Advertise in the Java Journal and Save! The Java Journal Deal - Advertise with the Java Journal! Goplacez.com offers Java Journal advertisers a 10% discount. View Java Journal Rates (PDF) View goplacez Rates

Back to Java Journal Articles

by Mary Morgan is a member of the St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association.
January is typically a “hot” month for movies. All of the Award® hopefuls of 2007 were released at year’s end and are now playing at local theaters.

THE GREAT DEBATERS (rating not available) A compelling drama based on a true story, this film will give you an accurate, if uncomfortable, perspective on the plight of African Americans in the South during the  turbulent mid-twentieth century. The action centers on the trials of the debate team of Wiley College, a traditionally Black institution of higher education in the very segregated state of Texas.
                At the stern of the team is Professor Melvin Tolson (Denzel Washington), a brilliant scholar with radical political views that put his team in peril. Although his methodology is questionable, his motives are pure and his results historically significant. As a balance to Tolson stands his friend and colleague James Farmer (Forest Whitaker) who teaches theology and takes his own path to justice. Directed by Denzel Washington, The Great Debaters stands way above the average moralist film, both in its execution and its message. A riveting history lesson, and a brilliant one at that, awaits your presence.
Rating: 4

THERE WILL BE BLOOD (R) In the early days of “Texas Oil” there was plenty of fast money to be made and plenty of opportunity to buy into the philosophy of greed and corruption that went hand in hand with the fledgling industry. Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) wasted no time in getting in on the schemes and outright scams that thrived in the lawless climate of the new industry. A prospector and self-made scoundrel, Plainview worked his way up to the ranks of the oil elite, gaining great wealth, but losing his soul.
                The 1927 Upton Sinclair novel Oil! supplies the basics of the story and its adaptation for the big screen is artfully accomplished by writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson. Greed, vengeance and religion are woven into this tale of abject immorality.
Rating: 4

I AM LEGEND (PG-13) Robert Neville (Will Smith) is the sole survivor of a killer, man-made virus that has succeeded in almost wiping out mankind. Three years have passed since the outbreak, and Robert faithfully sends out radio transmissions hoping to find another living soul. Not entirely alone, Robert shares the city with a society of mutant survivors. Obviously immune to the disease, Robert is dutifully working on a cure that will permanently reverse the ill effects. If the plot looks a bit familiar to some in the audience, I Am Legend is one of three sci-fi films based on the 1954 Richard Matheson book with the same title. Modern effects and technology have proven to be just what was needed to make it come to life, or death.
Rating: 3
 
THE BUCKET LIST (PG-13) Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson) and Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman) meet in a cancer ward, but things get better fast when they compose and proceed to live out a list of wishes that each wants to experience before they “kick the bucket.” Veteran director Rob Reiner takes Justin Ruckerman’s screenplay and literally runs with it. Edward and Cater escape from the confines of the hospital and take off on their adventure, going to Monte Carlo, dining on caviar and trying their luck driving race cars. Inspiring, liberating!
Rating: 3

JUNO (PG-13) An endearing, down-to-earth tale of a bright, witty high school student who finds herself pregnant after one night of experimentation with her friend and classmate, Bleeker (Michael Cera), this film is bound to earn your praise. Juno (Ellen Page) is the resilient product of a broken marriage who lives with her father and his new wife and copes with her situation quite well. When she discovers that she is pregnant, she takes matters into her own hands in an effort to resolve the situation so that she can resume her life.
                Director Jason Reitman shows that he is right in touch with modern situations and throws in good advice about true love, adult decisions and family ties. A feel-good film that resolves itself in spite of a troubling turn of fate, it deserves its mild PG-13 rating and is not sexually explicit.
Rating: 4

THE KITE RUNNER (PG-13) Two Afghani boys, Amir and Hassan, separated by class but forever bonded by their friendship, struggle to overcome a single act of ultimate betrayal that permeates and shapes their lives and their individual fates. When times were good the two friends romped and played with their kites in the streets of a peaceful Kabul. And when times were bad, there began a 20-year search for personal redemption.
                Based on the bestselling novel by Khaled Hossei, you will immediately recognize that, although this film is a unique look into a culture that is very different from our own, the moral conflicts it portrays are universal. The tagline, “There is a way to be good again” will not soon be forgotten.
Rating: 4