The Greatest

Starring:  Pierce Brosnan, Susan Sarandon, Carey Mulligan, Aaron Johnson
Drama, 2009 (Rated R)

Bennett Brewer (Johnson) is smart and young with his whole life ahead of him.  He looses his life in a tragic car accident.  As his family struggles to recover from this tragedy Rose (Mulligan) shows up on their door step pregnant with Bennett's baby.  Bennett's mother Grace (Sarandon) seems to be having the most difficult time accepting the loss of her son and has a very negative reaction to Rose's presence.  Can this fragmented family pull themselves together and welcome this new gift of life or will they totally buckle under the pain of grief and miss out on the very thing that should bring them together?

• My mom and I walked into blockbuster, took one look at this and agreed we wanted to see it even though we had never heard a thing about it.  I saw Carey Mulligan in An Education and could tell right away that she is one of those actresses who will likely rarely ever have a bad movie so I had a feeling it would be good.  Turns out, it was even better then I expected.
• Mulligan did a great job playing the role of Rose.  Smart, pretty, spunky.  She was likable from the very beginning and it actually made sense that Bennett admired her from afar and never got the courage to speak until the last day of school.
• This is a love story but I didn't really anticipate that it would be.  I love the way the story of Rose and Bennett evolves throughout the story line.  We can guess, but don't find out the nature of their relationship right away.  With a series of flashbacks we finally get the whole story by the end and it's not what you might think.  Great script.  Great storyline and concept.
• Sarandon and Brosnan of course were excellent.  There was a lot of emotion and drama and every actor delivered it well.
• There isn't anything I didn't love about this one.

5 STARS

An Education

Starring: Peter Sarsgaard, Carey Mulligan
Drama, 2009 (PG 13)

Smart and headstrong London teenager Jenny (Mulligan) is bored to tears and exhausted with her regimented schooling. Her dad is pushing her towards Oxford while she hardly sees the point of it all anymore. She would much rather enjoy life then spend days on end with her head buried in Latin books. When a handsome stranger (Sarsgaard) befriends her one rainy day her eyes are opened to a much broader world then her London upbringing has ever shown her. She is fearful yet seduced by this lavish world of grown ups and travel. Should she throw away everything she has worked towards for this new life or stick with the safe route of academia?

• I really loved the bright and plucky character Jenny. She was as bright as she was fearless and never afraid to say what was on her mind. To anyone. She was so smart and overall the classic good girl but always questioning. Always pushing for more.
• One of my favorite lines of Jenny's is when she said "It's not enough to educate us anymore. You've got to tell us why." This is a perfect reflection of the kind of girl she was and the kind of women she was becoming. She wasn't willing to settle for following the masses just because it's what women did.
• The relationship between Jenny and David (Sarsgaard) was just a little bit disturbing to me and it struck me as odd at first that no one protested the age difference before I took into account the era. There were no statutory rape laws in 1961 obviously but it was sort of predator like to me the way that he came onto a 16 year old and the eventual relationship that followed. The age difference was almost a non issue with the adults in her life who just wanted to make sure she was "safe" and stuck to her education.
• Even though it took place in 1961 the message about women's roles and society are still pertinent today.
• Great film. Great acting. Carey Mulligan knocked it out of the park and it's looking like the start of a very successful acting career.

5 Stars