Monday, September 04, 2006

A MOVIE REVIEW AND SOME OTHER STUFF

By Jim McAllister

Just when it looked like Hollywood was going down for the count, they had a great summer. The summer of 2006 showed an increase of $200 million in box office receipts over 2005. A big part of that success has to be attributed to the continuing success of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies.....QUICK MOVIE REVIEW...Have you seen "Little Miss Sunshine"? It’s a great little indie film about Olive, a young, plain, and minimally talented little girl (Abigail Breslin) who wants to attend a beauty and talent contest for girls in California. The winner of the contest will be crowned "Little Miss Sunshine" which is kind of ironic at the time of the re-emergence of the JonBenet mystery. Most of the little girls in the contest eerily remind one of JonBenet. Olive is a member of a dysfunctional Albuquerque family which includes father Richard (Greg Kinnear), a loser trying to sell a motivation program that nobody wants, mother Sheryl (Toni Collette) who strives to keep the family together, brother Dwayne (Paul Dano) who won’t speak as he dreams of entering the Air Force Academy, gay uncle Frank, (Steve Carell), and Grandpa (Alan Arkin), a heroin snorting, foul mouthed, old man. The family decides to head to California in a beat up VW microbus and that is where the fun begins as they endure a series of mishaps along the way. The movie is funny and also injects some pathos as this family is so pathetic. This film is funny, sad, and heartwarming with fine performances by the cast. Greg Kinnear continues to improve since his days on "Talk Soup." It has been out a while and you may have to look for it at the art houses but it is worth it. Run time 1:42, Rated "R".....

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