Armchair Traveler

By Susan Varno

Do you have a list of places you want to visit in your lifetime? Since you probably won’t see them all, you can watch movies about some locations and sort of cross them off your list.
A visit to Greece is on my list. In MAMMA MIA! (2008) a woman (Meryl Streep) runs an ancient inn on an enchanting Greek Island. To find out who her father is, the woman’s daughter (Amanda Seyfried) invites three of mom’s old boyfriends to her wedding. Besides moonlit nights, waterfront views, fabulous flowers and craggy hillsides, everyone is singing ABBA songs. For Athens attractions, take a guided tour from ancient temples to open air shopping in MY LIFE IN RUINS (2009).
A college professor (Diane Lane) escapes her unhappy life on a trip to Central Italy. UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN (2003), she falls in love with a crumbling villa. While fixing up the place, she makes friends with her neighbors. On days off, she explores the hills and valleys and charming country villages. You can visit nearby Provence on the French Riviera in A GOOD YEAR (2006). Belgium wasn’t on my list until I saw IN BRUGES (2008). Two hitmen (Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson) hide out in this historic city that seems unchanged since the 1500’s. Under gloomy skies, the men explore magnificent gothic towers, churches and red roofed townhouses, sometimes while being shot at and chased across town squares and bridges over the canals.
Any island paradise tops my list. I “visited” the Bahamas watching AFTER THE SUNSET (2004). Jewel thieves (Pierce Brosnan and Selma Hayek) have retired to an idyllic retreat on a white sands beach when a relentless FBI agent (Woody Harrelson) tempts them to steal a diamond from a cruise ship. On the sea, on the beach, in the tropical rainforest, everything is lush and gorgeous. Friends go to Bora Bora in the South Pacific for a COUPLES RETREAT (2009). They swim in the ocean, tromp through the jungle and enjoy a luxury resort while taking classes on how to relate to their spouses. NIM’S ISLAND (2008) is even more remote.
Halfway around the world, AUSTRALIA (2008) offers widescreen views of overarching cloudless skies that make the millions of acres of pasture and outback desert seem insignificant. In 1939 The Drover (Hugh Jackman) helps an English Lady (Nicole Kidman) runs her murdered husband’s cattle station. You learn of the horrors the aborigines endured under the Aussies and join a cross-country cattle drive. See also THE BOYS ARE BACK (2009).
Before you pack, check out USA scenery on DVD. A rebellious teen (Alison Lohman) brings a wild mustang she names FLICKA (2007) to her parents Wyoming ranch. After breaking the animal, she rides the open range of Big Sky Country. For more Wyoming vistas, go sheep herding on BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (2005) and into witness protection in DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE MORGANS? (2009). Tour the West from Idaho to Beverly Hills in a Cadillac BONNEVILLE (2006). With friends (Joan Allen and Kathy Bates) to keep her company, a recent widow (Jessica Lange) scatters her husband ashes in the places they enjoyed. They race across the Bonneville Salt Flats, visit Bryce Canyon and Lake Powell, play in Las Vegas casinos, visit Palm Springs and many obscure places in between.
The documentary EARTH (2007) follows the sun as it warms the Arctic Circle, then slowly moves south to the Antarctic. Polar bear cubs play with their mother in the spring, ducklings hatch near US ponds, thousands of cranes fly south, and whales fight off killer sharks. In Kenya thousands of wildebeests, elephants, zebras and other wildlife migrate in search of water.
THE BUCKET LIST (2007) inspired people to start making lists. A man (Morgan Freeman) learns has terminal cancer. In the hospital he makes a list of the things he wants to do before he dies. The billionaire (Jack Nicholson) with brain cancer in the next bed offers to finance his adventures if he can come along. They go sky diving, race a vintage car, visit the pyramids, see wild animals in Africa, visit the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal and the Himalayas. Maybe you can’t do all you want to, but you can make a list.

To Serve and Protect

By Art Slavin

Our law enforcement men and women are all too often underappreciated, so let’s use this column to recognize some recent films that show them off. This month, Nicolas Cage’s THE BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL- NEW ORLEANS is being released on DVD. It’s a tale of a policeman who despite his flaws is dedicated to solving the murder of five immigrants. The cops couldn’t be more frustrated than when they attempted to figure out how an incarcerated LAW ABIDING CITIZEN (Gerard Butler) was continuing revenge for the murder of his family. And the law was stymied for a long time until they finally put an end to the crimes of John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) in PUBLIC ENEMIES. In HORSEMEN, A recently widowed detective (Dennis Quaid), still grieving over his wife's death, discovers a shocking connection between himself and the suspects in a serial killing spree linked to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. And in 12 ROUNDS, detective Danny Fisher (John Cera) discovers his girlfriend has been kidnapped by an ex-con tied to his past, and he'll have to successfully complete 12 challenges in order to secure her safe release. In the twist-filled whodunit, RIGHTEOUS KILL, two veteran New York City detectives (Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino) work on a case of serial executions of criminals who escaped justice. You’d think that with a cop (Samuel L. Jackson) living next door on LAKEVIEW TERRACE that the new neighbors (Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington) would be safe. Think again. New York City police detective MAX PAYNE (Mark Wahlberg) goes to great lengths to find the guy who killed his family, while an LAPD detective (Keanu Reeves) finds himself in the middle of a frame while he struggles with the recent loss of his wife in STREET KINGS. A family of cops is beset with a dilemma when one of their own is suspected of crimes in PRIDE AND GLORY. Edward Norton, Jon Voight, Colin Farrell, and Noah Emmerich star. In AMERICAN GANGSTER (portrayed by Denzel Washington), a detective (Russell Crowe) knows who he’s going after, but in THE BRAVE ONE (portrayed by Jodie Foster), the detective (Terrence Howard) has a hard time pinning revenge killings on her. A club owner (Joaquin Phoenix) affiliated with gangsters, finds himself in the middle when his dad (Robert Duvall) and brother (Mark Wahlberg), both NYPD cops, call on him for intelligence necessary to bust heroine dealers in WE OWN THE NIGHT. My two favorites: the sheriff (Tommy Lee Jones) investing a maniac (Javier Bardim) in NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, and the guys in DEPARTED (Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Wahlberg, and Jack Nicholson), who weave a wild web of deception. Then there are the Interpol agents, the CIA, the FBI, and security guards. In THE INTERNATIONAL, an Interpol agent (Clive Owen) and a New York Assistant District Attorney (Naomi Watts) work together to bring down some bad, bad bankers. The CIA is involved in BODY OF LIES, in which an operative in Jordan (Leonardo DiCaprio) is constantly at odds with his boss (Russell Crowe), and in RENDITION, the tale of an operative (Jake Gyllenhaal) who must decide to condone the tactics of the agency or believe the pleadings of the wife (Reese Witherspoon) of a man held by them. An FBI agent (Diane Lane) must track down a seemingly UNTRACEABLE serial killer who posts live videos of his victims on the Internet, while the CIA and the FBI seem to be at odds trying to stop a supposed TRAITOR (Don Cheadle). On the funnier side, who can forget Peter Sellers as the bumbling Inspector Clouseau in THE PINK PANTHER series, or Steve Martin in the remakes? Or Steve Carrell picking up where Don Adams left off in GET SMART, with Anne Hathaway serving as Agent 99? Both Kevin James and Seth Rogen play nutty mall security guards in PAUL BLART: MALL COP and OBSERVE AND REPORT respectively.