At the Cinema - June 2009

Food Inc. – 10 out of 10. When was the last time you watched most of a movie with your mouth hanging wide open? No special effects here to marvel over – just a documentary which stuns you with indelible images of where food now comes from in America and how we got to this point. Forget “Drag Me to Hell” – this is a horror movie!
Unless you are way more well-informed than I am, you will be stunned.
There is no shortage of villains in this documentation:

• McDonalds. Since they are the number one consumer of meat, cheese, eggs, and many other food products, it has been their demand for bland consistency of product that has driven how food production has changed.
• Tyson Foods. Now the largest producer of food in the world you will be horrified at the conditions under which the animals are kept until their slaughter
• Monsanto. Their patent on soybean seeds and how they enforce it has to be seen to be believed.
• Corn. It is now our dominant crop and thus its use is prevalent in an amazing array of products, chief among them high fructose corn syrup. Because the government’s farm subsidies lower the price, you’ll see the impact world wide. Farmers around the world can’t keep up because this protectionism doesn’t make for a level playing field. (Kind of the reverse of the American auto industry.) Note - I use the word "farmers" loosely. The movie makes the case that farmer of yesterday is the conglomerate of today.
• Me. My eating habits are atrocious and while I love great cuisine, I also love fast food. I’m just one of millions of enablers of this sordid system of food production. I just read David Kessler’s “The End of Overeating” and it is a suitable warm up to this movie experience. I have a lot of work to do to change my eating habits, starting with rehab of the taste buds. At least now I know what I’m eating and where it came from. Can I change? Can we change?

The Hangover – 9. Rough, Raucous, ribald, racy, and ultimately riotous, this is the latest movie to push the taste envelope. It’s hysterical if a little uneven at times. If you like wild humor this is the movie for you.

The Proposal – 9. Didn’t expect nearly what this movie delivered. This is one of those movies that has been previewed for so long at theatres that not only do you think you’ve seen the whole movie but you know exactly where it’s going and how it’s going to get there. Well, that would be a bad conclusion to reach. The movie catches you totally off guard, not with its inevitability, but how it gets there and the depths of the characters. It is a wonderful romantic comedy with a terrific cast. Watching old comedy veterans like Betty White, Mary Steenburgen, and Craig T. Nelson is a pleasure; and Ryan Reynolds continues to build his resume.

But make no mistake - this is Sandra Bullock’s movie. She never misses a note. While I get the criticism that the couple may not have great chemistry – she’s a one-woman chemistry and anyone can totally understand the feelings about her throughout the movie. It’s a shame comedic acting is given so little respect, because to dismiss the acting in this movie as easy would be doing it a grave disservice. As the story unfolds you’re sucked in. And you’re enjoying it. Judging by the mature audience packing the theatre, the word of mouth is building and Sandra’s got a well-deserved hit on her hands.