Review: Welcome Home (The Oranges)

The Wallings (Hugh Laurie and Catherine Keener) and Ostroffs (Oliver Platt and Allison Janney) have been friends for years. They share dinners, holidays, and traditions. The only problem for these two benevolent clans is that they're about to share something else: infidelity.

The eldest daughter and son of the Ostroffs and Wallings are coming back home. Nina (Leighton Meester), fresh off of a break-up and Toby are both returning after being on their own for five years. Most stories would dictate that Nina and Toby get together and turn the friendly bond between families into a marital one. Instead, Nina engages in an affair with David (Hugh Laurie), upheaving everything.

Christmas, never the time of festiveness that it promises, is now a battleground between good pals David and Terry (Oliver Platt). Carol Ostroff (Allison Janney) and Paige Walling (Catherine Keener) are left to take sides as well as Vanessa, the daughter no one wants to deal with. The holidays will not prove to kind to David as Christmas cards and anything else that can be used as a weapons in Paige's war on destroying him. Keener seems miscast as a controlling and vindictive wife here, someone like Laura Linney may have been a better choice. From the eye of the audience it's no wonder why David spends more time in his shack than with his wife.

If you have been reading this and assuming the story takes place from Hugh Laurie's perspective, you would be wrong. It is Vanessa's story and she lends her voice to the unfolding drama, but the writers seemingly never intended for the focus to ever be on her. Why Nina is expected to be sympathized with leaves one puzzled. She is generally selfish and oblivious to what she has done to both families.

Oddly enough, the middle-aged father who would be expected to be made the bad guy, is hard to dislike. David is no Humbert Humbert and he is torn by his quest for youth as he watches the town turn on him. Hugh Laurie has always had a knack for turning jerks into engaging characters so it should come as no surprise that David is easily one of the few highlights of Oranges.

Suburban life has been captured on film so frequently that most stories of domestic bliss are already over before they begin. And down to the all too familiar ending where all the family members make a sudden realization that changes their loves, The Oranges is just another template.

**/****

The Best of the Decade

Over the last ten years, the cinema has given us a great deal to be thankful for: a rebirth of the Batman franchise, a series of examinations of what it means to live in this particular decade, and a mass of character studies whether they be animated or popcorn thrillers. As much as I have enjoyed the offerings, a list must be culled together for the end of the year. Except this year is different, this year ten films must be selected from hundreds. Below are some of the best of the aughts. Enjoy! 10) There Will Be Blood Paul Thomas Anderson's magnum opus, a scathing look at extremism in America and the evils of greed and profiteering from religion. It also features the best performance of the decade with Daniel Day-Lewis as oil-man Daniel Plainview. 9) Up A beautiful tale that entrances all ages, Up managed to captivate children and tell a tale that adults cherish as well. 8) The Dark Knight Maybe just a comic book film, but it is the best comic book film

Paprika vs. Inception

Months before Inception hit the theaters forums were alive with rumors that Christopher Nolan either accidentally or intentionally stole some details from another film, the Japanese anime Paprika. The biggest point of comparison for some bloggers and forum runners was the fact that both of the films featured a device that allowed a person, or people, to travel into another’s dreams and delve into their subconscious. Minor points of comparison include scenes in Paprika where the character Paprika breaks through a mirrored wall by holding her hand to it, as well as a scene where a police detective falls his way down a hallway. Claims have been made that Inception abounds with imagery similar to or exactly like the anime movie, but with the recent release of the film on DVD and Blu-Ray, and with Paprika available for several years now, an examination of the two plots can be made more fully. Let us begin with the primary claim— Inception stole the idea of a dream

Armond White's Top Ten Films on Flickchart

Armond White is film criticism’s most famous contrarian. At one moment he writes a review declaring Toy Story 3 to be the most obscene excuse for toy commercials he has ever watched, and then two weeks later types out a glowing review of Resident Evil: Afterlife . He is of split-mind for sure. But what does his Flickchart look like? Read the rest at Flickchart !

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