Vitus

Watch this movie to see the huge range of Bruno Ganz who played one of the best "Hitlers" in film history. Watch this movie to see Teo Gheorghiu make music. He is actually listed on the soundtrack credits for playing his own piano scenes. Not often can you find a kid who can do both - act like a pro and play like the wunderkind he portrays. Pure magic.

What do you do with a highly gifted child who wants only to be "normal"? There are really only two options - brain damage or acting. Which would you choose for your child?

There is an interesting mix of Swiss German and English in this movie. You never know what to expect from which character. But, use the subtitles just to be safe.

This story is a little bit Big, little bit Trading Places, and a little bit Little Man Tate - among others.

This music is, of course, fantastic. The photography and editing are very good. This is a movie good enough for the whole family.

Watch this one with someone who might be surprised to find a full flight simulator inside an old barn.

180° South

Dude, let's make a movie about mountain climbing and surfing. Oh wait some other dudes did the same thing forty years ago. Bummer. Oh well, let's do it WITH them. It can be sort of a new-school-old-school sort of thing. Right?

Right. And in this case, it pretty much works. Forty years ago two guys from Ventura, California drove and surfed their way south to Chile. They never came back home. They now run a huge conservation program down in Patagonia. This movie is as much about their efforts as anything.

The rest of this very interesting documentary is about Jeff Johnson's journey to climb Cerro Corcovado in Patagonia. He sails south and gets "shipwrecked" on Easter Island. He meets up with great friends and interesting people along the way.

If you enjoy documentaries which support a cause, you will most likely enjoy this one. Quirky music and amazing photography help the time pass as Johnson himself narrates his quest.

Watch this with someone who has no idea where Patagonia is located.

Waitress

Don't be fooled. This is not a romantic comedy. It is however, a dark drama with several truly funny moments.

Keri Russell plays a pie-making genius who also happens to be a very unhappy waitress. Her unwanted pregnancy occupies most of her thoughts. The rest of her thoughts go into getting away from her insanely controlling and abusive husband, played coldly by Jeremy Sisto, and inventing pies. The pie parts are funny. The husband parts are sickening.

The bright spots in the main character's life are her OB doctor, her co-workers, and one customer in particular. Nathan Fillion does a fun job of playing the doctor. The co-workers are wonderfully done by Cheryl Hines and writer/director Adrienne Shelly who was murdered prior to the release of the movie.

Andy Griffith plays the brightest star in this tale however. Not only is his character pivotal, it is also the most heart-warming.

This is most of all a movie about starting fresh. The pies are symbolic. The diner is symbolic. There are many life-lessons to take from this story if you can get back it's weaknesses.

Watch this movie with someone who needs to get out of a bad situation but does not really know how.

La Vie en Rose - La môme (original title)

If you see only one French movie in your life, this should be one to consider. Also known as "The Passionate Life of Edith Piaf", it is the story of Edith (duh) told from a sometimes maddening mix of time-line changes. We see her from childhood to death bed.

Marion Cotillard won a Oscar for her nothing-short-of-genius work in the title role. How often does the lead of a "foreign" film win Best Actress? That answer alone speaks volumes. Watch and see for yourself. The rest of the cast comes and goes and is wonderful in their respective supporting roles.

This movie WILL make you cry, and for various different reasons. I cried for an abused little girl, for a brilliant short scene with Marlene Dietrich played flawlessly by Caroline Sihol, and I wept during the final musical performance. Your results may vary.

Watch this movie with someone who needs to be reminded that they had it pretty good growing up the way they did.

The Ghost Writer

There are certainly enough big names in the cast to make it worth the watch. More than that however is a twisty plot with plenty of unanswered questions. Smart directors let us come to our own conclusions and don't try to tell us everything. The much-in-the-news-recently Roman Polanski is a genius.

Wait, you say? How did Polanski direct this movie in Cape Cod and England when he could not leave Switzerland? Simple. German locations. Post production from a Swiss prison. How else?

The story itself is a delight for conspiracy theorists. More questions than answers, and very smart story telling. Ewan McGregor plays an unnamed ghost writer hired to complete the memoirs of and very Tony-Blair-like Pierce Brosnan. In fact, the many comparisons between the story and reality are very thinly veiled.

Olivia Williams plays the dutiful wife and Kim Cattrall plays the dutiful secretary. Of course sparks fly.

Fun cameos by James Belushi, Timothy Hutton, and Eli Wallach make this a very fun watch. The story is crisp and the pace is brisk. Pay attention.

Watch this with someone who will try and connect all the somewhat related dots.

Paris, je t'aime

Paris, I love you. Movie, you are wonderful too. Back in 2006 Tristan Carné got the idea to combine stories from a variety of talents to show what a great city means to a variety of people. Paris was first on the list. New York came later in 2009. We'll soon see Shanghai and Jerusalem and I hear Rio is in development.

There were so many great names in this I will list only the ones American audiences will be most familiar. Apologies to my many French readers. here are a few reasons to watch this movie:

Steve Buscemi in a subway scene many of us have dreamed of or feared.

Miranda Richardson in a hot red trench coat.

Juliette Binoche who finds a cowboy (Willem Dafoe) to look after her son.

Nick Nolte surprises everyone.

Maggie Gyllenhaal, Bob Hoskins, and Elijah Wood in 3 very odd relationships.

Olga Kurylenko as a very hot vampire.

Natalie Portman best sees Paris though the eyes of a blind man.

Gena Rowlands and Ben Gazzara show us how exs should get along.

Rufus Sewell and Emily Mortimer get a little help learning to laugh together.

There are truly too many other great performances to list here. Be patient and watch all the stories. The point is that everyone we see has an interesting story. And, from time to time our story lines cross.

Watch this with someone who has been to Paris and will delight in seeing it again.