LIVING PROOF

LIVING PROOF - 2008 (TV)

RATED - NR but probably PG for mature themes. Family friendly but not for young children.

RATINGS - 11 Amazon (4.5/5), 17,365 Netflix (3.9/5), 239 IMDB (6.7/10).

STARRING - Harry Connick, Jr., Paula Cale, Bernadette Peters and others.

THEMES - Relationships.

STORY - This made for TV movie is based on the book, HER-2, which is the story of Dr. Dennis Slamon's passionate pursuit of a cure for breast cancer. It is essentially the battle between Slamon and Genentech, the company that owns the rights to Herceptin. Slamon is the lead research doctor on the drug and believes with all his being that it can give new life to at least 40,000 of the 200,000 new breast cancer cases each year. Genentech does not believe it has the potential to be financially successful, which is their definition of a successful drug (at least how it is pictured in the film). At a point in the development of the drug, Hollywood friends come to the rescue and raise the money to keep the project going. It is clearly Slamon's drive and passion that is keeping the research alive. It is also the general story of what it takes to bring a new drug to market through the FDA approval process-no insignificant task no matter how great your drug is. The film becomes very emotional as he finally wins approval to begin testing on women in stage IV breast cancer-those that are considered without hope from any approved treatments. Because of the extremely tight restrictions put in place by Genentech, he must exclude some women who are desperate for any hope of a cure. Even more heart wrenching are those who are helped in the Phase I testing but are not allowed to move to Phase II because of the Genentech restrictions. He also discovers that it helps some but not others which is powerfully visualized in a scene where the treatment room is shown full of the test patients that started and one by one those who have died disappear. The film is a testimony to the belief and perseverance of one man who was determined to make a difference against great odds. Where might that apply in our lives? While the drug is not without controversy today, it has saved thousands of lives and fulfilled Slamon's dream of making a difference in the battle against breast cancer. The one shortcoming in the movie is the depiction of Genentech as, more or less, the evil enemy of this dedicated doctor (which they may very well have been) but there is another side to every drug story. And that is that there are hundreds (maybe thousands) of potential drugs out there to cure all kinds of diseases and some are worthwhile and some are not. There is not enough money to find out if they all work and someone has to make the decisions of which ones to pursue and they all sound great in the development stage. Making those kind of life and death decisions requires the wisdom of Solomon, something very few people have. These decisions will only get more difficult as our population ages and the money shrinks to provide treatment for everyone for every disease. This is a wonderful, inspirational film worth watching. Enjoy!! Lu G. for Lu's Reviews. 12/26/2009.

LINKS - AMAZON, IMDB

MEMPHIS BELLE

MEMPHIS BELLE - 1990

RATED - PG-13, most likely for language and war violence and some fairly brief closeup scenes of wounded soldiers. A pretty mild PG-13 compared to many.

RATINGS - 97 Amazon (4/5), 314,220 Netflix (3.8/5), 8,472 IMDB (6.7/10), Roger Ebert (4/5).

STARRING - Harry Connick, Jr., Matthew Modine, Eric Stoltz, etc.

AWARDS - Nominated for one BAFTA in 1991.

STORY - This WWII film is based on the true story of the Memphis Belle, a B-17 bomber and crew based in England and flying daylight (the most dangerous) bombing raids over Western Europe. They have flown 24 successful missions and one more and they'll be done and able to go home. They would be the first crew in the Eighth Air Force to finish all 25. The fatality rate of these daylight missions is so high as to almost be considered suicidal. Over 200,000 men were killed in air battles over Western Europe during WWII. Because of their size and flying relatively low over targets, they were especially vulnerable to being shot down. The bombs were dropped by visually sighting the target and dropping the bombs. Needless to say, there was a great deal of 'imprecision' in hitting their targets. If the lead plane was off target, the rest of planes following their lead would be wrong, also. In the film, we see how seriously this particular pilot took the commitment to hit military targets and avoid civilians, although that wasn't always the case (they're all Nazis as one crew member screamed in defiance). They Army and Look magazine have already lined up a 'victory tour' around the U.S. to promote the war once they finish their 25th mission. But have they jumped the gun? They draw the Bremen, Germany assignment, one of the most dangerous. Once the plane takes off on their final mission, you are drawn into this drama and it won't let you go. The film is also punctuated with some archival footage of aerial combat. Take the time to watch the heroics of these crews who put their lives on the line every mission and changed the course of WWII and, ultimately, world history. Lu G. for Lu's Reviews. 12/19/2009.

LINKS - AMAZON, IMDB, ROGER EBERT

A NIGHT TO REMEMBER

A NIGHT TO REMEMBER - 1958

RATED - NR but probably PG for adult content/mild violence.

RATINGS - 105 Amazon (5/5), 32,833 Netflix (3.7/5), 5.520 IMDB (8.0/10).

AWARDS - 1959 Golden Globes Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Film is in English but produced in Britain.

STORY - Most everyone is familiar with the story of the Titanic but if you've only seen the recent film versions, you may not know the real story. This is, arguably, the most accurate version of what happened that fateful night on April 15, 1912 to a ship that was 'unsinkable'. The film has the feel of a docudrama with no villains or fictional romances. The story of what actually happened is more than interesting. There are archival clips from the actual launching of the Titanic mixed in. In addition to the obvious arrogance of people thinking they had built an unsinkable ship, there was the arrogance of 'class' in society. The difference between those traveling first class and those in 'steerage' is shocking and , in the end, heart breaking, seeing the lower class passengers trying to escape the sinking ship. There are no CGI's but it was state of the art for that time and probably more realistic than CGI's. The extras on this Criterion version are excellent and very helpful in understanding the culture and setting for this tragic event. For example, there are two memorials side by side in the home of the Titanic, one for Titanic victims and one for war casualties. The names of the shipwreck victims are in order of importance and the soldiers are listed alphabetically. As tragic as the event was, caused by human error and poor decisions, there are true heroes and many more lives would have been lost if not for them. It was A Night To Remember. Lu G. for Lu's Reviews. 12/12/09.

LINKS - AMAZON, IMDB, THE BOOK

INTO THE STORM

INTO THE STORM - 2009 (TV)

RATED - TV-PG There is some fairly minor language including a couple 'F' words by Churchill. Some archival war footage with war violence but not overly graphic. Churchill is shown taking a bath and talking to FDR. His chest and feet are showing and when he gets out, his aid wraps a towel in the appropriate place which promptly falls off, leaving FDR pretty much speechless. We don't see anything other than the rear upper torso of Churchill. This is pretty family friendly and should be of interest to teens and older.

RATINGS - 4 Amazon (3/5), 1,937 Netflix (3.5/5), 461 IMDB (7.1/10).

STARRING - Brendan Gleeson (Churchill), Janet McTeer (Clementine Churchill).

STORY - An excellent HBO production on the life of Churchill during the war years following up on their terrific film, THE GATHERING STORM, leading up to the war years. I didn't think Gleeson was quite as outstanding as Albert Finney in GATHERING STORM or McTeer as Redgrave but they both gave excellent performances. There is no question that Churchill, warts and all, is one of the most fascinating men in modern history. In the GATHERING STORM we learn of Churchill's sense of destiny for his life. In this film we see why he may have indeed been destined for 'such a time as this'. The circumstances are overwhelming for Britain. The future of the country and the empire are literally on the line. The film begins with the very early stages of the war in 1940 and quickly flashes forward to 1945 with Churchill and family vacationing in France by the ocean, waiting for the results of the election for prime minister. These flashbacks and flash forwards are both the strength and weakness of the film. They show us the 'before' and 'after' Churchill but often make it a little confusing at first until you understand what's going on. It also helps to have some knowledge about Churchill and WWII as the scenes are usually fairly short and don't give a lot of context. What you do you get is some very interesting insights into the mind of Churchill in the various war situations. For example, when deciding whether to bomb Dresden, his military advisers are concerned about civilian casualties but Churchill shows no concern for civilians and we learn shortly after the decision that 58,000 civilians are killed and 200,000 lose their occupations due to the destruction of war factories. We learn that he has loved military strategy from a young child and people question whether this might just another 'game' for him. His relationship with 'Clemmy' is also a fascinating one. She is a strong person in her own right and without her, it is doubtful Churchill would have fulfilled his 'destiny' in the way he did. A highly entertaining and informative HBO film. Enjoy. Lu G. for Lu's Reviews. 12/05/09.

LINKS - AMAZON, IMDB.

I'LL BE SEEING YOU

I'LL BE SEEING YOU - 1944

RATED - NR but probably G. VERY family friendly but not very interesting for young children. Older teenage girls may be interested in what a young woman (Shirley Temple) was like in the 1940's.

RATINGS - 19 Amazon (4.5/5), 14,657 Netflix (3.6/5), 381 IMDB (7.1/10).

STARRING - Ginger Rogers, Joseph Cotten & Shirley Temple.

THEMES - Relationships, forgiveness.

STORY - A soldier and a young, attractive woman in a hurry to catch the train 'home' for the Christmas holidays, both stop at the newspaper stand simultaneously. The soldier (Cotten) is obviously nervous and distracted and the woman (Rogers) is confused why gum is not available. They end up sitting across from one another on the train. The conversation is awkward but the soldier decides quickly to create a story about going to the same destination in the hopes of seeing her again. As the story develops we learn the secrets each is carrying and the obvious risk there is in sharing that secret with someone they might care about. They each must deal with their secrets apart, also, as they wrestle the demons from the past. The story of the soldier could easily apply to any one of our troops today coming home from Iraq or Afghanistan. This is a well done story and performance by everyone involved. Shirley Temple is a little over the top as Roger's niece but turns in a solid performance as well. While not as well known as THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES or IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, it is a worthwhile addition to your Christmas collection. It's readily available from Netflix but is OOP and very expensive to purchase on Amazon. I bought a new copy very reasonably on Ebay from a foreign source and it played perfectly with a great quality picture. Enjoy the Christmas season and remember those you meet may be dealing with unseen demons in their lives. Lu G. for Lu's Reviews. 12/05/09.

LINKS - AMAZON, IMDB