresses in 1996 before establishing "Nupedia," the daddy of Wikipedia. Nupedia floundered because of an exhaustive seven step approval process designed to authenticate every article. The combination of a lack of advertising and the collapse of the dot.com community forced Wales to open his new creation, Wikipedia, up to the public.

Wikipedia's enthusiastic and dedicated supporters include Ismail Serageldin (Director of the Bibliotheca in Alexandria), who notes that Wikipedia couldn't exist without the new technology: "It is a child of this century." Wikipedia's most ardent fans (and we hear and see from many of them) are the geeks, brainiacs and exceptional young minds in places like Seoul, Arizona, India and Germany who have ample time on their hands to contribute to the site. Some come across as Wales' acolytes - they're so convinced they're helping to educate people around the globe that their blind dedication would scare Jim "drink the Kool-Aid" Jones.

What saves "Truth in Numbers" from being an infomercial is the balance between Wikipedia's disciples and its detractors, the majority of whom are scholars, writers, former politicians and public figures wronged by inaccurate information.

Wikipedia's chief critic and the villain of the piece is Andrew Keen, a writer and critic whose stuffy British accent makes him sound like a snobby fussbudget. But Keen makes some valid points, including the fact that there are no mediators to settle disputes between contributors and no experts to validate facts. No one is steering the ship or protecting the public from misinformation. (Having signed on to correct several bogus facts about my favorite group, Traffic, I can attest that some of Wikipedia's articles are as reliable as Thomas Dewey guaranteeing a victory over Harry Truman.)

Keen seems to be smarting from the pasting he's gotten in public debates with Wales, who's  far less educated but more charismatic and street smart. Of Wales he says: "He's a self-acclaimed entrepreneur, not an intellectual, not a political activist, but he hasn't made a penny from it. It's kind of like having the winning lottery ticket and realizing you can't cash it." Keen is clearly out for blood when he adds, "Wales has said 'I trust a high school kid as much as a Harvard professor.' This is a ludicrous thing to say."

Journalist/writer and former Robert Kennedy aide John Seigenthaler, Sr., echoes Keen's sentiments. Seigenthaler was defamed by Wikipedia in 2005 when a contributor claimed he set up Kennedy's assassination. Still smarting from the incident and Wales' denial of accountability, Seigenthaler says of Wikipedia, "It's like a buzz bomb. Somebody sends it up in the air. If it explodes somewhere you can't say 'Oh, I'm not responsible.'"

Wikipedia has given every person with access to a computer the ability to shape (or misshape) history. As Stephen Colbert says, "Wikipedia is the first place I look for knowledge, or when I want to create some." Whether you're a scholar or you just play one on T.V., "Truth in Numbers" is worth looking up.

  Skin
  Alice Krige, Ella Ramanqwane, Ella Ramanqwane
  4 out of 5 stars
  Reviewed for Coffeerooms by Mike Jefferson

"Skin" is the true story of Sandra Laing, a young girl caught up in a maelstrom of racial intolerance. If you're going to release a film about prejudice and racial injustice, why not set it in South Africa, the cradle of bigotry and narrow-mindedness?

"Skin" follows Sandra journey from childhood to motherhood, from segregation to emancipation. There's a huge twist - Sandra's parents, store owners Abraham (Sam Neil) and Sanny (Alice Krige) are white. Sandra was born with the features and coloring of a black girl and in the mid 1960s in South Africa that meant she was subject to the laws of Apartheid, the stringent equivalent of segregation in the U.S.. No one believes Sandra is the couple's biological daughter, and to make matters worse she's been raised believing she's white, which guarantees her life is going to be a solitary hell.

When Sandra attends a white boarding school the principal makes it his mission to have her expelled, even though her birth certificate says she's white. The scene in which a doctor sticks a pencil in Sandra's hair to prove it's kinky and then glimpses at her butt to confirm her black features is both telling and repulsive.

Sandra is reclassified as black and is expelled from school. Abraham fights in the courts to have her re-reclassified as white. Media and political pressure builds, forcing changes in the law. Sandra is classified white again, which elevates her social status, but doesn't cure her insecurities or isolation.

Now 17, Sandra catches the eye of Petrus, a black man who sells produce to her father. Against her parent's wishes, she falls in love with him. ("Dead and buried," Abraham says to Petrus. "That's what you'll be if you come near my family or property again.") When Abraham threatens to disown Sandy if she disobeys him, she runs away with Petrus. Sandra's sense of self and well-being grows while she lives with Petrus and his family in a black community, but she longs to reconcile with her parents.

Sam Neil is superb portraying a father who is both contrary and contradictory. In order to get his daughter designated white, he takes her case all the way to the Supreme Court, yet he calls his employees "kaffers" (the equivalent of the N word in Afrikaner) and shoots to kill when he aims his pistol at Petrus. The viewer gets the feeling that Abraham isn't fighting the good fight for his daughter - he's fighting for himself, for his pride and his reputation. He loves daughter, as long as she abides by his rules and lives her life the way he wants her to. He turns his back on her and makes his position clear to Sanny when he realizes she met with Sandra and her family behind his back: "If I ever find them here I will kill them...and then myself." Neil is tender, torn, protective, rash, loving and angry and gives a wonderfully rounded performance, including a spot on Afrikaner accent that would fool Pieter Botha.

Ella Ramanqwane is a moppet revelation as young Sandra. She captures Sandra's innocence, confusion and sadness, particularly in the scene where she's embarrassed and whipped in front of her classmates. She out performs Sophie Okonedo, who portrays Sandra as a teenager and an adult -- and that's no easy feat given Okonedo's past Oscar nomination for "Hotel Rwanda."

Okenedo is a bit too old to pull off the wide-eyed innocent teen phase of Sandra's life, but shines as Sandra's conflicted and eventually emotionally emancipated older self.

Alice Krige gives a career performance as Sanny, Sandra's sympathetic and loving mother. Krige grew up in South Africa and her pre and post Apartheid guilt seeps into her character's Mother Theresa personality. Sanny draws the line at Sandra dating Petrus (as her emphatic slap across the chops proves), but unlike her husband, her reaction isn't out of embarrassment or her fear that Sandra's breaking the law - she's more worried about the personal hardship Sandra will face if she falls in love with a black man. 

Extra Skin

"Skin" has many enlightening extras, including interviews, a script development workshop, a behind the scenes featurette, deleted scenes and outtakes that show the seriousness of the subject matter didn't completely dampen the actors' ability to laugh at themselves.  

Director Anthony Fabian's reasons for making "Skin" go beyond the typical goals of box office success or Oscar worthiness: "It's an important film because many people have already started to forget what Apartheid was." Sam Neill's understanding of his character's character (or lack thereof) is in part responsible for his outstanding performance: "(Abraham) is a man of his time and place. That doesn't excuse any of it, but explains it. Explaining and excusing are two different things."

The most touching interview is with the real life Sandra Laing, who is obviously still affected by what she went through as a child and mother.

You have to have a thick skin in order to wade through all the misery, bullying and degradation Sandra endures, and if "Skin" makes you feel uncomfortable, well then maybe that's not such a bad thing after all.

  Glorious 39
  Bill Nighy
  4 out of 5 stars
  Reviewed for Coffeerooms by Mike Jefferson

"Glorious 39" has the same classy intrigue as one of those period parlor room thrillers from the 40s and 50s that starred Sirs Lawrence Oliver, John Gielgud or Ralph Richardson. It takes its time revealing the inner layers that point to a dark conspiracy, but once the red herrings and insidious motives are revealed, "Glorious 39" speeds through a series of surprising scenes that will tear your heart out.
 
"Glorious 39" is set in the summer of 1939, only weeks before Great Britain entered the Second World War. The plot revolves around the aristocratic Keyes family, headed up by Alexander (a regal Bill Nighy), a member of the House of Commons. Among the family members living at their estate are eldest daughter Anne, an actress (Romola Garai), daughter Celia (Juno Temple), Ralph, a rising politician (Eddie Redmayne) and Alexander's wife, Maud (Jenny Agutter) who spends more time in her garden than with her family.

At a dinner party celebrating Alexander's birthday, Hector (feisty David Tennant), a friend of the family and a member of Parliament, voices his adamant opposition to Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasing Nazi Germany, a view that's unpopular, particularly with Joseph Balcombe (boo hiss worthy Jeremy Northam), a mysterious member of the government who works for Britain's version of the Secret Service.

The following morning, while searching for her lost cat, Anne innocently enters a storage building that Alexander has deemed off limits to the family. The building supposedly contains Alexander's papers and speeches. Anne comes across several phonograph records that Alexander later admits belong to Balcombe. Anne plays one of the records. Although it's labeled "Foxtrot," instead of hearing music, she hears a recorded conversation. Out of curiosity Anne keeps two of the records.

A few weeks later the family receives the news that Hector has committed suicide. Anne wonders if Balcombe is responsible. She plays one of the records and is shocked to hear a distressed Hector pleading with Balcombe to leave his family alone. From that point on, it seems to Anne that everyone she confides in is in peril.

Although she's adopted, Anne is the most popular and beloved of the Keyes, but as seemingly unconnected factors begin to coalesce into a conspiracy, Anne becomes an outsider within her own family.
 
One of the more intriguing aspects of "Glorious 39" is that it reminds viewers that the majority of British politicians and citizens didn't want to go to war with Germany; there were many people, like Alexander, who'd fought in the First World War and wanted to avoid a repeat of its carnage even if it meant sacrificing Czechoslovakia and Poland.

Any movie with a cast that includes Sir Christopher Lee is automatically afforded watchable status. With more than 266 films to his credit (the most by any actor since 1948!), the 88-year old Lee is all-world, having played Dracula, Sherlock Holmes and Rasputin, among others. How talented is he? He recently branched out, recording a heavy metal concept album! As a septuagenarian version of Ralph (Anne's cousin, who was a young teen in 1939), Lee is one of two characters that provide a bridge between the events in 1939 and what's happening in present day England.

Busy Bill Nighy is a modern day Lee, having distinguished himself in "Love Actually," and despite the octopus make up, he was excellent in "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest." He sustains the personality of refined, accomplished, laid back aristocrat who may or may not be privy to a scurrilous covert government plot.

Romola Grapi (one of the few actors in "Atonement" who didn't have to atone for being too mushy) is glorious as Anne, who starts the film as a carefree rising actress. As she uncovers more clues pointing to government chicanery she takes the audience on an emotional roller coaster ride, flawlessly conveying disbelief, fear, betrayal and anger. Grapi is at her best when Anne realizes she stands alone in her effort to untangle a web of lies and betrayal.

Add former sex symbol Julie Christie ("Dr. Zhivago," "Shampoo") and a quietly malevolent Jeremy Northam (who played a noble Thomas More in "The Tudors") to the mix and "Glorious 39" has a lot to live up to. Fortunately it does.

Glorious Extras

"Glorious 39's" extras include behind the scenes footage, a trailer and interview with the cast. There are 13, count 'em, 13 interviews with the actors, who discuss their characters, the twists in the plot and their mutual admiration for director Stephen Poliakoff, who you'll come to admire as well.

Speaking about Anne, Romola Grapi says, "She's the oldest child, but she's adopted. She's the special child, but here status changes as the story progresses." David Tennent offers a glib observation about the film, saying it "Mixes history with a bit of Hitchock." And it's nice that Jenny Agutter gets to say more in her interview than she does in her role as Anne's mum.

 A superbly acted, tension-filled period piece, "Glorious '39" lives up to its name.