Ebertesque

There are two films that open to the masses that week that I highly recommend. I saw both of them as part of the Chicago International Film Festival in October, which presents films from over 40 different countries during for two weeks each year. This was the first year I attended any of the films (I attended the opening night since I won tickets), but highly recommend it to any film buffs out there. And if you think Chicago is devoid of celebrity sightings compared to New York or L.A., the stars come out for this festival, as I stood within 10 feet of both Liam Neeson and Tom Hanks during the festival.

I went to the opening and closing night films this year, and I can't think of two films that are on more opposites of the film spectrum. The opening film for 2004 was Kinsey, a biographical movie about the infamous Indiana University sex researcher. Prior to the movie, I knew a few basic things about Kinsey and the uproar that his ground-breaking research caused in America, but the film shows the professional and personal challenges that Kinsey faced. The movie takes you on a fascinating and dramatic journey of Kinsey's work and life, with Liam Neeson acting in Oscar-like fashion as an intelligent yet conflicted man and the always fabulous Laura Linney as his supportive, though not naive, wife. I highly recommend this film to anyone who is interested in the evolution of sexuality in society, or anyone who enjoys a good story about America in the 1950s.

Prior to Kinsey's published sex research reports, sex was seldomed talked about in America. And despite critics trying to depict him as a person who will "bring down" the moral values in society, he went ahead with his research. After 50 years, it's reassuring to know how far society has come in its acceptance of sexual mores. (Insert cynical grin here)

The closing film was The Polar Express, a technologically amazing holiday tale for kids of all ages. Many of us have grown up reading Chris Van Allsburg's story of anticipation and the Christmas spirit. Director Robert Zemeckis and Tom Hanks, with the use of a new type of animation, create a wonderful film that draws the audience in with both visual excitement and emotion. I could go on and on about the new technology used in the movie, but if you are interested, you can read about it here, or just go and see the movie. It's a movie that I am sure will be remembered for many Christmases to come.