Remember Me (2010) ***1/2

There are many things that define life. Our triumphs dictate who we are. Our tragedies lead us to who we have become. Remember Me follows the lives of two people who have gotten where they are based on the tragedies that have defined their lives. Ally Craig (Emilie de Ravin) watched as her mother was gunned down on a subway train, leading to a philosophy of why wait because your life could be snuffed out any minute. Tyler Hawkins (Robert Pattinson) has fallen into a malaise since the suicide of his brother years earlier, coupled with the fact that the incident has shredded what he had as a family. The cards that life has dealt have also had a great impact on each person’s father with Ally’s father (Chris Cooper) being over protective to the ninth power, while Tyler’s father (Pierce Brosnan) is distant and withdrawn from his family, tied to his work. Eventually as the two fall in love they have to deal not only with their own demons, but the lingering effects from their families.

Remember Me is about trying to take that second step past whatever haunts you. Life goes on and the past is simply in the past. We just need to find a way to deal with it. The film gets across its main point in this respect, but some of the plot points seem a little choppy when taken in by the viewer. Instead of creating a poignant meeting between the two leads we get a situation that’s more like 10 Things I Hate About You instead of a drama such as this. Director Allen Coulter tends to get a little to artsy in his presentation at times, taking long looks at inanimate objects. Some directors can get away with this and some just look like they’re ripping off those other directors. Coulter looks like the ripper.

Once again, any cast with Chris Cooper is a good cast and this film is not the exception. There are actually a few surprises in this film from an acting standpoint. de Ravin possesses the innocent melancholy of her character. Not a depressed person, just a free spirit that understands the value of life. Pierce Brosnan actually pulls off a New York businessman in this film, accent and all. The thing is that you still see him as James Bond. Hopefully the day will come when he can pull a Connery and get a role that pulls him from the tentacles of 007. The true standout in this film is Robert Pattinson. I know that I’ve been bashing his ability based on his role in the Twilight films, but have now come to one conclusion- you can’t polish a turd, Beavis. Pattinson is obviously a better actor than Twilight is a movie. This film proves that point by giving him the chance to be more than just a pale, depressed looking creature of the night.

This is one of those dramas that sort of ties everything together, not in a neat bow but in an ugly sailors knot. It’s not perfect by any means, but it gets the same job done.

The Life Before Her Eyes (2007) ***

The Life Before Her Eyes opens up with the typical high school day of not really caring about classes and dishing on who’s doing what with whom. But as Diana (Evan Rachel Wood) and Maureen (Eva Amurri) discuss life and death affairs in front of the bathroom mirror all hell breaks loose as a student, alienated and depressed, begins to pen fire throughout the school. Eventually he makes his way to the bathroom and the life changing event for these two girls.

Flash to twenty years later and Diana (Uma Thurman) is married with a child, but the past still haunts her. The events of that day leave a thick cloud over her world and dictates what she does and where her child goes to school. As the anniversary of the event approaches Diana finds that it is allowing for her life to spiral out of control.

This is an OK exercise in examining the teenagers we were and how they became the adults we are today. Wood and Amurri keep the audience interested while Uma begins to bore us to the point of annoyance. She either over sells it or under sells it and it coats the film in a funk that it doesn’t really get out of. A competent film that you’ve never heard of it does present an interesting premise, yet director Vadim Perelman tends to go a little to artsy with the film. It’s a slightly above average film at best that you’ll watch, roll over, go to sleep, and forget about in the morning like a nothing special dream.

Aliens (1986) *****

Aliens follows the 1979 sci-fi smash, but not directly. Fifty plus years later a still unconscious Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is found floating aimlessly throughout space. Ripley quickly learns that the planet that the Alien she destroyed during the first film has been colonized by miners and warns of the imminent danger. Of course, the suits in the Company blow her off until radio contact is lost with the planet and it’s left up to a group of Marines hired by the company to investigate what’s going on.

Directed by James Cameron, Aliens is a departure from the structure of Ridley Scott’s original film. Instead of the cat and mouse games of the original film, Cameron chooses to come at his audience full force with an overwhelming onslaught of action. This is a complete turnaround from Scott’s film and it works just as brilliantly.

This is basically a war film. A group of invaders has chosen to attack and it’s up to the heavily armed military to stop the onslaught, of course this is at the behest of the bottom line of the Company. The problem is that the military feels invincible, the suits are only interested in fiscal matters, and poor Ripley is stuck in the middle.

Just as in the first film Sigourney Weaver is the main catalyst in this film, going from a reluctant observer to hardened warrior. Along with Cameron mainstay Michael Biehn as Hicks and Carrie Henn as Newt the trio are the weight of the last third of the film. Of course I have to mention the legendary Lance Henriksen as Bishop, the android that Ripley is obviously paranoid about during their mission.

The great thing about Aliens is its action. It’s a kick ass sequel that is just as good as the original without repeating the same formula as the first film. Cameron does what no one has been able to do in following Cameron in the Terminator films- follow up a classic with something all his own.

Toy Story 3 (2010) ****1/2

Sitting here at my desk as I type this is a vintage Man-E-Faces figure. It’s a little worn and, truthfully, I never played with it too much. This little piece of plastic was hard to find in the Land of Lincoln, but they were very abundant in San Francisco where my dad got it when I was six years old. I guess I can’t pass that toy down the line because he traveled 2000 plus miles. The first Toy Story focused on how toys are treated. The second Toy Story told the tale of collectibles. This third installment takes a look at that final process a toy goes through- what happens when your owner grows up. The thing about the Toy Story films is sure, that’s the basic premise of each film, but these films tell the story with humanity and grace that Pixar has held a monopoly on and other studios just don’t get and will probably never get. Toy Story 3 opens with our beloved toys in an old, beaten toy chest. Not just any toy chest, but Andy’s toy chest. Andy isn’t a little boy anymore, but a 17 year old ready to run to college. His toys are in his past, replaced by other toys like computers, cell phones, and, I’m assuming, the ladies. His oldest pal Woody (Tom Hanks) is going along with him, but in a case of mistaken garbage bags, the other toys wind up at the Sunnyside Daycare Center, where they are welcomed to what seems a Shangri la of toys- the kids never grow up and are replaced as time moves forward by new kids. But all isn’t as it seems at Sunnyside. Once again I have to ask the question: When will Pixar make a dud? I don’t think it’s possible. This is the third film in this franchise and they still pulled off a great film, even though it’s not as good as the previous films, but that is just by a hair. Essentially the same formula is present in Toy Story 3. Tim Allen is still Buzz Lightyear and Don Rickles is still Mr. Potato Head. Toy Story may have been about toys, but at its core it’s really about ourselves and how our lives progresses, especially as children. Toy Story 3 will pull at your heart strings. I can’t tell you why. It could be that these are beloved characters from the last fifteen years that have penetrated popular culture. If you can get your picture taken with the character then they are an icon. It could be because this film represents the point in everyone’s life where they turn the corner and things are going to change. Sometimes it’s hard to take.