HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS DVD Review

Many people enjoy spending time with family on Thanksgiving, but those aren't the people in this movie. Claudia Larson (Holy Hunter), a middle aged art restorer, is fired right before her trip home for Thanksgiving. More and more bad news and annoyances pile on Claudia before she arrives coatless at her parents' home in Baltimore. Her spinster aunt has moved from dotty to delusional. Her mother tries to set her up with a sad schoolmate who had a crush on her. Her judgmental sister with the perfect life arrives. And of course, the Thanksgiving dinner is ... lively. The bright spot of the weekend is when her favorite, bohemian witty brother, Tommy (Robert Downey Jr.), shows up with a handsome friend, Leo Fish (Dylan McDermott), in tow.

Home For the Holidays is directed by Jodi Foster and features some excellent subtle performances, like Holly Hunter's Claudia, and some excellent not so subtle performances, like Robert Downey Jr.'s Tommy, but this is not a typical feel good holiday movie. There are a few scenes of family discord, some bittersweet moments of realization, all sprinkled with familiar bits of humor. But if you are one of those people that don't enjoy going home for the holidays, this movie offers sympathetic insight, and in the spirit of the holiday, reveals reasons to be thankful for family.

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12 Days of Christmas Joy -- Day Four

DR. SEUSS'
HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS!

With less than a week left, the Christmas Eve deadline is staring everyone in the face, and Present Buying Panic is starting to creep into lives everywhere. Before you get grumpy take a couple of hours and watch the Christmas classic, Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas to give you a little perspective on the more commercial side of Christmas.

And remember, you can find all your favorite Christmas movies at the library. Check back here every day for staff recommendations of their favorite Christmas movies.

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DEFIANCE DVD Review

Defiance is based on the true story of the Bielski brothers, Tuvia (Daniel Craig), Zus (Liev Schreiber), Asael (Jamie Bell), and Aron (George Mackay). The Jewish brothers supposedly led a shady life before WWII and those skills come in handy in 1941, when the Nazis and their local collaborators start rounding up Jews in Belarussia. The Bielskis lose most of their family, but these four brothers escape into the forest, only to find other Jewish refugees there also. Tuvia and Zus end up defacto leaders of this ragged group, trying to find food and shelter and keep everyone safe from Nazi patrols, but the brothers don't always agree on how that should be done. Eventually they part, Zus joining a Russian partisan group and Tuvia staying with the ever growing refugee camp, but each in their own way, resisting the Nazis and the trying to keep their humanity amidst horrendous times.

I especially liked how the refugees were portrayed as humans, not saints, with understandable flaws and social baggage. They espouse the idea of community, but they have to struggle, just as hard as they do against the Nazis, to attain that lofty goal. And they do not always succeed. But they also have moments of wonderful humanity, sharing and love -- and overall, an amazing will to live, not just survive. And that's what makes Defiance an inspirational movie, rather than a depressing one.

Liev Schreiber, as usual, does a fantastic job playing Zus. If you are a fan of Daniel Craig's sharp dressed, coolly competent James Bond, then you might not like his turn as Tuvia Bielski, a Jewish resistance fighter in WWII. He spends most of the movie in the woods, unkempt, unshaven, and uncertain about his role as leader of the hidden Jewish refugee camp. And yet, I think this is one of his most moving roles yet and definitely worth checking out.

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Reserve your copy of the book by Nechama Tec this movie is based on.

30 Days of Night by Steve Niles

We've all heard that "the book is better than the movie." But what if the movie is based on a graphic novel? 30 Days of Night, by Steve Niles, is an 80+ page graphic novel originally published in 2003. The movie came out just last month.

The graphic novel is by illustrated by Ben Templesmith in a shaky and low detail style. The bulk of the illustrations are in black, white, brown and shades of the three, giving the work a murky, dark feeling. When other colors are used, they are also darker, muddier tones...except for reds, yellows and oranges. Fire and blood are illustrated with vibrant tones, making them pop from the pages for maximum impact (and there is a lot of blood). The story itself is a simple one, though creative and well-written. It recounts the town of Barrow, Alaska's horrifying fight to survive when the sun went down for an entire month, and vampires came to party. There is a lot of tension in the story, as a small group of humans struggle to keep their lives, and their sanity; hiding, and waiting for the sun to come up once again.

The movie retains the basic storyline of the graphic novel. The differences are in the character relationships, added characters and situations and location changes. It's understandable that the filmmakers would need to pad the story in order to make a feature length film from an 80 page book. Their changes don't detract from the plot, and their more fully developed characters help the viewer become more engaged, and therefore more horrified, by the events that transpire.

The graphic novel and the book contain enough differences that one will not detract from the pleasure of the other.

Stardust

By Neil Gaiman with illustrations by Charles Vess

This is the enchanting fairy tale that was adapted into an enchanting movie by the same name. I was surprised how closely the movie followed the book, though its ending is somewhat different and oddly enough, more satisfying. Like many people, I thought this was a graphic novel, and you may find it shelved there in the young adult section. But in reality, it is like one of those old children’s book, lavishly illustrated. Charles Vess created nearly 175 water colour paintings that are reminiscent of Arthur Rackman’s or Edmund Dulac’s work for Neil Gaiman’s story.

Like any number of fairy tales, this one is about the journey of our hero Tristam, on a quest for true love, but finding adult hood, via an adventure through Faery. There’s the usual fantastical creatures and places (unicorns and witches and princes and castles and inns), and some unusual creatures and places (hairy night visitors and fallen stars and flying ships that capture lightning and quaint English villages that are anything but). But in Gaiman’s capable hands, they are old toys given a loving polish and most importantly, always entertaining. Don’t be fooled by the genre. This is not a children’s story, but more like the original Grimm’s tales. Frightening and graphic things happen here, as well the breathtakingly beautiful, but what would expect to find when you travel in Faery?