Unexpected Lessons

By Susan Varno

You can learn a lot by accident. You might even expect to learn one thing and really learn something else.
Some lessons can save your life. DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE MORGANS? (2009). After this sophisticated Manhattan couple (Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker) witness a murder, the FBI hides them in a frontier Wyoming town. The two local agents (Sam Elliott and Mary Steenburgen) teach them about country living, western style. The New Yorkers also learn what marriage should be and how rural folk take care of everyone in their community. An angry little boy (voice of Zach Tyler) smashes an anthill and becomes THE ANT BULLY (2006). Meanwhile underground, a pismire scientist (voice of Nicolas Cage) accidentally shrinks the kid to insect size. The Queen (voice of Meryl Streep) instructs her subjects to teach the boy proper ant behavior, and he learns how to cooperate.
Learning can change your life. A timid reporter (Ewan McGregor) hopes to prove himself by investigating an experimental US Army program that trained agents to read minds. In Iraq, he finds a psychic soldier (George Clooney) who explains the operation, which included THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS (2009) trying to use brainpower to make the poor critters drop dead. The reporter learns to be “a man” when the soldier drives them cross-country to a secret lab where an evil corporation is developing these techniques for private use. An up and coming comedy writer (Jason Biggs) asks an older writer (Woody Allen) for advice about his craft and ANYTHING ELSE (2003). He learns more than he expected about how to stand up to people who take advantage of him. In 1964, a young girl (Dakota Fanning) runs away from home to find out about her mother’s background. Along the way, she also learns about THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES (2008), the Civil Rights movement and what it means to be female.
Life lessons can be painful. In 1960’s London, a sixteen-year-old girl (Carey Mulligan) takes up with an older man (Peter Sargaard). He charms her father (Alfred Molina) into allowing him to take her to concerts, expensive restaurants, even a weekend in Paris. As she gets AN EDUCATION (2009) about high society, she learns he’s a con man who steals from older women. The experience leaves her “sadder but wiser.” On TRAINING DAY (2001) a rookie cop (Ethan Hawke) rides with a veteran (Denzel Washington) who teaches him success means bending the rules—phony warrants, stealing money and drugs, letting some criminals go free, beating up others, maybe shooting a few. An Iraq war hero (Ben Foster) is assigned as THE MESSENGER (2009) to inform the next of kin of fallen soldiers. An old hand (Woody Harrelson) shows him the ropes. Be sympathetic, but don’t get involved with the families. Through this work, he learns not only about grief but about his own guilt and anger.
A teacher sometimes learns as much as his student does. A corporate consultant (George Clooney) spends a lot of time UP IN THE AIR (2009) traveling around the country firing people. Bringing such devastating news to people has used up his emotions, and he has no personal life. He’s assigned to train a new hire (Anna Kendrick). She reminds him who he used to be—ambitious but still caring about something. A society matron (Sandra Bullock) ends up on THE BLIND SIDE (2009) when she invites a homeless teen (Quinton Aaron) to live with her family. His basketball skills have earned him a scholarship to a Christian academy. She helps him study, works with the football coach and teaches him what middle class life is like. His appreciation shows her and her family all they have to be thankful for, including the opportunity to know him.
In the true story INVICTUS (2009), South Africa’s new President Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) invites the coach (Matt Damon) of the country’s all white rugby team for tea. Mandela tells him when he was in prison, the white guards always root for the Springboks, the blacks always root for their opponents. He emphasizes that in the current situation the nation can only succeed if all whites and all blacks do better than they believe they can. The coach relays the message to his team, encouraging them to make all their countrymen proud. In 1995, this was one of the many ways Mandela’s kindness and vision created a nation where blacks who had suffered horribly forgave their oppressors, and whites overcame their fear and prejudice. A winning rugby team, it seems, was a part making this happen.

To Serve and Protect

By Art Slavin

Our law enforcement men and women are all too often underappreciated, so let’s use this column to recognize some recent films that show them off. This month, Nicolas Cage’s THE BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL- NEW ORLEANS is being released on DVD. It’s a tale of a policeman who despite his flaws is dedicated to solving the murder of five immigrants. The cops couldn’t be more frustrated than when they attempted to figure out how an incarcerated LAW ABIDING CITIZEN (Gerard Butler) was continuing revenge for the murder of his family. And the law was stymied for a long time until they finally put an end to the crimes of John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) in PUBLIC ENEMIES. In HORSEMEN, A recently widowed detective (Dennis Quaid), still grieving over his wife's death, discovers a shocking connection between himself and the suspects in a serial killing spree linked to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. And in 12 ROUNDS, detective Danny Fisher (John Cera) discovers his girlfriend has been kidnapped by an ex-con tied to his past, and he'll have to successfully complete 12 challenges in order to secure her safe release. In the twist-filled whodunit, RIGHTEOUS KILL, two veteran New York City detectives (Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino) work on a case of serial executions of criminals who escaped justice. You’d think that with a cop (Samuel L. Jackson) living next door on LAKEVIEW TERRACE that the new neighbors (Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington) would be safe. Think again. New York City police detective MAX PAYNE (Mark Wahlberg) goes to great lengths to find the guy who killed his family, while an LAPD detective (Keanu Reeves) finds himself in the middle of a frame while he struggles with the recent loss of his wife in STREET KINGS. A family of cops is beset with a dilemma when one of their own is suspected of crimes in PRIDE AND GLORY. Edward Norton, Jon Voight, Colin Farrell, and Noah Emmerich star. In AMERICAN GANGSTER (portrayed by Denzel Washington), a detective (Russell Crowe) knows who he’s going after, but in THE BRAVE ONE (portrayed by Jodie Foster), the detective (Terrence Howard) has a hard time pinning revenge killings on her. A club owner (Joaquin Phoenix) affiliated with gangsters, finds himself in the middle when his dad (Robert Duvall) and brother (Mark Wahlberg), both NYPD cops, call on him for intelligence necessary to bust heroine dealers in WE OWN THE NIGHT. My two favorites: the sheriff (Tommy Lee Jones) investing a maniac (Javier Bardim) in NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, and the guys in DEPARTED (Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Wahlberg, and Jack Nicholson), who weave a wild web of deception. Then there are the Interpol agents, the CIA, the FBI, and security guards. In THE INTERNATIONAL, an Interpol agent (Clive Owen) and a New York Assistant District Attorney (Naomi Watts) work together to bring down some bad, bad bankers. The CIA is involved in BODY OF LIES, in which an operative in Jordan (Leonardo DiCaprio) is constantly at odds with his boss (Russell Crowe), and in RENDITION, the tale of an operative (Jake Gyllenhaal) who must decide to condone the tactics of the agency or believe the pleadings of the wife (Reese Witherspoon) of a man held by them. An FBI agent (Diane Lane) must track down a seemingly UNTRACEABLE serial killer who posts live videos of his victims on the Internet, while the CIA and the FBI seem to be at odds trying to stop a supposed TRAITOR (Don Cheadle). On the funnier side, who can forget Peter Sellers as the bumbling Inspector Clouseau in THE PINK PANTHER series, or Steve Martin in the remakes? Or Steve Carrell picking up where Don Adams left off in GET SMART, with Anne Hathaway serving as Agent 99? Both Kevin James and Seth Rogen play nutty mall security guards in PAUL BLART: MALL COP and OBSERVE AND REPORT respectively.