You may remember your high school teacher asking you to write a narrative, generally a story relating an event, which may or may not be completely true.  In Amir Bar-Lev’s documentary “The Tillman Story,” Pat Tillman’s family considers the elaborate story the U.S. government created surrounding the death of their loved one to be just such a questionable tale.  Throughout the film, Tillman’s family and friends call the story the government released and the press perpetuated a fiction, at one point saying the eulogy given at Tillman’s San Jose memorial service was “based on a Silver Star narrative”.

The film, nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, begins with a promo clip Tillman recorded for his NFL career.  He states his name and position, and then stares at the camera.  Uncomfortably, and for far too long.  As it turns out, the cameraman told him to do so, and he did.  The effect is unsettling, similar to that of the movie poster.  Pat Tillman is often shown staring at us – the audience – not quite accusingly, but more with pride as we voyeuristically delve into the details of his death, and life.  (Note that the film ends with a similar shot of Tillman’s mother, the camera lingers just a little too long, until the audience, embarrassed at how much of her life we’ve witnessed, turns away first.)

Tillman is presented as having wanted to be treated like any other soldier, and his family repeatedly says they want to be allowed to grieve in private, but the government and press did not allow them this simple honor.  Yet, to be fair, neither do the filmmakers.  Tillman was no ordinary soldier, his death no ordinary death.  Pat Tillman was a football star, first for Arizona State University and then for the Arizona Cardinals, who gave up a multi-million dollar pro football contract to join the military.  From the day he enlisted, (which was not, as the press has led us to believe, the day after 9/11) military officials sent out memos that Tillman was a soldier to keep an eye on.

Tillman’s death was first reported as a heroic incident where he sacrificed himself to save his fellow soldiers, one of whom was his younger brother Kevin.  Eventually, the family and the world learned that Tillman was actually a victim of friendly fire.  The documentary traces the Tillman family’s struggle to get to the actual truth, and locate someone in the military who will take responsibility for the cover-up, and for using their son and his death as a publicity tool.

Bar-Lev interviews other soldiers as well, most of whom were told to stay quiet by the military, including somewhat sinister comments like “your career’s on the line, don’t tell…what happened”.  Also interviewed are neighbors and a blogger named Stan Goff, who helped Tillman’s mother sort through the 3,000 pages of documents the military gave her, in hopes the overwhelming task would quiet her.  Goff, comparing Tillman’s story to that of Jennifer Lynch, whose own incident was quickly disproven, says “If you want to get the public to co-sign (military action) you have to give them something they’re willing to co-sign.”  According to the director, the rescue of Lynch was delayed so a combat camera crew could record the events, and Tillman was among the soldiers setting up the perimeter for that attempt.  Goff also believes both soldiers fell victim to “the perception management aspect of the war”.

Bar-Lev displays military documents from the Tillman investigation, including comments from soldiers involved regarding why they unknowingly fired on their own men (summarized by “I was excited,” and “I wanted to stay in the firefight”).  One soldier even says that when 9/11 occurred they were “pumped because we knew we were gonna go to war”.  In their defense, the director reminds us that these are not, in many cases, mature adults, but teenagers.  Goff, a Vietnam veteran, recalls how young soldiers are always focused on “giving a practical demonstration of their masculinity…it’s like a locker room atmosphere”.

“The Tillman Story” effectively shows that a cover-up of the friendly fire incident went all the way to the highest positions in our government, and when investigated by Congress, cabinet members and multi-star generals denied ever having seen memos reporting Tillman’s death, if they admitted receiving them at all.  Even a convenient retiree couldn’t provide the military the scapegoat it appeared to desperately need to reach any sort of conclusion regarding the matter.

In the end, Tillman’s mother says it’s “immoral” for the government to have turned a young man with honorable intentions into a propaganda tool.  The precipice Bar-Lev walks (rather steadily) is for the audience not to realize that he has done exactly that.  Propaganda is propaganda, no matter whose side you’re on.  “The Tillman Story” is a film that deserves to be seen for this very reason: to understand the techniques both governments and documentary filmmakers use to manipulate emotions and perceptions.

RCC Rating: RCC Rating:  Worth Full Price On Opening Weekend

The plot of “Dinner for Schmucks” is simple.  Tim (Paul Rudd) comes up with a once-in-a-lifetime idea to impress his boss and save his company.  His boss gives him one shot to get it right, which puts him in contact with someone with whom he never would have otherwise met, who turns his life upside down in a number of highly comical ways, and shows him the value of his relationship with his girlfriend by nearly causing it to end.  Yet through it all, this wise, though unconventional, stranger teaches our hero the true meaning of love and friendship.

If this sounds familiar, you’ve either seen the original French film, 1999’s “Le Dîner de Cons” (“The Dinner Game”), or you’ve seen this year’s “Get Him to the Greek.”  Both films are hysterically funny, but both follow a similar path—our leading man must learn what’s really important through spending time with a wild and crazy guy.

In order to get the big promotion, Tim must win over the big client, and also bring along the best idiot to his boss’ “Dinner for Winners.”  The biggest loser (and not in the Jillian Michaels’ sense) gets a trophy and is “released back into the wild” with no clue he or she has been the butt of the joke all night, and his or her escort gets office bragging rights and the boss’ good favor.  For Tim, this could mean a move up to the seventh floor—an office space coveted for not smelling like cabbage.

Tim’s girlfriend, Julie (Stephanie Szostak), like most rational people who aren’t creating summer comedies, thinks this is a terrible idea.  Tim and Julie fight, and Julie runs to a meeting with, and possibly the arms of, her artist client Kieran (Jemaine Clement—I tell you this so you don’t spend the entire film wondering how they got hair on David Cross, as I did).

Tim’s better senses follow his better half, and he decides to decline the dinner invitation, until he hits Barry (Steve Carell) with his car.  Barry was in the road to pick up a dead mouse—another muse in his long line of “Mouseterpieces,” and is excited to have been hit by Tim’s Porsche, previously he’s only been hit by a Datsun.  Barry then spends the next twenty four hours “helping” Tim, and ruining everything in his life possibly worth ruining.

When the dinner finally arrives, Barry seems like a shoo-in to win, until his arch-nemesis, Therman (Zach Galifianakis) arrives. (Therman gets the biggest laugh earlier in the film when he takes off his jacket in his office.)  Not only is Therman Barry’s boss, but he has also stolen Barry’s wife (and when you see her, you suddenly understand why all his female mouse muses have red hair), and, as if that weren’t enough, Therman is a master of mind control.

By this point, Tim has come to realize the error of his selfish ways, and has to find a way to preserve Barry’s dignity and self-confidence, even if that means giving up the big job.  The film’s sweet side is revealed, albeit hilariously, and the recurring theme that “everything happens for a reason” is proven true.

Stay for the epilogue—although it will make you check under your bed for the foreseeable future.

RCC Rating: Worth Seeing at a Matinee

In Christopher Booker’s “The Seven Basic Plots,” he writes of Rebirth that, “A hero or heroine falls under a dark spell which eventually traps them in some wintry state, akin to living death: physical or spiritual imprisonment, sleep, sickness or some other form of enchantment.  For a long time they languish in this frozen condition.  Then a miraculous act of redemption takes place, focused on a particular figure who helps to liberate the hero or heroine from imprisonment.  From the depths of darkness they are brought up into glorious light.”

“Despicable Me,” then, is yet another film in the long line of “scoundrel with a heart of gold” films, and therefore offers no real surprises.  Just as we know that Ebenezer Scrooge will become a nice guy, and Han Solo will come back to help blow up the Death Star, we know exactly what will happen to Gru (Steve Carell), our not-always-loveable protagonist.

Gru is not a grumpy super villain because he’s under an enchantment, but because of a more modern ailment—a disinterested mother.  His arch-nemesis, Vector (Jason Segel), is similarly the playboy son of a father he can never please.  Being a super villain, apparently, is less about evil and more about mommy and daddy issues.

Perhaps the closest we get to evil is Gru’s assistant, Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand—strangely channeling Terence Stamp).  Dr. Nefario is single-minded, focused on the evil task at hand, and with the exception of his hearing problems (well exploited in the trailer and commercials), is probably the one character best poised to actually become a super villain.  All the truly “despicable” characters are minor characters:  Dr. Nefario; Mr. Perkins (Will Arnett), the president of the Bank of Evil (formerly Lehman Brothers) who finances the super villains; and Miss Hattie (Kristen Wiig), the proprietor of Miss Hattie’s School for Girls, who runs her orphanage through cookie sale quotas and a Box of Shame.

Naturally, all of this will be lost on the kiddos, who will love the 3-D effects (especially the roller coaster ride), and the Minions (if you haven’t guessed by the previews, the Minions steal the film—and if you get the special phone app from Best Buy, you can actually understand what they’re saying), and the three orphans whom Gru originally brings into his life as a means to defeat Vector, but—did you see this one coming?—instead conquer Gru’s heart, bringing him up into that “glorious light.”

“Despicable Me” is worth seeing at a matinee—particularly one of those Saturday morning matinees with all-you-can-eat pancakes.

RCC Rating: Worth Full Price On Opening Weekend

Who doesn’t want to party like a rock star?

When I met the lead singer of my favorite band, he wore rubber gloves so he didn’t have to actually touch his fans.

The experience for Aaron Green (Jonah Hill) in “Get Him to the Greek” is quite different.  There are actually times you wish he’d wear rubber gloves to protect himself from his idol.  Green is a lowly record company employee trying to find a “game changer” to revitalize the dying music industry.  He proposes a 10^th anniversary concert by his favorite singer, Aldous Snow (Russell Brand).  His boss, Sergio Roma (Sean “Puff Daddy/P Diddy” Combs—using this role as a chance to lash out at the music industry, perhaps), books the concert, and gives Green the task of getting Snow from London to the LA concert.

Hilarity ensues, of course, as it has in every road trip movie from “Borat” to “Almost Famous” (there’s an obvious “I am a golden god” moment in this film as well—you can never have too many pretend-rock-star-paying-filmic-tribute-to-Robert-Plant moments) to, well, “Road Trip.”

Snow will not go gently to that good concert – after a string of successes and sober living he released an album, “African Child” (trying to be Bono, apparently), that the film belittles continuously, at one point calling it “the worst thing to happen to Africa since Apartheid.”  Of course, what do you expect from a rock star trying to be “an African white Christ from space?”  After the colossal failure, Snow’s girlfriend, bored with the sober life, leaves him, and he goes into a drunken drugged stupor for the next several years.

At this point, Green arrives.  His boss has given him tips on how to deal with over-indulged rock stars, but he is completely unprepared for the experience… and he’s made even more vulnerable by the fact his own girlfriend has just left him.

The rest of the film is exactly what you expect it to be: a lot of partying, drinking, sex, drugs, and rock and roll.  Green comes face to face with rock and roll stardom and what it’s like to be surrounded by the beautiful people, including my favorite cameo, Tom Felton – who apparently doesn’t appreciate “Harry Potter” jokes while he’s at the bar.

There’s also an incredible amount of vomit in this film.  If you are not a big fan of vomit, vomiting, or things that have been vomited, be prepared to spend a great deal of your time covering your eyes.

The film is a joy when it’s enjoying itself.  However, there are fractured relationships throughout the film: Snow and his ex-girlfriend/mother of his child, Green and his girlfriend, Snow and his father.  Potential spoiler:  Only one of these relationships will end with a happy reconciliation, and it may or may not be the one you’re cheering for, although it’s likely the one you’ll expect.  But each of the characters will learn and grow and figure out who he/she is.  (sigh)  Which, as positive as it sounds, actually brings the film down.  More partying and Sean Combs, please.

Between the pop culture cameos and references to the first go-round with Aldous Snow in “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” the inside jokes may be another pitfall for this film; which is a celebrity culture goldmine targeted at a very specific audience.  While the entire opening is a take-off on reality TV, and there are plenty of race jokes and Brit jokes everyone can understand, there were definitely times I found I was the only one laughing at a particular joke.

At any rate, “Get Him to the Greek” is a ridiculously fun good time.  Bring a friend, or your favorite rock star.

Production begins next week for Wasikowska and her co-star, Michael Fassbender as Jane and Mr. Rochester.

Other cast members for the Focus Features and BBC Films production include Judi Dench, Jamie Bell, Sally Hawkins, Tamzin Merchant, and Imogen Poots—meaning that the film will be covering the entire novel—even that middle third that most high school students skip reading.

None of these actresses seem age-appropriate for Bertha Mason, though, (or Grace Poole for that matter), so it will be interesting to see who we find in the attic…

Columbia’s plan for a 2011 “Ghostbusters” reboot is beginning to look scary.  The studio was all set to revamp the series with a younger crew being trained by the original guys.  And along with that younger crew, Columbia was hoping for a younger director as well.

However, as part of the early 80s deal Mike Ovitz made with the films’ original director and producer, Ivan Reitman, the 63 year old has “exceptional creative control over the series, including director approval.”

In addition to that, according to one source, the original three lead actors–Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, and Harold Ramis–all share veto power with Reitman.  If there’s something in the film one of the four doesn’t like, each has the power to single-handedly end the project.  The main difference is that Columbia wants the actors around, but not the aging director whose last film was “My Super Ex-Girlfriend.”

Reitman is also directing “Friends With Benefits,” a film whose current biggest claim to fame is not stars Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman, but the fact that the original script was called “Fuckbuddies.” (And Kevin Smith had to change the title of “A Couple of Dicks?”)  The film is being called “an inverse ‘Harry Met Sally,’” in which a pair of, well, friends with benefits, begin to have feelings for each other.

Sony, the parent company of Columbia, hoped that “Friends With Benefits” would distract Reitman from “Ghostbusters III,” but so far the director plans to stay on both projects.

Columbia is expecting “The Office’s” writers Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky to turn in the script’s second draft in May, and this is the only franchise the studio has planned for 2011, so a decision on the project will have to be made this spring.

Los Angeles police were called to Burbank’s Providence St. Joseph’s Hospital around 4:00 a.m. to investigate.  Some reports place Haim’s time of death at 2:15.

Although Haim had been in and out of rehab – up to fifteen reported times – he had been believed to be clean since 2004, the same year Rick James died of an overdose in the same apartment complex where Haim’s mother found him unresponsive this morning.

Canadian-born Haim was well known in the 80s as one of “The Two Coreys”–in fact, that was the name of the A & E reality show focused on his life and friendship with Corey Feldman.  The two starred in several movies together, including “License to Drive,” “Dream a Little Dream,” and the iconic “Lost Boys.”

Stiller’s friend Justin is Justin Theroux, the writer behind “Tropic Thunder” and “Iron Man 2.”

Rather than being upset that news of the film leaked, Stiller views the gossip as a positive: “It’s nice to know people actually care and want to see it.  It’s encouraging.  I just want it to live up to the first one, for the fans of the first one.  That’s a little daunting.  But we’ll try our best.”

The original film came out just two weeks after 9/11—Paramount hoped the film would help take the audience’s minds off the terrorist attacks—and only earned $45 million at the box office.  DVD business, however, gave the film a cult following.

Nice to see that the next generation of graduates of the Derek Zoolander Center for Kids Who Can’t Read Good and Want to Learn to Do Other Stuff Good Too will have a film of their very own.

Apparently the First Lady and First Daughters are big fans of the show, and producers are doing everything they can to make sure the performance happens, because of course, as Michael Ausiello of  “Entertainment Weekly” writes, “a White House gig is an offer that’s pretty darn hard to refuse.” (It is called a COMMAND performance, you know…)

Unfortunately, the deadline to enter the lottery for Easter Egg Roll tickets has passed, which is sad, because who wouldn’t want to see Sue Sylvester take down the Easter Bunny?

A Danish magazine has reported that Scorsese and De Niro are planning to revisit “Taxi Driver” along with Danish director Lars von Trier, but all that’s been confirmed is Scorsese saying he plans to work with De Niro again: “There’s no doubt about that.  We’re working on something like that [a new gangster film], but it’s from the vantage point of older men looking back, none of this running around stuff.”

A Google translation of the original Danish article makes the whole tale much more confusing, reporting that the website Echo “learns that Trier and Scorsese to make film together.  Scorsese is required by our data re-recorded his great classic, ‘Taxi Driver’ (1976).  That he should do according to certain rules—called Obstructions—Lars von Trier as a draw.”

Fusedfilm.com may possibly have the answer to all the rumors, as the website reports, “Von Trier is reportedly challenging the filmmaker, Scorsese, to remake his 1976 film ‘Taxi Driver.’ According to ‘Variety,’ the idea behind the project is similar to the film ‘The Five Obstructions’ that von Trier and Danish helmer Jorgen Leth made in 2003.  In that film, von Trier challenged his colleague Leth to do a remake of his own 1967 film ‘The Perfect Human.’”

Well, that clears it all up, huh.