The Ricochet Reviewer: Books, Movies, and Comics

Directors:  Andrew Stanton ,  Lee Unkrich Writers: Andrew Stanton & Bob Peterson & David Reynolds, story by Andrew Stanton Stars: Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Alexander Gould, Willem Dafoe, Brad Garrett, Allison Janney, Austin Pendleton, Stephen Root When a clownfish named Nemo (Alexander Gould) is captured by scuba divers, his neurotic father (Albert Brooks), aided by a blue tang with memory problems (Ellen DeGeneres), must overcome his fears to find his son.  While Marlin and Dory follow his trail, Nemo becomes acquainted with the other fish in a dentist's office tank and learns that he is destined to become a gift for the dreaded "fish-killer" Darla, the dentist's niece.  Though ostensibly a children's film, there is plenty here to engage adults as well.  The early computer animation is magnificent; the colors and textures of the seascape and its inhabitants are gorgeous.  The story itself is rather touching and includes many jokes and re...

Director: Bing Liu Featuring: Kent Abernathy, Mengyue Bolen, Nina Bowgren, Kiere Johnson, Bing Liu, Zack Mulligan This profound documentary follows a group of skaters in Rockford, Illinois.  At first, it seems as if it will be a well-photographed but essentially slight movie about the skating lifestyle.  But as we get to know these young men better, the outer layers peel back organically and without fanfare until we realize that we are watching a film about intergenerational trauma.  Filmmaker Bing Liu, who is one of these skaters, interviews and sometimes confronts his friends with direct, penetrating questions that reveal the physical abuse, alcoholism, racism, economic insecurity, and anger that has shaped these lives and is perpetuated through them.  Liu always maintains sympathy for his subjects, even when they are making painful admissions about their own conduct, because we are given a portrait of the complete person.  

Writer/Director: Woody Allen Stars: Mia Farrow, Dianne Wiest, Seth Green, Jeff Daniels, Julie Kurnitz, Josh Mostel, Diane Keaton, Wallace Shawn, Woody Allen, Danny Aiello Woody Allen narrates the story of a romanticized boyhood during WWII, a time when the medium of radio was at its zenith.  The loosely connected vignettes tell the stories of the boy (Seth Green) and his poor Jewish family, his perpetually disappointed and lovelorn aunt (Dianne Wiest), and a young woman striving to make it in show biz (Mia Farrow), interspersed with anecdotes about the personalities that entered America's homes through the airwaves every day.  Allen shows us what radio meant to the people of that time, leaving even those of us who are too young to have experienced it ourselves feeling a little wistful and sad at its passing.  This is a delightful movie.

Director: Milos Forman Writer: Peter Shaffer, based on his stage play Stars: F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Elizabeth Berridge, Roy Dotrice, Simon Callow, Christine Ebersole, Jeffrey Jones, Charles Kay, Kenny Baker Antonio Salieri (F. Murray Abraham), court composer to Emperor Joseph II of Austria (Jeffrey Jones), is both horrified and amazed by the musical prodigy Mozart (Tom Hulce).  He sees himself as a worthy receptacle for genius due to his reverence to God, self denial, elevated sensibilities, and reputation among high society.  However, his entire worldview is shaken when he encounters true musical genius in the form of a vulgar, comical man who flouts convention.  His monstrous sense of entitlement is exposed as he curses everything he formally held holy and plots against Mozart behind his back, ultimately devising a scheme to pass off the dying man’s last composition as his own and performing it in church at the funeral for God himself to hear.  He is one of ...