Related articles and links |  1 of 6

Writer/director/actor Mike Binder turns in one of 2005's most critically acclaimed films so far with The Upside of Anger, and the reviews hail Joan Allen's performance as one of her very best. Allen, most recently seen in The Bourne Supremacy, has been nominated several times for an Oscar, but has yet to win. It's possible she'll earn yet another nomination for her work as Terry, a disillusioned, middle-aged woman who falls in love with Denny, a retired baseball star (Kevin Costner) next door. The film also stars Erika Christensen (Traffic), Keri Russell (TV's Felicity), and Evan Rachel Wood (Thirteen, The Missing).

Binder's film is extremely popular with the mainstream press, and religious press critics are finding plenty to praise as well.

"Without Allen and Costner, I suspect my 3-star rating would slip back closer to a 2," says Lisa Ann Cockrel (Christianity Today Movies). "A twist ending presented a lot of questions for me. . . . But the movie did resonate with the mostly middle-aged crowd I saw it with. That might be because, for better and for worse, many in their 40s and 50s might see themselves in Terry and Denny—people struggling to reconcile their youthful dreams with the reality of what their lives have become."

Megan Basham, a Christian film critic who writes for National Review, says Upside "is a story too rare in cinema today: It's a love story for and about grown-ups—people who carry life's scars into their next relationships and cope with disappointment in messy ways." She too has some problems with the way the film wraps up, but concludes that it's "truly something special."

Harry Forbes (Catholic News Service) says it's "a beautifully acted, droll, and, ultimately, profoundly moving comedy-drama. [It] imparts a strong moral about the destructive nature of misplaced animosity … and ultimately is a touchingly strong affirmation of love and family. And it's intelligent adult fare, as too few films are these days, even if there is a preponderance of salty language." He says Joan Allen "surpasses anything she has ever done with a mercurial performance that is a pleasure to watch."

Michael Elliott (Movie Parables) joins in with raves for Allen, saying her "intensity simply burns up the screen." He praises Costner and the rest of the cast, but has a few notes for the director. "Binder has written some very clever dialogue and crafted some interesting characters but his screenplay is far from flawless."

Cliff Vaughn (Ethics Daily) considers how the film stacks up to a similar drama. "Anger doesn't match the overall cohesiveness of American Beauty. . . . But the performances by Costner and Allen are rock-solid, and the relationship they build is one many mature adults will be able to appreciate."

Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts) and her son Aidan (David Dorfman) have left Seattle to escape memories of what happened in The Ring. They've taken refuge in the coastal city of Astoria, Oregon, where they're bound to run into all-new horrors in this inevitable (and brilliantly titled) sequel: The Ring Two. Sure enough, that devilish videotape from the first film is back, provoking homicides, and sending Rachel back to Seattle to look for answers. But according to critics, it's viewers who will need to relocate if they want to escape a bad case of sequel letdown.

Steven Isaac (Plugged In) says, "The Ring Two celebrates a mother 'protecting' her child by injuring him, justifying her behavior by concocting circumstances that demand her to act. And that's no laughing matter. It happens in real life; women do murder their offspring. [This movie] trivializes the real-life horror of women taking the lives of their children."

next page... |  1 of 6

share this page

March (Web-only) 2005, Vol. 49